"Emma! Come eat!" Henry says and hits her shoulder from where he is perched.

"Yes, come inside." Regina finally finds her voice after greeting the blonde. "I'll show you where to put your things."

They make their way into the house and Regina puts Emma's bag on the fold-out bed.

"This looks fancy for a fold-out." Emma comments as she plops Henry onto the already-made-up bed.

"I only choose the best." Regina sasses.

"I'm beginning to get that." Emma says and suddenly looks more awkward than before.

"I've just made the mix for the pancakes. Do you want anything to drink while you're waiting?" Regina asks to break the sudden mood.

"Coffee?"

"Of course." Regina says and immediately puts the milk and sugar on the table with a recently brewed cup. Emma smiles at the milk. "Henry, do you want orange juice?"

"Yeah!" He says with full morning energy.

"I can get it for him while you start the pancakes." Emma offers.

"Glasses are in that cabinet. Make sure his has a top" Regina points and smiles before turing back to the stove.

It was so nice to have someone there to help with Henry. Even if was to just get his juice. I knew I wouldn't have accepted assistance so quickly if Henry and I didn't feel so comfortable around Emma.

Henry then engages Emma in conversation. They sit at the table in the sunroom while Henry gives a play by play of the birthday party to Emma.

"I almost forgot Henry! I have a birthday gift for you!" The blonde remembers.

"A gift!"

"You didn't have to do that." Regina says when she walks in with a plate full of pancakes in one hand and bacon in the other.

"I know but I wasn't here for his birthday and when I saw it I thought of him."

"What is it?!" Henry demands to know.

"Henry how about you open your present after breakfast?" His mother suggests.

Henry pouts but says "k" before digging into the pancakes that his mother cut cup for him.

"Did you have anything in particular you wanted to do today?" Regina asks once everyone starts eating.

Emma shrugs. "You seem like a planner. I kind of assumed that you had an itinerary for us already."

"I have ideas but unlike you I didn't want to assume anything; like your willingness to blindly follow along." She teases.

"Well call me a sheep because I just came to hang out with you guys. I don't care what we're doing."

I would say that her words gave me butterflies in my stomach but I don't find that term entirely appropriate. When a butterfly lands on you it almost tickles. This is far from a tickle. This was full on tsunami level movement.

"After breakfast we'll go to the Marine Science Center. I think Henry will enjoy seeing the sea turtles."

"That sounds fun! You know when I was Henry's age I wanted to work with animals."

"Really?"

"Yeah in one of my foster homes the Dad volunteered at a pound. It was so sad. I wanted to adopt all the animals."

"Du ya half a dog?" Henry asks.

"Henry don't chew with your mouth open." His mother admonishes.

Emma laughs. "No I don't. I've actually never had a pet."

"That's sad."

"Yeah. But I couldn't give one the care it needs. Maybe some day."

Even though I have no interest in pets, I couldn't help but think in that moment that I would be willing to get one if it would make her happy.

"Present?" Henry makes sure to remind us as we are cleaning up breakfast.

Henry!"

"Yeah, I go get it!"

Emma seemed as excited to give him the gift as he was to receive it.

Emma arrives back into the room soon with a package. It is a large rectangle wrapped in newspaper.

"I didn't have wrapping paper." She explains. Henry really doesn't seem to care what packaging it's in because he's soon taring it off anyway.

Once he's done he holds out a rather large book in his hand. It looks to be about a foot wide and appears massive in Henry's small hands. Embossed on the front of the book is the words "Once Upon A Time." Regina reads it out for Henry and he starts flipping through the pages excitedly.

"So big!" Henry exclaims.

"It is." Regina confirms. "I've never seen a book like that before."

"They're fairytales." Emma explains. "I thought Henry might like it."

"Where did you get it?"

"You remember when I was sick a few months ago?" When she gets a confirming nod she continues. "Well the next day I was trying to find a drug store. The woman at the front desk assured me that the CVS was right down the street. It turned out I had to drive almost 20 minutes away from the main highway to get there. I found it in this little rundown shopping center. I parked in front of this little bookstore. It had no name. The sign literally just said bookstore. How often do you see bookstores that aren't chains, right? I went in on a whim and immediately saw this book on display. There was only one of it and the old man working there told me that it was rare because only a limited amount of copies were ever printed. I started looking through it was thought how much Henry would love it. I still might not having bought it though until I saw this picture..."

