Hi guys, it's me again, after a long hiatus. I'm sorry for not saying anything and just disappearing, I moved to a new country like a year ago so I'm still trying to settle down and stuff, also my computer is absolute shit and I had major writer blocks. I haven't wrriten anything in like two years! That's insane so I apologise in advance for any silly mistakes. Anyway, I hope you guys haven't forgotten about this because I got new ideas incoming for this story and the other ones! Hope you still enjoy this story like you did years ago, cheers x

Chapter 23: Conflicts

Things have been settling well between the power couple of Storybrooke, at least that's what all the civilians of this small town have been calling the relationship of the soldier and the mayor. It had been a few months since Emma finally moved in permanently into the Mayor's mansion and at first it took awhile to get used to each others routine. They both had a very strict routine in terms of waking up and getting their stuff done. For Emma, she'd always be up at 6 am and start her workout till 7 am and that would be around the time Regina was getting up and ready for her day at the office. Emma decided to take over Henry's waking up routine so Regina could take her time with her outfit and make-up while the soldier also tried to make breakfast for them every morning. – This, however, didn't go as planned for long because Regina didn't like Emma's breakfast, it was too bland and full of protein and whenever she tried to make pancakes for Henry, let's just say the whole kitchen would be a mess and the pancakes would either be burnt or too thick and undercooked. So, with that in mind, Regina thought it was best for her to just handle Henry's breakfast and Emma could take care of waking up and such; and that's how their morning routine basically settled.

Now about the routine throughout the day, the person who would take care of Henry was obviously Emma, since Regina was busy at the office and she could finally enjoy having her attention solely on her paperwork instead of juggling between a toddler and running a town. Emma didn't mind, of course, it is her son, but there are days she feels a bit overwhelmed because Henry is in his terrible twos and the soldier isn't best known for her patience, so lately she has been trying to convince Regina to let Henry be in a daycare, but the mayor's the overprotective mother nature isn't allowing that to happen yet. Therefore, Emma is once again having this discussion with the brunette, this time in her office at lunch time with a hyper toddler running around and touching everything he shouldn't touch.

"Why can't we just put him in daycare for the full day? It'll be great for him, you know, baby friends and stuff," Emma said while removing Henry's small hands from a very expensive-looking vase.

"Well, for starters, full day care is usually for parents who work the full day and can't be at home to take care of their children," Regina pointed out as she adjusted her reading glasses above the bridge of her nose.

Emma frowned at that comment while staring at the mayor, "rude much."

Regina's gaze averted from her paperwork to frowning green eyes. That look even made her gasp, "Ah, no! I didn't mean it in that way, I'm sorry," but her concern was short-lived because her paperwork got her attention way quicker than Emma's pout.

Emma rolled her eyes, already getting used to the workaholic Regina sometimes can become. "Anyway, I just think it would be really good for him because he is so hyper and he could waste all that energy with kids around his- Henry!" At the exact moment she shouted his name, you could hear a "splosh" noise because Henry decided to grab his jelly cup and start throwing it at the furniture and floor with the spoon. Emma should know better to not leave unfinished food at a toddler's reaching level.

So now Emma was trying to clean up Henry's mess and trying to keep him away from making things worse, but that only made him get upset and ready to throw a tantrum. He was still at "level 2" of tantrum but he could get to "level 10" real quick. – However, this did not impact Regina one bit, she was still too busy filling up forms and such to even be bothered by what happened, specially because that's how toddlers are, you just get used to their things and since she has Emma now, she doesn't have to handle the situation right away. "Mhm, I hear you dear," she was definitely not listening to the soldier.

Emma huffed out as she wiped down the floor in a more rough way because she was getting annoyed at how Regina wasn't listening to her and at how Henry was now trying to push her hands away from him and raising the "level" of his tantrum, so she just let him go and focused on cleaning up, her hair was in a messy bum that was slowly falling apart by each rough wipe she made. "Regina, are you listening to me? Like it would be great if he could just go-"

CRACK

Yup, remember that very expensive looking vase mentioned before, that's exactly what broke. Henry was simply trying to pick it up so it could be his new toy, but obviously he wasn't strong enough to handle such a thing and it fell out of his grip, crashing down against the floor and breaking into different pieces, and that definitely got Regina's attention.

The mayor jolted up from her seat as she rushed towards a crying Henry and quickly picked him up, before he had the chance to cut himself. "Henry! Are you hurt?" While the mayor fussed over her crying toddler, Emma was once again on her knees, now picking up broken vase pieces. "Emma, you need to keep a closer eye on him, he could've gotten seriously hurt!"

