A/N: Valentine's Day took a little longer than I had anticipated, sorry. Now on with this story - hope you're still with me and like, of course.

Emma was nervous. She was standing in her bedroom in her underwear and was fidgeting over what to wear over a simple dinner with Regina and Henry.

It had all felt so great. From the moment they had parted the day before in front of the library, she had smiled. Because she had known... that things were changing between them. Yes, Regina had said that this wasn't a date but... it sure had felt like they were heading in that direction. And she had been excited. And then she had woken up this morning, smiling at first but then... panicking.

A date. A date with Regina Mills. But it wasn't a date, Henry would be there. And still... what was she gonna wear? What would they be talking about? They hadn't had many lapses in conversaton since they started this friendship-thing but they had talked alone mostly, some pretty intimate stuff. They wouldn't be able to talk about these things in front of Henry. So they would have to go back to... what, small talk? She was bad at small talk...

Emma looked into her closet then at the alarm clock next to her bed. She had half an hour to change and dry her hair from the shower she'd taken. Half an hour to come up with some conversational topics over dinner. She guessed they could always concentrate on Henry... and whatever was going on with their respective works. But she didn't want that, that's what they usually did. This evening should be different somehow - if she could only say how exactly.

Emma turned to her bed where her phone lay and looked at it. It had been suspiciously quiet all day.

Yesterday, Emma had sent Regina a message to reassure her that she had Ruby occupied at the diner while Regina talked to Belle. The mayor hadn't answered right away but later she had sent her a 'Thank you for the favor. I'll make sure dinner tomorrow night will mirror your efforts today' - Emma had read it as a tease. And she had answered:

'You're welcome. If you're talking food I would be satisfied with mashed potatoes, if not... I trust you to give it your best shot.'

'I was talking about food, Miss Swan. And I trust you to get your head out of the gutter before dinner tomorrow - a minor will be present. And I think I can manage mashed potatoes - just as you like them.'

That message had sent a wave of naughty images to Emma's brain and she hadn't answered for a while. When she had taken up her phone again, she had typed the following message:

'I trust you with my taste buds. I have yet to taste anything more delicious than what you had to offer. And I will get my head out of that particular gutter just in time for dinner - promise.'

There had been no answer, Emma had checked a gazillion times since then. She had probably overstepped some invisible line once again but that's what they did, both of them. And Regina hadn't revoked the invitation so they were probably good... or Emma would get served another apple turnover tonight.

She picked up her phone now and tapped on a single item. She put the phone to her ear as it connected her to the mansion.

"Hey, ma. You're not going to cancel dinner, are you?"

"No, I'm not. What's up with you?" Emma asked, mildly amused that Henry seemed as nervous as she was.

"Nothing, I... mom's spent some time in the kitchen. She didn't even let me help today. I think she makes something special and it would have been... a bummer if you'd cancelled, is all," Henry explained and Emma found herself smiling.

Regina was doing something special tonight? Hmmm, not a date indeed. Then she remembered why she had called.

"Well, I'm looking forward to whatever your mom's brewing up. I'm starving... I was wondering... erm. This may sound a little weird but... erm..."

"What is it, ma? Is this about that mixed tape again?"

"No, I told you there won't be a mixed tape... I thought... what is your mom wearing?"

The immediate answer Emma received was silence and she rolled her eyes at herself.

Then Henry answered:

"Clothes," and the words seemed stretched, a little ominous.

"It's... I was just... wondering because I'm about to dress and... I don't want our clothes to clash, that's all. It's a girl-thing. Now, come on, you know your mom's closet. What exactly is she wearing?"

Henry sighed.

"She's wearing that dark red, shimmery blouse and a black skirt," he answered reluctantly.

"Heels or boots?"

"Heels," he answered as if that would be obvious.

"Okay, which skirt?"

"Ma, it's black, I told you. I don't know what kind of material it is," he argued.

"How... long is it?" Emma found herself asking and closed her eyes tightly. Her son must think she was a freak - or worse, a pervert. But he wouldn't think she was perving after his mom, right? Could Henry have any idea what was going on between them? But that was ridiculous, they didn't even know themselves what was going on.

"Ma, what...? It's a skirt, it... ends just above her knee, I think."

"Thank you, Henry," Emma said.

"Yeah, whatever. It's the tight one, I think she likes how... she looks in it," he added now that she wasn't pestering him anymore.

