Howdy, howdy peeps. Here is your next installment! Can I just say... tonight's episode... damn. Anywhoooo, Happy reading!
17.
"Regina?" Robin whispered, standing in the door way.
"What Robin?" She huffed, flipping over to look at him.
"Is Emma asleep? I have less than awesome news from Gold."
Sitting up, the brunette folded her blanket down and crawled from the bed. "What is it?" she asked, throwing her robe back on.
"Come with me," he sighed, leading her out into the hall.
"Robin…" She stopped, slamming her hands down on her hips. "What?"
"Well… We might be having visitors."
She raised a sleepy brow at her husband. "Visitors?"
"Apparently the houses were Emma, Ruby and Jefferson… I think it is… their houses flooded… bad. We are talking hip high water."
"And that has what to do with visitors?"
"Well, Gold may have asked if Ruby and the boy can stay here for a few days."
Suddenly, Regina felt wide awake. "Excuse me?"
"We can't just leave them out in the cold, Regina… They are good kids."
"Why doesn't Gold just put them in a different place?" Her tone was beginning to sharpen.
"He doesn't have anything available right now… Just.. three nights… that's all he needs to do repairs."
Regina rolled her eyes, "Whatever. They are sleeping with you."
"Speaking of sleeping with me…"
"What?"
"There is more."
"More?" Her bitch face was rapidly approaching.
"The guy from the diner…"
Her jaw tightened. "Killian?" she hissed through her teeth.
"He um… will be joining them."
"Oh?" she laughed in annoyance. "Is that all?"
"Also, Ruby has a dog."
Regina rolled her head back and stared at the ceiling for a few seconds before bringing her eyes down to glare at her all too caring husband. "Jesus, Robin. Where do you think we are going to put three college students and a dog?"
"We will make the room…. They are Emma's family… and she doesn't even know yet. When she wakes up; do you think she would be less worried, knowing that her lover is taking in the little bit of family that she has?"
Releasing a long sigh, she let her body fall to the side, her shoulder against the wall. "Why do you have to put it like that?"
"It's the right thing to do, darling."
"Whatever." She shook her head. "Fine. What the hell time is it?" she asked, raking her fingers down her face.
"Almost ten."
"Is the power back on yet?"
"No, but the rain stopped."
"Well, that's good at least. I guess I will go wake the princess and break the news to her." Regina stood up straight, turning to walk back to her bedroom. As she turned, her eyes met foggy green ones.
"I heard." Emma said softly, before pulling a shirt down over her tank top.
"Emma, I'm sorry. We will go over and get whatever we can save…" Regina started.
"Eh. As long as no one was hurt, I don't guess it matters too much to me. All I had was a box of shit, art supplies and some clothes. Everything can be replaced."
"Well," the brunette turned to her husband. "Do these three know just how lucky they are?"
"I may have texted Ruby a few hours ago," he smiled. "They will be here shortly."
"Why am I not surprised by that?" Regina scoffed, rubbing her temples. "Fine. I guess I should put some clothes on."
As the brunette turned, yet again, to head into her room; Emma caught her face in her finger tips. Looking the woman in the eyes, Emma kissed her gently on the mouth. "Thank you."
"Oh, you know, anything for you." She smiled, shooing the blonde away. "Go wake up the boys, would you?"
"Sure." Emma smiled happily. "Lemme grab some pants."
#
"Roland?" The blonde whispered, gently rubbing the dark haired boy's arm. "Hey kid, it's time to wake up."
"But I don't want to get up," the boy yawned. "I'm warm under here."
"I know, I know but we are going to have people over soon so you have to get dressed so you can show them around." She took a step back.
"Who?"
"My friends from the pizza place. Their houses flooded last night so, until Mr. Gold can get the houses fixed up, they will be staying here."
Roland stared at her from under heavy lids. "There were an awful lot of people with you at that place."
"Oh, not all of them will be here." She laughed. "Just Ruby, Jefferson and Killi."
"Grace's dad will be here?" He asked, sitting up hastily.
"Uh, yea… is that a problem?" Emma watched as the boy darted from his bed and threw on the same clothes he had worn the day before.
"Nope. I'm awake, you can go now," he smiled.
"Okay." She stood in the doorway while Roland began scrambling to clean his room. After a few minutes, Emma was bored. "I'll um, go wake your brother," she mumbled, throwing a thumb up in the direction of the sitting room.
"Right." He continued to gather loose articles of clothing, slamming them into a hamper that he stashed in a closet.
