Emma woke up with a throbbing headache. The memories from the previous night were blurry, and she was reluctant to open her eyes. She tried to bring her hand to her forehead, but after a short moment of confusion, she realized that she had her arm around a person cuddled against her side.

She finally opened her eyes and was met with the sight of a sleeping Regina. The brunette looked so peaceful like this. So beautiful… Wait, no. She was in bed with Regina. This was no time to take advantage of a situation the brunette didn't probably want to be in. Emma needed to go. And more importantly, she needed to drink a lot of water and use the bathroom. Not necessarily in that order.

She got up, trying not to awaken Regina. The woman made a small disapproving grunt when Emma left the bed, but didn't seem to wake up. Emma made her way towards the bathroom hoping she would figure out what to do next.

She walked out of the bathroom as she dried her hair on one of Regina's towels she had found in the closet. Normally, she wouldn't have touched anything in the mansion without permission, but she figured today was different. She was now feeling slightly better than she had when she had first woken up.

Emma saw Regina eye her from the bed, obviously roused from her sleep, but not making any attempt to actually get up. Suddenly, Emma felt really uncomfortable, wrapped in just a towel and coming out from Regina's bathroom. What had she been thinking? She should've just gone home.

"I see you did what you're so skilled at and made yourself at home," Regina muttered, and Emma winced at the malevolence in the woman's voice until she realized that Regina had started sniggering.

"Regina! I thought you were really mad at me. That's not funny. My head hurts, and then you say basically the same thing you did before giving me that damn apple turnover."

"How mad at you could I be? I just let you sleep in my bed," Regina pointed out and exhaled loudly. "I seem to have quite a headache."

"You don't say," Emma muttered. "I should've probably mentioned that a headache would be likely if you decided to become drinking buddies with me."

Regina slowly rolled on her back. "Yes, you should have." The woman closed her eyes for a moment and spoke again, "I still needed last night, though. I think it was good for me to let it go for a while, so thank you."

"Sure, anytime. If you need a drinking buddy, or anything, you know where to find me."

They stayed there in an awkward silence for a moment, and Emma really felt like she should be wearing some clothes right about now.

"So, I should probably poof myself back to Snow's…" she started and waved her hand in front of her towel-clad torso. "I guess being hungover doesn't keep me from doing that, right?"

"Oh," Regina said as her gaze fell to Emma's body, and Emma was so very confused now. Why did Regina keep doing that and look at her in such a calculating way, always out of the blue? It must've been going on… ever since she first came to Storybrooke. If she hadn't known any better, she would've thought – "or you could just summon some of your clothes here," Regina continued as she met her eyes again. "It could be a magic lesson, no harm done."

Emma's eyebrows knitted together. Regina Mills was hungover and didn't want her out of her house even then. What a time to be alive.

"Yeah, sure, I could do that," she said and got ready for more instructions.

Emma managed to summon herself a new set of clothes from Snow's with some assistance from Regina, and she tried her best to make breakfast for all three of them while Regina, who didn't seem to feel as good as she did, was taking a shower. After making sure Henry got to school in time, Emma found herself sitting on the living room couch next to Regina. They were clutching coffee mugs, unsure if they should face the outside world just yet.

"Do you think the Kid's acting weird?" she asked and changed her posture so she could see Regina's expression.

"Why?" Regina furrowed her brow and took a sip of her coffee.

"I don't know. I just felt like he wasn't telling us something last night, and I got the same vibe this morning, too," she responded, uncertain whether Regina would agree with her or not.

Regina stayed quiet for a moment. "I suppose you might be onto something."

"Do you think it's about the Operation or something else?" she wondered out loud, hoping Regina might have an answer.

"I don't know. We'll find out soon enough, probably," the woman said as she shook her head slightly.

"So, this is nice," Emma said, changing the topic and turning her gaze to the mug in her hands. She could hear Regina huff next to her, practically feeling an eye roll directed at her without even looking at the woman.

"Being hungover? I do believe we've had more fun."

"No, not the hungover part. The buddies part," Emma started because despite her somewhat confusing feelings, she really did want to be Regina's friend. She raised her head again. "Spending time together, drinking coffee instead of tequila. Although the tequila part was nice, too. It's nice to be your friend, and I want you to find your happy ending."

Regina took her time answering again, her gaze fixated on her coffee. "I suppose it's nice. I don't have many friends. Thank you."

"For what?"

"For helping me… And the friend part."

Emma felt the corners of her mouth tug into a smile, and she saw Regina mimic her expression when the woman raised her gaze from her coffee cup.

