I'm a day late and I'm sorry lol! I was planning to post it yesterday to make our lack of new Once Upon a Time Sunday a little easier ;) but oh well, life got busy. Here you are! Turned out a little different than I had planned but I quite like it :) enjoy! Henry will be finding out in the next chapter! Please revieeeeew! I love reviews! :)
"Hey, hey!" She called with a laugh as both Henry and David hurried past her in to the house laughing and chattering with the grocery bags in their arms and hands, "careful!" But they paid no mind and continued on in to the kitchen. She laughed quietly to herself and held one hand on the doorknob as she waited for Emma to walk inside, giving the blonde one last look over before she willingly allowed her in to her home. She had to try, as per David's convincing request, to smooth down the relationship between herself and his daughter.
Not that she wanted to in the slightest.
"Will you be staying for dinner, Miss Swan?" She asked cooly while her knee jerk reaction was to throw the blonde out and selfishly enjoy Henry's company for herself.
"...what?"
"There will be plenty of food so whether you stay or not is not of much concern in that relation. I just need to know if I am setting another place at the table."
"Uh...sure...I guess I could stay..." She furrowed her brow in confusion as she followed the brunette toward the kitchen. The extended olive branch caught her completely off guard and she didn't quite know what to do with herself, "unless of course you're planning to cook with apples. In that case I'll pass."
"Well I believe I may just have to change the menu plan," she smirked over her shoulder and then straightened her neck with an amused hum through her lips. "Apple turnovers for dessert?" She called as she walked in to the kitchen and both David and Henry cheered their approval while Emma shook her head and breathed out a laugh behind her.
There was the snappy quick tongued brunette she knew. It was a relief to see she was still in there and hadn't been brainwashed.
"Henry, dear," she called as she placed her share of bags on the island with a smile, "I am going to show David where the shower is, will you and Emma get a start on putting away the groceries?"
"Sure mum!" He laughed happily and David navigated through the kitchen toward her.
"Oh and just leave the food that goes in to the fridge," she added as she started walking away, "I still have to clean it out."
"Kay mum!"
With a soft laugh hummed quietly to herself she watched her son start to work around her home again and then she turned to follow David out. She found him standing in the foyer with a wide smile and his head cocked in adoration so she lifted an eyebrow in a question as to what the look was for.
"Thank you," he smiled down at her when she stopped in front of him.
"For what?"
"For trying with Emma."
"Well I'm sure it won't last very long at all once she realizes her dear mother isn't going to join the welcome back party. In fact I don't think she'll make it to dinner before she questions why you are still here with me and not in Snow's presence."
David shook his head a little but kept his smile in place as he lifted his hand to gently tuck her hair behind her ear, "I know. But we'll get a bit of a start," he whispered and she sighed quietly, "it will all be okay."
She gave a subtle nod in to his touch and breathed out a halfhearted whisper, "I hope so..."
David let out a quiet hum and moved his thumb over her temple and the longer he looked at her the more the desire for her burned in his gut. So slowly his gentle hand grew heavier and his fingers moved from her temple in to her hair and when her eyes flicked up to his with a question to the change, he dropped his head and startled her with a fierce kiss. It wasn't long before she gave in to his demanding kiss and kissed him back hard and fast, pressing herself against him and lifting her hands to grip his short hair.
The risk of getting caught heightened his senses and adrenaline raced through his body and it all only made the frantic passionate kiss more thrilling. He broke it seconds later though and grinned madly when she rose up a little higher for more. But he stopped her with a finger pressed a finger against her parted lips, "danger," he whispered slowly with an equally slow paced tilt of his head as her lips curled in to an open smile beneath his finger.
He hissed quietly through his teeth as he breathed in and moved his finger down over her lips and watched her bottom lip move under his thumb when he wiped away the smudged lipstick. He was not holding on very well to the shreds of common sense and restraint he had left. Not when she stood there with such hunger for him.
"There is a guest bath upstairs to the left. Cold water is on the right," she whispered with a smirk and pulled her bottom lip between her teeth as she turned and walked away, "a change of clothes will be outside the door when you're finished."
...
"Mum...mum...mum..."
