Come Monday morning, Emma was up and moving. It was mid September, luckily with this move Henry didn't have to miss too much school. Her mother Mary taught at the elementary school here in town so his registration process moved along pretty quickly. Henry was 10 so he most likely would be put in Mary's 5th grade class, is what her mother had told her.
So this morning she and Harleigh dropped Henry off at school in her metallic might night black Toyota Tacoma truck. In a few days, or when he was more familiar with the town, he could start taking the bus to school. After dropping him off, the Swan girls did a bit of shopping for the house.
When they made it back home it was almost noon, Henry didn't get out of school till 2. Emma would have to look into something for him to do afterwards.
Getting home, Emma went about putting things away and moving things around. She entertained Harleigh for a bit, gave her lunch and laid her down for a nap and found that she still had time to kill until Henry was out.
Setting the baby monitor up on the counter, Emma walked out to the back yard and looked out at it. It had a lot of space, she looked at the swing that was hanging from the tree out back here. Walking over to it, Emma began to remember all the fun times she had back here. She took a seat on the swing and moving her legs back and forth, she started to sway.
So many fun times in this backyard. She chuckled remembering the time Adam pushed her off the tree top. She wound up with a concussion but it got her out of school and attention from her dad so she didn't complain.
Swinging on the swing, she heard humming and a bit of music. Her ears perked and she got up moving along the garden fence gate, Emma moved stealthily and got onto her tip toes.
And there Regina was, on the far side of the yard kneeling down watering her many beautiful plants. She looked peaceful, like not a thing in this world could hurt her.
She had headphones in so Emma doubted she would hear if she called out to her. Now would be the perfect time to ask about the party. That way if she rejected the offer Emma didn't have to walk back home dejected. She could be rejected in her own backyard.
"Regina!" Emma went over to a brick and stood on top of it to see completely over the gate. Regina didn't turn around though. "Hey! Mills!" she tried again but Regina just knelt down to pluck some weeds growing out of her plants.
Sighing Emma's shoulders dropped and she turned holding onto the gate looking around the yard. She spotted Henry's nerf gun laying out in the grass. Raising her eyebrow as she got an idea.
Grabbing the gun and hopping back on top of the brick, Emma made sure the nerf gun was loaded before aiming at her target. She wasn't stupid as to shoot Regina with the gun, she'd just shoot the watering can to get her attention.
Emma has two kids of course she would know how to use a nerf gun. Unashamedly she was still a bit of a kid at heart, maybe she hadn't changed much.
Taking a breath Emma pumped the gun up enough to make sure the little orange bullet would reach Regina. She waited and waited until finally Regina reached for the watering can.
She hit right on target and sent the can tumbling over, luckily no water came out. But it definitely got the older woman's attention.
She quickly looked up and saw Emma standing near her gate, looking up to the sky whistling. Regina narrowed her eyes at the woman, and removed her headphones. Emma whistled and looked up for a few more seconds before looking back at Regina seeing the glare she received.
Yup, that's the look. You done, done it now Emma.
Nevertheless, Emma still shot her an award winning smile.
"Did you just shoot something at me?" Regina asked raising her voice a little so Emma heard her.
"Aah, tsk." Emma pulled her cheek back and pursed her lips. She held the nerf gun up in the air and scrunched her nose up. "Yeah, yeah I guess that was me." Emma looked over to Regina but she did not look amused.
"Are you a child?" Regina scolded and looked down at the orange projectile and picked it up.
"Hey I tried calling your name twice, but you couldn't hear me." Emma motioned and tap her ear twice. "I had to find a way to get your attention." Emma shrugged.
Pursing her lips in a frown, Regina walked over to the gate and handed the thing back to the blonde haired woman-child.
"I wasn't crazy enough to like shoot you in the butt or anything." Emma placed her forearm and hand on the gate.
"Thank God for that, or else you would have surely regretted it." Regina deadpanned. Oh man her voice, it had a firm husk to it but it's still so smooth. "What did you need?" She asked folding her arms above her chest.
Now that she was closer Emma could really look at her face. God was she beautiful, her hair was a little shorter than she remembered but still she has aged gracefully. The scar on her lip was new to Emma though.
Snapping out of it, Emma blinked. Stay strong Swan you've come this far. "Well it's uh...good to see you again you know...after so many years." She gave a small smile.
