Emma carefully studied Malaina's face in an attempt to figure out whether she recognized her name or not. At first glance it didn't seem so. Malaina clearly did not remember her. And honestly, that was to be expected. They had talked on the phone for maybe a minute or so several weeks ago. No one would remember such a random incident. Unless it had some kind of significance. And it most certainly did to Emma. She glanced discreetly at Regina. Well, Malaina would most definitely react to hearing her name. Judging by what Emma remembered of the conversation between Cora and Malaina she had overheard, Malaina DID know about Regina. Obviously. Not even Cora would have denied having a daughter.
"And this is Regina Mills, Emma's partner and the model," Patricia cheerfully continued, blissfully unaware of the avalanche she was about to set off.
"Hello, it's nice to meet you," Regina said politely as she stuck her hand out towards Malaina. "Sorry for not getting up, but…" she gestured vaguely to her crutches.
"That is…. Quite….alright." Malaina appeared to be running out of words and her face completely paled as she shook Regina's hand once. Then her gaze darted to Emma, and… ding-dong.
Emma could almost hear the light bulb switch on in Malaina's head. No, scratch that, she could see it. In the way Malaina's eyes widened almost comically and her face paled dramatically.
If Emma was able to read thoughts, she was certain Malaina's thoughts would be something along the line of 'shit, shit, shit, shit'.
"It's nice to meet you too," Malaina said hastily, clearly struggling to remember how to do conversation. "Very nice indeed."
Regina's eyebrow went up, and Emma understood why. 'Very nice indeed' was a bit much when talking to a stranger. But Malaina had sounded genuine. Very genuine. Emma's brain started working. Had this been a difficult topic between Malaina and Cora? Had Malaina repeatedly asked Cora when she could meet Regina? And had Cora kept evading because she still didn't know how to come out to her daughter?
Yep, it sure looked like it.
"Likewise," Regina said, clearly having decided to go along on Malaina's supposed oddity. Then she squirmed slightly in her seat and rubbed her belly.
"You okay?" Emma asked. Because even in this bizarre farce of a first meeting between Cora's lover and Regina, Regina's wellbeing was her top priority.
"Sí, sí, just your son kicking me," Regina quipped.
"Oh. Not very nice of him, is it?" Emma really did her best to try and joke with Regina like she normally would, but she feared that she wasn't doing a very good job.
"How far along are you?" Malaina asked.
This was painful. It was so easy to spot that Malaina too was struggling to sound casual. And failing miserably. But Emma was the only one who could see that.
"Six months," Regina replied and turned her head to flash Emma a smile. "And we're very excited. Aren't we, querida?"
"Very excited," Emma repeated and struggled to stay in the conversation. But damn, it was hard! She did not know how much Cora had told her 'secret lover' about Regina's pregnancy, but no matter how little information Cora had given, Regina had just indirectly told her that she was not going to give the baby up for adoption anyway. There was a very good chance that Malaina would pass on this information to Cora.
God, it felt like her freaking head was going to explode!
It was also painfully awkward when Patricia happily started chatting about their future photo plans. It was awkward because she had no idea that Emma and Malaina weren't exactly strangers.
Malaina looked like she felt the same way. She answered polite when Patricia said something, but Emma could sense her brain working. Most likely going into overdrive because of how utterly bizarre this was. Her gaze flickered between Emma and Regina. Now and then she discreetly shook her head or shifted slightly. After a moment she gave up entirely on conversing with them and said: "I better be on my way. There's a lot to be done in Brooklyn. But it was nice meeting you both."
"You too," Emma said halfheartedly and wished that her head would stop feeling like it was going to explode.
Regina flashed Malaina a polite smile, but Emma saw a tiny little wrinkle between her eyes, and she immediately began obsessing about what Regina possibly could be thinking about. Had she somehow suspected that something was going on? Did she know that Emma was keeping a secret?
