September 2012
The strong aroma of cinnamon and apple floated throughout the house, the kitchen was warm and welcoming with two brunettes playfully bantering by the sink doing the dishes.
Regina rinsed soap suds off a white porcelain plate and handed it to Ruby to be dried and stacked aside. Cheekily grinning, Regina scooped up some bubbles into her palm and blew them toward Ruby, her magic making the separate and fly high as Ruby laughed when they landed in her hair and began to pop.
Tossing the tea towel to the side Ruby wrapped Regina up in her arms and tickled her sides for a few seconds before placing a wet kiss onto the shorter woman's cheek.
"Eww, get a room," Henry called out to them as he came down the stairs, clad in his pyjamas.
"Well, we could but the apple pie might burn," Ruby replied, smiling at the young boy.
"Don't burn my apple pie, I want dessert," Henry said, flopping onto the lounge.
"Have you completed your homework?" Regina asked her son, walking up to him, ruffling his hair, glad that they were back on good terms for the moment.
"If I say yes can I play the Xbox?" Henry tried, pulling his best sad eyes.
"Homework first mister," Regina said, waiting until the young boy got up.
"How much longer until the apple pie is ready?" Henry questioned, trying to put off doing his school work.
"It'll be done in three minutes kiddo," Ruby called from kitchen as she finished the dishes.
"Just enough time for you to go get your homework ready Henry," Regina said, walking her son to the stairs and watching him ascend them.
"I want a big slice with ice cream," Henry called behind him, going into his bedroom.
Walking into the kitchen, Regina smiled, noticing Ruby cutting up the apple pie. Walking up behind her, she wrapped her arms around her and placed a soft kiss onto the taller woman's shoulder. "That wasn't three minutes."
"Thirty seconds, three minutes, what's the difference?" Ruby asked, placing the first piece of pie into a bowl. "Ice cream?"
"Yes please," Regina responded, releasing Ruby and grabbing a spoon.
Handing Regina a bowl, Ruby served up the other two slices and sat them on the counter. "I'll meet you in the lounge room, I'm going to cover the pie," Ruby said, watching Regina exit the kitchen.
Hearing footsteps heading toward the stairs, Ruby smiled as she threw a tea towel over the pie until it cooled. "Mister Henry Mills, I have your pie," she smiled, turning around as he entered the kitchen.
"Yum, I can't wait," Henry said, taking the pie from Ruby. "Thanks Mum... um, I mean Ruby... um... bye." Going bright red, Henry turned around and ran up the stairs, slamming his bedroom door behind him, pie in hand.
"What was that about? Regina asked, coming to see what the fuss was about.
Staring at the stairs, Ruby shook herself out of shock and looked to Regina, wide eyed as if she was going to cry.
"Ruby, what happened?" Regina asked again, going over to her partner and looking into her bright green eyes.
"Henry, he called me Mum," Ruby replied, looking at Regina who was grinning at her.
"He does see you as a parental figure, you do live here and you are my partner, my one true love. You're always there when he needs you. He's accepted you as part of our family and I couldn't be happier. You mean the world to me and Henry and he sees you as one of his mothers," Regina said, leaning up and placing a soft kiss on Ruby's lips. "Let's go eat our pie before it gets cold."
Leading Ruby into the lounge room, Regina sat down and pulled Ruby down next to her. "What's on your mind?"
"He called me Mum, I'm no mum," Ruby responded, stabbing her pie with her fork.
"You are a very good mum actually. You tell him no and you make sure he does his homework and goes to bed. You drop him off and pick him and make sure he's okay. I couldn't ask for a better parent for my child to have." Putting her bowl aside and Ruby's too, Regina pulled Ruby into a hug.
Snuggling into Regina, Ruby exhaled and wrapped her arm around Regina's midsection. "It's just so weird, I feel like I'm about to burst from happiness but then I feel scared I'm going to stuff up," Ruby said, knowing that she wouldn't be judged.
"Every parent stuffs up in some way. Look at my track record just recently, it's not great. When Henry was seven months old I left him on the lounge and turned my back for two seconds, he ended up rolling off and wacked his little face into a wooden block. His nose bled for ten minutes and I felt so bad afterward I beat myself up about it for a month," Regina admitted, intertwining her fingers with Ruby's.
"That makes me feel a little better," Ruby replied, nuzzling closer to her partner.
"I love you, Ruby."
"I love you too, Regina." Placing a kiss on Regina's hand, Ruby smiled and felt content lying in her lover's arms. "I think I hear a young man exiting his bedroom," Ruby added, her wolf senses making it easy for her to hear his movements.
