A/N- Thank you so much for the kind reviews, hopefully you like this chapter too!
"Henry, have you seen my wallet?" Kathryn asked, the Swan- Mills women had just left for work, and the babysitter was on a frantic search. She realized her wallet was missing the night before when she got back to her apartment, and had failed to find it since.
The seven year old shrugged and continued his drawing, leaving Kathryn to begin her search of the house. No where was assumed safe a Henry had been known to start games of 'Treasure Hunt' without anyone else knowing. Kathryn one time found her keys in the freezer.
Kathryn was just searching through the guest bathroom, when something gave her pause. She was checking behind the curtains on the window sill when she smelled it- the distinct stink of cigarette smoke. Neither woman smoked- that she knew of. Yet as she pushed the window open and stuck her head out, she found an ashtray sitting just to the side on the roof. It was the cheap 99 cent kinds that littered hotel rooms around the country, and it was full of butts.
Right next to the window was a flower pot, and inside, Kathryn found a half empty pack of cigarettes. She was turning them over in her hands when Regina burst into the room.
"Kathryn I just came back because I forgot something." She said hurriedly.
"Doctor MIlls, I wasn't- they're not-" The blonde said, pointing the cigarettes she was still holding.
The Dean held up a hand, "Stop. I know they're not yours." She extended her palm for Kathryn to place the cigarettes in.
Kathryn did so, feeling like a child caught with her hand in the candy drawer.
Regina twirled the pack between her fingers in an easy practiced gesture, and it was instantly clear to the blonde who the cigarettes belonged to.
The Dean paused in the doorway, "I don't normally smoke. Emma hates it when I do, and I would never around Henry. It's just my stress release."
Regina rubbed her free hand against her temple. She was running late for her office hours, having come back to the house to get the pack she found Kathryn with. Now since she started talking, she couldn't stop.
"It's stupid and unhealthy, I know. It just sort of happened back in high school and it was never regularly, just when things get rough."
Regina hadn't made eye contact with the babysitter since she got her cigarettes back, but she didn't stop talking either, "Not that things are exactly rough now, it's just so stressful with Emma writing her new book, and the board has been asking questions. I just- " Regina cut herself off, catching a glimpse of her watch, "I've got to get to work, shit."
Without so much as waiting for a reply, Regina turned and left, dropping a quick kiss to Henry's head on her way out of the house.
"Ready for take off?"
"Ready!"
"Hang on tight!" Kathryn brought her legs up, extending them as long as they would go, while her arms did the same. Henry squealed in excitement, clutching tightly onto her hands so he wouldn't slip.
The babysitter had her feet positioned on the boy's torso while she herself laid on her back so she was holding Henry up as if he were flying like superman. It was one of Henry's favorite games, and Kathryn had been neglecting going to the campus gym lately so it worked out well for everyone involved.
Between Henry's high pitched peals of laughter, Kathryn heard the front door open and both women enter. Instead of the normal greeting that the would call when they arrived home, Kathryn could make out hushed arguing.
She was finally getting a glimpse into what was causing all the tension in the home. Henry was thankfully oblivious, just enjoying his 'flight'. The blonde set him down on the ground, and sent him up with instructions to get cleaned up for dinner while she herself grabbed her bag and braved the way into the battleground of the entry way.
Just as she was turning down the hall, Regina whipped past her, muttering a quick 'hello' before she continued on up the stairs.
Standing right inside the door was Emma with a hand pressed to her forehead.
"Long day?" Kathryn prompted.
"You have no idea." Emma gritted out.
"Mm." She hummed in sympathy.
"Did you ever hear about Professor Morgan?" Emma asked, surprising the babysitter.
She nodded in reply, "He was in the mathematics department, wasn't he?"
"Yeah. Was." Emma dropped her keys in the bowl on the sideboard, they clattered far too loudly in the small hallway, "You heard the rumor of why he was let go?"
Kathryn blushed, it had happened during her sophomore year, and everyone at the university had heard the rumor at some point or another.
"Yeah."
Emma nodded, scuffing her booted foot against the tile, "It's true." She said before following Regina's earlier tornado path. Kathryn let herself out, pulling the door shut behind her.
All the way on her drive home, Kathryn couldn't keep the exchange with Professor Swan out of her head, and especially not what it meant for the Swan- Mills family. The widespread rumor was that Professor Morgan was as gay as his perfectly coordinated ties and button ups indicated, and when he was released just before getting his tenure, there was intense speculation as to if it was because of his teaching abilities, or because of his alleged sexual preference. Emma's final tenure hearing was a week ago and the results were due in any day now.
Kathryn wasn't so innocent to think that tenure was a magic 'get out of jail free' card, but she hoped that once Emma was in the clear, she and Regina would be able to be open at school at least.
One week later Kathryn was rifling through the candy drawer of the Swan- Mill's home, convinced there had to be at least one Almond Joy hiding in a back corner somewhere. She had seen one just yesterday when she brought Henry back from school and she grabbed a treat for herself and the boy. There was definitely one in there, and she was going to find it if it was the last thing she did.
