A/N: So, Christmas is reeeally late for the Swan-Mills family. In fact, it's STILL not Christmas yet for them. Sorry. I'm also sorry that this chapter took so long to finish and post. Right now, I'm working really slowly on updating all my SQ stories, but the progress isn't as good as it used to be when I first started to write for SQ. I'm graduating college this June so it's time to buckle down and get career work done so when I get time to myself, I use it to relax instead of write. Which, let me tell you, kills me as much as it helps me. If that makes any sense.
Oh, and I also started beta reading for people and right now I've got 4 authors I read for. So I try to get to their work as fast as possible, even if it means putting mine on hold.
Anyway, this chapter has been a long time coming and I'm sure only half if not less of you actually read these notes so without making you wait for this any longer...
Enjoy!
Chapter 6
Since Regina didn't have to worry about getting Henry ready for school, her morning routine was a little off. She still showered and got dressed for the day ahead at a fairly early hour, but without Henry around she had more time for breakfast preparation.
Every morning for the last seven years or so had always been a rush. Each day she would show up at City Hall and blink as soon as she sat down at her desk. That blink was the second it took for Regina to realize she had no idea how she got to work, how she managed to put on matching shoes, and even struggle to remember if she had even dropped Henry off at school or if she'd accidentally left him at home in her haste to get to work. Though she went through her routine with precision and accuracy and never had a hair out of place no matter how fast she moved, she had developed the skill of working on autopilot.
That particular day, Regina didn't have to hurry. She had the ability to slow things down. As much as she thought she would like that, she realized very quickly she didn't like it at all. The house was too quiet and it reminded her of the life she had once lived.
Queen of Nothing.
She'd lived in a castle with her husband and his daughter and felt trapped and alone. She knew a life of pain and misery and silent suffering.
The silence in her house gruesomely wore on Regina's nerves. It had been far too long since she'd been in the Enchanted Forest and even though she had no company at that moment in time, she knew where Henry was and she knew where Emma was. There were people around her, people she could go to when she needed some time to remember the darkness no longer surrounded her. She had found a light.
Well, a light had found her.
First, she had adopted Henry and that had changed everything. Then, Henry had brought Emma to Storybrooke. What looked to be her tragic end turned out to be the story that was still being written; one Regina hoped would have a happy ending.
She started to heat up a pan on the stove while she scrambled a few eggs, same as the day before, and set out two plates for the breakfast that had yet to be finished. Once Regina's morning coffee started to brew, she went to the front door and looked out the side window next to it. She smiled when she saw it.
It sat right at the end of the walkway like an early Christmas present that lay in wait, but without the bow.
Without a second thought, Regina headed upstairs and went straight to the guest room. She knocked several times and waited until Emma came to the door, not willing to burst in on the teen when she knew the blonde had been asleep.
A few seconds had passed since her third attempt at knocking when Regina heard feet hit the floor, which was followed by a clumsy stumble toward the closed bedroom door.
"Shit," Regina heard Emma mutter when something thudded against the door.
A second later, Emma revealed herself and stood before Regina in nothing but a T-shirt and panties. She hadn't even put on her glasses yet, which explained Emma's difficulty in getting to the door. Although, Regina knew it hadn't only been because the blonde had forgotten to wear her glasses. Emma, teen or adult, was as graceful as a stampeding heard of animals.
"Must you always answer the door in your underwear," Regina asked.
Emma smirked, though she still wasn't fully awake yet.
"This is how I sleep," Emma feigned innocence.
"Mhmm," Regina sarcastically hummed as she raised an eyebrow and looked at Emma with skepticism. "Put some pants on. I have something to show you."
"Mm," Emma half-moaned, half- hummed. "Am I really going to need pants for what you've got to show me?"
"Yes," Regina answered, her voice a little raspy from disuse and sleep.
Emma sighed then said, "Okay."
The blonde turned away from Regina and headed back into the room before she snatched her borrowed running shorts off the floor beside the guest bed.
As Emma slipped into the shorts, Regina allowed her eyes to roam over the girl's body from her bare feet up to her messy blonde curls. Then she wondered just how Emma managed to keep the same well-sculpted body before and after her pregnancy.
Once she put the shorts on, Emma turned back to Regina. Before she took her first step toward the room door, she noticed Regina snap back to attention, her eyes much lower than Emma's own eye line. That caused Emma to knowingly smirk as she headed over to Regina once again, her legs still bare but her previously inspected ass covered, shielded from curious and wandering chocolate brown eyes.
As soon as Emma made it back to the door, Regina took the blonde by the wrist and turned Emma away from herself. She started to push her out of the bedroom with a hand placed between Emma's shoulder blades and guided her through the upstairs hallway.
"Come on," Regina said as she directed Emma down the stairs and to the front door.
On the way down the stairs, Emma laughed.
"You are one kinky lady, aren't you, Madam Mayor," Emma joked. "Pushing me around, taking control, having something to 'show me'? Maybe you like a little role playing?"
"I'm starting to fear Henry's teenage years considering how much his birth mother is interested in sex," Regina said as they made it to the foyer. "He's a boy and his hormones will rage enough as it is. Add to that the fact that he's got your DNA and we're in for a nightmare."
"Eh, he'll be fine. Like you said, he's got my DNA and look how I turned out," Emma smirked.
"That's reassuring," Regina dryly replied.
Emma frowned, but tried not to let the brunette's comment hurt her. She knew Regina hadn't meant to insult her, but Emma was fragile. For some reason, she had yet to build up walls when it came to Regina and all the pain and hurt she felt from the first time she'd lived through her teen years seemed to stay on the surface. She hadn't pushed it all down and tried to move on yet, though before when she'd been eighteen and in prison she had already shut down. Things were definitely different the second time around for her.
Regina felt Emma tense, her hand still on Emma's back, and winced.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything by it. As much as you and Henry are the same, you're different. Do you understand," Regina asked as she tried to explain herself once she stopped the two of them in front of the front door.
Emma nodded, but didn't say a word.
