Finally another chapter!
Enjoy :)


While both women expected dinner to be awkward as hell, in the end it was nothing of that sort. Henry made himself the running motor behind every conversation. And although it often seemed more like an interview than small-talk, both women were happy he kept the conversation going.

With a loud and fulfilled moan, Emma finished her last bite and put down her cutlery.
"This was by far the best meal I've had in ages. You are a wonderful cook Regina."

"Thank you" she answered the blonde shyly "I'm glad you enjoyed it."
There was no need to confess to her she had to start twice all over again, because she burned the food and dropped a pan.

While Henry shoved the last few bites into his mouth, he asked "Awwe gonneh pway a gme nw?"

Both women looked at him in disgust.
"Henry, do not talk with your mouth full" Regina stated the obvious.

The kid started chewing faster, swallowed his food, and downed the remains with a glass of water.
Before he finally, out of breath, asked again "Are we going to play a game now?"

"First dessert Henry." Regina reminded him. "After that we'll see."
She met her guest eyes, hoping to find some back-up for this horrible idea.
Unfortunately all she found was a look of...are those puppy eyes?!

Regina dragged herself away from those green eyes, finally meeting her son's again.
"You know what Henry," she finally said "you think of a game while I serve the ice cream."

As soon as Regina returned with 3 plates of freshly homemade apple flavored ice-cream, she fell in the middle of a discussion between her son and his birth mother.

"Henry please" she heard the blonde say "I used to be the queen of hide and seek! Back at the foster care, we were forced to hide when the wardens came by to give us horrible chores. One turns out a true champion at hiding when necessary."

"Mom, we are so much better than Emma right?" he gave his mother a wink like it was some sort of secret code they shared.
But there was no game code, only the same puppy eyes as she had witnessed earlier on the blonde.
That was probably the reason why I couldn't resist them earlier on Emma, she convinced herself.

"Out of all games, you two chose hide and seek? Can't we play chess, cards….a computer game even?" she was close to begging.

"You're not afraid of losing now are you madam mayor?"

The title Emma used wasn't lost on either of them. They both looked at each other for some time until Regina broke the silence.
"Don't be silly sheriff. This is my house, and I know every hidden corner and every secret room. So fine…" she threw down her napkin "you're on."


"3...2...1... Here I come!"
Emma started walking through the huge mansion, feeling lost already.
Me and my big mouth.

She searched the living room, looked into every kitchen cabinet, checked the downstairs bathroom, some fancy room with no apparent purpose, the dining room, hallway, closet...REGINA!

"Well that didn't take me too long!" Emma proudly stated.

"I was merely making it easier for you miss Swan. This house is, of course, foreign to you. And therefore you do need my help in finding Henry. The sooner you find him, the sooner we can move on with this silly game."
Regina wasn't planning of showing her defeat easily. And there was some truth to it, she did want this game to end.

"Fine," the blonde replied. "Let's find Henry together. I am completely lost in this house."

After they'd finally found their son in one of the rooms upstairs, Emma felt comfortable enough to wander and hide on the 1st floor herself.
The only problem was...Henry kept finding her within minutes. So she needed another technique.
There's no way he will look in the same spot twice!

When it was Henry's turn again, Emma ran into his room and jumped into the closet she hid in earlier.
She quickly closed the door behind her, only to discover something that shouldn't be there.
"What the...?" she squeaked.

"Oh hush miss Swan." she heard Regina whisper.

For a few second there was silence between them.
They both listened to Henry counting down, and they both really didn't know what to say.

"So..."Emma whispered eventually "you really have a thing for hiding in closets right?"

"Funny miss Swan, now be quite before he hears you." the queen ordered.

Regina didn't really know where to leave her hands, since Emma jumped into the closet without looking.
She held them uncomfortably between her stomach and Emma's. Keeping them both from falling.

"Don't move your hand!" Emma panicked.

"My nose is itching miss Swan. In case you haven't noticed, your hair is in my face."

Regina started to make funny faces to get the hair out of her eyes and nose.
It made Emma chuckle.

"Don't laugh!"

"Stop making those faces!" Emma laughed.
"Here, I'll scratch your nose for you."

She reach up to Regina's face, to help her get the hairs out of the way.
As soon as her hand touched her skin, they both froze. Emma felt her own heart beating like crazy.
What on earth is that all about? she wondered.

"Miss Swan?...Miss Swan?...EMMA!" Regina tried to yell as quite as possible.

Emma snapped out of it and continued her task.
"Oh god sorry!" she replied. "I thought I heard Henry coming in." It's a good thing I'm an excellent liar.

Suddenly the door swung open.

"HENRY!" they both yelled in surprise.

"Found you!"
"Now it's your turn mom." Pointing at Regina, who was still squashed in the corner of his closet.

"Oh no little man, it's way past your bed time. Play time's over for today."
Henry tried to give her the puppy-eyes look again, which would have worked on any other night. But Emma still wanted to talk to her about something, and she just wanted to get it over with.
"Off you go Henry."