Emma turned and began her walk to the kitchen. "Boys," she mumbled, shaking her head. When she stepped out onto the tile, she noticed that her castle was still standing in the living room floor. She mentally patted herself on the back as she made her way around the sofa. Squatting down, she crawled into the tent.
"Hey kid?"
Oliver shifted slightly under his blanket.
"Oliver."
"hmm?"
"It's time to get up, dude. We have to get this castle taken down before the company gets here?" She said, softly.
"I love company." He said, sitting up.
"Well, look who is bright eyed and bushy tailed this morning."
"It's because of you. The castle helped me sleep."
"Good. Happy to help." Emma smiled, backing out from under the blankets. "Go get dressed and I'll pack the castle away."
"Alright," he smiled, emerging from the structure.
As Oliver padded down the hallway, Emma walked over to the giant window on the far wall. For a few, long minutes, she fought with the heavy curtains. Just as she thought she would never find a way through them, her fingers managed to find the opening between the fabrics. "Lord." She huffed, drawing them back. Sun light poured in through the glass, illuminating the room fully for the first time since she had been in the house. "Well, that's better."
She quickly began folding the blankets and laying them out in the chair that Robin usually occupied. After she had a decent pile balancing on the cushion, she pulled the chairs one by one, back to the table.
"How do you feel about polygamy?" Regina asked from the doorway.
Emma turned around slowly and looked at the woman with high brows. "As in marrying more than one person? I'm pretty sure that's illegal."
"Let's try polyamory then, how do you feel about that?"
"It's not new to me, why?" She asked, gathering up all the blankets and pillows into her arms.
"Well, I have no intention of divorcing Robin…"
"Duh, and?" she walked past the brunette and started down the hall.
Turning, Regina found herself watching as Emma's hips danced all the way to the stairs. She shook her head and started after the woman. "I want to know how you would feel if we were to be an actual couple," she said, coming up the steps.
"That's going to be tricky." Emma said, reaching the hallway on the top floor.
"Oh?"
"I'm your student… and you aren't out."
"Since when are you the rational one?" Regina laughed, leaning against the door frame.
Emma tossed the things she had been carrying onto the bed and turned to face the brunette. "I'm just saying, I don't want to screw anything up for you, Regina… You have the perfect life."
"I want you to be part of that life," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
"Am I not already?"
"Well, yes. I just mean that I would like to be with you."
"Again, are you not already?"
"Damn it, you know what I mean." Regina growled.
"Are you trying to tell me that you want us to be official?" Emma asked, sitting down on the bed.
"Is that something you would be interested in?"
For a moment, the blonde just stared at the woman. "I… uh."
"If you don't want to, what we have going now is perfectly fine, you know that. I'm not going to push it on you."
"No, I know that. I do want to be with you… and only you. I don't care who knows it… I just…" She fell silent, pulling her bottom lip in between her teeth.
"You just what?"
"Don't you think we are moving a little fast?" Emma asked, brows arched high.
Slowly, Regina walked from the doorway to the bed, coming to stop just in front of the seated woman. She squatted down to be at eye level with the blonde. "True love, Miss Swan… True love has no sense of time."
"I… uh… Yea." She smiled sideways. "You make quite the point, there… It does kind of feel like a fairytale, doesn't it?"
"A fairytale?" Regina cocked her brow at the woman, "Why are we talking about fairy tales?"
"Well, I just mean that 'true love' is one of those things that you only hear about in fairy tales… It's a fictional basis that gives people hope."
"No," the brunette leaned forward, cupping a pale jaw. "True love is not fictional."
"um…"
Regina caught a pale lip between her own. For a moment, they were locked. Emma's eyes fluttered closed as the contact sent her stomach into summersaults. When their lips separated, Emma stared into the caramel eyes.
"Did you feel something?" Regina whispered.
The blonde turned bashful, she smiled and looked own to her lap. "Yea."
"You know what that means?"
"What?"
"It is true love."
Emma chuckled lightly, "so I guess it is."
#
A loud knocking at the door had Robin floating down the hall. He stopped to fix his hair and straighten his shirt before pulling the door open. There, on the front steps, stood three rather bored looking people.
"Well, don't look too excited to be here."
"My house is under water." Ruby sighed, breezing past him, walking out into the hall. "Should I be jumping for joy?" Dodger walked uneasy at the girl's side, all the way down the hall.