Regina slowly sighed and immediately felt guilty about her slip up. She reached across Emma, still behind the blonde, and opened the door to reveal a dented and dirty yellow object at the end of the walkway.
Emma gasped, her eyes wide, and bolted down the walkway toward her beloved Volkswagen Beetle. When she reached the car, she looked it over from the taillights to the headlights and spotted the keys nestled against the windshield underneath one of the wipers. She plucked the keys from their resting place and opened the passenger door. Her only focus was the car. Regina didn't even exist to her anymore as the teen slid into the passenger's seat and smiled.
The brunette casually strolled down the walkway toward the car and watched Emma adjust herself in one of the worn leather seats. She made it to the the front gate when Emma propped her feet on the dashboard and reclined in her seat, the passenger door still wide open.
When Emma closed her eyes and settled in, Regina smiled.
"You'll contract pneumonia like that," Regina said as she stopped in front of the passenger's side, the open door then used as a shield from the chilly wind that threatened to freeze her from the chest down.
"I don't care," Emma confessed with her eyes still closed. "My baby's back."
Regina removed her blazer and held onto her long, black coat she'd grabbed on her way out of the house before she had followed after Emma. She carelessly disturbed Emma's relaxed state and wrapped Emma up in her blazer.
"Hey," Emma whined as Regina jostled her around to slip the coat around her shoulders.
"Oh, hush. You know you like it when I take care of you."
Emma grinned, which was enough confirmation for Regina that her theory about the girl was correct. She did like it when Regina took care of her.
"Join me," Emma suggested as she closed her eyes again and readjusted herself in the seat with the blazer around her.
"Breakfast will get cold," Regina said as she covered Emma's legs with her coat. "And I still have to take you to get clothes from your apartment before work."
"Just...stay in the car with me for a little bit then we'll have breakfast and you can show me my apartment. After that, you're free to be bored and stressed all day."
Regina sighed and after a few seconds, she closed the passenger door and walked around the front of the car to the driver's side. She tapped on the window with one of her nails and watched Emma lean over and unlock the door before the blonde returned to her earlier position and closed her eyes again.
Regina opened the door and slid into the driver's seat. She shut the door behind herself and tried to get comfortable.
Emma opened her eyes again and looked over at Regina.
"You'll contract pneumonia like that," Emma repeated Regina's words with a small smile.
"I don't care," Regina repeated Emma's previous words back to the blonde. "I'm wearing a lot more than you. I'll be fine."
Emma took a deep breath and reached over to stick the keys in the ignition. She turned the key and started the engine then turned on the heat. It took several moments, the two of them in silence, before the car warmed up. When it did, Regina finally relaxed. The moment she slumped comfortably in the driver's seat told Emma the brunette had been as cold as she predicted prior to turning on the heater.
Emma snuggled further into the blazer and underneath the coat. Her head rested easily on her own shoulder and she breathed in Regina's scent that lingered on the mayor's coat, her knees to her chest. She faintly smiled, her eyes shut, as she tried to fall back asleep. She almost achieved sleep too, but when Regina shifted in the seat with a sense of discomfort, she opened her eyes and lifted her head just enough to see the emotions that played out on Regina's face.
"You okay," Emma asked.
"I have a perfectly big and comfortable bed if I want to sleep," Regina practically huffed as she tried over and over again to find a preferred position in the leather seat.
"It takes some getting used to...Princess," Emma teased with a wide grin.
"I'm a queen," Regina played along with Emma and smirked. "You're a princess."
"Whatever," Emma said. "I bet your a princess in the bedroom. A pillow princess,that is."
"I suppose I might be offended if I knew what that was," Regina replied.
"You don't know what a pillow princess is?"
"I believe that's what I just said."
"Um, well, how can I explain this without it being awkward?"
Emma shifted in her seat and racked her brain for the right words to say.
"Do I even want to know what a 'pillow princess' is," Regina stopped Emma's thought process, a little afraid of the explanation she might get from the girl.
"Maybe not," Emma slowly said.
"Then I don't want to know," Regina said in a tone that left no room for argument.
Emma looked over Regina from her head to her hands, one which was set in the brunette's lap and the other that was pressed to her stomach. She noticed Regina's nervous habit of holding her stomach, ever regal and seemingly poised even when uncomfortable.
"You're amazing. You know that, right," Emma asked as she locked eyes with the other woman.
Regina flashed a forced smile that disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.
Emma knew instantly that Regina hadn't believed a word she'd said.
"Why do I have a feeling that even though you're not eighteen again, you still need something no one's given you yet," Emma asked as she turned in her seat to fully face Regina, much like she had Thanksgiving night when she met the mayor in the Benz outside of the Charming's house.
Regina furrowed her brow as she caught Emma's wording.
"And...what is it you need, dear," Regina asked as she turned just slightly toward Emma, her attention solely on the blonde.
Emma looked away and took a moment to stare out the windshield before she shrugged.
"How am I supposed to know? I'm just a kid."
Regina shook her head.
"Even without the spell, you were never really a child, were you."
It hadn't been a question at all. Regina seemed to know the truth, seemed to understand Emma in ways the blonde never could figure out how.
Emma frowned and tucked her chin in toward her chest before she peered up through her long lashes at Regina. A strand of hair fell in front of her face, but she didn't move. She sat completely still as she continued to face Regina.
Regina kindly smiled at Emma and leaned forward as she slowly reached out to the younger woman. She tucked the fallen strand of hair behind Emma's ear and as she stared into those large and almost shimmering green eyes, a wave of emotion washed over her from head to toe and almost gave her goosebumps.
So she lingered and didn't retract her hand even after she'd pushed back Emma's hair. Instead, she ran her thumb across the blonde's cheekbone and searched through those green eyes for an emotion or a flicker of information she could use to help the teen morph back into her adult self.
She wasn't sure if what she'd found would help Emma, but she had definitely found something.
Emma parted her lips and her gaze fell to Regina's mouth, but she didn't lean in.
"So..." Emma slowly, very slowly, started as she kept her eyes focused on Regina's lips. "How...did my car get here?"
