"They're here…" Emma grinned.
"So they are." Regina replied, looking nervous.
They were standing by the living room window, looking out to where a rented silver Prius pulled into Regina's spot in the building's small parking lot.
Henry ran out of the car first. Moments later, Regina buzzed him in, and he could be heard thundering up the wrought iron stairs to their level.
"Hey." Henry's grin matched Emma's as he stood in the doorway.
His mothers stood and stared at him, too busy examining every minute new detail to even hug him. Emma stepped forward first though.
When Snow followed with their bags, Snow and Regina stared at one another, neither making a move, while Emma and Henry hugged. Henry turned with his back to Emma and watched with her as the two women before them struggled to contain their emotions.
"Well then. Tea?" Regina was the first to break the silence. Her voice cracked.
Henry and Regina got as busy as they could the minute the kid came in though. There wasn't time for tea, because Henry had already planned the trip and scheduled it. There were historical places to visit and Regina was apparently intended to be the tour guide for the first three hours.
"So why are you both really here?" Emma asked as soon as they had sat.
"Henry asked to come." Snow replied. "He said he needed to know some things."
"About Regina?" Emma searched her mother's face. It was good to see her. Even if the whole mother/daughter thing had come as such a surprise, Emma had missed her.
Snow nodded. "I think he wants to know why she gave you that tart. You know, light stuff like that. He's angry about it. He wants to know if she really wanted you asleep or…" Snow smiled but her eyes flashed angrily and grew wet. "…or something else."
Like a light switch going off in her head, Emma was reminded again of the anger she had felt, almost constantly, back in Storybrooke, toward Regina. "Right," she grumbled to Snow. "She has tried to kill me a couple of times now, huh?"
"Thought I'd remind you, just in case things were moving along a bit too quickly." Snow added.
Dead silence fell over them.
"What did you mean by that?" Emma forced herself to sound sarcastic or angry or…anything other than completely busted. She squirmed uncomfortably.
"It's been over a month, that you two have been hiding out here together." Snow said. She tried not to meet Emma's challenging gaze directly.
"And?" Emma asked angrily.
"And…Regina can be persuasive. Especially when she has something she wants from someone. If you forgive her, the people of Storybrooke are likely to follow suit." Snow looked saddened now. No longer angry just…really, really sad.
"That's not what…" Emma felt a thud of self-doubt hit her full force. She froze. Of course. Regina might be doing all of this to win Emma over, to get her on side in an effort to take back Storybrooke.
So why didn't Emma care? Why did she want to keep going, to see where this was all going?
Emma kept her distance for the rest of the afternoon and evening, from the rest of the group. Regina and Snow seemed to be tolerating each other for some mysterious reason. Well, not mysterious. It was Henry. Henry was the only reason for keeping the peace while they ate dinner, watched some superhero action movie, and casually announced that it was time to sleep.
"I'll share the bed upstairs with Snow if that's ok? I think it's big enough, and mom, you kind of kick sometimes in your sleep." Henry gazed studiously at his comic while the adult women contemplated this arrangement.
"Of course." Regina replied. "It's just good to have you…" She gazed past Snow's head, looking really lost all of a sudden. "Snow…you as well…I mean…"
Snow shut her eyes tightly and nodded tersely.
Emma and Henry exchanged a pained look. When would these two finally blow? Neither knew.
It was close to midnight when they all decided to give it all up for another day.
Emma settled in the chair across from Regina, while Regina arranged and rearranged sheets and pillows on the couch.
"What did she say?" Regina asked Emma the question that had been burning on her mind. She would save the content of her conversation with Henry for another time. She had already thrown on a t-shirt and yoga pants. Her eyes were trained on Emma's despite the weird angle her neck had to be at in order to hold a conversation with somebody slumped unhappily in the overstuffed chair situated well behind the couch.
"Nothing." Emma grumbled. Her boots kept her ass from sliding too far off the chair. She sighed melodramatically.
"Oh for…you're absurdly grumpy." Regina hissed. "Come to bed. We'll wake up early and send you back to your horrid bed."
Emma didn't have to be told twice. Her boots hit the wooden floor and her jeans followed.
Then they lay together, side by side, Emma with her right hand over her forehead and her left arm dangling from the edge of the couch. She whispered, despite knowing that Snow and Henry had gone to bed already, "Snow thinks you're using me and that there's no way I can forgive you anyway, after what you did to Henry."
Regina blew out harshly. For just a second, Emma thought that she could see Regina's eyes glowing in the darkness.
