Hi guys there were some mixed feelings in the reviews about how Emma was straightforward with the truth, and the only reason she was it's because it has been seven years and now, she feels like she can't run away from it anymore. But! Just because Emma was straightforward with that, doesn't mean she will say the truth so easily about other things, specially if Regina asks about her 'new life' and this also doesn't mean Regina is going to believe her right away.
I hope you guys keep enjoying this sequel and remember the point of this sequel is Daniel bringing them together, and Regina remembering. The Polaroid photograph will be mentioned in future chapters along with Regina's memories coming back.
Enjoy! Sorry for any typo, English isn't my first language.
Chapter 4: Good Friends – Part I
Boston – Emma's Apartment
Regina slowly woke up in an unfamiliar bed, pressing her palms against white sheets to push herself up. She was very tired, she took way too long to fall asleep and her dark hair was all messy, clearly showing that she moved a lot on the bed while trying to fall asleep. - After the extreme tiredness washed over, she remembered why she was here, so she dropped her head back to the pillow, letting a low groan.
She was in Boston.
She was in Boston because she brought a little boy back home.
A little boy that said he was her son.
A little boy that is also Emma's son.
Emma whom she hasn't seen in seven years and just left Storybrooke and never gave her much reason of why.
And now she is sleeping in the blonde's bedroom and wearing her pajamas which was just some tight black sweatpants and blue shirt that was a little baggy. – Emma had convinced her to stay over, so they could talk about what is really going on and Regina spent the entire night thinking about what things she should ask and what she should believe.
But before she could torture herself again with that, she began to hear noises from the kitchen, somebody was cooking and she looked at the clock and noticed it was 07:20 am, and then she remembered it was a Monday, she still had work to do today. This was going to be a hell of a day. – With a sigh she finally sat up on the bed, yawning and looking around for her clothes so she could change, however somebody knocked on her door first. "Yes?" She said and then cleared her throat, fixing her 'morning' voice.
When the door opened, she expected it to be Emma, but it was little Daniel opening the door and looking curiously inside. "You are really here," he said in awe as he stood by the door frame, not forgetting what she told him last night but at the same time he couldn't help but feel slightly excited that she slept over. Maybe this meant something?
Regina looked at him and couldn't help but to show him a tired smile. She didn't want to hurt this child anymore than she already did, she should just get answers from Emma and walk away, it wouldn't be fair for Daniel to get caught up in the middle of this and Regina still strongly believes that there's no way he is her child. "Good morning, Daniel," she said with a gentle tone as she stood up.
"Good morning, ma'am," he replied, feeling suddenly shy and at the same time defensive. He couldn't let go of the idea that she kind of destroyed his dream and she wouldn't believe him because the only proof he had was the diary. "Mommy said breakfast is almost ready and to hurry up getting dressed, she said please," Daniel pointed out as he now fidgeted a bit with the jacket of his school uniform.
Regina could notice his uniform wasn't proper, he probably dressed it himself in a very rushed away and some buttons weren't just in the right place and he still didn't had his shoes laced. There was a strong urge in her to help him get dressed, like she used to do with little Henry, but now she also had to be careful with his feelings and not get too cozy with him or else she'd only hurt him even more. "Okay, Daniel, tell your mom I will be right there," Regina said, kindly.
"'Kay," Daniel quickly replied and then closed the door as he went to the kitchen to have his breakfast that his mother was almost finishing up. "She is coming, mommy," Daniel informed his mother as he sat on the chair by the table, still feeling some anger towards his mother. Well, it wasn't actually anger, it was mostly like frustration or sadness, because he couldn't understand why she never told him the truth because if she did, he wouldn't have gone through all that trip to Storybrooke and have the worst interaction with the brunette woman.
"Thanks, bud," Emma replied as she quickly made scrambled eggs to have a proper breakfast done. Usually she'd just get herself cereal and give Daniel a good sandwich, but since she had Regina over, she didn't know what to make for breakfast that the other woman would enjoy eating. So, she made scrambled eggs, bacon, there was cereal, bread and even fruit by the table, and of course coffee, she knew at least coffee Regina would take it.