Emma lifted her head from her cutting to see why Regina wasn't answering only to find the brunette silently watching Henry with a happy smile that had Emma smiling in response. She was soaking in every time she heard the word 'mum' come from him. It was sweet and when Henry lifted his head from his task of pulling the leaves off of herbs and found her watching him, he smiled in return and breathed out a quiet laugh that had Regina smiling just a little more.
"I have a question," he chuckled and she smiled and nodded her head for him to continue, "can I stay here tonight?"
"Of course you can," she smiled brightly and felt her heart swell in her chest, "this is your home. You never have to ask to stay," she shook her head and he grinned excitedly and returned to the herbs.
"Can I go check on the phone? See if it's done downloading everything yet?"
"Hurry back," she nodded with a playful smile and Henry laughed and jumped off the counter and ran off.
"So," Emma started with a smile as she cut another potato in to quarters, "what happened over there?"
"That is a very ambiguous question, Miss Swan."
"Alright fine, if you're going to be like that," Emma chuckled and took another potato, "what happened that had you becoming so...I don't know...friendly?"
"I assure you I am the same person as I have always been, Miss Swan," she answered without turning around to face her, "David has just gotten through to me. That is all."
"...how?"
Regina couldn't help the laugh that rose in to her throat at the blonde's incredibly puzzled voice, "he didn't give up."
"It's done!" Henry cheered as he ran back in to the kitchen with the phone in hand and jumped back up on the counter and began navigating through it.
"Start to finish," Regina instructed with a smile and looked at him sideways with a smirk, "no jumping ahead."
"Alright, no jumping ahead," he agreed with a giddy laugh and started the first video only to laugh a little more as his mom and David figured out the mechanics of their first video. With Emma laughing quietly at her place next to the island, Henry chuckled and stared the next video and was addressed by David. "You're on a horse! No wait! A unicorn! Mom you're on a unicorn!"
"Mhm," she laughed quietly through her smile.
"What? Let me see," Emma shook her head and put down her knife as she walked over to Henry's side.
...
"How are things going in here?" David asked simply as he walked back in to the kitchen only to laugh when Henry yelled in excitement and Emma joined in.
"It's a dragon!"
"That thing is huge!" Emma exclaimed as she leaned in closer to the phone, "oh my god! You killed it! Just like that?!"
"Just like that," Regina smirked, gloating just a little as David came up beside her and checked the potatoes in the boiling water.
"There are more! I can hear them! This is so cool!"
"It gets better, kid," David grinned and Henry looked up at him with the inability to believe it could possibly get any better.
"Ah you killed another one!" Henry laughed in victory and then bounced around in excitement on the counter causing Emma to take his wrists in her hands to get him to stop shaking the phone, "David you killed one too!"
"Couldn't let your mum have all the fun," he chuckled and Regina rolled her eyes and scoffed quietly.
"I was cleaning up your mess!"
"You can use a bow and arrow?!"
"This is so awesome," Henry pushed his head back with a wild laugh and Emma pointed at the screen.
"Oh, oh, oh! Look! What the hell is that?!"
"Ogres. The only way to kill them is to hit them through the eye," Regina explained easily and checked on the chicken thighs in the oven, holding back a smile when David placed a hand on her shoulder and leaned down with her.
"Smells delicious."
"Of course," she grinned arrogantly and David breathed out a laugh as he stood up.
"Oh my god, no way," Henry chuckled lowly and Emma breathed out an anxious laugh as well as the purple smoke dissipated from around Regina. When a large black reptilian head rose from the smoke as well as a set of enormous black wings, both he and Emma went wild and laughed loudly when she proceeded to push off the ground and fly in to the sky to meet the last dragon head on.
Regina watched the pair's reactions with a wide smile and a quiet laugh and allowed David to take the potatoes off the burner and pour them in to the colander. She had never seen Henry so excited. His eyes were wide and filled with joy and exhilaration and his laughter was free and his voice was loud as he kept his attention locked on the phone.
"You're falling, you're falling, you're-oh my god! That is incredible!" Emma laughed and covered her mouth as Regina's dragon form stood proudly over her kill.