Emma's eyes flicked up to lock onto Regina's and the brunette blinked.
"I," Regina tried and failed to find words right away. "Had a talk with Mr. Cassidy when I dropped Henry off."
Regina pulled back and set both her hands back in her lap.
Emma furrowed her brow in confusion as she snuggled further into Regina's coat and blazer.
"Mr.–? Oh. Neal. You talked to him?"
"That's what adults do. They talk."
"I just...thought that..." Emma shook her head and ditched that thought for a new one. "So you talked to him and he just...gave it back?"
"I may have used a little force."
"What do you mean," Emma asked with a slight upward curl to her lips in a barely there smile.
"Verbal force," Regina clarified. "I gave him an ultimatum."
"Like a trade?"
"Yes, you could call it that. It just sounds less important."
"You think getting my car back for me was important?"
"The car is obviously important to you and I'd hate for that...person to have something you value in his possession."
Emma's lips curled upward a little more.
"Thank you," Emma said as she nudged the collar of Regina's coat with her nose as she almost burrowed her face into it.
Regina breathed out a little laugh and smiled at the sight of Emma bundled up in her proffered clothes. In that moment, she truly did look like a teenager.
"Think you're ready to go to your apartment and get your own clothes," Regina asked after she took a few seconds to enjoy the look of Emma's cute and cuddly youth.
"Whatever you say...Your Majesty," Emma teased with a proud smile.
"You'd do well to remember I'm a queen," Regina said as she got out of the yellow bug.
Emma stepped out of the car as well and started to put her arms through the sleeves of Regina's coat as she kicked the passenger door shut. Just as the door gave a click-thud once it was shut, Emma realized what she'd done before she could flick her hair out from under the coat.
"Oh. Sorry. Here you go," Emma said as she started to remove Regina's coat while she also held out the woman's blazer.
"It's alright," Regina shook her head as she walked around the front of the car toward Emma then accepted her blazer. "Keep it."
"Really," Emma asked and her voice almost cracked at the higher octave she spoke in. "I have my jacket in the guest room. I can just–"
"Really, dear. It's fine," Regina said as she took Emma's wrist and gently pulled her back toward the house. "Although I do expect you to give it back once you're an adult again."
Emma looked down at the ground as she walked a step or two behind Regina and smiled.
"Okay."
Once Regina pulled Emma up the pathway and into the house, she went straight to the kitchen and finished readying breakfast.
"Wow. So this breakfast thing is an every day thing," Emma asked when she looked around the kitchen and saw the cooked eggs in a pan beside the stove, four slices of crisp toast popped up and ready for consumption in the toaster, and two empty plates set out on the island in wait for the meal to be served on them.
"Of course. Why wouldn't it be," Regina asked as she moved around the kitchen.
Emma shrugged.
"It's been a long time since food was...something to expect," Emma shyly confessed as she only occasionally glanced up at Regina to meet her eyes, slightly embarrassed.
Regina's lips parted in shock while she tried to control her features enough to not express just how shocked she was to learn that about the blonde. Neverland had been an eye opening experience all in itself, but in that moment she saw further into Emma's turmoil more than ever.
Dependability.
It was something Emma never had after the first three years of her life and Regina figured Emma must have looked back on those three years as a lie. She'd been a small little girl fooled into thinking she could have a normal family life just before the rug was pulled out from under her. She hadn't had anything or anyone to provide something as stable as a simple daily routine for her to count on. Her life had lacked structure and she spent her time after being released from prison moving from one place to the next because of it.
She'd been moved around and bounced back and forth over and over again as a child and when she finally ran away from the system, she met a man that got her wrongfully incarcerated. After that, she did what had been unfortunately and subconsciously instilled in Emma by then. She ran. She moved around and refused to stay in one place too long. It didn't matter anyway, right? She had no friends or family to keep her still in whatever city she found herself in that month.
"So," Emma broke the long silence between them. "Breakfast?"
Regina snapped out of her thoughts and flashed a quick and slightly forced smile. She nodded and went back to work on their first meal of the day before she kindly served the blonde at the dining room table; something that got Emma to smile and vocalize her appreciation though she didn't dwell on how big a deal it was to have Regina treat her in such a nurturing way.
"You know," Henry started as he walked through town along side Neal. "It was really nice of you to give Emma the car back."
"I didn't have much of a choice, did I," Neal replied. "Your mom made it pretty clear what I'd be trading for the car if I kept it."
"It doesn't matter what you would've lost," Henry said. "It's what you gave Emma when you gave back the car."
"Oh, yeah? And what's that?"
"Something familiar. Something she likes and has been holding onto for a really long time. Well, the grown up Emma anyway."
Neal furrowed his brow and looked down at Henry.
"Why would she hold on to it? It's a hunk of junk."
Henry shrugged.
"I don't know. It's not like she tells me anything."
Neal chuckled.
"Yeah, she's not much of a talker. You kind of have to feed her beer and hard liquor before she admits to anything," Neal casually threw out there.
Henry scrunched up his face.
"Are you saying you have to get her drunk to get her to talk? Have you done that?!"
"Uh," Neal nervously rubbed at the back of his neck then coughed as he struggled to dodge the question. "It was a long time ago. Don't ever do that to a girl, okay? Even if she wants to get drunk. Got it?"
"At least tell me she wanted to drink."
"Of course! I'm not...Henry, what has she told you about me?"
"Nothing," Henry honestly answered. "We don't really talk about you. You don't really come up in conversation, you know? I mean, maybe she talks to my mom about you because...I guess they kind of have to talk about you, but you think they tell me anything?"
"You're right. I'm sorry," Neal said as he threw an arm over Henry's shoulder. "It's not fair of me to ask you about her. I'll try not to do that from now on, okay?"
"Alright," Henry agreed as he let himself get pulled into a half-hug as they continued to walk down the street.
"So...what's your favorite thing to order at Granny's," Neal asked after a few seconds.
"Cheeseburger. With extra ketchup and pickles," Henry confessed with a smile.
Neal laughed.
"You definitely didn't get that from me. And your mom can really put food away. The greasier, the easier."
