"Hey…" Emma's soft voice startled her from the most comfortable sleep she'd had in the last few days.
"Hey…" she replied, raising her hand to run her fingers along Emma's jaw. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah" She hesitated. "Listen, Regina. I'm sorry about last night. I had no right to come here and demand anything. Especially considering the way I've been acting. It's your life and if you decided to move on…well that wouldn't be any of my business…"
"How disposable do you think you are, Emma? I love you and that's not going to change just because you're being an idiot," she smiled a gesture Emma was only too quick to return. "I know you need time and I'll give it to you. I'll stay away, however long it takes. I'll just be here, waiting." She affectionately tucked a golden strand of hair behind the blonde's ear.
"Thank you" Emma whispered as Regina leaned in to plant a soft chaste kiss on her lips. "I should get going. Henry will be so worried when He wakes up and I'm not yet there. It's becoming so hard to lie to him. He wouldn't talk to me last night at dinner after we ran into you and…" she stopped, taking a deep breath as if trying to compose herself.
"His name is Robin and the reason I was with him is because I saved his son from drowning and I couldn't let the boy sleep outside in the forest after such an ordeal. So I brought them to Granny's. I'd only just met him" Regina for some reason felt like she owed the blonde an explanation for the previous night.
"Robin…as in Robin Hood?" Emma asked and Regina nodded in response. "And you'd never met before? I mean judging by how he was looking at you…not that I blame him"
Regina smiled at that. "I don't remember ever meeting him although he knew me which isn't unexpected since I was queen, everyone knew me. As for him looking, well he can look all he wants but I'm already taken so it doesn't really matter"
"Really? By whom?" Emma chuckled, a voice Regina would have given anything to hear in the last two days! One she loved with every fiber of her being.
"A very gorgeous but idiotic blonde…" Regina said, sitting up from the bed.
"Well, she's one lucky idiot then" Emma said, pulling Regina back down and locking them in a tight, loving but almost painful embrace.
"I'm the lucky one" Regina sighed as she returned the embrace. "Go check on our son, Miss Swan. Before your parents turn him into a charming."
"He IS a charming…Well, half a charming"
"Don't remind me"
"Hey!…be nice! If its any consolation, the kid is so much like you I hardly ever see myself in him sometimes" Regina laughed at that. "But seriously though, I'm running out of lies to tell the kid whenever he starts asking questions and I know He's already figured out that I'm lying to him. What are we going to do? Things were so different and easy two days ago!"
"Are you planning on going back to New York?" Regina asked, failing to keep the anxiety and fear from her voice.
"No…Not at the moment. But would you come with us if I did?"
"You know I would no questions asked but I know you won't go back. Because you love your parents and they love you. Losing you for the third time would hurt them a lot. They need you Emma and so do the people of Storybrooke."
"I know, I need them too." She sighed. "Hey, what happened between you and my mother in the past year?" she asked after a moment of silence.
"What do you mean?"
"All of a sudden she's your biggest fan…and she's telling me that I should fight for you, for us. What the hell happened?"
"It wasn't sudden, Dear. We had to spend an entire year together bonding over the mutual pain of losing you and Henry. I hate to admit it but her 'Hope' speeches really helped me. I needed them to get through that year. We both did." She smiled sadly but gratefully at the blonde then she pulled away from her and stood up from the bed. She noticed the way Emma's eye's roamed over her body. She wore a satin night gown that did wonders in giving an illustration of her drop dead gorgeous body. But she couldn't let her mind go there, not right now.
"I have to take a shower. You can use the bathroom in this room if you need one"
"I'd rather have it at Granny's Inn after picking Henry up" Emma said, standing up and picking up her clothes from last night which Regina had folded nicely for her.
Ten minutes later they were standing at Regina's door, the brunette seeing the blonde off.
"Will you be joining me and Henry for lunch later?" Regina asked.
"I'd love to" Emma smiled, leaning in – she couldn't help herself - Her fingers were gentle as she cupped Regina's chin and kissed her sweetly on the mouth.
"I meant what I said last night" she said, earning an inquisitive look from the brunette. "That I'm going to fight for you like you deserve to be fought for."
"Emma," she breathed. "That is not at all necessary. You won me over years ago."
"That might be but you fought for ME over this past few months and now it's my turn to do the same." She smiled and planted one last soft kiss on her lips before she turned around and walked away.
A few hours later Regina sat at the farthest booth at Granny's waiting for her son and his blonde mother to join her for lunch. Her thoughts drifting to what had happened last night and she couldn't help the grin that drifted on her face. Emma had been so jealous of Robin!
"Something funny you'd like to share?" Regina looked up when the voice interrupted her thoughts.
"Snow" she smiled, standing up to embrace the younger woman.
"We haven't seen each other since you got back. How are you?"