Now Emma felt terrible. What the hell was she playing at, keeping a secret from Regina? Suddenly, she felt a bizarre urge to laugh when thinking of another bizarre scenario. Suppose Malaina had in fact been the owner of the gallery?
To borrow one of Regina's favorite phrases… That would have been a kicker!
Malaina exchanged a few words with Patricia and then took off. Emma discreetly observed her as she walked out of the door and out on the lit up street. She saw Malaina roam through the pocket of her expensive looking power-suit and find her phone. She tapped on it for a moment. Then brought it up to her ear, and once again, Emma was willing to bet something valuable that Malaina in this moment was frantically calling Cora to tell her what just happened.
Emma had a feeling that things were about to get very, very tangled indeed. She found it doubtful that Cora wouldn't react to this. She had to. Regina being in New York had to be a fucking huge hint that not even Cora Mills could ignore.
And when that happened…. When Cora did reach out to Regina…
Oh boy.
Emma could barely keep track of the events, and she was distracted as she and Regina wrapped up the meeting with Patricia Adams and wished her a good evening. Regina needed the bathroom before they left, and while she was taking care of that, Emma waited for her in the lobby. She fumbled with her jacket and managed to drop it on the floor one time. Her behavior could only be described as 'jumpy'. She kept eying Regina's coat pocket in which her phone lied. Was it on mute? Or would the ring tone be audible? She kept expecting Regina's phone to go off. It had to. Cora had to call her now. Right?
Perhaps that was too much to expect from the woman who didn't bother showing up when her pregnant daughter was in the hospital, but Regina being in the same city as Cora had to be the ultimate hint.
"You ready to leave, querida?"
Emma jumped a little at Regina's voice.
"Lo siento," Regina chuckled as she came hobbling over to Emma and reached for her jacket.
"Don't worry," Emma said, quickly helping Regina put on the jacket.
"Do we have time to stop by McDonald's before going back to the hotel?" Regina asked as they walked through the door. "I'm craving a cheeseburger."
Despite the whirlwind of thoughts flying around in her brain, Emma chuckled. "Of course. We always have time to feed your cravings, beautiful girl."
"Great," Regina made a face. "Tengo hambre. Again."
Emma chuckled. Slipped an arm around Regina to give her a brief, soft squeeze. "We'll fix that in a heartbeat. And I'm pretty sure I saw some cookies in the minibar back at the hotel."
"Ooooh," Regina cooed. "I can't wait to sink my teeth into those!" she laughed. Then asked if they could stop for a moment.
Obviously, that was not a problem at all. They stopped and Regina muttered under her breath as she struggled with her crutches. Emma of course offered to help her, But Regina insisted that she could handle it, so Emma let her. And after a second or two, Regina succeeded in finding her phone in the pocket of her coat. She tapped it once and made the screen lit up.
"Anything interesting?" Emma asked, forcing herself to sound casual and not like she was bursting with curiosity.
"My dad wanted to know how the meeting went," Regina told her. "I'll text him when we get back."
"Good plan. Anything else?" Emma could have kicked herself. Of course that was a strange thing to add, and she couldn't blame Regina for side eying her.
"No…" she said slowly as she slipped her phone back inside her pocket. "Should there be?"
"Nope. Just being curious," Emma hastily back-pedaled.
"Oh," Regina chuckled. "You are funny, querida."
Good thing she chalked the remark up to Emma being humorous.
Emma wondered if Regina would consider it to be a joke if she opened her mouth and simply blurted out: "hey, guess what? That Malaina woman is actually your mom's secret mistress."
Yeah, no, she couldn't say that. Obviously not. Instead she kept her mouth shut as they continued down the street to look for a taxi that could take them to the nearby McDonalds.
"The meeting went great," Regina said, breaking the silence. "Don't you think?"
"Yeah, it went great," Emma agreed. That much was at least true."
"Patricia seems really nice," Regina continued. "And I can't believe she wants me in her fairytale-villain project!"
