This chapter is for -Mills with the prompt: "143 is Emma's code for I love you. Henry knows, but Regina doesn't, so Regina asks Henry what it means." I summarized what you had sent me :)

Emma smiled as she snuck into the kitchen. She had almost forgotten to put her note in Henry's lunch.

Henry was the only one who knew about Emma's code. She had done it once by mistake when texting him, and he had managed to get it out of her.

While Emma had been in the system, she had learned quickly that the words "I love you" didn't mean anything. No matter who said them to you. She had begun to dread hearing the words, so she had made up her own way of saying them.

I-1

Love-4

You-3

It was simple, and yet it made her feel better about saying it. It was a safe way for her to let Henry know that she loved him, without having to risk actually saying the words.

"What are you doing?" Henry asked, coming into the kitchen.

Emma jumped. She had been so lost in thought that she had forgotten that she was supposed to be putting her note in Henry's lunch bag.

"Almost forgot you note," Emma said, holding it up for him to see.

Henry smiled. Kids may poke fun at him for getting notes in his lunch from his mom, but he loved it anyway. It meant that Emma loved him.

"143," Henry said, giving her a hug.

"143," Emma replied, squeezing him gently. She grabbed his lunch off of the island and handed it to him, not realizing that she had given him Regina's lunch instead. Giving Regina the lunch with the note in it.

Emma smiled as she answered her phone. "The best girlfriend on the planet speaking, how may I help you?"

Regina laughed. "Well best girlfriend on the planet, you seem to have given our son the wrong lunch. I don't remember ordering a peanut butter and jelly sandwich."

Emma's eyes widened. "Crap. I'm sorry. I was distracted."

"It's fine," Regina said, chuckling. "Although I do have a question for you."

"What's that?" Emma asked, picking up her coffee.

"There's a note in here that says '143'," Regina said. "What does that mean?"

Emma froze, dropping her coffee. She cursed and tried to pick up the papers that hadn't gotten the hot liquid on them.

"Are you okay?" Regina asked.

"Yeah, just spilled coffee all over my desk," Emma said. "Can I call you back later? I need to clean up this mess."

"Sure," Regina said. "I'll talk to you later."

Regina was very confused, and she knew exactly whom she needed to talk to. "Knock knock," she said, leaning up against Henry's doorframe.

"Hi," Henry said, setting down his pencil. "Any distraction from doing math is welcome."

Regina laughed. "I bet. I actually have a question for you concerning Emma."

"What's up?" Henry asked.

"What does this mean?" Regina asked, holding up the piece of paper with the "143" on it.

Henry's mind blanked. Was it okay if he told his mom about Emma's code? Or did she want it to be kept a secret?

"Henry?" Regina asked. "Is everything okay?"

Henry shook his head, clearing his thoughts. "Yeah, sorry. Um, it's a code that Emma and I have. That was meant for my lunch. She gave me the wrong one by accident."

"I know," Regina said. "So what does it mean?"

"It's a secret," Henry said. "I don't know if she'd want you to know or not."

"Hey, dinner's ready," Emma said, joining Regina outside of Henry's room. "What's going on?"

"We were just discussing this," Regina said, holding up the note. "Henry said that this is some kind of secret code that the two of you have."

"Kid, why don't you go set the table," Emma suggested. Henry nodded before leaving and walking downstairs.

"Is it bad?" Regina asked.

"No," Emma said quickly. "It's my own way of saying I love you, without having to actually say those words."

"Why 143?" Regina asked.

"It's the number of letters in each word," Emma explained. "I came up with it while I was in the system. Every time that someone said 'I love you', they were always giving me back. They never meant it. So I grew to not like saying them to anyone because it felt fake."

"That's why you came up with 143," Regina said.

Emma nodded. "It's safer."

Regina smiled. "Well, then 143."

Emma smiled and kissed her. "143."