"Well, you know…"
"Regina!" Henry came barreling towards her, disrupting whatever it was she wanted to say. Thankfully she had still been standing so it was easy for her 13 year old to crash into her in an embrace of his own.
"Hello, Darling. Where is your mother?" Regina asked looking at the direction the boy had come from.
"She's talking to Ruby oh! There she is" He said when Emma emerged and at that Regina took the seat she'd just stood from as if relieved that the blonde had actually showed up.
"Mo…" Emma exclaimed when she saw Mary Margaret standing there. "Mary Margaret" she corrected herself when she realized the mistake she'd been about to commit by calling her mom in front of Henry and missing the confused look her son threw her. "What are you doing here?"
"I was just leaving but I saw Regina and I had to say Hi to her. I should get going though. You guys have fun" Mary Margaret said as she took off towards the diner's door giving Regina the 'we still have to talk' look which the other brunette nodded to.
"She's weird" Henry said.
"Tell me about it" Regina whispered getting a disapproving look from the blonde which she shrugged off with a smirk as they all settled down for lunch with Emma sitting across from Regina and Henry.
"Can I have some Ice Cream?" Henry asked after they'd all finished eating.
"Sure, why don't you go and ask Granny for some?" Emma said to Henry who was already standing up from their table and heading off.
"That was a very close call earlier with my mother. We should really come up with a solution for his memories before He finds out He's being lied to and starts looking for answers on his own. You know him" the blonde said, turning her attention back to the brunette.
"We will. I'll have a talk with Belle later." Regina replied.
"Okay and I'll see if I can get anything out of mother superior…" Emma sighed and then she looked up nervously at the other woman.
"What is it?" Regina asked.
"Will you go out on a date with me?"
"I thought we were out on date"
"No. A real date, just the two of us. With no interrupting parents or sons. Just you and me as our real selves. No lies or secrets this time." She reached across the table and took the older woman's hand in her own. "Please" she murmured.
"I'd be honored" Regina grinned.
"Is that a Yes?!" Emma almost shouted.
Regina nodded, a pink blush pulling at her cheeks.
"Yes to what?" Henry asked as he took a seat on the space he's vacated moments earlier.
"Regina has agreed to go out with me" Emma said.
"Yeah, so? You guys have been on a date before, what's the big deal about this one?" Why are people being all weird here? It's like stuff is going on all around me and I'm the only one who has no clue and somehow everyone in Regina's town knows my mom. Why hadn't she ever mentioned them before?!And what about Mom and Regina acting all pissed off at each other when we arrived here? He thought to himself.
"Nothing in particular…it's just. This being Regina's hometown and all, our first date here is kind of special, right?"
"If you say so." The boy said, turning his attention back to the ice cream in front of him but not missing the look the two women shared. Like relief that he wasn't asking anything anymore. What is going on?! He thought. "So you two are not mad at each other anymore?" He asked.
"No, we're not" Emma said as she looked at Regina with a certain feeling in her eyes. Something bordering from guilt to apologetic and then gratitude.
"Everything is fine" Regina said and Emma seemed to relax all of a sudden like she'd be put at ease with those three words.
"That's awesome!" the boy exclaimed in joy, forgetting for a moment all the questions he had. "So when is this date?"
"I don't know…How does tomorrow sound?" Emma turned back to Regina.
"Its fine with me" Regina smiled as she stood up from the table. "I should get going. Thank you for a lovely time."
"No need to thank us. We're family…well almost, right mom"
"Yeah kid, we are" Emma smiled at her 13 year old as she also stood up and leaned across the table to plant a chaste but sweet kiss on the brunette's lips, not caring that the whole diner was staring.
"Gross" Henry groaned.
"Get used to it kid, you just said we were almost family" both the brunette and the blonde laughed at their son's discomfort.
"I'll see you later, sweetheart" Regina said bending over to kiss her son's cheek.
"See you" He smiled at the woman He shared such a strong and beautiful bond with. Not just because she was his mother's girlfriend. There was just something about Regina that made him feel loved, cherished and protected and he couldn't imagine his life without her.
"I love you" he said a little too loud because Regina was almost at the door.
"Me too" the blonde mouthed to her but failing to keep the people in the dinner from seeing or hearing it.
"And I love you both" Regina exhaled as adoring sighs and 'awws' were heard from all over the diner. When had the people of Storybrooke become so invested in her happiness? When had they started caring about her? She thought as she walked out of diner with happy and content tears in her eyes.
Hi guys. I hope you're all doing great. This is just a quick and short update. Let me know what you think. How do you think the real first date will go? How do you want it to go? I really value your inputs so don't hold back. Thank you all so much for the lovely support. I'll try to update again in a couple of days. Also let me know what other shows you guys watch and whether you'd like me to try and write something from them.
Love, A.