Chapter 21

Since she had left the hospital, which had been two weeks ago, everyone surrounded her and protect her from everything, she couldn't take a step without having someone immediately after her, she was beginning to feel suffocated. The reason she hadn't exploded yet was the fact that she knew they were all worried about her and after the imp's attack they weren't quite eager for another thing like that happening again so soon.

They were following Whale's rules by the letter, she only ate well balanced meals, which meant she was always eating at Granny's diner due to Emma's bad culinary skills, the good side of eating at Granny's was that she always had company and Ruby didn't have to be always looking after her. Emma would come by in her lunch time and they would eat together, Snow and David would always come too and be with her for a few hours and sometimes when Granny was in a really good mood she would let Regina into the kitchen and let the brunette help her with the cooking or the preparing of the meals and that would only happen if Regina promised to behave and not make any kind of physical efforts, which meant that she had to prepare the ingredients and everything else seated which wasn't pleasant and definitely not handy enough to work in a kitchen.

Sometimes she would ask Emma to bring her painting materials to do diner so she could have something else to do to pass the time, it helped her to get her mind off the bad thoughts that sometimes flooded her mind. She had already finished the landscape painting she was making to give Emma, she hadn't giving it to her wife yet, it was too soon but the right time was coming. Now she was making a painting of Ruby, her friend deserved some kind of a gift after all the time she was spending taking care of her neglecting her own personal life.

Today was one of those days that Granny had let her help in the kitchen, she was enjoying herself and decided to make a few apple tarts so the woman could sell them at lunch time. She was lost in her thoughts when Granny walked inside the kitchen "Regina Mills!" she said screaming "What on earth do you think you're doing?"

At the scream the brunette shrugged her shoulders and let them stay near her ears, closing her eyes she turned around to face the older woman and answered her question "Apple tarts." She said in a low voice.

"You know what I'm referring to young lady." Granny was really mad and that was her fault because she had been in the kitchen for almost two hours now and she had been standing for all that time, which is something that she's forbidden to be at least for that amount of time in a row.

"I'm sorry Granny but I'm so tired of being sitting or lying down that this feels good and I was having fun cooking and so I lost track of time." She said her eyes dropping to the floor. Granny approached her and she putted a finger under her chin lifting her head so she could see the deep brown eyes of the brunette.

"I know this is hard on you girl and that you probably want to kill us all for being always on top of everything you do but you have to understand that we only do it because we care about you." Regina shook her head "What?" Granny asked a little lost.

"You all do it because of Emma and Henry and now the baby, well maybe not Ruby but everyone else doesn't care about me and…" The older woman stopped her from saying anything else and made her sit on the chair that was close to them.

"Now let's see if you get something inside that deep hard head of yours, you are not the Evil Queen anymore, you are Regina Mills our Mayor and someone we can count on, you became our friend a person we can trust and like it or not people are beginning to like you for who you are and not for who you once were." Granny cleaned the tears that were beginning to fall from the brown eyes. "You have a family now and real friends and if you want you can have me as your granny too."

Regina looked deep inside the grey bluish eyes of the older woman searching for a sign of insincerity, falsehood but she didn't find the lie, she found sincerity, truthfulness and she would dare say love, this woman was offering something that her own mother never gave her love, support, a shoulder where she could cry on or simply someone she could trust with anything. She didn't had words to express what she was feeling so she did the next best thing she knew, she hugged the woman in front of her and let the tears roll down her cheeks. Once she was calmer she just said "Thank you. I would be proud to call you my granny, my grandma."

"Oh my sweet girl." Granny holds her tighter. "Don't thank me, just let people in and let them love you like you deserve. Just give them a chance." The older woman took a deep breath and added "I would be honored if you call me grandma." Breaking the hug they looked at one another and they both accepted the change between them, they were no longer enemies, they were friends, better then that they were family.

"Now let's finish all these tarts so they can be ready to serve at lunch." Regina nodded in agreement and began to finish the tarts while Granny started to put them in the oven.

"Have you thought of how much you're going to charge for them?" the older woman asked Regina.

The brunette was surprised and so she looked seriously at Granny "What? No, I made them for you, so you would sell them, it's like a thank you for having me here every single day and letting me eat for free, because I know I aren't taking Emma's money for my meals here, which have been a lot of them. This is a gift from me to you." She said with a smile that reached her eyes and made the older woman nod and smile back.

Once they were done with putting the tarts in the oven Granny practically ordered "Now you're going to rest in a bed at the B&B and I'll go and get you when it's time for lunch." Regina was going to protest but her voice died in the middle of the way when Granny screamed for Ruby and three seconds later the girl was putting her head in the kitchen.

"Ruby take Regina to rest in the B&B, this lady has behaved a little bad this morning." Granny said to her granddaughter.

"Oh, ok." She grabbed Regina's hand and both women left the kitchen.

"What did you do to leave my Granny mad at you?" Ruby asked seriously.

"Nothing, she just caught me standing and moving around the kitchen cooking…" Ruby cut her off.

