Emma was a nonstop bundle of twitchy exposed nerves over the next two days. She had decided that this was all her fault. Before Regina met her she had been, well, maybe not the happiest in the closet but she had been successfully in it. Her job had not been at stake, her emotions had been perhaps a little low - okay very low - but stable. Now Regina was facing getting fired. She had been on the phone with her agent every day looking into what she could do should C&P write her off as well as with a lawyer who insisted that they could not write her off simply because she had outed herself.

Regina had been strangely efficient. She had been doing what she needed to do and while she wasn't letting her concern show, the only place that she seemed to really be herself was tucked tightly in Emma's arms - where she seemed to want to be at all times. "I just keep telling myself," she had said more than once, "that even if I was to lose this job, I would still have you - I still would have found you. It wasn't a waste of time and energy. It brought me you."

Which was terrible because the day of Regina's meeting was a busy one for Emma. She just wanted to be with Regina who was clearly much more concerned when she was away from her. She needed to be with Regina. It seemed as though, despite the fact that Regina would never say it, she wanted her there too.

She hated knowing that she wouldn't be able to actually see her until late that night. They had agreed that Regina would stay with Emma that evening, but if she had been sacked then would she show? Emma wouldn't blame her if she wanted to go home and there was no way that Emma could follow her down there. Today was her first day at Intertwined Hearts. Between that and work that evening there was no way she could follow her.

So she just waited rather impatiently for when she would get the phone call.

She knew the meeting wasn't until that evening and yet she checked her phone every five minutes all day, worried she would miss it.

In a way, she should be thankful. She had spent an hour or so every day since she had seen Regina tap dance, simply researching online how to be a coach. She still wasn't sure she could do it and because of that, her stomach had been in a nervous knot. This meeting of Regina's was helping to make her forget about the bag of soccer balls, scrimmage tees and cones in her car, waiting for that evening.

Or at least, she thought she should be thankful until that evening when she was finally driving to Intertwined Hearts. The thing was - if she were just going for her first day of coaching - or if she were just waiting to find out what happened with Regina - either would be bad...but waiting for both? It was fucking torture.

She pulled into the lot of the large building and was immediately impressed. Somehow she had never made it there.

The original plan had been for Regina to join her and show her around. This had been something Regina was greatly looking forward to, so proud of the organization. Walking up to the building, bag over her shoulder, without Regina just - didn't feel right.

Okay so maybe just as Regina kind of secretly wanted Emma available after her meeting maybe Emma also secretly kind of wanted Regina there for her first practice.

She stopped just outside the door and took a deep breath, trying to center herself.

She had played this sport for years. She would probably always play it a little. She had always known she wanted her kids to play it so she could be their coach. You have to start somewhere, right?

"You know, the door only works if you go through it."

Emma jumped, "You just said a mouthful there." She turned and fell under the scrutinizing gaze of the small boy behind her. "Hi."

For a moment, Emma couldn't breathe as she looked down at him. He looked like a memory in corporeal form from her childhood.

There were some things you never forgot about being an orphan in a children's home; like the feeling of watching the last car leaving for the day and you were still there unpicked, or the laughter from other children when they tauntingly asked you where your parents were. But there were also some things you did forget. The boy's moppy brown hair was shaggy and swept to the side to avoid his eyes; which could have been a trendy choice; only, Emma had a feeling it wasn't. The boy's shirt was just a little too big on him and his pants hung loose, a clear hand-me-down from a much larger boy. His shoes were okay but old and ratty. He had a look about him that said that, while he was physically taken care of, fed, clothed and washed, there was no one to care for him.

She had forgotten about that look. She had grown up hating that look.

Still the moment the boy's sweet face cracked into a smile, showing off the tiny dimple in his cheeks, Emma felt such a strange pull at her heart. His eyes were curious and yet twinkled in a way that reminded her of Regina. It was the same beautiful sparkle.

"Are you the new coach?" His head tilted to the side and he looked so much like a puzzled puppy that Emma grinned.

"Yup!"

"Then how come you're not going inside?"

"I uh, I will."

"Are you scared?"

"What? Uh, no!"

"You don't have to be scared. We don't bite."

"Funny. Are you supposed to be in there?"

"Yeah. I'm an orphan."

"I see. Then what are you doing out here?"

"Waiting for you." He giggled and Emma smiled back.

"How old are you coaching, coach?"

"Enough with the coach, stuff, yeah? Just call me Emma."

"Okay. Emma."

