A/N: Happy mid-week chapter. Sorry it's short. I had to split my evenings between having a life, this chapter and writing the final instalment of Missed SwanQueen Moments Season 7…
Regina was on a high for the next two days. She couldn't help it. Despite the subject matter which she and Emma covered during their date on Monday evening, that time with the blonde still filled her with happiness. Every time she saw the young woman she felt that way, regardless of what they did or said or shared together.
Work was busy but she didn't care. It didn't matter, not in the grand scheme of things. Emma was healthy and Henry was going to be better soon, she could feel it. Graham seemed surprised when she merely shrugged at the news that one of their clients had postponed an urgent meeting by two weeks. The brunette usually hated it when important appointments were missed or delayed. But Regina didn't mind that day. She just thanked him for telling her and went back to appraising a new Facebook Advertisement campaign, humming softly.
When Henry had a tantrum about his science homework on Tuesday evening, Regina sat calmly with him. His task was to list the five senses and then what he could see, smell, taste, touch, hear in his house as well as which body part allowed him to do it. The boy wasn't struggling to understand the homework but it was a new concept for him to be doing school work at home. His teachers usually only set take-home work like this once every few weeks. Aside from reading, Henry's evenings were usually free from 'school'. He was only six, after all.
But even as his book flew across the room, tears streaming down his face because he wasn't allowed to play with his race track, Regina was happy. She picked up the book, flattened out the crumpled pages and returned to her son, calmly explaining to him that he needed to get the work done before they could move on. After an hour, they managed it and Henry, perfectly cheery once more, snuggled up on his mother's lap for half an hour of playing with his race cars before bed. Regina held a remote too and both Mills' watched their respective vehicles zoom around the track.
"So, what do you think?"
"Huh?" Emma asked, looking up from her cell phone when she realised her friend had stopped talking.
Ruby scowled down at the blonde who was sat in her tiny office at the back of Hook, Line And Sinker, supposedly organising supply deliveries but in reality replying to a text from Regina. "Did you hear a word of what I just said?" the lanky brunette frowned.
"Um, sure," Emma lied. "Belle's graduating next month. You're arranging … something."
"It's a little more than something. I'm organising a vacation, Emma. I want to take her to Paris."
"Paris?" Emma repeated. "As in Paris, France?"
"No, Paris as in Paris, Maine," Ruby sneered. "Yes, Paris, France. Belle has always wanted to go to Europe and she's worked so hard these last two years. In fact, ever since I met her she's been studying her ass off. I can't wait for her to be finished and have some free time. Plus, she'll be a Master of English Literature, whatever that means. I want us to celebrate in style."
"Are you gonna propose?"
Ruby blushed. "How did you know?"
"Because it's Paris and the two of you are completely in love and also because I found the engagement ring. You really shouldn't leave something like that in the draw of the side cabinet, Rubes. It could get stolen."
"You stole my ring?" Ruby gasped.
"Technically it's going to be Belle's ring," Emma laughed. "And no, I didn't. I just pushed it further back just in case your soon to be fiancée to be goes looking for something in there. I take it you wanted the proposal to be a surprise."
"Thanks," Ruby smiled. "So, um, what do you think?"
"I think I'm really happy for you and Belle is one lucky girl," Emma said standing up and hugging her best friend. "Congratulations."
Ruby hugged her back. "Thanks but I meant about the other thing."
"What other thing?"
"Wow, when it comes to Regina you really don't take anything else in, do you?" Ruby teased. "I'm going to need some time off for the vacation. Two weeks. Do you think Killian will be ok with that?"
"You have annual leave," Emma pointed out. "He can't stop you going. Plus, your team are good, thanks to your training. I'm sure we can all survive without you for a couple of weeks."
"Thanks," Ruby grinned. "I need a break from this place, to be honest. And Belle has been working so hard these last few months. Once her thesis is submitted, we can finally relax together."
