I am booooooored! Lol! Please leave a review and let me know what you think and want to see! Keep me entertained ;) lol! I hope you enjoy the update! It's really long but whatever lol things needed to be said and done before everything goes to hell ;p
"Henry."
"Yeah?"
"I need you to be aware of something. Something regarding Storybrooke's visitors," she started out and tried to figure out the wording in her head as they walked from the car to the sheriff's station.
"Okay..."
"However I cannot tell you what it is."
"...um...kay?"
"It is not for me to tell. It would be best heard from Miss Swan however she is currently trying to figure out the best way to tell you herself. Now the reason I am telling you this is because you have a tendency to blow things out of proportion and run off and shut people out," she nodded simply with her plain voice and Henry protested.
"I do not!" He laughed with a shake of his head and she looked down at him with an eyebrow raised and he laughed again and looked away, "alright maybe I do."
Regina hummed and nodded in approval as they neared the doors, "you need to know that we are not ignoring this and it is as hard for Miss Swan to accept as it will be for you and she is just waiting for the right words and the right time and the right amount of courage to tell you."
Henry frowned in thought and walked through the door his mother opened for him, pausing a moment on the other side for her to fall in step beside him before he continued forward, "you've already figured out how to tell me though haven't you?"
"Of course. I believe Miss Swan is taking much too long."
"Well then why don't you just tell me?"
"Because I believe it is best you hear it from her," she nodded at him and he let out a long breath as he focused his gaze ahead of him and after a few steps she did the same, "I will give you two chances. You may ask me the question twice and I will question if you really wish to hear it from me and you may change your mind. But the third time I will answer you truthfully. Deal?"
Slowly Henry nodded as his mind wandered through possibilities of what it could be, "deal."
"Good," she whispered and pulled him in to her side with a smile and an arm around his shoulders and he hummed a laugh as he stepped in to her and stayed there.
"So when are you going to tell me what Operation Penguin is about?"
"Never."
"Wait what? Seriously!?" He argued as he looked up at her in disbelief and she simply nodded and kept her eyes focused ahead of her and her thumb moved over his shoulder, "never?!"
"Not from my lips. You will have to wait for Miss Swan to tell you."
With a frustrated sigh he sunk in to her side a little heavier and she crossed one leg over the other mid step to keep her balance steady as she walked otherwise unhindered and content, "you two are being too secretive."
"Miss Swan will tell you when she is ready, dear. Be patient."
"Okay," Henry whined out frustratedly and his mother hummed and hugged her arm around him tighter. His spirits heightened impressively though when he saw David sitting back in his chair with his feet up on his desk. And when David laid eyes on them his face brightened in to a smile that Henry grinned at before running forward to him and leaving him mother to walk.
"Hey kid," David smiled and swung his legs off the desk so Henry could come to him properly and stand between him and the desk as he always did, "how was school?"
"Boring."
"Any homework?"
"Nope," Henry beamed and his mother came up beside him and spun in place so she could rest against the edge of David's desk, her side lightly touching his.
"Nice!" David congratulated and then nodded, "you know what we should do? Get ice cream to celebrate," he grinned at Henry and then up at Regina who was rolling her eyes with a smile.
"Yes! Can we, mom?!" Henry pleaded as he spun around to face her and she had her arms folded over her chest and an eyebrow raised with her smile.
Slowly David leaned forward and wrapped his arms around Henry's middle causing the boy to step backward in to him as he laughed and David tilted his head as he rested his chin on Henry's shoulder, "yeah, Regina. Can we?"
She was having an incredibly hard time biting back her smile at those two wide grins from her two favourite people. Her heart was warmed and softened at the sight before her though. Her two loves grinning up at her as they loved and enjoyed one another while David held Henry to him and Henry easily let him. She didn't believe she would ever be so lucky to have a family.
With a relenting roll of her eyes she lazily flicked her hand at David's desk and two sundaes drowned in chocolate appeared on its surface. Both David and Henry cheered at the sight and quickly took one each and she shook her head with a breath of laughter as she walked past them, pushing her fingers affectionately through David's hair as she passed him and moved toward Emma's separate office.