Now the next Swan to throw a tantrum, or something similar in the adult version, was the soldier. "Seriously, Regina?!" She raised her voice a little bit, definitely had a snappy tone, but she couldn't control it. "I have been nothing all day, every day but to keep a closer eye on him!" She clumsy got on her feet, while holding the broken pieces and started adjusting herself comfortably on her only leg.

Regina looked at Emma, rather shocked, despite their differences, the soldier rarely gave her this attitude. "Yea, well, that's what being a parent really is, isn't it?" The mayor tried not to snap back while rocking a crying Henry in her arms. The toddler wasn't calming down and his parents' attitudes weren't helping the situation one bit.

"Obviously, but that's why daycare exists, to make parents' lives easier," Emma rolled her eyes as she approached a garbage can to put the pieces there.

"Emma, last time we went to see the daycare, all the kids had the flu. Those kinds of places are full of germs and I don't want Henry to get sick. You know he was premature," Regina explained why she wasn't a fan of the daycare while soothingly caressing Henry's head. "Ai no! Que haces!? Don't throw that away, I'll have someone to fix it. That's a relic."

Emma's eyes twitched as she heard Regina snapping at her in Spanish. She knew by now that only happened when Regina found something really annoying, or if it was something Henry did that was really cute that she couldn't control her brain from speaking her mother tongue. "Where the fuck do you want it then?" The soldier was getting too annoyed, these kind of situations was still something Emma was trying to adapt without too much conflict, she was only used to follow orders without question them or send orders without anyone questioning her, so whenever her and Regina had an altercation that they didn't agree in something, it was very hard for Emma to get her head around that without losing her cool, and let's not forget how equally stubborn our Mayor is.

"Swan!" Regina hissed before clicking her tongue at Emma and trying to cover Henry's ears while holding him, "watch your language around him."

"It's fine, he didn't even hear it since he was so focused on his little self-centered tantrum," Emma wasn't lying about that because Henry was still making that typical annoying cry without any tears to get attention.

"Emma, he's a toddler, don't talk about him like he's an adult losing his temper," Regina eyed the soldier in a way to let the blonde know those words were meant for her. The brunette was getting used to Emma's little tantrum fits too, so far she had never crossed the line to the point they had a screaming match against each other, but they do bicker sometimes over little things.

Emma frowned at Regina's comment, she was trying hard to keep her cool and she was still holding the freaking broken pieces of vase in her hand! So after those words came out of the mayor's mouth, Emma simply decided to drop all those pieces on top of Regina's desk, all over her paperwork too. Both women were staring at each other while this unfolded. Regina was a bit in shock and Emma was forcing a very tight smile. "Since your lunch hour, I'm sure you want to have lunch with Henry, so I'll let you two have some mother and son bonding time!" She was even forcing a high-pitch friendly tone.

"Emma but-" Regina was still a bit in shock but now definitely annoyed after Emma's little show, "why do you have to act like that? Let's just calm down and talk about it-"

"Oh no, no. I'm sure the mayor of this town is too busy to listen to a bad attitude adult complaining about a toddler who loves to have his tantrums. So I'm just gonna leave now," Emma ranted in a mocking and irritated tone. She picked up her keys and wallet from the coffee table before opening the office door to leave.

"Hold on! You can't just keep walking out-" And that's exactly what Emma did, the last thing Regina saw was Emma shutting the office door with not even one look back. "I can't believe this," Regina muttered under her breath while feeling herself get hot by the slight anger creeping up on her. It wasn't the first time Emma walked out on her when she didn't like what was being said, so she knew eventually the soldier would come back and bat around the bush before apologizing and getting over it, but it was definitely annoying.

"Mama?" Henry called out as he whimpered and started to look around, noticing that his blonde mother wasn't here now. "Mama?!" Henry complained and from whimpering decided to cry again.

"Oh no, Henry, please not you too. Calm down. Let's have lunch, shall we?" She rocked him gently in her arms and grabbed his hand to hold it as she looked into his eyes, "you want apple juice? Let's have apple juice," she was trying to convince her son to stop the nonsense tantrum, but he wasn't buying any of it.

Regina groaned as she looked at the state of her office after the hurricane Henry left it and mentally prepared herself for the rest of the day.

Gym

"That was quite bold of you, wasn't it?" A man said as he was spotting Emma while she was lying on her back, lifting heavy weights.

"August, don't get me started, she cuddles that kid way too much, he is so spoiled," Emma said with a bit of a struggle while doing her exercise.

"Yea, I get your point, Swan, but the thing is you need to learn how to talk with Regina about these things without having an attitude about them."

