Dear readers :3
Sorry for taking this long.
I don't seem to find a lot of spare time to write these days but I'm still dedicated, don't worry.
I really hope you're still excited about how this will continue, despite the slow updates! :/
And, of course, for now... I hope you'll enjoy the chapter! :)

CHAPTER 22

For both Regina and Emma, the first few days of the following week had flown by in a haze of work.
Regina's company is doing business with an international law firm that's going to expand and needs new,
large and luxurious properties to operate from in Europe. And as the boss, she's coordinating everything from her pent house loft.
Emma has been looking into and then started following an editing course at the local community college.
The various workshops she's been giving have been fun and she definitely feels like continuing to give them, if she gets the opportunity…
but maybe, she thought, if she can get another degree she can consider a wider spectrum of writing jobs,
maybe even go freelance. But first, she'd have to gain some more experience,
if only for her credibility and getting her name out there a bit.

By the time Thursday evening comes around, she hasn't even gotten the time to get nervous.
Although when Regina reminds her three hours prior of their dinner appointment, the nerves instantly seem to hit her hard.

Initially, their get together had been planned to take place at six at the Zaowang, but due to a delay in Robin's schedule,
they'd have to push their reservation back to eight, which, Regina and Emma had decided, was simply too late for Henry to accompany them to.
As much as the boy had been looking forward to seeing his uncle again, it wasn't happening, to Regina's great disdain, of course.

"It's just so typical. Robin only ever thinks of himself." She rolls her eyes and allows her body to slump down in the sofa.

"You don't think he wanted to see Henry?" Emma quickly hits save on her open document before closing her laptop and making her way towards her lover.

"Of course he wanted to see Henry." The moment Emma's body hits the sofa as well, Regina's hands reach out for her.
"He loves his nephew. But he doesn't consider his actions until it's too late.
I have no doubt about it that Robin'll be surprised we didn't bring Henry along."
She says as the girl's arms encircle her waist and pull her in, in an effort to comfort her.

"But if he had some important meeting then" Emma starts to speak but is soon interrupted by an amused snorts and a raised eye brow.

"Oh please, he deals in Christmas trees." Regina smirks before shaking her head and resting her right temple onto Emma's left shoulder.

"What?" The girl curls up her nose in confusion.

"He's got more than half a year before the seasons starts so whatever "meeting" he has today surely could have waited another day."
Regina sarcastically deadpans and then releases another sigh.
Already feeling her body relax again… of course, all due to that steady heartbeat and comforting warmth of Emma.

"I thought you said he had some crazy high profile job." The girl pensively continues to curl up her nose.
Confused because of the new information and the apparently wrong image she'd had of her girlfriend's brother.

"I never said that." The brunette shakes her head against her shoulder and then looks up into questioning greens.

"But"

"All his life whatever he'd do, be it ride a bike, draw an elephant or sell a tree, my mother's found it more impressive than whatever I was doing."
She sadly says. Wishing it wouldn't still affect her as much as it does. Wishing she was stronger than this and didn't need any confirmation from Cora Mills.
Well, she doesn't… not really… or at least not that badly, anymore… but it's just not pleasant to think of.

"That doesn't make any sense." Emma really seems lost. Truly not understanding a thing of Regina's mother's logic. Or lack thereof.

"All she wanted was a boy… the minute she had one, he was her God, regardless of what he did.
The minute I was born, I disappointed her… just by being a girl… I guess, she never forgave me for that."
Regina shrugs before clearing her throat and blowing out her cheeks.

Emma tightens her grip on the woman's soft body as she watches her girlfriend's sad expression. She somehow looks younger. More vulnerable.
It's as if Emma can imagine exactly how little Regina must have looked whenever she realized she, once again,
hadn't succeeded in making her parents proud of her.

"She would have been thrown a real curveball had she had me as a kid."
Emma softly jokes while planting a kiss against the older woman's forehead.

"That would have been priceless." Regina hoarsely chuckles. Closing her eyes as she all too happily takes in her girlfriend's affection and attention.

"And gross." The girl nods and adds.

"What?" Causing for Regina to once again look up at her.

"I certainly would not want to be your sister, Miss Mills… The things I want to do to you are just way too naughty for siblings to engage in."
She cheekily grins and playfully raises blonde eye brows.

"Oh is that so, darling?" Regina's lips stretch out into a a beautiful smile as her face takes on an expression much lighter again.

"Uhu. Tonight." Emma firmly promises.

