Henry was the first to see her, he turned around as she stepped inside the door, his eyes growing wide, a loud "EMMA!" followed complete with a Henry dart as he plowed into her, hugging her tightly. Then a curious "how'd you find us?" was whispered as he pulled her down to his level.
Emma couldn't help but laugh at his cute behaviors, and answered him back honestly, "Well, remember how we were in New York? Your mom and I ended up on the plane leaving together, and we talked," she made sure to omit the bit about them fighting and then ending up curled up together, "and we just so happened to be staying at the same hotel in Houston. And now we're friends." She couldn't help but speed up their actual progression a bit, though it had gone rather quickly in all honesty.
A tall sandy blonde haired man walked into the room, a wide smile plastered on his face, blue eyes gleaming with curiosity, his face clean shaven, in contrast to his shaggy mop of hair, falling carelessly into his eyes. He held out a hand towards Emma, "Daniel," he offered, his voice smooth and deep. She took his offered hand and gave it a firm squeeze, "Emma," she stated, standing up from her crouched position next to Henry.
He dropped it, and she stuck her hands into the back pockets of her jeans, unsure what to do now. Regina chimed in, telling him of how they met, and what Emma did, that she found her job so fascinating. An easy conversation developed, Emma discovered soon after that Daniel ran a farm, he bred horses actually, it was his hobby. Every few months he was on the road, a bull rider, but it left him with a surprising amount of time to pursue his hobbies, rather his passion in life, breeding and training horses.
He offered to take her out to the stables sometime if she'd be in town for a while, show her his work, and Henry jumped in, he loved riding. He made sure Emma knew just how much he loved it, embarking on a long story about his favorite horse, a black stallion he'd named Pegasus, that he'd had his entire life, as far back as he could remember, and rode nearly every day.
He talked of his mom's horse, and her passion, Rocinante, who she would spend her free time with, grooming, riding. Rocinante was another magnificent black beast, one Daniel had given her shortly after their engagement, one of the first foals born. She'd fallen in love with the horse much as she loved the man. Riding was their passion, it brought the both of them together, it was how they'd bonded when Regina had arrived at the school. She couldn't help but smile and feel a twinge of sadness mixed with outright joy that they had found each other, it seemed true love as she listened to the story of how they met, how they'd gotten to know each other, and how he'd ended up asking her out.
The farm was special to both of them, holding so many fond memories, Emma felt a sense of wonder being here, at this place that meant so much to them, something they'd built together, but the pain of knowing just what she wanted and how far out of reach it was, it started to weigh on her. But dinner passed, all of them talking, laughing, enjoying each other's company, staying well into the night. In fact, she hadn't even realized just how late it was until the clock chimed midnight, the metallic ringing echoing down the halls of the large house, Henry had fallen asleep on the couch watching TV while the adults had stayed up talking, having a couple drinks.
She had discovered Regina made her own apple cider, and that it was amazing, she had spent so much time working on perfecting it, but she wouldn't ever sell it, this was for her own enjoyment and the pleasure of guests. She took pride in everything she did, Emma discovered that much, though she had sensed it all along from the way Regina acted.
Slowly, bit by bit she managed to learn more about the older brunette that had intrigued her so much. She found herself quickly falling even more in love with the woman sat opposite her, curled up into her husband's side and she couldn't help but realize this was the exact situation she had wanted so desperately to avoid.
Emma yawned, she had tried to suppress it, but it finally managed to escape, it was now well after midnight. It was this moment that made her realize the problem was now bigger than she had imagined, Regina offered her their guest room, saying it made no sense to go back out this late when there was a perfectly good bed available upstairs, and it was late Emma had to agree. The drive back into the city was long, and she had no real way of getting back, aside from calling a cab, she wouldn't make Regina take that trek this late, knowing it would be twice as long for her. And so, Emma found herself relenting.
And that was how she ended up here, where she was now at, upstairs, in the guest bedroom, down the hall from where Regina slept, not like they hadn't shared a bed before, on accident, but still, it shouldn't have bothered her so much, or maybe what bothered her was that it was her house, that she was intruding upon, that she couldn't be convinced of otherwise. She was intruding, this family had done nothing but good things for her and she was here, trying to steal Regina, having such impure thoughts about her, wishing she could just embrace her, kiss her, never let her go, and oh so much more.
