My excuse is that I'm very busy trying out this thing called adulthood.

Combining several jobs, raising a cat and planning a wedding is hard work.

CHAPTER 29

Long story short; The next day Regina called her parents, informing them of their time of arrival.
She kept the conversation short and efficient and then disconnected the call with a sigh.
Suitcases were made, hugs were exchanged with their best friends, they made their way to the airport and then finally,
the family had boarded the plane and taken off.

Time's passing slowly now.

Something Regina isn't particularly sad about. She is, of course, already dreading the two weeks ahead of her.
Sure, there are far worse things than having to spend time with your parents and family in a beautiful setting
but to Regina that's about the last thing she feels like doing right now. Yet it's exactly what's going to happen.

Two movies into the flight and Henry has finally fallen asleep.
Emma gently removes the headphones from his ears and puts them away.

"Don't stress." She leans closer towards her partner.

"It's not like I do it on purpose." The woman sighs.

"I know." Emma nods. "But look, this vacation will be over before you know it and Hen will have an awesome time, no doubt."
She smiles and settles her head on Regina's shoulder. Her voice is soft and comforting to Regina.

"He's really excited, isn't he? He loves his grandparents." Says the brunette.

"Yeah. This is a good thing. And we'll tell them about the baby."

The girl can't help but smile while speaking about their newest addition to the family.

"Our baby." Regina says and kisses the top of bright blonde hair.

"Yeah we'll tell 'em that. And then before you know it we'll be celebrating Rubes's and Kat's wedding and then we can just focus on us." Emma's eyes are threatening to fall closed. Her words come out a bit mumbled as she's trying but failing to keep herself from yawning.

"And your book." The other woman hums.

"And my book." She whispers agreeingly.

"I'm proud of you." It's a sweet and sincere statement.

I think I'm proud of me too.

That's when Emma too falls asleep. Surrounded by her beautiful little family. Literally finding herself on cloud nine.
Or cloud something at least.

She'd only been able to rest for a good hour or so when she'd been woken up for lunch.
The food was pretty decent, for airplane food, Regina had stated.
Emma wouldn't have known any better but definitely hadn't had any complaints about her meal.

Henry's food had gone down easily. Up too. The poor kid had overdone himself on his dessert.
That plus the excitement of being on an airplane plus the excitement of getting to see his grandparents,
it had all been a bit much and sure enough, Emma'd helped him hold the paper bag the flight attended had so kindly offered them
and sat with him, telling him it'd be alright and that he'd feel better soon, which he had.
It hadn't taken him long before he'd already chosen another movie and Regina reckoned there was no harm in it,
knowing he'd be out playing and swimming all day every day during their stay with her parents anyway.

The kid had fallen back asleep half an hour into the movie though.
The poor thing probably hadn't been able to get much sleep the night before due to all the excitement ahead of him.
He's just too precious for his own good.

Regina talked a lot about those first few years of when she had Henry
and Emma just listened entirely fascinated by both the boy in the stories and the woman telling them.
Eventually, Henry had slept through most of their hours in the air,
which was good because then he'd have a lot of energy to keep his grandparents entertained, Regina reasoned.
But by the time they reached their destination, the tenseness in the older woman's posture had returned all too quickly.
It's as if she could literally sense her parent's physical nearness.
Emma's fingers found hers to lace together with as a silent and constant reminder that she's not in this alone. Always together.

Their brown haired bundle of cuteness walked ahead dragging his mommy by the arm towards the luggage belt.

Once they'd collected their belongings there really was only one thing left for them to do.

Meet the parents.

Now.

The current emotionless expression on Regina's face is extremely worrying to Emma.
Her otherwise expressive and passionate partner now just seems like a shell of herself
and for a moment the blonde wonders if maybe this whole trip wasn't such a good idea after all.

That's until she catches sight of Henry's bubbly smile and expectant twinkling eyes.

It gives her mixed emotions. Obviously.

Regina's feelings about this whole vacation in contrast with Henry's enthusiasm
combined with her own nerves when it comes to meeting her partner's parents…

Plus: It's definitely another first. Meeting the parents. Any parents. Not even ever having had a pair of her own.

Fine, she's met a couple of potential parents. But none that had stuck. So those had never counted.

"That's them." Regina whispers under her breath close to Emma's ear.

Emma's green eyes try to zoom in on the older couple Henry is now enthusiastically pointing at.