At this point Emma takes the book from Henry for a moment and flips to a certain page. A drawing of a woman in a castle takes up the entire page.

"Mommy, it's you!"

"That's exactly what I thought." Emma agrees.

I took the book to get a closer look. At first I didn't see the resemblance other than we had the same color hair. However the woman's in the drawing was much longer and intricatally styled. She was clearly nobility of some sort with her finery. It was only after several moments of looking at her face that I conceded that I could understand why they thought we looked a like.

"Who is she in the story?" Regina asks.

"The Evil Queen" Emma grins.

"Like from Snow White?"

"It's perfect...not that I think you're evil. But you are a Queen. And you do have an unhealthy attraction to villains."

"Snow White always reminds me of Mary Margaret. She calls her husband Prince Charming and everything." Regina says with a scrunch in her nose.

Emma laughs. "See, perfect."

After promising Henry that they wold read the story together later, they all got ready to leave for the day. Almost two hours later they arrived at the Marine Science Center. When you fist walk up to the door there is an immediate section with sea turtles that they have recently rescued.

"Like Finding Nemo!" Henry says as he points to one of the Green Sea Turtles.

"Duuudddeee." Emma says and crouches down to give Henry a light head-but. Then they both get into a fit of giggles while quoting the cartoon.

It's no wonder why Henry likes her so much. She acts like she's his age half the time.

Once Regina had read all of the informational signs she ushered the other two into the building proper. It wasn't a very large place but there were different pools and tanks filled with creatures to look in. In the center of a large room there was most notably a small pool with Sting Rays in it. Henry pulled them over to look at that first. There were a few other people by the pool. All with their hand in the water.

"It's a touch pool." One of the volunteers informs them. "That one is an Atlantic Ray so I call him Al." She tells Henry. "You can pet him if you want."

Henry excitedly looked to his mother who gave him an encouraging nod.

"Ew!" He squeals and then giggles and ticks his hand right back into the water.

Emma put her hand in next when another ray came by.

"They're so smooth. Try it!" She encourages the other woman.

"No, I'm okay."

"Come on"

"No."

"What? Are you afraid."

"No" Regina says and crosses her arms.

"You totally are! There is no reason to be. It's clearly safe if they're letting children do this."

"At least I'm not afraid of squirrels!" Regina says defensively.

"Hey! I told you that in confidence. And I was attacked, I have a reason to be afraid!"

"Fine!" Regina says and sticks her hand into the water without fanfare.

Her hand runs across the back of one of the rays.

"Ew!" She squeals just as Henry did. The difference is that she keeps her hand out of the water after that. "Happy now?"

"Extremely." Emma says while trying to hold back her laughter.

A different volunteer comes out of a back room and makes an announcement which interrupts further conversation.

"Hello everyone. I wanted to let you know that there will be an owl talk in fifteen minutes for anyone interested."

"Owl talk?" Emma asks confused.

"Oh yes, they have a bird sanctuary here as well. The pamphlet says it's in the other side of the parking lot." Regina explains as she looks down at the site map.

The women let Henry run around the room looking at things for the next ten minutes before deciding to head to the room where the "owl talk" is being held before it gets too crowded.

Unfortunately it was already crowded. There were quite a few guests there today as it was a holiday weekend. A little girl made room for Henry on the benches. Emma and Regina looked at each other with "awe" faces before moving stand at the back of the room.

Emma leaned against the wall and looked a little out of place. Regina watches as the room fills up even more and eventually leans on the wall next to Emma.

"Thank you for coming with us today." Regina says and puts a hand on Emma's arm to stop the other woman's shifting around.

"There's no where I'd rather be."

In that moment, I knew. I knew that she was going to kiss me. Maybe not right then, in a room full of parents and children, but soon. Before she left. I could tell just by the look in her eyes that she was anxiously waiting for her moment.

And I couldn't wait.

I know I know. I promise it will happen in the next chapter!