"I know which one, thanks, kid. So what're you gonna wear?" she asked and her smile was obvious in her voice.

"Last year's Halloween costume. I'm going as Batman," he answered with an eyeroll and received a laugh for his efforts. "It's just dinner, ma," he reminded her and she nodded to herself.

"I know, it's just... your mom has never asked me over to dinner before, you know. Not like this. I don't want her to think I'm socially challenged and that I only have jeans and shirts to wear."

"You do only have jeans and shirts to wear," he gave back.

"That's not true. I have... a pair of tan slacks right here. I'm gonna wear them tonight, you'll see," she told him.

"Tan slacks? Won't they clash with mom's black skirt?" he challenged with a chuckle.

"Very funny. I'm gonna see you in... twenty minutes, fuck... I mean, damn. I need to hurry. Later, kid," she called out and disconnected the phone. She pulled the slacks and a blue shirt out of her closet and hurried into the bathroom.

She was still fidgeting when she rang the bell to the mansion that evening. She pushed her hands into her trench coat to keep from wringing eath other and waited. It seemed like a long time passed and Emma wondered for a moment if Regina had forgotten that she was coming, or that she hadn't heard the bell ring, or that maybe she was just making Emma wait. But then the door opened and... there stood Henry smiling at her.

"Hi, ma," he greeted her.

"Hey, kid. I almost didn't recognize you. I thought you were going as Batman," she joked.

"Yeah, yeah," he gave back as she stepped into the house. "You actually do own a pair of slacks, I'm impressed."

"Thanks. I didn't have time to press them, do they look okay?" Emma asked as she slipped out of her coat.

"They look fine. Why're you so nervous?"

"I'm..."

"Hello, Emma," she heard from behind her and turned.

Regina looked amazing. Of course, she did, and she knew it, too, by the confident look in her eyes, the slight sway in her step as she came over and took Emma's coat.

"You look nice. I didn't know you owned a pair of sensible pants," the mayor said as she hung Emma's coat. "Very becoming."

The once-over Regina gave her took Emma's breath away.

"Thank you. You look... fantastic," she said and had to fight several impulses at once - one, to simply pull the other woman into her arms and kiss her senseless, two, to faint dead, three, to turn and run.

Regina gave her a smile and then leaned in to kiss her cheek as a greeting. It was less awkward then the bumping into each other the day before when they had tried for a similar gesture but it still felt forced and unnatural, like they had to prove to the world that them being friends was no big deal. And that they could actually do it. Maybe that last part was something they had to prove to themselves more than anyone else.

"It smells great, by the way. So what have you been cooking?"

"That's a surprise and you're not invited into the kitchen tonight so you and Henry better go into the dining room. I'll be with you shortly. Henry, make sure to ask Emma if she likes something to drink," Regina instructed their son.

Henry looked after her until she disappeared in the kitchen.

"Why's she so formal, it's just you?" he said and looked at his other mother for an answer.

"I don't know. I guess... we'll just have to live through it. Come on, it won't be half bad. Let's go into the dining room," she suggested.

But on entering the room, Emma thought that she may have made a mistake in telling Henry it wouln't be half bad. Regina had broken out the good china, the silverware seemed to be actual silver, the glasses... crystal?

"Geez, it looks like your mom's going all out. Where did she even get all this stuff?"

"She used to be a queen, remember?" he said and took his usual seat at his mom's right. He looked up at Emma with a frown.

"I'm gonna fix this," Emma told him and left the room.

When Emma entered the kitchen, Regina was just filling a bowl with mashed potatoes. She looked up as Emma came sauntering in and leaned against the kitchen island watching her.

"I told you you weren't welcome here tonight. So would you please go back into the dining room and wait till I'm finished?" She said putting the pot down but almost losing hold of it. "Get a drink," she then suggested with a fake smile.

"Regina, the dining room looks like you were expecting the Queen of England. What's going on?"

"I just wanted to have a nice dinner with... you and Henry. I..." but she stopped talking when Emma took a step toward her and took a step back. She looked up at Emma as if she'd been caught at something and Emma understood that Regina was just as nervous about this as she was.

"I'm nervous, too. Look, I even wear slacks... you said this wasn't a date and..."

"It's not a date," Regina snapped.

"Then why are we behaving like it is?" Emma gave back.

They looked at each other for a long moment.

"I changed three times," Regina confessed with a self-deprecating smile. "Then I couldn't get the sauce right. I had to make it over two times before I had figured out that I had added olive oil instead of wine."

