Emma was coming down the stairs, her hair still wet from her shower. Henry stood in the doorway to their living room that as of yet missed some sitting arrangement but Tom from the furniture store had promised to bring the couch and armchairs early the next day. Emma stepped behind her son and looked at what he was looking at.
"Do you like the new house?" she asked.
"Yeah, it's great," he answered and she could hear the smile in his voice.
She could understand him well, she too felt a kind of elation that they had their own space now. It scared her a little to settle down but not as much as the prospect of it had in the past. It was like a new adventure, one that didn't threaten with imminent death by poison. She found she liked it.
"Are you getting on with unpacking?" she asked.
The troop of movers had only left them about an hour ago, everybody had been in high spirits albeit tired from moving furniture and boxes around. And now Emma and Henry were alone in their new home.
"I don't have enough shelves for my books," he answered and Emma lay her arms around him.
"Why am I not surprised? Tell you what, we ask Marco to build some, okay?" Henry nodded. He didn't seem to mind his mother hugging him tightly and she held onto him, realizing now that he had grown quite a bit in Neverland and since.
"When is mom expecting me home?" he asked after a short while.
"She's not. She has agreed to let you stay tonight, our first night in our new home. You can go over tomorrow morning," she told him.
"Great," he enthused. "Is it too warm to light a fire tonight?"
"Never," she told him. "Can you do it?"
He nodded.
"Good. I'm going over to the diner and get us something to eat and then we can have a picnic in the living room. Sounds good?"
"Yeah, sounds great. Get loads of fries and... cherry pie with cream and... I want a hot dog, or maybe... two?"
"I just get one of all your favorites. Tonight we feast like royalty, my prince," Emma told Henry and he laughed. "Get to lighten the fire and try not to burn the house down, okay?"
"Yeah, right," he said with an eyeroll Regina would have been proud of.
Emma shook her head over herself. Lately, when she looked at Henry she sometimes caught a gesture that reminded her of his other mom. It was a little strange but at the same completely natural for Henry.
Emma slipped into her blue leather jacket and left the house after checking for her car keys.
When Emma re-entered her new home almost an hour later, she heard voices from the living room. She was walking there as she was saying:
"Henry, do we need to have a conversation about letting... strangers into the house?" she finished as she stood in the doorway and encountered her son and his other mother. "Regina," she said and found that it not only sounded surprised but also delighted to find the woman here in her living room.
"Emma," Regina answered and smiled up at her. She was sitting on a blanket that Emma suspected Henry had put there for their picnic. He had also already gotten some plates, silverware and drinks for two.
Henry was sitting next to Regina and he was looking into a basket with... things.
Emma lifted her eyebrows questioningly.
"I wanted to see how you were doing in your new home and bring... a house-warming gift," the dark-haired woman said pointing at the basket. She got up from her perch on the blanket and Emma stepped closer.
"That was... sweet of you," she said, stepping toward Regina and attempting a slightly awkward hug.
Regina answered it just as awkwardly and then they stood a little perplexed at what had transpired.
"I should probably... leave you to your... picnic," Regina then said and moved toward the door.
"Why don't you stay? We have plenty to eat," Emma heard herself say and looked from Regina to their son. "Would that be okay, Henry?"
"Sure, I mean, we're a family, right?"
Both women looked at their son, wondering if that might possibly be true. Were they a family? Well, not some standard parents, two-point-four kids, a cat and a dog family but in an it's-complicated-kinda-way they were just that.
"I'd love to stay," Regina surprised herself by saying and caught Emma's wide smile at her words.
"Great. Could you get another plate, Henry? And... a soda?" she asked Regina.
"Yes, that'll be good."
"Sure," Henry answered, leaving the living room for the kitchen.
"Please, sit. I'm sorry but the rest of our furniture will only be getting here tomorrow. I bought a couch," she added and felt stupid for it, especially when she remembered the one upstairs in her bedroom.
"That's okay. I've gotten used to not sitting on a throne since we all arrived in Storybrooke," Regina answered what was supposed to be a joke but fell flat.
They both felt self-conscious as they sat down. A thick quiet fell between them as they looked around the room and not at each other.
"I take it the move went well?" Regina finally said and Emma nodded.
"It went okay. We had a lot of help.. not that we couldn't have done with an additional pair of hands," Emma added looking meaningfully at Regina's who were folded in her lap.
"I'm sure there were a lot more capable hands around than mine. All available men in town were probably falling over each other to carry all your boxes into... the house," Regina said but seemed to trip over that last part as if she had wanted to say something else.
