Following Regina into the mansion, the Queen takes in her surroundings with a sigh as she removes the blonde's boots. The rooms lack the royal grandeur of her Palace, but she had always been fond of her Storybrooke home nonetheless. Besides, without her servantry and guard, the comparatively minuscule size of the house had been perfect for just herself and Henry. It seems for a moment as though nothing much has changed since she was last here, but then a coat hung on the stand by the door catches her eye. It is a soft mauve peacoat and she presumes it belongs to Mary Margaret. The Mayor follows the direction of her gaze and offers a small shrug.
"Your mother left it here the other day. If you're planning on stopping by to see your parents, take it with you, otherwise, I'll drop it off later. There's a pair of Neal's mittens too, which I've put in the pocket."
Regina explains as she heads towards the kitchen, and the Queen stalks behind her with her eyes narrowed as she seethes.
Why would you let that traitor and her wretched spawn into my house?!
"Emma?"
The brunette asks as she switches on the coffee machine and turns to face her guest. Her tone is coloured with a note of concern that bothers the Queen sourly.
"Are you ok?"
"Yes. I'm fine."
She replies, forcing a grin to light up the blonde's face. It is an expression that until more recently had rarely been seen by the Mayor, but it is one that seems to fit sharp features most naturally, and it appears to appease the brunette who turns around with a shrug.
"You looked... Upset."
Regina elaborates after a moment's thought, as what she'd actually thought was that the blonde had looked angry.
Hateful.
She dismisses the notion as a trick of the eye and pulls a saucepan from one of the drawers, before fetching some milk from the fridge. She strikes up a topic of idle conversation as she does; so used to the Sheriff's company these days that she barely even thinks about the words spilling easily from her lips.
"What are you doing?"
The Queen interrupts with a frown, watching as the Mayor fills the pan with milk and leaves it to simmer on the stove. The brunette offers her a coy smirk as she pulls a tin of cocoa powder from the pantry and stirs a generous spoonful into the warming milk.
"Oh, don't act so confused! I saw your face the last time I made Henry hot chocolate and offered you a coffee... You know, like an adult."
Scarlet lips stretch into a mocking smile and the Queen forces the blonde's to reciprocate and display her teeth in a frozen grin. When Regina turns her back to stir the distasteful concoction warming in the pan, her face falls into an expression of loathing and she silently damns the blonde's despicable palate.
"Mom!"
A cheerful greeting comes from the doorway, and both women turn around to spy Henry, but it seems that in this instance he had primarily been directing his attention towards the blonde.
"Mom dragged you out of bed, then?"
He grins as he leans against the counter beside the Queen, and she regards him pensively before throwing the Mayor a rather sinful smirk, causing the darker woman to look away hastily as she recalls tight black fabric and pale flesh.
"Oh, I was up and about."
The Queen replies breezily, and she returns Henry's eye roll with a more genuine smile of her own.
"Shall we go through into the drawing-room?"
Regina asks, handing Henry a mug of hot chocolate before holding one out to the blonde. The Queen studies steaming chocolate with masked revulsion, which is only made worse when the boy tops it off with a mountain of cream and a dusting of cinnamon.
"I don't know where you two put all that."
The Mayor sighs amiably as she leads them out and into the drawing-room, and Henry laughs as the Queen thins her lips disdainfully behind them.
She takes a seat opposite the others, moving uncomfortably as the leather of the blonde's collar brushes her jaw.
"Sit up straight."
She frowns at Henry as he sags into the sofa like a broken doll, and he throws her a puzzled look, before doing as she says. Regina regards her with a raised brow, and the Queen bites her tongue as she realises that common sense isn't something the others are used to hearing from the Saviour.
"How is it?"
The Mayor asks, gesturing towards the calorie-coma in her mug, and she eyes the brunette's coffee jealously as she takes a sip. The cream coats her lip with smooth sweetness in a way she finds extraordinarily unfamiliar, but she meets the darker woman's gaze as she slowly licks herself clean and supposes that maybe this isn't the worst situation after all. She reminds herself that she needs to tread carefully in front of Henry, but she has seen the blonde do unsavoury things with her cream enough times to know that a flirtatious flicker of her tongue is seen as a regular occurrence when it comes to Emma.