"Ey Ruby, don't be that-a way. The man is opening his home to us." Killian called after her. "Have some respect."
"She is just nervous." Jefferson sighed. "Mills makes her uneasy."
Robin snorted. "Regina makes Ruby nervous?"
"Yup. Something about having slept with the same woman."
"Ruby slept with Regina?" A stupid grin was all over Killian's face.
"Really?" Jeff stared at his shaggy haired friend. "No, she slept with Emma."
Robin stepped away from the door, leaning his back against the wall. "Now, that… could be interesting."
Killi arched a brow at the man. "I thought you were gay, mate."
"Rrrr! I am not gay!" Robin whined, crossing his arms rather dramatically.
"Yea… and I'm the mad hatter." Jefferson laughed, following Killian through the door.
"I swear." Robin huffed, closing the front door behind them. "Just go to the sitting room. All the way down the hall," he pointed toward the kitchen.
As the three guys made their way into the kitchen, Killian made note of his surroundings. "This is a really nice place, Robin. Really nice."
Jefferson took a seat on the sofa, opposite Ruby who was already half asleep, Dodger at her feet.
"Thank you." Robin nodded as he came to stop at the island. "We practically built it ourselves."
As Robin leaned his weight down on the counter top, the sound of little running feet came from down the hall. A moment passed before Oliver came barreling into the kitchen, a giant smile across his face.
"well," Killian smiled. "Who's this little one?"
"My name is Oliver," he said, looking up at the man.
"He is mine and Regina's youngest." Robin said, walking to the side door, leading outside.
"Hello Oliver, I'm Killian… Most people call me Killi."
For a minute or so, the boy took the time to look the man up and down, taking in his attire. "Are you a pirate?" he asked suddenly.
"A pirate?" Killian laughed, looking down at his leather jacket, dark jeans and black boots. A broad grin pulled at his lips. "I did live in a boat for a while."
"You look like a pirate."
Killian knelled down and looked the boy in the face. Silently, he curled a finger between them; beckoning the boy to come closer. When Oliver complied, the man tiled his head, whispering in his ear. "If I were a pirate, I would be a good pirate."
Oliver smiled, cupping the man's face, briefly. "I won't tell," he whispered, just before his eyes landed on Dodger. "oh," he turned, his eyes locked on the dog. "You have a dog."
"He isn't mine, lad. That cur belongs to Ruby… names Dodger."
Slowly, the boy stepped a little closer to the mutt lying in the floor. His hand was outstretched, his face was emotionless. "Hi Dodger, I'm Oliver," he whispered. "Can I pet you?"
Looking up at the boy, Dodger stayed low to the ground. His ears twitched around, listening to what the kid had to say. When Oliver got close enough to him, Dodger lunged forward, nearly knocking the boy backward with surprise. The dog stood by Oliver's feet, motionless. The boy slowly made his way to sit on the floor. As soon as his legs where crossed, Dodger padded forward and sat in his lap.
"Looks like you have a new friend." Killian laughed, crossing his arms. "It took him months to get close to me."
"I love animals." Oliver beamed up at the man while steadily scratching the dog's back.
"Clearly."
#
"What is that god awful smell?" Regina hissed, turning her nose toward the door. "I bet your hippie friends have arrived."
"Nope… something is definitely burning."
"Burning?!" The brunette turned before, losing her balance, falling backward onto the floor.
"Yup." Emma chuckled, getting to her feet. She extended a hand to the woman on the floor, pulling her up before they darted down the stairs.
When they got into the kitchen, smoke was swirling in from the back window. Emma looked down at her friends napping on the sofa and both boys lying in the floor with the dog. "Hey, where is Killian?" she whispered.
"He went out back to help Papa," Roland smiled. "I think he caught something on fire."
Emma turned to look at Regina. The blonde couldn't help but giggle a little at the look of pure horror on her lover's face. "Well, are we going to go look or should we just stay here and let them burn the house down?"
Without a word, the brunette marched right past her and straight out the side door. "I take it , we are going to go check on your dad, stay put." Emma said to the boys before disappearing out the same door.
Following the trail of smoke, Emma made her way around the corner of the house and into the back yard. Her eyes scanned the area, falling on Regina, inches from her husband's face. Behind them, Killian had a garden hose and was suffocating the tall, orange flames that shot from inside a pile of brush.
"Have you any idea how dangerous this is?!" Regina snapped.
"Hey, whats going on?" Emma asked, approaching the fire.