"Why wouldn't she? You'll make the perfect Evil Queen," Emma did her best to joke.
Regina laughed. "I'm sure there's a compliment in there somewhere, querida."
"There's always a compliment in there when it's about you," Emma said plainly. "I think it's gonna be really fun."
"Me, too," Regina warmly agreed. "I'm very excited about it. Being photographed by you is always fun." Her voice grew a little huskier, and Emma knew exactly what she was referring to. The last time she had taken pictures of Regina, things had gotten unexpectedly sexy. As it so often did with Regina.
Regina smirked slightly. Then lifted one of her crutches dramatically. "¡Mirar! ¡Hay un taxi!"
"Careful," Emma said automatically. "Don't fall over."
"I'm trying to hail a taxi, querida."
"Well, he's definitely seen you. I think the crazy pregnant woman waving her crutch is pretty hard to miss," Emma sweetly teased her girlfriend.
Regina mumbled something in Spanish that Emma suspected was something rude. She reminded herself to ask Regina about it later.
For now, she followed Regina over to the taxi and helped her get inside and then stuff the crutches away. Next stop, McDonalds…...
Once they were seated at one of the little tables in McDonalds and Regina had gotten her cheeseburger (Emma had opted for fries and nuggets), she couldn't hold back a question.
"So…. What did you think of that Malaina woman?" she asked in what she hoped was a completely casual tone.
"Not really my type."
"Eww!" the knee-jerk reaction came immediately and before Emma could think about it.
"That was a joke," Regina half-chuckled between mouthfuls of burger.
"Right. Obviously. But I didn't mean it like that, though."
"I gathered." Regina sweetly rolled her eyes at Emma. "Honestly? She wasn't my cup of tea."
"How come?" Emma got a sinking feeling. Regina didn't like her mother's girlfriend. This was off to a divine start.
"I don't know, I guess I just picked up some strange vibes from her," Regina made a face as she reached for her milkshake. "Didn't you see how she sized me up?"
"I did see that," Emma admitted. Because Malaina HAD in fact been sizing Regina up. Almost as though she was a bit afraid of her. Of them both, really. Perhaps she had feared that Emma would expose her or something.
"It was really weird," Regina said. "I still don't know what to make of it. Maybe she was just a bit kooky. Or maybe she didn't like me or something," she chuckled lightly.
"Why wouldn't she?" Emma asked before she could stop herself.
"I dunno," Regina shrugged. "It's not like I've met her before, so I can't possibly have done something to upset her. Anyway…" she reached for another French fry. "What does it matter? She's not your boss, so it doesn't matter what I think of her. Or what she thinks of me for that matter."
Oh, how it mattered. It mattered more than Regina possibly could imagine. Shit, shit, shit. Emma inadvertently cussed this ridiculous situation. Sooner or later, the truth would come out. No pun intended. But sooner or later, Regina WOULD find out the truth. And Emma had a profound feeling that things were going to get messy.
"Here's to you, querida," Regina said, interrupting Emma's thoughts as she raised her milkshake. "You nearly charmed the pants off Patricia Adams."
"Now, now," Emma sniggered as she lifted her glass of cola to clink it with Regina's milkshake. "There's only one person I want to charm the pants off. You know that."
Regina waggled an eyebrow as a blush rose in her cheeks. "Eso suena divertido."
Emma grinned back at her. Happy to be distracted from the clusterfuck of events that undoubtedly would happen sooner or later.
"Funny that she's opening a gallery in Brooklyn of all places," Regina said a little while later when they still were in McDonalds and -admittedly- were an ice cream sundae each.
"Why's that funny?" Emma asked, thoroughly occupied with licking caramel sauce off her pinky finger.
"Cora grew up in Brooklyn," Regina said with a slight shrug. "Brooklyn Heights."
"Fancy," Emma commented.