"Hello, your majesty," Emma smirked from her seat and chuckled to herself at the dark eyes rolling in the woman's skull, "to what do I owe this company?"
"You're worse than your father," she deadpanned and Emma chuckled amusedly as she played with a pen between her fingers, "however I need a favour."
"Oh? And what is this favour?"
"How is Snow?"
"...what?"
"Snow. How is she?"
"Uh fine I guess...a little quieter than usual. Why? You do something?"
"No. No she did it all on her own. I merely watched and listened. Seems she's rather set on devising a way to get David back."
"And this favour? You want me to advise her against that? Because that's-"
"Oh no it has nothing to do with that. I simply need to misplace the security footage in here from last night," she stated in disinterest and Emma furrowed her brow and cocked her head, blonde curls falling over her shoulder with the motion.
"Why?" She immediately regretted the question when she saw that flicker of mischief in Regina's dark eyes, "seriously? I said no sex in here!"
"Yes, well, I am a sucker for handcuffs and David was in a rather foul mood so really it was quite worth it," she shrugged and held back her full grin while Emma stared at her slowly shaking her head searching for words.
"I don't think I even have an answer to that."
Regina hummed an amused laugh and Emma shook her head with a small laugh of her own, "get it done, Miss Swan. We don't need such a scandalous thing leaking out in to the general public," she smirked and began turning away from her.
"Yeah, yeah," Emma waved a hand at her as she left, "I get to watch it first though," she teased and Regina smirked over her shoulder and with a lazy wave of those manicured fingers, a bowl and a package of microwave popcorn appeared in Emma's lap. The blonde laughed as she looked down at the items and shook her head. Really it was not all that long ago that Regina would come to her just to play games with her head or try to get her killed. And now? Now she was coming to her in full and relaxed confidence to get her to rid her of something that was the very definition of private and personal.
"Dinner still on tonight?" She called out of her office as the brunette continued on her path to David and Henry. Emma merely got a wave in return but it was enough to make her smile. And think on how she was now looking forward to dinner rather than wary of being poisoned or cursed. Funny how things change.
...
"What do you mean that man is watching Henry?!"
"Mother relax we have this under control," Regina sighed as she leaned over her shoulder to place the potatoes on the table.
"You tell me who he is! What does he look like? What is his name?!"
"Mother-"
"His name is Greg Mendell but also answers to 'Owen' and mom knew him when he was a little boy when Storybrooke was first created but now he's taller and older and almost bald and always looks really serious and mean like some sort of predator in the jungle," Henry answered quickly and his mother looked up at him irritably with her jaw crossed, "what? She was going to find out eventually! And besides! I'll feel even safer if I have another infamous fairytale villain keeping an eye out for me!"
"That isn't the point, Henry! The point is to keep a low profile so that he doesn't know that we know the details of their plan! If there is one thing that Cora does not do it is keeping a low profile!"
"I am not going to ruin your precious plan! I am simply not going to let that man get within a hundred feet of Henry!"
"Could I just cut in for a second?" Emma raised her hand timidly from her seat at the table next to Henry and in response David and all three brunettes looked her way, "I am totally fine with giving a homicidal maniac the job of keeping watch over Henry. I mean seriously it's not like she's got anything to do, she doesn't have a real job, she doesn't exactly have any hobbies, and she won't hesitate to cut the hands off of anyone who so much as tries to touch Henry. She can keep full watch on Henry during the day while you, David, and I continue on with our jobs and the other parts of the plan without worrying about Henry and the three of us can still go check on him ourselves if we feel the need to."
"Cora can't just stand around wherever Henry is," David shook his head, "if the point of this whole thing is to keep our heads down; a woman acting as Henry's bodyguard is going to nullify our efforts."
"Well of course she wouldn't just stand around as a human," Emma motioned to Cora and the woman folded her arms over her chest while Regina nodded slowly, catching her train of thought and seemingly agreeing with it, "she'll do what Regina's been doing everyday at the school. She'll be a bird or a cat or a squirrel or a hare or something else small and common around here so no attention will be drawn to her."
"I like that idea," Henry nodded and looked from Emma to his brunette mother who met his eye as she mulled it over, searching for any flaws in Emma's proposal.