Emma smiled back. That sounded like something she wanted to do too, she realised. She couldn't remember the last time she had taken some vacation days. The young chef loved her work, even when it was busy and stressful, but perhaps a little space from the restaurant would do her some good. Perhaps she'd take some time away after Ruby returned. They couldn't both be absent at the same time. The two of them practically ran the restaurant. Maybe she could take some vacation during the school break so she could spend time with Regina and Henry. Emma stopped that thought right there. No, she couldn't think like that. Not yet.
"So, what's your girlfriend up to?" Ruby asked, pointing to the cell phone which had just lit up on Emma's desk.
Without looking, Emma knew Ruby was right with her guess of who was texting her. "She's not my girlfriend but she's fine, thank you," Emma said.
"When are you seeing her again?"
"Monday, I guess," Emma sighed. "Our work hours suck for dating, don't they? I'd forgotten about that."
"It's easier when they don't have a kid at home, to be fair," Ruby pointed out. "I can go over to Belle's after work or she go come and study in our apartment and be there when we get back. I think we see each other most days."
"Yeah, well, Regina can't exactly leave Henry, can she?"
"Have you met the kid yet?" Ruby asked, perching herself on Emma's desk and swinging her long legs back and forth.
"You mean besides when we both met him here? Yes, briefly. On Monday night. He kinda wandered into the hallway when I arrived to pick Regina up."
"Oh my God. Did he catch you making out?"
Emma rolled her eyes at the look of excitement on Ruby's face. The woman loved scandal and gossip. "No he didn't," Emma told her. "But Regina's best friend did."
Ruby squealed and clapped her hands, miming for Emma to tell her all about their interrupted kiss.
"I don't like it!" Henry yelled, arms crossed tightly over his chest.
"Henry, it's exactly the same as what I cooked for you on Sunday," Regina said, trying to remain calm. The happy vibes from her date with Emma had at last worn off and faced with Henry's meltdown over his dinner, she was struggling to cope.
"I don't like it," Henry repeated. "I don't want it."
"You ate chicken on Sunday, remember? I made it exactly the same. It's on the side of your dish again. Can you please try a piece?"
"No," Henry said stubbornly, pushing the bowl away with enough force that some of the pasta pieces flew over the edge, landing with a defeated splat on the table.
Regina sighed and replaced the cooling food into the bowl. "Fine, then can you just eat the pasta and tomato sauce?"
"What's in it?" Henry asked.
"The usual tomato sauce I always make," Regina replied.
"With capsicum?"
The fact that Henry had finally learned how to say his new vegetable was ignored. More importantly, Regina was realising that she had made a mistake. "Yes, Henry. There's capsicum in it."
"I didn't want that with the chicken," he said simply.
"So if I had made you the tomato sauce with no capsicum, would you eat the chicken?"
Henry thought for a moment. "Yes."
"Ok," Regina nodded. "Then I'll do that next time."
"But I don't want the chicken today," Henry said. "I don't want it in my bowl."
"Fine," Regina said, spearing the pieces with her fork and adding them to her own lukewarm meal. "Will you eat what's left in there now?"
Henry pulled the bowl back towards him and peered down, inspecting the contents. Regina was wondering if he suspected her of hiding pieces of chicken beneath his usual dinner. She hadn't. She would never do that. After realising that Henry's eating habits were all about control, she knew that tricking him into eating something was not the way to go. Every decision and step forwards in this journey had to come from Henry. Clearly two pieces of new food in one dish was too much.
"Ok, I'll eat this," Henry agreed, picking up his cutlery and digging in without another word.
As soon as the small boy was in bed, Regina called Emma. She had been itching to speak to the blonde ever since the meltdown over their meal. The call rang and rang and eventually went to voicemail. She didn't leave a message but she shot Emma a quick text just saying that it had been a difficult evening with Henry and that she hoped the blonde had a good shift at work.
She had forgotten that Emma's Wednesday evening off was only every other week. She wished, not for the first time, that the blonde's work allowed her to keep more sociable hours. It sounded strange given how short a time she had known Emma but Regina found herself missing the blonde in the evenings after her son had been put to bed. But that wasn't about to change, not with Emma's job. Regina poured herself a glass of wine and settled onto the couch, resigned to distracting herself with work for until she went to bed herself.