Giving up any semblance of dignity, Kathryn reached into the very back of the drawer, going in elbow deep until her fingers brushed the smooth wrapper she had been looking for. She pulled it out triumphant and unwrapped the candy. Kathryn grabbed her cell phone out of her back pocket to check the time- 11:56. She was expecting the women back around 11:45, but it wasn't a big deal. The couple wasn't often late (especially when they went to these dull department parties where they weren't able to act as a couple), but when they were, they always paid Kathryn extra.
Kathryn wasn't too surprised at the tardiness, and she half expected them to be late tonight as it was the congratulatory party for Emma for finally getting her tenure.
Now the babysitter was enjoying her well deserved treat and trying to calculate how many hours she would have to pick up at the Rabbit Hole to cover her share of rent that was due next week. For the past two years, Kathryn had lived in an apartment near campus with two of her girlfriends. The three of them had been best friends since freshman year and the living arrangement just made sense.
At the end of September Ashely was going to be moving out to go to med school in New York, and it would just be Kathryn and Melanie left, Kathryn was stressing about saving enough to manage the raise in her share of the rent.
Right as Kathryn was considering how much she could make if she became a nude model for the art department, she heard laughter on the front porch.
Instantly, she knew what kind of state the women were coming home in.
She heard the handle jiggle a little, followed by more laughter until finally one of them managed to get their key in the door and stumble into the entryway. The keys then missed the side board entirely and Kathryn heard them clatter to the floor which was followed by more laughter, and even a snort.
Kathryn had to muffle her own giggle at the sound, never in the two and a half years she had worked for the women, had Kathryn heard either of them snort.
Apparently it was a rare occurrence even when the babysitter wasn't around because it prompted a whole nother round of laughter before Kathryn heard Emma's slightly slurred response, "I can't believe you just snorted."
"I did not snort." Regina denied.
"Liar."
"So what if I am?" Kathryn didn't miss the way that Regina's voice seemed to be lower, and not just from the alcohol both women had clearly indulged in earlier in the evening.
"Then I might have to punish you."
Hoping to make a quick exit, Kathryn swallowed the rest of her Almond Joy, and prepared to sneak out the door. As she came out of the kitchen and into the hallway she walked in on a rare sight- Doctor Mills backed up against the wall, connected by the lips to Professor Swan. The blonde had her hips pressed flush against her wife's and Kathryn froze in her tracks.
It was like a trainwreck, she couldn't stop watching. After a second, when Doctor Mill's hands began to wander dangerously low, Kathryn cleared her throat, and to her relief, the two sprung apart like a couple of teenagers who had been caught by their parents.
Kathryn had to supress her laughter at the guilty expressions on both their faces. She noticed that they're both vaguely glassey eyed, though Regina was faring worse which was quite surprising. Then again maybe not as Emma was the designated driver (she always is). This should probably be concerning to Kathryn seeing as the blonde was clearly over the legal limit, but from listening to the women's banter, Kathryn knew the literature professor was quite adept at driving drunk.
What was more concerning was how high Regina's skirt was riding following the impromptu hallway makeout session.
"Kathryn." Regina said, attempting to sound commanding and in control like she normally was, but failing miserably as she slurred her next words, "I'm so happy to see you." The brunette was already looking through her purse for some extra cash for the babysitter which Kathryn tried to refuse- not that either women ever let her get away with that.
"I take it the party went well?"
"So well!" Emma laughed.
"We told everyone." Regina butted in with an eager smile, "About us, me and Emma, how we're married."
The dean's rambling would be absolutely adorable had it not been accompanied by Emma's hand disappearing behind Regina's back where Kathryn was sure it was up to no good.
"That's great!"
The babysitter was genuinely happy for the women, and they were still on a celebratory high themselves as Regina came up with some bills, pushing them into Kathryn's hands. When the babysitter glanced at it and saw that it was far more than Regina normally insisted on giving her when they were late, she tried to give it back, "Doctor Mills, this is too much, I can't take it."
"But you've been so good for Henry, and for us. You're just so good." Regina insisted, closing Kathryn's hand and smiling genuinely despite her intoxicated state.
"Thank you, but-"
"No more!" Emma declared, "Smile and get out of here. We'll see you in the morning."
Kathryn had no choice but to comply, smiling and locking up on her way out.
The next morning, when Kathryn showed up to get Henry ready for school both women were wearing sunglasses and Emma had a thick scarf wrapped around her neck. Regina was wearing her wedding ring that Kathryn had seen her don on occasion, but never before to the university. Though the house was slightly subdued (as it was any morning after Regina and Emma came home a bit tipsy) Kathryn could sense the shift that had occurred was for the better.
The women kept sharing these little smiles and each time their eyes locked, one of them would blush. When Regina left first for her morning office hours, she kissed Emma on the cheek and left with a with a bounce in her step.
As Kathryn double checked the kid's backpack she saw Emma still standing by the door watching her wife's car turn the corner. The blonde had this adorable lovestruck expression on her face that made her look about thirteen years old.
"I love her so much. I don't know what I'd do without her." Emma sighed.
Kathryn just smiled to herself while Emma gathered her final things for work.
A/N- Hope you all are enjoying it, thank you for the kind reviews, and keep those coming :). Stay tuned for the final installment where most of those great questions you've been asking will be answered.
And, at that guest who said 'I live for this story', I live for great reviews and readers like you!
Love, Ms. Informed