Sorry for the wait! Just had to do some tweaking here and there so things would line up :) please leave a review and let me know what you think!
"Damn it!" She yelled at herself and then followed through with an angered scream. She had been trying, quite unsuccessfully, for the past few hours to cook something remotely edible. It was going far from well. Burned or undercooked or simply unidentifiable. She couldn't seem to figure out how to work the devices in this world.
She growled furiously under her breath at the knock at the door and viciously threw her towel to the counter and stormed through he house to the front door. She swung the door open with harsh words ready on her tongue but immediately stopped dead and softened her features when she laid her eyes on her daughter. "Regina," she greeted in surprise and relaxed her stance and her grip on the door.
Regina looked her up and down and drawled out, "you haven't starved yourself to death yet?"
Cora gave a single quiet laugh and shook her head a little, "no but it is coming up to that point."
Regina didn't quite know how to react to the genuine laugh she brought out of her mother. It was quiet and short but it had happened. Then she furrowed her brow a little and looked past Cora in to the house, "what is that awful smell?"
"Not muffins."
Regina looked back to her with a small rock of her head and an unimpressed line curving her mouth gently. With a sigh she stepped in to the home and Cora pivoted out of her way and gently closed the door behind her. It wasn't difficult to find the kitchen by following the smell of burnt...something. She furrowed her brow at the muffin tray filled with a black substance and reached forward and quickly tapped her fingertips upon the metal to see if it was hot before she lifted a corner of the pan and let it drop only to point at it and spin on her heels to look at Cora, "what the hell did you do?"
"I didn't make muffins."
"I would have expected the daughter of a miller to at least know how to bake," she drawled as she turned to the stovetop again.
"Oh I did know once. Although it has been a good many years since I last baked and the technology in this world is still beyond my comprehension," she shook her head and shifted her weight on to one foot as she folded her arms over her chest. Regina muttered something under her breath but Cora didn't catch it and instead cocked her head as Regina began moving things around and in to he sink, "what are you doing?"
"I am going to teach you how to use the stove and the oven."
Cora tilted her head just a little more and smiled a little before nodding once and stepping a little closer as she unfolded her arms, "alright."
...
"David?"
"Yes, Henry?"
"Where's mom?"
"I'm not sure. She went for a walk this morning but hasn't come back yet. She's a little finicky today."
"Why?"
"Don't know. She won't talk about it."
"Alright...well when she gets back can you let me know?"
"For sure," he nodded and smiled and Henry nodded in return before walking away. "Henry," he called him back quickly, he was going to have to get better at this parenting thing. He kept missing Henry's coded and subtle requests, "did you need help with something?" He asked and leaned back against the counter when Henry came back in to the room.
"Math homework," Henry shrugged a little, "I've never been good at math. Mum always helps me when I get stuck."
"You want me to try and help?"
"Are you good at math?"
"Well we can find out," he chuckled a little under his breath and Henry joined in with a quiet laugh of his own and shrugged his shoulders up.
"Sure I guess you can try and help."
...
She was laughing with her and that made her want to cry in itself. Her mother never laughed and now she was laughing with her and it was almost overwhelming. If not for the distraction of teaching her mother how to cook pasta, she would have broken in to tears long ago. "Come stir this," she called her over and Cora walked over and took the wooden spoon from her hand and took over stirring the sauce for the pasta.
"Thank you, Regina," she spoke gently with a smile as she took the wooden spoon and began stirring the creamy red sauce, "I never would have figured this out without your help."
"...you're welcome," she nodded gently, unable to accept gratitude with her mother because she had simply never received it. She didn't know what to do with it. Clearing her throat gently, she turned her attention back to the boiling noodles and fished one out with a fork, "what have you been eating these past few days anyway?"
Cora shrugged a little with half a laugh, "sandwiches. Mostly. Breakfast cereal too sometimes," she laughed a little more when Regina shook her head with a small roll of her eyes, "nothing that required me to use heat to cook it or warm it."
"Well then I suppose you are fortunate that my chosen methods to kill have never involved starvation," she drawled and Cora breathed out a small laugh.
"I suppose so," she agreed quietly and studied Regina's profile as she bit the noodle to see if it was cooked. She was beautiful and when she looked her way, Cora smiled softly and turned her attention back to the sauce.
Regina didn't look back away when her mother turned her eyes back to the sauce. She watched her instead. She was confused and irritated by that fact. This woman was not the same woman she had grown up with. She was entirely different. Happier, calmer, patient, gentler, kinder. She couldn't wrap her head around it and she hated that. She couldn't possibly be truly trying to better herself for her. Could she?
The voices of David, Henry, and Archie were echoing around in her mind saying that yes she could be and to give her a chance. But she was quick to shut them out. "Turn off the heat," she instructed and Cora reached forward and twisted her dial to the off mark while she herself lifted the pot full of boiling water and pasta and carefully poured it through the colander in the sink. Putting the empty pot aside, Regina shook out any remaining water in the colander and brought it to the deep pan full of sauce and poured in the long noodles.
This time Cora took initiative and stirred the pasta through the sauce, a small smile of pride lifting her mouth when it resembled something edible. Regina found herself to be smiling in return and quickly shoved it away but not in time for Cora to miss it completely. Regina avoided her eyes at all costs and turned away to pick up a pair of deep dish pasta plates and began playing the pasta.
She could feel Cora's eyes on her and it was putting her on edge. She was studying her again and it was strange to have her look at her without so much as an inkling of harsh criticism. She could act out again and throw tantrums or snap at every little thing but that hadn't seem to do anything but make Cora more accepting of her. So in a way she supposed she was giving in and testing the waters. It hadn't killed her just yet.