And ten minutes later, as Emma was putting scrambled eggs onto Daniel's plate, Regina walked into the kitchen, looking regal as always with the same outfit as she wore yesterday. If Emma didn't know her for so many years, Regina's tiredness would've escaped her, but she noticed that the brunette had a tired look, and her makeup was slowly fading right now but it wasn't smudged, the only makeup that was completely gone on her face was her famous red lipstick, now she only had her lips completely normal, but there was some red lipstick in her bag which was left in her car.
"Good morning. Eat whatever you please, we have eggs, bacon, bread, cereal, fruit and…coffee," Emma said as she put two mugs of coffee on the table, knowing that Regina would take that and the other one was for herself. – Regina was amazed by how much food there was for breakfast, not used to this side of the blonde woman, it was more mature and motherly, and she already had her hair up in a ponytail and makeup done even though she was still wearing her pajamas.
"Apple Juice?" Daniel asked his mom as he blew against his scrambled eggs to not burn his mouth but the very moment, he put it in his mouth, it was still very hot so he just did the weird thing everyone does while trying to chew food and blow at it at the same time in your own mouth. – Emma didn't react towards that because she was used to that, but Regina watched him and couldn't help but let a little chuckle. He was very alike Emma with his blonde hair, that was getting a bit long (for Regina's liking), and he also made her remember of when Henry was that age, they were very similar and that made perfect sense to Regina since both are Emma's biological children.
"Apple juice has too much sugar for you to drink it right in the morning, Daniel, you already know that," Emma replied to her son as she went up to the fridge to get milk for him instead. Some mornings he insisted he wanted apple juice, because he just loved it so much, but Emma rather give him milk in the morning and then at dinner she could give him the apple juice. Of course, she had to continue to have somebody in her life that was a 'freak' about apples.
"But it's fruit," Daniel complained as he frowned slightly and continued to eat his scrambled eggs in the same way he did the first time. Regina was starting to think why he wouldn't slow down then perhaps he wouldn't burn his mouth with the eggs.
"Here's milk for you instead, champ," Emma decided to not get into that with him, because she knew this little argument could last the entire breakfast, and she wasn't feeling patient enough to deal with that right now. She also didn't have a goodnight's sleep, so the less unnecessary things she had to deal with, the better.
Daniel kept his frown and now pouted while chewing on the food inside his mouth. Regina found it extremely adorable and Emma was still walking around the kitchen and the living room to find out where were Daniel's books for today's class.
"Where's your English book, Daniel?" Emma called out from the living room.
"I don't know!" Daniel shouted back at her and carried on eating while swinging his legs back and forth. He wanted to watch Regina but at the same time he didn't want that, so he just kept his eyes focused on his breakfast while occasionally stealing glances.
"How come you don't know? You did that homework yesterday," Emma said with a loud voice enough for him to hear but there was also an irritated tone in her voice, which made Daniel raise his eyebrows, it wasn't common to have his mother angry at him, she was usually calm or just funny, so whenever he heard this tone, he'd get cautious about what to say next and now he knew he had to remember where his book was and quickly.
"Daniel? Come on, we are going to be late. You need to start putting your books on the shelf," Emma called out again for him, remembering well she built a shelf that had dinosaurs' stickers on it because he wanted it so much, but he rarely uses the shelf. Always leaving his books around the house.
"Humn!" Daniel couldn't remember at all, he even shut his eyes tightly as if that could help him look further into his own brain.
"Hey," Regina quietly said as she poked the smooth skin of his hand, "I think I saw your book in your mom's bedroom, pretty sure it was on the nightstand," she whispered those words to him, as if she was helping him to get out of this situation without pissing off his blonde mother.
Daniel looked up at her with his big brown eyes as they sparkled when Regina told him that. "It's in your bedroom, mommy! On the nightstand!" He shouted and then after that he only heard his mother mumble something he couldn't understand and her footsteps going to her bedroom. – Now Daniel looked back at Regina and he showed her a big smile with his plump lips. She had seen that smile before, but it wasn't from Henry's, the smile was familiar to her, but she couldn't exactly figure out why. She was being too oblivious that Daniel had her eyes, mouth and her skin tone, he wasn't as pale as Emma. – Regina smiled back at him while holding her mug of coffee, if somebody took a picture, she could easily see why his smile was so familiar.
