Chapter 2
Regina's POV
The first week after the funeral I didn't dare to come into my office, because that's where he was obliterated. His death was so burdening on me, I felt miserable all the time. The first time back in my office was very hard, but I had to go to work someday.
Zelena was with me to support me that day. It was also hard for her, because her lover died there too. At first I couldn't even look at her, because I blamed her for his death. Because Hades and Zelena were together. Hades wanted to end me, but instead he destroyed Robin's soul. If Zelena had never held on to that horrible boyfriend of hers, Robin probably wouldn't have died. But I also saw how much she was in pain and how we actually were in the same boat. So I forgave her for it.
We lingered before the door of my office and decided to go in holding each other tight. When I set foot in there, the memories overtook me and the tears welled up instantly in my eyes.
I let go of my sister and took a deep breath then I wandered slowly to the white sofa standing in front of a big fire place. I remembered the moment that I first loved Robin with my heart inside my chest. We sat in front of the sofa and celebrated the return of my heart with wine. We talked about moving on from our previous lovers and about how we were destined to be together. That moment was truly wonderful, but it did hurt because I could never feel that way again.
I crossed my arms and held them tights against my stomach. Tears were swelling in my eyes and I didn't really know how to express the amount of grief I felt in that moment.
Then I looked around the large table which always had a bowl with bloodred apples on it. The memory of his death now came flashing vividly before my eyes. I saw again how we stood there defenseless with Hades pointing the Olympian crystal at us. The words that Hades used in that moment echoed through my mind, 'This isn't going to kill you… this is going to end…you. No underworld, no moving on, one minute you exist and the next…you don't.'.
Then he shot at me and I couldn't do anything, but Robin didn't hesitate to jump in front of me. So the light from the crystal hit him right in his chest and through his heart. Hades wanted to obliterate me, but instead Robin sacrificed himself to undergo that terrible fate. I heard how Robin choked on his soul that was trying to stay in his body. Just before he couldn't hold on to his soul anymore, he turned around to face me and smiled at me with all of his love in his eyes. My whole body was frozen in time and could barely understand what was going on. His lifeless body fell like a rock and hit the floor fast. I could feel his soul touch me at that moment and a tear rolled down my cheek. I extended my arms to feel more of his soul but the presence of it vanished. I let out a quick gasp and then looked at the ground where I found his body lying motionless. I hurried my way down to see what was going on. I touched his face, but I was too late, he was gone.
I looked up from the floor and pinched my nose bridge a little to fight against the tears that were trying to come out of my eyes. Then I turned around to see my sister who was also full of tears. She showed a comforting smile to let me know that she was there for me.
I felt pain all over my body, but then I remembered what Robin said to me when we sat by the sofa. He told me to not keep being sad over a lost loved one forever, but to move on so your life can get better eventually. And I thought that I needed to start doing that, because he wanted me to be happy.
"I think I have some work to do." I said walking towards my desk and sitting down on my chair. I took a deep breath and started to run through some papers. My sister walked to me and laid her hands on my shoulders. A little smile showed on my face and I leaned my head against her arm. "I need to move on for Robin."
watch?v=fYdtWnIyHY0
Now I was alone in my office working on some town bills. Most of the bills went to restorations of the town properties, because somehow it was always destroyed again. We definitely needed to have a special town restoration team or something, because it happened too often that something needed to be repaired.
It had been two months since Robin's funeral and I was dealing with it. I worked nearly every day and it kept me busy. A framed photo of him was standing at the large table with some candles and feathers around it. Every day I lighted the candles to feel the heat, it let me think of his warm body, so it always felt like he was with me. Every day became a little easier, but I still missed him very much. My days were quite the same, but I didn't mind. It distracted me from being sad and that was the best I could do.
On Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays Zelena visited me with Robyn to have lunch together. I really enjoyed my time with them. She normally got me my favorite salad and she got herself some onion rings. Robyn grew really fast, she responded more often to things around her and had an adorable baby laugh. It felt like yesterday when she was born, but now she was nearly 4 months old. They were my family now, together with my boy Henry of course.
I didn't see Henry as much as I wanted to, he spend a lot of time with the Charmings. And if he wasn't there, he was out with Violet. He only slept in his own bed on Sundays and it made me kind of sad.