Slowly she nodded a little more and took a deep breath, "alright. But you need to stay out of sight," she looked to Cora and she nodded in return.
"Of course."
"Good."
"Alright. Moving on. You said that Granny and Ruby have been listening in on Greg and Tamara."
"Yes and they have gathered a few pieces of information. They are not alone in this. They are merely a couple of foot soldiers under the command of someone else. Who that is we don't know and Red and Granny have gotten the impression that our guests don't even know themselves," she relayed as she walked around the table to her seat at the head of it with David at her right and Emma shook her head as she spoke.
"Well do we know more of what they are doing here?"
"No. They have been very clear of their intentions in taking Henry but not what for or to whom. I believe they only know as much as they need to and nothing more," she shook her head as she sat and allowed for David's fingers to gently and loosely intertwine with hers upon the table's surface.
"So then our whole issue just got a whole lot bigger."
"Not necessarily," Cora commented smoothly as she stabbed her fork through one of the small potatoes she had dished herself. Cooked to perfection as per Regina's usual.
After a few moments of silence, David spoke up with a shake of his head and his eyebrows raised, "care to elaborate?"
"Hmm? Oh. Well you simply must hide the town from prying eyes and with the right cloaking spell you can hide anything from everyone."
"Well yeah we've gotten that far," Emma retorted as she moved her hands forward, "but it's not going to do us any good until we get Greg and Tamara out of this town first or they'll just keep relaying back and forth with whoever's in charge."
"Well I am beginning to understand that when compared, this Greg is more of a danger than this Tamara. I am sure Regina can get a little creative on manipulating the darling pet out of Storybrooke. Or at least manipulating her enough to get her in a state where she can be tossed over the line via manual labour," she shrugged and then caught the small potato in her teeth and slowly pulled the fork from it as she watched the gears turn in Regina's head. Her head was cocked and her brow was furrowed ever so slightly with her pursed lips as she moved her thumb along David's little finger.
She felt everyone's eyes on her but she only watched Cora as the older woman chewed and then it came to her and she smiled a small smile which Cora returned. With a short hum she looked to her food and softly detangled her hand so she could pick up her knife, "dinner's getting cold."
-Two Days Later-
She was no longer surprised when she stumbled upon Emma Swan in her home without being invited or expected. These days if she walked around a corner and found Emma there her reaction was no different than if it were David or Henry or Cora. These days she responded to her like she was someone who lived in her home. Regina had actually grown to be happy to see her and it seemed Emma had grown to do the same. It was odd, Regina knew that much, but she didn't care. She enjoyed the blonde's company and growing companionship.
And that afternoon Regina found herself smiling a little in greeting when she left the kitchen and found Emma in the dining room walking toward her. "Miss Swan," she smiled and Emma gave a halfhearted roll of her eyes and a scoffed laugh.
"Are you ever going to stop calling me that?" She chuckled and Regina smiled a little more but not enough to show her teeth. She wasn't expecting an answer so she smirked and offered the brunette a DVD in a clear square plastic case and the words 'You're Welcome' written in a sharpie on the DVD's surface.
Regina raised an eyebrow at it curiously as she took it and examined it, "what is this?"
"Finally got around to looking at those security tapes," she replied and slowly a smirk pulled at the corners of those red lips but her dark eyes stayed down on the DVD. Emma loved how this woman made her bold and allowed her to push the boundaries she had found herself so comfortable in. Nothing romantic but simply friends who were not afraid of what to say around or to the other. No lines to worry about crossing, "after watching I decided that I could not erase such a thing from history," she smirked and Regina pursed her lips a little to keep her smirk reined back, "so I figured I'd give a copy to you for safekeeping. Or if you need to refresh your memory," she nodded and Regina cleared her throat as she lifted her head with a full blown smirk but looked off to the side while she lowered her hand to her side with the DVD still in her grasp.
"I could be totally wrong but I thought it to be something that should be kept," she smirked with a rock of her head and Regina made a point not to look her in the eye but could not bring herself to school her features, "shame there's no audio though. Maybe next time you guys should play in the interview room where there are microphones with the cameras," she teased and with one last look over the brunette she turned and walked toward the woman's private library to study.