Emma groaned as she struggled to put the weights up. After that, she sat up and gave her old friend a look, "I don't need you to tell me I have an attitude," she said, already walking away to another machine to continue her workout.

August simply raised his hands as if surrendering to Emma's words. He was simply there to spend some time with his friend, he didn't expect to drive all these miles only to be dealing with Emma having relationships and family problems. He was actually hoping they could go down to the lake and just have a few beers while fishing and talking about the good old days, but no, Emma wanted to hit the gym to let her tension out. – "Look, all I'm saying is that maybe it's not what you say but how you say it, huh? "

"You sound like my fucking therapist right now," she said before jumping up and grabbing onto the high bar to start her pull ups.

"Well, I do remember being a bit of a therapist back in the camp. Among all of us, I'm pretty sure I was the best one."

Emma chuckled at that, "fuck off mate, the best therapist was Jefferson, you just tried to compete with him all the time."

"I'm definitely better than Jefferson," August frowned as he gave a playful punch against Emma's abs while she lifted herself up. The blonde didn't complain and actually asked him to carry on. "Anyway, you cling onto these arguments too much, you get a bit resentful and annoyed and now, instead of having good beers by the lake and fishing, I'm stuck here helping you get all ripped through your issues."

"I'm not being resentful, I'm just tired-awo!" Emma whined as she stopped lifting herself up to stare at August. He might have punched her stomach a bit too hard. He gave her a sheepish smile while taking a step backwards, he was definitely scared she might swing her good leg towards him, it wouldn't be the first time. "As I was saying," she resumed, to her pull ups, "Regina spoiled that boy ever since he was born because he was premature and shit, she never let him out of her sight for too long and basically made a prince out of him, but now! After all these bad habits are in him, I'm the one looking after him!"

She was starting to struggle, ranting and working out. It wasn't the best combo, so she just dropped herself off the bar, landing on one foot and shaking her arms to release the tension. "She is at work all day, which I get it, mayor of the town, blah blah, so I take care of him, which I don't mind cause you know he's mine but I can't deal with his tantrums sometimes, he's way too spoiled, I can't tell him no, he throws a fucking tantrum, if Regina catches me being more stern with him, she will tell me off too."

August was paying attention to what the blonde was saying, but he was also getting bored of it. If he wanted to hear family problems, he would've stayed at home and listen to his wife nagging him to help clean the house and hear his pre-teenager kids bickering. "Look, I know he is your son too, but do you want an advice? The mother is always right, it'll make your life easier."

"I'm his mother too!" She told him while leading him to a small boxing ring and putting on her gloves, as August leaned against the punching bag to make it harder for her to move the bag with her punches.

"Yea well, you know what I mean, the boss is definitely Regina in here, so"

Emma started punching, getting annoyed again, "I just want him to go to daycare, so he can see that the world isn't just about him and his needs to touch everything he can reach."

"Well, this isn't back at the camp anymore, is it? You can't just bark orders at Regina and Henry and expect them to do it right away, especially Regina. She seems fiery and that kid probably has the same temper both of you do," August chuckled as he pressed his weight more onto the punching bag.

"Ugh, I just wish I had a job. That way she would have no choice but to put him in daycare. She can't handle working and having him there at the office anymore, he's too handy and he runs now," she punched the bag harder, feeling her arm muscles burning.

"Have you searched for any jobs here?"

"Yes, but it's a very small town. There are only jobs at the local mine or the local library…I'm afraid my leg might not handle the hard mine work and library work is just way too boring."

"Hmn…oh, I know! What about at the base? I heard there are new positions opening up to train the new recruits. I'm sure you don't have to do much other than talk about tactics and shit, and it'd be a classroom job, you know, like a teacher."

"I don't think that would work, August, the Boston base is still quite far from here," she was now struggling to breathe, so she decided to stop after feeling her sweat rolling down her temple and her hair damp on her forehead.

"Well, I guess you have to be a stay at home mom now then. Who would've thought," August laughed as he started to picture Emma as a full stay at home mom, definitely not something he expected from his friend.

Emma frowned when he started laughing and punched him right in his stomach, making August gasp and take a step back with his arms wrapped around his waist. "Don't be a dick, just help me figure this out before I have to face Regin-" she got cut short as she heard a notification coming from her phone, when she went to check it she saw it was a text from Regina saying she took the rest of the day off and she was dropping by Mel's place and taking Henry with her and for Emma to do whatever she wanted till dinner time, she let out a big sigh, feeling Regina's attitude through the text. Yup, the mayor was still mad.

"What?" August asked as he massaged his belly. There was no need for that punch, but he was used to it.

