Chapter 3:
Emma turns her key in the lock of their apartment door. Henry practically pushes by Mary Margaret and runs to his room. He had gone two days without his video games and now was his chance to make up for lost time. Emma knew he should be going to bed soon, but she figured that it wouldn't hurt to let him have his fun.
"Looks like he's feeling better." Emma comments. Mary Margaret hums in agreement but her mind is somewhere else entirely.
"That doctor was kind of cute don't you think?" Mary Margaret timidly asks. Emma closes the door behind the pair of them.
"Yeah, I guess she was." The blonde answers nonchalantly as she takes off her jacket.
"She?" Mary Margaret breaks out of her trance. She looks at Emma for a moment and realizes that they're talking about two different doctors. "Oh. I meant the male doctor who helped us when we first got there."
"Male doctor? I don't remember seeing one."
"He was the one who brought us the results and updated Henry's charts every hour." She looked expectantly at the blonde. "The cute one with the dreamy blue eyes and dirty blonde hair."
"Uh... I guess I was just too focused on Henry."
"And yet you still noticed that Dr. Mills was attractive."
Emma looks away. She puts her jacket on the hook and wraps her scarf around it. "She was the only one who really spoke with me."
"Mhm I'm sure that's it." Mary Margaret's sarcasm takes Emma by surprise.
She turns around abruptly and almost grunts, "What's that supposed to mean?"
"I'm sure her exposed cleavage had nothing to do with it."
Emma just gapes at her friend. She tries to get words out but she can't seem to form a sentence. Before the blonde can string together a few words the door of her apartment bursts open. In walks their other best friend.
"Close your mouth or you're gonna catch flies." The taller woman lifts Emma's jaw stopping it from flapping around as it was before.
"Hi Ruby." Mary Margaret greets their guest.
"What brings you here?" Emma questions as Ruby makes herself at home.
"I heard you come home and I thought why not go visit them." Ruby's apartment was the one across from them. She lived there with her fiancé Billy. The three of them had become quick friends when they'd moved in and now Ruby spent most of her time in their apartment anyway. "Now the more important question. Emma, what's up with your face? Why do you look completely smitten?"
Emma is momentarily taken off guard. Her answer is a little too forced to sound natural, "I'm not smitten." Her reddening cheeks give her away.
Mary Margaret giggles as she takes a seat beside Ruby. "There was a cute doctor at the hospital."
"Huh? Cute doctor," this peaks Ruby's interested, "tell me everything."
Mary Margaret nods enthusiastically and tells Ruby all about Dr. Mills. She mentions how she and Emma wouldn't stop staring into each other's souls. And how the buttons on her shirt seemed to magically be more undone every time she reentered the room. She also didn't fail to mention her interest in Dr. Nolan.
"Oh my goodness! You two could double date! How cute would that be?" Ruby was getting giddy with excitement about this potential future.
Mary Margaret's voice had reached peak excitement levels, she practically squealed "And then all three of us could triple date!"
"Would you too cut it out," Emma was so not having it. The two other women pouted at her, "Henry should be getting rest, and we can't have you two waking him up."
"You're just sour because you've been single for a while," Ruby snaps back, then she gets up and walks towards Emma. She places her hand on Emma's shoulder, "it wouldn't hurt to take a look at the market"
"Rubes you know I can't do that. I have a son, I don't have time or need for a relationship. Besides I don't even know if she's gay."
Mary Margaret fixes Emma with a sarcastic look, "Did you even look at her? She was practically undressing you with her eyes every time she walked in the room." Emma shrugs off the comment and Ruby just laughs at Mary Margaret's bluntness.
"And Emma you know someday Henry will move out and you won't be able to use him as an excuse anymore." Ruby punctuated her sentence with the opening and scavenging through Emma's fridge.
"I think I've got a few more years, and I'm going to milk every second of it."
"Speaking of which, you're out of milk." Ruby responds as she places the now empty milk carton on the counter.
Both roommates sigh. But Emma is glad for the change in conversation. However her mind is still focused on Regina. She can't seem to grasp why this women is still on her mind. Ruby and Mary Margaret are talking avidly about something or other. She overhears the word party and invite but doesn't pay any mind to them. Her mind just keeps wandering to those brown eyes that were just captivating. Emma couldn't pinpoint what is was that drew her to the doctor, all she knew was that Regina was all she could think about.
She's broken from her trance by Ruby who asks her, "You'll still come right?" Emma stares back at her blankly. "Were you paying any attention to what I just said?"