Regina snorted. "My grandparents were a couple of old snobs. Nothing was good enough for them. Except for my dad. He always joked with how he managed to get on their good side so they would give him permission to whisk away their daughter." She rolled her eyes. "You would think that anyone would be grateful to be whisked away by my dad, but of course Cora wasn't. Not in the long run. Not even my dad was good enough for her!" she finished her little speech by aggressively scooping up some ice cream and eating it.
Emma felt a twinge of something. Pity? For Cora? If things were as she suspected, and Cora had been trapped in a marriage she never wanted, Regina's words were harsh. But of course Regina did not know the full story. Because Cora refused to tell her.
Damnit Cora, Emma thought to herself. Why can't you just call your daughter and tell her what is going on? She's here. You'll never get a better opportunity than this one.
"Emma? Hello?"
"Huh?" Emma blinked.
"I've been talking to you for the past minute."
"Oh. Sorry, honey. I was a little… distracted."
"Clearly," Regina chuckled then eyed Emma. "Are you okay? You seem a bit… I don't know, out of it?"
"I'm fine," Emma said briskly. "Now, what did you say?"
"I was just asking if you'd be interested in going down to Brooklyn while we're here? It's a little bit of a drive, but we could go to the Botanical Garden? Or something else if it's too cold."
"Sure," Emma said, smiling widely at her girlfriend.
"Are you saying yes to botanical garden or yes to something else if its too cold?" Regina frowned.
"All of it," Emma said and covered the blunder with a goofy grin. "I'm down for all of it as long as I'm hanging out with you."
"Eso es dulce," Regina smiled. "It's a date, then."
"Yep, beautiful girl. It's most definitely a date!"
They made it back to their hotel room, and Regina declared that the first thing she wanted to do was to change out of what she called her 'fancy clothes'. She said that it was too tight and that her boobs were being squished.
Emma laughed heartedly at that. She naturally offered to help Regina, and this time, Regina accepted the offer. Something Emma was happy about because honestly, Regina had started to look a bit tired. No, scratch that. She had started to look VERY tired.
So Emma got her to sit down on the bed. First, she helped Regina getting out of the high heeled shoe she for some reason had chosen tonight. The shoe was pretty, but it had definitely come with a price. Emma cringed when she saw how swollen Regina's 'good' foot was. "Jesus, babe," she said and shook her head. "I think I have to forbid you from wearing high heels again!"
"Seems fair enough," Regina said, wincing slightly as she wiggled her swollen foot. "I suppose it was stupid to wear it. I just wanted to look nice."
"Hey," Emma said softly. "You always look good, okay? It doesn't matter what shoes you wear. Or in this case, shoe. Singular."
That earned a slight chuckle from Regina. "I'm probably just a little overtired tonight."
"Yeah. But I totally get that. We arrived yesterday and didn't get much chance to chill before we had to rush out to meet Patricia." Emma sat Regina's lone shoe down and searched for the side zipper in Regina's skirt. "And-" she smirked slightly at her girlfriend. "We did end up doing things that weren't sleeping last night."
"Sí, we did," Regina agreed, grinning a bit. "But I am not regretting that."
"Nor am I."
"The fatigue is worth it."
"Agreed. Hell, I'M fatigued, and I'm not even pregnant," Emma joked.
Regina laughed and reached back, Then she made a face.
"Sore back?" Emma guessed.
"A little."
Emma refrained from saying anything, but she knew better. Knew that Regina's back was most likely hurting like a bitch. She would give it a good rubbing later. But for now, relieving Regina of the uncomfortable clothes was far more important. She made a little noise of triumph as she managed to unzip the skirt. "Can you lift your hips a little?"
Regina used her hands as leverage and lifted her hips, and Emma tried to be as quick and effective as possible as she tugged the skirt down Regina's hips and then over the cast on her ankle.
"There we go," she said as she managed to pull the skirt all the way down. "Milady has been freed."
"Gracias. I couldn't possibly have done it without you," Regina said half-jokingly. Then without much further ado, she unbuttoned her blouse, laid it on the bed and flopped back on said bed herself.
