A/N: I really hope this chapter goes down okay. I felt I should add a bit more organic/ non-dream interaction between Regina and Emma rather than waiting to insert most of it at the end as this fic was veering towards becoming more The Misadventures of Emma and Ruby (which, I really enjoy writing) but most of you presumably started following the story for SwanQueen. I originally intended to go right into the next chapter, but then this one ended up just kind of happening last night (heh!). It's a bit of a tone shift, and I considered leaving it out, but I also felt it suited the setting and arc I'm writing in, and in the end, I decided to leave it in. Regular chaos will resume next chapter, and I really hope you like this one :)
"Can I have this brownie?"
Henry asks, smirking when the blonde jumps as she walks into her office and narrowly misses spilling the glass of water in her hand down her shirt.
"What are you doing here?"
She frowns, walking around her desk and pushing him out of her seat with a theatrical sigh.
"I wanted to come and see you."
He shrugs as he perches on the chair opposite.
"Mm... That would be sweet if I believed that was your only reason."
She chuckles, recognising the glint in his eye as he studies her shrewdly.
"... So?"
"So what?"
"Can I have it?"
He pesters with a good-natured grin, poking his fingers inside the paper bag of leftovers from Granny's.
"... Half."
"But-"
"-Seriously, Henry, just break a bit off. You know your mom gets annoyed when you eat snacks so close to dinner."
"Well, that's actually why I came to talk to you."
"Is it? I thought you just desperately wanted to spend time with me."
She teases, and the boy rolls his eyes as he divides up the brownie and hands her back a decidedly small piece.
"You've not started learning fractions, then?"
"I'm hungry!"
"Yeah? Open up your lunch bag. Show me how empty it is."
Emma challenges, and Henry narrows his eyes at her as he kicks his bag unsurreptitiously beneath the desk.
"That's what I thought."
The blonde smirks, and the kid sighs as he helps himself to a sticky mouthful while lamenting
"I've told my mom a hundred times that I don't like raisins or that weird, thick yoghurt with the chunks in."
"I'm sure it's good for you."
Emma reasons, but she does so with a grimace.
"You can have it if you want."
Henry offers sweetly, and she shakes her head before glancing up at the clock.
"Don't you usually see Archie after school today?"
"No, mom changed it to Mondays... I don't get why I have to keep seeing him when it turns out I'm not even crazy."
"You were never crazy."
"Exactly!"
"... A lot's happened. A lot's changed. I think Regina just wants to make sure you have someone you can talk to about it if you need to that isn't one of us. She's not doing it to be mean, and she definitely doesn't think you're crazy."
"It's so boring, though."
"Yeah? Being the son of the Evil Queen and a magical wardrobe baby is a dull thing to try and unpack?"
"Well, I knew all that already, so yeah."
"Sorry, we'll try harder to give you some fresh material to work with."
Emma rolls her eyes before catching herself in her flippant statement and swallowing awkwardly. Chuckling appreciatively, Henry doesn't notice the sudden wariness that casts a shadow over the blonde's expression and he simply licks his fingers clean before elaborating on his reason for dropping by.
"Can I stay at yours tonight?"
"... How come?"
The Sheriff asks uneasily. She's ordinarily keen to have the kid stay over, although this is still a rather contentious subject between Regina and herself, but, now that Henry has reverted to spending most of his nights back at the mansion and she's made it clear she's not planning to try and take him and leave, their conversations have been for the most part civil. She's unwilling to delay her mission to destroy the dreamcatcher, though; worried that if she doesn't put an end to the madness infiltrating her dreams it might make interacting with the Mayor in reality too hard to deal with.
Dealing with Regina has always been hard, but never in a million years would I have imagined it would come down to struggling not to picture her naked.
Clearing her throat awkwardly, she raises a brow at Henry to push him for an answer. After all, she's desperate to stop the lunacy of her carnal nightmares, but if the kid has a genuine reason for wanting to spend the night at hers, she supposes she'll just have to reschedule.
If I load up on coffee and some of those energy drinks from the pharmacy, maybe I can go the whole night without sleeping...