The taller one of which is clearly Regina's father. Kind features pull into a bright smile.
His hair is almost completely gray but the man hardly has any wrinkles.
Next to him stands a teary-eyed woman with dark hair -dyed, Emma reckons- That's her. Regina's mom.

It's quite funny how it had never occurred to Emma that Regina might look like her mother. A lot. She really does.

The main differences about the two are the obvious age difference
and the fact that Regina seems to be a couple inches taller than Cora Mills.
Most likely a result of the years the older woman has ahead of her daughter.

It throws the blonde off a little. She smiles nonetheless.

When Regina's mom makes eye contact with her it's instantly obvious that the woman's just as nervous as she is. If not more so.

"You must be Emma. It's such a pleasure to meet you." The brunette woman speaks with a deep, though strained voice.

From the corner of her eye, Emma can tell that Regina's busy greeting her father, giving the man a heartfelt hug.

Gathering her thoughts she focuses on Cora.

"Hey. Um yeah. I'm Emma. It's really nice to meet you too. Thank you for having us."
The blonde offers herself a mental pat on the shoulder for managing to sound relatively calm and confident.

"Of course. We're both very happy you could all make it."
Little Henry's hugging his grandma's legs tightly causing for the woman to look down and giggle.
She looks about ten years younger in just a matter of seconds.

"And to see our favorite munchkin in the whole wide world again."

The woman bends down and picks the boy up as if he weighs close to nothing.

"Look at how much you've grown, sweetheart." She kisses both of his cheeks repeatedly.

"I couldn't be more ready for the introduction, darling."
Regina's father warmly smiles while looking between his daughter and the blonde.

"Of course. Daddy." She smiles and then finally looks at her mother "mom." at which Cora smiles seemingly insecure.
She makes sure to hold eye contact with her daughter but it's not just up to her, is it?
Because Regina decides to keep said eye contact as brief as possible, opting to look back at her father instead.

"This is my partner, Emma Swan." She proudly announces.

"Emma Swan." Henry senior smiles.

"Just Emma." The girl chuckles softly.

"It's so nice to meet you both." and blushes.

"We couldn't be happier. Today is the definite highlight of our year, darling." The man tells her sincerely.

"Hello, Regina." Cora cautiously addresses her daughter.

A polite smile is forced upon Regina's features. "Hello, mom. How are you?"

"Wonderful, now the three of you are here." comes the woman's honest answer.

Emma can see how her girlfriend's made expression falters a bit as the woman swallows awkwardly.
"Yeah. We're glad we could make the trip." She nods and purses her lips. Her posture remaining tense.

"Let me carry something for you, Emma."
The older brunette keeps on surprising, gesturing for Emma to hand her one of the bags she's been pulling.

"No no I've got it. Don't worry." Emma politely refuses.

"I know you do but it's not because I'm ancient that I can't lend you a hand."
She laughs lowly and insists on helping so eventually the girl lets her. Only handing her the smaller trolley, of course.

Regina seems to ignore the interaction entirely and instead focuses on her dad and son. The three catch up animatedly.

So yes, it seems it's up to Emma to entertain the other parent.

"Is this your first time in Europe, Emma?" It's Cora who starts up a nice conversation.

They actually talk easily. Okay it's just some friendly small talk
but Emma had been expecting for any communication with this woman to be difficult and dreadful.
Which, let's be very clear about this, it is not.
It comes naturally and Cora actually seems to be genuinely interested in getting to know the young woman.

As nice as all of that is. It's making this whole situation so very confusing for Emma. She's thorn.

The image Regina had put up of her mother was so different from what she's experiencing. So what does that mean?

Does it mean that Cora is amazing at faking kindness? But she really seems so genuine and not just to Emma
but also when Emma catches her looking at her daughter.
There's a hopeful glint her eyes that maybe she'd get one of those hugs Regina had given her father too. -which she didn't-
Cora had even seemed nervous as if she hoped to make a good impression on Emma.
That's gotta count for something, no?
So then does it mean that Regina had been exaggerating or even lying?
Now, that's just impossible.
That doesn't sound like Regina at all.

So that leaves Emma with one more explanation. Cora's changed.

She no longer is the woman that raised Regina and it seems like she's trying hard to make up for what she lacked in the past.

Empathy, patience, kindness and warmth.

And honestly, Emma's pretty anxious to see how Regina's going to deal with all of that.
Because so far, she's obviously chosen to just ignore it.

Non-surprisingly, she continues to do so.