Emma's mind instantly went places when she saw Regina laying on the bed in just her underwear. "You after something, beautiful girl?"
"Sí. Comfort," Regina joked. "I've been sweating buckets all night!"
"Yeah, I can see that pregnancy glow everyone's talking about," Emma said warmly as she glanced at Regina's flushed cheeks.
"Pregnancy glow?" Regina huffed. "There's nothing glow-y about sweating like a pig! Seriously, this is insane!" as she spoke, she reached back and fumbled for a moment. She muttered lowly under her breath. Then exhaled when she succeeded in unhooking her bra. She put it next to the shirt on the bed.
Emma had to swallow something. Now Regina was laying topless on the bed in only her panties. She looked glorious with her round belly sticking up and not to mention those very bare breasts looking so….
Emma coughed. "Want me to find you a shirt, honey?"
"¿Por qué?" Regina teased, lifting her non-injured foot and extending a long leg into the air. "Is this bothering you, querida?"
"Bothering me, no. Distracting me, yes," Emma snickered. "Seriously, I have so many thoughts in my head right now…"
"You do, do you?" Regina smirked. "Such a shame we're both too tired."
"Yeah. Such a shame," Emma echoed and was sure she had just felt her energy come back.
But there was a time and a place, and honestly, Regina looked pretty beat right now. They'd had some pretty busy days and although the alternative to sleep was nice (very, very nice!) it probably would be better to rest up for the night.
Regina groaned slightly as she extended her arms back over her head and then stretched in the bed. Her feet dangled over the edge of the bed and Emma was sure she heard some kind of pop or crunch coming from somewhere in Regina's body. "The hell was that?" she frowned.
"My back, I think," Regina answered and stretched again.
"Damn," Emma shook her head.
"It feels like the bigger I get, the more symptoms I experience. But then again, rather this than the nausea." Regina sat up and reached for her crutches.
"I got it," Emma said, quickly getting off the bed. "Whatever it is you need, I got it."
Regina smiled. "Shirt?"
"Got it!" Emma dived under the bed and grabbed her suitcase (none of them had bothered unpacking yet) and found a shirt for Regina. No, not just any old shirt. This was THE shirt. It was old and the grey and white checkered pattern had faded ages ago. It was hugely oversized and was originally from the men's section. Definitely not a nice shirt, but Emma had had it for many years and still refused to throw it out. First because it had served as a comfort shirt she would wear at night when coming home from work. And now because Regina loved the shirt. She had spent many nights wearing that shirt in bed. She hadn't officially stolen the shirt yet, but Emma reckoned it was only a matter of time before that happened. She certainly had asked Emma to bring 'my' shirt. Like it was her own.
"There you go, beautiful girl," Emma said as she handed Regina the shirt.
"Thank you. And you even unbuttoned it for me. Aww."
"Of course I did. The less you strain, the better."
"Since when is it straining to unbutton a shirt?" Regina wondered aloud as she slipped her arms through the sleeves.
"Since I decided so. Now put a goddamn shirt on before I decide that sleep is for the weak."
Regina laughed as she tugged the shirt on and buttoned it. It immediately became somewhat easier to breathe for Emma. And she was relieved. She didn't want to sound out of breath when talking to her parents.
While Regina lounged on the bed (and looked dreadfully sexy in that shirt), Emma called her mom. It didn't take long before she picked up and fired off questions about how everything had gone.
"Was Mrs. Adams nice?" she asked. "Did she give you any good feedback?"
"Oh, she did more than that," Emma smiled like a seven year old who was about to tell her parents that she aced the spelling contest. "She wants to exhibit my pictures!"
Her mom shrieked so loudly, Regina's head snapped up and she gave a concerned look.
"'Everything is fine'" Emma mouthed before scolding her mom: "mom, you just made Regina think that something terrible has happened!"
"Oh, I'm sorry," her mom hastily apologized. "I just got so happy! Emma, this is wonderful news!"