"Did you breath fire?!" Henry asked excitedly, lifting his eyes up from the phone for only a moment to catch his mother's nod and slow smirk, "you did?!" Quickly he dropped his eyes down to the phone again and heard David urging her to breathe fire for the camera. Her low dragon rumbling laugh had him grinning madly and he saw smoke rising from her nostrils and the anticipation grew. When the screen lit up with bright oranges and yellows, he and Emma laughed and cheered and pointed at the screen of the phone. "This is the best thing ever!"
Regina laughed under her breath and couldn't wipe the smile off her face. Not even if she had wanted to. When the video ended she walked up and quickly snatched up the phone from her son's hold and listened to both he and Emma whine out their protest, "after dinner," she smiled and nodded toward the dining room, "go set the table."
"Can't you just use magic?" He grinned and she raised an warning eyebrow to which he laughed at and slid down from the counter, "alright," he drawled through his laughter and grabbed four plates from the cupboard before heading to the dining room.
"Taste test," David chimed and handed Regina a spoon with a small scoop of mashed potatoes on it.
Regina turned to face him and took the spoon and put it in her mouth, smirking a little when his eyes fell to the utensil as it left her lips. She nodded and hummed in approval as she swallowed, "very nice."
"Excellent. I'll go put them on the table then," he smiled down at her with a proud rock of his head.
As he walked away, Regina opened the utensil drawer to accommodate her son as he ran back in to the kitchen. He laughed when he saw the drawer open and quickly grabbed he appropriate amount of forks, knives, and spoons before running off again.
"Where's Snow?" Emma questioned with a quiet laugh as Henry ran out of sight. Regina remained oddly neutral as she turned to pull the chicken out of the oven.
"Her and I do not get along."
"Well neither David or I got along with you either until now," she reasoned with an innocent laugh as Regina put the pan of chicken on the stovetop and closed the oven door.
"I imagine Snow is none too pleased with that."
"Alright fine, even if you two are unwilling to be on speaking terms why is David here instead of with Snow? She's been driving me insane with all this talk about having to get him back home before you killed him. Surely David's been anxious to get back to her as well."
"Of course," she answered simply and finished placing the chicken on a platter.
"Then why is he here?" She pressed and Regina exhaled out her nose and wiped her hands on a towel before tossing the towel on the counter as she turned to face her with her hands hanging in front of her, one hand holding the wrist of the other. Her face said it all. It was blatant. "You and David are...y-you and David are-oh my god are you serious?!" She hissed through her teeth so as not to alarm Henry in the dining room as he and David laughed. Regina remained silent and calm which only angered her further, "this is low, Regina," she pointed at the floor and gritted her teeth, "just," she shook her head and tried to find the right words but turned and left instead and the sound of stilettos followed her out the front door.
"Miss Swan," she called as she closed the door behind her and stepped down on to her front path.
"No, don't 'Miss Swan' me right now, Regina!" She yelled as she spun around only to find the brunette closer than she had previously thought, "why did you do this?! I get that you have this blood feud with Snow but this?!"
"Why is it you immediately assume it to be my fault?" She ignored the scoff from the hurt blonde and continued and tried hard to keep the bitter tone out of her voice, "because your dear father couldn't possibly do anything wrong?"
"If you are trying to get me to believe that he-"
"I am not trying to get you to believe anything, Miss Swan. I am telling you the truth. David is no one special, he is no different than any other man despite what the title of 'Prince Charming' leads others to believe."
"So you are telling me that out of the fucking blue he just decided it would be a good idea to be with you?!"
"Alright let's be clear on one thing, Miss Swan," she raised her voice angrily and took a step closer and pointed a finger to herself, "I am not just some monster from a fairy tale or a Disney movie! Yes I have torn your little family apart and I do apologize to you for that because no child should have to grow up without loving parents but I am not going to stand here and let you put the sole blame for this on me! I am just as regrettably human as the rest of you."
"You could have said no," she growled and felt her chest tighten with anger and sorrow, "you have done enough, you have caused enough pain to us all, you could have said no!"
"I could not say no!"
"Why the hell not?!"
"Because I am alone!" She yelled, her temper finally snapping as she swallowed back her tears, "I could not say no to him because he treats me like I am worth something! I fought him for as long as I could but he kept pushing until I gave in to him," she shook her head, her jaw tense and her voice shaky but stern and yet it kept a certain level of gentleness, "I have not been loved since I was eighteen years old. I did not have a choice in the matter. Every time I tried to stray from the dark and in to the light I was manipulated and pulled back in by Rumplestiltskin or my mother until anger was all I had left.
