Regina kept dialing the number but wouldn't hit send. She had been sitting on the edge of her bed for the past hour where she kept second-guessing whether to call Emma. Miss Swan, her mind told herself. It had been a couple of days since she had spoken to Emma. Ever since Emma had asked her to consider why she called her Emma in private but Miss Swan or Sheriff Swan in public, she hadn't been able to think of anything else.
Maybe Emma was thinking that this whole thing was her fault because she had changed her level of formality with her. But she didn't think that was it. Why couldn't Emma had just come out and say whatever it was?
She had read Henry's essay over and over again to the point she was sure she had memorized it. She still didn't see how Henry had jumped to the conclusion that she and Emma were involved with each other. She had wanted to ask him, but even that was something she had been avoiding.
Sitting down to talk to him about this seemed awkward at best.
There was one other part of her conversation with Emma that had bothered her, and it was the real reason she was sitting there.
Taking a deep breath and reminding herself she was mayor and a former queen, Regina dialed the phone.
"Hey," Emma answered.
"What are you doing?"
"Me, nothing."
"Meet me at my office in 30 minutes."
She hung up the phone.
Henry was supposed to be asleep, but still he heard his mother leave the house close to midnight. He smiled knowing that there was only one person she could be going to see.
Regina was pacing by the time Emma arrived.
"Thank you for coming. I am sorry if I was a little short with you on the phone, but I really think we need to clear up this misconception Henry has about us."
"You called me here because you want us to deal with this right now?"
"Not now as in talking to Henry, but yes we should clear this up."
"Have you thought about what I said?"
"Yes, and I can see where you might think this is my fault because Henry observes me being less than formal with you when we are in private. I can certainly rectify that – be more consistent. I afraid you may be upset about something I said when we talked last time. Please know that I didn't mean to offend you or anything. I don't think it is any of my business who a person dates. If a man chooses to be with a man, that is their choice – I mean their biology, anyway, I don't feel like I should judge. My point is I am sorry if unknowingly offended you with any statements I made."
"Wow," Emma said. "You are unbelievable."
"What? Did I say something else to upset you?"
"Regina when you read Henry's essay did you feel? Besides getting upset, did you feel anything about it?"
Regina took a step back. "I felt like Henry needed us to explain things to him. He is coming to that age where he …"
"Stop," Emma said. "Just stop. You know if you think our interactions are confusing Henry, I have a solution. Unless we have to talk to each other for city business or something important related to Henry, why don't we just stop interacting?"
She turned, slamming the door as she left.
Regina took a seat behind her desk. She hadn't meant for it go like this. She just wanted to stop thinking about every second of every day. She wanted things to go back to normal.
Emma picked Henry up from school the next day.
"So?" he questioned.
Emma said nothing.
"Did you two meet last night? Because she left around midnight."
"We did meet. It didn't go well."
"What happened?"
"I sort of snapped at your mother last night and then stormed out on her."
"Why did you do that?"
"Because your mother … she … even if she has an epiphany I don't see her acting on it."
"Does that mean Operation Wolf is done?"
Emma looked over at him and smiled. "No. It is still a good plan. The essay got her thinking at least, but it confused her too. All this means is that it's time we change tactics. Getting her to open her eyes didn't work, so let's see how she likes jealousy."
"We are going to be family," Henry said.
"We are already a family. We just need to get your mother to realize it."