Poison & Wine

Chapter 31

Emma picked Henry up from the hospital around noon like she promised. She simply walked him into the school told him they'd talk about his punishment later. Which eventually led them to the mansion, Henry sitting on the couch in the living room as both of his mothers stood in front of him, arms crossed.

The blonde spoke first. "Kid, you really screwed up today."

"I know." He said solemnly.

Regina raised an eyebrow. "If you knew, you shouldn't have done it." She said firmly. "Your education is important. We gave you the option to see your father last night and you didn't take it. If you changed your mind, we would have taken you after school."

"Why didn't you just tell us you wanted to see Neal?" Emma questioned.

The boy sighed. "I didn't want to see him with you guys there." He told them honestly.

The brunette woman scoffed. "Why not?" When he didn't answer, Regina got angry. "Henry Daniel Mills, you answer me right now if you want any semblance of a life beyond school!"

"I went there to yell at him!" Henry snapped.

Emma furrowed her eyebrows. "Yell at him?" She wasn't expecting that. Sure, Neal had said that the kid was still mad at him, but the guys seemed to be in a good place when she showed up to pick Henry up.

"Yeah. For the stuff he said about you and mom." The kid cleared up. "I told him it wasn't okay. I wanted to make sure he wouldn't try to break you up anymore."

The couple looked at each other for a moment before Regina spoke up. "So you skipped school to go yell at an adult? Is that supposed to justify your actions?" She asked her son. "You always respect your elders, young man, even if you feel they don't deserve it."

Henry didn't understand how his mother thought. Neal was mean to her and she didn't want anybody to do anything about it? "Mom, he was mean to you!"

"I'm well aware, dear, but that is not for you to fix." The brunette woman told him.

Emma ruffled his hair as she sat down next to him. "Look kid, I get it. You're protective of your mom. I am too." She assured him. "I get wanting to yell at him and just punch him in the face." Regina raised an eyebrow, wondering where her girlfriend was going with that. "I know you were angry at him, but you're not an adult, babe. This is between your mom and Neal. Leave it to them to handle."

"He hurt my feelings too, you know." Henry pointed out.

The mayor cleared her throat, feeling her anger simmer down. "How so?"

Brown eyes looked between his two mothers. He finally confessed, "I'm tired of switching houses every time I turn around." His tone was frustrated and at the admission the women made eye contact. "I want to sleep in the same bed every night one day. My dad tried to take the possibility of that ever happening away."

Emma gave him a sad smile. "It's not like he succeeded."

"I know." He nodded. "And I don't hate him. I still want to see him sometimes, but I wanted him to know that he better stop messing with my family."

"And we appreciate that, dear." Regina informed him. "I'm glad you got to say your peace to him, but your actions of today cannot go unpunished." Her mom voice was put on. "You're grounded for two weeks, starting now."

"Two weeks?" Henry complained. "That's torture!"

"Well not knowing where you were was torture for us!" Regina yelled at him. "You're lucky we're even letting you play in your game this weekend."

"Ma!" The boy turned to his blonde mother for help. "Tell her that's torture!"

Emma shook her head. "Sorry kid, I'm with her on this one."

The boy crossed his arms and grumbled. "This isn't fair!"

"Life isn't fair, little dude." The sheriff told him, standing up and ruffling his brown hair. "Now go do your homework and maybe we'll feed you dinner."

"Whatever." Henry muttered under his breath and walked away.

Regina glared at the back of his head. "Attitude, young man. You better fix it before you come back down here." The boy slammed his feet down on the hardwood stairs as he went to his room. When the mayor looked at her true love, the blonde was beaming. "What's that face for?"

"That was fun!" Emma exclaimed happily. "I've never grounded him before."

Brown eyes rolled. "I'm glad it was enjoyable for you, honey. I, however, don't take pleasure in punishing our child. Especially when he seems so insecure of our relationship."

The savior shrugged. "That's normal. He's a kid. They look for stability and shit like that. Should we tell him tonight I'm moving in with you guys this Sunday?"