"It was just family and friends," Emma said and then remembered the food. She busied herself opening the big white bag holding it. "Do you like a burger... or hot dog... lasagna?" She asked as Henry came back into the room.
He settled down with his moms and they shared a rich dinner of all things yummy and mostly unhealthy from the diner.
Their conversation was light and amiable during dinner. Regina felt like she had stepped into something with her last remark and didn't even know why she'd said it. It was easier to keep a conversation going with Henry around, even though he was mostly too busy eating than adding to the conversation.
"Pie?" Emma asked popping the last of her fries into her mouth.
"Is it apple?" Regina asked suspiciously and Emma laughed.
"No, it's cherry. We can share my piece," she answered taking the last container from the bag and opening it.
"I shouldn't. I've already eaten more than I should at this hour," Regina said but her argument seemed weak. She was also eyeing the pie like it was a piece of... pie.
Emma pushed the container in her direction as if luring the other woman with it.
"You're a very bad woman, sheriff Swan," Regina growled in a low voice and Emma felt herself swallow at the sexy sound.
She looked over at Henry but he was actually eyeing the pie just like his dark-haired mother did.
"God, you two must be related," Emma exclaimed and they all had to laugh at that.
In the end, Emma did share her piece of cherry pie with Regina while Henry ate his. And afterwards they were all sitting around sluggishly in front of the toasty fire.
Emma pushed her legs out from under herself and lay onto her side, watching Henry put together the dishes and trash that inhabited the blanket. It was easier to look at him than at their guest. Emma had noticed earlier that the light from the fire did something magical to Regina's eyes, they seemed to melt like chocolate, it was almost too delicious to watch and Emma had felt her stomach muscles contract at the sight. She had known at that moment that she would probably never be able to just be friends with Regina. She was just too damn sexy, too luscious, too... much like a fire on a cold winter night. Get too close, you feel uncomfortably hot, sit away too far, you only feel a little heat and want more. She would have to find the right distance toward her to not get hot nor get needy for her warmth...
"Mom?" Henry waved his hand in front of her face.
"What?" she asked puzzled.
"I asked if you'd like to play a game, maybe?" He repeated what he had already said twice.
"Sure, whatever you like, son."
"Now that was easy," Henry said as he stood and picked up the dirty dishes to carry into the kitchen.
"You seem tired," Regina mentioned and Emma looked up at her from her lying position, her head comfortably resting in her hand.
"Exhausted, actually, but also too wired to sleep," she said and smiled.
"This is the first time you ever really had something like a home, right?"
"Hmmm... well, yeah. At least in my adult life. It's nice but also a little scary," Emma agreed.
"I'm glad you chose to... find something for yourself. I think it gives Henry some stability to know... that you're going to stay."
"Do you think he was still worried about me leaving?" the blonde asked surprised.
"I'm not sure but... I can't imagine that your mother's small apartment felt much like home. And he's kind of used to... a home, a house..."
"A mansion," Emma said.
Regina shrugged.
"I'm aware that the mere place doesn't make it a home, Emma. I know that people are important, family... but I still think that this is better for him than living under the some roof with a curtain for privacy," she said.
"I agree, though I think he's gonna miss having Snow and David around. I know I will."
"They're living ten minutes away from here," Regina argued.
"Ten minutes more than before," Emma gave back smiling. "I seem to remember somebody saying something about a house-warming gift... where is...," she said before Regina could answer anything and started looking for the basket Regina had brought. It stood under an end table that stood pretty much in the middle of the room with a lamp on it. It was the only light source in the living room so far but they hadn't turned it on because of the fire.
Emma moved to retrieve the basked and then back to the blanket, sitting cross-legged before the gift basket.
"Let's see," she mused. "A bottle of - I presume - the best apple cider I have ever tasted?" She looked at the other woman who nodded with a smile. "And a... cookbook... Cooking for Dummies? Really?" she scolded Regina who couldn't help laughing.
"This is only for you, by the way. Henry knows how not to burn water," she told the blonde who rolled her eyes.
"One of these days I'll make you eat something I cooked, just you wait and see," Emma warned and took another smaller book from the basket. "How to grow your own tree?" she asked ominously. "There are no trees in the garden."
"I know. I wanted to... give you a sapling of my apple tree but since you and Henry both pretend not to like apples... I thought you could get one for a cherry tree, perhaps, and plant it in the back yard?"