As nice as it would've been to spend all day on the couch, Emma and Regina decided to get some fresh air to clear their thoughts. Emma knew she sure needed it since sitting cosily on the couch next to Regina did nothing to help her with her already confusing feelings. She was grateful she didn't have to go on patrol that day, and since Regina didn't seem to mind her company, she decided to stay over, ignoring the voice in her head telling her it was a bad idea. She reasoned with herself that helping the woman to look for her happy ending included spending time together.

They were sitting on the porch in the backyard when Emma heard steps approach them. Steps she was sure she recognized. Before having any time to react, she heard "Swan!" and saw Hook walking towards them.

"Swan, your father told me I could probably find you here," Hook said as he came closer. Emma stood up and caught a glimpse of Regina rolling her eyes before she turned her attention to Hook. "You left so suddenly last night. I can't believe you didn't …." Hook exclaimed, bringing his arm on to her shoulder and smothering her with a kiss she felt no desire for in her hungover state.

"Um," Emma muttered and Hook reluctantly broke the kiss. "Killian, I'm not feeling too great as you can see, so I'll call you later tonight, okay?"

"Ah, I see you've …" Hook's gaze moved to Regina. "With the Queen. Ah."

Emma turned to look at Regina as well, and that's when one of her thoughts from the previous night hit her again. Regina's jealousy. Regina tried to mask her expression as neutral, but Emma saw a hint of something else there before the woman caught herself. Was it jealousy? Was she just over-thinking? Hoping too much? Emma sighed under her breath. Maybe she was going crazy. She was surely over-analyzing–

"Well," Regina spoke and turned to Hook, interrupting Emma's train of thought. "Maybe she wanted to taste something else than rum for once? As you know, I don't personally understand the appeal when there are other noteworthy options to take into account."

Regina turned back to her coffee (was that a third cup already?) and took a sip, probably missing Emma's mouth hanging slightly agape. The implication was clear to Emma, and she turned to look at Hook who was scrunching his face in confusion. Emma thought it better to send him away before he and Regina started an actual fight.

"Look, I'll call you tonight, okay?" Emma tried again. Hook's attention turned back to her.

"Swan, I was hoping-"

Emma didn't have time to respond before she heard Regina groan loudly. She didn't have the time to respond to that either, because that was when her phone rang. Henry was calling, and she picked up her phone and moved away from the two to talk, hoping that Hook would dissipate while she was gone.

"Hey, Mom. Where are you?"

"I'm still at your mom's with your mom and Hook," she answered. The line went quiet. "Henry?"

"With Hook?" Henry sounded uncertain.

"Yeah, why?"

"I just… Any chance he's mentioned me after the curse?"

"No, but I've only seen him twice after that." Emma was confused. "Why?"

"Nothing, I was just wondering."

"Ok, Kid, spill it out," Emma said. She knew Henry was lying and she didn't have to see him to know that.

"It's just that when the curse hit the town, I said some things to him," Henry said very quietly.

"What things?"

"Let's talk when I get home, okay?"

Emma sighed. She guessed there wouldn't be a point to interrogate Henry on the phone, especially when she had Regina and Hook to look after.

"Okay. See you later, Henry."

Emma found Hook waiting for her. Regina was sulking on the porch. It seemed to her that they had been talking about something but stopped before she came back.

"Henry asked me if you had said anything about him after the curse broke. Why's that?" She didn't want to sweep something that obviously bothered Henry under the carpet.

"Well," he started and swung his hooked hand, "The boy put marble balls on the floor and tackled me. He also said that we are together," he finished and winked.

"Wait, what?" Emma could believe the marble part since everyone had been their worst self, but Hook's last remark didn't make sense. Emma saw Regina listening intently as well.

"Well, he said that he didn't like me or us being together, but frankly that was just the curse talking, I'm sure," Hook grinned. "Is that really the word you used? Together?"

Emma was at a loss of words, but Regina was not.

"You half-witted handless idiot!" she could hear brunette say. "Emma's son has a problem with you, and that's all you care about? That Emma considers you two an item?" Regina was, despite being hungover, reaching a scary Evil Queen mode. She turned to Emma. "Are you okay with this? Henry being uncomfortable with this man you've chosen to court with?"

"I haven't chosen anyone!" left Emma's lips before she realized what she was saying. What was she saying? "And no, of course I'm not okay with that. We have to talk to Henry."

"Yes, we must," Hook said and brought his hand to Emma's waist, but she removed it fast and turned to face him.

"Not us-we. I meant Regina and I. And I think you should go," Emma said. It was too early for this and her head was hurting again.

After that, Hook left shaking his head. Regina rolled her eyes and sipped her coffee again.

"I'm glad that you think we need to talk to Henry about this," Regina finally said.

"Of course. This is important." Emma sat down on the porch and closed her eyes. Her headache was getting worse.