Waiting until her son was in the kitchen, Regina spoke, "Henry, come here for a minute please."
"Sorry Mum, can't, I'm doing my homework," Henry replied, running back up the stairs and to his room.
"Let me go talk to him, he may not want to but I think it'll be good," Ruby said, untangling herself from Regina.
"Go," Regina smiled, lightly tapping Ruby on the backside.
Heading up the stairs, Ruby took a deep breath and headed toward Henry's bedroom. Stopping outside of his door she knocked twice before entering. "Hey kiddo, how's your homework going?" she asked, stepping inside of the messy room.
"It's going good. I have one question left and it's easy," Henry replied, not looking up.
"Okay, when you're done brush your teeth and get ready for bed please, we have a surprise for tomorrow and we both apparently need a good night's rest," Ruby said, frowning that Henry didn't even bother to look up at her.
"Will do, I just finished my homework so I'll go get ready now." Getting up, Henry rushed out of the bedroom and to the bathroom.
Walking over to the desk in the bedroom Ruby picked up the sheet of homework questions and read over it, checking Henry's answers in his book to make sure he didn't skip one or incorrectly interpreted the question.
"Did I get anything wrong?" Henry asked, coming back into his bedroom.
"No, you didn't, you did a really good job," Ruby replied, looking up to see Henry getting into bed.
"Since I did a good job can I please go to bed now?" He asked, trying to avoid any more conversation.
"Of course," Ruby said, feeling dejected as she turned on the bedside lamp and flicked off the main light. Taking a deep breath in, she walked over to the bed and sat down on the side of it. "Goodnight kiddo."
"Night." Rolling onto his side, he faced away from Ruby.
"Henry, please don't shut me out," Ruby said, placing a hand on his side.
"I'm not."
"I get it, you feel weird that you accidently called me something other than my name and its okay," Ruby said, trying to ease the tension.
"You mean that I called you mum and ran out of the room." Rolling onto his back, Henry propped himself against the pillows.
"Yes, that." Looking at Henry, Ruby tried to hide her smile.
"To be honest, you are like a mum to me. Mum does a good job but she's had a lot to own up to and deal with and sometimes she takes it out on those around her but she's been my mum all my life and I love her even after she cursed everyone here. Emma is my birth mother but she acts more like an older sister than anything but if I tell her that I think I'd hurt her feelings. She tries but she lets me get away with everything. I've only known her for a year and I do love her but she needs to stop trying to save the town at the drop of a hat. Then I have you, you and mum got together two years before the curse broke and even after it broke you still chose to be with her. You took care of me, protected me, made sure I was okay, helped me with my homework, and told me no when needed. You and Mum are a lot alike but you're the cool parent," Henry finished, taking a deep breath, not realising he went on a small speech.
"I'm so lucky that you're such a wonderful kid, I really am," Ruby said, feeling her heart swell with emotion.
"I'm lucky that you're a part of my family, you're like my second mum," Henry replied, smiling at Ruby.
Pulling Henry into a hug, Ruby held him tight. "I love you Henry."
"I love you too," Henry responded, returning the hug. "Tomorrow can you tell me the story of why you stayed with my mum after the curse broke?"
"I can, it's not long though," Ruby replied, releasing Henry and tucking him in. "I'll see you in the morning. Goodnight Henry."
"Goodnight Ruby," Henry responded, closing his eyes.
Exiting the room Ruby headed downstairs to find Regina. Hearing a cupboard door open she headed toward the kitchen. "Henry's gone to bed," she said, finding Regina putting away the dessert bowls.
"Hopefully he sleeps well. How was your talk with him?"
"It was good, he told me that I'm like a second mum to him and that he loves me. He also wants me to tell him the story of why I stayed with you after the curse broke tomorrow at some point," Ruby replied, helping Regina with the last of the tidying.
"Are you going to tell him everything?" Regina asked, raising an eyebrow at the green eyed woman.
"I think I'll leave out the part of our first kiss and how from the second our lips touched true love kicked in and it brought back my memories," Ruby responded, looking at Regina.
"Thinking back to that I can still feel the sting in my cheek from where you slapped me after you remembered," Regina said, touching her face.
"You deserved it, you were just lucky that you were cute and I loved you," Ruby smiled, walking over to Regina and pulling her into a hug. "Shall we go to bed?"
"I'm very grateful you love me and bed sounds wonderful, hopefully you and Henry will enjoy what I have set up for us tomorrow."
"What is it? I want to know?" Ruby excitingly asked, bouncing up and down on her feet.
"You'll find out tomorrow, just wait and see," Regina smirked, winking at Ruby as she exited the kitchen.