Henry smiled.
"Yeah, Emma has no problem with it, but my mom hates it."
Neal frowned and stopped the two of them before he turned to Henry.
"I can accept both of them are your mothers, but you've got to come up with something else to call them when you talk to me. What do you call them around your grandparents?"
"Mom," Henry said in a tone that suggested the answer should have been obvious while he shrugged and scrunched up his nose to display his slight confusion. "They know who I'm talking about most of the time."
"Huh. Well, it's kind of a head-scratcher for me and you might not want to call Emma by her first name anymore at this point. You know her better now, right? And she stuck around for you? Think you can come up with something else to call one of them for me?"
"Mm, I'll have to sleep on it. I'm better at code names."
"Fair enough," Neal smiled and affectionately rubbed one of Henry's shoulders. "Let's get you that cheeseburger, bud."
"Okay," Henry said as Neal started to walk them both further down the street toward Granny's. "Um...thanks...for picking me over the car."
Neal beamed down at Henry and wrapped an arm around the boy's shoulder again. He squeezed a few times as they continued toward the diner.
"Of course! You come first every time. Don't ever think otherwise."
Henry glowed with innocent, childish joy while the two of them hurried and huddled up through the cold until the bell clanged above the diner door upon their entry.
Once the blonde was fully fed, Regina ushered her into the Mercedes and drove across town to the blonde's apartment. During the drive, Emma played with the passenger's seat as she adjusted and re-adjusted its position a few times. She then put her feet up on the dashboard and tapped a rhythm out on her knees. When that became too much for Regina, Emma moved on to a backseat exploration.
The blonde climbed over the center console and slipped between the front seats until one of her feet connected with the backseat in the process.
"Emma! Can you sit still for two seconds?! Please. I'm driving."
Emma blushed as she brightly smiled and spun around to plop down on the seat.
"Sorry," Emma said as she tensed her shoulders then relaxed them in a sort of shrug before she gripped the edges of the two front seats and pulled herself closer to the center console. "This car is nice. Have you ever slept in it?"
"No."
"Have you ever had sex in it?"
"What?" Regina's knuckles tightened on the steering wheel and turned white due to her death grip. "No!"
Emma chuckled.
"Why would you even askme that," Regina asked.
"I'm curious. Plus, it's really hard to think that the Mayor doesn't have a few kinks. I bet you like some really wild stuff when it comes to sex and yet, probably no one has figured out what."
"Well, you certainly won't be the person to find out what I like," Regina said.
"Oh, yeah?"
Emma glanced out the windshield before she leaned forward, her eyes focused solely on Regina's neck, and brought her lips to the brunette's ear.
"I bet I could figure you out if you gave me a chance," Emma purred in the woman's ear.
Regina felt Emma's hot breath on the shell of her ear as well as part of her neck. It was almost enough to startle Regina while she eased her foot on the brake and approached a stop sign.
Then Emma's hand ran up her inner thigh from her knee to dangerously close to the apex of her legs.
The car jerked to a stop as Regina slammed on the brake and Emma wrapped her left arm around the back of the driver's seat to keep herself from falling over the center console and toward the dashboard.
Regina quickly put the car into park as her face turned red out of both anger and embarrassment.
Emma laughed even as Regina reached down and grabbed the teenager's wrist then wrenched it away from her crotch.
"Do not try that again, Miss Swan," Regina growled as she twisted her body to look right at Emma.
Emma's laughter died in her throat when she saw piercing dark eyes cut into her like daggers with just a single glare.
"I could have gotten us into an accident like that," Regina raised her voice as she pointed an accusatory finger at the blonde.
Emma gulped and shrank away from the driver's seat as she slid further back into her own seat.
"Just because you're eighteen again and have someone to look out for you doesn't mean you get to be reckless with your life or any other person's life!"
Emma looked down at her lap while she wrung her hands together.
"I'm sorry," she quietly said as she avoided eye contact with Regina.
Regina continued to furiously stare at Emma as she looked over the blonde's features. When she saw Emma's sincerity and timidness, her fury instantly vanished. She sighed and softened her expression before she looked around the street then got out of the car.
Regina opened the back door and slid in next to Emma. She shut the door behind her and placed a hand over top of both of Emma's.
"I'm sorry, Emma," Regina calmly and softly said.
"No, it's okay. I shouldn't have done it. For so many reasons." Emma looked up at Regina and forced a tight-lipped smile. "Really, it's okay. I'm just sorry I pushed my luck with that one."
Regina took a deep breath and returned Emma's smile, though hers was a little more relaxed.
"Okay."
When Regina reached the door to Emma's apartment, she realized that teen Emma probably didn't have a key. The young blonde noticed the woman's hesitance and grinned.
"Are you gonna need me to pick the lock?"
Regina turned to Emma and practically scoffed as if offended.
"What? No. As Mayor, I have a set of keys that gets me in anywhere in town," Regina replied as she retrieved a set of jangling silver keys with skulls on the round handles.
"Whoa. Skeleton keys? That is some seriously Gothic shit. Careful, Regina. You're medieval ways are showing."
Emma chuckled at her own joke and stepped closer to Regina, which also brought her closer to the door.
Regina smiled and withheld her own laughter as she fiddled with her keys until she found just the right key.
"Have you ever used those keys on this place before? Ever try to use them to check up on my older self," Emma playfully asked.
"I've used them here before, but not to spy on you," Regina answered as she pushed the key into the lock.
"Right. Tell yourself whatever helps you sleep at night," Emma smirked as she leaned against Regina's side from behind, her chest pressed against Regina's right arm.
Regina rolled her eyes though she smiled as she did it. She turned the key in the lock and opened the door. She took the first step inside and Emma closely followed.
"I believe your room is upstairs," Regina said as she turned and shut the door behind them.
Emma had started to move toward the kitchen as she looked around the apartment and scoped it out with curious eyes. When Regina pointed Emma in the direction of the loft on the second floor, the blonde sadly frowned and spun around to face the brunette.
"Wait, you're gonna stay down here," Emma asked.