"Do you want to?" The brunette asked. They had originally planned to tell him Friday after his football game, but the former queen was flexible.

Emma nodded. "I think we should. It'll give him something positive to think about. Despite how friendly he was Neal today, the guy still disappointed him."

"He doesn't trust him." Regina filled in.

"Exactly." The sheriff spoke. "And honestly, I don't trust him either. Time will tell if and when Neal will be a trustworthy parent, but until he proves loyal to either side, there's nothing we can do but wait."

The mayor didn't like having to wait for such an event. "If he continues to meddle in our relationship or not be there for Henry, I don't want him in his life at all." She decided.

"I agree." Emma told her and then heard some loud whimpers and high pitched barking from outside. 'The puppies.' She thought and made a beeline for the door, her girlfriend right behind her. She swung the front door open and looked around for the hybrid pups. Her green eyes landed on Boss, who was barking up at a high shrub near the iron fence.

A gasp came from the brunette woman. "Where's Chief?" She demanded to know, looking all around the yard and calling his name. "Chief!"

Emma calmly walked towards his wolf hybrid and bent down to pet his erect ears. "Where's your bubby?" She asked him.

The light grey puppy howled next to her and that's when she heard the faint sound of puppy crying.

"Chief! Come to mommy!" The sheriff heard her girlfriend panic.

"Baby!" Emma called for her. "I think he's in your shrub. Can you get me a flashlight?" She could really see because it was dark outside. She ran her fingers over the bush, looking for any sign of entry. Her ears followed the sound and she scaled the large plant.

Regina walked up and handed the savior her iPhone with her flashlight on. "Here." She offered.

The blonde took it and pointed the light at the shrub, seeing a deep hole in the thing. She chuckled in disbelief and tossed the phone on the damp grass. "Your dog is trouble." She told the older woman.

If the mayor weren't so worried about her adorable little baby, she would have been offended. "Just find him, dear." She instructed.

Emma dug her hand in the bush and felt nothing. There was no sound coming from either puppy so she decided to enlist Boss' help. She tsked at him. "Howl." She commanded, hoping it would work even though she hadn't taught him such a command. She spent so much time getting him and his brother to hush their loud mouths that she didn't even start on how you get them to speak.

A brown eyebrow rose as Regina looked at the light grey puppy. He tilted his head to side at his owner and whined slightly. "I see your training is going well."

Green eyes rolled. "Shut-up." She muttered to her girlfriend and whistled to see if Chief would respond. She got a quiet response further to the side. "Why is this shrub so fucking thick?" She complained, digging her arm out of the thing and picking up the mayor's phone, shining the light on about where she heard the whimper.

"Chief, baby boy." Regina called again, making kissing noises. It effectively got Boss' attention as he scampered towards her, whining in delight.

A loud bark emitted from the bush and Emma grinned in disbelief. "Keep calling him, baby."

The former queen got excited and knelt down to pet Boss as she called the darker puppy. "Chief, come see mommy!"

Howling started to break out and Emma could see the rapid movements of the dog through the moving leaves. She dug her hands in her fingers found coarse fur. "I've got him." His sharp puppy teeth connected with her palm and she made sure to slap his snout before she grabbed the back of his neck and yanked him free of the bush. He whined and whimpered when he became free.

Regina cringed at the sight of the poor puppy. He was covered in cuts and blood, as was her girlfriend. She grabbed him from her true love and clutched him to her chest. "Are you okay?" She asked the blonde.

Emma nodded, wiping her hands on her jeans. "Yeah. We need to clean him up though."

"They both need baths anyways." The mayor pointed out. "We can put medicine on his cuts after we bathe him."

The sheriff glanced at the small bleeding cuts on her arm as the couple made their way into the house, Boss trailing behind just a tad. "You got a troublemaker dog."

"And the troublemaker girlfriend." Regina teased. "Seems I have a type."

After cleaning up the boys and putting Neosporin on Chief's cuts, they puppies passed out on their dog bed in the family room. Henry was sulking in his room because he was banned from video games and Emma was taking full advantage of that as she played the walking dead game.

