When she has looked over and signed the last piece of paper Snow handed her, Regina puts down her pen, picks up a hefty stack of paperwork, and taps it against her desktop to straighten and align the edges before tucking it all into a leather portfolio. As she places the cap on her Dryden fountain pen, she hums with a sense of accomplishment. "Well, that's it. We're done."

Snow looks around the room in surprise paying particular attention to the items that still remain on Regina's desk. "No, we can't be."

Regina spreads her arms wide, indicating the lack of budget-related reports that remain to be seen to.

Snow smiles. "Well that's a first! The quarterly budget report in under…" She looks at her wristwatch. "just under six hours. Either we're getting good at this or…" She shakes her head. "Nope, I'm not gonna say it."

Regina laughs dryly. "Either we're getting good, or we left out something of crucial importance, and it'll come to mind just before it wakes me up at 3:00 o'clock tomorrow morning."

Snow's eyes widen marginally. "You're not serious. Regina, please tell me you don't wake up at 3:00 AM thinking about these things."

Regina shrugs. "Somebody has to. That's how the town keeps going."

"That has to be awful! Of all the thoughts one can wake up to."

"It's not so bad. Robin usually comes tiptoeing in at about 3:15. I like to get one or two words out of him before he collapses into exhaustion."

"Aww, that's sweet."

Regina resists the urge to roll her eyes. "Not always. The last thing he said to me last night before he passed out was, 'Damn tavern. I don't know who's gonna kill me first; her or you."

Snow covers her mouth, suppressing a giggle, and begins to busy herself with packing up her bag. Dropping her voice to a more discreet level, despite the fact that they are alone in the office, she asks, "I take it this was after the two of you rendezvoused at the Lucky Feather yesterday afternoon."

Regina squints suspiciously. "How do you…" She groans; answering the question she hasn't finished asking for herself. "My sister!"

Snow nods. "Don't worry. It stays with me. And I also told her that she might want to at least think about keeping it to herself from that point forward. I told her you wouldn't appreciate the whole town talking about you and Robin. Of course, you know they do anyway."

Regina squints, not really pausing to think about it. "Why?"

"Oh, come on Regina! I know you're more self-aware than that. You don't really need to ask that question. I know you better than most of them. I understand why the two of you make a good match. Most of the rest of the town doesn't. To them you're an – well, forgive me, but an odd couple. The forest-dwelling bandit who used to rob royal carriages and the queen who puts the capital 'R' in royal."

Regina smirks but then shrugs. "Touché. I wasn't aware that you and my sister were on the level of gossip swapping buddies."

Snow shakes her head and almost whispers, as though she has something to be ashamed of. "We're really not. I promise. I know we have to live here in this small town together. I know we're going to bump into each other, but after what happened when Neal was born... I'm sorry, but I don't think I'm ever going to be completely comfortable with your sister."

Regina sighs. "Snow, she's my sister – and I'm not completely comfortable with her."

"Okay, good. Because, I mean, I know you tried to kill me more than once, but at least you never went directly after my babies… Well, not until after Emma was an adult with at least a chance of defending herself… And technically, at that time, she was going after your baby."

"Yes, thanks for the recap." Regina says dryly. "So, then how did you come to be sharing salacious gossip with my sister?"

Every once in a while, she comes down the hill from that Greek pantheon she lives in and tries to mingle for an hour or two. Neal and I ran into her and Theo this morning at Iron Kids. You really should bring Norah by. There are two weekend slots available during the school year; Saturday at 11:30 AM, and Sundays at 4:00 PM at the community center. The kids run around and shake off some pent-up energy after spending most of the week in school. It's in a supervised setting and we moms sit and catch up with each other while the kids play." She grins sheepishly. "Sorry. Of course, you know about it. You're the one who approves the budget."

Regina waves dismissively. "It wouldn't take five minutes before they would ask Norah to leave – and probably never return."

"I'm sure that's not true, Regina! Norah is a good girl. Sure, she's a little - energetic. She runs circles around boys twice her size. But, she's still a good girl."

"I know that, Snow. She requires a bit more room to roam than the gymnasium at the community center can afford her. She climbs on everything. It wouldn't take her 45 seconds to topple that lightweight jungle gym set-up they've got."

"Well, that's okay. That stuff is made to be climbed on by kids. It's meant to be knocked around a little bit."

Regina nods. "But I set that up because I intended for it to be used by kids who spend the biggest part of their day indoors – kids who need the exercise. Forcing Norah to go there even once a week would be like trying to cage an animal that's lived its whole life in the wild. Norah is outside every morning before breakfast. I usually drop her off for her Pre-K class on my way to work. Daddy walks over and picks her up at 11:30. By the time the two of them make it back to our house, Robin is usually up and about and making her lunch. Then, she plays with Robin while Daddy takes his afternoon nap. Robin goes off to work at around 1:30 and Norah drags Daddy outdoors. The two of them ride horses, or wander around exploring in the woods until Daddy runs out of steam and insists on being returned to the comfort of his deck chair on the back porch, where he reads with one eye on the page and one eye on Norah until dinner time. After dinner, more often than not, she begs to go back outside. She would be bored to death with the gymnasium. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if she doesn't grow up to be some kind of park ranger."