So no I could not say no. I could not say no to the man who broke me and forced me to feel again, I could not say no to the man who showed me that I was safe in his care, who showed me kindness and affection. I could not say no to the man who taught me that it was okay to come out of the dark and fall in love again," she regretted the last confession as soon as she had said it but she held her ground and bit her tongue for letting out something so personal and vulnerable.
"You love him?" She whispered and studied Regina so as not to miss a single detail as she clenched and unclenched her jaw with unease.
"Doesn't matter what I feel," she whispered back with a shake of her head and folded her arms across her chest, "I'm sure he'll be running back to his dear Snow in no time at all."
"No, no I don't think he will," she shook her head and laughed angrily, "no I am quite certain he is here to stay because there is no reason for him to cause unnecessary pain! You tore us apart, you ruined our lives, and he still decided to spend his time here instead of with his wife. He doesn't manipulate people like you do, he doesn't play games. So you must have done something huge to get him to pick you. What I hate most about this is that Henry is finally happy," she shook her head and Regina's entire being just slumped in sorrow and defeat, "and now he's going to learn about you two and his world is going to fall apart."
"Please don't tell him," Regina pleaded in a whisper and shook her head, "please, he doesn't need to hear about this from anyone but me," but Emma didn't say another word and simply shook her head at her and spun on her heels and walked away, "Miss Swan," she called and started walking after her but the furious blonde simply ignored her so Regina caught her arm in her hand, "Emma!"
"Don't touch me!"
She was too startled by the sudden sensation of magic coming from Emma to defend herself and because of it Regina was sent violently spinning through the air and landed hard on the path. She couldn't gather her thoughts fast enough to catch herself either so she landed with bit of a bounce and rolled a couple times with left over momentum before she hit the stair up to her front door hard enough to blur her vision for a few moments. She fought back for the air knocked from her lungs upon her hard landing and pushed herself up on her hands and curled her legs up beside her a little, cringing at the sting of the scrapes on her legs and the bruises that were going to appear over the rest of her body later.
She snapped her gaze up to Emma and the blonde looked back at her with wide startled eyes and then down at her shaking eyes and back to her, "Emma," she called quietly and carefully.
"I...I don't-I..." She gasped for air and pulled her eyes from Regina on the ground and to her own shaking hands.
Quickly and gracefully, Regina pushed herself to her feet and hurried to Emma, completely ignoring that pain that came with the movement, "calm down," she instructed quietly but Emma only started to fight her touch, "Emma I'm serious calm down before you kill someone," she whispered sternly and immediately the blonde stopped fighting her and snapped her full nervous attention to her.
"I have to get out of here."
"Alright," she nodded but did not hide the urgency in her voice, "but you need to stay calm. Magic is linked with emotion and you do not need it firing off again. It is so easy to snap a neck," she whispered and saw the fear set firmly in her wide eyes.
"I don't want to know how you know that..."
Regina shook her head in agreement and lowered Emma's hands, "deep breaths. Go home. Calm down."
"Don't tell anyone."
"I won't tell a soul until you say so."
...
"Where's Emma?"
"She had to go," Regina answered with a shrug of her shoulders and a small smile, "a call at the sheriff's station," she supplied and ruffled his hair with her hand and he laughed quietly as she walked with him from the foyer back to the kitchen, "go put the chicken on the table and I'll put the turnovers in the oven."
"Alright."
"Peas," she nodded and handed the bowl to David and he took them but put them down again, "what?"
"You okay?"
"Of course."
"You're favouring your right leg."
"I am not."
David raised his eyebrows doubtfully and her expression remained unchanged until it twisted with pain and a sharp hiss made it out through her teeth when he pushed down abruptly on her right shoulder causing her to force more weight on her right leg, "what happened?"
"I promised I wouldn't say," she grumbled and swatted his hands off her, "I'll be fine. Leave me be. I just haven't had enough time to heal myself completely yet."
"Regina-"
"Peas," she nodded to the bowl and turned her back to him, ending the conversation there and putting the turnovers in the oven.