Two words. Snow White.

There is not much I have asked of her in my lifetime, and yet again she has promised me something that she could not keep. Yes Regina, I promise I won't freak out. Yes Regina, I promise that I will be calm. Yes Regina, I promise I won't coddle her. So much for her promises. Seriously did no one teach her when she was small that a promise is something you do not break? Honestly I should have known better. So now I sit here enduring her babying Emma like she is incapable of doing anything. Firstly she would not let go of Emma, constantly embracing her, or holding her hand, and now she is simply coddling her. It's getting ridiculous, Emma is a grown woman, she is perfectly capable of taking care of herself and doing things herself… well besides the whole hearing thing that is.

Emma is still not fully comfortable speaking in front of others yet. We have been signing for a couple of weeks now, practicing every day, she has become quite a natural. It is one of the reasons she finally agreed to see her parents, to see anyone really other than myself and Henry. I'd been telling her for the last week it was time to get out of the house, get back into the real world, have human contact with people other than Henry and myself, but it was only yesterday that she agreed that it was time to see her parents. They'd been here almost an hour and she had barely said two words to them, audibly that is. She is quite confident to sign with them, however is still self-conscious about her voice. Unfortunately, Snow and David are not exactly experts when it comes to deciphering sign language and I have had to accompany them the whole time to verbalise Emma's communication when they don't understand. It's rather annoying, you think they would be trying harder, even Henry has learned faster than them, although I guess having to use it all the time at home has definitely given him an advantage. This is probably the first time either of them has tried to have a conversation using solely sign language, so I guess I can't blame them completely for their lack of knowledge. Either way, I feel much better staying by Emma's side, who knows what Snow would do if I left the room, probably suffocate her with love or something.

Suddenly I felt pressure on my thigh and looked down to find Emma's hand resting there. I was shocked to see it there but couldn't help but like the warmth and the feel that it gave me. I looked up to meet her eyes and noticed she was looking at me expectedly, as were her parents.

"Sorry, got lost in my thoughts." I reply apologetically, Emma just smiles understandingly.

"It's ok Regina. We just needed you to translate, Emma said something we haven't learned yet." David replies sweetly. I turn back to Emma and she signs out a simple sentence which I translate to Snow and David, "How is the sheriff's station?" and so their conversation continued. I try to pay attention in case they need me again, but despite the odd word confusion, the conversation was terribly boring. Instead I found myself watching and observing Emma's hands. The way they moved to speak each word, the precision was perfect, it was like an exact replica of the way I signed, even some of the little positions and turns were exactly the same. I turned to watch Snow and David now. While they were understandable their work was sloppy and lacked precision, everything was jumpy and with purpose, while Emma's just seemed to flow. It was quite interesting seeing the contrast between the two.

I looked at my watch and noticed another half hour had gone. I was getting tired of this, and as I looked up at Emma's face I could see she too had had enough. It's not the fact that she doesn't love her parents, or want to talk to them, but this whole situation is stressful for her. I'd spent all morning trying to convince her not to cancel, and twice had to stop her from having a panic attack. She was tired, and stressed, and with each misunderstanding, her patience and confidence was beginning to diminish. I watched her face now, waiting for any sign to make up an excuse to end this. Her hands began to slow and shake as she tried to force herself to continue the conversation, and although Snow and David couldn't see behind the fake smile Emma had plastered to her face, I could see right through it. One glance in my direction, and I saw the plea in her eyes as she met mine. She wanted it to end, she needed a break, but she couldn't tell them to leave, she didn't want to hurt them, but I could. We both knew I would have no regrets in kicking them out of my house, and making up some lie to get rid of them.

"Well," I say abruptly, getting the attention of Snow and David as I stand from my seat, "as interesting as this has been, I must get back to my Mayoral duties, and I can't concentrate on my paperwork when there's a conversation going on in the next room. So, Snow, David, if you don't mind us picking this up another time…" I say, making my way to the edge of the room and gesturing towards the front door. Emma quickly stands and comes to join my at the edge of the room, and Snow and David begrudging get up and make their way towards the front door.

"Emma, what are you doing later? Maybe we could go out for dinner? Granny's maybe? Or we could order in?" Snow asks hopefully. Emma shuffles next to me, trying to come up with an excuse.

"That's not possible. Emma promised Henry she would help him with his assignment tonight." I say, watching as both Snow's and Emma's shoulders drop; one from disappointment, the other from relief.

"Okay, well maybe another time then."

Once Snow finally lets go of Emma, we both make our way inside, and I begin making my way towards the kitchen.

"Regina," It's the first time she's spoken in an hour, "I, um.." She takes a step closer to me, looking down at the floor before taking a breath and meeting my eyes. "Thank-you."

"No need to thank me dear," I say, because it's the truth, "Now why don't you go relax for a while and I'll go make us a snack

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