"Is there a reason you don't want to go home?"
She presses him, and he pulls a decidedly guilty face as he knows he should assure her that it's nothing like that, but he's wary of losing the upper hand to getting his way.
"Well..."
"What is it?"
She frowns.
"Okay, so you know that Creepshow Halloween special we saw the commercial for? It's on tonight, and I really want to watch it, but I'm not allowed..."
"Well, there's your answer, then. You've already been told no."
"Yeah, but you let me do stuff I'm not allowed to do all the time."
"Not true. I let you do things I don't know you're not allowed to do all the time."
"Mom, please!"
"No. Your mom said no. You shouldn't have led with that part."
Emma scolds him with a grin; inwardly relieved that the kid isn't an especially skilled negotiator.
"But the other kids at school will make fun of me that I wasn't allowed..."
The boy sniffs; playing what had once been his trump card with a frown when the Sheriff gets up to start filing away the folders on her desk, apparently entirely unmoved by his plight.
"Henry, that's not going to work when you've already told me the kids in your class are scared that if they're not nice to you, your mom might curse them."
The blonde advises with her back to him, and he flops moodily down in his chair with a sigh; surprised that she's standing her ground so firmly when he'd been sure he would be able to talk her round on the matter with relative ease.
"Fine."
He grumbles, accepting defeat.
"Cheer up, kid. I'll tape it. That way, I can check there's nothing that's about to scar you for life and see if your mom will let you watch it sometime next week."
"She'll still say no."
"Maybe. Maybe not. I'll try asking her when she's in a good mood."
"Hm. I'm not sure you're allowed to be a part of those."
Henry grins, and Emma chuckles as she imagines he's probably right.
I don't know, she seemed happy enough when we were-
"-Do you want a lift home?"
She interrupts her dangerous musing swiftly, and the boy nods, jumping eagerly at the offer on account of the rain.
"Are you coming in?"
Henry asks when they pull up outside the mansion and Emma raises a brow as she sits with the engine idling and her hands clasped between her thighs in a bid to warm them up.
"Why?"
"You said you'd talk to my mom."
"Yeah, after I watch the show and check it over."
Not now! Now I would really rather do anything than spend time with your-
"-Mom."
The boy opens the passenger-side door to greet the brunette when she steps out onto the front steps with a frown.
"What's the Sheriff doing here?"
Regina demands, and Emma leans forward as far as her seatbelt will allow and addresses her awkwardly.
"I just gave him a lift because it's raining."
"A lift from where?"
"I went to the station after school to speak to Emma."
Henry explains, elaborating before the blonde has a chance to stop him.
"She said she'd talk to you about letting me watch the Creepshow Special."
"Not now, I didn't."
The Sheriff furrows her brow, but it would seem the damage has been done as Henry slips stealthily from the car and past his mother who remains stood on the steps with her arms crossed irritably.
"You were going to come and talk to me, were you?"
Regina muses coldly, and Emma shakes her head as she tries to explain.
"No, I just-"
"-Enough... I would like a word, Miss Swan, and I would sooner do so without getting wet."
You and me both...
Fucking hell shut up!
"Yeah... Okay."
The blonde agrees awkwardly, switching off the ignition and making her way defeatedly up towards the house.
"Wipe your boots."
The Mayor orders as soon as they cross the threshold, and Emma sighs as she does as she's told; wondering how many times she needs to pay the brunette a visit before Regina stops treating her as though she's brand new.
"Look, it's not how Henry made it sound..."
She starts as she follows the darker woman down the hall and into the kitchen; scowling up at the kid when she catches him offering her an apologetic wince from over the bannisters.
"No?"
Regina replies as she pulls a couple of mugs down from the cupboard, and she turns back around to shoot the blonde an unconvinced glower.
"No. Henry came to the station to ask me if he could stay over and I asked him why. He said he wanted to watch a show we'd seen a commercial for but that you'd told him he wasn't allowed to, so I told him the same... I said I'd tape it and watch it and see how scary it actually is, and that maybe you might-"
"-No."