"Do you honestly need me to hold your hand while you pick out a few outfits," Regina teasingly and somewhat haughtily asked with a smirk.
Emma shrugged.
"No, but I thought it might be fun," Emma cutely smiled.
"What would be fun about it?"
"Oh, you know. I'd look through all the clothes and pick the best ones while you make snide comments about them," Emma smugly smiled.
"I don't see why you would enjoy that."
"Guess it's just one of my kinks," Emma suggestively said before she winked at the brunette.
Regina lightly laughed in her mayoral-like way.
"Is there ever a moment you aren't thinking about sex?"
Emma chuckled.
"Not around you, no."
"And now I really hope we turn you back into your less sexual, adult self before Henry starts developing those kinds of feelings."
"Yeah, I think you've mentioned that before. Now, come help me pick out my clothes."
Emma grabbed Regina's hand and dragged the woman up the steep black stairs.
"How exactly do you expect me to help you pick out your clothes, dear?"
"Everything you scoff at is a keeper."
They reached the top of the stairs and Emma released the brunette's hand. She stepped around the room and inspected the bland looking living space.
Emma walked over to the short dresser and picked up the picture of adult Emma with Mary Margaret. She rubbed her thumb over the frame and flashed a small, almost non-existent smile before she set it back down.
"Are you alright?"
Emma looked over her shoulder at Regina.
"Yeah, just...looking around."
Emma turned back to the dresser and pulled open the first drawer. She reached in and snatched four pairs of panties that immediately caught her attention. Once she had the panties she wanted, she closed the top drawer and opened the one beneath it.
Regina awkwardly walked through the room. She slowly made her way over to the bed, the only place to sit in the room, and rigidly took a seat on the mattress. She sat with perfect posture, her back ramrod straight as she crossed one leg over the other and picked at her slacks to keep her ankles covered.
After Emma rifled through two more drawers, she had a few outfits that didn't make her feel old, especially since she wasn't twenty-nine at that moment. Satisfied with her selections, Emma abandoned the dresser and went over to the bed to join Regina. She took one deliberate step after the other as she stalled. She appeared to be in deliberation with herself as she bit her bottom lip and nervously looked around the room again.
"So, what do you think the baby is? A boy or a girl," Emma finally asked as she stood in front of the bed, but didn't sit.
Regina looked up at Emma and tilted her head to the side as she considered the blonde.
"Does that really matter," Regina asked.
"Just tell me what you think," Emma avoided her question.
Regina narrowed her eyes at Emma as she looked the blonde over.
Emma steeled her features, but shifted from foot to foot under Regina's scrutiny.
"What is this about, dear," Regina asked with nothing but compassion in her big, brown eyes.
Emma sighed.
"Nothing. I just want your opinion."
"Well, I couldn't care less what sex their baby is. I may have congratulated your mother on Thanksgiving, but she's unnaturally happy about her pregnancy and I don't like anything that makes Snow White happy."
A pleased and absolutely cute smile broke out on Emma's face while Regina picked at lint on her clothes that the blonde hadn't at all seen. When Regina looked up to catch the teen's eyes, Emma's smile disappeared and apparently so did her good feelings. Her previous worry had returned.
"Well, if it's a boy, that wouldn't be so bad, right? He'd kinda be like Henry."
"Not in the slightest," Regina laughed as she shook her head.
"But it can't be a girl," Emma blurted out.
Regina furrowed her brow and looked up at Emma, confused and surprised by the sudden confession.
Emma's eyes widened, shocked by her own admission, before they transformed into the eyes of a lost puppy. After a few seconds, her bottom lip popped out in a pout.
Regina was instantly reminded of the Shrek movies Henry had loved the moment he'd seen them. To her, Emma looked like Puss in Boots with the big eyes and big pout.
"Emma?"
The blonde looked down at the floor and gulped as though to swallow a lump in her throat caused by unseen tears.
"Because if it's a girl, they don't need me," Emma quietly explained then spoke more to herself. "No one wants the older kids."
"Oh, Emma," Regina sympathetically said.
"It doesn't matter. I ran away from the foster system and it's not like I've ever had parents anyway," Emma said as she started to back away from the brunette.
"No, you don't get to run away," Regina said as she reached out and grabbed Emma's wrist.
She pulled the blonde teen back toward herself and sat Emma down beside her on the bed. Regina turned to face Emma while she kept her hand on the girl's wrist.
"Is that what this is about," Regina seriously asked.
Emma hesitated then nodded, her gaze averted.
"Henry wants you," Regina said.
"That's not the same and you know it," Emma angrily mumbled, though it was less of a mumble and more of a biting remark.
Regina felt so much emotion behind that one statement. And for a moment, she looked hurt by Emma's partially accusatory tone, maybe even offended. It wasn't that the blonde had said anything personal about her. But that raw emotion and the knowing tone, the one that suggested Emma was no longer a teen anymore aside from her appearance, caught Regina off guard. It made her wonder what exactly young Emma could have been referring to because she and that version of Emma hadn't gotten close enough to throw barbs like that.
"It's different. You're right," Regina agreed after a moment. "But that doesn't mean it's worth less than if someone else wants you. He's still someone. In fact, him needing you should be worth more than if anyone else wanted you. He's our son."
"I get that! But... Just...never mind," Emma gave up, flustered.
Emma shot off the bed and moved toward the door, but turned back at the last minute before she started to pace in front of Regina.
"No, Emma. Tell me," Regina seriously demanded as she continued to sit and waited for the teen to admit to something the blonde hadn't planned to reveal.
It was a tactic she had often used with Henry when he was younger. Any time he had done something he wasn't supposed to, she had forced it out of him with a stern tone and a few well-placed words. And of course, her raised eyebrow and cold stare that threatened future punishment always helped.
Emma frowned and appeared almost on the verge of tears. A kicked puppy might not have looked as wounded as the teen.
"Henry can'tbe the only one that wants me," Emma blurted.
"Why not," Regina carefully implored with obvious concern and gentleness.
"Because I can't be what he wants...or needs," Emma stated almost like a question.