"What's wonderful news?" came David's voice in the background.
"Emma pictures will be exhibited in the gallery in New York!"
Emma smiled and cringed at the same time. Once again, her mom's voice was far too high. But this time she did not bother scolding her.
"Princess!" her dad exclaimed, and bam, Emma felt like she WAS seven years old and HAD just aced her first spelling contest. "That's fantastic! Congratulations!"
"Thanks, dad," Emma grinned. She couldn't deny that she was fucking proud of herself. And she felt like the luckiest bastard in the world. But not just because of her parents' praise. Regina snuggling into her side and pressing a soft, quick kiss to her cheek contributed to her feelings too.
"We have to come and see the pictures!" her mom said firmly. "I don't care that New York is far away, we just have to!"
"Of course," Emma's dad agreed. "When will they be exhibited, Princess?"
"In three weeks' time if all goes right," Emma said and silently added 'and less of the 'Princess', please. Honestly, it was a bit embarrassing to be referred to as 'princess' when Regina was sitting right next to her and could hear everything.
"That is quick!" her mom said and added: "we're so proud of you, sweetie. You've truly earned this."
"Estoy de acuerdo," Regina agreed loud enough for Emma's parents to hear.
Emma's dad chuckled. "Hello, Regina. How are you doing tonight?"
"I am doing just fine, thank you, David."
"And our grandchild?" he added warmly. "How is he doing?"
"Or she," Emma's mom added.
"He or she is doing just fine," Regina chuckled. "Kicking and using my bladder as a squeeze toy."
"So obviously thriving," Emma's dad said matter of factly.
"You take care of yourself, young lady," Emma's mom said. Which could have sounded incredibly harsh and condescending, had it not been for the obvious warmth in Mary Margaret's voice. It radiated affection and care for her daughter-in-law. "Don't do anything too strenuous, okay?"
"I promise," Regina said. Her voice was just as warm. "Emma is very good at reminding me."
"Damn right she is," Emma interjected.
"Emma, your language," her mom scolded before turning her attention back to Regina. "And how is the ankle?"
"A bit sore to be honest. I haven't been good enough to rest it tonight, I'm afraid," Regina admitted, and Emma immediately gave her an 'how dare you'-look. Regina had not mentioned to her that her ankle was sore.
"Oh, you poor thing," Mary Margaret said affectionately. "Be sure to rest it plenty tonight, alright?"
"Prop it up on a pillow. Or two," David suggested.
"I'll do that," Regina assured. "To be honest, I don't think there will be much walking for me for the rest of this trip." She shot Emma an apologetic look.
"Nope, it'll be wheelchair-fun for the remainder," Emma snickered. "Let's see how many innocent passerby's we can knock over!"
"Emma!" her parents and Regina scolded in unison, and Regina was quick to add: "no more wheelchair-racing! Not after what happened in the airport!"
"What happened in the airport?" Emma's dad asked. He didn't sound particularly scolding now. More curious. And amused.
"David!" now Emma's mom was scolding her husband. "That doesn't matter, but I'm sure that whatever it was, Emma is very sorry about it. Aren't you, Emma?"
"Hey, why do you assume that I was the one who did something wrong?" Emma mock-pouted.
"Because Regina is far too sensible to do anything silly," her mom said in a tone suggesting she would go 'duuh' in a moment. She didn't, though.
"Right. Or because the pair of you are far too infatuated to think she can ever do something wrong," Emma deadpanned.
Her parents laughed. But didn't deny it. Which Emma absolutely fucking loved.
After a few more happy congratulations and a reminder for Regina to take it easy and let them know if new happenings involving their grandchild occurred, Emma's parents bid their goodbye and ended the call.
"Well, my parents still loves you," Emma said, chucking the phone onto the floor where it landed with a soft thud.
"Which I find to be a bit concerning," Regina said without looking up from her own phone. "I am definitely not perfect. I had my first cigarette at fifteen, started drinking at sixteen and left my home in a rage at seventeen."
