8 PM, Emma arrived at Regina's place.
It was early enough to see Henry, yet late enough for him to go to bed some time soon.

"Emma!" an out of breath little boy yelled when he opened the front door.

"Henry, don't run in the house!" she heard Regina yell from the other side of the house.

Emma noticed by the sound of her voice, this wasn't the first time she had told him.
"Hi kid, I came to see your mom"

"I know! But we're gonna play a game as well right?"

Maybe no hide and seek this time.
"Sure we are. You grab a board game and we'll sit down later ok?"

Emma walked into the house, which seemed a lot more familiar to her then it was 2 days ago.

"Hi" she greeted the woman of her recent dreams "hope I'm not too late?"
She obviously wasn't, she just really didn't know what the plan was for this evening.
Was she receiving the surprise and leave? Was she staying until Henry went to bed? Were they gonna sit down and talk when he did?

"Of course not" Regina snapped Emma out of her dream state "wine?" she asked with a smile holding up a bottle of Merlot.

Guess this is more then just picking up a gift.
"I would love to" she answered while trying to hold her joyfulness within it's proper limits.

At that moment Henry came rushing down the stairs, holding 2 board-games.
"Monopoly or Scrabble?"

Regina looked questionable towards Emma.

"He wanted to play a game if that's ok with you?" the blonde explained.

"Of course" Regina answered "but since you two are obviously making plans behind my back, I can choose the game this time. Scrabble it is!"

A relieved smile escaped the blonde. For a moment she thought Regina didn't approve of her agreement to a game.

The three of them sat down at the table. Regina and Emma sat across from each other, their son on the side.
They kept the game plain and simple. There was a 10 year old playing along after all.
Short words appeared on the board, and the kid obviously taking the lead for the past 30 minutes.

apple,the boy put down.

"You're giving your mom an open door here kid." Emma mused.

"Oh the things I can do with apples." Regina said with a dreamy voice.
"You're going to lose with this one Henry!" Right away she attached the word sauces.

"Don't tell me you have been keeping sauces in the hopes of getting apple?" Emma asked suspicious.

"It might have worked with cherry as well" Regina laughed.

closet Emma finally put down.
"The things one can do with closets." Emma imitated Regina's earlier words, afraid to look into the woman's eyes.
When heard a chuckle coming across from her, she was unable to withhold her own grin.
Score one for Emma!

"What's so funny about closet?" their son asked.

Emma almost choked on her wine.
"Because of the hide and seek game we played yesterday" she quickly told him.

Henry raised his shoulders. "I don't get it. It's not that funny"

At some point Regina put down case.

"What's a closetcase?" Henry asked.

Both his mothers started to laugh.
"I don't thinks that's supposed to be one word Regina"

She quickly removed the stones again.
"I kind of had that feeling already."

Henry looked at them in complete horror. "Grown ups are so weird"

He put down his final word, and started to tidy up before they had the chance to actually read it. "I win!"
He took the box upstairs, and yelled back down "I don't need a bedtime story today. You are both acting weird."

Emma and Regina looked at each other and burst out laughing.
"That poor kid!" Emma said with tears in her eyes.

"That's gonna give him another 5 years on the couch" Regina laughed "Better ask Dr Hopper for a discount"

When Henry was ready for bed, both women wished him a good night and made their way back downstairs into the living room.

"Sit down, make yourself comfortable. I will get what you came for" Regina said as she walked towards a drawer in the hallway.
"Here" the handed Emma a few old photos from Henry. "You can have them. I have so many, and these were doubles."

Emma held on to the photos as if they were the most precious things in the world.
"Thank you" she said while looking straight into Regina's eyes "Oh my god, thank you"
She went through them ever so slowly, while Regina told her the stories behind them.
"I wrote some information on the back as well. You know, dates and locations."

"He looks so very happy on every photo" Emma noticed. "He is one lucky kid to have you in his life"

Regina looked at her in confusion. "You can not be serious?"

"I am. You must be the most perfect mother in the world. Ok maybe if you leave out the whole evil queen part.

But for Henry, you must have been...be perfect" she corrected herself.

The dark haired woman stared at the photos. "I tried my best. But I can not help feeling like a failure."
She took a sip from her wine, trying to drink in some courage.
"It hurt me so much the day he left me to find you. I was hoping that if he'd succeed, he would be disappointed. I was hoping you would be a huge failure. A terrible woman with no heart for the kid." she stared unto an empty spot on the couch.
"But you were not" she said while meeting Emma's eyes again. "He loves you, more then he loves me. And it kills me. But I can't blame him for feeling the way he does. I did some horrible things to this town, to his family. And then you come into his live, turning everything right. Exposing me. Of course he loves you more. He looks up to you."

Emma could only stare at the woman in front of her.
She knew it was the truth. Regina did do all those things, but she forgot one very important fact. "I am the one who abandoned him Regina. Don't you ever forget that. He might love me, but there will always be a part of him blaming me that."

She reached for Regina's hand. "Please believe me when I say Henry loves you. And he may look up to me now. But just wait until he's a teenager. I bet he won't be favoring the the good parent then" she tried to lighten up the conversation a bit, which failed immensely.

Regina took away her hand to wipe away her tears.
"Why are you being so nice to me?" It almost sounded like an insult.

Because I'm crazy about you.
"Because you deserve to know the truth" Emma finally said. Which wasn't a complete lie of course.
"I want you to be a part of Henry's life, to stay a part of his life. I grew up without parents, and he has the chance to grow up with two. I can't make that happen without you."

Regina turned away her face, tears rolling down her cheeks.
"I'm sorry, I think I really want you to leave now"

"Why?" Emma was confused at the sudden turn this conversation and evening had been taken.

"Because I can not think straight at the moment. Actually, I don't know what to think anymore. I want to believe you, but I can't. Because it's just not true. My son hates me." she took a deep breath, trying to calm herself.
"You know what, I am probably just tired and had too much to drink. I really just need to get some rest."

"Are you sure?" Emma tried to touch Regina's shoulder, but the queen turned away.

"Yes. Please go. Please...Emma."

Emma got up from the couch, considering to say something soothing again. But decided against it.
"If you need to talk, please call me. Whatever the time."

She only received a nod from the woman who usually always had something witty to say.
And with much inner struggle, Emma finally made it to the front-door. She took a deep breath and told herself it was really best to leave.

When Regina heard the door close, and was sure Emma had left, she broke down completely.
The truth was, she didn't want to be alone at all. She needed Emma, she needed a shoulder to cry on. But it was too soon.
She was still rather insecure about her early friendship with the sheriff, and didn't want to show this side of her just yet.

She lay down on the couch, holding a pillow in her arms. It was the closest thing to a hug she could get right now.
And without caring about her whereabouts, she drifted of to sleep.


Sorry, I couldn't resist throwing in some drama. ;-)