The entire ride 'home'.

When they're settling in their room, Emma feels needy arms wrap around her.
"Thank you." Regina groans tiredly into the side of the girl's neck.

"What are you thanking me for?" Smiles the latter, all too happy to be on the receiving end of the other's affection.

"Being so wonderful. Putting up with her." Regina evidently replies and Emma's not sure where to go from here.

It's a strange feeling. Normally, there's no reason, never and none at all, to weigh her words around this woman.
But right now, she doesn't know what to say.
And even is she did have an idea of what to say, she wouldn't have the slightest clue of how to say it.

"Of course." She shrugs and then tries to go on "You know, it was… fine actually."

Instantly, Regina's demeanor gets defensive.

"She didn't say anything to upset you, did she?" Her protectiveness over the blonde evident.

"No no." Emma is quick to reassure her. She smiles and shakes her head before carefully continuing. "She was… really nice."

"Yeah well." The brunette rolls her eyes and then averts them. She too is shaking her head.
"It's only a matter of time before her true nature will show."

she lightly snorts. It's not so much that she seems stubborn but there is some kind of sadness in her tone and on her features.
As if she's not willing to be led on and set up for disappointment. It's a shield.
And Emma realizes that she's protecting herself and wants to do the same for her.

Not get her hopes up. Not get her heart in the game for this woman, only to have it toyed with and crushed to dust.

"Yeah. I guess." Emma quietly says before trying to suggest the possibility of a different scenario…
That perhaps Cora's had a change of heart. "Or" She carefully tries.

"What?" But Regina's quick to turn to her with narrowed eyes. She's not ready. Clearly, she's not.
Too unwilling to hear her lover play with the idea that things could be wonderful
and that a relationship with her mother could be a blessing. She can't have her mother do this.
She cannot let that woman hurt her love. Not her beautiful and sweet Emma. It would be nothing short from cruel.
As if the girl hadn't suffered enough hurt from so-called parents in the past already. No more of that. Not if she has any say in it.

But the girl is pure and sweet and good and hopeful, the way you could only expect from an angel.

"Just… Do you think that maybe she could have changed? Or is trying to?"

Smiles Emma. Hopeful and sweetly indeed.

"Look." Regina sighs. "believing something like that… it's nice in theory but in reality, it only leads to disappointment."
She keeps her tone soft, hoping this isn't already too painful for Emma to have to hear.
"If… and that's a big if but if she's trying to be different that means she's holding up a mask which eventually is bound to come off
and then when we're at our most vulnerable having her true colors show is gonna only hurt us even worse."

"Hmm." The girl slowly nods. Her eyes averted to the ground.
From where Regina's standing, it looks like Emma's saddened, which is simply heartbreaking to her partner.
But in reality, the blonde's just caught up in thoughts.

"So entertaining the idea that she might be wanting to change is not worth it, darling."

She's closed the distance between them, now holding Emma's hands in her own.
Softly rubbing her fingers over the backs of the younger woman's pale hands in a comforting manner.

"I have my family and I'm happy with my life. So immensely happy with my life… I don't need her.
This vacation, it's for Henry and it's to have our story out in the open for once and for all but other than that, I don't need her."
Regina pleads. She's willing for the girl to lock eyes with her and when she does, they both smile at each other.

"You know, I'm fucking happy with my life too." Says Emma softly.

"You wanna be careful with your choice of words there." Regina's eyes turn a shade darker.
"I could really use to let off some steam…" Emma's eye brows raise in pleasant surprise.
She also blushes because she hadn't expected for the subject to change so suddenly into something potentially naughty.
"but I'm afraid it's almost dinner time." Regina finishes her sentence with a grin of victory.
Seeing Emma's blush turn deeper the way it usually does when she's getting warmed up.
It seems she wouldn't need very much right now to be fully ready for her.

"But if you need it." The girl so kindly offers. Her eyes shimmering with lustful hope.
Lust built up so quickly it's all the more exciting. "dinner can wait. We'll just say we fell asleep. jet lag. Whatever."
She shrugs and waves her hand in a dismissive manner. Who needs dinner anyway?

"Yes. That's all fun and games except you'll be balls deep inside of me and as sure as I am here the dragon will make her entrance." Regina deadpans before offering Emma an apologizing look.
She tilts her head to the side and cups Emma's cheek gently as the girl grimaces at her words.

"I might not sleep thanks to that visual." Her nose curls up in the most adorable of ways.