"That's nothing? That's everything Regina you know you can't…" she was beginning to scold her so Regina interrupted her.

"Please don't be mad too. I promise I won't do it again."

"You better. Now let's get you to bed."

It was lunch time and as promised Granny came to get her and Ruby. "Come on girls let's go time to eat." She rapidly left the room and made her way to the diner. Ruby helped Regina get off the bed and they both followed Granny's steps to the diner. Once they got there Emma was already waiting for Regina.

"Hey beautiful." Emma said standing up and kissing her wife on the lips gently.

"Hi sweetheart. How was work this morning?" she asked while sitting down.

"Good, the same lame thing and a little paperwork to do."

"Wow you must have been really bored if you decided to fill up paperwork."

Emma smiled "Yeah, really, really bored. So what do you wanna eat?"

And as she finished asking Granny walked towards their table and placed a plate of food in front of Regina and turning to Emma she just said "Your cheeseburger and fries is coming up." She then turned to Regina "And that is for you to eat everything, I'll be back later to check if you ate." She winked at the brunette and went back to the kitchen.

Emma looked at Regina and said "What was all that about?"

Regina smiled sweetly but didn't spoke a word and began to eat her grilled salmon accompanied by baked potatoes and a salad. A minute later Ruby came by bringing Emma's cheeseburger and fries alongside a chocolate milkshake for the blonde and a cold iced tea for Regina "Enjoy ladies." She said before walking away.

Just like promised forty minutes later Granny came to their table bringing two apple tarts for their dessert. She placed the plates in front of them and took a seat beside Regina. "Was the salmon alright girl?"

"Yes, it was delicious. Thank you grandma." She leaned a little and placed a soft kiss on the older woman's cheek. Emma's mouth almost hit the table "did Regina call Granny grandma? What the hell is going on here?"

"I'm glad you liked it my girl. Now enjoy your dessert." She stood up but before she left she decided to put an end to the blonde's surprised expression. "You can close your mouth now, Regina here is my newest granddaughter, do you have a problem with that?"

Emma stuttered "Ah…Ah no…no of course not I…I just wasn't expecting it. I'm glad for you both." She smiled honestly and happily, Regina needed to be surrounded by the ones who really cared about her.

At those words Granny made her way to the kitchen again. "What the hell happened between you two?" she asked Regina and this time she was expecting an answer.

"Let's say that we had a heart to heart talk in the kitchen this morning and we agreed that from now on we are family and she's my granny." Regina said simply not wanting to get into details.

"Ok." Emma knew that probably there was something more behind that but she didn't want to push it, instead she dived into her dessert. "Oh my god, this is fucking delicious Granny should make it more times."

A voice came from behind "This isn't Granny's doing, it's Regina's."

Emma looked back and saw her mom "How do you know?"

"Oh…I ate this many times when I was a child and I could never forget this smell, it's unique." Snow said, her eyes were shinning and she had the sweetest smile directed at Regina.

"Let's just say that this was one of your mother's favorite desserts." Regina said softly to Emma. Regina looked at the woman standing in front of her and for a moment she remembered the sweet girl she once was and remembering her talk with Granny in the morning she decided to really open up to Snow again and without more delays she said "Sit here, next to me. I'll ask Ruby for one of these for you."

Snow looked surprised but did as she was told. Regina raised her hand grabbing Ruby's attention and asked the girl for another dessert. After a while Ruby came with another apple tart and placed it near Snow. "Thank you Ruby."

"You're welcome." And she moved to another table.

"Hope that it's still as good as you remember." Regina said to Snow.

Snow didn't waste any time and tasted it "Oh my, I really missed this. It's better than ever." Regina smiled and began eating her own tart.

Emma was there, eating and watching her wife open up her heart for real again to her mother, she knew they were trying to be friends but this time was different, she could see it, she could feel the love they had for each other finally flow free between them without restraints, without fear. Together they enjoyed their dessert and had a pleasant conversation involving a few heartfelt laughs.

The next two weeks were basically all the same routine for Regina, the only difference was that every other day she had to make the desserts for Granny's diner, her apple tarts had been a success, a huge success, because the ones left over from lunch were gone before five pm, which meant that Granny had no desserts for dinner time that day. Well Regina would only make the desserts in Granny's presence and the woman wouldn't let her do them every day because she said that it took too much energy from Regina and she wouldn't allow it.

That Saturday Emma and Regina were still in bed by ten pm and Henry was still asleep too. So both women were enjoying their time together before it was time to go to the diner for lunch, yes Granny basically ordered Emma to bring the brunette to the diner for her meals even at the weekends, the woman was taking her grandmother job really seriously.

"How are you feeling today beautiful?" she said while kissing the back of Regina's head.

"I'm fine honey, I swear. It's just the baby is really kicking hard this morning." Emma placed her hand on Regina's belly and felt the baby kicking.

"Yeah, someone is full of energy this morning." She smiled and kissed the brunette's neck this time.

