Authors note: Oops, so sorry for the long wait, I was kind off stuck on this chapter. Writers block is a bitch. To answer Viv: I hadn't even thought about that yet, but no, I didn't get the name from The Good Wife. Hope you all enjoy this chapter, it's a little emotional and there's some big progress. ;)
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It has already been ten minutes since Emma had stepped foot inside the Mills' residence for the second time that day. And still, there had been made no sound from either of the women. Regina sounded somewhat upset at the phone, but now, there was not even a small hint that could support that thought.
The brunette was just sitting there on her beautiful white couch, staring at something behind Emma. And Emma was just standing there, she didn't know whether to remain standing, or to sit down. If it would be the latter, where did she need to sit? On the couch next to the brunette, or on the chair facing the couch.
The chair.
Definetly the chair.
That way the coffee table could be some sort off a barrier if Regina had indeed decided to go all hormone crazy on her ass. Which to be honest, Emma definitely did not want. But a sentence with both 'Regina' and 'ass' in it did sound appealing.
You're getting off track, Swan! This is definetly not helping your case.
The blonde sat down as slowly as possible, giving Regina enough time to object if the brunette didn't want her to sit. "So?" Emma breathed out awkwardly and tapped her knee with her index finger. "You wanted to talk to me about something?"
The sound of her voice seemed to snap Regina out of whatever deep thoughts the brunette had been thinking about. Regina's brown eyes shifted from the invisible spot behind Emma's head, to meeting the blonde's green orbs. "Yes, I did, didn't I?" The small croak in the brunette's voice was the only indication that Emma had been right by thinking Regina sounded upset at the phone.
"Ask away." Emma tried to lighten the mood by adding a small smile to her words. "I can't promise I'll answer, though."
"Would you've slept with him if you knew he had a four year old son and a pregnant wife at home?"
The words came out before Regina could really realise she was talking. But she didn't back down once they were swirling around in the suddenly too small space. She needed those answers, some confirmation that it wasn't bad that she was actually starting to like the blonde. And for that she needed to hear a loud and clear 'no'. At least she thought she needed it.
Her head cocked to the side when she saw Emma's mouth fall open like a fish on land. The blonde was sucking in air as she stared at Regina like she'd just been caught red handed committing a murder or something.
"I... What? I'm uh- well. What?" Emma stammered out and her eyes turned almost comically wide.
"Would you have slept with my husband if you'd known he had a son and a pregnant wife back home?" Regina repeated, still managing to keep some of the hurt from her shaking voice. Right now was not the time to let her already haywire emotion go free.
It still showed on her face though. And in her eyes.
Always in her eyes.
"I..." Emma tried to keep her breathing under control. She was so glad she as not drinking anything because she was sure it would be spewed out over either Regina, or the chair. Either way it would probably cause her to be killed.
"No." The blonde stated after she finally found het bearings again. "I would've never slept with him if I knew he had a son and a wife, a wife who's pregnant for gods sake." She shifted her legs and dared to look the brunette in her teary brown orbs. "I would've never done such a thing, Regina. That's not me at all."
Regina let out a broken sigh as she dropped her head down and into both of her palms. "Dammit." She cursed softly and she shook her head, the loud and clear 'no' she wanted to hear hadn't helped one bit.
Emma could only stare with a surprised and confused expression on her face. Had she just given the wrong answer? Had she been wrong by answering the question in the first place? She was totally lost right now. "Is that- did you want to hear something else?" She asked carefully, not wanting to set the woman off even more.
"Yes." The brunette mumbled softly and lifted her teary eyes up again. "That was the wrong answer!" She let out in a shaking voice. "Why do you have to be so... so kind?! Why can't I hate you?!"
"Wha- hate me?" Emma asked, shock now evidently on her face.
"I am supposed to hate you after what you did?!" The brunette said, though it sounded unsure even to her own ears.
"I-" Emma stammered and before she could even think about what she was doing she got up from the chair and sat back down next to the distraught brunette. "Regina, you don't have to hate me. Sure, I shouldn't have been so naive and I should've asked maybe, but that doesn't change the fact that I did not know. If I had I wouldn't be sitting here right now. No one is telling you that you need to hate me. If there's one person you should hate, it's Peter. He lied, to the both of us." Her green orbs filled with tears as she pulled the now sobbing woman in her arms. "The only one who's at fault here is Peter. Not me and definetly not you."