He needed to take care of Emma, because she didn't deal with things as well as I did. I heard from him that she didn't do anything except watching Netflix and lying in bed all day. She didn't even want to eat or sleep, so he had to make sure she did that, when the Charmings couldn't take care of her. The fact that she didn't even eat was very worrisome, she once said she even loved food more than that handless pirate of hers. That concluded that she really was dealing with a great depression.
The last time anyone had seen her out of her house was at the funeral. That time I snapped at her really bad and I regret it so much. Now more, because she was in such bad shape. At that time, I only thought about my own misery and didn't realize that she had lost her lover too.
That anger inside of me, I couldn't handle it, it was like my whole body was burning and I couldn't find a way to cool myself down at that moment. I could only let some flames go through my words. That feeling I hadn't felt since Emma and I were still fighting over Henry. And that was a very long time ago. But now Emma and I were best friends and we understood each other. And as her best friend I was quite concerned about her situation. At least I hope she even still wanted to be friends with me after everything I had said to her. I hoped she wasn't upset because of my outburst. I told Henry to communicate my apology to her. That should be okay right? I couldn't approach her myself, because I didn't want to make things worse. And I didn't think she really needed me.
It was now Friday 3 o'clock and I was still in my office working. A glass of water stood on the corner of my desk and I took a sip from it. I was running my fingers through the paperwork as I heard a knock on the office door.
"Yeah, come in." I said granting the person behind the door permission to come in. My assistant came in and handed me some more files.
"Madam mayor, these need your verification and validation." She informed me.
"Thank you, Isobel, but can you remind me what these are for exactly?"
"These are for the new child daycare." She said as she leaned a bit against my desk.
My face lid up and I nodded in approval. I now remembered again about the opening of the daycare. There were a lot of new children in town since the curse was broken so it was about time that the parents could take a day off. "Can you take these with you?" I asked and gave her some other files.
"Of course, madam mayor." She kept leaning against my desk and began fidgeting with the papers. I looked confused at her.
"Is something wrong?"
"I…well…I was wondering if I could…maybe leave early today?" she stuttered nervously. My face turned cold and I swallowed hard to try to keep myself under control.
"Early?" I asked calmly without wanting to know the answer. She gave me a shy nod and looked to the floor. "Do you know how much work we still have to do? You can't just expect me to let you go home, do you?" I now snapped at her, raising my voice. She jumped back from my desk and stood up straight in front of me. I felt fire running through my whole body. I saw the fear taking over her body. And that's when I knew I went too far.
My face softened again and I now felt guilt in my stomach. "Ohw… I'm sorry, Isobel, I didn't mean to…" She showed a confused look. I groaned. "Argh… you know what? Just go home, I don't have plans tonight anyway." Her face now brightened up.
"Really?" I nodded and rolled my eyes as I gestured to the door. "Thanks, miss Mills." She walked out of my office while thanking me, leaving me alone again.
I exhaled deeply and leaned back in my chair. And then my phone rang with the familiar Star Wars soundtrack. I knew right away that it was Henry calling, because he had a special ringtone applied in my phone.
"Hey, Henry! How are you doing?" I answered the phone with a big smile on my face as my mood changed completely.
"I'm okay mom. You seem expressively happy."
"Yeah, well my son calls me and that just makes me happy! I'm happy to hear your voice, I miss you." I heard a chuckle on the other side of the line.
"I miss you too. But you're in your office tonight again, right?"
"Yeah, why? Is something wrong?" I asked a little concerned.
"No, don't worry. I just wanted to go out with Violet, but I'm on Emma-watch tonight. It's Friday and I just wanted to spend some time with my girlfriend instead of with my exhausting mother. So can I maybe drop Emma off at your office, so you could look out for her for a while?" he explained sounding tired of taking care of Emma all the time.
"uhm… I'm not sure if that's-" I hesitated, not sure if I wanted to face Emma.
"She won't be a burden. You only have to make sure she eats something and doesn't hurt herself. She will entertain herself."
"Hurt herself?!" sounding completely astonished. "And by the way can't David and Snow take care of her?"
"They are both busy with police business now that Emma is out of the running."
"Okay, fine. I'll look out for her a bit, but I'm not gonna treat her like some hopeless child, she's a grown-up woman."
"Thanks, mom! I'm sure you will not even notice she is there."