"But Euhm, what exactly does Robin do for a living?" She then curiously asks.

Regina sighs before shrugging and explaining as good as possible.

"He drives around the country, trying to make deals with whoever's interested in buying Christmas trees.
Be it companies, restaurants, hotels or just private orders… He works closely together with a family that grows the trees."

"Oh." Emma nods, understanding a little better already.

"He doesn't cultivate them himself then?"

"Oh no dear… he doesn't have green fingers at all…"
Regina snorts at the memory of her brother unintentionally killing any and all plants the Mills household had ever owned.
"He just likes pretending to be outdoorsy, really. But he does all of the talking and the selling.
His workload right before and during the holiday season is a lot bigger than during the rest of the year, of course…
That doesn't keep him from taking the business very serious throughout the entire year though…
He actually has a cottage up North that's situated on a pine tree farm."

"Wow that sounds amazing." Emma smiles at the idea of actually living in between the trees.

"My parents agree. Much better than a penthouse in the city." Regina bitterly speaks.
"The air here is polluted and how can anyone have a good nights rest with the noise? Then there's the criminals walking around the"

"Don't." Emma keeps her from continuing. "That's not what I said. I'm not comparing you." She says and wills Regina to look at her.

"I know I'm sorry…" Says the older woman. Blushing a little at her own kind of childish behavior.
"It's just what I'm used to hearing." She quietly shares.

"Have your parents ever been here? Have they seen this view? Met the many different interesting people in the city?"
Emma softly asks, again squeezing her girlfriend affectionately against her own body.

"No and I'm not feeling inclined to invite them over either. They're good where they are, far away in sunny Lisbon or as they call it, heaven on earth."
Regina groans with a somber expression on her face.

On the one hand it's so very painful for Emma to witness and on the other she feels so grateful about Regina's openness towards her.

"Yeah well, they don't know anything about heaven if they can't recognize an angel when they see one." She says.

"You're so sweet, Emma. I love you."

"I love you too, baby."

Thank god, Kathryn had easily agreed to babysitting their son.
There had been some tears and a shaky lower lip accompanied by puppy dog eyes from the cutest brown haired boy on the planet
but his brunette mother had promised to try and arrange for his uncle to come over to their place somewhere during the upcoming week.
Henry had only seen his uncle a hand full of times before but the memories were fond and much like his mothers, he can sometimes be rather emotional.

"Next time he better arranges his pine appointments in Henry's advantage or he'll wish he'd never met me."
Emma defensively mutters as they walk out of their building, wiping away a stray tear from her cheek…

The moment they'd kissed their little boy goodnight and left him with his aunt,
she'd been unable to hide how affected she'd been by her son's quivering features.
It was exactly what had made Regina's heart feel ten times lighter after the sad 'goodnights'.
Emma's protectiveness and loyalty over their son. Emma's big heart and her inability to wear a mask around her.

The Zaowang just being a couple of blocks away, they decided to walk their way over to the restaurant.
It is still warm out and there are no signs of rain, so why not.

"I can't believe you never told me about Robin basically being Santa's little helper." Emma chuckles while slipping her hand into Regina's.

"That is a wonderful way to put it, darling. Thank you for that." The older woman laughs happily before sighing and turning a little more serious.
"We've never talked much about him at all, have we? I'm sorry, I didn't purposely not tell you, if that's what you think." She apologizes.

"No, not at all. Don't worry about anything like that, okay?" Emma affectionately and reassuringly squeezes the older woman's fingers.
"I just can't help but be amused by the information."

"It is rather funny, isn't it?" Regina allows herself to grin a little.

"It is. What does your mom think of it?" Emma asks her.

"Of what? His job?"

"Yeah… I mean, not that I think it's not good enough… but from what I've heard about your mother,
her idea of a respected job probably is something different entirely. More prestigious, no?" The blonde reasons.

"She's not the biggest fan of, as you so nicely put it, him being Santa's little helper." Regina starts off explaining.
"But believe it or not, she actually very easily came to terms with it when he dropped out of business school to go live in the woods.
'As long as you're happy' has only ever applied to her youngest." She says in a bit of a snappy tone.
Obviously still feeling bothered by the unfair treatment.

"And Henry?" Emma's voice is soft with a hint of sadness.

"She adores him." The brunette quickly reassures her. "Potentially even more than she does Robin. My father too.
It's been over a year since they've seen him though.
Since the last time we went to visit. Mother's had some hip problems which made her unfit to fly, but I should really arrange something,
regardless of my issues with my parents, Henry deserves to spend time with his grandparents."
Regina scrunches up her eye brows a little as she makes a mental note to look into the possibility of visiting them during the summer.

