Apologies for my slowness :/ Again a big thank you to Erin for editing my shits 3

Ruby's diner

"Ems, please, stop walking in circles…" exclaimed Ruby from behind the counter, "you are going to wear a hole in my floor."

"Sorry, Rubes" Emma said sheepishly stopping her nervous walking.

"Is there something wrong?" asked the tall brunette worriedly, "How was it at the group home?"

"While I was at the group home…" started Emma, sitting in one of the chairs at the counter, "there was a little boy who reminded me of myself…"

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked softly crossing her arms and shoring them up on the counter.

"I was just like him when I was his age, hiding as much food as I could in my pockets, because I wasn't sure when would be the next time I would have the chance to eat. And he is just a little boy" Emma paused for a second, closing her eyes while exhaling a long breath and freeing her fingers from the fists they had formed "I just wish I could do more for these kids, you know"

"Emma…" the brunette said gently waiting for the blonde to look at her and when she finally did, Ruby noticed the hidden desperation behind the determined look Emma was giving her, "You are doing as much as you can."

"No." the blonde stated firmly, "I feel like I can do more, so much more. They need a reconstruction to the house and if I can somehow find the money…"

"Always the savior…" Ruby remarked off hand, trying to lighten the mood, earning a glare from the blonde.

"Shut up."

"You have "The savior syndrome", you know that, right babes?" the brunette said with a sympathetic smile, pulling a little chuckle from the other woman.

"Tell you what, I will think of a way to gather some money, like charity cupcakes, or coffee, or something like that…" Ruby explained with a serious expression, "When I figure it out I will let you know, okay?"

"Thanks, Rubes." Emma said, a beam of hope lightening her whole face, "You are the best!", the blonde exclaimed reaching through the counter and kissing the other woman on the cheek.

"Never doubt that, savior!" the following flirtatious wink made Emma laugh.

Ruby's diner

Emma was sitting at her usual, for Henry "special", spot on the counter and drinking some hot cocoa, her mind was occupied with thoughts about her childhood and how she could help the kids from the group home, when the voice of her favorite person in the world brought her back to reality.

"Momma!" Henry shouted, entering the dinner.

"Hey, munchkin!" Emma exclaimed with the same enthusiasm as her son, getting up and opening her arms for the toddler. Henry didn't hesitate even for a second and jumped up to his mother's neck, giving her a sloppy kiss on the cheek. The blonde spun them around quickly, getting a cute little giggle from the boy.

"Where is Mary Margaret, munchkin?" Emma asked after she put him down.

"She is outside talking to David." the toddler explained pointing at the door with his finger.

"Oh, is she?" the blonde said with a smirk, taking a step towards the diner's window, "Come on, munchkin, let's take a look." She whispered, knowing that that way her boy would think it's a game and will play along.

"Who are we spying on?" Ruby's voice came behind them.

"Aunty MM and David." Henry whispered, putting his finger to his lips in a silent plea.

"God, these two are like turtles!" snorted the brunette looking through the window, missing the surprised expression on the little boy's face, "Have they been on a date, already?"

"I think you can answer that for yourself, Rubes" Emma rolled her eyes at both her friend's question and her other friend's shyness and blindness.

"Ugh, we need to do something, Ems!" Ruby murmured, stamping her leg on the floor like annoyed five years old.

"Yes we do…" the blonde agreed, a devil smile crossing her face, "…and I think I know just what."

"Ruby…" said the toddler with a serious expression, interrupting the two women, "How come aunty MM and David are turtles?"

The tall brunette looked at the boy a little confused at first, but then she remembered her statement and explained with a smile, "Because these two…" pointing at the two people outside the dinner, "are very slow at showing their feelings to each other, Hen."

Henry was looking between Ruby and the window, trying to process the new information. A few seconds later with a sad pout he said, "Oh, so… they are not like the teenage mutant ninja turtles?"

Ruby suppressed her laugh at the boy's obvious disappointment, "No, Henry… They are definitely not that cool."

"Aunty MM is cool!" the boy defended, "She is one of the turtles, but I don't know about David… Is he cool, momma?"