"Good work tonight, team," Emma said, smiling around at her staff. It had been a surprisingly busy mid-week evening and she had asked everyone to stay behind in order to thank them for their hard work and recognise their dedication. She knew the stress of a commercial kitchen sometimes created a difficult working environment and whenever service got a little heated, she made sure her staff knew they were appreciated.
Dismissing her staff, Emma stifled a yawn and pulled off her chef hat before leaving the kitchen. August caught up with the head chef as she was making her way back to her office. "Hey, that so-called sous chef has to go," he said. "Did you see that sea bass he cooked tonight? He's shit, Emma. We have to fire him."
"When you say we, you mean I," Emma replied. "You know I hate firing people. It makes me feel bad."
"His food makes the customers feel bad," August shot back. "Really bad. Like food poisoning bad. That fish was raw and he was about to send it out. We would have had a real problem if the server hadn't stopped the order. Delegate the job to me. I'll fire him. I'll happily tell that idiot where to go."
"He's new," Emma said. "Let's give him a chance."
"It's been six weeks, Ems," August said. "This is your food, your reputation. Come on, you know I'm right."
Emma quirked her mouth to one side. August was right. The man was not meeting the high standards set by Emma and the restaurant.
"I'll speak to him tomorrow. Tell him he has until the end of the week to impress me or he's out," she said as she pulled her cell phone from her bag.
"Thanks," August said. "And Ems, when you talk to him, tell him to hold off on the salt, ok? This is a seafood restaurant but people don't want to feel like they've just swallowed a mouthful of the Antarctic as they eat."
But Emma wasn't listening. She had seen the notification regarding the missed call from Regina, four hours earlier and the text. Without glancing at the time, she returned the call and held the phone to her ear.
"August, I've got to call Regina. Um, see you tomorrow, yeah?"
Eyebrows rose before August looked at his watch. "Emma, it's almost eleven."
This time it was the blonde's turn to look surprised. "Shit," she exclaimed, pulling the phone away from her ear and ending the call. "I forgot it was so late. Damn, I hope I didn't wake her."
The trilling of the cell still held in Emma's hand answered that question for her. "Oops," she grimaced as she answered the call and shooed August from her office. "Regina, I'm so sorry. I called before I realised how late it was. Did I wake you? I'm so sorry. I just saw your text and -"
"Emma."
The familiar voice interrupted the rambling blonde and stopped the flow of apologies. Emma sank into her chair and pulled her hair from its elastic, suddenly feeling tired after her busy evening, the adrenaline of the kitchen activities wearing off.
"Hi, I'm sorry," Emma tried again. "Did I wake you?"
"No," Regina replied. "I was working. I … I don't feel much like sleeping, to be honest."
"What happened?" Emma asked.
"I think I pushed him too fast," Regina replied. "This evening's dinner contained capsicum and chicken and apparently that was too much. Or maybe it was because I didn't tell him we were having chicken. I don't know, to be honest. All I know is that my son refused to eat the chicken I cooked. It's like we've taken a step backwards."
Emma could hear the despair in the older woman's voice and she ached to take her in her arms, offer some semblance of comfort. The words escaped before she could stop them.
"Can I come over?"
There was a pause. Emma held her breath, hardly daring to believe she had asked. She shouldn't have but there was no taking them back now. Regina, on her end, was trying to decide if it was a good idea.
"Yes."
"I'll be twenty minutes," Emma said. "I just have to go home first and grab …" The line went quiet again.
"I have a spare toothbrush you can use but perhaps some pyjamas," Regina offered, correctly translating Emma's silence as hesitation.
"Pyjamas," Emma repeated. So did that mean she was staying the night?
"Unless you sleep naked."
There was a sharp intake of breath and then: "I'll be there in twenty minutes."
A/N: So, our ladies are having a sleepover… Over the coming chapters, the rating of this fic is going to increase to Mature/Explicit (depending on where you are reading this).