She had no words. She had thought the blonde to be joking when she had said she was going to watch it before erasing it. She was not angry though. She was trying incredibly hard not to burst in to laughter. The blonde had completely blindsided her and that was not something easily done. She felt hot but not with embarrassment, just the fact that she had been caught and it had been rubbed in good and deep. With a shake of her head and a silent laugh out her nose she looked down at the DVD and then called with a voice not as plain as she had hoped for, a laugh still lingering there in her words but not heard, "perhaps you should have labeled it 'Thank You' instead," she smirked and Emma turned with a wide and open grin and placed a hand on her chest as she walked backwards and Regina began to follow her.
"I am not even remotely that humble, your majesty," she barely held back a laugh at Regina's quirked head and playful expression as she walked toward her with a smoothness and ease of a stalking cat. A way of walking that was distinctly Regina. "Besides I would have actually had to have watched it to label it that," she grinned with just the tip of her tongue between her teeth and Regina's eyebrows raised in surprise as her steps faltered for a moment.
"What?"
"Totally bluffing," Emma laughed as she walked backwards in to the library and Regina scoffed with a breath of laughter, "I couldn't cope with catching Snow and David in bed! What the hell makes you think I could watch my father cuff you to a cell?" She laughed and Regina's expression was a whole mess of surprise and amusement, "fooled you twice in one go, I am getting good at this," she nodded slowly with a grin and Regina tried to find her voice.
Fooled twice in one go indeed. Was she losing her touch? Or was Emma simply learning too much from her? Either way she could not bring herself to be even remotely irritated. "Read a book, girl," was all she could say without breaking and laughing and Emma turned around with a low laugh that was all victory. Yes. She enjoyed the woman's company.
...
"Miss Swan," she called for her attention and anxiously wrung her fingers together as the blonde read from another book that she had added to the new collection in her home's library.
"Yeah?"
"I need your full attention, Miss Swan."
"Alright just a minute I am almost done this-"
"Emma..."
At the small call of her name Emma lifted her head from the book and looked to the brunette only to frown a little at the uncertainty in her expression, "what is it?"
"I have something to tell you. Something I probably should have told you a long while ago but didn't, and still don't, know how. But I will not be able to hide it for much longer and I feel that with the way things are going I believe it best that someone else knows. Someone I hope will still have my back should I need aid if things do not go as planned."
Emma shifted uncomfortably in her seat so she could face Regina a little more as she tilted her head and frowned in concern, "you're starting to freak me out a little, Regina...is everything alright?"
"Depends on how you look at it I suppose..."
"Regina please can you just flat out say what is going on? You don't need to wrap a bow around it, I'll probably only get more confused if you speak in queenly tongue anyway," she joked lightly to try and lighten the mood and she did get the smallest of smiles from Regina but it was gone as quick as it came and the woman dropped her eyes to her clasped hands in front of her.
"I'm...pregnant," she pushed out quietly and Emma stared at her with a blank expression and the silence in the room deafened Regina. Then the blonde cocked her head a little and her eyes fell to her stomach but Regina knew she wouldn't be able to see the small growing bump of her belly for she had dressed herself to hide it and had been doing so for nearly two weeks. A looser fitting silk shirt tucked in to either a skirt or trousers. She was still a very slim woman despite the pregnancy and for that she was grateful. Her face had not changed, nor had her legs or ankles swollen. Only the slight growth of her stomach and that was something she knew she was quickly running out of time to hide. Still Emma said nothing. Simply stared at the burgundy silk covering her stomach.
"I don't...quite know how to respond to that news..."
"No there isn't exactly a handbook for what to say when you find out your step grandmother-slash-life ruiner-slash-adoptive mother of your son-slash-magic teacher-slash-father's mistress is three months pregnant with your half sibling."
"...well god, Regina. You make it sound like the worst thing ever," Emma shook her head and turned to close the book on the table before she turned back around in her seat so she could look at Regina again.
"Well it isn't exactly convenient."
