Two days after the fire

"Thank you again, Kath, for giving me a roof for the next few weeks", Regina said hoarsely, while getting more comfortable on the couch.

"You don't have to thank me, Regina", replied the woman with a little smile, "I told you that I am not going to let you out of my sight anytime soon!"

"I don't need a babysitter…" the brunette joked through a cough.

"Mhm…" Kathryn hummed, while preparing tea. Apparently the smoke had damaged her friend's throat and voice. Regina hadn't stopped coughing since the fire. Which was a great reminder that Regina might have died two days ago. "Explain again what happened?" Kathryn demanded with a very serious expression.

"I already told you, Kath…" Regina started struggling with her words. What's the best way to explain to your best friend that you wanted to be with your dead fiancé? That because of that you didn't try to save yourself from a burning building. "… I was just so focused on wanting to see Daniel, that I just… I… "

"That you just let yourself be almost cooked like a Thanksgiving chicken!" the blonde woman exclaimed in dismay.

"Don't be so melodramatic, Kathryn" Regina said with an apologetic note in her voice. She knew that her friend had every right to be this way, she cared about Regina and the brunette didn't ever want to see that deathly worried look on her friend's face ever again.

"So you're saying that while you were there, you saw Daniel?" Kathryn asked putting a cup of hot tea in front of Regina, "Drink that, it will help with your throat"

"Yes…" Regina murmured remembering the moment.

Flashback

"Leave me alone, mother!" Regina snapped, cutting off her mother's never ending admonitions, "I am going to be with Daniel."

"Regina…" a soft voice filled Regina's mind.

"Daniel?" Regina asked surprised, "Daniel, is that you?"

"Yes, my love…"

"Daniel, I am coming… I am coming to be with you", Regina said with a smile.

"No, Regina…"

"But I want to be with you…" the woman reasoned through tears, "I miss you so much, Daniel"

"I miss you too, my love, but the time is not right. Your time hasn't come yet."

"I am tired, I am tired of being miserable!" Regina screamed in desperation, "I… I want to be happy, happy with you"

"Your happiness is closer that you think, my love...But you have to fight, you have to get out of here, Regina…"

"Daniel…"

"Fight, Regina… Fight for yourself! You have so much love to give to the world. Find your happiness, my love, don't be afraid, I will always be near…"

End of flashback

"…and I tried, I tried to get away from there", Regina explained, tears rolling down her cheeks, "… but the smoke was too thick and I was feeling dizzy and then the shelf fell down and…"

In a second Kathryn's hands were around the brunette, giving her the comfort and safeness she needed, "It's okay, It's okay…" the woman was whispering, "You're safe, you're safe now…"

Kathryn hasn't seen Regina cry since the death of Daniel, four years ago, and seeing her friend now, so broken, her heart was clenching in pain for her. So she just tightened her embrace and let Regina cry out all of her fears.

"Momma!" Henry exclaimed from the counter when Emma entered Ruby's diner after finishing her night shift.

"Hey, munchkin!" Emma said with a big smile on her face. As her son got down and ran to her, she wrapped him into her arms and lifted him in the air, "How is my boy this morning?

"Good, momma." the boy said with a smile, "Aunty MM and I had breakfast."

"Was it a yummy one?" Emma asked kissing the boy's temple, while waving at Mary Margaret, who was sitting at the counter Henry had just vacated.

"Yessss…" he said through a giggle, "…very yummy, yummy one."

"Good, I am glad", Emma said giving the boy's tummy a little soft squeeze, making him giggle again.

"Hey munchkin, your hot cocoa is here!" Ruby said positioning a cup on the counter where Henry's seat was.

"Ruby, don't call me that!" the toddler said, while Emma was putting him on a chair.

"Why not?" asked Ruby with a little pout, "Your mom did it!"

"Yes, but she's my momma…" reasoned the little boy, "Only she can call me that. Right, momma!"

"That's right, munchkin." said Emma giving the boy high five, "Sorry, Rubes, only I have the claims on that one." the blonde continued sticking out her tongue at the brunette.

"Don't show me that tongue if you are not going to use it properly, Swan!" Ruby said with a flirtatious seriousness, making Emma laugh hard.

"What is the proper use of a tongue?" Henry asked curiously, totally oblivious to the hidden point in the statement.

"Yes, Rubes, what is it?" Emma asked mimicking the voice and expression of her son. Mary Margaret bit her lip, so she could stop herself from laughing out loud.

Ruby glared at Emma and turned her attention towards the boy, "It's for licking the delicious whipped cream from your cocoa, Hen."

"Oh, cool!" Henry exclaimed giving the new information a try by licking a little bit of the whipped cream from the cup, making the three women laugh.

"How was your shift, Emma?", Mary Margaret asked curiously, while Ruby was servicing a new client.

"It was pretty calm." the blonde explained, "I beat Jones a few times on Mario Kart…"

"Jones, hm?" Mary Margaret asked raising her eyes brows suggestively.

"Yes, MM, Jones…", the blonde said with a smirk.

"Is he still flirting? Mary Margaret asked like a total gossip girl.

Emma couldn't stop herself and chuckled at her, "Like always…"

"What is flirting?" the toddler asked, while trying to lick his moustache, cleaning the cocoa from his mouth.

"MM?" Emma said looking at the woman with a "Well now you handle that!" look on her face.