"Regina is definitely still mad, guess I don't have to see her till dinner time, so do you want to go get those beers still?"

"Hell yea!! Let's fucking go!" August was now too hyped about this news, already dragging him out of the gym, "let's get your head out of this head space and enjoy the amazing bro moment we about to have with a couple of fresh ones at the lake."

Mal's House

"Thank you for letting me come at short notice," Regina said while she was being handed a glass of white wine from the older blonde woman.

"Oh no need to thank me dear, I get bored alone at this house most of the time," Mal said while sitting across Regina.

"Yea, you are a bit like me, always complaining about working too much but then complaining about being too bored when we take days off," the mayor commented while eyeing the glass of wine.

"That's very true. Anyway, Kat should drop by in an hour or so. Is our little Henry going to stay asleep till then?" Mal asked as she took a sip of her wine.

"Hopefully, he has been having terrible tantrums lately. Today was no expectation, so I'm sure he is tired from all that fuss and wants to sleep for a couple of hours," Regina sighed and leaned her chin into her hand.

"So trouble in paradise, I take it?" Mel gave her a side look.

"I guess you could call it that. We just had another silly argument, it's ridiculous sometimes how things escalate between us."

"Well, at least it never went too far, didn't it? "

Regina proceeded to scoff at those words, "that's because Emma is out of the door before it even gets to that point and then she comes back, gives a half-arsed apology and then pretends like nothing happened."

"I'm sure it will be fine, though, every couple argues and has conflicts. I'm sure you guys just need to learn how to communicate more effectively."

"She doesn't let that happen! I've tried before but the very moment it escalates, she bolts out the door, doesn't even give me time to talk it out," Regina groaned and pushed the glass of wine slightly away, so she could lay her head on top of her folded arms.

Mel simply watched her brunette friend complaining, because she wasn't the best person to handle these situations. She is trying to be polite and fair, but part of her wants to tell Regina to just tell Emma to piss off, but she knows that's not the right way to do things. Kat is definitely the better one to deal with these kinds of situations. She has more patience and more experience of keeping a healthy relationship together, even though she still remains single but apparently still seeing Emma's friend, Killian.

Ding dong

"Ah, that must be Kat!" Mel announced as she stood up from her seat and walked up towards the door to let her sister in.

"Hii Mal," Kat gave her older sister a kiss on the cheek before turning around towards the kitchen, seeing her brunette friend having a crisis on top of the kitchen island. "Hi, Regina! I heard you were not feeling so great, so I brought some champagne for this sorrowful mood!"

Regina lifted her head up and gave Kat a weak smile while closing her fists and shaking them slowly, "yay, my saviour!"

"So is the problem Emma, my darling?" Kat asked after dropping the bags of groceries on top of the counter and approach Regina to also greet her with a kiss on her cheek.

"It's just the same old story, dear, communication issues," Regina sighed out after giving Kat a kiss back.

"I thought she was getting better at that?" Kat was now busy searching for a glass so she could try out the champagne she bought, while Mel chugged down the rest of the white wine in her glass and got herself busy opening the bottle of champagne.

"Sometimes she is, like she is better at letting me know what she wants and needs, but we still have issues over things we don't agree on and they aren't even that complicated, but it escalates quickly and then you know the drill."

"Ah yes, and then Emma walks out, leaving you high and dry," Kat said as she placed down her glass on top of the kitchen island.

"Well! We can either keep moaning about Emma, or enjoy this wonderful champagne!" Mel said, a bit too excited about the new booze and she popped open the bottle.

Regina opened her eyes wide at the noise, "let's hope that didn't wake Henry up."

Mel gave her a quick sheepish smile before starting to pour the champagne into her glass and Kat's. The two sisters didn't waste any time on trying it out.

"Oh, this is wonderful, the best purchase I've ever made when it comes to alcohol," Kat commented as she sniffed.

"Oh yes, you are right, my dear sister, and you are an angel for bringing this to us, because this is divine. Here, Regina, give me your glass-" Mal was about to grab Regina's glass but stopped herself as she noticed her glass was still full of the white one. "You haven't touched your wine, dear, no wonder you are still so dow-…Regina, why haven't you taken a single sip of your wine? "

Kat stopped sipping her champagne midway and she widely eyed Regina, waiting for the brunette to answer.

"Well, funny story… I think I might be pregnant? " Regina finished her sentence with a sheepish smile, feeling a bit uncomfortable and very aware of the bomb she had just dropped.

And while the two blonde sisters were gasping their way through this news, Emma and August were having the time of their lives getting very drunk by the lake.

TBC