Emma and Regina take baby steps towards repairing their friendship.
"Seriously, kid, you're going to be the death of me."
"Stop worrying so much, Ma."
Henry grinned around a mouthful of ice cream, already bouncing his knee with an oncoming sugar rush. He and Emma sat in their usual place in the playground, though with Henry's recent growth spurt they were crammed in side-by-side with a lot less space than before. Emma continued eying their surroundings warily, half expecting Regina to appear out of nowhere and rip her a new one for 'reinforcing bad behavior.' Henry bombed his latest quiz after failing to go over last night's homework and now she was buying him ice cream. She could already hear the venom in Regina's voice.
"How goes the reconnaissance on the big bad wolf?" Henry's question pulled her out of her stewing thoughts and had her refocus her gaze on him.
"Well," Emma sighed. "It looks like he's staying with Hook right now, since Granny won't let him stay at the BnB. As for his supposed partner in crime, he hasn't been meeting with anyone in particular."
"He's staying with Hook?" Henry's eyebrows lifted. Emma shrugged.
"On his ship, yeah. Apparently they knew each other from before."
"Huh." Henry turned his attention back to his ice cream a little too forcefully. Emma knew that look on his face- it was the same look he often got whenever she and Hook went through a 'phase' in their relationship, or whenever Regina made scathing remarks about Emma's pirate boyfriend.
"What?"
"Nothin'."
"It ain't nothing, kid. Fess up."
Henry fidgeted, mashing his ice cream into the cup until it looked like soft serve. "Just interesting, that Hook was friends with the big bad wolf."
Emma quirked a brow.
"Okay, not interesting. Not very surprising, actually."
"Alright," said Emma, huffing and readjusting her elbows onto her knees. "What's going on? You've been weird lately whenever Hook comes up in conversation."
Henry looked like he wanted to deny it but no argument came to mind. He just shrugged his lanky shoulders and shoved another melting spoonful of ice cream into his mouth.
"Henry." When he glanced up at her, she continued, "You know you can talk to me about anything."
"I know, Ma."
"Okay."
"Mm hm."
His lips pursed. Emma gave him a pointed look.
"Okay," he huffed. "I'm just not sure you and Hook are good together anymore. You keep breaking up and getting back together. Over and over and over and-"
"Henry."
"It just doesn't seem like True Love to me. What if being with him stops you from finding your real True Love? I don't want him getting in the way of your happiness."
Emma just smiled and shook her head slightly. Leave it to Henry to be so sweet and thoughtful. Regina raised him right, that was for sure.
"I appreciate it, Henry. You don't need to worry though, we're… done."
"Really?" He looked skeptical.
"Really."
Her and Hook's last argument ended with Emma storming away and shouting at him to bugger off and not come back until he realized he was the one being an ass. That had been more than two weeks ago, and he'd yet to apologize. At first she'd been annoyed. They'd avoided each other like the plague, averting eye contact and awkwardly turning to walk in different directions when they passed on the street. Eventually they had to speak but it was always work related, and they even became pretty amicable at that. Neither had broached the subject of their split in the first place, however, and strangely, Emma was starting to be okay with that.
"Awesome!" Henry said with glee. Then, sheepishly, "I mean- I'm sorry to hear. But now you can get back to your search for your True Love."
"Sure, kid." Emma allowed herself a good laugh, wondering if this was indeed her turning the page on Chapter Hook. The thought wasn't unappealing. After all, how many times can you break up and get back together? How many times is too many?
"What should we call this one?"
"Call what?"
"The mission to find your True Love!"
"You can stop saying True Love, for one. Um, how about… Operation…"
Her gaze went down as a bright red orb rolled across the playground and landed under her dangling feet.
"... Apple?"
"Operation Apple?" Henry wrinkled his nose.
"Are you feeding my son ice cream before dinner?"
Ah hell.
"Hi mom," Henry greeted, flashing her his sweetest smile. Regina skirted the jungle gym and stopped directly in front of them, one foot planted next to the apple, her arms crossed under her chest and a scathing look directed at Emma. To Henry, she spared a softened smile. Then back to glaring at Emma.
"Snow told me that Henry failed his quiz today."
Traitor! Emma thought, groaning inwardly. She and Henry both slunk down in shame, their shoulders hunched and their heads down. Regina clicked her tongue disapprovingly, but the shared mannerisms between blonde mother and son were amusing enough to dissipate her anger. It was kind of cute, actually, though she would never admit it.
"Come on, Henry. I'm preparing dinner, and you need to catch up on your missed assignment."
Henry hopped off the short platform, allowing his mother to rest an arm around his shoulders as they trudged for the car. Emma picked the apple up off the ground and followed, polishing the perfectly shaped fruit against her jacket.
She'd hopped into her yellow bug and followed after Regina's Mercedes at a polite distance, pulling up by the sidewalk on Mifflin Street at the end of Regina's driveway and leaving the apple on her passenger seat for later. The former mayor looked annoyed as Emma trotted up the driveway after them, her eyes narrowing as if considering body-blocking Emma from her front door and thinking better of it.
"I don't remember inviting you for dinner, Miss Swan," she sneered.
"You didn't, but I figured we should discuss Grayson."
Regina rolled her eyes and headed inside, knowing the blonde would follow regardless. Henry had already disappeared up the staircase to his room so she headed for the kitchen where a half-prepared lasagna was waiting for her. Slipping on her pristine white apron, she went about preparing the rest of dinner, upping the recipe so that there would be enough for Emma. The woman had the appetite and stomach capacity of a teenage boy.