Regina had just finished dinner and was waiting for it cool down. She walked past her video game nerd of a lover and up the stairs to see her son. She knocked on his door and waited three solid seconds before walking in. The brunette boy was doing his homework at his desk. He didn't even look up at her as she stepped into the room. "Dinner is ready. Would you set the table?"

"I'm doing homework still." He told her, still not looking at her.

The woman crossed her arms. "This attitude of yours isn't helping your case."

Henry finally turned to her. "I got grounded for sticking up for you and Ma."

"No." Regina shook her head. "You got grounded for skipping school. Stick up for me and Emma all you'd like and I won't have a problem until it interferes with your school work." She clarified. "Now accept your punishment and quit being ugly to me."

The boy sighed deeply, put his pencil down and walked past his adoptive mother to go set the table.

Regina followed suit and when she reached the bottom of the stairs she walked into the sunken family room, behind the blonde sheriff and started to rub her shoulders. "Dinner is ready." She informed her.

Emma groaned slowly at the feeling of sure hands rubbing the knots in her shoulders. "Mm. What are we having?"

"Smothered pork chops." The mayor revealed. "Henry's setting the table now."

"I heard his sulky footsteps comes down the stairs." She paused and saved the game, tossing the Xbox remote next to her and leaned her head back as she received her massage. "That feels amazing, baby."

Regina smirked and provided more pressure, eliciting a gasp from the younger woman. "It's a thank you for everything you do around here."

Emma looked up at the woman upside down as he head rested on the back of the couch. "I don't do much around here." She differed. "You're the one who keeps everything going."

"No. I just do most of the obvious things like cook dinner, make lunches, clean and do laundry. You don't even live here yet and you fixed the garbage disposal, you cut the lawn, you tracked our son down today, brought him back to school and you got Chief out of the shrub." The mayor listed. "You do a lot around here and you never ask for anything in return."

The blonde smirked. "I can think of something to ask for."

Regina had gotten use the perverted mind of her true love. She also quite enjoyed it most of the time. "That's not something you have to ask for, dear." She assured her.

Emma chuckled throatily. "I knew there was a reason I love you."

Brown eyes rolled as she stopped her massage and patted the savior's shoulders. "Dinnertime. Come on."

After getting the table set, grabbing the pitcher of water and the course meal of food the mayor made, the family found themselves gathered around the table, eating in silence for several minutes.

Eventually, the blonde spoke up. "So kid, how's practice going?" She asked, trying to coax him to stop with the sour attitude.

"Good." He told her simply with a shrug.

Regina made eye contact with her girlfriend for a moment before she sat her utensils down. "Henry, Emma and I have something important to tell you."

The boy looked between the two women with confusion. "Are you grounding me for even longer?" He asked with an attitude.

Emma snapped. "Dude. Fucking quit with the attitude or I'll whip your ass and not only will you miss your football game on Friday, but you won't be on the team at all." He went to open his mouth but she shook her head. "No. You're acting like a spoiled little brat. Man up, kid. Accept your punishment and move on."

Both of the brunette's were surprised by the outburst. It was no secret that the mayor was more of the disciplinary of the two women, but there was savior was laying down the law to their son.

Regina wasn't ashamed to admit that she was slightly turned on by strict Emma. "Well said, Miss Swan."

"I'm sorry." Henry said sincerely before he swallowed the lump in his throat. "What were you going to tell me?" He asked, fixing his attitude.

Emma looked at her girlfriend and motioned to her. "You want to tell him or should I?"

"I'll do it." The older woman offered and wiped her mouth with the napkin before turning her attention to her son. "Earlier, you said you were tired of switching houses so often. What if we told you that after this week, you never had to switch again?"

The meaning behind those words didn't register to the boy right away. It took a moment and two beaming smiles from his parents for it to click. He turned towards Emma, eyes wide. "You- you're moving in?"

"Come Sunday." Emma confirmed.

Henry's previous sour attitude was replaced with an ecstatic grin. "No way!"