"My genius husband thought it would be a good plan t start a fire in the back yard." She huffed.
"To cook on, Regina." Robin sighed. "People are hungry."
"And by people," she said, snarling, "you mean you."
"Of course I mean me."
"See now," Regina brought her hands to her hips. "I can't even begin-"
"Hey, stop." Emma intervened, stepping between them. "I can work with this."
The brunette arched her brows high, pressing her lips together. Instead of snapping at the blonde, as she was about to do, Regina simply waved her hand toward the flames and stepped aside.
Emma walked a circle around the thickly smoking pile before she stopped by Killian. "Just spray the edges, saturate the ground around it, it'll keep contained until I can get some rocks around it."
"On it, Boss." Killian nodded, pointing his stream to the edges of the fire.
"Regina, go wake up Jefferson and have him come help me get these rocks up. Robin, help me out, here." She said, already on her way to the far end of the yard, where there was a decent sized pile of creek rock.
Regina hurried away and Robin made his way to the rock pile. "Can't he do this and I'll keep the fire contained?" he whined.
"A little dirt under your nails will do you good." Emma laughed, forcing her fingertips under a large, flat rock.
Robin made a face but he knew better than to argue. He grabbed up the least dirt covered rock he could find and followed behind the blonde.
"Put them in a circle, on top of where the water is pooling." She said, pointing to the mud ring around the brush.
Robin nodded and dropped his rock down into the mud, flinching as wet dirt sprayed the bottom of his light blue pants. "I'll have to throw these in the fire when I'm done with this." He sighed, looking down at the splatters.
Without warning, Killian turned the hose to Robin's pants. He successfully removed the mud, soaking the man in the process. Robin screeched and stood stock still, cringing, his hands in the air and his eyes squeezed tightly shut.
Emma came up behind Robin with another rock. She placed it on the ground, dipped her hand into the water hole and drew out a palm full of mud.
Regina and Jefferson emerged from the house just in time to see Robin, gasp as Emma took the mud from her palm and smeared it down his neck and chest. Regina launched into a guttural laugh as she watched her husband freak out.
"See now, you don't have to worry about burning your clothes, you can just jump into the fire." Emma smiled, patting more mud onto his back before walking away.
Jefferson ran across the yard to walk alongside the blonde. They both bent over and grabbed their rocks in unison. As they turned back to the fire, a giant mud ball came flying through the air and splattered all over their faces.
"Robin!" Regina laughed, bracing herself against the base of the tree they had let the squirrel scamper up.
Emma dropped her rock and ran a hand down her face, peeling away the mud from her eyes. When she could open her eyes, she saw Robin standing where she had left him with mud half way up his arms.
"Oh-ho ho." Emma laughed, walking toward her attacker.
Robin began backing up. He lowered his upper body, bending his knees, ready to run. "You started it." He smiled.
Before he could dart away, the blonde launched off the ground and on top of the man, pulling him down into the mud. Killian walked around to the other side of the fire and began spraying them with the cold hose water. Soon, there was the laughter of children and the barking of Dodger as everyone made their way into the yard.
Before Regina noticed that her kids were watching, Roland had already grabbed some mud and joined in the fight; jumping up and smearing mud on his mother's face. Slowly, mouth wide open, Regina looked down at her oldest. Her eyes grew wide as he laughed and darted off, jumping on top of Robin and Emma.
Oliver looked up at his mother, his face was as solid as stone. Slowly, a smirk grew on his face. As he was about to take off, Regina grabbed him around the stomach. "Oh no you don't." she hissed. Oliver screamed and giggled as he fought her grip. Before she could even figure out a response to the madness, Killian turned the hose on her. She froze, releasing the ginger into the chaos.
"Let the lad have some fun, kill joy." Killian yelled from across the yard.
"Why, you." Regina called, setting her sights on the man. Three or four determined strides later, she was in his face. The whole time, Killian had the water stream centered on the woman's chest. Now that she was inches from him, the spray was covering the him as well.
"What the hell?" Ruby said, shaking her head. She looked over the yard. Robin and Emma were still rolling around, now accompanied by Roland and Oliver, and Regina was wrestling the hose away from Killi. Before she could register that Jefferson was not in the fight, he had her off the ground, carrying her into the mix. "No, Jeff, no!" she screamed as he dumped her into the mud hole.
"You asshole!" She yelled, jumping up and catching him around the back of the neck. He went down, laughing. Face-planting into the mud, Jefferson began fanning his arms and legs out in the soupy mess.