"Good!"
"I'll see in an hour then, okay?"
"Okay, see you then!"
I laid my phone down. I wasn't really excited to babysit an adult woman, but I also wanted my son to have a good time with his girlfriend, so what kind of a mom would I be if I didn't let him. I needed to let him go sometimes.
Actually the thing that I was most afraid of was seeing Emma again. We didn't really end things well last time. I was afraid she would still be mad at me.
I was also afraid to see her as miserable as Henry had described. If she was really capable of hurting herself, then I didn't know what to do when that would happen. Henry also said she looked like a zombie most of the time and I didn't want to see her like that. But I needed to for Henry.
And so said half an hour later I heard voices in the hallway.
"Henry, I don't need a babysitter, I can take care of myself." I heard Emma's voice saying. My heart began pounding harder at that exact time.
"No, you can't. You don't eat if no one is around. And last month you tried to hurt yourself. So yes, you need a babysitter." Henry said sounding strict. I chuckled a bit, knowing he mimicked me when he was being serious.
Although I heard them coming, I startled when Henry opened the door. I looked at Henry and smiled then quickly looked back on my desk. I had seen the vague picture of the blonde, but I couldn't face her. I couldn't see her expression when she saw me again after the funeral.
"So, you are finally here?" I said with my voice low not ever looking up from my desk.
"Hi" I heard softly from the mouth of the blonde. That sound reminded me of the day I met her, it sounded just as awkward as then.
"You can sit or lay down on the sofa or whatever, as long as you just don't disturb me." I said in a formal tone. As I requested she laid down on the sofa with her head on the armrest facing me. I still didn't look up from my desk and I turned a page of my administration.
"Okay moms, I need to be going. My girlfriend is waiting for me. Be nice to each other, please." I rolled my eyes and chuckled. He came to me and gave me a kiss on my cheek. And He did the same to Emma. "Bye, moms!" I smiled at him lovingly.
"Bye, kid!" Emma said.
"Bye, sweetie! Don't be late, huh? " I added with a stern look. He rolled his eyes, turned around and walked away to leave my office in silence.
I heard a zipper when Emma opened her backpack. I was focused on my work but knew everything that was going on just by the amount of noise. She pulled out an iPad and some earphones and turned it on. She relaxed and no sound was heard from her again.
I continued working on the Storybrooke daycare, making sure nothing could go wrong with it. Storybrooke never needed a daycare because Henry was once the only little child in town. I didn't bring any small children with me from the enchanted forest with the curse and the older children all went to school while their parents worked. But now the curse had been broken for nearly six years and people are constantly making new babies since they don't really see the purpose of condoms. Someone just needed to take care of the children when their parents were at work.
From all this intense focus I got a bit tired. My eyes slowly closed from time to time and my head became heavy. I placed my elbow on the desk and rested my head in the cup of my hand. Two hours went by in absolute silence. I didn't even look at her for a second. I had work to do and she wasn't going to ruin my concentration. But after those two hours I got a very bored of the work and more tired as well.
I sighed and finally looked up from my desk. A shock went through my stomach when my eyes met her body. I didn't mean to look at her, but when I did I couldn't look away. I looked her up and down for a while. Her hair wasn't that yellow blonde as always, but more faded into a greyish color. It was knotted and tangled everywhere, no spot to be found that was brushed nicely. Her face was even whiter than her mothers and the once rosy cheeks were gone. She had dark circles under her eyes halfway down her nose. Definitely from the lack of sleep. She looked skinny, very skinny. I could see the bones sticking out of her cheeks. Luckily she wore baggy sweatpants and an oversized hoodie, because otherwise even more bones in her body would surely show. She was slumped on the sofa with her head on the armrest. She was softly sucking on the nail of her thumb while being completely focused on the screen before her.
A flush was felt in my stomach and I couldn't deny besides her shabby looks she had something adorable. Her eyes move slowly from the screen rights into my gaze. Our eyes were locked with each other and I studied the bright green color of her irises for a while.
"You look…..terrible." I started softly with all honesty breaking the stare between us. She rolled her eyes and didn't let out any more emotion.
"Thanks?" she said a bit questioning. It wasn't the answer I was expecting, I didn't expect an answer at all. I was rude again, but I just couldn't help but say it. "You cut your hair, I like it." she said softly.