"I'm uh, age's nine to eleven."

His grin crinkled again, "Good. Then you're my coach." Then his face fell as if he had remembered a terrible, awful, horrible, no good fact, "Or - you would be anyway. My cleats are too small this year."

Emma nodded, understanding, "And there were none in the hand-me-down bin?"

"How did you know?"

"Can you keep a secret?"

He nodded quickly.

"Well. I'm an orphan too."

"You are?"

"Um-hmm."

"But you're too big to be an orphan!"

Ha! Did you ever get too old to be an orphan?

His eyebrows pulled together in concentration, "Did you parents give you up so you could have your best chance, too?"

Emma scowled, "You know, I've never thought of it that way."

"It makes sense. My parents loved me, but they couldn't keep me, not if they wanted me to have my best chance at life. So they had to give me up. Ms. Kelly at the home says they were 'nothin' but teenagers'."

"Teenagers, huh?"

"Yeah. That's why they weren't my best chance. Get it?"

"I - I do. I like that." Emma swallowed thickly, wondering how the hell this kid had gotten so damn smart. In thirty seconds she had a whole new way of looking at her parents abandonment.

He was studying her again, "So are you going to go inside?"

She laughed once, clearing her throat, "I guess I have to eventually, don't I?"

"Yeah. And now you're late! Everyone will be waiting for you."

He gave her a shove and laughing, Emma tripped and stumbled her way into the front office.

"Hello. What can I hel- oh, you're one of the soccer coaches! Welcome coach."

"Emma." she told the jolly looking woman at the front desk.

"What age?"

"Nine to eleven. Hey, where'd the kid go?"

The woman looked up and around Emma as though she were seeing phantoms, "I didn't see any kid."

"But uh -" Emma frowned and shook her head, "Never mind."

"Alright coach. Your players are waiting for you. Just head down this hall and then make a left and a right. That will take you out to the back quad."

"'Kay, thanks."

"You're welcome."

Her nerves were still in a tight ball. She checked her phone again, still nothing from Regina. Damn it.

Her nerves tripled when she stepped into the early evening sun and saw a gaggle of children all in ill-fitting cleats and shin guards waiting by the drinking fountain.

Oooooh, crap.

All the little faces turned toward her openly excited.

Take a deep breath, Em; take a deep breath and go. You're just here to help them have fun. There's no pressure. Your team can come in last in the league, so long as all the kids had fun.

"Are you my team?"

They nodded.

"Alright! Hi!" she gave a few of them high fives, "I'm Emma. What are your names?"


Something was bothering Emma and she couldn't think of what it was. It was true the warm breeze kept reminding her that it was strange to begin soccer this early in the year, but Intertwined Hearts had arranged for them to have an extra month of practice time.

The program really was amazing. She knew that Regina didn't take any credit for it, giving it all to her friend and colleague who had thought of and set up the program, but this was great. Emma would have loved the ability to play soccer when she was in her children's home but as it had been, she hadn't been allowed. See, you needed a parent or guardian to give permission for you and her children's home hadn't been willing. You also needed someone to pick you up and drop you off to practices and games. Even if Emma had wanted to try out she couldn't have gone - and there would have been no one to buy her the equipment she needed.

This program helped the kids feel included.

Intertwined Hearts was clearly so much more than an adoption assistance agency.

But what the hell was it that was bugging her?

She checked her phone again, still nothing.

She had done a fun little name game.

She had told them about herself.

She had done a few simple passing and running drills to see how they were with a ball - and some of them were pretty damn good.

She checked her phone again.

"Okay, that was great, guys! That was so good!" The happy little faces grinned at her. "How many of you have ever played a real game?"

Two raised their hands.

"Alright! That's okay! Next week we're going to do a little scrimmage. Do you guys know what that is? No? Well, I'll show you next week! Line up for me, please." She went down the row of thirteen counting off, one - two - one - two - one. "Ones, I want you to line up on this side and twos, you're over here. One kid per cone, please."

It took the kids a while to get to the proper sides and even longer to get in line at the cones.

Emma had purposely set herself up across from Paige, the long legged girl who seemed as though she was going to be their strongest player. "What we're going to do is this, alright Paige, come out here, I'm going to dribble toward Paige and try to make it to her cone with the ball. She is going to meet me in the middle and try to take the ball and make it to my cone. You got that, Paige?"

The girl nodded.

"Alright. And go."