Emma looked up from the book and into Regina's eyes. She just fell into the insecurity and wonder and worry and love in those eyes. They showed her how deeply Regina cared, how she wanted special things for Henry, things she herself had felt important in her own life back home. And a tree was part of that, it seemed.
"We could do that," Emma said nodding and Regina smiled.
"Good, then you can learn how to make your own jam," the dark-haired woman said and then laughed.
"That's very funny. I feel a little domesticated by your gifts, actually. Cooking, growing tress... and what's this?" Emma lifted the last present from the basket and looked at a picture of Regina and Henry. She stilled. The picture had been taken the day Regina had kept Pan from cursing them all. The day Henry had gotten his body back. The day Mr. Gold had died. She didn't know who had taken it but it showed Henry and Regina smiling into a camera, Regina's arms around her son.
"That's a great picture of the two of you," Emma said.
"Dr. Hopper took it. I felt... I felt like I needed to... have something of the two of us... to hold onto. I felt like things could fall apart the very next moment," Regina admitted frowning.
"I know... I... think most of us felt it that day. Like things were about to end... maybe it was just Mr. Gold and Pan dying but... I think it was something more. It didn't happen, though," Emma said and Regina nodded.
"Things got better," she agreed.
"Yes, better." Emma stood and took the picture with her, placing it on the mantle. She looked down at Regina. "Looks good," she said.
Regina smiled.
"Thank you, Emma," she simply said and reached up. She squeezed Emma's hand for a moment, looking into her eyes.
The moment was broken by Henry entering the living room with an armload of games.
"I wasn't sure what you'd like to play so I brought them all," he said, not even able to look over the pile of games he carried.
Henry yawned violently.
"Hm, I'm beat," he said looking up from his cards. "I'm going to bed." He put his cards down and turned toward Regina.
"Night, mom," he said and hugged her. "Thanks for coming over and everything."
"You're welcome, Henry. I'll see you tomorrow." She kissed him on the cheek and smiled as he rubbed the spot immediately to get rid of any possible lipstick residue. She wasn't even wearing any.
"Night, ma," Henry leaned over to Emma and hugged her also. She ruffled his hair.
"Sleep tight, kid."
He smiled at her weakly and then got up from the floor where they had been playing games for the last two hours. He waved at them before trudging out of the room and up the stairs. Emma picked up Henry's cards and put them with her own. Regina handed her the ones she was holding and Emma put them away in their box. They didn't talk until Emma had made a neat pile of all the games that Henry had brought downstairs with the card game on top and shoved it under the end table.
"I should be going," Regina then said but didn't move. She had stretched her legs in front of her and was leaning on her hands now.
"Just stay a little longer," Emma asked of her and they fell silent again, none of them moving to get up or home or upstairs.
"The fire's burning down," Regina noticed after a while.
"Could you kindle it?" Emma asked from her lying position, her head once again propped up by her hand.
Regina shrugged her shoulder and got up to do as Emma had asked. She knew how to do this, it was no problem for her.
"You can stop staring at my ass any time now," she told the blonde. She turned around and winked at Emma who blushed.
"It's not my fault," the sheriff said, lying back on her back and staring at the ceiling.
"Are you saying it's mine? Or are you gonna blame it on genetics... which would actually be a good argument, considering..."
"Considering that my parents are... like the most normal people in this and their world?"
"Considering that your mom seduced your dad into cheating on his wife," Regina answered.
"Which Kathryn was not since you only made everyone believe that she was," Emma argued.
"You mother still slept with Whale, though," Regina gave back as she sat down next to Emma.
"Don't remind me, that guy's a creep."
"No argument there," Regina agreed. "It still leaves us with your overt sexual tendencies."
"My overt sexual tendencies? What about yours?"
"Mine? Please, be serious," Regina said in mock outrage.
"Yeah, let's talk about you wearing jeans again. That's just flaunting your sexuality around. And what's with your eyes and them melting like chocolate in the fire light. It's totally distracting," Emma accused with a wide grin.
"Melting chocolate?"
"Yeah, it's... really...," Emma looked up and into those melting brown eyes.
"We got to stop doing this, Emma," Regina warned and broke the eye-contact.
"I know," the sheriff agreed and sighed. "Do you want a beer?"
"You don't have food in the house but beer? Should I be worried about our son's safety?"
"Hook brought a six-pack as a kind-of house-warming present," Emma explained.
"Of course, the pirate was here helping move furniture, no doubt showing off his sculpted, hairy torso."