Snow offers a soft smile. "That's her daddy's influence."

"Well, of course! I mean, I don't mind being outside, but after two or three hours, I'm ready for some comfort. My daughter would sleep out there if we let her. She will run circles around the kids at the community center and drive the adults to distraction."

"Isn't she ever still?"

"Only if she's in her father's or her grandfather's lap, and if she gets her way about it, they are outside when she is. We have to forcibly put her in bed every night. More than once, I have physically forced her to lay down and put her head on the pillow. It's a nightly battle at our house. Then, as soon as she does lay down, she's gone. She sleeps like the dead."

Snow laughs. "Of course, she does - with all that fresh air and sunshine. She has to recharge nightly."

"And, there is no waking her until she is ready to wake. If we force her to get out of bed in the morning before she's ready, she's impossible to live with. Fortunately, as long as we put her to bed early enough, she usually rolls out of bed on her own while I'm in the shower. Every once in a while, she wakes me up in the morning - usually with pleading eyes and a loud whisper that has no hope of not waking Robin. 'Mama, I'm starving. If you don't wake up and feed me right now, I am going to die!"

Snow laughs. "I didn't know she was so theatrical."

Regina shakes her head. "Only at 5:30 AM, and only when she is hungry."

"She needs fuel for her day spent outdoors exploring. Dinner was hours ago." Snow justifies. "Starting next fall, a full day of school is going to be hard for her."

"I know. That was my sole reason for insisting on enrolling her in the Pre - K class. Robin didn't think we needed to, but I did it anyway just because I knew she was going to need a slow introduction to the idea of 2/3 of her day spent indoors. Right now, her class is only 2 ½ hours long. Daddy says when they let her out of the building, he has to run just to keep her in sight.

"Oh, that I know. I've seen him run after her. She's keeping him young. Or at least keeping him from getting old… and decrepit. After about the second week of trying to catch her running out of the school building, he adopted a new game plan. Instead of chasing her, Henry simply walks down to the end of the curb where they have pick-up and drop-off. He sits down on one of the benches under that big old elm tree and tells her to run around the bench in circles until she feels like slowing down. And that's just what she does too. Regina, she's so cute. she runs, and she jumps, or hops up and down on one foot. She can even turn cartwheels and stand on her head. Henry just sits there and lets her do as she will until she feels like she can walk at a normal pace… And then the two of them walk home hand in hand."

"Well, that explains it. I wondered how he got her home every day without losing track of her on their walk. He used to chase me around like that too, but he was a lot younger then."

"Weren't we all!"

"You're about to be a grandmother for the second time."

Snow's smile is radiant. "I know. I'm so excited. I swear I can hardly wait. I think people keep expecting it to bother me. I don't know why, unless maybe it's because most people my age…"

"Might still be having their own children?" Regina guesses. "Neal is going to have a niece or a nephew who is young enough to grow up playing with him like a cousin."

Snow chuckles. "Well, that's hardly Emma's fault. Somebody went and cast a curse that made time come to a complete standstill for nearly 30 years for the people of this town."

"And now you probably get to be the youngest grandmother of two in history. Especially when considering the fact that the older of the two is nearly 20… You're welcome, by the way."

"Any day now, he's gonna find himself a girl, Regina. One to get serious about. Then it will be happening to you too. Probably before you know it."

Regina cringes. "I'm too young to be a grandmother. I have a five-year-old."

"I have a 37-year-old. And a 6 ½-year-old. And, I know you didn't raise him as such, but technically…"

"Don't even go there! Henry is no more my great-grandson than you were my daughter… Besides, it just sounds ridiculous. He has a grandfather older than me."

Snow acquiesces. "Okay, fine, we just won't talk about that."

"Thank you!"

"I've got to get out of here. I promised Emma I would drive her to Lamaze class."

Regina rises to her feet. "With Henry away at school in Boston, I haven't seen Emma for a few weeks."

"She stays pretty close to home these days."

Regina guesses, "She's gotten too big to comfortably fit behind the wheel?"

Snow nods. "It's not safe. Her magic has gone all wonky. So, she can't just pop over. In that tiny car of hers, if she has to slam on her breaks…"

Regina nods as well. "She goes belly first into either the steering wheel, or the air bag. "I remember."

Shouldering her bag, Snow smiles dreamily, covers her heart with both hands, and briefly marches in place like an over-excited kid. "David and I will take either one, of course. it doesn't matter which… but, just between you and me, I hope it's a girl!" With absolutely no intent to browbeat or punish Regina, she says, "I didn't get to see Emma grow up. Watching her daughter grow up – it's the only thing in this world that might possibly be even better."

"Well then you better go." Regina declares, fearing she may overdose on sunshine before the woman leaves her office. "You aren't late, are you?"

"No, not if I leave now. And don't worry about yesterday. It wouldn't kill David to knock off work and come home early once in a while. We could use a little alone-time ourselves. I will talk to him about the deputy mayor position."

"What's to talk about? You're already doing the work. I'm just offering to make it official. The position even comes with a paycheck. A small one, but Robin was right, I should've done this ages ago."