Regina cocked her head to the side and gave Emma a somewhat pitying look.
"We haven't had this conversation yet, have we," Regina said, knowing it to be the truth.
"What conversation," Emma asked as she shook her head with a confused look on her face.
"Sit down," Regina said as she patted the spot next to her on the mattress.
Emma sighed and slowly trudged over to the bed then plopped down with defeat beside the woman.
Regina reached over and grabbed the clothes out of Emma's hands. She placed them on the bed behind the two of them before she turned back to Emma and smiled.
"You were the one who made the visitation schedule for Henry when we got back from Neverland. I merely approved it after I asked you to do it again. And again. And again."
A smile started to tug at Emma's lips.
"He's always going on about what he does when he's with you and I always ask him what you feed him. So far, you definitely don't like to stick to the healthiest of things. But it's not like you feed him junk food every meal."
And then Emma smiled as a blush crept across her cheeks. She looked down at her lap while she picked at her nails.
"He kept having nightmares about Pan stealing his heart and every time he would wake up at your apartment, you would do what any mother should. You did exactly what I do, dear. You allowed him to sleep in your bed with you for a night or two and then if it happened again, you would stay with him in his own bed until he fell asleep."
Emma slowly looked up at that, but hesitated to make eye contact.
"Lately, he's been a little upset with the distance you've put between you two, but that's what I'm here for. I made a promise to him. We're going to fix whatever's broken."
"...Me," Emma sadly confessed.
"Pardon?"
"I'm broken."
Regina forced a smile that looked more sad than reassuring.
"No, you're not. You're the strongest person I know."
Emma's eyes immediately found Regina's and she looked at the other woman with so much hope.
"Is this all you want to take with you," Regina asked as she looked over at the pile of clothes behind them.
Emma followed her gaze and nodded with a smile.
"Okay," Regina said as she picked up the clothes once more. "Then it's time to move this into the guest room for you and it's off to work for me."
Emma smiled and the two of them stood.
"Now, do you want me to come home for lunch today or do you think you can handle having the house to yourself for the entire day?"
Emma pursed her lips and moved her jaw left and right as she thought over her choices.
"You should probably stop by for lunch. Who knows what I'll do if left alone for too long," Emma smirked.
"You're a handful at any age," Regina said as she shook her head in response to Emma's words.
Emma only beamed at that before she gave a slight nod and the two of them carried on with the day as planned.
For the next few days, Regina had left a note on the kitchen counter every morning before she left for work. And every morning, Emma stashed the notes in the bedside table after she read them.
Regina had come to an agreement with Emma to continue to come back to the house for lunch with the blonde. Regina always made something for both of them.
Although, on Thursday, Emma had hovered over Regina for a good ten minutes before the brunette offered to show the young blonde how to help her cook.
Emma managed not to break anything or start a fire or make a terrible mess of anything until she asked Regina to taste the sauce she'd been in charge of stirring and adding a few of Regina Mills' secret ingredients.
She'd been overeager to get the brunette's opinion on her efforts and also feared the worst about what Regina might think. Nervous and unsure of herself, Emma moved too quickly and spilled the sauce not only on the stove top and the kitchen floor, but also all over Regina's outfit.
"I'm so sorry, Regina," Emma said with wide eyes as she continued to hold the wooden spoon used to spill the sauce everywhere.
Regina looked down at her ruined clothes, shocked, but shook it off after a moment and smiled at the teen when she met Emma's eyes.
"It's okay, dear. I'll just take care of it and make a quick change before I go back to work," Regina said.
Emma still appeared tense as her eyes refused to focus solely on Regina's face. Her wide, green eyes darted all over Regina's sauce covered blouse before she momentarily looked up into Regina's eyes for a quick moment. That was when her eyes darted elsewhere because Emma just couldn't look the woman in the eyes.
"If it stains, I'll totally pay for a new one...somehow," Emma offered as she finally set the wooden spoon aside then returned her attention to Regina.
"It was an accident," Regina chuckled. "I can't tell you how many of my clothes Henry ruined when he was younger."
"Sorry. Really, I'm–"
"Emma," Regina stopped the blonde before she could worry anymore. "It's okay. I'm not upset."
"You're not? That shirt costs more than my car."
"Yes, well, you did steal it. I imagine most the things you own cost more than your car," Regina joked.
"Okay," Emma started to laugh with Regina. "That's a fair point."
"Although," Regina drew out the word as she stepped closer to Emma with a predatory gleam in her eyes. "There's a way to make this even."
Emma's eyes started to widen again, though less out of shock that time and more out of curiosity.
Regina grabbed the wooden spoon Emma had set down and dipped it into the sauce. She rubbed her thumb along the spot just under her bottom lip to wipe clean the sauce that had marred her face and then did something Emma could not have predicted at eighteen or even twenty-nine.
Regina licked the sauce off her thumb just as she flicked the sauce on the spoon directly at Emma.
Sauce splattered onto Emma's face and shirt and caused the blonde to gasp.
Regina laughed and swiped a finger over the remaining sauce on the spoon before she reached out and ran it down Emma's sternum. She slid her entire hand across Emma's chest just under the teen's collarbone and smeared around more sauce.
"There," Regina said as she pulled her hand away and inspected her work. "We're even. Feel better?"
Emma stared at Regina with determination for a moment and hadn't once blinked. But soon enough, Emma's lips slowly spread into a devious grin.
"Not yet," Emma said before she threw herself at Regina.
Emma wrapped her arms around the brunette and tightly embraced her.
Regina made a grunted sound of disapproval and protest the instant Emma tackled her into a hug.
Emma almost knocked the woman off her feet when she pushed herself against Regina. She squeezed the brunette and felt the sauce squish between their joined bodies while she backed Regina against one of the far counter tops near the sink.
"So much sauce," Regina complained as she tried to break out of Emma's hold.
Emma giggled.
"You didn't mind before," Emma said with a smile.
Regina tried to step aside and walk away from the hug, but Emma followed every little movement with a counter-action to keep the woman trapped. When that attempt and her continuous squirming failed to work, Regina rested a sauce covered hand against one of Emma's biceps and gently pushed the teen away.