Regina smiled at his reaction. "We were originally planning to tell you on Friday, but since you kind of brought it up earlier, we figured tonight is as good as any."

"This is awesome!" The boy told them. "So we'll all live here by next week?"

Emma nodded. "Yeah, kid. But we haven't told anybody but you yet so keep so no blabbing." She teased.

Henry shook his head. "I won't but this makes getting grounded not that bad!" He laughed. "Now I get both of you every day."

The couple looked at one another, matching smiles on their faces. "Yeah." The older woman spoke, mostly to herself as she looked into glowing green eyes. "You do."

The next morning Emma woke up to the sensation of a wet tongue teasing her earlobe. Goosebumps erupted on her skin as she shivered. There was a warm weight pressed against her back. "Quit it." She lazily lifted a hand to swat the assault away.

Regina caught the hand and tangled their fingers together as she nibbled on her lover's earlobe. "It's time to wake up, honey."

Small patters from the edge of the bed moved up and joined the brunette in waking up the sheriff. Emma felt cold noses nudging her legs butt, whiny and howling. "They're not allowed to sleep in here anymore." The blonde stated.

The mayor chuckled and stopped her teasing. She grazed nails down the younger woman's side. "We can discuss that once you've in, but right now it's time to let them outside and get ready for work."

Emma pulled her hand away from Regina's and rubbed her face, grumbling. She yawned. "You let them out. I'm not going to work today."

Her tone was casual and brown eyebrows furrowed. "What do you mean you aren't going to work today?"

The savior adjusted her body, feeling the common ache in her muscles that happened in the mornings. She blinked several times to get her vision in check. "I've got stuff to do out of town today." She revealed.

Regina raised an eyebrow. The puppies were play fighting by their feet but both women ignored them. "What's all this stuff you have to do out of town?"

"I'm borrowing Marco's trailer so I can finally unload my storage unit in Boston. I'm taking the puppies to a vet for their shots and I'm getting them collars and tags." She yawned again. "All that good stuff."

The mayor's mind went to one thing in particular. "You have a storage unit in Boston?"

The blonde nodded sleepily. "Mhm."

"What's in it?" Regina asked.

"Trophies from all the people I killed." Emma answered sarcastically. "What do you think? It's a bunch of my stuff that I never brought over to Storybrooke."

The older woman wasn't aware of such things. "You have stuff?" When her girlfriend gave her the 'are you serious' look, she cleared her throat to explain. "I mean I know you stuff obviously, but you didn't tell me that you had a storage unit full of things."

"It's a small unit." Emma assured her. "It's not full either, but there are things in there that I figure I can finally get out. That way I won't have to pay $80.00 a month to keep it."

Brown eyes widened. "$80.00? You've been paying that much each month?"

"Well, technically it's $78.00 but pretty much, yeah." She shrugged.

"That's a lot of wasted money, Emma." Regina informed her. "Why didn't you unload it when you moved into Mary Margaret's?"

"Are you kidding? There's barely enough room for my clothes in there." Emma informed her.

Regina cleared her throat. "So, how do you plan on getting all your stuff from your storage unit when you have those two rambunctious wolves?" She pointed down to where Chief nosed his brother off of the bed and started barking at him.

"Hush." Emma commanded, and the puppy whined before jumping off of the bed to wrestle with Boss. "I'll make do."

"We have a vet here, you know." The mayor informed her.

The blonde shook her head. "No. He puts down this breed."

Regina rolled her eyes. "When they're little, sure, but they're about eight weeks old now."

"I'm not bringing them there." Emma told her firmly. "Now be a good girlfriend and let them outside before they piss in our room."

"Fine. I have to bring Henry to school in half an hour, but since you're playing hooky from work, so am I."

Emma raised an eyebrow. "Madam Mayor playing hooky? Think of the scandal."

Regina chuckled as she left the room, the bouncing puppies following behind her.

The mayor called the vet office in Boston to schedule an appointment for noon. Luckily for the couple, a slot was open. When they got to the building and signed in, they held their respective puppies as they waited. The two women were in agreement that they had to get the boys collars before they got any bigger. They were already too heavy to hold for long periods of time.