After ten minutes, Emma finally showed up back in the kitchen, this time dressed in tight dark blue jeans, and white turtle neck shirt, since it was cold and long black boots with a short heel. – Regina looked at the blonde woman and she rose her eyebrows, surprised at how well she cleaned herself up, Emma still looked as beautiful as always, even if it was obvious that seven years had passed by the wrinkles on the corner of her eyes and mouth, she still looked pretty but not as livid as before though. "Are you guys done eating?" Emma asked as she placed Daniel's backpack on the ground closer to him and then dropped her bag over the kitchen island, searching around for her car keys.
"Yes, mommy," Daniel said as he wiped his mouth clean on the sleeve of his school uniform jacket and that almost made Regina jump from her chair to stop him from doing it, but she managed to control herself pretty well and just focus on hurrying up drinking her coffee, because obviously Emma was in the a hurry. "Is miss Regina coming with us?" He asked while approaching his blonde mother since she was already making a movement with her hand as if to tell him to come closer, because she had to fix his entire uniform.
Emma got on one knee and began to tie up his shoes and when she heard his question, she didn't even give much thought to it, "yes, she is," she quickly answered him and then fixed his pants before start to button up his uniform jacket the right way. – Regina was still watching the whole mother and son interaction thing and it was something that warmed up her a heart a lot, it gave her some peace, which was something she hasn't been feeling in a long time now. Her life wasn't so great lately.
"Ah, Daniel!" Emma whined as she noticed his sleeve was dirty from the scrambled eggs. "What have I told you about wiping your mouth on your school uniforms?" She stood up to get her bag again and took out a baby wipe to start cleaning his sleeve. Regina was once again surprised at how Emma seemed to be prepared for everything, she didn't doubt she would have done the same with Henry, but Regina never witness that, usually Emma was always the more laid back and fun one, so seeing her acting like a typical mother was surprising and amusing…And gorgeous-wait what…she did not just have this thought, she just didn't.
"Sorry," Daniel said with his cheeks puffed out, he could feel his mother was very irritated this morning and that was making him get irritated as well.
"There, it's clean. Let's go, or we will be late," she told him as she dropped the baby wipe into the trash and Daniel went to pick up his backpack to put it on his back while Regina also stood up following Daniel because he was making very rushed movements with his hands to call her over.
"Mommy's mad, stay with me by the door so she won't be more mad," Daniel whispered to Regina and he actually managed to get her bend down so he could whisper that to her ear.
"Got it," Regina whispered back and gave him a quick thumbs up as Emma returned to their side, giving them a weird look because they both just looked at her with their big brown eyes and clearly had guilt written over them.
"Let's go," Emma opted to not ask them what happened since she'd rather not know at all. She put the keys into the door and unlocked it for them as Daniel opened the door to walk out and Regina continued to follow him, and Emma only stayed behind so she could put on her famous red leather jacket and lock the door.
Daniel had almost a little skip on his step which Regina found extremely adorable and he felt grown up by showing her the way to the car, since she didn't know where things were in here. – Emma was only a few steps away from them but then rushed her steps to be able to unlock her car with the keys, because of course she still had the same yellow car that Regina hated.
But to be honest, seeing this car again made Regina feel lighter, as if it was a fresh breeze from a good past memory she had, like seeing something familiar. She couldn't hate this car in this moment because she was happy to see it, it was like being back in Storybrooke with Emma.
"Ladies first!" Daniel said happily as he opened the passenger seat door for Regina.
Regina smiled at him and got into the car, allowing Daniel to be a gentleman, she was going to close the door, but he wanted to do it, but he did it wrong.
"The door is not closed right," Emma muttered as she was already on the driver's seat and stretched out her arm in front of Regina to open her door and close it again, this time the right way. – It was only a movement that lasted for about ten seconds, Emma couldn't focus at how close they were while she did that because she was more focused on getting Daniel to school at the right time and her mind still had a bunch of thoughts that were pressuring her to get things solved with Regina as soon as possible. It was like she had to hurry up to drop Daniel at school but at the same time she didn't want to hurry up because then she had to face Regina, and have a serious conversation, again but this time the mayor would probably come up with some tricky questions that Emma didn't know if she was ready to answer those.