"Nothing in this town is convenient," Emma breathed out with a tired but amused laugh, "but I don't know...it'll be kinda funny watching you get fat," she teased and grinned a little when Regina rolled her eyes as she bit back a smile, "and I've always kind of wanted a brother or a sister. Even if I am like twenty nine years older than them. So yeah...I guess I'm kind of excited."
"Really?" Regina asked doubtfully with an eyebrow raised and her chin tucked down a little.
"Yeah," Emma smiled and then laughed a little, "David's pretty thrilled I imagine?"
"You have no idea," Regina breathed out a laugh and shook her head, relieved and curious regarding Emma's reaction to the news. She had been expecting a little more...reluctance.
"And yeah Snow will have a fucking conniption fit when she finds out but there's nothing we can really do about that. The town will lose their mind too but whatever...how did Henry take the news? Have you told him?"
"Oh yes. He is bouncing off the walls he is so excited," Regina assured and Emma smiled a little wider, "he lives for the time we are alone and he gets to talk about it," Regina smiled a little and then glanced down at her stomach for a moment and then back to Emma.
"I'm glad he's excited for you."
"Me too," Regina smiled with a small nod and then shook her head, "I must say you are taking this remarkably well."
"Well it's not like I can make you unpregnant," she teased and Regina breathed out a quiet laugh and then she shrugged her shoulders up and added a little more vulnerably, "plus I kind of want to see you as a mother. I mean I see you with Henry now and it's great but I don't know what it was like when he was little. I missed all of his 'firsts'. I gave him up and I didn't get to see him grow up," she shrugged again and intently stared at her lap for a little while before she made herself look up at Regina with a small smile.
Regina cocked her head a little as she pondered on the blonde's words and then without a word brought her hand up to waist height in front of her and watched as her palm and curled fingers caught the white glow of a memory.
"What's that?" Emma asked curiously as she watched the light in Regina's hand swirl and wisp.
"Something I only share with those I find worthy of such a thing."
"...what is it?"
"A memory," she replied as she stepped closer and Emma frowned a little, "touch it and for a moment you will see what I saw, hear what I heard, and feel what I felt," she explained gently and after a moment's pause Emma hesitantly reached forward and with one more glance up at her, Emma touched the magic and Regina watched her eyes glaze over for barely a moment.
She smiled at the sound of pudgy little hands smacking against the floor as he crawled up behind her in the kitchen. "Well aren't you just motoring around," she smiled over her shoulder and Henry grinned toothlessly up at her with a squeal of joy that had her laughing quietly as she turned her attention back to the pie dough she was kneading ever so gently.
Her smile never left though and only grew when she heard him crawl even closer so he was at her feet and could wrap his little hand around the heel of her shoe and play with the tiny buckle around her ankle. His little voice constantly being heard in tiny coos and squeaks had Regina smiling to herself as she rolled out the dough and carefully placed it in the pie dish. "Oh no, no, no," she scolded lightly with a laugh as she dusted her hands off on her apron and dropped herself down to the floor after feeling Henry's mouth and now slobbery hands on her ankle, "you do not chew on mumma's shoes, little prince," she raised an eyebrow as she bopped his nose with her finger and took his hands off her shoe before lifting him up and settling him on her hip.
"Here," she offered him a wooden spoon and he took it in his pudgy hands, his eyes wide and his mouth pursed ever so slightly in young fascination, "you can do no harm to that," she smiled at him and then proceeded to pour the fresh apple filling in to the dish. She only finished awkwardly pouring half the bowl though before she got hit in the head with the wooden spoon hard enough to make her cringe. "Alright I suppose I didn't think that one through," she grimaced a little and tried to ignore the dulling ache in her head as she gently took the spoon from him and swapped it for a peeled slice of an apple, "try that instead."
The happy gurgling and squealing of her little boy quickly brought the smile back to her face and that smile gave a single laugh when he brought the apple to his toothless mouth and greedily started sucking on it, "that's a good boy," she encouraged and kissed his round cheek before she finished pouring the filling in to the dish.
With her one free hand she did manage to lay the strips of dough over the top of the pie in a lattice pattern and with a short hum of approval she looked to her son on her hip who was still sucking on his chunk of apple and when she smiled at him he grinned at her from behind the apple and a small hiccup of laughter came from her little boy that had her grinning and laughing with him. "You precious little thing," she laughed with a shake of her head and then held the side of his head in her hand so she could kiss his cheek and then nuzzle her nose in to his neck for a second before looking him in the eye again.
