After an exhausting day, Emma was ready to drop. The 'Thumb' case, as they were calling it, had been a stress-packed day of heightened emotions, but it had at least found a ready conclusion. Poor Mr Tom Thumb had been hit on the head by one of the barn's beams, beheading him, ultimately. Luckily, he had no known family, so that made it less emotional for Emma, but it was definitely fair to say that the paperwork had been longer than Thumb's corpse.

Bone-weary, Emma's head went blank almost immediately as her head hit the pillow. And she assumed it would stay that way until the morning...

The rain fell harder than it ever had before. In the morning, Emma had woken up to a sunny sky, birds tweeting… Now it looked like the apocalypse. Weather in Storybrooke had always been temperamental, but this could rival even England.

"Babe, take a look at this," Emma whispered, opening the blinds a crack more and allowing Regina to squeeze in beside her.

"What am I looking at?" Regina peered out of the window, unfazed. She turned back to Emma judgmentally.

"You're telling me you don't think there's something going on with that rain?"

"I think," she moved away from the window, "it looks like rain." She huffed, as though hours of her life had been wasted. Emma folded her arms, not saying anything so Regina would know she was irritated. "I'm just being honest!" she continued grouchily, throwing her arms in the air as she noticed Emma's expression. "What do you want me to say?"

"I just want you to pretend you're interested in something about my life."

"I am interested in your life, Emma. Hell, we share the same life! I'm sorry if the rain doesn't interest me as much as getting to work on time."

Emma clenched her teeth. "Right. Well, enjoy work," she grumbled bitterly. She grabbed her coat from the hanger, heading towards the front door to clear her head. But Regina was having none of it. Emma knew Regina hated it when she walked away from arguments.

"Don't you dare!" Regina hissed through gritted teeth, splaying out her hand so that Emma went sprawling into the door, grunting. Regina screamed, bolting towards her. "Emma! I'm so sorry! It just happened!" she sobbed, the anger gone immediately from her eyes. Tears streamed down her face as she dropped to her knees, desperately looking Emma over to check that she was ok. Truly, Emma was just a bit shocked, but nonetheless Regina cradled her like a baby, gently brushing through her fine hair with her fingertips.

Reaching out, Emma brushed a tear from Regina's eye. It dribbled down her finger like the droplets on the window.

You're so dramatic," she grinned, deciding to forgive Regina immediately, mainly because she looked so damn cute when she cried. "Next time there's a rainstorm, remind me to wear armour instead of a coat."

"Don't you dare, Miss Swan," Regina blubbered, fussing over the hem of her jacket (her armour, as she'd once called it). "You took that off for me years ago. And it was the best day of my life."

Regina had a lovely time dedicating herself to Henry over the next few days – aside from one awkward conversation involving Jimmy Melon ("Nothing he said was worth anything, anyway. I'm going to give it back in a few days…"). Her time with Henry was almost enough to forget about the new curse. But not quite.

It was amazing how one word could strike so much fear into her. One word that, for many, meant nothing but warmth and damn good food.

Granny's.

It was the centre of town, therefore it was the centre of Regina's discomfort. Anyone and everyone who had ever hated her always seemed to be there. Naturally, it had gotten a lot better when she was dating Emma, but now no one remembered that they had ever been dating at all. Regina wondered how bad it would be… probably pretty bad. She glanced at Henry, contemplating whether there was any way to get out of it.

"Henry…"

He smiled at her in a way that melted her heart. "Look, I understand if you don't want to come in… I just thought it might be a chance for you to speak to my Mom."

Regina's eyes widened, remembering the day at the Sheriff Station. Emma must have thought she was insane. God, had she really sunk as low as to mention it to their son? Henry frowned, clearly sensing her confusion. "As in, about detention…" He looked at her guiltily. Regina let out a sigh of relief. "I thought maybe it would be better if Emma talked to Principal Heathcoat… just because–"

"–I cursed the entire town. Yes, I remember."

Granny's was surprisingly quiet, more than usual. Perhaps that was because it was around eleven on a weekday, or perhaps it was because people started filtering out as soon as Regina entered. Either way, it was nice to have some peace and quiet. Regina placed herself down in the farthest booth from the door, facing away from everyone. Henry looked up at her comfortingly. She wondered for a second what their mother-son relationship looked like in this new curse… Was it the same? Henry hadn't seemed hostile towards her for even a second, so she supposed so.

A bell tinkled at the door, making Henry look up from his menu. Regina wished he hadn't once she realised who it was that had walked in. Emma. Of course.

"Henry!" Emma exclaimed. Regina could hear the smile in her voice without looking. She knew her so well, and yet Emma only knew her as an enemy. "And… Regina," she added awkwardly. Regina turned her head, preparing herself. And it was just as well that she did, because the emotions came flooding in like water from a broken dam. She took a deep breath and then turned to face her.

"Emma," she purred, her face decidedly bored to hide the fact that her heart was beating as fast as the early days of their relationship.