"Mud angels?!" Oliver laughed, mimicking the man's movements.
Emma and Roland joined in. Soon, they had dug up half of the yard and replaced it with muddy, human shaped holes. After a while, they were back to throwing mud wads at each other, while fighting off Dodger's excited claws.
Without warning, a body fell right on top of Emma. She looked up to see Regina, covered head to toe in water and mud. The brunette stood proudly with one hand on her hip and the water hose in the other. Killian moaned as he rolled off the blonde, onto his back. "Bloody hell, Regina." He laughed, trying to sit up; a steady flow of water, gushing on his head.
"Teach you to mess with me, Mr. Jones." Regina said sternly. "Now," she cut the water. "that you hooligans have destroyed my yard… how about we get back to the task at hand. In case you were wondering, no electric means no hot water… I'll spray everyone off when we are finished here." She looked down at the grinning face of Killian. "If anyone even so much as looks at this water hose, I will drown them."
"oooh look out." Robin laughed, pulling himself from the mud.
Regina glared at her husband as he stood up. Without warning, she shot him in the face, knocking him back to the ground. "Anyone else?" she smirked, looking down at the thoroughly amused faces below her.
"Nope." Emma laughed. "I think we are good."
For the next twenty minutes or so, the group arranged stones around the fire while the kids played with the mud-caked dog and Regina stood by the house, armed with the hose. When the ring was complete, they all stood around the, now under control, fire.
"You may as well clean me first, my queen." Robin said, pulling his shirt off. "I'll see if I can find some clothes for everyone before we go find something to cook."
Ruby silently eyed Robin's newly exposed body as Regina sprayed him off. Her gaze rolled down his arms, chest and abs as if it were the water droplets on his skin. Noticing that his woman was checking out another man, Jefferson followed suit; peeling his shirt off and wringing out the water. Ruby's eyes shifted to his body and she chuckled at his obviously flexed core.
"Well, if you blokes are showing yours off…" Killian poked fun while too removing his shirt. "I believe I have you both beat." He smiled, flexing his arms.
Regina rolled her eyes at the men before looking over at Emma. "Actually," Emma smiled. "I win," she smirked, pulling her shirt midway up her body.
The men all examined her obnoxiously tone abdomen before all agreeing that she was in fact the victor.
"I thought that I was dating a woman." Regina said sarcastically, eying her trophy of a lover. "but she sure acts like a man," she rolled her eyes.
Roland looked up from playing with the dog and met Regina's eyes as they fell on him.
"Woop." Killian said, noticing the boys on the ground. His brows high and eyes wide, he turned completely around and walked away without another word.
Ruby and Jefferson stood awkwardly for a moment before slowly walking backwards and eventually, away.
"Roland." Robin said, knelling down.
The boy remained seated on the ground, staring at Regina. She looked as though she would pass out under her son's gaze. When Robin got down to his son's level, the boy shifted his gaze to his father's face.
"We need to talk about this." Robin said softly.
After a moment, Roland shook his head. "No we don't."
"Roland, I'm sorry." Regina practically cried, crumpling down next to the boys.
"Don't be sorry." The boy smiled. "I had a feeling that something funny was going on with you two. I mean, no one ever stays the night here but us and you look at Emma much differently than you look at anyone else…"
Regina and Robin stared silently at their son, both holding their mouths slightly ajar.
"Really, it isn't a big deal. When you love someone, you love someone… and seeing that it doesn't bother or worry Papa that you guys are together… why would it bother me?" He asked, staring at Regina. "And besides," he looked up at Emma. "She is pretty awesome, I don't blame you."
Emma released the breath she had been holding in. As the air hissed from her lips, a relived smiled showed through. "Thanks kid."
"I guess I was wrong." Oliver looked up at Emma. "He isn't all the dumb after all." He laughed, turning back to Dodger.
"Oliver, what did I tell you earlier?!" Emma groaned, throwing her hand up.
"She is a lot like mom," Roland laughed, looking at his dad. "She is already getting on to us… I mean, what's having one more mom going to hurt?"
I'm doing my best to round this bad boy out. I'm looking at 3 more chapters... and I'm going to try to keep to that goal. So, if you are wanting to see something happen that isn't smutty or fluffy goodness (which will certainly be in there), shoot me a comment and I'll see if I can give it to you. Thank you all for your continued love and support for this fic, I never thought it would go this far... or this interesting, honestly. Thanks for reading! -DR