"I love you," she smiled with a nod and he grinned and gummed at his apple, "no matter what I will always love you, my little prince," she smiled and then kissed him again before putting him down on the floor, "I'm almost done, sweetheart. Just have to cut the extra length off and put it in the oven," she explained to him despite knowing he didn't know what she was saying. After taking a knife to the circumference of the pie she lifted it and walked around the island to slide it in to the oven and as she set the timer while she untied her apron, a pair of little hands was climbing up her leg and grabbing at the hem of her black skirt.
"You are getting pretty good at that standing thing aren't you," she smiled and tossed her apron on to the counter and she was answered with a long bouncy coo from Henry as he bounced in his knees a little as he stood beside her using her leg for balance. "Here," she smiled and took his hand from her leg and he wrapped his fingers around one of hers and the gesture warmed her heart. Then she turned so she was facing him and had bent down a little as she backed up and slowly slipped her finger from his grip, testing to see if he could stand by himself.
He was wobbly and unbalanced but she did manage to completely slip her finger away so he stood on his own and the sight had her mouth opening in a wide grin as she gave him an approving gasp and a couple claps of her hands, "good boy! Look at you!" She grinned and he grinned back, his apple still in one hand as he tried to balance on his own two feet. "Now come to me," she nodded and reached her hands out a little in a gesture for him to come and he wobbled a little more, "come to mumma," she encouraged and he tried to lift one foot only to tip over but she caught him with a laugh and helped him back on his feet.
"Try again, sweetheart," she nodded and held her arms out for him again. He tried again and again and by the fifth time he had taken a step. It was just a small one but it had Regina laughing joyously and Henry grinning at the sound of her laughter, "keep coming, your almost there!" She nodded and beckoned with her fingers for him to take another step. She watched him question it and wobble but her heart exploded with the thrill of seeing him take one more step and then quickly another one to try and catch his balance before he fell in to her waiting hands.
She caught him and then with a laugh she lifted him up in the air and spun him around, she motion causing him to laugh hysterically as it always did, "look at you go!" She cried out happily and spun them once more before bringing him back down to her chest, "you'll be running around this house in no time at all if you keep this up! Such a good boy," she grinned and he bounced and kicked excitedly in her arms, his small voice making a whole story of indeterminate sounds, "and then soon after that you will be talking my ear off I'm certain," she nodded and he he looked up at her with big dark eyes, "right?" She tucked her chin and raised her eyebrows and Henry's round face split in to another grin and he bounced a little more in her arms which had her laughing quietly, softly like a purr in her throat, "right."
Emma blinked herself back to the present time and tried to gather her thoughts over what had just happened to her. She couldn't quite wrap her head around it until she looked back up at Regina who was letting her arm fall back to her side with a gentle and open expression, one that the woman wore so rarely. She hated that she did but Emma couldn't help herself and started to cry. The tears were in her eyes faster than she thought possible and she quickly brought her hand up to cover her mouth in an attempt to muffle a sudden sob.
Regina said nothing. Simply tilted her head a fraction and gave her a small understanding smile. It hit her hard. Henry had been loved, he had been cared for, he had been alright. She hadn't made a mistake in giving him up, she had truly let him have his best chance and Regina had given it to him. She loved him more than anything and Emma had felt that, she felt that warmth and that protectiveness and that patience and pride that came with Regina's love and it overwhelmed her. Henry had been alright, he was raised beautifully and all of her worries and doubts were erased by that one little gift Regina had given her. Just a little moment in time to see what things had been like before all hell broke loose.
Quickly she got up from her chair and pulled Regina in to a hug, burying her face in to the woman's neck not caring about what the brunette would think of such a thing. She didn't say a word though and instead returned the hug and rested her chin on her shoulder as she rubbed a thumb soothingly over her back, "thank you, Regina."
Regina shook her head once and rubbed her thumb over Emma's back again before replying with a quiet, "you do not need to thank me."
...