I couldn't escape the fact that I needed to blush a little bit from that. I felt embarrassed, so looked rapidly back at my desk. I had indeed cut my hair. I had got so used to having my hair cut short that when it grew longer, it began to irritate me. so now I had it cut again just beneath my jawline.
The room fell silent again, it was just the sounds of our breaths. A warm feeling overtook my stomach when our gazes sunk into one another. We sat far apart, but I could clearly see those deep green orbs shimmer in the late afternoon lights that came from the window behind me.
"You miss him very much, don't you?" I shot back to reality when I heard her voice reach my ears. I knew she could be inappropriate at times, but I didn't see it coming this time. She could've just started with a bit lighter subject for conversation, but she went straight to the point.
Still I closed my eyes and nodded with a heavy heart. I wanted to say I missed Robin every second of every day, but just a few minutes ago proved me wrong. For just a short amount of time I didn't feel like missing him after two months.
"I think that little memorial there is really beautiful." She said with a weak, but caring smile. I looked at it and smiled too. I could feel a heat spreading through my whole body. The situation was a bit uncomfortable with the grief that we both felt, but I could very much appreciate her sympathy.
"Thanks… Do you miss him too?" I asked while looking her up and down.
"What? Robin? Yeah, of course. He was a good friend, but I don't I miss him as much as you do." I rolled my eyes and chuckled slightly. She was such an idiot. I didn't know how she did it, but she could make the hard subject feel lighter than it should be.
"No, I mean the pirate." I corrected her, my tone serious. I could see how much she missed him by just her appearance. I had already heard about it from Henry, but I just wanted to hear her story about it all. Her face dropped, now I had hit her sensitive spot. She looked down at her hands and began fidgeting. "You know, you can talk to me about it. I know exactly how you feel."
"Yeah…, I know. It's just…" She sighed deeply. I saw how hard it was on her and how she tried to keep back tears. I gave her a comforting smile. "It has been a very…dark…time lately." Her voice cracked as she pushed the words out of her mouth. She bit on her lip nervously as I saw her mind sink into this darkness again.
"It's okay Emma, I know." I tried to comfort her, but a hope speech wasn't really my thing. I imagined how I dealt with my loss, but it wasn't really that much better. Throughout the day I managed to keep myself busy and distracted, but every night I cried myself to sleep.
Her breathing began to tremble all along her body. Her green eyes were now overflowing with the tears that she couldn't keep inside anymore. I saw how lost she became in her own thoughts. She grabbed a pillow and entangled it hard between her arms. She squeezed it tightly and buried her face deep inside, letting out heavy sobs.
My brown orbs now became watery too. The pain that she was in was unbearable to see. How could I comfort her? What did she need from me to calm down a little? I stood up from behind my desk and went to sit next to her on the other side of the sofa.
"Emma, it's enough, don't talk about it any further if it is this too hard on you. Please stop crying." She just wasn't ready yet to talk about it openly. She was always strong and didn't show her deep emotions to the outside world that Emma wasn't there now. She stopped crying when she pulled her face out of the pillow. Although she started about this subject, I felt sorry for bringing up the pirate. I apologized and I blinked away the tears that had filled my eyes before. She sniffed and looked me in the eyes. Her cheeks were wet from the tears and colored red because of her sobs. I tried to give her a comforting smile again.
"I'm sorry, for snapping at you like that at the funeral. I didn't mean what I said." I apologized trying to change the subject. I had felt guilty about it since I went home from the funeral and I still did. At that moment I was overflowing with emotions and reacted too irrational.
"Henry already said you were sorry." She said softly, still with a cracked voice. With her hands she wiped away the remains of her tears and the corner of her lips curled up a bit at me.
"Just wanted to make sure you know that I really mean it. I was being unreasonable." I smiled back at her.
"It's okay! I'm also sorry for being respons-"
"It wasn't your fault." I cut her off. "I let my feelings take control over me. I was really being a bitch." She chuckled at that and nodded in agreement. I rolled my eyes and chuckled too.
"I was actually a bit afraid of you. You looked at me in all evil queen mode, that's terrifying. Although not too terrifying. I know how I can handle her, I just hadn't seen her in a long time." Now I heard the strong Emma coming back a bit.