Emma smiled blandly.

"Hi, how have you been since–"

"–So, Henry," Regina started, cutting Emma off with a look that could of (and had) killed. Henry raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. "Are you going to tell Emma about Jimmy Melon?" she asked sternly. The tips of his ears went slightly pink upon hearing Jimmy's name, his eyes begging her to take it down a notch. Emma cocked her head to the side, curious.

"Who's Jaime Melon?"

"Jimmy."

"Who's Jimmy Melon? Henry, if there's something you want to tell me, you need to know I will always love you no matter wh–"

"Mom, I'm not gay," Henry hissed, the blush now spreading to the rest of his face. Emma slid into the booth beside Regina, confidently. Regina tried to ignore the way her movements suddenly became stiff from there on in.

"Ok, ok, that's fine too." She looked at Regina curiously. "So, who is this kid?"

"He's a boy in the year above me." Henry put his head in his hands briefly, looking as though he wished he had never said anything. "We got in a fight. And I pulled the fire alarm."

"Accidentally," Regina added under her breath, before Emma could say anything. Emma opened her mouth to reply, but Regina whirled on her, teeth gritted, ready for war. "You see, perhaps you should be spending less time focusing on the terrible job you are doing at work, and more time focusing on our son."

"Woah," Emma said immediately, eyes wide. "That came from nowhere. What did I do?"

Regina grimaced and shook her head. A few hairs brushed Emma's neck and Regina could've sworn she saw Emma shiver. But maybe that was just wishful thinking. "Nothing," she sighed, looking down so no one could see how red she had become. Henry took over, sensing the tension (which wasn't difficult, considering the tension was so thick most people in the room could probably sense it). He glanced fleetingly at each of his parents.

"I… need one of you to talk to the principal. I think what Mom was trying to say is that it makes more sense if it's you, because…"

"I haven't ruined anyone's life."

"Actually, you ruined Jimmy's," Regina hissed under her breath, before she could stop herself. Clearly that was a trait she had taught Henry. Emma glared at her, and her heart dried up. She remembered the time, years ago, when they had sat in this booth together, finally getting it right. Regina and Emma had reached for a fallen fork at the same time, and that was the moment Regina had known… Their fingertips had brushed together only for a second, their eyes locking only until they blinked, but it had felt incredible; like a million Christmases compressed together and necked as a party shot.

"Well, thanks, Regina," Emma said through gritted teeth, her cheeks reddening by the second. She clearly wanted to say more, but wouldn't in front of Henry. "I can take it from here." Regina knew that look – it could mean two things: lust or loathing. She didn't need a genius to figure out which one it was.

Gulping down the rising bile in her throat, Regina nodded at Henry comfortingly. Then, avoiding Emma entirely, she grabbed her bag fiercely and charged out of Granny's before anyone could notice how red her face had become.

It was an understatement to say Emma was surprised when she saw Regina in Granny's… she was hand-trembling, body-freezing terrified.

After all the dreams, the days thinking everything through, she felt guilty even looking at her. As though Regina could see what was going through her head just by a glance (which, of course she couldn't… could she?). She saw Henry before she noticed the back of Regina's head, which allowed her no leeway to avoid what came next.

As soon as she noticed Regina, she tried to act cool. Calm. Even when she slipped into the booth and felt Regina's hand brush across her. As it sent tingles up her spine. Even when she noticed the smell of Regina's perfume and for some reason it made her want to get closer; to breathe it in until it made her dizzy. Maybe it was just really good perfume? She thought unconvincingly.

Then Regina had lost her temper. Something inside Emma broke. It was the cutest thing she had ever seen. The way everything on the right side of her face curved up just a tad more than the left, as though competing. And how, when Emma had retorted back to her, Regina had raised her chin and rolled back her shoulders, trying to gain a physical advantage. Emma smirked even thinking about it – as though there was anyone in the world who believed they had authority over Regina.

Emma groaned internally. Why was she still thinking about her? Why couldn't she stop? Maybe there was something wrong with her… Regina's fingertips brushed against Emma's cheek, so soft. Those invisible sparks flurried across her skin again, burning brighter than anything you could ever see… The dreams were so real Emma could almost touch them. And she definitely wanted to.

But, no. She wouldn't think about this. In fact, she needed to distract herself with good people. People who would influence her in the right directions. She suddenly knew exactly who she needed to call…

Neal picked up the phone after a single ring.

"Hey, it's Neal," he said cheerily, taking something out of his mouth (a toothbrush, Emma hoped).

"Hi, are you free to talk?"

"Yeah, I'm just brushing my teeth. You at Granny's?"

Emma frowned, looking around as though she would see him there. "Yeah, how did you know?"

"They've had that same playlist on a loop since I got here." He started singing along to the song in the background. "Wait, am I the only one who noticed this?" Emma smiled. It was nice to have Neal back in her life, she was glad she called him.

"Apparently. Breakfast?"

"As long as there's no orange juice."

"Done."