"Because Cora screwed you over," Emma pointed out.
"Sí. She did." Regina's mouth twisted slightly.
Somehow everything came back to Cora tonight. Emma didn't want Regina to get sad, though. She kissed the side of Regina's neck.
"Emma. Stop it," Regina scolded and squirmed. "Tickles."
"Sorry."
"You are not."
"No, I'm not," Emma agreed and looked at Regina's phone over her shoulder. "Anything important?"
"My dad sends his love," Regina smiled. "He's very proud of his nuera."
"His what now?"
"Daughter-in-law, querida. He's proud of his daughter-in-law."
"Oh." Emma smiled. "Aww. He's so awesome. I adore him!"
"And I adore your parents, mi amor. They're wonderful."
"I'll totally tell them you said that," Emma mock-warned. No doubt especially her mother would gush when she heard that. Her mother who was in the middle of 'operation knitwork'. Meaning that she secretly was knitting a blanket for the baby. She had asked Emma not to tell Regina about it. She wanted it to be a surprise. For the even more secret baby shower which Regina had no idea of was in the making. But oh, how it was. Emma had already enrolled Belle and Ruby and Granny to help her with arranging everything. Of course Regina should have a baby shower. She should have all the experiences in these last three months of her pregnancy.
While Regina was engaged with texting her father, Emma retrieved her own phone from the floor once more. She sent a group text to Ruby and Belle and delivered the good news to them too. It didn't take long before both of them answered with exclamation points and champagne emojis. That made Emma smile. She was going to miss those two when she moved to California. Good thing phones existed. And planes. They had promised to come and visit very often, and Emma did not see a reason not to believe them. They had been friends for a long, long time. It would take more than a move to make them drift apart.
After having exchanged a few texts with her friends (who also wanted to know how Regina and the baby was doing) Emma put her phone away and glanced discreetly at Regina who was still sitting with her phone. Still absolutely zilch from Cora. Not a peep. Emma's slight pity with Regina's mother was now turning into resentment once more. What kind of coward was she even? Regina was here. In New York. There would never be a better time to fix things than now. So why didn't she? Why didn't she take the first step in fixing this? Was she really that stubborn?
Emma didn't care whether Cora's silence came from fear. She was growing fucking tired of this ridiculous game of 'hide and seek' between them and Cora. Sooner or later, Cora had to stop beating around the bush and fess the hell up.
Emma eyed her phone laying on the bedside table. She still had Cora's number. And by all the gods, she was tempted to send her a text and ask her what the fuck was going on.
But… if she did that, she would be going behind Regina's back twice. No. She couldn't do that. One time had to be more than enough. And besides, she could not force Cora to contact her daughter if she simply didn't want to. Although it was fucked up.
Very, very fucked up.
"Eres muy callado."
"Oh, sorry," Emma said. She knew that she had in fact gone quiet. "I was just thinking."
"Yeah? About what?" Regina asked, carefully wiggling onto her side so she could be face to face with Emma.
"You," Emma said smoothly. A teeny tiny white lie that couldn't hurt.
Regina snickered. "That's sweet."
"But… I was also thinking about something else," Emma continued, forcing Cora Mills out of her head as she snuggled closer to Regina.
"Yeah? And what were you thinking about?"
"I'm thinking…" Emma slowly ran two fingertips up Regina's baby bump. "That we should treat ourselves to a long morning tomorrow…"
"Oh yes?" Regina's tone more than suggested that she knew exactly what a 'long morning' meant.
"Mhmm.. A really, really long morning, beautiful girl." Emma assured, still running her fingers lightly up and down Regina's stomach. "And then… once we feel up for it, we should find a taxi and have lunch in Brooklyn. Or dinner. Depending on how…. Long our morning is going to be."
"Dios mio, querida," Regina laughed. "I think you are overestimating our stamina."