The bed itself was quite comfortable, and Emma had at this point, stripped down to a t-shirt, but sleep managed to elude her, no matter how much she yawned, how many white fluffy sheep jumped a fence, or any other sleeping tricks that came to mind, she could not fall asleep. Her mind instead teased and taunted her with thoughts of Regina, of her and Henry, all of them together, then some not so pure thoughts of just her with Regina, and other traces of plans formed, ways to remove Daniel from the picture. She didn't want to spend her life skulking from the sidelines, watching, waiting for a chance to make her move.
Finally, she couldn't take it anymore, she grabbed her phone, and began searching, trying to locate Neal, figuring she may as well do some work if she was to be up all night. An exasperated sigh escaped her lips, she may as well start with a Google search, see what manages to pop up under his name.
Sure enough, she managed to find a Facebook profile, which gave her a username, which she searched as well, and somehow was lucky enough to discover he had a few dating profiles using the same name. She couldn't restrain a chuckle of amusement as the name he insisted upon using, GoldenBoy84. "Really?"
She flipped through his pictures, too many of them were at a bar, and way too many of them featured him in various states of undress, trying to show off what little muscle tone he had. She recognized many of the poses, they were quite common for those trying to increase what the viewer perceived. "Of course you would."
None of those pictures really surprised her, she had to admit, they all seemed to portray a typical young (or immature) man. But it gave her an idea, and she quickly built a profile for one of those dating sites, filled it out as best she could to be sure to attract him, and sent him a (maybe a little too) flirty message. This plan would work, she knew it would, she'd get to know him through these messages, then she'd go on a couple dates, try to forget her undying attraction to Regina while posing as a straight girl, and she'd get to keep her life. It wasn't anything she hadn't done before, but it would give her the reasons she needed to spend time with him and to uncover his secrets.
And if she were honest, he too, like the last, was not entirely unattractive, so this would be believable, at least to others, and to Neal, because it really does seem suspicious, and Emma wasn't exactly conceited, but she did know about the point system, and that she was well above mediocre.
So, she sat there, and waited, and waited, for a reply to come, eventually falling asleep, with the room gently illuminated by the white glow of her phone. And it was hours later when she woke, bleary eyed, the sun shining brightly in through the window. She rubbed her eyes, sitting up, confused as to where she was at, her surroundings didn't feel like a hotel room, and then realization struck. She remembered she was at Regina's, and in shock, she got out of bed, got dressed, and stumbled downstairs to the kitchen, hair disheveled, clothes wrinkled, mascara giving her a raccoon mask. She realized she looked like she'd probably stumbled out of a frat party the night before, but she didn't really care in that moment, it's not like she'd have a chance with her anyways, and didn't feel it was worth the effort in that very moment to muster the energy to care.
Besides, the smell of food wafting up the stairs was more than enticing, and her stomach had already given an angry rumble at her, pulling her into the kitchen rather than anywhere else. Regina was already seated at the bar in the kitchen, a white mug resting against black granite, her hands placed around the edges. She looked up upon hearing someone enter, giving a soft smile as she recognized Emma's weary form, "Good morning sleepyhead," she teased, her smile turning playful.
Emma grunted a response before sliding into a stool across from Regina. Soon enough, a steaming mug of coffee was placed in front of her, she jumped in shock and looked up to see Daniel smiling down at her, "Cream or sugar?" he asked, his voice gentle and smooth against her ears, his blue eyes twinkling.
Emma could tell he was a good man without a cruel bone in his body; she couldn't help but smile back up at him, asking for both. He turned around and grabbed both containers, slipping them wordlessly in front of her before busying himself once again in the kitchen.
Emma spooned in some sugar, and poured some cream, mixing her coffee as she went until it turned a light caramel brown, and venturing a sip. She couldn't help but close her eyes as she tasted the rich liquid, its bitter taste softened by the addition of the cream, sweetened slightly with the sugar, and oh so smooth, suppressing a moan of pure delight, a smile was plastered across her face. When she did open her eyes, she looked down to see a plate of food placed in front of her, bacon, eggs, French toast, and a mixed berry compote. The first thought to cross her mind was that this was heaven, as she picked up her fork to dig in.
The moan she had barely been able to suppress for the coffee was able to escape the moment her breakfast touched her lips. Daniel laughed, a rich melody sounding through the kitchen, "Most people do tend to have that reaction to my cooking," he commented after seeing Emma blush in embarrassment over her behavior.
She knew he was only trying to help, but it didn't seem to help all that much as Regina's eyes had yet to leave her face. It kept Emma guessing, she was unable to read the brunette's mood unlike her husband's even though she barely knew him, his features were much less schooled, every emotion playing across his face had been magnified and displayed proudly.