"12." Regina stated, oh so she had kept track too? "it's been 12 years." Regina slowly nodded looking over her face.
"Yeah time flies you know...but anyhow I wanted to invite to this little housewarming thing we're throwing this weekend." Emma started, "My mother insists on having one, even though we've had this house for years... she thinks it'll be fun for the kids." Regina didn't look too sold on the idea.
"But yeah...so we're throwing the party...you're welcome to come over." Emma smiled, "It'd be a great chance for to get to know Henry more. He mentioned how you two got aquatinted. His words not mine." She laughed a bit and could have sworn she saw Regina smile a bit too.
"Thanks for that by the way." Emma slid that in there.
"No need to thank me it was an accident." Regina shifted her arms a bit.
"He didn't ruin any of your flowers did he?" Emma asked and looked around the garden. She looked at the tree behind Regina for a second. She remembered that apple tree, it had been there for as long as she could remember.
"It landed in the yard, no harm was done." Regina dropped her hands and took the gloves she had on off.
"Great, great..." Emma didn't know what to say she had been talking so much she didn't want to over do it with the chatter.
"What day is the party?" Regina looked back up and blinked slowly.
Emma's tongue poked out to lick her bottom lip. "Hmm? Oh! Saturday, I'm sorry the party is on Saturday starts at 6'o'clock. But you can just come over whenever..." she explained.
"Should I bring anything?" Regina crosses her arms again.
"No not if you don't want to, I planned on cooking a few dishes, my dad is going use the grill for sure, and my brother was going to get drinks." Emma listed, "It'll only be maybe less than twenty people, maybe even less than that." she shrugged.
Nodding along, Regina sucked her teeth and stepped away from the gate. "I'll see you on Saturday then." Regina started to walked away.
Emma's eyebrows shot up, "Oh! O-o-okay yeah! See you on Saturday." she stuttered a bit she honestly wasn't expecting the woman to say yes.
Smiling Emma turned and hopped off the brick, "Saturday." She cheesed.
Looking at the clock Emma saw that it was almost time to go get Henry. She dressed Harleigh, in doing so waking her up from her nap, which the two year old was not happy about. Getting into the truck, Harleigh strapped in and got back to napping.
The drive wasn't a long one, by the time they made it to the front of the pick up line, Henry and her mother were already standing outside waiting. Henry and her mother hopped in the truck, Henry leaned forward and kissed his mother quickly on the cheek. He looked over at his little sister and went to tickling he nose. She swatted at his hand and whined, opening her eyes she saw her big brother.
"Brutter!" Harleigh attempted to scream brother but it came out sound like d's.
"Hi Harls!" Henry smiles big and they hugged.
Pulling off Emma turned the music all the way down. "How was your first day, Hen?" she looked at him through the mirror.
"It was fine, I have to make friends I guess, I ate lunch with grandma." Henry scrunched up just nose.
"I think I happen to be a fine lunchtime companion, thank you very much." Mary looked over her shoulder.
Giggling Henry sat forward, "Of course Grandma I loved having lunch with you thank you again." he smiled.
Mary reaches back and squeezed his chin. "Sweet Boy." She turned back to watch as they passed by townspeople and students walking home. "Henry was a threat to have in my class, he is smarter than most kids his age." Mary stated like the proud grandma she was and winked at him.
"That's great, bud! Hey just because your grandma is your teacher doesn't mean you're gonna get any freebies." Emma jokes and looked over at her mother. "I know we sure didn't." Emma emphasized. Mary has been a teacher in Storybrooke for years now.
"I don't need freebies, Mom. I'm smarter than everyone remember." Henry boasted in his seat and Emma laughed.
"Alright Mr. Smarter than everyone, you better make sure it stays that way." She wagged her finger at him and he giggled.
"How was your day, sweetheart?" Mary looked over to her.
"It was fine, ran some errands, tidied up the house a bit more." Emma listed, "And I...uh even spoke to Regina like you suggested." Emma revealed.
"You did! Well that's great!" Mary exclaimed.
"You talked to Regina?!" Henry perked up more after hearing her name.
"Yes kid, I spoke to Regina. She was out back in her garden I spoke to her over the fence." Emma shrugged. "I mentioned the housewarming party and invited her. She agreed to come over." Emma nodded and turned the into her parents new driveway.
"See I told you there was no harm in asking." Mary grinned with an I told you so grin.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Emma rolled her eyes and put the truck in park.