"-But-"
"-Oh, and you were doing so well, dear. I was genuinely pleasantly surprised for just a moment there, but it seems I got ahead of myself."
"... It's really not that creepy, Regina. They run a special every year, and I've seen most of them."
"Of course you have."
"It's just a bit of fun."
Emma appeals, and the brunette thins her lips as she studies her shrewdly before turning back around to pour them each a cup of coffee while speaking silkily over her shoulder.
"Oh, it's always just a bit of fun so far as you're concerned. Always. Everything. Your job; the time you spend with Henry; your dogged dedication to making my life a living hell."
"I don't-"
"-You do, though."
Regina turns back around and interrupts bluntly, and the Sheriff opens her mouth to bite back at her before noticing that the brunette looks unhappy rather than just angry.
"... I really don't mean to piss you off as much as I do... It's kind of hard, though, when I think literally just the fact that I exist winds you up. I'm not saying I'm blameless, but I don't go out of my way to annoy you."
"Well, that's clearly a lie."
"Sometimes... I don't mean to upset you, though. That's the honest truth."
"Then why do it? Why did you have to go and tell him all that stuff?"
"Who? What stuff?"
"Henry! Why did you have to go and tell him about a litany of ghastly traditions centred around the macabre?"
"Wait, you're still having a go at me because a bunch of kids want to dress up and go trick-or-treating?!"
Emma grumbles exasperatedly, before taking a physical step back in surprise when the brunette shakes her head and swipes tellingly at her cheek.
"Why couldn't you just leave things be?! Why do you have to keep changing everything? Over the last few months, I've lost everything, and rather than having the decency to let me grieve, you just keep meddling. Why can't you just stop? I know you hate me, but-"
"-I don't hate you..."
The blonde frowns, entirely taken aback by the anguish in the Mayor's tone, and she crosses her arms uncomfortably over her stomach as she insists uneasily
"Look, I really didn't know telling the kid about Halloween would bother you so much... I didn't mean to change things around here. Not in a bad way, at least. And, I would argue that inciting a little holiday fun isn't a bad change, but I get how it might seem that way to you. That's not a revelation that brings me joy now that you've pointed it out to me. I don't find it amusing or satisfying that you're upset... Regina, I invited you to that Welcome Back party at Granny's because I wanted to try and make a start at some kind of positive relationship with you. Honestly, I thought we were doing pretty okay! I mean, we argue, sure, but not like before. Now, it's sometimes almost genial and teasing... At least, I've felt it was."
Emma confides awkwardly, and she suffers an extremely confusing mix of emotions as she holds the brunette's dark gaze with some difficulty and implores
"Please don't be sad, Regina..."
Considering the blonde pensively as she concludes her words to be surprisingly genuine, the Mayor sniffs distractedly and pulls herself together with a mechanical, purposefully cold smile as she scolds the younger woman haughtily
"You flatter yourself, dear, if you believe you might be able to have such an effect."
"... Right."
The Sheriff replies quietly, accepting Regina's silent demand that they resume as normal, but she catches a brief glimpse of something other than disdain behind the Mayor's cool stare when the latter hands her her coffee before taking a seat at the kitchen table. She doesn't invite the blonde to sit, so Emma remains stood awkwardly against the counter.
"You told me Henry was the one that wanted to invite me to that dismal gathering."
Regina muses eventually, and the blonde shrugs as she points out
"There can be more than one reason for things... The kid wanted you there. I wanted you there, too."
"Now who's the one flirting?"
The brunette scoffs, and Emma swallows and skates on dangerously thin ice as she tries to quell the panic the Queen's comment incites.
"Well, you just seemed so woefully distraught at the thought that I might dislike you just now, so..."
"Please. That's not the part I was momentarily aggrieved over. If anything, I was vocalising hope."
"What, you want me to hate you?"
"I don't 'want' anything, Miss Swan. I couldn't care less, and I struggle to believe you don't feel the same way, what with your general attitude towards anything of emotional importance."
Regina lies, believing the younger woman completely and finding to her unwelcome surprise that she actually cares quite a bit, and the blonde rolls her eyes as she challenges
"What, going up against a Wraith for you spoke of indifference, did it?"