Emma who was watching the whole interaction of her son and her friend with a hand on her mouth, trying desperately not to lose any noises indicating how funny and cute she found the whole conversation, pulled herself together and said, "He is very cool, munchkin. You should include him in your…" Emma bend over a little, closing the distance between herself and Henry and whispered so only he could hear "secret mutant ninja turtles team."

The boy's eyes lighten up like fireworks for the 4th of July and with a huge smile he started thinking about the best character option for David forgetting about Emma and Ruby entirely. Both women chuckled at the toddles cuteness.

"Rubes…" Emma said getting the brunette's attention, "I have a perfect plan for these young love birds…" and whispering her idea into the other woman's ear.

"Emma Swan, I knew there was a reason I liked you!" joked Ruby happily.

"I am such a matchmaker!" the blonde beamed proudly, making the other woman laugh.

"What is a matchmaker, momma?" apparently Henry's attention was back on them.

"Oh, well…that's…" Emma struggled for a second, "You are still too young for that word, munchkin."

Henry pouted, but then asked curiously, "Like that time when I wanted to pull the hair away from my eyebrows just like you do it?"

Flashback

"Henry, what are you doing?" Emma asked curiously, standing in front of the bathroom door.

The boy was standing on his little chair, that he normally used to stand on while he was brushing his teeth, with Emma's tweezers in his hand.

"I wanna do the thing that you do with this" the boy explained, pointing at the tweezers to make his point clear.

With only two steps Emma was behind her son looking at him totally horrified and thanking all the saints in her mind that she got there on time, before he could hurt himself.

"Munchkin, you don't need to do that" the blonde started with a soft voice, trying to reason him, "your eyebrows are perfect"

"Your are too, momma!" said the boy with a smile.

"It's "Yours", munchkin." she corrected him gently and after he repeated his statement, this time correctly he asked suspiciously, "Why you do it then?"

Emma bit her lip to suppress a laugh. This boy's cuteness was endless, "Because, munchkin, your mother is a bit old and with age people's hair need more… taking care of. It's like the haircuts miss Bibby is giving you. But your mother needs hair cutting in other places too… And my eyebrows are perfect only because I help them be by using this pair of tweezers" just when the toddler was going to say something Emma continued, "but you are young and your eyebrows are perfect without you helping them." The boy was silent for a few seconds considering his mother's words.

"Okay…" Henry exclaimed jumping to the floor, "I will go play with my turtles"

"Thank God!" Emma sighed relieved.

End of flashback

"Yes, munchkin, just like that time." Emma said sweetly, but firmly. She looked at Ruby, who was standing there with a confused expression, "Don't ask, Rubes. Just don't ask."

….

Regina's office

Before Regina could enjoy her little vacation she had to rearrange all her cases and for that she needed her colleagues.

"So you are homeless right now?" Ursula asked with a soft apologetic voice.

"Not exactly…" said Regina while ordering the documents on her desk, "I am staying at Kathryn's for a while."

"Enlighten me, darling..." came the deep voice of another of Regina's colleagues, "why with your bank account full of money, you decided to stay at you're… a bit poor, if I must add, friend's apartment."

Because I didn't want to be alone, Regina thought. But the answer she was going to give to the woman was miles away from that statement.

"How insensitive of you, Cru!" Ursula exclaimed, interrupting Regina.

Raising her perfectly done eyebrows in surprise, the dark haired woman purred, "Darling, you know that sensitivity is not a quality of mine."

"Well, you should definitely start working on building one, then." Ursula said with a wink, pulling a mischief smile from her girlfriend.

"You two do not start with your perverted mushiness again!" came Maleficent's voice from the front door.

"What's the matter, darling?" Cruella laughed devilishly, "Are you jealous?"

"Of you?" Maleficent said rhetorically with an emotionless face, "If I wanted your girlfriend I could have her with a blink of an eye."

"Hey!" exclaimed Ursula offended, "I'm right here you know."

"She has a beast here." Cruella said pointing at herself, "She doesn't need a dragon puppy."

"Do you want to bet?" the blonde challenged with sparkling eyes.