The first run through she let Paige take the ball from her, enjoying the glow on the girl's face. The second time in a move of fancy footwork she breezed past Paige and was pleased when the girl laughed. "Okay. Everyone understand? Awesome."

Shit. But we're one short unless I play. We need another - wait, where was that kid? He said he needed new gear, but he's not here. "Paige, team up with these guys, alright? Okay. And go!"

Emma checked her phone and then stood watching the kids and every now and then looking over the yard.

The little moppy-headed kid wasn't hard to find. On the opposite side of the field, he was sitting on the very top of the jungle gym, watching the team intently. "Okay, keep it going guys. I'll be right back."

She jogged over and looked up at him, shielding her eyes with her hand. "What gives, kid?"

"What?" His feet swung back and forth with obvious agitation.

"Why aren't you out there?"

"I told you, I can't!" His little bottom lip pouted out just a bit and Emma wanted to wrap him in a warm blanket and cuddle him. He was so fucking cute!

"Why not?"

"Because I don't have any cleats."

Emma put her hands on her waist, pretending to think, "That sounds like a bad reason not to be involved to me."

"But -"

"Nope!" Emma barked but gave him a grin, "Off those monkey bars! You have drills to run! Move, move, move!"

His beam warmed Emma's chest like a sip of hot cocoa. She watched him scramble down from the bars; a little worried he was going to hurt himself in the process.

"So I can play? What about my shoes?" He asked as they walked back to the rest of the team.

"I don't know, honestly. But we might as well try, right?"

"Right. So. Did you say monkey bars?"

"Yeah?"

"You mean the jungle gym?"

"Wha- the - the thing you were sitting on!"

"The jungle gym."

"Isn't that the same thing?"

"Yeah, but no one calls them monkey bars anymore."

Emma scoffed, "Did you just call me old?"

He broke into giggles and Emma grinned. She liked this boy.

"Alright, kid, pair up with Paige."

She was still chuckling and rolling her eyes when she felt a hand on her arm.

"Regina!" Emma's heart made a serious attempt to jump out of her throat. "What are you doing here? Is it done? What happened?"

Regina's arms were crossed, holding her sides tightly and Emma couldn't tell if she was upset or pleased.

"You've run over."

"What?"

"Time. Practice is supposed to be over."

"Oh shit, really? I mean - err - shoot. Sorry kids." Sure enough, the practice was supposed to end ten minutes before. "Okay guys, get some water! Make sure all the balls end up in the blue bag, okay? Good work!" She high-fived each kid in turn until she got the moppy-haired boy who looked disappointed, "What's wrong?"

"I missed the whole thing!"

"Well then be here on time next week!" She winked and his smile returned.

Then she pulled Regina by the elbow to a nearby bench where she could watch the kids playing with the balls instead of putting them back into the bag.

"The hell happened?" She whispered. "Are they going to write you off?"

"No," Regina blinked behind her sunglasses, looking dazed, "not exactly."

"Regina! What does that mean?"

"Well. When I got to the meeting I was in - a state."

"Yeah."

"I walked in and Emma, the entire team was there."

"What?"

"Yes. All the writers, all the producers, even a representative of the network was there. I was sure they were going to ask me to quit or they were going to tell me I was being written off. Even Zelena looked nervous for me."

"And?" The fucking suspense was killing her.

"They told me it was a meeting about the script for the second half of season three."

"Shit."

"Yes, that was my thought too."

"So?"

"They told me that they have decided that in the second half of season three, Samantha and Annabella - are going to become love interests."

Emma's jaw hit the floor, "What?"

"I don't think I could explain just how surprised I was by that."

"Uh yeah!" She glanced back at the kids, seeing that Paige was showing the little moppy-headed one how to head the ball...poorly. They were going to fucking hurt themselves, "Ball on the ground only guys!"

"It took Zelena and me awhile to get over our surprise. She was actually very sweet for once. She asked something like, 'So this isn't about the interview?' and I was glad because I couldn't seem to get myself to ask that."

"And?"

Regina chuckled, "Emma, they hadn't even seen it yet. I don't know if it was simply that no one had checked their emails or what but they didn't know. So I told them."

"And?"

"They were a little, well, they were very angry of course. They wanted to know why I felt I had to keep my sexuality a secret. They said they were worried that H.R. was going to be concerned."

"What did you tell them?"

"The truth."

"And how did that go?"

"Not well."

"Okaaaay."

"But then they told me that they would not nor could not kick me off of the show for this."

"So -"

"So Zelena and I agreed. Samantha and Annabella are going to become love interests."