"I thought I could only feel it inside me, but I never meant to act like it. I'm sorry, Emma." She smiled in acceptance and I could feel a warm feeling in my stomach. A whole weight fell from my shoulders when I knew she wasn't angry at me anymore and I immediately felt better.
Since Robin died, my temper was out of control again. It could easily overtake me in the most random moments. I didn't want to hurt the people I love, but I couldn't control myself sometimes.
I even snapped at Henry at one point, when he didn't clean the kitchen when he had made breakfast. It was a silly thing to be mad about and I regretted it very much.
I also got angry at Zelena countless times. Maybe that's also what sisters are for, just arguing about everything. Luckily she did understand me after our fights. That's the benefit of having a sister who was the wicked witch. She also has experience with anger like that, so she can totally relate to what I'm feeling.
But the very intense angry feeling I got in those moments tried to take control over me, just like when I was the evil queen.
"So I think I should get us something to eat. I can leave you alone for a little while, right?" I suggested on a serious tone after being quiet for some time. She looked like I wasn't being serious and rolled her eyes.
"I'm okay, Regina, I don't need a babysitter." I locked my eyes with hers to let her know I was being serious. She stared at me in that same way to let me know she was serious too.
"Okay, just don't make me regret leaving you alone." I sternly said. I trusted her for not doing something stupid and I hoped I wouldn't regret that decision. Her look told me that she definitely didn't care about what I said. "You are a grown-up woman, so please let me prove Henry I can let you alone for some time." I said, narrowing my eyes at her. She nodded and rolled her eyes again. I stood up from the sofa and grabbed my coat from the wall. I left my office on my way to get us dinner.
I got back with two little bags of food. My heels clicked on the marble floor as I headed to my office. It was awfully quiet. Did she leave? What if she had hurt herself and died? Was she even suicidal? Henry told me she had hurt herself, but was she capable of ending herself? I should never have left her all on her own. She certainly had done something stupid.
I heard a squeak from inside and I felt a bit relieved. I at least heard something from inside. Although I was wondering what exactly was going on in there.
I opened my office door and I was a little confused about what I saw. Emma was in the middle of the room hanging upside down slowly spinning on my office chair. Idiot! "What the hell do you think you are doing?" I asked in a raised severe tone. I felt the anger coming up inside me again. I had told her distinctly to do nothing stupid.
"I was bored!" she sounded defensive. She gave the ground a push and started spinning faster on the chair. I squeezed my eyes shut and let out a deep breath trying not to get mad.
"Come off my chair immediately!" I yelled at her as I failed to control my anger. She startled. The chair stopped spinning immediately and she fell very clumsily on the ground.
"Okayy, Madam Mayor!" she said childishly and with emphasis on the M's when she rose from the ground. Now she was just being annoying.
"Don't call me that!" I demanded irritable. She just chuckled.
"Don't call me thaat." She repeated me and she accomplished to annoy me even more. What was wrong with her, she knew she got on my nerves this way.
"If you don't stop this, is swear I will kick you out of my office on your bare feet in the rain and you can figure out how you get home yourself." I threatened her yelling and pointing my finger at her. I was now full of anger and I could feel the vein on my forehead pop.
She had a grin on her face from ear to ear. I couldn't stand her, she was such a child. I looked her in the eyes and saw them sparkling with joy. Those eyes were enchanting. For one second those eyes won me over and I enjoyed just a little how she was playing with me. That second only quickly replaced by the overwhelming anger.
"I don't have to do anything you say, I'm a grown-up woman." She leaned against the back of the sofa, still that wide smirk in her face. I actually found the fun in what she said. Out of anything she could be right now, she certainly wasn't a grown-up woman. I did fight back the smirk that rose on my face and reminded myself about how annoying she was.
I groaned, set the bags of food on the floor and got to her with a firm stride until I was about 2 feet away from her. I looked at her with wide severe eyes. My blood was boiling, and I gritted my teeth. I squeezed my fists tight, my nails digging into my palm. I scrunched my nose and tightened all the rest of the muscles in my body.
Her face didn't look that amused anymore. "Y-you're doing the e-evil queen again." she stuttered and nervously looked away from me.
For a moment I wanted her to fear me, but then I realized what she called me. I wasn't her anymore. My face softened and I took a deep breath. I looked away and took a step back. "Well, you're acting like a child." I said softly.