With a long and tired sigh David closed the front door behind him and blindly locked it as he dropped his keys next to Regina's in the little dish on the table by the front door. As he kicked off his shoes he rubbed his hands over his face with another tired sigh and slowly made his way up the few stairs to the foyer and then walked the path through the dining room and in to the kitchen. "Hey babe," he breathed out tiredly when he saw her figure out of the corner of his eye before he turned her back to her to where the glass covered cake stand had been.
"Long day?" She cooed sympathetically as she cut her fork through the slice of chocolate cake in front of her.
"Yeah," he nodded and swivelled his head back and forth, looking for the cake that had been there that morning, "where'd the last piece of cake go?"
"...hmmm..." She hummed indeterminately as she silently stabbed her fork through the bite of cake and brought it to her lips, "you mean this last piece?"
David turned a little so he could look over his shoulder and first his eyes fell on his beautiful brunette but then they fell to the fork being pulled from her red lips and then the the plate in front of her with the half eaten slice of chocolate cake. "Hey," he whined and walked around the island to her side, "I've been looking forward to that all day!"
"Me too," she smirked a little and held his eye as he huffed out a short frustrated breath.
"Give it here."
"No."
"Regina."
"No it's too important to me," she smirked a little more and another huff of air was pushed out his nose as his shoulders dropped a little. And then he tried to reach for it but she quickly pushed the plate out of his reach.
"Fine!" He lifted his hands and let them drop back to his thighs with a light smack as he turned away from her. He knew those dark eyes were on his back following his every move though. And sure enough when he spun around to fight her for it she took off running with a low bout of laughter and the plate of cake in her hand. "Regina!" He growled through his grin and went to chase her but then changed his mind and turned around.
"No!" She laughed and ran through the dining room but when she got to the foyer he cut her off having gone through the hall route rather than the dining room.
She yelped in surprise at his appearance in front of her and it was followed by a rich laugh as she quickly turned to escape him and he gave chase, "come here!" He laughed and when she got to the stairs he caught her waist before she got too high and she let herself gently collapse so she laid on the stairs on her side as she laughed. He crawled over her, laughing with her as he growled playfully in to her ear, "give me my cake."
This man brought out the best in her and she laughed a little louder as she feigned an attempt to get away from him only to reach above her head and take a handful of the slice of cake and smack it against his mouth. The startled gasp that left his chocolate covered mouth and the way his eyes widened comically had her pushing her head back and closing her eyes with the richest laughter as he laughed in disbelief on top of her.
His laughter was slow and shocked as it left his open mouth and she let her head rest upon a stair as she continued to laugh. So he reached above her and took the remnants of the cake and promptly smeared it over her mouth, revelling in the small shriek that left her throat. He laughed victoriously through his open as it was her turn to huff out shocked laughter and then it turned in to a laugh of pure joy and amusement as she let her head fall back on the the stair again and rolled herself over completely so she was on her back beneath him.
Her eyes were closed as she laughed through her open smile and both their laughter continued when he dropped his head and kissed her, the taste of her and of chocolate meeting his tongue as he did. It was sweet and it made him laugh as he snaked one arm around her back and kept the other braced against a stair so he wouldn't crush her. Both her hands lifted to hold his face and the pair of them laughed even more when she got more chocolate cake and icing over the one side of his face because of it. But neither of them cared about the mess. They simply continued to kiss one another between laughter and breaths for air.
"The cake is very good," he chuckled and kissed her again before she could answer.
Regina laughed against his mouth and as soon as he pulled back she quickly put her words in before he kissed her again, "I'll make another one for you tomorrow."
"Perfect," he grinned and listened to her laughter for a moment before he kissed her again, harder and longer than the others as he braced more of his weight on his knee so he could take his hand from the stair and tangle it in to her hair. Their laughter slowly faded but their joy remained untouched as their kisses grew more passionate and strong and breathless. His fingers pushed chocolate through her hair and he was sure their faces would be in a state equivalent to a toddler's in a high chair at its birthday party but they didn't care about any of it.
He simply treasured how this woman could cheer him up after a long and trying day where everything had gone wrong. Even the piece of cake that he was sure would be the one thing that would go smoothly.