A/N: Did somebody say 'more swanqueen'? No, but here it is anyway. Oh, and it seems Henry wasn't watching porn, after all. ;) [Still procrastinating.]

Regina and Henry entered the diner and made their way over to where the sheriff was already seated at her usual table.

Emma had texted Regina just before service was over asking if she and Henry would join her for lunch. Regina had left the decision to Henry, whispering to him during the last hymn of the day. He had looked up at her grinning and had nodded - of course. She had smiled, too, and she was smiling at Emma now. The blonde felt her stomach flutter at the sight and she stood as her two favorite people approached.

"Hey, you made it," she said. "Hey, kid," she greeted Henry who slipped onto the bench across from Emma with a wave.

"Didn't you get my text?" Regina asked because of Emma's greeting.

"Yes, I did... I just, erm, I wasn't sure when church would be over," she said quickly.

"The same time as every Sunday, ma," Henry said and grinned.

"Yeah, I... I know that, I just didn't know if your mom would... like, talk to the reverend or to some folks, you know, like good Christians do," Emma rambled and then laughed. "Sorry, I... I had a late night last night... at the fair. You look nice, by the way," she told Regina to save the appearance that they hadn't seen each other yet today.

"Thank you, sheriff," Regina answered and made eye contact with Emma for a moment before she looked into the menu.

"Are you on duty today?" Henry asked.

"What do you think?" Emma gave back and rose just enough for him to see the badge.

"Then you have to go back to work later?"

"Yeah, I'm just here for lunch. I'll be heading over to the fair grounds later. If we keep having events like this one we should probably talk about hiring another deputy," she said and Regina raised an eyebrow.

"You just got one. Is Tinkerbell not doing her job?"

"She is, she's actually a very good deputy. But... I'm mostly putting her in for nightshifts because I can't do them when Henry is with me and... well, I would've liked to have at least two people on site at an event like the fair," Emma explained.

"Have you thought about a possible candidate yet?" Regina asked all business now.

"I'm not sure... I think I'd offer it to David first but I'm not sure he'd take it..."

"What is he doing these days, anyway? Does he even have a job?" Regina asked a little bewildered.

"He does plenty, don't worry. He's kinda turned into a Jack of all trades... but I think he likes it," Emma answered with a shrug.

"Hm," Regina just made and it was obvious to both Emma and their son that she didn't approve.

"And if he doesn't want to be a deputy... I thought... maybe... Hook?" Emma looked up at Regina through her lashes, not sure how the other woman would react to the idea. And indeed, one of Regina's dark eyebrows rose.

"It's ultimately your decision, Emma, but... do you think it would be wise to ask a pirate to... uphold the law?"

"He's bored, at least this way he would be busy... too busy to get into trouble," Emma argued.

"I'm only worried that he'll be more trouble than help," Regina gave back and then looked up at Ruby who had come to their table.

"Sorry to have kept you waiting, guys. It seems nobody's eating at home these days. What can I get you?"

They gave their order and Ruby hurried to the next customer.

"Well, I'll keep thinking about possible candidates... if not Hook," Emma said and gave Regina a small smile.

"You do that," Regina answered, giving the other woman her own lazy smile.

It was like a language all its own, these looks and smiles. They hadn't even really been talking about a new deputy, Emma had tried to see if Regina would get jealous if she suggested Hook as her new colleague. And Regina had looked right through it, of course... they seemed to know what the other was thinking, it was like a game of chess and Emma was pretty sure she'd never win against a formidable opponent like the queen... good thing, this game wasn't about winning, it was about playing.

"Why are people in Storybrooke going to church?" Henry asked in a lull of conversation and looked at his dark-haired mother.

Regina looked quizzically back at him.

"It's what people in America do, Henry," she then answered, not wanting to insult his intelligence with platitudes about faith and God.

"So, it's part of the curse?"

"It originally was, yes, but I guess people liked it. They meet other people, they gossip, they get to think about the things they can do to help others. It does more good than harm so, I guess, people are keeping it up," she told him.

"Hm," he made. "Then why are you going?" Henry asked because he knew that Regina wasn't going for any of those reasons.

"I'm the mayor. I'm expected to. Plus, it keeps the gossip about me to a minimum," she reasoned and he nodded. That made sense.

"Really? Like, nobody here believes in God?" Emma asked surprised. "That's..."

She was interrupted by a young man who stepped up to the table. She didn't know him, though she was sure she had seen him working at one of the stores. He nodded at her:

"Sheriff," he said in way of greeting then turned toward Regina.

"Madam Mayor."

Regina looked up at him.

"Mr. Dwyer. Is there something I can do for you?"

"Yeah... yeah, there is. You can keep your filthy hands off the Dark One's magic! You caused enough trouble for all of us! We don't trust you and we don't want you near any of that stuff that's in the shop. I'm warning you," he said bending toward Regina and putting a finger up to emphasize his word. That was when he was forcefully pulled away from the mayor and pushed backwards. He stumbled and fell onto a table whose patrons rose immediately. Everybody seemed dazed at what was happening, everybody was staring at the sheriff who had pushed the young man.

Emma pushed her jacket from the badge on her waist so that everyone could see it, not that anybody in Storybrooke didn't know who she was.

"That's enough! Don't you dare threaten her! Don't anyone of you dare! This is getting insane! My dad may have made a mistake in asking her to help, I don't know. But I know that I trust her! I trust her to do what she said she would and help you all get home. That's what she wants to do! If you got a problem with all of this, if you don't want her help... David... Price Charming has talked about a council... I'm sure you know more about this than I do but he's planning a meeting. You can all talk to whoever's on that council and tell them about your concerns. But you will not, I repeat, you will abso-fucking-lutely NOT threaten the mayor!" Emma yelled at Dwyer, his friends who hadn't kept him from coming over and the rest of the room. Her eyes blazed, her jaw was set. She wasn't going to stand by and have anyone threaten Regina - ever again.

