Mary Margaret frowned as Emma practically stumbled into the apartment at 11:00 that morning, her hair all mussed up and her face contorted into a shit-eating grin. The wheels in the schoolteacher's head were turning; she knew that look. Pure pleasure danced on Emma's face, and she nodded in Mary Margaret's direction.
"Hey, Mary Margaret," Emma practically beamed. "I was just—I had night duty last night and fell asleep at the station." Emma grimaced inwardly at the lie. She and Regina agreed not to tell anyone yet, though, so lying to her roommate was the price she had to pay. It made her feel so guilty.
"Really?" Mary Margaret looked at her. "So, why so cheery this morning?" The schoolteacher wasn't sure if she really wanted to know the reason.
Emma wrung her hands. It was so hard to get past her roommate. She loved her, she was the closest thing she had to a best friend, but she really did not want to have this conversation. She didn't want to tell Mary Margaret that she had had the best sex of her life last night with a woman who the whole town was scared of. How would she react? Emma had no idea. So she used the chickenshit approach.
"I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm always happy in the morning." That was another lie; Emma was definitely NOT a morning person, and her roommate knew it. The time that she had told Emma it was a beautiful day and Emma had practically snapped her head off for it was evidence enough.
"Okay," Mary Margaret responded, feeling the distance grow between them. Emma was hiding something from her, she knew that. It just hurt that Emma felt like she couldn't tell her what made her so happy…whatever it was.
Emma jogged upstairs, feeling like shit for lying. But once she thought of Regina, all the guilt faded away.
Henry's class had a wilderness excursion the following Wednesday, and Regina had come along, to supervise—and to spend time with Henry, when he wasn't busy pulling worms apart and dangling them in front of Ava's face, laughing at her expression of utter disgust. Regina smirked when she saw that. Henry had a crush on someone, and it was adorable. She knew that if she asked him about it, he would deny it; he was still in that Beaver Cleaver phase of thinking girls had cooties.
Regina sat on a log a ways away from the group, watching Mary Margaret show the kids a robin's nest. She sniffed the air—it was thick with smoke. She knew there had been forest fires around the area, due to the lack of rain they had had that summer. Unfortunately Regina could not control the weather, so the state of Maine was at risk for fires. The forest here was lush and green though, so Mary Margaret concluded it would be safe enough. But she was wrong.
The sun baked down on them for the better part of an afternoon, and then Regina saw it. Smoke was rising above the trees not far from where she was. She stood up quickly and shouted, pointing at the smoke. Mary Margaret quickly got the children in a line, but one child wasn't in the lineup.
Henry had gone to put the robin's nest back where Miss Blanchard had found it, blissfully unaware of the forest fire that was dangerously close by now. Regina cursed and ran after him, trying to shield her eyes from the smoke. She saw him near a clearing, where he carefully placed the nest, then turned around. He saw the smoke and started to run, but the smoke fogged his vision. Regina scrambled to him and put her arms around him, unable to speak because of the smoke.
She coughed and heaved Henry into her arms, and instantly her muscles screamed. Henry was a big boy. She took several wobbly steps and then a terrible thing happened. The wind caught the smoke and started a spark of fire that landed right on the path in front of them. The fire blazed and Regina had an instance of déjà vu. Only this time, no one was there to save her. She had to save Henry and herself, all alone.
Mary Margaret told the kids to wait by the bus and ran into the forest, calling Regina and Henrys' names. She couldn't let either of them suffer, she had to save them. There was no time to call the fire department; besides, they didn't handle forest fires. She took off her jacket and wrapped it around her mouth. She called again, barely able to see. She heard a muffled yell and ran in the direction of the noise.
Regina had Henry wrapped around her body, and Mary Margaret sighed in relief. She took Henry from her and led her out of trail onto the parking lot. Regina coughed and held Henry tightly, just to make sure he was okay. He insisted he was fine, as soon as he could breathe properly, and she watched him get on the bus. She hesitated and turned to Mary Margaret.
"Thank you, Miss Blanchard. I'm not sure I would have been able to get Henry out of there by myself."
Mary Margaret nodded. "Anyone would have done the same. I'm just glad you are okay." Mary Margaret patted Regina's arm, and Regina didn't pull away like she expected. This gave her a new flood of courage.
"You don't mind if I ask a question, do you?" The schoolteacher asked timidly.
"I suppose not. But we'd better get on the bus soon, or the driver will leave without us. I know he's not the most patient person in the world—"
"Are you seeing Emma?" Mary Margaret looked down, waiting to be turned into a toad.
Regina frowned at her like she had grown a third eye. "Well, Miss Blanchard," she began, slowly, "Last time I checked, Sherriff Swan was not invisible."
Mary Margaret gasped, taking a step back. "Oh, my God! You are!"
Regina rolled her eyes, infuriated by how damn invested the schoolteacher was in Emma's happiness. "Please keep your voice down. I don't need my son hearing our conversation." Regina breathed, glaring daggers at the younger woman.
"You haven't told him?" Mary Margaret was incredulous.
"No. Not that it is any of your concern. We were planning on telling him when it became more long-term…if it does. How did you even find out?" Regina leaned onto the bus, ignoring the driver's impatient honks.
"I'm not stupid. I put two and two together. Emma got in at about 11 am, last Saturday, and that was the same day that you picked Henry up from Nicholas' and Ava's, at around 11:30. Also, it is hard for anyone not to see how you two look at each other." Mary Margaret stopped. This was probably not the best place or time to discuss this. She sidestepped the mayor and got onto the bus, and Regina followed, wondering if maybe she should have named Mary Margaret 'Sherlock Holmes' instead.