The brunette's body started shaking as she muffled her cries in Emma's red leather jacket. "Why?" She sobbed softly and Emma had to strain to catch the words. "Why wasn't I enough? I gave him two children! I loved him! I would do anything for him!"
"You are enough, Regina." Emma said softly and hugged the pregnant woman tighter. "More than enough. He was a fool not to recognize that." The only sounds filling the living room were Regina's sobs and the sound of nails scratching on pleather as the brunette gripped Emma tighter.
She hadn't known it could be so relieving to just finally let herself be angry.
Angry at her husband.
Not Emma.
Never again Emma.
...
"I have to pick up Henry from his school." Regina's voice was groggy from her crying. She broke free out off Emma's tight grip and wiped away the smuged mascare from under her tired looking and slightly red eyes.
"I can give you a ride- you know, like friends do." Emma said nervously and swallowed. Only when a small smile curled up Regina's lips, did the blonde let out a relieved breath.
"Are we friends?" She asked, slightly amused.
"I hope so." Emma smiled and stretched her arms, her muscles were stiff from having held onto Regina. "I think we could be very good friends, if you want to."
Regina's smile widened as she nodded slightly. "Yes, I would like for us to be friends."
"Good." Emma chuckled and stood up. "I guess my first action as a friend would be to help you off this couch."
Regina crossed her arms as she lifted one eyebrow. "Who says I need help to get off this couch?"
"Just a wild guess, Regina." Emma smiled and reached out a hand. "And I don't think you have enough upper body strength to push yourself up."
Regina gasped as she slapped the blonde's hand away. "Did you just call me weak and fat in one sentence."
"No."
"Yes you did!"
Emma sighed. "I'm never going to win this argument so why don't you just grab the damn hand and let me pull you up?" A grin appeared on her face when Regina huffed and grabbed the hand in front off her. Emma easily got her to her feet again. "See, that wasn't so hard."
"Shut it, Swan." Regina grumbled, causing Emma to laugh.
"This is going to be a beautiful friendship."
Regina chuckled. "I think so too, Emma."
And even though it was quite a step from practically enemies to friends. The two women still fekt that small, lingering swirl of dissapointment.
...
"Mommy!" The moment the small boy caught sight of his brunette mother, he forced his legs to run. His little eyes wrapped around his mother's legs as Regina smiled and bent down slowly to hug her son.
"Hello, Henry. Did you have a fun day at school."
The small boy nodded widely before his eyes fell on the blonde who was awkwardly standing next to Regina.
"Why is Emma here?" He asked with confusion.
Emma lifted her eyebrows in response. To be honest she was quite surprised the little boy had remember her name.
"Emma offered to drive me here to pick you up, Henry." Regina calmly explained. "I told you that your little sister was getting in the way of me driving."
"Yes, because your belly touches the wheel!" Henry offered with a bright smile as he remember the talk.
Emma chuckled softly, but stopped when she saw Regina's glare shooting at her. The playfulness in those brown eyes didn't go unnoticed though.
"You're helping mommy? Just like daddy used to do?" He asked with innocent eyes as he grabbed his mother's hand when Regina slowly stood up. The blonde didn't miss the small wince that showed on Regina's face. She didn't know if it was because of the innocent question, or because the brunette needed to get back on her feet again.
Though, it was probably because if the question.
"You could say that, kid." Emma offered with a smile as her fingers twisted the car keys in her sweaty palms. It had been one of her nervous ticks as long as she could remember. "I'm helping your mother a little."
"Thank you!" Henry's toothy grin turned even wider- something Emma had guessed wasn't even possible, but apparently it was.
"Of course."
Regina started talking, just to get off this topic. "Maybe if you poke out your lip, Emma could stop by Granny's for some ice cream on the way back." She chuckled when Henry did exactly that.
"Can we, Emma?"
"Sure, kid." Emma chuckled and then looked at Regina with a grin. "Is this just for Henry, or do you have some kind off craving?"
"Both."
...
Progress! Thank you for reading and leave a review please. ;)