Regina was about to say something when they were interrupted by Emma's phone ringing, the blonde immediately picked it up "Sheriff Mills speaking." After a few more seconds she added "We'll be right there." And she hung up the phone and turned to Regina "Come on, we have to go, get dressed." And she jumped off the bed.

Regina looked at her confused and asked "Where are we going?"

"To a place." Emma smirked and kept on dressing herself.

"Really Emma? That's all you're going to tell me?"

"Yup. I'm going to go get Henry, get dressed." And she walked out of the room. Regina shook her head and rolled her eyes but got up and went to get dressed.

Once they were all ready to leave inside of Emma's bug the blonde turned to her wife "You can't see where we are going it's a surprise." And she showed a black band to the brunette.

"Do I really need to put that on?" she asked skeptically.

"Yes mom, come on, it's a surprise." Henry said jumping on the backseat; he obviously knew what this was all about.

"Fine, if I must." Quickly Emma placed the band on Regina, covering her eyes. Once the seatbelts were in place she made her way to their destination.

They didn't take long to get to the place of destination. Emma helped Regina out of the bug and they all made their way inside of a building. Somehow the brunette recognized the smells of the place "Are we in City Hall?"

Emma and Henry looked at each other surprised but decided to respond with the truth "Yes we are."

"What are we doing here?"

"Just wait a few more seconds and you'll see." Emma answered back and they kept going.

"Hey guys, they are here." Leroy yelled, making everyone present take their places.

"I guess you can take the band off her eyes now honey." Snow said to Emma and immediately the blonde took it off. Regina took a few seconds to recover her eyesight but once she did she looked around, taking in all the faces that were there, Snow, David, Granny, Ruby, Leroy and all the other dwarfs.

"Can someone please tell me what we are all doing here?" She asked looking to all of them not understanding their presence in the City Hall, she hadn't been there since the accident with the imp.

Snow pushed Leroy so he would be the one to explain everything since he had been the one who had the idea "So, Madame Mayor…" the brunette interrupted him.

"Regina, my name is Regina." He nodded and proceeded.

"Regina, after the accident…" he stopped to breath he was so not used to these things. "I decided that you deserved a new office, since the last one was destroyed, and well it was a way of thanking you for saving my life too. So we all worked together to give you this present, I really hope you like it." He took a deep breath and moved to the door "Can you please have and give us the honor of entering first?" he said to Regina pointing to the door knob.

She looked to all of them once again, she didn't know when but she had become a little nervous but she nodded at Leroy and moved to enter her office, her new office. Once she opened the door and took in the sight she was mesmerized, it was beautiful, the walls were painted in a pattern of black and white like she liked, she had a new mahogany desk that by herself showed the power of the person seated behind it. There was a new black couch and two armchairs, they looked really comfortable, at first sight they made you wish you could just sit down and relax in them. Between the couch and the fireplace was a beautiful glass table and on top of it there was a few of Regina's old things, under the table was an amazing Persian rug. The office was perfect, she loved it. When she turned around after absorbing every detail of her new place of work, they were all waiting for her to say something. She smiled; she gave them a stunningly beautiful smile that lit up the entire office and filled their hearts.

"There you go Leroy, she gave you the smile." David said in a whisper to the dwarf.

"Yeah, she made my day and made all this work worth it." He whispered back to David.

"I…I…" she was stuttering, that was something she never did but she was so happy that she didn't mind that the words seemed to escape her "Thank you, it's beautiful, I love it, every inch of it."

"Leroy here was the creator of the office, we just followed his orders." David said putting a hand on Leroy's shoulder. The dwarf face became a little pinkish.

Regina stepped closer to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek "Thank you Leroy."

From pinkish his face went to full red "You're welcome, it was my pleasure and the ladies here helped with the decoration." He said.

"Thank you everyone." She said once again with a happy tear rolling down her face.

"You're making my girl cry." Granny said giving Regina a small hug "Let's all go eat, my treat." The dwarfs all made a happy sound and they slowly began to leave the office towards Granny's diner.

Once they were alone Emma took Regina in her arms "Did you like it?"

"Emma I loved it, I wasn't expecting this." She was still a little shaken from the surprise.

"You weren't expecting that your friends would do something nice for you or you still thought you didn't have friends?"

"A little of both I guess." She said honestly "But now I know I can count on them."

"Good. Let's go or Granny will burn my ears off if I don't take you to lunch." Both women smiled and came closer to the door.

"Just let's baptize the office a little before we leave." She gave the brunette a naughty smile and she understood perfectly what the blonde meant.

Their gazes locked on each other, they forgot their surroundings, there was nothing more than the both of them in that moment frozen in time. Trembling lips searched for one another lost in desperation for the feeling of belonging. Once the soft lips grazed each other's there was an electrical current sent into their bodies, making them shiver. They savored every inch of lip, until they deepened the kiss letting their tongues relish in pure delight.

Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, please review and let me know what you think ;) any mistakes were entirely my fault sorry.

I'll try to update soon.