Finally after a fifteen-minute wait, the vet assistant called them back to a room and they waited patiently for the doctor. They put the boys on the dog table as they looked around the small room. "You read up about this guy on the way over. Didn't you?" The sheriff asked.

Regina nodded. "Yes. He doesn't put euthanize unless it's to put an animal out of pain or when they're deemed aggressive and dangerous."

"Good." The blonde said as she petted the dogs heads.

The veterinarian knocked on the door before entering. Both of the puppies glanced his way and barked to alert their owners of the presence. The man laughed at them and extended his hand out to the savior. "Hello I'm Dr. Edwards."

"Emma Swan." She introduced herself, firmly shaking his hand. "This is my girlfriend, Regina."

"It's nice to meet both of you." He said with a smile. "My assistant told me that you rescued these little guys?" He asked, digging in his white coat pockets and offering each of the wolves a treat.

Emma nodded her head. "Yeah. I friend of mine actually found them in the woods and brought them to the sheriff's station. The plan was to give them away, but we kinda fell in love." She confessed with a laugh.

Dr. Edwards laughed with her. "That's quite easy to do. Well you were right to assume they're part wolf." He told her as he observed them. "How much so, I'm not sure but judging by the darker ones eye color, I'd say they're mixed with husky."

"That's what I thought." Regina spoke up. While Boss had greenish yellow eyes, Chief had sparkling blue ones.

"So this is their first time to the vet?" He asked the women.

"Yep. So do whatever you gotta do, doc."

After the vet appointment the couple went to PetSmart and bought two collars, one black for Chief and a blue one for Boss with tags for both of them. They also got some dog toys, an outdoor doghouse, high protein dog food, and leashes. They went slightly overboard, but the couple didn't care. They accepted the fact that their dogs would be spoiled.

It was nearly two when they finally arrived at the blonde's storage unit. They were trying to make it speedy because the four-hour drive home would not be fun. Boss and Chief were waiting in the bug with the windows cracked as they couple went to the unit.

Emma put the key into lock and unhinged it. Her girlfriend was standing behind her, waiting to see what was all inside. She grabbed the handle on the bottom and lifted up the flimsy door. A black leather lounge chair was backed up into the corner of the unit, various boxes were scattered about the small area and that was pretty much it. "I told you it wasn't much."

Regina nodded. "You weren't lying." She noted, stepping into the unit and opening the lid on a box that was labeled 'pictures'. She grabbed a handful of them and smiled softly at the photo of a toddler Emma sucking on a pacifier. "I didn't you know you had pictures from when you were this little."

Emma came behind her and laughed at the old picture. "Yeah. I've got a bunch of them actually."

"You look just like Henry." Regina commented.

The blonde grabbed the box that was next to her girlfriend and brought it to the trunk of her bug. The car trailer that was attached to it had the outdoor doghouse they bought and it was going to also be the placeholder for her chair.

When she returned to the unit, her girlfriend was still looking through her photo box. Green eyes rolled playfully as she picked up another box. "Don't bother helping me. I've got it."

Regina laughed softly and put the photos back in the box. "Fine. I'll just look through them later." She said and looked at a box labeled 'toys' as she true love made another trip to the car. Her eyebrows furrowed. Why would her girlfriend have a box full of toys? She was a grown woman. She lifted the lid and gasped at what she saw. She covered her mouth with both hands, effectively dropping the lid to the floor as her eyes stared at the various… hardware within the box.

Emma had ever intention of yelling at her girlfriend to quit procrastinating when she saw what was holding her up. The box she had vaguely labeled 'toys' was opened and revealing things to her girlfriend that she had yet discuss with her. She should be embarrassed, but the whole situation was too hilarious for her to do anything but bust out laughing.

I barely made the Tuesday deadline. Lol. But that's good news for you guys because that means the next update will be Thursday! I know this chapter was mostly fluff, but I enjoyed writing it. Next one will have a bit of smut in it but some angst is coming as well so beware. Until next time!