Emma
Once again, Emma, Regina, Henry, Oliver, and Bonnie were finding a new normal as over the next two weeks the family fell into a shy new routine. In the morning, Regina made the coffee while Emma dressed Bonnie. Then Regina hurried Ollie and Henry along while Emma made breakfast.
Next Regina would shove the children into the car to drive them to school, Emma and Regina sometimes stealing a kiss hidden away from the eyes of their children and other times a mere nod or wink. Regina would go to work while Emma tended to her business. Regina no longer watched Emma at the track - at least - not every day. She had finally confessed to her lunchtime activities and was promptly forced into swearing she wouldn't do it anymore.
In the evening they would split responsibilities, making dinner, driving the children to and from their meetings and practices and the least favorite, potty training. It was true that potty training a little girl was a bit easier than a boy, but neither really loved picking the stubborn girl up and putting her on her potty. They were following leading expert's advice and letting her run around naked, much to the chagrin of both her mothers who had been urinated on daily.
At night they would tuck the children in together and then ready for bed, sometimes to make love, else to talk. Sometimes they even stayed in their own separate beds, both tossing and turning a bit.
Mal was not forgotten, nor were the horrible things that Regina had done. As a matter of fact some nights they stayed up until late in the evening, not touching but simply discussing it all, working through it. Sometimes they fought, sometimes they cried, but neither of those passions was anything like the ones they had faced in the beginning.
Their life was changing slowly. They no longer had pizza every Monday and sex only on Fridays. It almost seemed easy now, how had they fallen into that routine? At the time they were sure it had been necessity but - here was the proof that it wasn't.
Emma was not stupid, she noticed that people were beginning to watch them, Mary-Margaret and Eugenia predominantly. She could see them calculating each move, each look, each word between herself and Regina, trying to decide what they meant. When Mary-Margaret finally gave in and asked her Emma had shrugged and said, 'we're co-parenting.'
She was fairly sure that Mary-Margaret didn't believe her.
Life was on no account easy, but Emma found that she liked it. She hadn't given much thought to what their next step would be, content with how things were.
Emma was exhausted. She and Regina had stayed up late into the previous night contemplating where Craft came from and why, wondering how it was that Regina had so much when others had so little to none. Then their talking had turned to touching and their touching had turned to ardent and surprisingly affectionate lovemaking. She didn't regret it at all, but she was dragging.
She had arrived home from grocery shopping to find Henry and Penny on the couch 'studying'. She was not looking forward to having to discuss that with Regina; though she had felt some retribution when she made Henry and Penny help her make dinner and spent the entirety of the preparation giving them a stern 'talking to', reminding them of the do's and the don'ts of safe sex.
"Mrs. Mills, we're not having sex yet." Penny finally muttered though her blush, making Henry groan and cover his face.
Emma grinned and gave Penny a side hug, "Awesome and all, but neither was I and then suddenly I was pregnant with Henry. And I wasn't much older than you."
Penny blushed all the harder.
Ollie and Bonnie were in the backyard, bundled up and playing on the bit of swing set that Ivy had left behind after his last birthday, a miniature version of the grand one that she and Regina had created.
The front door closed and she heard a brisk, "Hello!"
"Hey!" Emma called back, giving Penny some more vegetables to chop.
Regina took her shoes off and vanished everything back to their proper place as she did every evening, "Can you believe it, I spent all day with Bonnie's snot down my back. Alfred kept telling me I had something on me, but didn't seem to care to elaborate until an hour ago." Regina stormed past them and into the laundry room down the hall.
"Being a parent is gross," Emma called after her.
"Hey!" Henry cried.
Emma laughed and handed the pot spoon over to Henry, "Stir."
She followed her into the tiny room.
Jesus, no one looked as fucking good in their underwear and pantyhose. With a playful growl, Emma spun her and lifted her to her waist in one movement. Regina accepted, dropping the snotty dress, wrapping her legs around her and kissing Emma, long and hard.
"Bad day?"
"Ugh!" Regina groaned, "Not bad, exactly just frustrating. As much as I hate to say it, I think we need to stop staying up as late."
"I think so too. I was not firing on all cylinders today."
"When did we get so old?" Regina sighed, holding Emma's mouth to her throat.
"I don't know what you're talking about lady; I am nowhere near forty."
"Hmmm, watch it."
Emma laughed, holding her tighter. They shared another kiss before Emma pulled back a little, studying Regina's half crooked, lipstick smeared grin.
"What?"
Emma sighed. It was on the tip of her tongue but, she set her down, mumbling about Henry burning the place down with his cooking.
Regina rolled her eyes, continuing to clean the dress by hand.
