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Chapter 3

"Hey kid. How was school?" Emma asked as she shoved her hands into her jacket pocket. She had just picked up Henry and they were walking back to the apartment together. Emma really should think of getting her own place. There was not enough space with all four of them together. And honestly, being 28, she shouldn't be living with her parents anyways. It'll be a problem for another day.

Henry shrugged. "It was alright I guess." He was looking down at his feet.

"Come on kid, what's wrong?"

Henry glanced up at Emma. "I just…" He trailed off.

Emma noticed he didn't seem to want to talk about it so she changed the subject. "I'd been wanting to ask you. Did you want to see your mom sometime? You know it's okay if you want to, right?"

Henry looked up surprised. "But Grandma keeps going on about how the Evil Queen should not have anything to do with me." He looked pensive. "But she is my mom and she's been trying to be better," he said in a softer tone.

Emma sighed. "Henry, sometimes adults don't always make the best decisions, okay? We all make mistakes. And maybe this time Mary Margaret is being a little too harsh on you and your mom. If you want, I can call your mom and ask if she'd like to have you over." Emma reached over and ruffled his hair, glad that he wasn't at the age where he was shying away. "Leave your grandma to me. I'm the Savior, right? It can't be too bad." She winked at him.

Henry's face lit up. "Then I want to see her," he decided. "Maybe tonight? I miss her cooking," Henry admitted, sheepish.

The Savior laughed. He'd better not let Mary Margaret hear that. "Sure kid, I'll call your mom after I drop you off. David should be home. I gotta go to the station to pick up a few things."

Henry nodded enthusiastically, "Okay!" He got more quiet, "Mom will probably help me with my math homework too."

"Math?" Emma looked at him and quirked an eyebrow. "Are you having trouble?"

Henry looked embarrassed. "Yea…" He admitted. "Mom usually checks my work and tells me to check the ones I got wrong, but I haven't seen her." Emma felt bad as he said this. If she had been a good parent, she would have known that he needed his homework checked. The kid was only eleven. There was so much she didn't know. Maybe if Regina was in a good mood, she'd give some tips. She scoffed under her breath. Doubtful. Regina would just make a jab at how incompetent she was.

"Uh," Emma began, embarrassed for not having known he needed help. She rubbed the back of her neck. "Sorry kid," she began.

"It's okay," Henry responded with a shrug. "I didn't expect you to really. It was just a thing I expected from my mom."

"Alright, well sorry I didn't realize. I'll make sure to bring that up to your mom, okay?" Henry nodded and then walked with a bounce in his step. Emma smiled fondly at him; that must have been what was bothering him earlier. She made a mental note to talk to Regina about what she normally did for Henry.

They walked up to the house and Emma saw someone pacing at the front of their apartment. She narrowed her eyes, wondering who it was before realizing it was Neal. Inwardly she sighed. Henry saw him too and ran up to him.

"Hey Dad!" Henry said, giving him a hug. "What're you doing here?"

Neal patted his head. "I was just thinking of you Henry. Thought I could ask if you and your mom wanted to get dinner with me." He looked up past Henry at Emma. "What do you say, Em?"

Emma shook her head. "Don't call me that."

A laugh came from Neal, "Aw, come on, Em. I used to call you that all the time."

"Exactly," Emma responded, not in the mood to deal with Neal and him trying to play 'Dad' with Henry. "used to. Not anymore. So cut it out." She didn't know what he was trying to do. Ever since he came back, it was like he wanted them to pick up where they had left off when he left her in jail. No way that was happening.

She brushed past Neal to the door. "Besides," she said, "Henry has plans with his other mom tonight."

Neal's face turned agitated and a little angry. "You can't let my son go to the Evil Queen. It's not safe for him! Really, you should have asked me before you made that decision."

Emma spun around and stalked right up to him. "First of all," she said in a low voice, "He is not your son. You had nothing to do with him till only recently. He is no son of yours. Secondly, it's not the Evil Queen, it's Regina, Henry's mom. You can't forbid him from seeing her." Emma scoffed at him, "and finally," she said, "I don't have to make any decisions with you. If any decisions need to be made, that would be between Regina and myself."