"We'll arrange something together." Emma sweetly tells her.
"And I won't allow them to make you feel any less than perfect. I'll personally see to it that it'll be your best vacation ever."

Regina stops walking and turns towards the blonde girl.
"With you there with us, I don't doubt it will be." she says and gives her a quick peck on the lips before sighing and putting on a brave face.

"Okay let's do this."

"Let's do this." Emma nods and releases a bit of a nervous sigh of her own.

Once inside the restaurant, Regina does the talking before they're guided towards the back of the establishment where, apparently,
the other couple had already arrived five minutes earlier.

"Mister Mills." Regina regally regards a tall brown haired man. He has small eyes, very unlike Regina's -though not unkind- and a scruffy beard…
evidently also very unlike Regina. If this is her girlfriend's brother, Emma silently muses, Regina most definitely outshines him in appearance.

The man stands up, kindly nods at Regina and greets her equally formal.

"Miss Mills, so good to see you."

Their cold demeanor makes Emma scrunch up her face in confusion,
until their guarded expressions slowly change into something more playful and brother and sister glare at each other before engaging in a quick hug.

Emma softly chuckles and smiles, relieved by the change in atmosphere.

"Robin, I'd like you to meet my partner, Emma." The brunette woman proudly states while continuing the look at her brother.

She's gloating and so very happy to be able to show off her better half.
Of course she notices how her brother gives the blonde a quick once over, of course she's not particularly happy to witness him prying
but of course, she can't help but feel a pang of extra pride to have it confirmed how very delicious the woman beside her is.
Not that she needs second opinions.
But well, Robin's harmless… and very much engaged… obviously.

Her dark eyes travel from her brother to the person sitting down beside him.
A dark haired girl, definitely younger than he is, with a curious look in her eyes. Eyes that seem to be regarding her own girlfriend closely.

"Hey. Nice to meet you." Emma shakes Robin's hand as he leans forward to greet her less formally by giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"I'm very glad you could make it." He smiles. "Sorry about the delay in plans… I had some business to attend to but everything's resolved now."
and explains at which Emma kind of has to keep herself from chuckling.
If she didn't know any better, the weight he puts in the word business makes it sound as if he's running for president.

Regina snorts lightly and levels her gaze with her brother's, a slightly threatening look in her browns.

"Yes, well… Henry was upset and I expect you at our place somewhere next week to make it up to him."
She says, not leaving any room very discussion. "He's very much into space and the universe these days."

"I'll be there." The man nods, without arguing. He also silently registers his sister's not so subtle hint not to arrive empty handed.

An annoyed cough is what draws their attention.

"We'll be there." He quickly confirms before turning to look at the brunette girl beside him and smiling happily.
"Regina, Emma… meet Lilly, my fiancée."

It takes Emma a couple of seconds for her brain to catch up with what is going on. And it's insane that she only spots her now.
But as Regina is just leaning in to give her brother's fiancée a friendly kiss on the cheek, the gravity of the situation hits her.

"Awkward." The mouth on the face at which she's, apparently, awkwardly staring, jokes when Emma coughs,
feeling embarrassed and fucked to be in this position.
Maybe, if she's lucky… She can make it through the night without being recognized…

"Hey, sorry… I haven't eaten much today… I guess I'm a little slow but euhm… it'll get better soon."
She quickly leans in to copy the greeting she'd just witnessed her girlfriend give Lilly.
Not that she's particularly keen on being in close proximity to her but because it seems like the most normal and thus least suspicious thing to do.

Regina's eye brows furrow instantly when she easily spots Emma's lie.
The girl had eaten no less than three double sandwiches before they'd left their home, so her excuse for staring is definitely a poor one.

Regardless of the tension, once they are seated the conversation seems to flow smoothly. Not surprisingly, mostly between the siblings.

Still, Lilly keeps throwing Emma curious glances whilst the blonde deliberately avoids any and all eye contact.
She's faking that she is concentrating on the conversation at hand,
chuckling, smiling and nodding when the others are but has no clue of what is actually being said.

Both Regina and Robin share stories of how they met their significant other.
All the while, Lilly seems to be very touchy feely with her future husband. Grabbing onto his arm as he tells Regina and Emma their story.
Honestly, Regina finds it a bit too much and just tries to ignore the other brunette woman as much as possible.