"Okay, kid, go and get your brother and sister please before they freeze."
"It's not that cold, Ma."
Emma rolled her eyes, smacking him lightly, "Goooo."
Regina reappeared just as Ollie and Bonnie were removing their coats, "Into the closet please."
Ollie nodded, gathering Bonnie's things.
"Thank you!"
"Everyone get their homework done?" Regina asked as Ollie began setting the table.
"I still have history to do," Henry grumbled.
"Right after dinner please then," Regina said with a point of her finger. He nodded but just to be sure she turned that pointed finger on Penny who laughed and nodded as well.
"Food!" Emma called, Crafting the serving dish and all of the fixings to the table.
"Awesome!" Henry was the first at the table, as usual.
Regina took Bonnie to the bathroom and then they all sat.
"Soooo, are you ready for your first game this weekend?" Emma asked Henry, taking a bite and then feeding a bit to Bonnie. They were at the point of leaving her to her own devices with a spoon and a bowl of food but she made a mess more than she ate.
"Nooooo, I do it! Gimmie!" she yelled.
The whole table fell silent, shocked.
"Well." Regina said after a minute, "You just hit the ground running, didn't you?"
Bonnie gave her a messy smile and plunged her spoon back into her bowl.
Shocked, Emma glanced at Regina who returned her feeling and then the meal carried on, Emma shaking her head and wondering what else the girl would come out with soon.
"This is so good, Mrs. Mills!" Penny said after her last mouthful.
"Penny," Emma scoffed, "I already approve of you. There's no need for false flattery."
"Oh, I don't know, Emma," Regina said, a teasing glint in her eye, "I think you have come a long way from nearly poisoning me the first year that we met."
"Hey! I did not nearly poison you!" Emma cried, gesturing with her fork, "I was - just making sure your stomach was...um, ironclad."
"Ironclad it was. You're lucky I ever called you again after your first attempt at seafood."
The table laughed, though Emma couldn't help but to notice that Ollie's face stayed serious. Regina was watching him too, making Emma think that she had been a little slow on the uptake.
"What did she make you?"
"Oh, the rawest salmon I think I have ever been served. We could have made sushi with it."
"In my defense, the clerk at the store was really misleading!"
"Sweet pea, are you alright?" Regina asked, running her fingers through his hair.
"Yeah," He said slowly, his face contorted in thought.
"Are you sure? You kind of look like your brain doesn't feel good." Ollie looked at Emma, his concentration growing. "What is it kid, spit it out?"
"I don't understand."
"What don't you understand, sweet pea?" Regina asked.
His soulful eyes turned on Regina and he took a deep breath, "I don't understand, if you love each other then why don't you just say it? Why do you hide it? You both say it in here," he pointed to his chest, "so why not out loud? Isn't mommies kissing each other a good thing?"
Regina's face would have been comical if Emma had been capable of remembering how to laugh - or speak. The fuck had just happened?
"I just- I don't understand." He looked back at his plate, staring at it and frowning.
"Uhhhh…"
Emma looked up, at a loss but Regina didn't seem to have anything to say either.
They had been caught, red fucking handed!
Henry looked like he was watching a very active tennis match, his head whipping back and forth between Emma and Regina. Finally he cried, "What?" in such a high girlish tone that Emma cracked a smile.
"Sweetie," Regina started in a soft voice, "Did you maybe see Mommy and I doing something that confused you?"
"No." He almost looked frustrated.
"Then -"
"I just know!" He rolled his eyes.
"Moms!" Henry demanded, still looking between them, "What?"
"Errr-" Emma said, unsure if they should answer him or perhaps run for cover. This is why they hadn't been open with - whatever the hell they were doing. A kiss could just be a kiss, sex could just be sexy but Ollie would never understand that.
Ollie seemed to realize he wasn't going to get an answer and scowled back at his plate.
"So coach Midas thinks that we can make it to the championship this year." Penny suddenly announced to the table, cutting through the silence.
"Oh yeah?" Emma jumped at the chance while Regina said quickly, "That's wonderful dear!"
Ollie was still sullen when dinner was done and Henry was still watching them with an eagle eye. Emma felt as though she were a fish in a tank, every now and then casting Regina an exasperated look.
Regina finally bent down to Ollie and softly touched his cheek, "Sweetie -" she started but it seemed as though she had nothing else planned.
"Tell you what guys," Emma finally said, "we'll do the dishes tonight. Henry, get started on your homework and Ollie, why don't you play in your room for a little while." There was no point in hiding that she and Regina needed to talk.
Henry's eyes narrowed as though resentful of being left out of the secret, but Penny pulled him by the hand up the stairs.
"Door open!" Emma called after them.