"Oh well…" the brunette stammered, "Flirting is… It is…"

"Look at Ruby, munchkin." Emma said pointing to the woman at the end of the counter, "Do you see how she smiles at that girl and how she now brushes her own hair behind her ear…"

"Yeah…" Henry whispered looking at the woman carefully, "She even winked at her, momma…"

"Yes.", Emma chuckled a little at Ruby's manners, "Well, that is what people call flirting, munchkin."

"Oh…" the little boy hummed, "Okay."

Both Emma and Mary Margaret laughed at the boy.

"I am going to eat something and then I will go to the foster home", Emma started looking at her friend, "It's a free day today for them, so I will see how they are and then I will meet you and Henry for lunch"

"Okay, Em." Mary Margaret said taking a look at her watch, "Come on, Henry, we don't want to be late for class."

"Coming, Aunty MM." the little man replied, jumping out of the chair.

"Be good, munchkin." Emma said giving the toddler a loving kiss on the cheek, "I will see you at noon."

"See you soon, momma…" the boy waved at his mother.

"Rubes…" said Emma getting the girl's attention, "Give me…"

"One grilled cheese coming right up, babe", said Ruby before Emma could have the chance to finish her own sentence. After all she was a regular and Ruby knew her cravings very well.

…..

"Maybe you should take a few days off, Regina." Kathryn suggested after her friend calmed down.

"You know I can't just lay around all day, doing nothing, Kath", the brunette replied. Just the thought of lying in bed all day gave her a headache.

"Well, okay then…" the blonde replied trying a different tactic, "You can come with me to the foster group home and help me a few hours a day."

"I… I don't know…"

"Come on, Regina, you will like it there" Kathryn said with such a sureness in her voice, "and you can distract yourself and also get some rest, because I have to tell you sister that you look kind of… awful"

"Ouch! Thanks, Kathryn", Regina replied trying to look offended by her friend's words, "I almost died two days ago, have some mercy on me."

"I will if you agree with me…" the woman said provocatively and waited for the brunette to make her decision.

"Okay, I will call Maleficent and tell her that I will take a little break from court", said Regina with a little smile.

"That's my girl!" the blonde exclaimed proudly.

Regina laughed at her friend, "Thanks, Kath…For everything…"

"My pleasure, hun…" Kathryn smiled warmly at her, "Now call Mal and then start getting ready, because we have to be at the foster group home in less than an hour."

"So bossy…" Regina joked, not moving at all.

"Maybe you will meet your new happiness there…" Kathryn suggested excitedly.

"God, Kath, you are such a romantic!" Regina said in mock annoyance.

"You used to be one too!" the blonde joked, without giving it a second thought of what she is saying.

"I know…" Regna said with a small smile in understanding. It was true after all, she was a romantic.

Kathryn smiled apologetically at her and again switched to the bossy mood. "Come one, chop chop…"

"Okay…okay…" Regina chuckled. God, what was she getting herself into?

At the foster care group home

Regina was feeling so out of place. She didn't know how to approach the kids in the living room, so instead she decided to look around the house, she wasn't hiding, not at all. She just needed a little more time to get herself together. Maybe a cup of water would help. Just when she was about to enter the kitchen she saw a boy, around 7 or 8 years old, putting all different kind of food into his pants pockets.

"Hey, bud…" a blonde woman greeted, startling the kid.

"H…hi…" said the boy shyly, trying to look like he wasn't totally caught.

The blonde took a look around the room and leaned against the kitchen counter, "I used to be just like you, you know…"

"What, an orphan?" the boy asked with hands still into his pockets.

"That too…" the blonde agreed with a whisper of a smile, "but also I used to hide as much food in my clothes as I could."

"Don't tell the old lady, please!" the boy said with voice full of desperation. It was obvious that he had some experience with stealing and the consequences of it.

"I won't, your secret is safe with me, bud." the blonde assured, "Actually, are you hungry, because I am starving…", she asked and without waiting for an answer she started pulling out stuff from a cabinet near her, "… I just came back from the grocery store, so I am thinking about a sandwich with some cheese in it…"

The boy's full attention was on her now, he was looking at the woman with big brown eyes full of suspiciousness.

"Maybe I should make two sandwiches and If I can't eat them, well I will just throw away what's left, right…", although the blonde was talking to herself, every word was directed towards the boy, "Or… if there was someone that could help me with eating the other sandwich…"

"I…" the kid was having a debate with himself, Regina could feel it. He was looking at the blonde, trying to decide if he could trust her and when the woman smiled at him warmly, eyes sparkling with sympathy and understatement, the boy had his answer, "I will help you with the other sandwich."

"You will?" the blonde said pleased and with gratitude, "Awesome! Thanks, bud!"

Regina was witnessing the whole scene, hidden by the corner. She was totally taken aback by the ability of this woman to help the child, without making him feel threatened. She knew that the boy must be hungry, no doubt, since he was putting all kinds of food into his clothes, but the way the blonde had handled the whole situation, like patiently waiting for him to make his own choices and not pushing him, it was truly… mesmerizing.

And then they were both sitting at the kitchen counter, eating sandwiches in total silence, like it was a part of a very secret magical ritual.

"I'm Emma, by the way…" the blonde woman said before having another bite of her sandwich.

"I'm Eric…" the kid murmured with a mouth full of food. Emma smiled at him and mimicked his full mouth.

If you enjoy this story in any way at all, please leave a review and let me know :)