"Well, you're sure to stain my blouse this way, dear," Regina casually said as she too smiled.
Emma loosened her grip on Regina, but didn't given up the fight. She kept one hand wrapped around Regina's waist while she let go with the other and used it to collect sauce on her index finger. She made sure to have Regina's attention as she stared into familiar brown eyes and swiped her finger against the tip of the woman's nose. She then stuck the finger in her own mouth and licked off the small amount of sauce that remained on her finger afterward.
Regina watched Emma suck her finger clean and noticed how the blonde's lips curled into a victorious smirk. She smiled at Emma's playfulness and actually seemed to genuinely enjoy the teen's amusement, even if it meant being drenched in sauce.
"Now I feel better," Emma said as she released Regina from her grasp and took a step back to give Regina some space. "Wait."
Emma looked over Regina's mostly red blouse that had been plain white before lunch. She then made a last minute decision when she moved forward and coated her hand with some of the sauce on Regina's blouse.
She ran her hand up the brunette's blouse from the hem to Regina's chest, careful not to graze the woman's breasts. With her newly sauce painted hand, she grinned and pressed it against the mostly unmarred skin exposed between the unbuttoned section of her blouse. Emma held it there for several seconds before she pulled it away and looked over the hand print she'd left behind.
"That should do it," Emma said as she once again took a step back.
Regina looked down at Emma's hand print and chuckled.
"Now I'm wondering if the spell you cast is making you relive Henry's childhood," Regina said with a smile as she looked up at Emma.
"Oh, great. The kid beat me to that too," Emma teasingly asked, not at all hurt by the implied information.
"Indeed he did. When he was four, he wanted to help me make the sauce for his favorite meal at the time. Spaghetti. Of course, he always made a mess and put little hand prints on my chest and the bottom of my shirt as well as my pants."
Emma proudly smiled as she imagined it.
"Definitely my kid," Emma said.
"Mm," Regina hummed in agreement. "Do you know what he said to me every time he got me dirty with another hand print?"
"What," Emma asked with a hint of laughter in her voice.
"'Uh oh'," Regina said in her impression of a young Henry.
Emma smiled and Regina continued.
"He was never sorry though. I could always tell because he would smile at me when it said it."
Then Emma laughed and her smile widened.
"Just like that," Regina said as she pointed at Emma. "That's the smile."
Emma's cheeks turned pink as she started to blush and her laughter subsided.
"He sounds like a cute kid," Emma said after a minute.
"He still is," Regina confessed. "Of course, I'll always see my little prince when I look at him."
"Your little prince?"
"I used to call him that when I would tell him a bedtime story about a Queen in search for her prince."
"Got it," Emma nodded. "I'm...I'm glad he ended up here."
"Yes," Regina slowly said with a bittersweet smile. "I'm glad he did too."
After that, Regina and Emma both cleaned themselves up before Regina went back to work a little later than planned. The rest of the day, including dinner, had gone well. Emma hadn't done anything to injure herself or anyone else and hadn't raged against the town with any kind of weapon, stolen or otherwise. Regina hadn't been distracted and managed to finish the rest of her paperwork and sit through a few boring meetings she'd had to reschedule earlier in the week.
Things had been good if not a little quiet without Henry, but Emma had kept her hands to herself and Regina had made it through a conversation with the blonde that hadn't revolved around spells or Henry or Emma's parents.
Emma had filled in a few gaps for Regina about Neal and some of her childhood. Nothing had been too detailed, but the blonde made sure to give the woman enough information to earn herself a few empathetic touches to the wrist, forearm, and shoulder at the dinner table. She hadn't shared any of her stories to receive those touches, but she appreciated and enjoyed every one of them all the same.
After dinner, Regina cleared the plates and Emma went to find a movie on TV. After ten minutes of searching the digital guide, Regina went into the living room to join Emma who hadn't found a single thing to watch.
"I love Christmas movies, but do they always have to show the same ones," Emma asked as she looked away from the TV and focused on the brunette.
Regina took a seat at the end of the couch while Emma was curled up on the other end.
Emma laid on her back with her knees bent and in the air, pointed at the ceiling. She took up a cushion and a half out of the three available on the couch while Regina reclined against the back of the couch and took up only one cushion.
"Would you like to watch one of Henry's favorites," Regina asked. "We have a few on DVD."
"Eh. I don't care if it's a Christmas movie or not. I guess I don't really care what we watch. I just don't want to go to sleep yet."
"Why not?"
"I'm not tired. And it's way too early for sleep unless you're like...sixty. Oh, wait," Emma said as she parted her legs to look between them at Regina and smiled.
Regina grinned and grabbed Emma's ankles before she yanked them toward herself and straightened out Emma's legs. She pulled Emma just a little closer to her by the ankles with the blonde laughing and kicking the entire time.
"Hey," Emma laughed as she slid across the couch. "It was a joke!"
"Relax," Regina assured the teen as she stopped pulling at Emma's ankles. "This isn't a punishment."
Regina dropped one of Emma's socked feet into her lap but continued to hold the other one in both of her hands.
"Then if this is some way of seducing me into your bed, all you have to do is invite me upstairs," Emma joked as she looked up at Regina with a tired, lopsided smile.
"I have no intention of inviting you upstairs for sex, Miss Swan," Regina said as she started to pressure on Emma's foot with both of her thumbs.
Emma feigned a shocked gasp.
"I meant, invite me to sleep in your bed. Get your mind out of the gutter, Regina. And you think Henry will get all his hormonal, sex-crazed tendencies from me," Emma teased.
Regina knowingly applied pressure to just the right spot on Emma's foot and the girl immediately moaned in response as she shifted on the couch.
Emma didn't say another word as she let Regina's thumbs push and slide all over her foot.
When Regina switched feet, Emma finally spoke up again, her voice a little raspy and thick from her blissful state and lack of vocalization.
"Are you using magic on me right now?"
Regina chuckled as she continued to slowly massage Emma's other foot.