"That's okay." Regina chuckles. "Once the dragon's asleep… I'll keep you entertained." And winks promisingly.

"Naughty girl." Emma whispers under her breath and shakes her head, still blushing.

"You know it." And one day Regina's radiant smile might just be the death of her.

"Girls?" A soft knocking on the door draws their attention.

"Enter the Dragon." Regina whispers annoyed.

"Kinda polite for a dragon."
Emma smiles but her girlfriend just pulls up her shoulders, clears her throat and raises her voice for her mother to hear.

"Come in mom." She can't help but sound annoyed to have to speak out those actual words though. Even Emma flinches.

"Dinner's ready." Cora timidly but kindly informs them.

"Okay." Regina's two syllable answer isn't even delivered to her mother's face.

"If you're too tired I can fix you some plates and bring them up." Cora offers. The look in her eyes sad and defeated.

"You'd prefer us to eat separately from you?" Regina's words might just be laced with venom, Emma painfully notes.

"Of course not." Cora's quick to deny. She breathes out and shrugs tiredly.
"I simply wanted you to know you've got options."

Regina doesn't respond right away. She just looks at her mother in silence and breathes in and out a couple of times.
Cora averts her eyes.

It saddens Emma… She'd witnessed Cora's eyes being glued to her daughter's face before, desperate for eye contact. Any contact.
And now… Now that Regina spares her a glance longer than a fraction of a second, it's too much.
Or maybe the harsh reality is that it's too little which cuts all the deeper.

"Yes." Regina's voice sounds a little raspier than it did before. "Thank you." And a tiny bit softer now.
"We'll be joining you downstairs." But the sternness is still there. The distance and disconnection.

"Great." A small smile returns to Cora's face. And it's real, that much Emma can tell. Very small, but very real too.
"Well…" She lingers for a moment as if she's reveling in this tiny moment of… what?… non-hostility?
It's something… A start perhaps even. Who knows. "I'll leave you to it then… everything is ready but take your time.
It's only a couple of salads so it's not like things will get cold. I'll just go and make sure our Henry's are leaving some for the rest of us." It's more words than she's been able to direct at Regina since she's arrived. More than her daughter had given her time to.

In that moment, Cora reminds Emma of a thirsty person that's been deprived of water for days and now gets a single drop.
They don't want it to be gone just the way Cora doesn't want this moment to be over.
But Emma fears that, already, Regina's patience for her mother might be growing thin again.

The blonde's eyes are growing wider with every half second as she can feel the tension in Regina's body rise
and Cora must notice or sense it. Or maybe she was just expecting it. She knows there's a limit, after all. She knows it all too well.
It's there due to her own doing. And so she stops herself from saying anything else.

"Thank you." Regina manages to say. But her tone, much like her posture is tense and noticeably irritated.

"Okay." Cora nods and makes her exit.

"Oh and Regina." But she turns back around just as she was about to leave
and Emma fears that the older Mills might be finding herself on very very thin ice right now.

"Hmm?" Regina's lips form a thin line as she presses them hard on each other. She's very close to snapping but doesn't.
Emma wonders why. Not that she's not grateful for it.

But it does raise the question what suddenly made her willing to put in the effort to try and act at least decent.

"I'm really happy you're here." Cora's eyes are big and full of emotion.
And Emma's heart is already partly hers because the bids of Regina she sees in the older woman
are unmistakably aspects that can't be anything but lovable.

"The three of you." Dark eyes turn to Emma as Cora looks at her directly.

Emma nods and offers her a small, timid smile.
She doesn't dare to move, breathe nor speak but this smile, right now is worth more than oxygen to Cora
who's smile of her own widens and breathes out contently.

"Okay." Regina nods and moves her shoulders awkwardly as if she was going to shrug but then decided against it.
This is making her feel uneasy. It's both cute and heartbreaking but more of the latter.
This side of her mother is something she's not used to and at least that answers two questions for Emma.

One… Cora has definitely changed and is showing colors Regina's never seen of her and two…
Regina has no idea how to deal with that.

"Okay." Cora schools her features a little but the smile is still present.
She doesn't say another thing, turns around and closes the door behind her.

"She might be dying." Regina mutters flatly.

And Emma realizes that this vacation will most likely be one hell of a roller-coaster ride.

Better buckle up, Swan.

To anyone still reading this little story... thanks so much for hanging in there! You're truly amazing. Simply because you are and also for keeping me motivated even after all this time. :3