"You probably have seen more of that torso than I have, Regina. So, beer?" Emma repeated the question and Regina nodded. The blonde went to the kitchen and returned with two bottles. She opened one and handed it to the brunette.
"You must think I'm a hypocrite," Regina said.
"Then you have slept with Killian?" Emma asked looking down at the other woman before taking a sip from her beer.
"Not because of that and, no, I've never had sex with the pirate," she clarified and Emma nodded. She plopped down onto the blanket again, sitting cross-legged now. "I mean because I'm insisting on us being friends and coming across as... jealous."
"Coming across as? You mean you're not?"
"Just because I don't like the idea... of you and Killian, doesn't mean I'm jealous," Regina said. "But it's not just that... it's about Henry."
"Henry? Now that I gotta hear? How is Killian being here and - admittedly - flirting with me about Henry?"
"It's not really just about Killian. It's... if you decide to be with a man... there's always a chance that Henry is getting a father, or having his father actually being with his mother... it would change things... for me," Regina admitted.
"Well, I'm not thinking about being with Hook or Neal at the moment. And I'm not the only one who could start dating, you know? What about you?"
"In a town where everyone hates me, Emma? Yeah, there's a really good chance for me to find romance."
"I bet Archie wouldn't mind filling that particular role for you," Emma gave back.
Regina looked at her surprised.
"Dr. Hopper? Don't be ridiculous," she told the blonde.
"I'm not."
Regina frowned.
"That wasn't really helpful... I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything," Emma apologized seeing that Regina had no idea that the psychiatrist more than liked her.
"Well, considering that he's my psychiatrist and I tell him things I don't tell anyone else, no, that wasn't helful at all," Regina agreed and shook her head. "It doesn't matter. It's not like... he's not my type."
"Who is?" Emma asked and flinched. It was just how they were with each other, always bantering back and forth, sometimes aggressively so. And this definately bordered on aggressive. She didn't like it but she couldn't stop herself either.
"You just want to hear me say that you are. This is getting us nowhere... do you always ask your guests to tend to your fire... I mean, that one," she said blushing and pointed at the fireplace.
"I didn't think you'd mind," Emma said without commenting on the change of topic.
"I don't, I just think it's odd."
"I... burned myself. When I was fourteen," Emma said after a moment's hesitation. She pushed up her sleeve just above the elbow and showed Regina a scar on the back of her arm just below it. Regina reached out and touched it.
"That must have hurt," she said rubbing the rough patch of skin.
"It wouldn't have if my foster mom hadn't thought I had brought it onto myself and... refused to give me a cream or something."
"She did that?" Regina asked, an angry frown forming between her eyebrows. She was still touching Emma's arm, not even aware that she was caressing it with both hands now. Emma pulled it away awkwardly and pushed down her sweater.
"It was a long time ago," she said.
They fell silent for quite a while. Regina was staring into the fire, Emma at her hands in her lap.
"Are we ever gonna stop... doing that and just be friends?" Regina broke the silence.
"I don't know. Maybe if one of us... starts dating."
"If you start dating," Regina corrected and Emma sighed in exasperation.
"If one of us is dating, we would probably stop considering each other as an option," she said.
"But you're not an option for me. You shouldn't be," Regina mused.
"And you shouldn't be for me and yet... I like when you flirt with me."
"You asked me to stop, remember?"
"That was stupid of me," Emma said.
"No, it wasn't. We shouldn't be doing this. We shouldn't sit here and have beer and... think about kissing each other."
"And yet we are."
And they were, and they had been since Henry went upstairs, probably a few times even before then. Emma thought about the couch upstairs, the passion it had seen between her and Regina and she couldn't not think about kissing her. The fire in the hearth, the way the brunette looked at her. It all brought her back to that moment and though she should be forgetting about it by now, she remembered it better than ever before. And she wanted it to happen again.
"Re..."
"I'm leaving," Regina interrupted her and got up from the floor.
"Wait," Emma jumped up and reached for Regina's hand, pulling her close. They stood like that for a second, so close... to leaning in and taking their prize. But then Regina did something that surprised both of them: she hugged the younger woman. And for the first time it wasn't even awkward, it was warm and nice and... calming. Emma hugged Regina back and then they parted.
They looked at each other and Regina pushed a strand of hair from Emma's forehead.
"We're friends," she said.
Emma nodded automatically. This was, after all, what she had wanted to be, Regina's friend.
"Goodnight, Emma."
"Night, Regina," Emma answered around a lump in her throat. She watched the other woman leave the living room and then the house.