"Think again," Emma joked. She kissed Regina's cheek. "So? What do you think of my plan, beautiful girl?"
"I like your plan a lot, mi amor."
"Excellent. That's settled then. Now that we know what we're going to do tomorrow…" Emma got off the bed. "I think its time we raid the minibar for snacks, don't you?"
"You have so many good ideas, querida," Regina praised and flashed Emma a big grin. "Dios, I hope there's a Snickers! I could absolutely kill for a Snickers right now!"
"Kill for them, huh?" Emma jokingly pretended to be very afraid of her girlfriend. "Well, let's see if tonight is your lucky night, beautiful girl." She opened the minibar with a lavish motion.
It was Regina's lucky night. The minibar didn't hold one, but three Snickers and Regina looked like Christmas had come early when Emma handed her the chocolate-y goodness. "Creo que estoy enamorado," she joked as she tore the paper off the first one and took a large bite.
Emma narrowed her eyes. "Are you saying you need a moment alone with the chocolate bar?"
"Sí. I have at last found true love," Regina laughed. "I never thought this day would come."
"If you weren't tired and pregnant and eating and had a broken ankle, I would so punish you for that remark," Emma threatened.
Regina promptly choked on a piece of chocolate. She coughed then squeaked: "Perdóneme." If she was excusing her coughing fit or the remark wasn't quite clear, though.
Emma laughed and tried her best to sound like a villain (although Regina's laughter was much more villainous) "you'd like that, wouldn't you…"
"Si. Sabes que lo haría."
Well. Good thing Emma wasn't eating anything, because that casual admittance would definitely have made HER choke. She scolded her features, grabbed another chocolate bar from the mini fridge (this one was a mars bar) and then walked over to join Regina on the bed. With the chocolate bar in one hand, she climbed onto the bed and flopped down next to her girlfriend. It felt good to lie down after the two slightly stressful days they'd had. First travelling. Then no sleep because sex had ranked higher on the wish list. Duh. Of course it had. It was practically impossible to keep her hands off Regina these days. And then the slightly nerve wracking meeting with Patricia Adams. Emma had of course been nervous although she had done a decent job hiding it.
But what really had exhausted Emma, was the ridiculous mindfuck it had been to meet Cora Mills' secret mistress.
"Hello, you," Regina said softly and ran her free hand through Emma's blonde locks. She was in the process of tearing the wrapping paper of a second Snickers bar. "Thank you for grabbing these for me."
"You're welcome, mi belleza," Emma said and smiled. But she didn't feel entirely worthy of the 'thank you's' Regina was bestowing upon her. She felt guilty and sneaky. For not telling Regina the truth about the woman they had met at the gallery tonight. For having pretended that Malaina was a perfect stranger when she knew perfectly who she was.
She also felt angry at Malaina because she had pretended to know nothing about Regina. That wasn't right either.
Emma's guts twisted. However wrong Cora and Malaina were in their way to go about this, Emma was no angel either. She too was sneaking around and keeping things from her girlfriend. She felt trapped. If she told Regina the truth, she would ultimately out Cora when she wasn't ready to come out.
But for each second, she kept things from Regina, the bigger the secret got and the worse the consequences would get. Something had to be done.
Something HAD already been done.
There was an ulterior motive to their trip to Brooklyn tomorrow. She had a very silly hope that they somehow would run into the mysterious Malaina a second time. She imagined that if Malaina met them a second time, it would motivate her to tell Regina the truth. Emma was sick of lying for Cora, and if Cora herself wasn't going to do anything about it, she had to count on her lover to do something about it instead…
To Be Continued…
Spanish translations:
Lo siento= I'm sorry.
¡Mirar! ¡Hay un taxi!= Look! There's a taxi!
Eso suena divertido= That sounds fun.
Eso es dulce= That's sweet.
¿Por qué?= Why?
Estoy acuerdo= I agree.
Si. Sabes que lo haría= Yes. You know I would