"So then she told me to call her next time I was in town. Which I did." Robin shrugs, with a small smile on his face.

Their story hadn't really been a romantic one. Not that it always has to be romantic, of course.
But Regina's not really sure what else she should do but offer her brother a smile in return
as he's literally just told her they hooked up and kept doing so for the past month.
Plus there's the matter of the young woman that's still hanging on his arm.

"And this was a month ago?" She eventually asks. Proud that she's able to keep herself from grimacing.

"A month and a week now, isn't it honey?" Lilly quickly clarifies. Sounding almost offended for Regina to have it wrong.

"Yes. I can hardly believe it myself. Before we knew it, we were talking about getting married."
Robin softly chuckles at how fast everything has been happening between them.

"Why wait, right?" Lilly grins at him before pecking his cheek.

"Right." He pulls up his shoulders and smiles.

When their attention turns onto the menus in front of them Regina glances sideways at her girlfriend and frowns.
Her face is etched with worry and confusion.

Emma looks back at her with a so obviously played innocent look on her face that doesn't fool her for one second.
The blonde then smiles faintly and asks "Could you order the chicken with nasi and some dumplings for me, please?
I'll just drink whatever you are having… Gotta use the restroom real quick."

Regina slowly nods, the question in her eyes unwavering as she watches her girlfriend get up from the table.

"Oh great timing, Emma. Me too." Lilly quickly gets up as well.
"I'll have the lobster oriental and the house wine." She announces into Robin's direction.

The question in Regina's eyes sharpens as she now focuses on the brunette girl.
Emma awkwardly smiles, turns around and momentarily closes her eyes before making her way towards the restroom.

Lilly silently follows and for a moment there, it seems as if neither is going to say anything.
That is, until Emma exits her stall and walks towards the mirror where she can wash her hands.
It's then she realizes how Lilly didn't even had to use the bathroom to begin with.

The girl is leaning with her back against the wall while watching Emma's every move.

The latter decides that acting as normal as possible is the only way to go, even though she feels extremely uncomfortable being scrutinized like this,
and terribly anxious to get out of here and for the other girl to stop studying her.

"So, Emma…" It suddenly echoes off the walls and the addressed girl inwardly winces at what's to come.
Whatever it is, she doesn't expect it to be anything good.
"You don't happen to have a brother, do you?"

Fuck.

The question is asked almost rhetorically… So, really, what else can she do but go along with that story.

"I do have a brother actually." She shrugs.

"Oh my god! Emil, right? I knew it! You two look so much alike. It's a little creepy actually." Lilly grins.

Emma offers her a slight nod and a little tight lipped smile
while desperately hoping for Lilly to have enough of a social barrier to not mention how exactly she knows Emil, to his so said sister.

"Yeah Emil. Haven't seen him in a while. He's traveling a lot these days."
Emma says, adding some finality to her tone so Lilly hopefully understands the conversation is over.

"Hmm, yeah I never understood why he suddenly disappeared." She doesn't. Instead she continues.
"We were really close and then he just vanished."

"Close?" Emma scrunches up her face. Lilly can't possibly think they were close. They literally met once.

"We had a click." The girl sighs while looking at herself in the mirror and the way her formfitting dress hugs her own body.
Obviously a fan of her own reflection, she smirks -what Emma figures is her version of- sexily.

The blonde suppresses a groan and is just barely able to keep her eyes from rolling.

The hell we did.

"Oh, well I'll make sure to say hi from you when I hear from him." She tries to stay casual rather than show her aversion towards the girl.

When they're back at the table, and after their food has arrived, Emma feels a soft hand on her thigh.
Looking down at Regina's fingers squeezing her leg, she hears her girlfriend take a deep breath before announcing:

"There's something we want to tell you… Two things actually…."

Emma's own breath hitches as her eyes grow wide. She looks up at the side of Regina's face while her mind is racing
as she's thinking so very hard of a way of stopping this announcement from turning into a very very awkward revelation.

"We're trying to get pregnant." Regina positively beams. Her face glowing as if she's already carrying new life inside of her.

And it's so beautiful.

She's absolutely gorgeous and obviously so very excited to be so freely talking about their wonderful plans.

It kills Emma inside to know that she'll have to put a stop to this conversation. Asap.

"That's great!" Robin cheers while grinning wide at his sister. "I didn't know you wanted another baby"
He says, there's a tender look in his eyes that tells Emma he really does love his sister and really is a good guy.
Her eyes travel to the right and land onto Lilly.
A good guy with horrible taste.