"Awesome! I can't wait to see her again! I have some questions for her." Henry smiled.
"Questions like what?" Emma asked turning in her seat.
"Well she seems like she knows a lot about gardening. I want to ask her for some tips. Maybe we can start a garden?" Henry shrugged.
"I think that's a wonderful idea sweetie, now don't forget to study those spelling words." Mary smiled and turned grabbing her things to exit the truck. "Bye bye baby!" She waved at Harleigh.
"Bye NaNa!" Harleigh cheesed and waved.
"I will see you all tomorrow then, drive safe! I love you!" Mary exited the black truck.
"Love you too!" Henry and Emma shouted out the window.
Driving back home, Emma pointed out routes and streets to Henry so he could know the town better.
"Hey, mom?" Henry looked into the mirror and their eyes connected.
"Yeah, babe?" Emma transitioned between Henry and the road.
"Did you know Regina's dad and I have the same name?" Henry asked.
Emma gave a sad smile and nodded her head of course she did Emma named him after Mr. Mills. "Yeah bud, I did know that."
"Did you know him?" Henry titled his head bit, it was cute.
"Yeah I knew him... I guess I knew Mr. Mills better than I know Regina." Emma shrugged.
After Regina left for college, Henry Mills pretty much had the house all to himself. His wife traveled a lot for work so she was rarely ever home. One day Emma was in the backyard with her camera and she heard him singing and humming a long to a song, playing on his stereo.
"El cielo azul, El verde mar, Yo te dare... amor, Cuando me digas si." Mr. Mills had a pretty good singing voice, Emma sat back and listened to him. Silently she switched the camera to record mode and stood up on a brick near the gate to get a better view of him.
" La luz del sol, Y su calor, Yo te dare ...amor, Cuando me digas si." He went about watering the plants singing to them. " Y un rayo de la luna, Entre mis manos aprisionare, Para ti lo imposible, Lo indesible eso hare."
He touch the flowers with a gentle hand and made it to the part of the gate where Emma stood. He hadn't noticed her yet. He sang two more verses and an instrumental ballad played out of the stereo. It was then he looked and furrowed his bushy eyebrows.
"What on earth are you doing little Swan?" Mr. Mills looked directly into the camera. Being caught Emma blushed but kept recording.
"I heard you singing..." she explained simply, "it was beautiful...keep going please?" Emma zoomed in on the flowers he was touching.
Chuckling lightly Henry continued to sing,
"El campo real, El manantial, Yo te dare... amor, Cuando me digas si, Cuando me digas si..." Henry finished watering and the song ended, looking up he eyed the young Swan amused.
"Did you get all the content you needed?" He asked.
Blushing again Emma stopped recording and put the camera down, "Yes...thank you...why do you sing to them?" Emma asked putting her forearms on the gate.
"Music helps them grow, something about the vibrations stimulates their growth." Henry explained taking off his gloves.
"You're really into this gardening thing, huh?" Emma looked around and saw the bushes and flowers and the big apple tree.
Chuckling he looked back up at her, "Well yes everyone needs a hobby...yours seems to be that device there." He motioned to the camera.
Holding it up Emma smiled at it, "Well yeah I really like film and photography too but I'm not so good at taking pictures." Emma scrunched her nose.
"Well there's always time for improvement." The older man shrugged and smiled.
From that day on, for two years, Emma stood on top of that brick whenever Henry was outside tending to his garden. Either recording him singing or taking shots of the flowers and him tending to them. They talked and he gave advice or either she threw some topics out there for him to give his opinion on.
When Emma went off to college he checked up on her, she told him about her pregnancy and may have even been the one to talk Emma out of getting an abortion. Too close to her due date, Emma received a call from her mother one morning, informing her that Henry had passed away due to a heart attack.
Emma cried for days and days, she couldn't make his funeral because of school and it wasn't safe for her to fly with her pregnancy but she sent her condolences.
"Did you name me after him?" Henry asked as they all got out of the truck and headed for the front door.
"I did...he was one of the nicest men I had ever met. He saw beauty in a lot of small things." Emma ran her hand through his mop of brown locks.
"Does Regina know that?" Henry asked as they went into the house.
"No I don't think she knows." Emma sighed
"Well...you should tell her. I'm sure she misses him a lot." Henry went up to his room and Harleigh followed.
There was so many things Emma wanted to tell Regina. She just didn't know how.