She spoke after a lengthy silence. "Well, I can take care of the first part easily enough," Regina shifted so that their hips touched. "I'm not using you. You found me, remember? And I couldn't care less if anybody back…wherever, if any of them forgive me. As for you, however, I do care. So…" Regina breathed deeply and gave Emma a haughty look, craning her neck to the side. The only thing giving away Regina's nerves were the way she kept playing with the edge of her shirt. "Have you forgiven me?" Regina asked at last.
"I guess so." Emma shrugged, turning onto her left side. She felt Regina's hand curve over her hip. "Can we talk about it another time?" Emma mumbled. She felt Regina's lips press to the back of her head, Regina's hand smooth her hair back, and tried to let the nerves drain from her before falling into a fitful rest.
They did not get up in time.
Emma woke to see Snow staring at her. Emma glanced down quickly. Her arm was around Regina's waist. She extracted it slowly and got up as quietly as she could.
"Really?" Snow asked numbly.
Regina woke up seconds later. She shot away from Emma, sitting up quickly.
Emma muttered something. It sounded like "Whatever." Regina shot to her feet and made breakfast.
Two days later, Snow and Henry stood at the front entrance with their bags in hand.
"James needs us." Snow said grimly. "And we'll soon be needing both of you. Whatever plan James and the Council has put into play is coming to fruition. We'll need magic." She stared pointedly at Regina. "And we'll need the…sorry, Emma, but you are the Savior. We'll need your talents. Gifts you never even knew you had." Even as she addressed Emma, she continued to glare at Regina.
"I'm out of practice." Regina stared right back.
"Then practice." Snow said with a sweet smile.
Regina, looking resigned and oddly stoic, asked, "Just what is your plan?"
Snow spoke plainly, and loudly enough for Emma to hear really clearly:
"Keep my friends close and my enemy closer." Snow looked thoughtfully at Regina. She looked as though she wanted to say something else, but then just shook her head and smiled enigmatically. "We'll see you both very soon."
Henry hesitated at the door for much longer though. He seemed to debate something before taking a tentative step forward, between Emma and Regina.
They both hugged him at the same time. Emma could feel the kid sigh with relief.
"What did he say?" Emma asked after Henry and Snow had left.
"He said that he forgives me for the apple bullshit." Regina grimaced. "He actually said 'bullshit'. Who on earth taught him that?" She narrowed her eyes at Emma.
"Stop distracting me from the point of the conversation and no, I did not teach him that. He's old enough to learn swears from his peers." Emma sighed. "Listen, just…are you two ok? I mean, did he forgive you for lying to him all these years?" She glared harder. Emma wanted to add 'and for lying to me' but bit her tongue.
Regina looked like somebody had punched her in the chest. She nodded though. "He's beginning to, I think."
"Well that's something." Emma breathed out hard. "Listen…" She turned, suddenly angry. "I'm going to go out tonite, all right? I'll be back. I just need a bit of time to think about some stuff." She walked quickly, before Regina could flash those sad, hurt eyes, and went upstairs to change.
Emma's body felt abuzz. She wanted to go out. Three days of wholesome family bullshit (ok, so maybe she had taught the kid such language) had worn on her nerves. She needed a drink. Without Regina. Maybe with somebody else—somebody uncomplicated, who the fuck knew.
From the moment that Emma had decided to go out and pick some other woman up, things got real, really, really quickly.
During her walk to the bar, Emma tried to fight growing insecurity. Whatever domestic tranquility had been gifted to Regina and Emma was now giving way to mistrust and fear. To top it off, Emma felt like the top of her head was crawling or light or tingling or…something. She also felt as though she might be walking at a really weird speed. Like something was propelling her…
The club they had gone to a few evenings before served drinks and apps on the patio. Their lunch special was a tray of seafood samplers and a pint of whatever shitty beer Emma wanted. Emma finished the beer quickly and followed it with a Jameson on the rocks. Then she noticed something.
The bartender was totally checking her out. Emma smiled and nodded, then looked back out to where streams of people strolled by.
"On the house…" the waitress plunked a tumbler of port in front of Emma. She also slipped her a piece of paper.
"Ummm…ok…" Emma glanced quickly at the words scrolled in red. She had to pee. Also, the bartender wanted to meet her in the ladies. Emma was shocked at how easy the whole sex thing was. She didn't think that women were so forward.
She would have said as much, when she hit the restroom, but the bartender—who looked a bit like a Jordana Brewster—was too busy shoving her tongue down Emma's throat to listen to anything she had to say.