"Yes I've been wanting a sibling for Henry for a while and… I was looking for his donor."
The conversation carries on as Regina all too happily shares more information on the topic.

"Oh… yeah yeah, to have them be full siblings." Robin nods in understanding.

"Right." Regina smiles before taking a sip of water.

"So you've found him?" Robin asks curiously and excitedly.

Regina clears her throat, chuckles and bites her lip before turning towards Emma.

"Sort of… Emma honey?" She asks…

Obvious panic is more than readable in sea green saucers.
It startles Regina as she tightens her grip on Emma's leg.

"I found him." The blonde blurts out, still looking at her girlfriend who's eye brows furrow in clear confusion.
It makes Emma's heart ache and she just has to look away.
Her attention falls onto Robin, then onto Lilly and then she remembers that she's really doing the right thing by lying.
"I found the donor and convinced him to make another donation… so yeah." She's able to regain a bit of her cool.

Regina's utterly confused… she'd thought Emma told her she was okay with people knowing the truth.
Especially close friends and family.

"That's great." Robin smiles.

"Yeah." Regina slowly says, still eying Emma warily.

"You know it kind of makes sense now…" Lilly suddenly speaks up while pouring herself another glass of white.

If possible, Regina's confused frown deepens even further.

Six eyes look at her in question as Lilly seems to be taking her sweet time taking a couple of sips before she continues.

"Emil was so ridiculously defending homosexual's rights…" She lightly though mockingly laughs.

In that moment, all three sets of eyes that rest upon her do something different.
Robin's narrow in confusion.
Obviously not having a clue of who the hell this Emil is and maybe not expecting his wife to be to have such an offensive strike in her.
At least Regina hopes that's something he hadn't been aware of before.

Regina's eyes are wide and have high eye brows above them, arching in rather unpleasant surprise.
Also because of two reasons; one, this woman sounds incredibly insensitive and bigoted and secondly…
Lilly knows Emil… Regina fears that probably means there's history between this pitiful excuse of a human being and her Emma.
And that, well that rubs her in the worst way possible.

Emma's eyes just close as she exhales slowly, trying really hard not to faint.

"Emil?" Robin confusedly asks.

"Emma's brother… I remember him being so hard core, on "equality" it was almost obsessive really…
Turns out he has a lesbian for a sister. It makes sense… of course I get it…
You gals are the normal type but there's just people out there that I truly believe want nothing more than to be marginalized.
No matter what I said… he just was too stubborn to admit that. He just kept saying how there's no difference in love and stuff like that…
Generalizing love. It was ridiculous. " Lilly casually says before checking her phone and ignoring the dumbfounded expressions directed at her.

The entire table is silent.

"Excuse me?" Regina is the first to speak.
As if she has no clue of how horrible the things she just said are,
Lilly looks up from her mobile device and searches Regina's face for an explanation as to why the older woman seems to be reacting shocked.

"Oh… I'm sorry…" She warily says, frowning slightly before clarifying herself.
"I don't mean it like that. You had Henry as a single woman, right?… So he wasn't exposed to any unnatural relationships…
and I'm sure you two are smart enough to be discrete around him so I'm not doubting your parenting skills, Regina."
She smiles while reaching for her fiancé's hand.

"I'm terribly sorry." Robin shakes his head. Honest shock, clearly readable on his face.
He pulls his hand free from his girlfriend's grip and tries to apologize for her behavior.

"No it's fine." Regina snaps while getting up. She offers her brother a tense smile. "We're leaving." And glances at her own girlfriend.
"Emma?" She expectantly says, startling the girl back to the here and now as said girl'd seemed to be entirely paralyzed in her seat.
Her name pops off of Regina's red plump lips, sounding stern and authoritative.
Not warm and laced with affection, as she's used to and that is oh so very unsettling.
Regina is pissed. Very very pissed. And that is an understatement.

"Yeah." The blonde shakily breathes.
Getting up, she wills her legs to be steady and fast enough to keep up with her partner who's already half way out of the restaurant.

"Euhm nice meeting you Robin." She quickly says before going after Regina.

She wishes she hadn't because it only worsens the boiling inside of her but before she's out of earshot she hears Lilly flatly snort.

"Sensitive much. I'm entitled to have my own opinion you know. Freedom of speech and all. It's for normal people too."

fucking. bitch.

Oh dear…
NEXT UP: More clarity about Lilly's role in Emma's past. I think that's in order :O