And this moment for Regina made her stop breathing when she saw Emma's arm right in front of her, slightly pressing against her stomach. Okay, being around Emma was starting to become very nervous-wrecking, giving her butterflies in the pit of her stomach and her heart rate to speed up. So, she assumed this was only her anxiety acting up since they both would need to have a serious conversation later, and, she hasn't seen Emma in seven years and she was hurt that her closest friend left Storybrooke and never contacted her again, so it made sense for her to feel like this. She was only nervous to have a serious conversation with an old friend that she stopped having contact with for seven years, that was it.
Emma looked up at the rear-view mirror to see if Daniel had gotten in the car and put the seat belt properly and she was glad this time he managed to close the door properly as well. "Here we go," Emma mumbled as she turned on the car and drove off.
…
Emma manage to get Daniel in school five minutes right before he had to start his classes. "Here we are, Danny," she used the nickname instead of his actual name and turned a bit to look at him with a small smile. "Kiss?"
"Danny is for little kids," it was only Daniel's comment to his mom as he removed his belt, not wanting to give her kiss because he was still mad at her, so he just left the car and walked up to one of his friends.
"Violet will be picking up today!" Emma said before he had the chance to close the door on her, so he'd heard it. She wouldn't be able to pick him up today, since she figured that Regina would consume a lot of her time for today, or maybe it would just be a quick thirty-minute talk and she'd never see the brunette ever again. Which was something that gave her mixed feelings.
And now that Daniel was out of the car, there was a heavy silence between both women.
"So…" Regina started.
"Did you eat the breakfast properly? I know there wasn't much time, but I woke up later than usual, and sorry for waking you up so early too but I had to get Daniel to school and I didn't want to leave you alone in my apartment," Emma was rambling a little bit right now, because she was nervous and the reason why she didn't want to leave Regina alone in her apartment was because she feared when she came back the brunette wouldn't be there anymore.
"I-" Regina was taken back by the sudden caring words. Emma cared about what she ate and her sleeping schedule, that might have happened between them before in Storybrooke but this time it felt different. It didn't feel like friends just telling each other to eat something or complaining they didn't sleep. There was genuine concern in Emma's voice and Regina could hear it, and she could also hear how nervous the blonde woman was. "The coffee was enough for me, I don't eat much so early," she said, reassuring the blonde, "and it's fine, I'd be up by this hour anyway because of work."
"Okay," Emma said with a forced smile as she gripped onto her steering wheel, she was hoping that Regina was hungry so she could take her to eat breakfast somewhere else and that would be more time she could burn without facing the actual problem.
"Is there some place we can talk that's not in front of elementary school?" Regina tried to say it in a joking tone.
Emma let out a nervous chuckle as she turned on the car again, "yea sure. I think I know just the place," she said as she began to drove off.
River Docks
The drive to the river took about thirty minutes, Regina was starting to feel it was taking way too long but Emma managed to distract them both by turning on the radio and letting the brunette pick some songs as well. – Emma was taking them to a place she knew they wouldn't be disturbed and a place far enough to give her time to think more about this and prepare herself to answer Regina whatever she wanted to know, or at least to try answering those questions.
"Here we are, it's beautiful, you will see," Emma told her as she quickly got out of the car and waited for Regina to do the same so she could lock it.
"Emma, I didn't came prepared for the woods," Regina complained as she was now trying walk over the dirt and leaves with her heels.
Emma chuckled, feeling like they were back in the forest of Storybrooke and Regina was just doing her usual complaining and she could annoy her about it, "come on, fancy pants. I will help you out," Emma said with a teasing tone as she approached Regina and gave her arm as a support and Regina quickly looped her arm through Emma's, because she was very close to twist her ankle, but she wasn't prepared to feel the electricity jolt that went right between them when they touched like this.
Regina yelped at that and Emma jumped slightly, removing her arm, almost making the mayor fall but then she quickly stretched out both her arms to steady Regina and give her, her arm again for her to hold. "Well, this was like pikachu," Emma commented, Pokémon still fresh in her mind since Daniel was also going through his phase of that.
"A what?" Regina asked, confused as she kept a tight grip on Emma's arm while being guided by her towards the wooden bridge where she would be a bit safer there than in the dirt. She just couldn't let her heel get stuck in there as well.