"Don't pretend any part of that situation was a conscious decision on your part, Saviour."
"Okay, so I didn't mean to fall through a hat, but I was fucking sentient for the rest of it, Regina. I could have just left you to it."
"You 'didn't mean to fall through a hat'... And you wonder why your opinion matters so little to me..."
The brunette mocks scathingly, but she does so with a hint of a smirk that allows the Sheriff to breathe.
"I think you kind of like it."
Emma shrugs eventually as she looks down at her coffee, and Regina chuckles as she confides
"It makes teasing you that much easier, I'll admit, but let's not push it."
"I don't know... Like you say, it's been a couple of months now, and you've not even tried to murder me again."
"That you know of."
The Mayor replies silkily, meeting the blonde's gaze intently as the latter looks up to offer her insinuation some genuine consideration.
"Relax. It would be far too much hassle now with everything out in the open, and you simply don't matter enough to me to bother."
"So kind."
"I didn't achieve a position of supreme infamy by being kind."
The brunette counters arrogantly, supposing she's no longer especially surprised when Emma greets her haughty statement with a breath of laughter.
"No, the sequins and feathers helped."
The blonde grins before she can help herself, and the Mayor frowns as she notes a faint blush colouring pale cheeks for reasons she can't fathom.
"Something funny, Miss Swan?"
"Never mind."
Emma shakes her head, trying and failing to refrain from studying the brunette raptly now, clad in rather more familiar attire yet no less attractive for it; sat bathed in a shaft of dusky light as darkness creeps in through the kitchen window.
"... What did you actually want to speak to me about, anyway?"
She asks eventually as she forbids her gaze from dropping south of the darker woman's face.
"More or less what we did end up speaking about, I just wasn't planning on exhibiting such an embarrassing lack of decorum... It was brief, mind."
"Of course."
Emma agrees swiftly with an amused twitch of her lip. Finishing her coffee, she wrinkles her nose as she considers the grounds dusting the base of the mug and she reiterates uncomfortably.
"I am genuinely sorry for the whole Halloween thing."
"Yes, well... Your expression upon my admittedly distraught reaction somewhat made up for it. For a moment there I was worried you intended to hug me in a grotesque attempt at offering unwanted comfort."
"Ew."
The blonde scoffs dutifully, inwardly musing that she would honestly rather stick her head in an oven than entertain physical contact with the darker woman right now, but not for the reason Regina likely believes.
"You should be so lucky, dear."
The brunette hisses, and Emma sighs warily as she's inclined to agree and not entirely sure what to do with that revelation.
"So... Are we good?"
She asks, referring to the Queen's frustration over Halloween and the state of her standing in town after the breaking of the Curse, and not the fact that she's failing miserably in her attempt to quit imagining her once sworn enemy topless.
"Never."
Regina replies predictably, but she pushes herself up from her seat and takes the blonde's mug from her gently as she does so in order to place both empty vessels in the sink.
"Fair enough."
The younger woman accepts the brunette's response with a pinch of salt, frowning when she realises she's contemplating the latter's backside with far too much interest.
We have got to destroy those fucking dreamcatchers tonight! This is madness!
She frets, cordially blocking out all memory of Ruby's suggestion that it might be madness in a good way.
At least, she tries to.
Fuck.
"Well... I better be going."
"I would appreciate it."
Regina agrees coolly, leading them out into the hallway towards the front door.
"Always a pleasure."
Emma sighs sarcastically, and the brunette smirks as she watches the Sheriff stalk out into the rain.
"Get home safe, dear. Don't fall or trip into any more items of clothing."
"Go fuck yourself, Regina."
The Sheriff calls over her shoulder.
"Really, Saviour."
The darker woman scolds with a bemused shake of her head before closing the door.
Yes. Really. Because if all goes well this evening, I won't find myself stuck in some strange dreamscape or other taking matters into my own hands.
"Stop it."
Emma hisses to herself as she lets herself into the bug. Pulling her phone out of her pocket, she messages Ruby with a growing sense of urgency
What time do you get off work tonight? Let's get this done.