"Yeah of course, there's a party with invites..." Both Mary Margaret and Ruby shake their heads at Emma.
"What I was saying was that my engagement party is being planned and you're both obviously invited, but so are Neal and Whale."
"Wait, what?! Why?"
"Neal and Whale are Billy's friends and I had a lot more people on the guest list so I felt bad saying no to two of his invites," the two women in front of her look unimpressed. They both know how strong willed Ruby is, and perhaps it's kind of cute how she cares about Billy enough to not push him around all the time. "Besides the party's in two months, you've got plenty of time to woo those doctors of yours." Ruby laughs tentatively and Emma laughs along with her, forcing Mary Margaret to also join in.
"Well I believe I'm one step ahead of you Emma. I've already got his number." Mary Margaret is waving around a small piece of paper that does in fact, after being double checked by Emma, have a phone number written on it. Mary Margaret doesn't hide her prideful smile, "I also won't be able to babysit Henry on Friday, I know you have a shift I'm sorry"
"No you're not," Ruby replies, "You're going to be out on a hot date!" She gushes and then to Emma she says, "Don't worry Billy and I can take care of Henry."
"Thanks Rubes." Emma looks over at her friends talking excitedly again. She notices the time and says, "Speaking of Henry, I should probably go tuck him in." The two women barely look up as Emma exits the room.
She walks over to Henry's room and taps on his door. She can hear the sound of the computer game he's playing. It's the one she got him for Christmas to teach him how to type.
"Do you know what time it is kid?" Emma asks as she opens his door.
"I know mom, I just wanted to finish this round. I'm almost done." Henry is probably one of the most cooperative kids and Emma has no idea how she got so lucky with him. He finished up his game, runs off to the washroom to brush his teeth, and then returns to his room, taking a seat on his bed. Emma smiles down at her adorable son.
"I guess you're feeling all better then, huh?"
Henry nods enthusiastically with a big smile on his face. He looks up at his mother to see if he's passed her test of health. Emma ruffles his hair and gives him a kiss on the cheek. Before going to tuck him in she offhandedly asks, "Hey kid, what'd you think about that doctor you had?"
"Which one? The one who's going to be Mary Margaret's future boyfriend? Or the one who's going to be your future girlfriend?" Henry giggles at his one comment. He feels so grown up talking about adult relationships.
Emma is not as impressed. She pulls out her best interrogation face and asks, "Who told you that?"
Henry knows there's no point in lying to his mother, her lie detector gets him every time. "I can hear Ruby from here," He smiles up at his mom who accepts his answer, "so it's true then? You and Dr. Mills are going to date?"
"What! No no no... Look kid Ruby was just joking around." Emma tried to be as casual as possible but her son knows her to well.
"You want to though don't you? She was really pretty and nice to me, I like her."
"How old are you again?" Emma is once again baffled by how grown up her son is.
"Old enough to help you come up with the perfect operation to ask out Dr. Mills." Henry was starting to get excited about the potential ahead of him. His mind was spinning, thinking of possible scenarios, the necessary materials, and possible drawbacks of each idea.
Emma could see the concentration on Henry's face and she couldn't help but smile at how adorable he was.
"I got it!" Henry decreed as he stood up on top of his bed, "People go back to the hospital for follow ups and stuff is they get sick again right?"
He awaits for his mother's answer. She nods with a murmured yeah sure.
"So how about I go back for my fever?"
Emma gets worried immediately, "You have a fever," she rushes over to put her hand on her son's forehead. Her eyebrows bunch together when she realizes that Henry doesn't feel any warmer than normal.
Henry pushes away Emma's hand and scoffs at his mother, "I don't really have a fever. That's just what we're going to tell the hospital so they let us in and you can see Dr. Mills again and then you can ask her out and you can date."
Emma laughs at her son's rather genius plan. "Now don't get ahead of yourself kid. She might not even say yes."
"Don't be silly mom, she'll say yes."
"Okay mister confidence, you should get some sleep to prepare for the acting you'll be doing tomorrow." Emma pulls up Henry's covers as he lies down.
"So we're doing it!" Henry is squirming with excitement.
"Sure kid, we can call operation mom date." Emma heads over to turn off Henry's light.
"No mom, it needs a cool name ... Like operation wombat!"
"Okay kid, you can call it whatever you want," she smiles to herself. How her son got to be such a creative kid was beyond her. She reaches up and turns off Henry's light, "Goodnight Henry."
"Goodnight mom."