Emma, meanwhile, perched herself on a bar stool at the other end of the kitchen island, her elbows on the marble and her chin on her hands. Her green eyes followed the brunette as she worked, appreciating the shapely curves of Regina's slender shoulders, narrow waist, and hourglass hips. She almost voiced her wondering thought of "Do you work out?" before wisely snapping her mouth shut. She'd sworn to herself that she'd appreciate Regina's beauty in silence ever since the first day she'd laid eyes on the brunette. There was never really a time that Regina didn't have some sort of grudge or issue with her (and when they were actually friends, Regina was with Robin Hood) so it wasn't like there was ever a good time to admit that she found her attractive. Besides, Regina was more likely to set her on fire than accept it as a compliment.
"Are you going to tell me about Grayson or are you going to sit there uselessly and stare at me all evening?"
Emma shook her head and sat up straighter with a sigh, deciding it was a good thing the woman couldn't read minds. "Thing is, I haven't got anything. He's staying with Hook only because they were friends from before, and aside from having some sort of relationship-gone-sour with Ruby, he hasn't really been interacting with anyone in particular."
Regina turned around to cross her arms and give Emma a pointed stare. "That's all you came to tell me? You could have said so on my porch and been gone by now."
"I was kind of hoping you'd have some ideas," Emma mumbled.
"Must I also do your job for you, Sheriff?"
Emma nearly pouted as Regina put the lasagna in the oven and went to retrieve a bottle of red wine and a crystal glass.
"Speak with Hook then. Surely your pirate boyfriend would be happy to indulge you."
"I doubt it. He's not really talking to me right now."
Regina paused mid-pour and arched a brow at Emma. "Trouble in paradise?" came her mocking question as she topped up her glass and took a sip.
"I broke up with him. Permanently."
"Of course," Regina replied, clearly not believing her.
"Really," Emma insisted. "That's what Henry and I were talking about earlier, actually."
"Operation Apple?"
"Well- that's not really the name of it- but yeah. He said that he didn't want Hook to get in the way of me finding my real True Love."
"He would say that, wouldn't he." The brunette turned away to supposedly glance at something outside the kitchen window, but Emma caught the twitch of a smile on her lips. Regina always softened up when it came to Henry. The kid was lucky to have a mother who loved him so dearly.
"And he's right," Emma continued. "True Love is supposed to be- I dunno- strong, right? We've broken up and gotten back together so many times, it just doesn't seem like we're really going anywhere. What kind of a future is that? Besides, it would be nice to be with someone who really gets me. He doesn't understand what I went through, what I still go through. To be fair, neither do my parents. Heck, I think you're one of the only people who does understand me. You know what I'm talking about, right?"
Emma had said it so casually mid-rant that her words didn't fully register to Regina right away. She made a sound of agreement but her expression was distracted, as if lost in thought. Then, to Emma's surprise, Regina retrieved a second crystal glass from the cabinet.
"Wine?" the brunette offered, just as casually.
"Sure. Why not?"
Regina chuckled quietly, having said that very same phrase when Emma offered to do shots with her only a month ago, and slid the second glass of red across the counter to the blonde.
By the time Emma had left, Henry was tucked into bed and Regina was curled up in the armchair of her study, sipping her third glass of wine while a warm flame crackled in the fireplace. Dinner had been surprisingly pleasant; Henry shared school gossip while the women discussed Grayson's arrival with bickering kept at a minimum. They had moved to the parlour to chat a while longer over their second glasses of wine, sharing stories about Henry from the few weeks they hadn't talked to each other, until Emma finally called it a night and bid the brunette a soft-spoken "Goodnight, Regina."
The house was quiet now, save for the comforting crackle of the fire. Regina swirled her glass, sinking back into the plush cushions with a relaxed exhale. I'll go to bed after I finish this, she thought to herself, lifting her glass to her lips for another sip when her phone buzzed on the end table with a text message alert. She anticipated a message from Henry asking her to bring him a glass of water or something, but was surprised to find a text from Emma instead.
[Thanks again for dinner. I'll investigate Grayson and Hook tomorrow, bright and early.]
Regina felt herself smirking as she typed her reply.
[Glad to hear you're doing your job, Sheriff. Goodnight.]
She finished off her wine with a flourish, set the glass in the sink, then quietly headed upstairs to get some sleep. She'd just slipped into her silk pajamas when her phone buzzed again. Another text message from the blonde.
[I'm sorry.]
Regina sat on the edge of her bed, blinking at the message when another one came in.
[I know I've said it a hundred times and I know it doesn't fix anything, but I'm still sorry. I meant it when I said I would bring back the happy endings. Including yours.]
The brunette sighed, closing her eyes momentarily. She'd been so distracted all evening that she hadn't even thought of Robin. Tired, she focused on typing her reply, sent it, then slipped into bed and turned off the lights.
Emma sat on her bed with her legs stretched out beneath the blankets, bouncing her foot back and forth while she waited for a response. She'd stripped down to her bra and some boxing shorts the moment she got into her bedroom, though she sat upright against the headboards to stop herself from falling asleep. She was tired, but she couldn't sleep yet. She needed a reply. Their evening had been so pleasant that she was almost desperate for some acceptance from Regina again. Her words from earlier had been entirely true; Regina was the only friend who really knew her, really understood her, and not being friends was driving her crazy.
She was starting to chew on her nails with worry when her phone finally buzzed with an alert. Sliding down and snuggling into her pillow and blankets, Emma held her breath and opened up the text message from Regina. A smile slowly spread across her lips.
[Go to sleep, Emma.]