Heeyyyyy... I'm back. I know it's been.. literally over a year since my last post, but I just lost my muses after the show turned into a running joke. I am not done with this story yet, we're of course near the ending, but there is still a few more chapters left to wrap everything up. I still really could use any pointers on any plotholes, so if you're new to reading this story and something sticks out - please please please bring it to my attention!
Since it's been a year.. my time table is a little off. I can't remember when school is supposed to start so if you catch if I mentioned that anywhere, please tell me. I feel like it was a week after they got back from vacation?
Anyway, here you go. It's fairly short, but it's something. I am working 43-49 hrs a week these days so chapters will probably be around this length from now on.
Dinner went by… awkwardly at best. At least for Emma anyway, which, honestly is probably not a surprise to anyone.
Taro was as still as stone, pushing his spaghetti around his plate, playing every bit the 'bored teenager' he still clearly was and ignoring any interaction her and Regina tried.
Henry seemed to be the only one who could elicit a response from the sulking boy, but even those were reduced to one word answers or a shrug of a shoulder.
Regina was particularly quiet, alluding to Emma that she had something on her mind. She tried her best to wiggle it out of the brunette when the boys disappeared to the corner store to pick up some ice cream, but Regina shrugged and told her she was still tired from their vacation. The blonde considered pursuing the issue, but eventually settled into the decision to let her girlfriend work through whatever it was for a little while longer before panicking, and instead focused on watching Taro's tracker blinking on her cellphone.
After dinner, Emma followed the trio back to the Manor and sat in the living room stretched out on Regina's Marc Newson sofa, the older woman curled up around her while a superhero movie Henry picked out flashed across the TV screen. Taro seemed forever disinterested, doodling in a notebook on the floor.
When it was time for bed, Emma helped Taro bring his belongings upstairs to his new room. Well, help was a loose term… she basically carried a bag up and then stood awkwardly in the doorway while the lanky teen started pulling books out of a box and piling them gently on the shelves near his bed. She wished she had something wise to say, being the only veteran in the house who had similar life experience… but the courage died quickly and she uttered a lame, "it gets better", before turning and heading back downstairs.
She found Regina in her home office sipping on a glass of newly opened apple cider and typing away diligently at her keyboard, dark rimmed glasses donning her perfect face. Emma took a moment to appreciate the view before the older woman finally noticed her.
"Taro settled in?" She asked distractedly as she began typing away again.
"Mm. Depends on your definition of settled." Emma replied as she moved into the room and poured herself a glass of the delicious home brew. Glass in hand, she sat down on the small loveseat and swirled the amber liquid around. "He likes books." She added a moment later.
A dark eyebrow lifted over the top of the screen of the laptop. "Oh?"
The blonde nodded, "He has a box of books worthy of Belle."
"Interesting. Maybe we can set something up with Belle where he can help her at the library once or twice a week." Regina suggested, still typing away.
"Maybe, eventually." Emma agreed.
Silence loomed between them once more and the young Sheriff shifted uneasily in her seat a few times before settling with her legs tucked partially underneath her.
"You're being awfully quiet tonight, should I be worried?" She finally prompted after another ten minutes had passed.
The typing ceased. Emma decided that the bubbles in her glass were now the most interesting thing in the room and twisted it around in the dim light of room.
"Why would you think there is anything to worry about, dear?"
Her heart leapt at hearing the now familiar moniker, but the strained undertones in Regina's voice left her mind restless. "I dunno… you're just… tense is all."
"Mmm." The brunette hummed from the desk, the keyboard tapping rapidly again. "I have over four dozen emails, half of which are parroting one another about when to expect to be able to leave town safely."
"Oh shit, I forgot all about that. What are we going to do about the scroll? Obviously, not everyone can have it at once." Emma shifted her body so she was now looking at the brunette, setting her own insecurities aside for a moment while rapidly thinking of a way to ensure all of Storybrooke's residents would be able to travel in and out of town safely, without any followers hitching a ride back.
"Clearly." Regina agreed. She stopped typing again and shut the laptop down, getting up out of her chair and coming to sit next to the blonde. "I was thinking about replicating the spell."
"Replicating it how? Like, cloning the scroll?" Emma asked, leaning into the older woman's shoulder, a smile blooming when Regina lifted her arm and allowed her to snuggle close.
"No, not cloning. The scroll is something of a talisman, so my idea is to replicate the actual spell in something personal to each individual and create their own personal talisman." The other woman explained.
"That's… that's actually really brilliant." Emma encouraged, kissing Regina's cheek sweetly.
"Thank you."
"So, when do we start handing out talismans?" Emma asked, intrigued.
"Next week I hope. It might take me a day or two to decipher the particular spell used and then be able to replicate it." The brunette sighed, running a hand through her hair at the surely daunting task.
"Can I help? I really want to learn more about magic anyway… we've been a bit too distracted for lessons lately." She gave the older woman a mischievous smile which earned her a smirk in return.
"I'd like that." Regina admitted, brown eyes looking down at her affectionately.
"Cool." Emma said, smiling softly as she held the Mayor's gaze.
After a moment, Regina maneuvered her arm away long enough to set down her glass on the coffee table before settling it back behind Emma's shoulders, the movement causing the blonde to tilt forward and unfortunately pin her own arm against her sore breast and cause a sharp intake of breath. Regina seemed to wrapped up in her thoughts to notice.
"Emma, I wanted to ask you something…"
"O-okay." She stammered, still recovering from the sharp pinch of her arm against her stitches.
Regina fumbled for a second, looking over at a painting of a horse on the wall. "I wanted to ask… you… if you'd like to... " And whatever was coming next just seemed to sort of go stale as Emma tried to bring her focus back to what Regina was trying to say rather than concentrating on her now throbbing nip. "I just wanted to see if you'd like to spend the night."
"Huh?" Emma asked, clearly perplexed by the simplicity of the question. She definitely had not been expecting that to be the question Regina was about to ask her, and in the back of her mind she had a feeling that it wasn't what was supposed to come out, but she didn't want to challenge it in case she was wrong. "Oh, um, yeah. Totally. Of course."
Regina seemed pleased enough, giving her a genuine smile. "Good. Then let's go to bed shall we?"
"Sounds amazing." Emma admitted, her exhaustion finally creeping back up to her with the help of the alcohol.