Ollie looked between them, still plainly baffled and followed up the stairs.
They put up the baby gates on either end of the kitchen so Bonnie could play and then started on the chore.
"So what do you think?" Emma cut to the chase.
Regina laughed, drying as Emma washed, "I think that between Bonnie's slow speech and summoning the binky and Ollie's ability to know and see things, I would wager a guess that we have two more in the family with Craft."
She laughed, shaking her head in disbelief, "Isn't it supposed to be rare?"
"I thought so."
"Poor Henry. He's going to be the only one without it."
Regina scoffed, "Poor Henry? Are you kidding? He's the lucky one. You know how hard puberty is going to be for Ollie and Bonnie, and Ollie - I worry that it's already going to be hard."
Emma nodded, chewing her lip. "I don't think I've ever been more embarrassed."
"Oh god, I felt like I had been caught in the backseat of a car by my mother!"
Emma cackled a laugh, "We basically were! Are you sure that he wouldn't have seen us at some point?"
"How? I suppose he could have come in one night with a nightmare or something but I can't imagine he would understand what he was seeing. Besides, we're very careful."
"How much do you think he knows?"
They both scowled and made a silent agreement to never think of that question again.
"He's right you know," Regina said after a few minutes.
"Right?"
"Isn't his mommies kissing a good thing?"
Emma flushed, words caught in her throat.
Yes, but…
"I mean, we're raising our children together again. We are sleeping together. We are taking care of the house together, even splitting the shopping. Typically they would call that a marriage."
Nerves flooded Emma. She knew this but…"Is that what you want, Regina?"
She put down the towel, staring out into the backyard in thought, "I don't know that we should rush back into anything, though what is left to rush into I'm not sure. I suppose it was an inevitability of me moving back into the house. I don't know, Emma. Perhaps it's something we should - try?"
Emma bit her lip, feeling as though her mouth were suddenly parched. She was - nervous. Why was she nervous? She turned off the water and slowly dried her hands. "I - I don't know if I trust you fully, Regina." They had been so honest with one another as of late, not sparing any details but she flinched as she said it, sure that Regina would cower below the words.
Instead, Regina pursed her lips, "No. I'm not sure that I trust me either, Emma. I still don't know exactly how it all happened, not really. That terrifies me." She took one of Emma's hands, playing with it lightly as she spoke, "But Emma - we have a family. We are a family."
"Yes," Emma said, weakly.
"And we can't seem to stay out of one another's beds."
Emma laughed, "Yes, that's true." She licked her lips as Regina gave her a wicked little smile.
"And I don't want to stop."
She loved Regina pressed against her like this, though perhaps not as much as she liked this smile, this happy, devilish little smile. "Stop?"
Regina's hands ran up her chest, cupping her neck, "Kissing you." Emma accepted the kiss, a smile growing. "Fucking you." Regina kissed her again, deeply, her hands running down over Emma's breast and back up to her neck, making Emma dizzy. Regina pulled back, looking her square in the eyes, "Loving you."
"Mmm," Emma sighed into her lips.
A small hiccup made them both look up, toward the doorway to the hall.
Emma's eyes narrowed but Regina just looked amused.
"Alright, come out."
Silence.
Emma rolled her eyes, grinning, "We know you're there."
Like a clown car the doorway spilled, Ollie, Henry, and Penny.
"Mmhm," Regina smirked, not bothering to pull herself from Emma's arms.
"It was Henry's idea!" Ollie cried, immediately.
"You freaking narc!" Henry cried, very red faced and pushed him. Emma supposed he hadn't exactly enjoyed the display of his mothers' sexuality that he had just overheard.
"So you guys were there the whole time, huh? Heard everything we said?"
"Uh-huh!" Ollie beamed, proudly.
Regina laughed, hiding her face in Emma's chest.
"What does it mean?" Henry looked like he was going to explode out of his skin. He bounced a little in place, his arms swinging as though he were trying to be as casual as possible.
He was failing.
"Guys," Regina said, turning in Emma's arms but wrapping them around her waist, "we need you to understand something. We can't make any promises about what the future is going to look like. There is no way for us to know."
"Uh-huh." Henry grinned.
Regina opened her mouth but Emma knew she had nothing left to say so Emma decided to step in, "But we're willing to try."
Regina craned a look over her shoulder, "Emma?" she whispered, her face blissfully hopeful.
"I'm willing to try."
"You are?" She asked, cupping her cheek.
"Yeah, I guess I am." They shared a long smile before turning back to their children.
"So you're going to try." Henry bounced a little harder.
"Yes," Regina said, giving Emma's arms a tight squeeze, "We're willing to try."
Henry beamed. "Then that's all we can ask for."
The end