"What…but…" Emma gasped and shoved the amorous woman away. She felt like everything was moving at warp speed.
The bartender looked appalled. "I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me."
"It's ok, just a bit fast." Emma felt that same strange crawling sensation on the top of her head. "I have to go check on something, but seriously…ummm…that was sort of fun. You're really hot."
Regina was waiting for Emma on the sidewalk. Her arms were crossed and she had the scariest expression on her face.
Emma scowled back and stood a foot away. "So. You still have magic, huh? Did you make the bartender act like an idiot back there?"
Regina's frown turned right side up momentarily. "My magic seems to work best when I'm feeling emotional. Watch this," She said, then spun on her heels and threw her hands in the air. From her palms, a reddish glow emanated. Above them, a flaming red dragon roared. Emma would have been as shocked as the twenty or so other people on the sidewalk around them, but just as quickly, the thing was doused and a smattering of rain fell from the sky.
"Fire and water." Regina spread her hands and muttered something else, some incoherent string of words, and everybody froze.
Emma felt as though every cell in her body was crystallizing. She could see, through a haze, that Regina was staying close to her. All around them, the air crackled with soundwaves.
She had time to think, at least. Even as Regina's voice filled Emma's head, telling her to forget, Emma had time to remember back to the moments leading up to all of this.
Why didn't she trust Regina? Emma now had her answer, loud and clear and beautifully simple. Regina would use any means possible to achieve her goals. It didn't matter who she hurt.
Emma worried that the whole seduction thing really was part of Regina's plan.
Emma also didn't entirely care. She really didn't care if Regina had ulterior motives, because Emma knew what was in her own heart. Still, she wouldn't fall so easily into Regina's trap.
Seconds later, Emma snapped out of whatever spell Regina had cast. She could see others shaking their heads as well.
"What happened?" Emma honestly couldn't remember. She knew that they had met outside the bar, but beyond that, there was nothing.
"I'll tell you later. Lets go for a drink. Someplace different than that dump." Regina spoke in a low, dangerous tone. Emma felt helpless to follow her into a bar four buildings away.
Their first big argument since slamming each other against shelving units in a fake hospital, was epic but thankfully, not physical and not very loud since they were in a public place. Emma ordered drink after drink, finally accusing Regina of being a total con artist where she was concerned.
Snow White was blamed for part of the problem—for planting suspicions in Emma's mind. Worse than that, Regina wanted to know if Emma was just playing her.
"Playing you? Give me a fucking break. You said you wouldn't do anything, I was just…just…frustrated!" Emma figured she was lying but couldn't help it. What should she say? That she was using someone to get a head start. Perhaps honesty really was the best policy. Emma gave it a shot…
"Well? What do you want me to do? If you won't be my first, then I want you to be my second." Emma felt like she was flapping like a bird. This argument was stupid. The stupidest ever. "And I don't even want to sleep with that woman, but what am I supposed to do? I have to experience life. I'm tired of hiding out. Besides, how am I supposed to learn?"
"I wasn't implying that you needed to learn something before we slept together," Regina hissed. "I was merely implying that I would not deal with being your experiment while you ran back to Storybrooke to marry some annoying Prince, or other."
"What Prince?" Emma nearly shrieked, she was so frustrated. "There is no Prince. What are you even talking about?"
"There are plenty of Princes, I'll have you know, and I'm sure that your mother would set you up with any one of them." Regina just kept talking. And talking. Until Emma had enough and kissed her, totally in public. Regina pulled away and growled, "Stop that, you can't just do that whenever we have and argument." Regina scowled before leaning forward and practically mauling Emma with her tongue. She pulled away again, her lips shiny and wet. "And you are not going home with anybody but me from this point forward." She spoke quietly, leaned forward again, bit Emma's lower lip and then kissed it better again.
"Ow." Emma smiled. "Ok."
But there was another glitch in their plan.
Emma had had too much to drink this time. Really too much. She started feeling sick halfway through their cab ride. It was a short ride, but still, it felt really long to Emma soon enough.
They barely made it inside before Emma shouted at Regina to go upstairs, and threw herself into the small bathroom across from the kitchen.
Emma could hear Regina puttering in the kitchen. When she emerged, she was given a hot cup of lemon and honey tea, a vitamin C, and a bottle of water.
"Sorry." Emma muttered. Regina just patted her on the hair and kissed her bare shoulder.
"I'm not going anywhere, Emma." Regina said softly.