Flu Love's Kiss 7
Chapter 7 - I'll help you
Emma drove extra carefully back to Regina's house.
They'd waited around in the Bug until the accident was nearly all cleared away and the townspeople had gotten bored of the spectacle and returned to their respective lives. Mr and Mrs Montague were taken to the hospital for treatment along with the driver of the other car. Mary Margaret kept running back and forth between the Bug and David's cruiser to get updates.
Five couples were reported as infected so far and it was only the start of the third day. At this rate, half of Storybrooke could be infected before the month was out. The 'family business' Sheriff station was still waiting on the names and details of the infected couples but word was starting to spread even faster than the contagion and panic was setting in.
Tom's shop had been raided for supplies. Anyone holding hands in public was immediately stopped for questioning by the vigilante police who'd banded together under Whale. Being an Infected was quickly becoming a stigma and people were afraid just of being diagnosed despite the fact that Love Flu wasn't even that bad in and of itself.
Emma realised that nobody wanted to catch it because nobody wanted to be caught. Cheating spouses, teenagers with boyfriends/girlfriends their parents didn't know about, and people who weren't out thought themselves especially at risk. The town's secrets were under attack.
"So what really happened with Mary Margaret?" asked Emma, turning off the engine after parking in the driveway to Regina's house.
"You don't want to know," said Regina.
"Yes I freaking do!"
Regina's jaw tightened. "I will only say that between me and Snow White only one of us can keep a secret."
Regina got out of the car and pulled Emma's hand so she could climb across both seats and out the passenger door. She took the keys out of her pocket and let them both in the front door to 108 Mifflin Street. Emma walked them straight into the kitchen and started pulling out ingredients for peanut-butter-jelly sandwiches.
"So how do you know Dr Whale? Who IS he anyways?" said Emma, holding the jar of jelly out so Regina could twist off the lid. She then did the same with the peanut butter and then got Regina to hold the bread still on the plate.
"He's Doctor Frankenstein. You may have read his book."
Emma clumsily spread the ingredients onto the bread and then licked the knife. "Skipped the book. Watched the movie."
"I'm shocked," said Regina. She frowned slightly at Emma sticking the knife into her mouth.
"So how do you know him?" Emma persisted with her line of questioning though seemingly getting nowhere. "Why do you think he wants hearts? Isn't that your gig?"
"I'm not telling you that either."
Emma made a noise of frustration. "Argh! Okay I'll make you a deal. You have to tell me one of your secrets and I'll stop bugging you about the others. For a while anyways."
"No deal." Regina said easily, not even tempted.
"Then I'll keep bugging you."
"Then I'll put you in the Cone of Silence."
"But-" Emma's face fell into a pout and she muttered, "Dammit."
She looked so adorable pouting that a smile broke over Regina's face before she could help it and the brunette wasn't quick enough in hiding it.
"A-HA!" Emma crowed victoriously like she'd planned it all along. "I got you!"
"You got nothing," said Regina loftily.
"Yep," said Emma smugly, taking a huge bite of her sandwich. "I got a smile out of you and you can't take it back."
"You need a bath," announced Regina in the bathroom, since they'd gone straight to the crash scene after breakfast.
Emma whined, "Not another cold shower?"
"No." Regina repeated her words from last time. "Close your eyes."
"Yup, closed." Emma grinned at the lie. But it didn't matter because when the purple smoke cleared both women were wearing swimsuits. Emma cursed inwardly out of disappointment but her eyes raked over Regina's form anyway.
"Hey, why do you get to wear that and I have to wear this?"grumbled Emma.
Regina wore a plain black one-piece that still managed to suit her every curve perfectly. Emma on the other hand had a red halter top and hipster boyleg bottoms. She felt like Regina was going to a swim meet whereas she was going to a swimsuit modelling competition. Totally unfair.
Emma held out their joined hands so Regina wouldn't slip stepping in to the bath and then climbed in herself, far less gracefully. It took a bit of fidgeting to find where to sit given that they had to keep each other within arm's length in the large-but-not-that-large triangular bath set into the wall. Regina sat in one corner and Emma sat not quite opposite but not quite next to her. The blonde propped her feet up on the opposite side and allowed Regina's legs to lay across hers.
"I need something to play with," said Emma.
"Do you want Henry's old bath toys?" Regina joked but Emma's face lit up.
"Yes! Hey, what was that for?"
Regina flicked water off the surface spraying into Emma's eyes. When the blonde blinked the water away a collection of brightly coloured plastic and foam toys bobbed on the surface of the bathwater. Emma took the squishy balls and started a game of throwing them against the wall tiles with a splat and collecting them again as they fell back into the water.
Regina soaked quietly content in the warmth of the bath watching Emma absentmindedly until the blonde announced she was bored of the game.
"There must be something else I can play with," said Emma with a rakish glance at the woman beside her.
The bath toys disappeared so Emma placed her left hand on Regina's calves laying across her middle and ran her hand up and down the smooth leg, massaging as high as she dared.
"Feels nice," murmured Regina, letting her eyes close. She didn't want to tell Emma to stop.
After a while she heard the blonde ask, "How's your chest feel?"
"What," Regina croaked, instantly awake.
"I said, I haven't heard you cough in a while. The flu symptoms must be easing. Is your chest feeling better?"
"Yes, how does yours feel."
"Soft and firm," Emma raised an eyebrow, deliberating misinterpreting the question.