I turned around and went to move the chair back behind my desk. I took the glass of water in my hand that had been standing there for a long time and I took a sip. I swallowed hard trying to let the anger flow away. With a rapid move and a frustrated scream I threw it through the room onto the floor. It shattered into a million pieces all over the marble.
"Wow, I hope that wasn't meant for me." she said shocked. I shook my frustrated head and she let out a relieved sigh. I buried my head in my hands as I bit down on my bottom lip. Emma walked over to me and laid her hands on my shoulders from behind me. I felt the familiar feeling through my body, that I felt every time we touched. It was a sort of electric shock that made me feel better again. As always, I ignored it. "It's gonna be okay, Regina. I was being a dick. And you don't need to apologize." I looked up.
"We should eat something, the food is getting cold." I said trying to move past the whole situation. I walked to the bags that were still standing on the floor. I grabbed them and set them on the coffee table in front of the sofa, totally ignoring the shatters on the floor. I went to sit down in the armchair and smoothed out my pencil skirt. Emma came to sit on the sofa again. I felt awkward about all of this and I was sure she felt it too. "I got grilled cheese for you, I hope you could appreciate it." My eyes went to meet hers and I smiled awkwardly.
"I love it, Gina!" Before I could process her answer, her teeth were already buried in it. I got my pasta salad gently out of the bag and I began to eat as well.
We ate in silence for the rest of the meal. We looked at each other several times, but didn't say a thing. As the time went by, I became more and more curious about why she needed someone watching her all the time. Sure, she was in mourning, but so was I. You can't expect someone to totally forget about someone they loved. Besides that, and her looks, I couldn't see a thing about her that was odd. She ate like a child and acted like a total idiot, but that's just who she is. Sure, she was a bit quiet when she came here, but I told her not to disturb me. That wasn't on her, she just simply obeyed me for once.
Without knowing it I observed her whole body for I don't know how long. She still looked sloppy, but better. She had more color on her cheeks and her whole attitude was more energized. I narrowed my eyes in search of the reason to keep her in watch all the time.
"You're being creepy, not evil queen creepy, but still creepy." She said with her mouth full of grilled cheese. "I know that I look terrible and stuff, but looking at me all the time like I am some sort of freak, doesn't make it any better." She was now a bit offended.
"I didn't look at you like that!"
"Yes, you did. I always know when you're lying."
I gave her a sarcastic smile. "It isn't like you look extremely good or something."
"Thanks, again." She said with a roll of her eyes.
I walked to my purse that was standing against my desk and got a hairbrush out of it. "You know what, just brush your hair." I threw my hairbrush to her and she caught it.
"Yes, your majesty." She made a little bow for me. I rolled my eyes and shook my head.
"Idiot!" I chuckled softly, so soft that she couldn't hear it.
I watched her as she took my orders and brushed her hair. She struggled at nearly every inch to get the tangles out. I couldn't watch for long to see her struggle that way. I walked over to her.
"Just give the brush to me." She looked me in the eyes and gave it to me with a bit of hesitation.
As she gave the brush to me I looked at the movement and saw how our fingers wiped past each other. I felt the feeling again, it flowed from my fingertips all the way down to my little toe. Our eyes locked and I swear she could feel something too. My eyes wandered to every corner of her face waiting for her to move.
"What are you waiting for, turn around!" I said a bit impatiently wanting to break the awkward situation. Her eyes went wide and she swiveled around.
I placed the brush a little better in my hand and took a strand of her hair. I placed it very gently on the strand and moved my way down. The shimmer that her hair once had started to come back slowly as I brushed it a couple of times. Once the strand was totally untangled, I ran my hand through it. The hair was soft although a bit oily, but I didn't mind that.
"Suddenly not so evil queenly anymore, huh?" she said with a sore voice. I chuckled.
"Can you please stop calling me that, it gives me an awkward feeling. I don't want to be her anymore." I responded in an easy tone, this time I didn't feel any annoyance inside of me, just a warm feeling. I began on the next strand of hair.
"I'm sorry. I just enjoy the way you brush my hair so gently." I chuckled again. Luckily she didn't see the blush appear on my face. After a while I was finished. I had a lot of knots to untangle, so it took some patience. I moved my hands through it a couple of times.