Emma smiled but then she saw Regina shake her head and the deep frown on her face.

"I don't know how to behave with you anymore, Emma. This was a bad idea," she said and turned.

"No, no, it wasn't. And you do know how to behave with me. We've been doing it for some time now," Emma argued. She took two steps forward and stood directly behind the other woman. She hesitated but then she put her hands on Regina's upper arms.

"Yes, we're doing it. When we're alone... it's so easy. But not when other people are around."

"It's not other people, it's just Henry," Emma argued.

"Just Henry?" Regina turned and Emma's arms fell back to her side. "What if he picks up on something? What if he already knows?"

"Has he said anything?"

"No, but he's a clever boy and he picks up things pretty fast. I just... I have to do this my way, Emma. I... would you please go back into the dining room?"

Emma thought about this and tried to come up with a way to make this easier for both of them. Maybe she should just go home, then neither of them would have to go through an awkward dinner. But she knew Henry would find that odd and there was really no reason why they shouldn't be able to have a family dinner, one where they didn't have to think about how to behave and just be themselves.

"Okay, but... try to relax. Just be yourself," she told Regina and already knew a comment like this wouldn't help. "You may also wanna stop flirting with me. I almost swallowed my tongue earlier," she added with a smile.

"I wasn't... flirting," Regina gave back but then smirked. "Much," she added and winked at the blonde.

"We're gonna be fine," Emma said fom the doorway looking back at the mayor one more time and caught her looking... at her assets.

Emma laughed lightly as she came back into the dining room where Henry still sat a little dejectedly at the table.

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, your mom just overdid it a little. I think we're gonna be fine but... cut her some slack, huh?"

Henry shrugged. He didn't mind the setting as long as they wouldn't have to behave any differently than they normally would. He just wanted his moms to have a nice time and to get to know each other better.

But that wasn't really happening that evening. And it wasn't like they weren't trying, Henry could see this, they just seemed to try too hard. And after a while, they stopped talking to each other altogether and focused on him - which was worse.

Henry didn't understand what was wrong. From what he could surmise from talking to Snow White, his moms were in love - possibly, they even were each other's True Love. But right now they behaved as if sitting down to dinner together was like an appointment at the dentist's when you knew you had a cavity. It shouldn't be like this, they should be smiling and looking at each other a lot and mainly forget that he was there. But they didn't. He even kept from taking seconds just so that none of them would encourage him to take more and say something like him growing into a strong young man... or something equally embarrassing.

Henry was wondering when he would be able to just up and leave them alone in their awkwardness and hoped it would be soon.

But there was dessert to be had and then Regina started to talk at him of his school accomplishments from years ago and that was unbearable. He cleared his throat.

"I should clean the table," he said.

"You don't need to do that tonight, Henry," Regina said and was rising herself.

"But you already cooked and set the table. It's the least I can do," he insisted. He looked at his mother and she at him. There was no annoyance in her look, she wasn't about to dismiss him or even praise him for his manners. She just looked at him with this fearful expression and it alsmot made him sit down again.

"Let me do this," he asked of her and she nodded. He started clearing the table and when he was finally in the kitchen he felt that he could breathe again. But he didn't understand why his mom would be afraid or what she was afraid of. He started filling the dishwasher but prolonged the task and when he was about to return to the dining room he approached it timidly. He could hear the two women talking.

"... sorry about tonight. I..."

"It's okay, I'm not fairing much better. Poor Henry," he heard Emma say but Regina just sighed.

"This whole thing confuses me, Emma. I don't want to be confused."

"We need to talk about this. I mean, something seems to be happenng whether we want it to, or not," Emma told Regina.

"That's nonsense. We are doing this, whatever this is. And it has to stop," Regina snapped. "I think it'll be better if we don't see each other for awhile... socially, I mean. It's not like we'll be able to avoid each other completely in this sandbox of a town."

There was a pause and he could only imagine what was going on. He wanted them to look deeply into each others eyes and... solve their problem like that. It's how it was done in movies. But then he heard a chair being pushed back from the table.

"We'll have to talk about this eventually, Regina. You know where to find me," Emma said and Henry pushed himself into a nook between kitchen and dining-room. He didn't even need to have bothered, Emma just stormed past him and out the door. She didn't even retrieve her coat. Henry looked after her and then turned for the dining room but it was empty, Regina had left through another door.