"You know, pokemon? The yellow thing that has electricity as his power? He looks like a fat squirrel mixed with a kitty," Emma honestly didn't know how to explain pikachu to Regina.
"I honestly don't know what you are talking about, miss Swan," Regina called her by her last name but it was in a casual tone, she even chuckled, like when she would sometimes use it before and Emma could easily tell the difference between the casual miss Swan or that specific miss Swan that meant something went down.
"Well, Daniel is going through his pokemon phase right now, so I am obligated to watch that sometimes," Emma explained it to her as they finally got the wooden dock and Emma continued to help Regina get on top of it because it was at their knee's height. Once Regina was on it, Emma stepped onto it, without much effort. "Henry never went through that, he was a geek about the comics and superheroes, remember?" Emma said as she shoved her hands inside the pockets of her leather jacket.
"Yes, I remember, it feels like yesterday, but he is already twenty-one," Regina said with a sad but proud tone in her voice as she looked down at her feet. Emma took that chance to finally inspect the brunette's face for a little longer because till now she hasn't looked for that long at the other woman's face, since it was such painful thing to do but now she noticed how the seven years passed and how she could see it craved on Regina's skin but she still looked so gorgeous, and her hair was a lot longer than usually, she knows that Regina lets her hair grow till her shoulder length or a bit lower and then cuts it, but right now it's at the middle of her back which was something that Emma didn't paid enough attention to till now. – Despite looking older, she looked exactly like the same woman she fell in love with and she was that woman, one way or another.
"Speaking about time. Can you tell me why you haven't contacted me for seven years?" Regina asked as she looked up at green eyes who's quickly looked away at the water, Emma was voiding her looks again. "I want to know why, Emma. You never gave me much reason of why you left, and you've never contacted me. I even asked your parents about that and they told me that you were just too busy, every single time I asked, you were too busy," she said, slightly bitter about that, because Regina needed her closest friend, she went through some rough patches during these seven years and she got to a point that she knew only Emma would be helpful on that moment, only Emma would lift her off her feet and take her for some drinking night so she could forget her problems, or just listen to her complaining which Regina found out that Emma was the only person that could stand up with her complaining and not get tired of it. Robin always used to make some excuse to leave or come up with a different subject, while Emma used to just stay there and listened to everything, she had to say till there was nothing else left to say.
"Regina…" Emma started as she sighed out, "I just couldn't face you after I found out I was pregnant, I had to get out and it was also a chance to start a new life. Being there was already doing me too much damage, even before your past self was in the picture," Emma managed to walk around the truth and still not lie to the mayor. Being in Storybrooke was indeed damaging her more and more, before the whole Evil Queen issue, Emma had to witness Regina and Robin being lovebirds and she hated it, but she still managed to put up with it because she had Regina has best friend, but then the whole thing with the Evil Queen went down and Emma just couldn't handle it anymore.
"But why couldn't you just send me a text? Or a call to just let me know you were fine? I tried to call you, lot of times and text you but then Snow told me you changed numbers," Regina continued with her bitter tone and she sounded sad as well. This was first the questions that the brunette wanted to know the most because Daniel being her son wasn't believable yet, she wanted answer to other things to see if it made sense to her.
"I just couldn't, Regina, it would be way too hard, I had to move on…" Emma whispered still looking at the water, this conversation felt like somebody was squeezing her heart and lungs.
"Move on from what?! I needed you and you weren't there, I thought we were good friends!" Regina said louder, voice cracking and tears already falling over her cheeks. This shocked both women. Emma was looking at her with wide eyes, she couldn't believe Regina was crying right in front of her and she couldn't believe what she just heard, and Regina also looked at green eyes with wide eyes because she was also shocked her own sudden outburst. She even quickly put her hand over her mouth after that as they just continued to stare at each other.
Now Emma realized the whole conversation she had prepared in her head during the thirty-minute car ride and the whole night with no sleep, didn't prepare her one bit for this.
TBC
Oh uh, I bet you guys weren't expecting that outburst from Regina, what do you think about it? And what do you think is going to happen next?
Thank you for your support, sorry for any typo, this was a long chapter.
