Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Once Upon a Time or its characters.
The tap tap tapping of her pen against the desk set a soothing metronome that Emma's pulse attempted to match. It wasn't made any easier by the unforgiving stack of papers towering and threatening to spill from her 'in' box, looming and casting a tedious sense of utter monotony over the entirety of the office. For the last several hours, longer than she cared to admit, Emma had caught herself staring out of the window longingly, her normally acute ability to focus failing her. The rub of her jeans against tender, still pink, flesh reminded her of two days prior, an utterly normal day in every way, right down to the sunburn she still sported. Uncomfortable in the restrictive clothing, Emma fidgeted in her seat, the bittersweet reminder of the fun she could be having doing nothing good for her mood.
With pleasant memories of the beach day came also the image of Regina, laughing and splashing nearly as much as Emma. The blonde could have commented, teasing the woman who was generally so reluctant to let go, and she almost did more than once, but in the end, she decided that not pointing out the out of character relaxation might make it easier for the regal woman to enjoy herself without pretense. She had even worn a proper swimming suit. Sure, it was a one piece, but the intertwining straps that formed the back made it anything but plain, and Emma doubted if she could have pulled off the same suit.
"Am I interrupting something?" The masculine voice might have been a gunshot for how it startled Emma. Her pen dropped as she whirled in her chair, surprise turning into a scowl as the laughing face of her father drew closer. Holding a hand over her suddenly pounding heart, the blonde shook her head and glared.
"Don't /do/ that to me! God.." Running her hands through mussed hair and leaning forward to put her elbows on her desk, Emma breathed out another calming breath. "What's up?"
David paced a few steps in front of the desk, humor fading into a sort of discomfort that Emma was not accustomed to seeing. This alone had her sitting up, posture stiffening as she pierced the man with a decidedly more serious expression. "Is everything okay?" A knot formed in Emma's gut as the man fidgeted where he stood (making it obvious from whom Emma inherited the habit), a guilty look leaking through the façade he wasn't very talented at keeping up.
"It's your mother.." he trailed off, eyes looking just to the side of Emma's, then to the wall, desk and back to the space next to Emma's head. The woman stayed silent, nodding as if to urge him to continue. Sighing heavily, David gave up his attempt to make the situation sound better than it was. "She wanted to know when you were going to tell us that you and Hook are serious. She kept threatening to come down here and ask you, and I might have said that that wasn't a good idea, and that we should let you share in your own time, and she might be sort of mad at me now."
There was silence, and then it was banished as Emma burst out laughing. Seriously? David's guilty expression twisted from embarrassment into irritated anger, arms crossing. "What? You don't think we deserve to know?" The blonde's laughter subsided slowly under the actually angry question, fading completely with the realization that he was truly serious.
"Really? I'm a grown woman, David, and I don't think I need to be reporting to my parents about my love life." Or lack thereof. David, obviously unsatisfied, the beginnings of hurt clouding in his eyes, propped his hands on his hips.
"We don't expect much, Emma, but we do like to know what's going on. We love you and we just want you to be happy." Now guilt seemed to have targeted Emma as its next victim.
"Alright, fine. You can tell her that Hook and I are..serious." Prompted by guilt, Emma gave David the answer she assumed that /both/ of her parents were looking for. It might not have been entirely true, but it wasn't entirely false.
David's eyes lit up as he swooped forward to pull Emma from her chair and grasp her in a tight bear hug. On any other day it might have been nice, but having just /almost/ lied to her father, Emma was only feeling restricted. Returning the hug halfheartedly and bidding the man farewell as he left to dash home and share the news with his wife, Emma slumped back down in her chair once he was gone.
If she didn't know any better, she would have sworn the pile of paperwork was getting taller.
"And then we found a live starfish and Ariel told us it was asking us to put him back, so we did. But there are so many cool shells deeper in and Ariel helped us find some!" Henry chattered on, leaning on the kitchen counter as Regina moved about, preparing dinner. Henry had been exceedingly excited after spending the day on the beach, and for the last two days he had returned, albeit today without his mother. That the boy was excited about anything was a balm to Regina's vaguely jealous heart as she continued to hear about the adventures that he had shared with his friends. Of /course/ she wanted to spend every moment possible with her son, but it was hardly possible with a town to run.
As she drained the freshly made pasta in the sink, Henry paused, taking a breath, and then begged for what felt like the dozenth time at least for Regina to come to the beach as well the following day. It hurt to say no, hurt to see his face fall a bit, but she made it better fairly quickly by suggesting she bring his friends over at the end of the day for dinner.
Henry knew exactly what that entailed. Regina didn't endorse sitting in front of the television while eating a meal, but when Henry brought friends over she always gave in and allowed them to watch a movie while devouring whatever delicacy she had concocted. Bouncing on his toes, Henry exclaimed and ran from the kitchen to call his friends and inform them of the incoming feast.
A smile stretched helplessly over Regina's face, an inevitable expression wherever Henry's happiness was involved. Even now she marveled at how fulfilling it was to make someone else happy, to make her child jump and smile and grin and laugh. She was haunted more often than not by the warning she had received from Rumplestiltskin all those years ago, a warning that she would never fill the hole in her heart that the dark curse tore open. There were days when she still worried over whether this was true. However, on those days she had merely to look at the boy she had loved and raised, and there was hope enough to cluster within that hole, and almost make her feel as if it were never there in the first place.
As she placed the finished meal out on the smaller table she and Henry tended to use rather than the long dining room table, Regina called out to Henry to come eat. The still bouncing boy was brightly smiling and did not cease chattering all through the meal despite reminders to chew with his mouth closed. As a result, Regina went to bed after cleaning up the meal with a smile of her own and (for once) less than hollow hope that she would be able to sleep soundly.