She put her hand on Henry's shoulder who looked happen and confused at the conversation. "Now," Emma said to Neal, "if you'll excuse us, we have things to do." She led Henry to the door and nudged him to go in. "And don't come find me about this again." She stepped through the door and slammed it shut on Neal's speechless face.

After she made sure that Neal had left the apartment, Emma went back to the station. When there, she paced in front of her desk, wearing down the floor as if she had a vendetta against it. She wondered why she kept defending Regina.

At the same time, she wondered why it was that no one else seemed to be able to forgive the fact that she was the Evil Queen. Neal wasn't even around when she was at the Enchanted Forest. He was probably just jealous that she had so much time with Henry.

With a sigh, she pulled out her phone to call Regina. Might as well get this over with.

"Mayor Mills," came the curt response.

"Uh, hey," Emma began.

"Well well, if it isn't the Sheriff," Regina drawled. "What do you need? I'm a very busy person and I hope it's not about your confusion earlier at Granny's." She continued to type away at her computer despite her stomach fluttering. Emma had called her. Even though it was likely business, it was still nice to hear her voice.

Emma let out an audible breath. She didn't know why she was doing this. "Look," she said, voice resigned. This was not the normal tone and Regina picked up on it. "I wanted to talk about Henry."

The minute the word Henry left her mouth, she could almost feel Regina's panic. "What?" Regina demanded, condescending voice disappearing at once. "Is he okay?" A tone of worry crept in.

This was why Emma did it. Regina cared so much for Henry.

"Woah woah," Emma said, "calm down," she lightly chuckled. Sometimes talking with the Mayor raised her mood.

"Do you want to see him tonight?" She asked.

"Why?" Regina asked, guarded.

"No reason. He wants to have dinner with you."

There was a pause followed by, "If this is a way for me to babysit Henry while you dally around in your wanton affairs, I want nothing to do with it."

Emma let out a groan, "Seriously? You think that's why? There's no reason, the kid just wants to see you." She ran her fingers through her hair. "Can't just take a good thing when it shows up?" She quipped.

Regina responded tersely, "That doesn't happen with me."

Emma immediately felt bad. That was probably true with Regina when it came to everyone else. "Look," she began, "I'm sorry…"

"Don't waste your breathe, Miss Swan." Regina cut her off. "Presumptuous to think I want to hear your apologies." Oh, but she loved that Emma cared like that for her.

"Fine," Emma gritted out. At least this sounded more like the Regina she was used to. "So you free or what?"

"Dinner would be acceptable," she heard Regina said. Of course she wasn't going to admit she would love to see Henry. Emma would let it go today.

"Great."

"6 sharp, Sheriff." Regina said, "Don't be late."

"On the dot," Emma promised. "Oh, another thing, Henry said he needed some math help from you too…" she trailed off.

"Miss Swan, if you want to play parent with my son; that includes all aspect of parenting. You can't just expect me to pick up what is undesirable to you." Regina was only teasing but Emma didn't know. She enjoyed looking over Henry's homework anyways.

Emma huffed, "that's not why," she almost whined.

Regina caught the tone and smirked into the phone, "Whining now, Sheriff? A child shouldn't be watching another." Emma's childishness was sometimes adorable. She wondered if she'd get to see that side of her in person sometime.

"I'm not whining," Emma stated. She stepped around to her desk and looked at the folder sitting there. "It's just…"

"What excuse are you coming up with this time? Please enlighten me."

"He doesn't ask me, okay?" Emma exclaimed. "I didn't even know he was having trouble! Then he goes and tells me that you would always check his work and tell him when things are wrong." She flipped open the folder in attempt to keep herself somewhat calm before continuing to rant. "But how am I supposed to know that you used to do that? I mean, I don't even know how to cook, let alone take care of some kid. Good thing Mary Margaret is around or he's going to be eating frozen meals and cereal the rest of his life. Sometimes, I just don't know how you do it. Seriously, you're so amazing sometimes running a town and raising a kid at the same time. It's impressive really and…"

"Are you quite done ranting, Miss Swan?" Regina's amused voice floated through the phone. Her heart swelled at the compliment. "And did I just hear you complement me?"

Emma abruptly stopped talking and felt embarrassment sweep through her. She didn't know what came over her! Ranting to her arch nemesis and then complementing her? She was losing it. Must be because she was looking at the letters, she decided as she glanced at the open folder that contained the two letters.