"Sweet."
She replies with a heated glance at Regina, and the darker woman licks her lips- seemingly subconsciously- as she holds the blonde's cool stare for a moment.
"So, how was your evening with Violet?"
The Queen turns her attention to Henry, and the brunette blinks as she tears her own gaze away and frowns as it suddenly dawns on her that the boy had said he'd help out at the diner. She interrupts to mention this, and he smiles and assures her they've changed their plans to go over after lunch before launching into a play-by-play of his and Violet's time on Hook's boat the previous evening, before moving on to their adventures in babysitting his uncle.
Lord, have mercy.
"You should put a dab of brandy on his pacifier, it stops them fussing so much."
The Queen advises as Henry explains why he'd been up so early this morning, and Regina frowns as she studies Emma pensively. Her own mother had used brandy to quieten her as an infant and had told her as much several times, as childish 'fussing' had been entirely out of Cora's spectrum of interests. She would find it curious, however, if it were a practice allowed and discussed with children in the care system, and she's never heard Emma mention anything of the sort before.
Yes, well, I suppose a couple of nights watching over a screaming infant will have one reaching for the bottle.
Smirking, she exchanges a glance with the blonde, although Emma seems to ignore her knowing smile and simply sips at her drink. A moment later, the blonde stills as though startled by something, before she places her mug down on the coffee table and excuses herself distractedly.
"I'm just going to go to the bathroom."
"Sure..."
Regina replies, cocking her head as she watches the younger woman walk from the room, before shrugging and asking Henry what his plans are for the evening.
Upstairs, the Queen stalks past the door to the guest bathroom and continues down the hall towards Henry's room. Once outside, she can hear a faint crackling sound which she places immediately, and her eyes flash with dark rage as she lets herself in and snatches the walkie from the boy's bedside table.
"Henry? Are you there?... Kid, come on, please be around!"
Emma's voice is tinny but the desperation to her tone is pretty clear, and the Queen shakes her head with a slow smile as she thinks of several creative ways she might choose to punish the sly bitch later.
"Henry?... Crap... "
Desperation bleeds into defeat, and the Queen closes her eyes for a moment as she switches the dry apathy she's favoured since leaving the house for her son's voice.
"Emma? Are you okay?"
She injects false concern into her tone and rolls her eyes at the sound of scrabbling on the other end of the line."
"Henry!"
"Henry!"
Emma exclaims with a mixture of disbelief and elation, and she falls back onto her bed with her arm slung over her eyes as she begins a rapid explanation of her current predicament.
"Henry, listen, I need help. The Evil Queen is still alive! She didn't die when Regina crushed her heart. I don't know how or why, but that's not the issue right now! She's got me stuck in my house! I can't leave, I can't call anyone, and I can't use my magic. Please, you need to go and get your mom, or my parents, or someone! She's dangerous, kid! She-"
"-Emma, Emma, slow down!"
The Queen urges in her son's voice, biting back laughter as the pitiful hope in the Saviour's words only makes her imminent doom that much more delicious.
"What do you mean she has you stuck in the house?"
"I don't know how she's done it, but any time I try to do anything to leave, bad things happen. Regina came over this morning, though, so I think other people can enter, it's just that I can't leave!"
"Okay, don't worry! I'll get mom, and everything will be alright."
"Yes! Thanks! Go get her, now! But be careful, kid. I don't know where the Evil Queen is right now, and she is notsomeone you want to mess with."
Emma warns, removing her arm from her eyes and looking up at the handcuffs dangling from her headboard with a sense of foreboding.
"Don't worry, mom, we'll get you out of there."
"Don't worry, mom, we'll get you out of there."
The Queen promises sweetly, and she takes her finger off the receiver and places the walkie carefully back on the nightstand before turning to leave. Pausing, she studies herself in the small mirror that hangs on the back of Henry's door; blonde hair falling over tight leather the colour of fresh blood.
"You've just asked for things to get interesting, Swan."
She murmurs, watching the Sheriff's lips as they move. Swallowing, she lets herself out and returns to the drawing-room; smiling at the others before taking her leave.