One question banged around in Regina's head as the bus drove back to Henry's school. If Miss Blanchard had suspected that Regina was dating Emma, then why had she saved her life?
Emma threw her badge on the desk, sighing. She was stuck on desk duty for the rest of the day, and Ruby wasn't even there to entertain her. She should be, Emma mused. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed her deputy's number. She was greeted by Ruby, who was panting. Emma grimaced.
"Hey, Ruby…August is with you, isn't he?"
"Yeah, and you interrupted us. What do you want?" Ruby's voice was raspy.
"You're on duty, remember? Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 to 12, and it's 9:30. Get over here!"
"Ems, there's nothing to do over there…"
"Yeah, but you can keep me company, because I am bored as fuck. And you get paid for doing absolutely nothing." Emma smirked.
"Fine. I'll be over in fifteen…or twenty." Ruby laughed and hung up.
Emma sighed and sat down at her desk, mulling over the endless paperwork that was piled onto it. Emma gave up on that after five minutes and just leaned back to daydream. She got startled when she felt her phone buzz, and answered it.
"Yeah?"
"Emma, Mary Margaret seems to have deduced that you and I are…together. This is a problem. I'll be over to discuss this with you soon. You're not busy, are you? No, of course you're not, what a pointless question." CLICK.
Emma stared at the phone like it offended her. And in a way, Regina had. She hadn't let her say a word.
Regina swept into the office, her usual self—except that her eyes held a huge amount of panic. She strode over to Emma's desk and leaned across it.
"Why are you so calm?" Regina exclaimed. "How can you just sit there? Say something!"
Emma shrugged. "I was just noticing how beautiful you look today."
A momentary glimpse of pleasure sailed across Regina's mouth. "This is not the time for that, Miss Swan…Emma. We are in a grave situation…Miss Blanchard could tell everyone, then Henry. What will happen to my reputation? And yours…" Regina added as an afterthought.
Emma got up from behind her desk and slid close to Regina. "Since when do you give a shit what people think? I thought you weren't scared of anyone. And as for Henry, I know Mary Margaret won't tell him. She'll leave that to us, when we are ready, ok? So can you just relax for a second?"
Regina smiled at Emma. "Yes, I suppose I can…but I may need your help."
That was all the invitation Emma needed. She cupped Regina's chin in her right hand and brought her mouth close, feeling Regina's breath on her mouth. She was about to close the distance when Ruby walked in.
"WOAH!" Ruby let out a yell that shook the whole room. Regina pulled away instantly and Emma almost fell over. She cursed Ruby inwardly and rolled off of the desk, straightening herself.
"Am I interrupting something? Because I can come back later…" Ruby smirked.
"No, Ruby…it's fine. Just get to work." Emma jabbed her finger in the direction of the files and Ruby groaned, organizing it for the millionth time.
Regina smiled, to Emma's relief. "Well, I guess it doesn't matter who finds out now, does it?"
Emma rolled her eyes. "Yeah, the whole town is going to know by tomorrow. Trust me, I know Ruby."
Regina nodded. "We should make sure we tell Henry before then."
Henry was extremely uncomfortable.
The first reason was that his mom had invited Emma over. That raised suspicion in him immediately. She had not this because she wanted to, not because Henry persuaded her.
The second reason was that his two mothers had been weird all evening. They had not argued once, in fact, they were being nice to each other. His mom had served Emma with a smile, asking her if she wanted more water. She was being the perfect hostess. This just wasn't right. Something was up. Henry shoveled his food down his throat and asked to be excused.
"Wait one moment, Henry." Regina stopped him. "We—Emma and I—have something to tell you."
That was another reason Henry was freaked out. His mom was calling Emma by her name, not her title. Reluctantly, he stayed in his chair, waiting patiently for someone to fill him in on what was going on.
"Kid..."Emma began. "We um…your mom and I—"
"Great start, Emma. But I think I'll start, seeing as you have an inability to form a sentence. Henry, Emma and I are friends now. I assume you already know that?"
Henry nodded. "Yeah, sort of. I'm glad you are friends…now will I be able to see Emma more often?"
Regina grimaced. "Yes, of course. But that is not what I am trying to say. We are a little more than just friends, dear. We…er…"
"We are dating, kid." Emma sighed, waiting for Henry to yell, or run, or start crying. She subconsciously inched her chair closer to Regina's, watching Henry's every expression.
Henry's eyes went wide, then he recovered. He nodded and just sat there, silent, gathering his thoughts. "How long?"
"How long, what, Henry?" Regina asked.
"How long have you been dating?"
"One month."
Henry felt betrayed…and really stupid for not knowing. His eyes teared up—he couldn't stop them. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"We're telling you now, kid. We wanted you to know, and we both love you." Emma got up from her chair, bending down to Henry's eye level. "Are you mad at me?"
Henry looked into her eyes, with every intention of saying yes, he was mad. He was angry that the savior was dating the Evil Queen, putting a huge hitch in Operation Cobra. How could Emma do that? His mom was evil, right?
Henry looked at his mother. She was staring at him with such intensity, such love, that it took his breath away. Maybe she wasn't evil, just hurt and broken and scared. Maybe dating Emma was the thing that would put her back together. He sighed.
"No, Emma, I'm not mad. I just don't want you to keep secrets like that from me." Henry hugged her, then got up and hugged his mother, smelling the perfume on her neck. "Don't be scared, mom, Emma really likes you," he whispered.
Regina smiled and held Henry, unwilling to let him go.