A small fangirl spark flicked inside of Emma and she grinned, "People are going to be so happy."

Regina grinned.

"What did Zelena say? Anything rude?"

Regina let out a derisive snort, "She asked me, and I quote, 'are you ready to start making out every day?' and 'do you think Emma will be jealous?' I think she likes you."

Emma stared at her for a moment and then began to laugh.

They both laughed until their sides ached, the weight of worry slipping from their shoulders.

"So everything is going to be fine? You're out. You're not going to be fired. Everything's - fine?"

"Yes. I suppose so."

"Jesus, I can't believe it. I was so goddamned scared."

"You were?" There was that studying look and for the first time in a while, Emma didn't know what it meant. Her face was shining with - something and Emma thought - yeah - she thought she liked whatever she was seeing there.

"I was." Emma's voice came out a little too soft.

Regina studied her for another moment, pulling something from Emma, though what - she had no idea. Then she softly pulled her chin to her and kissed her, "I love you, Emma Swan."

Emma flushed and had to look away, scuffing her shoe until the fluttering wings in her stomach could settle again.

A ball came flying toward them and bounced off the wall a foot away.

The moppy-headed boy came tearing after it, caught it and grinned, "Hi, Ms. Mills."

Regina looked surprised, "Hello!" As much as Regina wanted to, she didn't really get a lot of opportunities to work with the children. Emma knew she was surprised that this boy recognized her.

"You gave me my goldfish at the fair last year," He explained.

"I did?" Regina's voice was warm as she smiled at him, "How is it now?"

The boy's sweet face scrunched as he frowned, "It died."

"It did? Oh no!" Both of the women laughed and after a second he joined in too.

"I guess I'm not very good with goldfish."

"Yeah, well, they can be hard!" Emma insisted.

"Yeah!"

"Actually, Ms. Mills," Emma started, "I was going to talk to you about him. It seems his home can't afford to get him some new cleats and without cleats, he can't be on the team. Is there anything we can do about that? I thought you mentioned something once about issues like this."

His little face grew so warily hopeful that Emma decided that, fuck it, she would get the kid the shoes out of her own pocket if there was no room in the budget.

Regina frowned as she always did when she learned of children in homes going without anything at all, "Of course we can!"

"Really?" He squealed and began jumping up and down. "That's so cool!" And suddenly he flung his arms around Regina's neck.

Regina's face showed thick surprise for a moment, frozen and unsure. Her warm chocolate eyes flicked to Emma's and Emma smiled, encouragingly. Then slowly, she melted, her smile becoming soft as she closed her arms around the small boy and hugged him tight.

Emma heard a muffled "Thank you" from him as he buried his face in her hair.

"You're welcome, sweetheart."

Then it was Emma's turn and though she had just watched it happen, she felt her own sense of surprise.

When he let go he just stood there, grinning at them.

Emma and Regina exchanged a look of adoration. There was something about this boy... Emma knew that Regina could feel it just as much as Emma could.

"Tell you what." Regina took his hands and gave him another smile, "Why don't I come by your home tomorrow and we can go and get you a new pair. Maybe even some ice cream."

His eyes flew wide, "Really?" he breathed.

Emma's heart did a little jig.

"Really."

He hugged them both again.

"Okay kid, can you get the rest of those balls into the bag for me?"

"Uh-huh." He turned and just to prove how capable he was, he moved at double time.

"Can you do that? I mean - is it allowed?"

Regina was watching the boy, her eyebrows furrowed, "Honestly, I'm not sure."

"Can uh, can I come?"

Regina took her hand, "Of course."

Throwing the giant bag of balls over his shoulder, he struggled but successfully brought the bag to them.

"Awesome! Thank you!"

"You're welcome, Emma!" He gave her a toothy grin.

A bell rang and the boy's eyes grew sad.

"What's that?" Emma asked.

"That means it's time to go back to the home."

"Oh." She wanted to reach forward and smooth his little brow.

"Well, don't forget about tomorrow! We'll pick you up!"

He beamed, "Okay!" He jumped in the air once and turned to dash away, but Regina caught him.

"Wait a minute. How will we ever find you again if we don't know your name?" Her eyes were alight with maternal humor.

"Because you'll see me, duh!"

"What if there are a hundred boys that look just like you? How will we know which is the real you?"

"You're silly!"

"What's your name?"

He rolled his eyes in playful exasperation, as though this were the most obvious thing in the world, "I'm Henry!"