"Uh… No, that was just…" Emma tried to recover. Instead, she groaned. "Never mind."

Regina chuckled. And it wasn't the creepy chuckle she'd do when she was planning something. No, this was a genuine chuckle from her. Emma flushed for no reason. She had never heard Regina make that sound.

"I'll just, uh, drop him off at 6." Emma rushed out. "Bye." She hung up the phone before Regina could respond.

Emma stared at the folder in confusion. She certainly acted a little strange just now talking with Regina. They hadn't had a conversation that long in… well ever. It wasn't unpleasant though. It seemed to be their normal bickering and even some possible amicable moments.

She looked at the hanging clock, good, she still has time. Emma sat down and pulled the folder towards her. It was then that she noticed a piece of paper sticking out from under a pile of paperwork sitting next to the folder. Curious, she pulled it out. The pile of paperwork was what David had gotten from the Mayor earlier that day.

It was another letter. Eagerly, Emma read it.

Sheriff Emma Swan,

Did you know that a women in uniform turns me on like nothing else? Too bad you don't actually wear one. The title though…

Emma's eyes widened at the implication and felt a fluttering in her chest. She shook her head quickly, incredulous that it had affected her like that. She felt her lips curl in a small smile. They probably wanted her to feel this way. Playful, whoever this person was.

I hope you day is going well. It was uneventful for me sitting at my desk all day.

And a tease at that! Emma couldn't believe the letter didn't keep going and had promptly changed the topic.

Perhaps you have more of a hint as to who I am now? I did tell you that I sit at a desk all day. Then again, most jobs these days are desk jobs.

Often when working, I find myself wondering what you're doing. Perhaps you are saving a cat from a tree, or trying to catch Pongo because he's ran away again. Archie can't seem to keep a leash on him, don't you think?

Emma read that again. Guess it wasn't Archie.

Or maybe you are doing paperwork… though I doubt that's the case as you always have an enormous stack at your desk. If I could guess, I'd say you were procrastinating and maybe throwing crumpled pieces of paper at the trash bin, pretending it's a basketball? Have I nailed it?

Emma smiled at this. This person really did know her. The paperwork was so boring though! Though it did mean that Regina would come find her every couple weeks to gripe about the late paperwork. Often times, Emma had debated crumpling one of the pages for the paperwork and throwing it in the trash just like the letter suggested just to see if the Mayor would notice. She probably would, being the perfectionist that she is.

Anyways, more about myself:

-I'm a romantic comedy sap

-Documentaries bore me

-I love challenges

On the topic of challenges. You are quite cute when riled up and acting defiant.

Till next time…

Emma carefully put this letter in with the others while thinking of who this mystery person is. She hated that they could bring up feelings akin to desire in her with just words. She didn't even know who he was! And how did it get in her pile of paperwork? The only people who should have touched it was the Mayor and David. Maybe this person had an accomplice. Then again, there was that short period of time when David was home and Emma was picking up Henry.

She sighed and leaned back on her chair. It could be anyone! Well, anyone except for Archie… and anyone who didn't have a desk job. This person was right though, most jobs are desk jobs anyways.

Challenges, huh?

Maybe whoever this was sees her arguing? Though the only person she really gets "riled" up about would be Regina. Perhaps they've just seen her stand up to Regina at some town hall meeting and thought that.

Giving up, Emma decided to wait for the next letter. They came pretty frequent since they began early this morning. She was half expecting at least one more before the night was over. Maybe it was waiting in her mailbox back at the apartment. She would make sure to check when she got back. If Emma was honest, she enjoyed receiving these letters. They seemed more sophisticated then the way Killian or Neal tried to get her attention. She scoffed a little thinking of their brash methods.

Emma took this time to glance at the clock before cursing and standing up suddenly. The chair was knocked back a few feet. It was already almost six and she still had to pick up Henry and get him to Regina's. She grabbed the folder and ran out of the office, pulling it haphazardly closed behind her. Regina was going to give her tons of grief about this, she just knew it. Emma slammed the door to her bug before tearing out of the parking lot back home.

What did you guys think? Hope you're enjoying this as much as I did when I wrote it.