"No. This kind of magic is all in the hands and finding the right pressure points."
"Show me your ways, Dark Sorceress," Emma said as she released her hair from her typical ponytail and rolled the hairband onto her right wrist.
Regina laughed.
"Not a chance," Regina smiled, but kept her eyes on Emma's foot.
"One day, I'll get you to share all your secrets," Emma said as she closed her eyes and sighed out with relief. "God, that feels good."
Regina wickedly and proudly grinned as she looked from Emma's socked foot to the blonde's serene expression. She pressed a little harder on the arch of Emma's foot and the blonde wiggled her toes and slowly started to relax her calve fully onto Regina's lap. She then slipped Emma's sock halfway off the girl's foot then lightly raked her nails up the sole of the blonde's foot. Her nails ran up from Emma's heel to where the sock had bunched up and the blonde wiggled her toes then slowly started to relax her calve fully onto Regina's lap.
Emma whimpered as she relaxed most of her body and Regina chuckled under her breath at the teen's reaction.
"So, are you ready to pick out a tree tomorrow," Regina asked as she turned her attention back to the blonde's foot.
"Oh," Emma said as her eyes popped open and focused on Regina. "That's tomorrow?"
"Mhmm. I said we'd get the tree at the end of the week and it's the end of the week."
"Oh, well. Yeah," Emma hesitantly answered.
"Is something wrong," Regina asked, her brows furrowed.
Emma shook her head against the couch cushion and casually rested her hands on her stomach as she maintained eye contact with Regina for once during a seemingly intimate moment.
"It just seems sudden."
"Do you not want to come with us?"
"No! I do. It's just...different," Emma reluctantly admitted though she was quick to correct the brunette.
"Different," Regina repeated.
"Yeah."
Emma briefly looked away from Regina to stare up at the living room ceiling and gulped before she looked at Regina again.
"I've...never...done the whole Christmas tree shopping before," Emma explained.
"Oh," Regina said as her eyebrows shot up toward her hairline. "I didn't even think about that."
Emma nervously pursed her lips and slowly nodded in response, awkward and vulnerable.
"It's not like I had a family to do that with," Emma shrugged as she looked down at her hands on her stomach.
Regina slowed her hands as she finished completely removing Emma's sock, her eyes solely set on the blonde.
"I've spent about three Christmases in my lifetime with families. Every couple wants a kid for the holidays. Until they have me and then it's back to the orphanage before New Year," Emma added then looked up into Regina's eyes.
Emma's eyes widened when she realized what she had confessed. She had only mentioned spending most of her time being tossed back to the orphanage and a few ugly, but vaguely described, moments with foster parents at dinner. She hadn't mentioned what holidays were like, what loneliness felt like to her all those years. But one foot rub changed that and Emma had almost bared her soul to the woman responsible for the alleviation in her worn out feet.
"But it doesn't matter because tomorrow we're looking at trees," Emma said as she forced and entirely too convincing smile at Regina.
It saddened the brunette to think how much practice Emma had within only eighteen years of life to smile as though she were truly happy when she either felt nothing or felt hurt.
"Hey, why'd you stop rubbing my foot," Emma asked and slightly pouted as she changed the subject.
Regina shook her head and blinked before she noticed she had completely stopped massaging Emma's foot.
"Sorry," Regina said as she resumed with the foot rub then smiled before she continued. "I didn't realize how much you like it."
Emma smirked, satisfied with the banter and glad Regina hadn't pushed the topic she herself had raised.
"We're picking up Henry after school and then going to a find a tree, right," Emma asked after a moment.
"Yes. I'll come home early from work to get you then head over to the school for Henry. Sound like a plan?"
"Yeah," Emma smiled, a sincere smile that time. "A good plan."
Regina emitted a short, breathy laugh.
"Alright," Regina said after a few more tentative rubs to Emma's foot, heel included. "What do you say we either watch a movie or go to bed early?"
Emma scrunched up her nose.
"Yeah, you'll never convince me you're as young as you look instead of how old you apparently are if you keep suggesting an early bedtime," Emma teased.
Regina swatted the top of Emma's foot.
"Ah-how," Emma laughed out with a smile. "Easy, Grandma. I'm just telling you things you should already know."
"Call me Grandma again and you'll never get another foot rub from me," Regina said with an arched eyebrow that dared Emma to test her.
Emma mischievously grinned.
"Sensitive," Emma sang.
Regina rolled her eyes, but smiled as she did and she pushed Emma's feet off her lap.
"Alright," Regina drew out the word as she started to get off the couch.
Emma really pouted then when Regina pushed her feet away and forced her into an awkward position half on the couch and half off.
"Since you couldn't do it, I'll pick a movie. Whatever I say we'll watch, we'll watch," Regina said as she crossed the living room and went up to the movie selection near the television.
"Sensitive and bossy," Emma muttered loud enough for Regina to hear.
Regina whipped around to face Emma and the girl grinned at her while the brunette glared back though they both knew the look held no venom or bite to it. It was playful.
"At the risk of possibly repeating myself, you're cute when you're frustrated and when you dominate," Emma said before Regina had the chance to turn back to the movies.
"Glad I can entertain you, dear," Regina sarcastically replied then looked back at the movies in front of her.
"Glad I can still manage to distract you, Madam Mayor," Emma said as her grin spread further across her face.
"Why do I have a feeling you're going to make tomorrow interesting," Regina asked after she looked over her shoulder at the young blonde.
"Because I make everything interesting," Emma said as she smiled without missing a beat.
"That you do," Regina said to herself after a moment while she returned her attention to the DVD collection a minute before she decided on one and pressed play.
Note: I figured I deserve to give credit to capitudascamelias since she helped me with a few things during the foot rub scene and gave a couple suggestions that I think made it better than my original version. Also, I know I probably don't deserve it since I kept you waiting for this chapter for so long, but I really do love and appreciate all your reviews so please let me know what you think of the chapter and help motivate me to work harder on the next one! :) Thanks for all the follows and favorites as well. All of you are awesome for the great response you've given to this story.