Regina leaned forward and for a second Emma thought the other woman was going to call her bluff on the innuendo and make a move on her. She knew of the Evil Queen's reputation for being a seductress and for using her appeal to manipulate people into doing her bidding... and no wonder she was so damn successful at it, how could anyone refuse? She knew she wouldn't if Regina ever showed any interest... but she never did.
Regina's poker face made it impossible to tell but Emma sometimes caught the way the other woman looked at her and wondered if she was the only one feeling the attraction between them. But no, her mind reminded her, Regina had made it very clear that it was all on Emma's side and being stuck to her was an annoyance.
The front door opened downstairs and Henry voice sounded out calling for them. What was he doing home so early? They quickly got out of the bath making a mess of water everywhere. In seconds, Regina had them magically dry and dressed but Emma's hair was still a riotous tangle of curls.
Apparently there was only so much magic could do.
Downstairs both their jaws dropped at seeing Henry's state having walked all the way from school. He was covered in dirt with a bruise forming on his cheek and his school uniform shirt was ripped. He handed Emma a slip of white paper and said, "Principal wants to talk to you. I got in a fight."
"What?" said Emma, gaping in disbelief. "What were you fighting about?"
"Nothing," said Henry evasively.
Emma knew that no-one ever fought about nothing and she wanted to get to the bottom of why her son had gotten into trouble all of a sudden. Sure he was occasionally a truant, a credit card thief, and a runaway... but he was a good kid. She read the slip of paper but it didn't have many details.
"Did the other boy start it?"
"No. I threw the first punch," Henry raised his chin in a proudly defiant way. "Right hook. Just like you taught me, Emma."
"Good. I mean..." Emma felt rather than saw the piercing glare coming from Regina. "Uh, violence isn't the answer."
"Maybe it depends on the question," said Henry stubbornly, sounding a bit like someone else.
"Ok, go upstairs and clean up, kid," said Emma, realising that was all they were gonna get out of him.
When he ran upstairs, Regina swiftly pulled out her phone, tapped to call the contact she was after and put it on speaker phone. The two women sat down at the dining table, setting the phone on the surface in front of them.
"Hi Regina?" a woman's voice answered.
"Miss Blanchard, a few minutes of your time," said Regina, making it sound nothing like a request.
"Is Emma there?"
"Yes, of course. Where else would she be," said Regina impatiently at the inane question.
"What happened with Henry at school today, Mary Margaret? Do you know?" asked Emma.
A sigh came over the phone. "I only know that he got into a fight with another boy."
"Did he start it?"
"Yes. I was on playground duty. I saw it happen across the quad."
"What caused it?"
"We're not sure since all of the children who were there have clammed up … but I believe it was a slur about him having two moms."
Emma let her head drop onto her arm on the table with a thud. "Right. Thanks for telling us."
Mary Margaret's voice sounded uncertain as she said, "If it helps, he was defending you guys."
"It doesn't," Regina snapped and hung up.
They sat in awkward silence staring at the table surface until Henry came back downstairs holding his school books.
"I need some help with my homework," said the sheepish boy.
"Sure," Emma said. "Bring it over. What've you got?"
"Science. Maths. English," said Henry with half a grimace.
"I can help with exactly none of those," said Emma wryly and chanced a look at Regina. "Over to you, Mom."
Henry sat down at Regina's side and the two of them started to work through the exercises while Emma watched. Regina explained things patiently, letting Henry come to the answers himself wherever possible. Emma was puzzled how she even knew all this stuff. There was no way Regina had ever been to school and unlike the other townspeople she hadn't come to Storybrooke preloaded with knowledge supplied by the curse. Emma realised in amazement that Regina must've learned it for the sole purpose of helping her son.
After homework time Henry went off to his room leaving the two women alone once more.
"What're we gonna do about this fighting thing," asked Emma. She crooked her elbow on the table and rested her chin on her hand.
"There's nothing to do except protect Henry. Once it comes out about us..." Regina trailed off, implying that the children would have far more ammunition to use. Not to mention their parents.
"Kids suck," decided Emma.
"This boy must be very foolish to pick a fight with my son," said Regina seriously.
"Okaaay, you're a little scary when you make that face, you know that right? But yeah, what stupid kid picks on the son of the Sheriff and the" (Evil Queen, whispered Emma's brain) "...Mayor."
"Indeed. I have killed for less," said Regina darkly, apparently knowing what Emma hadn't said.
Emma wasn't entirely sure if she was being serious or just exaggerating her own badassery for effect.
"Er, now you're really scaring me. Don't worry, Henry will be fine."
But Emma's vague optimism was hardly reassuring to Regina. She suspected that her son, who already had no friends his own age, was being taunted relentlessly by his peers simply for being the son of the evil witch who'd created the curse. And now this thing with Emma was affecting him too... whatever was between them could never happen for many reasons.
"Regina?" Emma interrupted hesitantly. "Why haven't you made Henry apologise?"
Regina hardly heard the question. All she could think of was Emma screaming at her and a little boy lying pale and still as death in a hospital bed. She'd intended to kill one and almost succeeded in killing the other for the sake of protecting the curse and the Storybrooke life she'd created. It hardly seemed fair to chastise her son for anything anymore. Sometimes when life gets difficult we treat the ones we love the worst of all.
Emma and Henry were both off-limits to her now.