"All done." I said with a satisfied tone, and I smiled. She turned around to face me on the heels of her feet with a smile on her face. Her hair swinged around her as she made the move and landed perfectly on her shoulders. "See? Now you look pretty again." I said nearly whispering. I saw a little blush appear on her face.
"Do you really think I'm pretty?" An electric shock of embarrassment shot through my body. I didn't really say that did I? Friends say that to each other, right? She looked better, but did she look pretty?
"Uh-no I didn't say that! I said you look…terrible, that I said, but uh-I never said you looked pretty." I stuttered a bit trying to disclaim what I said.
"Yes, you did! My superpower doesn't lie. You begin to stutter, Regina. You never stutter."
I looked around nervously trying to find a way out of this conversation. "You're gonna start with the 'I know better what you did than you do yourself' thing again?'' I said a bit on edge.
She chuckled loudly. "No." a bright smile covered her face.
I raised an eyebrow out of confusion. "What's so funny?"
She started to laugh harder. "It's…just…your mood switches." She said between her little giggles.
"I don't have mood switches!" I said a little bit annoyed now.
"No? Well…the one moment you're like: 'Emma you look soo pretty'." she waved with her hands raised her voice and her eyes wide, trying to imitate me. "and the other moment you're like: 'grr… I'm Regina, I'm the mayor, I don't like you and I want to kill you'." She crunched her face
"I don't act like that! I don't want to kill you! And I certainly didn't say you are pretty!" I said trying to make a point.
"Grr…" she was trying to imitate me again. "Gina just admit it, you said it. It isn't like friends can't call each other pretty, right?" She chuckled loudly.
Maybe friends could indeed say that to each other. And she actually looked pretty. I just liked her hair, it was so long and wavy. I could run my hands through it all the time if she'd let me.
"Right?" Emma asked again. I frowned my eyebrows. She looked at me like she really wanted the answer. Then I realized I didn't answer the question.
"Yeah, right!" my voice went up. I couldn't hold a smile back anymore. I looked away.
"Hey, I see a smile!" she said in a playful way and she pointed her finger at it. Why did she need to see it? "So, madam mayor Regina Mills can smile after all!" My smile became wider and as hard as I tried to resist it, it came anyway.
"You are such an idiot!" Now I began to giggle a little bit, but I tried to hold it in.
"Are those seriously giggles? Call the news! I'm witnessing the rarest form of magic! Regina Mills giggles!" She began to laugh out loud now.
"Stop it Swan! You're making me laugh even more!"
"Oh, I'm not gonna stop, I'm enjoying this too much. So… what do you think is so pretty about me?" Right then I burst, and I began to giggle out loud. She also began to giggle harder. I laid my hand on my stomach and laughed even harder. I felt her hand on my shoulder and we laughed until tears filled our eyes. I looked her in the eyes and that made me laugh again.
"Moms?" Henry stood there in the opening of the door totally stunned. I instantly stopped laughing and wiped away the tears. "What the hell, happened here?" he said confused. I straightened up and flattened my pencil skirt. My face was now serious again.
"Henry! Language!" I complained. He rolled his eyes with a big smile on his face.
"Has someone already called the news?" he joked around.
"And why do you have the need to call the news?" I sassed.
"Your giggles of course. Everyone needs to know that madam mayor can giggle!" I closed my eyes and let out a deep sigh. Why was I now surrounded by idiots? I heard the proud giggles from Emma next to me. My head turned to face her and I gave her a serious glare. She immediately stopped and straightened her face. "You make each other happy! It has been ages since I have seen both of you this happy!" He said with a bright smile. "But this mess… Did you have a two people party or something?" He looked at both of us kind of judging.
"Something like that…" Emma said dryly.
"I was kind of mad at her, and we ate." I tried to explain with a scrunchy face.
"So you threw a glass at her?" he sounded confused.
"No, she didn't throw it at me! She has changed!" Emma said defending me.
"Stop it… I don't even wanna know. Just know that I love seeing you happy."
I went to the coffee table to clean up the mess from our dinner. "Soo… enough about us. How was your date?" Emma asked, very curious. I wanted to ask him too, but in some stupid way I had totally forgotten about his date. What kind of mother forgets about her own sons' date? What is wrong with me?