Regina stood still and ignored her when Cora silently stepped closer but she couldn't stop herself from tensing and flinching when Cora lifted her hand and softly tucked a piece of dark hair behind her ear with unfamiliar gentle fingers. She resisted the urge to pull away when her fingers continued to trace down her jawline but she couldn't hold out and stepped away from Cora with a small shake of her head and kept her eyes down. "Too much," she whispered and swallowed tightly as she continued plating the pasta, pausing just momentarily when curiosity got the better of her and her eyes quickly glanced up to see what expression was paired with the nodding she saw in her peripheral.
It was a gentle smile with unfamiliar soft eyes. Almost apologetic. Understanding even, in her own way. Then her eyes were quickly back on the pasta and she tried to forget the gentleness of her mother's admiring touch.
...
"What have you been up to today?" He asked curiously as he crawled on the bed at her feet and made his way up closer to her. Her mind was reeling with various things as she sat on the bed with her head and back against the headboard and her hands in her lap. It didn't take any sixth sense to know that.
"Hmm?"
"You haven't been home all day," he noted softly and curiously as he crawled over her and her dark eyes now watched his every movement.
"I just lost track of time..."
"Where were you?"
"Is this some sort of interrogation?" She snapped a little harsher than she meant to and he took it in stride. Seamlessly.
"No just curious," he shrugged with a gentle smile and her shoulders slumped and her eyes dropped to her fidgeting fingers, "what's on your mind."
"Nothing."
"Hmm."
"...too much," she whispered in correction and he gave a softer longer hum in reply and affectionately bumped his nose against hers.
"You want to talk about it?"
"No," she whispered with a subtle shake of her head and he nodded in acceptance.
"Not tonight."
"Not tonight," she agreed in a soft whisper and pushed her jaw forward a little as she caught the inside of her bottom lip between her teeth in an effort to keep the ache in her heart from spreading to tears in her eyes. She almost failed in her efforts when he bumped his nose against hers again but she swallowed them down and turned her head a little so she could push her nose against his. The next thing she knew her mouth was caught in a tender kiss that melted her heart.
Her lips parted with a quiet sigh and his parted lips brushed against hers before he caught her in another tender kiss as his hands settled on the side of her thigh and her waist. When his fingers began to slip beneath the hem of her silk pyjama top she stopped him quickly with a soft, "David," and he immediately halted and gently pulled his head back enough so he could look her in the eye, "not tonight?"
He smiled gently at the urgency her eyes betrayed while her voice was still quiet and soft. He lifted the hand from her waist and softly cradled the side of her head, running his thumb along her cheekbone as he nodded and whispered, "of course." He moved his thumb over her cheek once again when the tension left her shoulders and he leaned forward to place a kiss on her forehead. Something was bothering her, he knew that much, but what it was he couldn't say. He climbed off her and slid beneath the blankets before gently pulling her down to him. She was hesitant but she did follow his pull and settled in against him with her back to his chest.
She let out a long exhale in hopes it would relieve her of some stress and tension but as his warm hand moved over her stomach she recoiled from it and before he could wind his arm around her middle, she caught his hand in hers and brought his movement to a halt. She tried intertwining her fingers with his and bringing his hand up to her chest but she couldn't settle down. He was nothing but patient as she rolled over so she could push her face in to his chest with her hands on either side.
She laid there a little longer and his arms held her close but she felt like she was suffocating. So she pushed herself from his grip and moved to the edge of the bed so she could stand. But he had caught her wrist in a tender hold before she could walk away.
"Where are you going?" He asked softly and didn't hide the concern in his voice.
Regina shook her head and tried to step away, "I'm not tired."
His grip around her wrist tightened just enough to keep her there and he moved further on to her side of the bed as he worriedly asked, "have I done something to upset you?"
"No, dear," she shook her head softly, "you haven't upset me."
"You would tell me if I had though right?"
"No I would likely not speak to you or look kindly in your direction until you either figured it out or I got impatient or angry enough to scream at you," she deadpanned and he smiled and hummed an amused laugh.
He shook his head slowly and her eyes dropped to her hand as he moved his thumb over the back of it in slow soothing circles, "I cannot read your mind, darling. I know that something is upsetting you but I do not know what," he spoke quietly with a slow nod and watched her features crease in a quick flicker of distress before she schooled them back to show nothing more than the fact she was troubled. "I am here for you, you know," he nodded and her dark eyes flicked up to meet his gaze, "I am not going anywhere."
Regina nodded without breaking eye contact and without a word. He knew she wasn't convinced, "I love you," he whispered softly and she nodded again but didn't speak. He moved forward on to his knees and took her head softly in his hands, his expression filled with concern as his thumbs moved over her cheeks and her hands lifted to hang from his wrists, "what is wrong, darling?"
Regina shook her head a little and swallowed down the slight nausea churning her stomach, "I'm not tired."
"Don't lie to me," he whispered sternly but gently and she crossed her jaw and dropped her eyes.
She shook her head again in both an attempt to convey to him that she didn't wish to talk about it as well as to try and make herself believe that it wasn't happening. She would know for sure tomorrow. "I'm exhausted and I do not wish to talk, David," she whispered and kept her eyes down.
David watched her silently for another moment or two before he gave in with a few short nods and leaned forward to press another kiss to her forehead. She leaned in to him ever so slightly when he pulled away and rested his forehead against hers, "okay," he whispered and she let out a long breath of relief, "but tomorrow you will tell me," he added softly and moved his thumbs over her cheeks again.
"Okay."
"I love you."