"And how exactly have you not chosen him?" Regina's curious tone made Emma open her eyes in confusion.

"Because I haven't chosen anyone? Why does it even have to be about choosing? Who was I choosing between? Why should that word even be used?" She found herself unable to stop babbling. "I mean, I just sort of decided to take my chance with him and give it a shot." Emma stopped and realized how defensive she must have sounded. Regina was looking at her and seemed to be calculating something.

"Alright."

"Alright what?"

"Just alright. We'll talk to Henry today."

"I won't see him anymore, then," Emma said. Henry seemed confused, and Regina was shocked, her mouth agape and eyebrows scrunched.

All three of them were sitting at the kitchen table, and Emma had just heard Henry's reasons for why he felt uncomfortable with Hook and him being close to Emma. Emma had decided before Henry came back from school that if their son's reasons were valid, she would end things with the man. It wasn't like she hadn't thought about it before, and after this morning she honestly saw no point for it, both because of the pirate's behavior and her own feelings.

"Why?" Henry finally asked. He sounded so different from when he had first found her, his voice getting lower. The Kid was growing up so fast.

"Because your feelings matter the most here, and you're the most important man in my life anyway," she responded. "Besides, my heart isn't in it, exactly." She turned to look at Regina who didn't meet her gaze.

"In my life, too," Regina said to Henry. "I hope all this talk about happy endings hasn't made you think you're not important, because you are the most important person to me, Henry. Always," the brunette finished.

Henry smiled and stood up to wrap his arms around his mother still sitting on the chair. Emma watched the beautiful scene unfold in front of her and really hoped all this would last.

"I love you, Mom," Henry muttered in the hug.

"I love you, too, Henry," Regina responded as the boy started breaking the hug.

"And I love you too, Mom," he now said to her.

"Love you too, Kid," Emma smiled back. She could've gotten used to this. Just them and no next villain to defeat in sight.

"I'm gonna do my homework," Henry said as he made his way to the doorway. "You two… talk."

He smirked and left both of them confused. Emma looked at Regina whose eyebrows were burrowed.

"What did he mean by that?" Regina asked.

"Don't ask me," Emma said as she got up. "I need to go check up on my parents. Snow has been trying to call me."

The brunette nodded. "See you at dinner?"

Emma fought a surprised reaction. She felt exhilarated because of the invitation, and she smiled at Regina.

"Sure, I'll be there," she said and flashed a small smile before leaving.

Emma got out of her bug and made her way back towards the mansion. She had been checking up on her parents after having one more phone call with Hook and breaking things up with him. The call hadn't been easy, but she felt relieved all the same. Now she had come back to have dinner with Henry and Regina. She knocked on the door, and in a few seconds, Regina was smiling at her. The woman didn't seem to be hungover anymore, and neither was Emma. She smiled back at the brunette and walked into the mansion.

"So, what are we having?" Emma asked as she took her jacket off and hung it up.

"Lasagna," Regina responded. "Everything's ready, really. How were your parents?"

Emma smiled. Regina genuinely caring about how Snow and David were really meant they had all come so far and could happily coexist in this town.

"They're fine. The baby takes a lot of time, but they seem happy," she shrugged and smiled.

"How do you feel about them having another baby?"

Emma had not been expecting that. She might've expected Regina to ask something like that last night when they were both drunk, but this was kind of a tough subject for her. She didn't want to get into the whole feeling replaced and alone story.

"Um," she started, unable to form a coherent sentence.

"You don't have to answer that if you don't want to, of course," Regina hurried and waved her hand. "I just thought since we're… friends now you might want to talk about it. I'm sorry, I'm not… I'm not really good at this…" Regina played with the apron she was holding and avoided looking Emma in the eye.

"Hey, it's okay," she started. She somehow found out she was removing the apron from Regina's hands and taking them in hers. "Thank you for caring, really. I'll let you know when I'm ready to talk about it," she managed to answer. She was stroking Regina's hand with her thumb and looking in the dark eyes in front of her. Neither of them made a sound, and Regina's gaze fell on her lips. Lips? Emma's breath hitched, but before anything else happened, Regina seemed to be distracted by something behind Emma.

"Henry!" Regina exclaimed and pulled her hands away from Emma's. "How long have you been there?"

Emma turned around now as well and saw their son sitting on the stairs.

"Not very long, just got there." He shrugged and got up. "So, is the lasagna ready?"

AN: I didn't really want to get into the reasons Henry didn't like Hook and Emma together, so I kind of cut the scenes the way I didn't have to. Oops. Everyone may keep their own headcanon. (Also, I didn't like writing Hook, so I just wanted to get it over with.)

Anyway, leave a review maybe, please? Thanks for reading!