CHAPTER 11

Emma helped Regina upstairs later that night. They stopped by Henry's room to say goodnight. Regina gave him a hug and kiss as she tucked Henry into his bed. She told him not to stay up too late. Then she left the two of them alone as she went to get ready for bed herself.

Emma turned to Henry. "How's it going kid?" She lowered herself onto the bed beside him.

Henry shrugged. "It's weird. It's like riding a bike after you haven't for a long time. My body remembers the way things were better than my mind does. And when I do something differently here than I did with you and Grandma and Grandpa, I always stop for a minute and think how weird this is now."

Emma's eyebrows rose to her hairline. "Is it weird in a bad way or a good way?"

Again, Henry just shrugged. "It's just weird. Different. Familiar but not." Henry yawned and scooted down further in his bed. "It's been so long. I should've come home before," he glanced at Emma sheepishly.

Emma held up her hand. "When we know better, we do better. And now we both know better. And we've already started to do better." She bit her lip as she contemplated. They'd already had this conversation countless times. Henry had been a big part of the decision to go through with this. "Do you still think it was a good idea?"

Henry immediately nodded. "Of course. We had to. Mom was just going to take off and leave us. We had to do something." He looked closer at Emma, "You're not regretting it are you?"

"Nope," Emma smiled. "Tonight was the night I'd pictured for us for a long time."

Henry nodded, grinning enthusiastically, "Yeah. I guess it takes being away from home to realize how much you miss it. I didn't want to admit it at first. But now," he looked around the room and took in everything he'd left behind previously. "This is home."

"I think so too kid," Emma ruffled his hair. "Now, get to bed," she playfully shoved him. Then leaned down and planted a big wet sloppy kiss on him.

"Eww get away Ma!" Henry yelled trying to push and scoot away from her at the same time.

Emma laughed as she closed the door behind her.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Emma walked into the room and gasped. Regina was changing right in front of her. She quickly turned her back on her to give her some privacy.

Regina chuckled at Emma's reaction. "It's nothing you haven't seen before dear."

Emma turned slowly with a nervous smile on her face. She tried to keep her eyes focused on Regina's large chocolate orbs. She licked her lips nervously and shrugged. She made her way into the room and nervously sat on the bed willing the flush on her cheeks to go away.

Regina thankfully finished putting on her nightgown. She leaned over and gave Emma a kiss. "You'd think we've never seen one another naked before dear," Regina's throaty laugh filled the air as she headed into the bathroom to finish up getting ready for bed in there.

Emma hurriedly jumped from the bed and went digging in her bag for her pajamas. She wanted to make sure she was dressed before Regina came out of the bathroom. She practically dived into her tank top and boxer shorts. She held her clothing in her hand as she looked around for the hamper.

She was feeling all kindsa mixed up inside. She and Regina weren't really a couple. The only time they'd been intimate was the night of the conception. And before Regina woke up in the hospital, they'd never even kissed before.

The kissing she could handle. Her body seemed to melt right into Regina's as if it was made to be there. Their lips just seemed to fuse together and neither noticed the lack of air until their lungs were about to burst.

But this… she wasn't so sure about. After the way their baby had been conceived, she wouldn't and couldn't do that to Regina ever again.

She understood the hypocrisy in her thinking. But it hadn't really hit home to her that Regina would think they were already in a relationship until now. She'd just needed a cover story to explain the pregnancy and the fact that the baby was hers.

Now she was actually standing on the precipice of this spell. She knew she had to go all in. It was the only way. She needed to avoid rousing Regina's suspicion as much as possible. Still, that didn't mean it wasn't nerve wracking.

Regina came out of the bathroom and headed for the bed. "It's all yours love."

Emma grinned. Regina had never called her that before. It made her insides get all warm and squiffy. She dug around for her toothbrush and went into the bathroom.

She went through her nightly routine. She tried dragging it out as long as she could but it seemed to go way too fast. She stood at the door with her hand on the knob trying to come up with different excuses she could use for having to go downstairs. She dropped her head onto the door. It was now or never.

When she entered the bedroom, Regina was already lying down. She seemed to be doing nothing more than staring at the ceiling. "Are you coming to bed or are you going to stand there gaping all night?"

Emma snapped out of it. "Sorry," she mumbled as she climbed into the side of the bed that wasn't occupied. She turned out her bedside lamp and scooted deep under the covers. She closed her eyes and feigned sleep.

"What's with you tonight? You've been acting a little weird since you got back from picking up your stuff at your parents. Did they give you a hard time or something?"

"Living with the 'Evil Queen'," Regina air quoted. Then she gasped and grabbed at her heart.

Emma chuckled despite taking in that Regina thought she was still living with her parents. It had been a couple of months since she and Henry had moved into the inn.

She knew Regina had a wicked sense of humor. It was one of the reasons she'd fallen for her. Sometimes she'd go over the fights they'd had together and end up laughing about them later on. "No. They know this is forever. And I make my own decisions. Not them."

The bed shifted as Regina put out her light. Then Emma felt an arm thrown around her waist. Regina lifted her arm then laid her head upon her chest. She dropped her arm back around her as Regina cuddled closer.

"Have I ever told you about when I fell in love with you?"

"Hmm," Emma hoped her response was noncommittal.

Regina took a lock of Emma's hair and twirled it around her finger. "It was right after I inhaled the curse from the well. Henry told you that I saved you. And I stood there holding myself as the pain ran through my body. Then you were beside me, holding me up. You took me home and took care of me until I got better. I knew then, that I was falling for you," Regina yawned and snuggled closer.

Emma could do nothing but try and keep her mouth from dropping open. She'd had no idea that Regina had gotten sick from that. She thought back over that day. She vaguely remembered Henry telling her that Regina had saved her and her Mom. But she'd only had eyes for him. She'd grabbed him to her and took off downtown never looking back. She was so happy to be back in the first place she really thought of as home with her son beneath her arm.

Now she lay in the bed and closed her eyes tight as wave after wave of shame washed over her. She couldn't believe she'd done so many messed up things.

If anything tonight had been the biggest affirmation of what all she had cheated herself out of from her own blindness. They could've had this before if only she'd found some different way to go about things.

She heard Regina's breathing even out and knew she was asleep. But she lay wide awake, staring into the darkness for many hours beyond that.