"Oh God, I had forgotten what is like being around you all! Regina interrupted with a serious voice, but the corners of her mouth were giving away her actual mood.

The tension melted in a split second broken by everyone's joined laugh.

"Missed us much, Regina?" Ursula asked through a laugh.

"Was that a rhetorical question, darling?" Cruella sassed her girlfriend.

"Well, I am a queen and I am a little more refine…" Regina started while gathering the last documents she needed, "… but yes, I do missed you." The three women looked very pleased with the brunette's answer.

"Okay," the brunette said giving each woman a different folder of documents, "all the information you need is in these files, if there is a problem just call me."

"Don't worry, dear." Mal said looking through the files in her hands, "We are well aware, how to sue."

"I don't doubt that, Maleficent." Regina assured her with a little smile, "If you weren't we wouldn't be working together."

"The world won't collapse without you being here, Regina." Ursula murmured seriously, "Don't worry!"

"Yes, darling…" Cruella agreed with a smirk, "We are the Queens of law, we can function without out our fourth musketeer for a few weeks."

"Musketeer?" Regina asked with a comical expression.

"We watched "The four musketeers" yesterday." Cruela explained suppressing her laugh because of her girlfriend's cuteness.

"So, I am your d'Artagnan then?" the brunette asked looking at Cruella with an amused grin.

"Don't flatter yourself, darling!" Cruella murmured, her cheeks getting a bit warmer, "It was just an expression."

"Of course…", Regina agreed knowing that the other woman was without a doubt experiencing a bit of an embarrassment at the moment. "Well, I must go…", she said going towards the door, "Wish you all a great day and…", she stopped half out of the door and extended her hand which was holding a pencil and said with a dead serious face, "One for all and all for one!" making Ursula and Maleficent to burst into laugh and leaving Cruella pissed off.

Behind all of their sassiness though, remained hidden the worry the three ladies had for Regina. For an outside viewer it might seems like they were heartless bitches, but Regina knew better. She didn't need their compassion or their pity and they knew that very well and she was grateful for their attitude.

"Ugh, I hate that imp." Cruella cursed through a smile.

….

Emma's home at night

"What was today's subject in school, munchkin?" Emma asked while rubbing the boy's back with a sponge.

"What we wanna be when we grow up?" the toddler answered splashing some water out of the bath-tub with his feet.

"Oh and what did you say?" the blonde asked curiously, "Oh, oh, no wait… let me guess… You want to be a…"

"I wanna be a ninja turtle!" Henry exclaimed happily, showing his mother the ninja turtle that he was holding in his hand.

"Hah, right, why am I not surprised by that." the blonde said through a chuckle.

"What you wanted to be, momma?" Henry asked catching Emma totally off guard.

"I…" Emma struggled. The only thing she wanted to be when she was a child was to be older, to be a grown up, so she could make her own decisions about her life. But that was definitely not an answer for a five years old. But Emma didn't want to lie to her son either. "I… I don't remember, munchkin. Your mom is kind of too old to remember that stuff." she said forcing a smile at her son who was looking at her with a serious face.

"Are you sad, momma?", the toddler asked in a whisper, like he was afraid that the answer to his question will be "yes".

"No, munchkin! Emma denied immediately poking his tummy to make him laugh and to dissipate the almost invisible line of concern covering his little temple, "How can I be sad when I am with my favorite person in the world!"

"I am your favorite person, really?" Henry shouted and a big smile crossed his face showing all his teeth, "You are my favorite person in the world too, momma!"

"Really!" Emma beamed with joy and the toddler only nodded excitedly, "Well, in that case we can never be sad when we are with each other, munchkin."

"Look, momma, my fingers are all covered in little waves…" the boy pushed his whole hand into his mother's face to show her.

"Yep, your fingers are all wrinkled, Henry." the blonde said sweetly, getting a towel, "It's time to get you out of the tub."

"My ninja turtles, momma… my ninja turtles!" Henry started to gather all of his toys ignoring his mother and the tower that she was holding for him.

"God, sometimes I have a feeling you love them more than me." Emma murmured to herself.

"Love you, momma!" the little boy said looking at the blonde with a big smile.

"I love you too, munchkin."

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