Dwyer picked himself up off the table around which all kinds of food was now lying. He glanced unsurely up at Emma who stared at him angrily.

"Do you understand me?" she asked the man and he nodded.

"I'm...," but he couldn't say he was sorry. Instead his face turned an unbecoming red shade and he clamped down his jaw. He turned and left the diner, trying to save some of his righteous indignity.

Emma looked around the room at the people who were still staring at her. Then she turned toward her table.

Henry looked up at her bright-eyed, Regina with a frown.

"I'm sorry," she apologized for her outburst and slipped back onto her bench.

"Not at all, Emma," Regina assured her.

"That was awesome. You threw that guy through the room," Henry exclaimed as most people were getting back to minding their own business.

"Hardly," Emma said. "Listen, kid, you know that... violence is not okay." She then tried to save what little she could from the situation.

"But you're the sheriff and that guy was threatening mom," he argued.

"Yeah, he was," Emma simply said staring for a moment at the table top before her. Then she lifted her head and looked up at the other woman. "I'm sorry. I know you can... fend for yourself," she apologized.

"That's quite alright, Emma. Thank you for your help."

Regina closed the door to the mansion after having watched the sheriff's cruiser drive off. Emma had insisted on driving them home and Regina hadn't fought her for once. The scene at the diner had spooked her. not because someone had threatened her - she was quite used to that by now - but because... she hadn't known what to do about it. Sure, she could have just made the man fly through the room and out the door, then she would have swept tables, chairs and patrons into a corner with a wipe of her hand and that would have been that. No words would have been necessary. But that hadn't been an option.

Regina would have to think and think hard about what her options were at this point. She could deal with threats the way she'd done when she didn't have any magic: stare people down. Luckily, most of the people of Storybrooke were still scared enough of her to not want to cross her. But what if they used more than words? What if Henry was with her when that happened? She knew she wouldn't let them hurt him, or her when she was with him. But what would she do? What couldn't she do to anyone who threatened her son?

Regina turned to Henry who was hanging up his coat just now.

"Henry?"

"Hm?" He looked at her questioningly.

"Would you like to continue our game of chess from last week?"

Henry seemed to think about that.

"Maybe later? There's something I gotta do... for school," he said.

"I thought you were finished with your homework," Regina reminded him of what he'd told her.

"I just remembered but it shouldn't take long. We could play in... half an hour or so?"

"Alright." She nodded at him and watched him go upstairs.

He turned halfway up and asked:

"Who do you think should be Emma's new deputy?"

"I haven't really thought about it, Henry."

"But if you were thinking about it... who do you think it should be?" he insisted on an answer.

"How about I'll tell you when you come back down after doing the rest of your homework? I'll think about an answer in the meantime," she asked of him.

"Okay, but I wanna know," he said and ran up the rest of the way.

His room was just to the right of the stairs which was why he couldn't really miss anyone coming up. Even if it was late at night and the person tried to be very quiet, or persons. Like the persons who had come up the stairs last night, his moms. Henry smiled to himself remembering how Emma had repeated how they needed to be quiet.

Henry closed the door behind him and went to his bed. The book was already lying there, just like he had left it. It wasn't one of his Potter-novels, this was actually his favorite book. The fairy tale book Snow had given him three years ago.

He opened it to his all time favorite - the story of how Emma was born and how his mothers had nearly met for the first time. But, of course, if they had met he wouldn't even exist. A folded paper lay inside the pages and he took it out, opening it and looking at what he had written:

Operation Apple Pie

Finding True Love for S. and Q.

S.

- seems to like pirate, I'm not sure (he likes her A LOT)

- likes dad but only as friend (I don't think that's going to change anytime soon, though he likes her)

- wants to be friends with Q... ?

Q.

- I'm not sure she likes anyone

- the doctor likes her (not the surgeon!)

- she seems to like 'green' (I'm not sure but I think they're just friends)

- S.?

S. and Q.?

- S. says she wants to be Q's friend

- they talked on the beach, they laughed together

- S. asked me stuff about Q. (nothing important, just regular stuff)

- I think they're texting

- Q. came over to the house, they looked at each other a lot, Q. stayed after I had gone upstairs, they talked for a long time

- I think S. likes Q. (really likes her, she shared her favorite pie with Q.), not sure about Q. liking S.

- they ARE texting, and they're talking a lot, they look at each other a lot, Q. rolls her eyes at S. a lot, but they're smiling at each other, too

That was as far as Henry had come so far in determining whether his mothers liked each other. But he'd added that last item before last night happened and now he wrote:

- S. came to the house last night, I think she was drunk, Q. put her in guest bedroom but S. slipped into Q's bedroom, she spent the night there! (I think they had sex)

I'm sure they like each other - but is it True Love?

- S. defended Q. against some guy

- Q. let S. defend her!

Henry looked over his list again, wondering if he had forgotten something. Then his eyes rested on the underlined phrase for a while. True Love. He hadn't thought a lot about what that actually meant before he wondered if what was going on between his mothers was True Love. It was something he saw every day between his grandparents but he didn't really know much about it. It was just there with Charming and Snow and they weren't shy about it. His moms, on the other hand, seemed to hide a lot of what was going on even from each other. How could he ever be sure if they truly loved each other?

Henry sighed.

Maybe he should ask an expert on the matter. The only question was: which of his grandparents should he be asking?