The sun was the most hateful thing in all this universe and the next for that matter.
She had decided that when the first rays came right into her eyes and only proceeded to intensify over time and after a restless night of tossing and turning, debating going down the hall to check on the blonde woman she wanted to be in bed with, doing so at one point only to chicken out and scurrying back to her bedroom like she was a teenager again and not a grown woman in her thirties. An actual mayor of an entire damn town at that!
Now that morning was upon Regina, she knew the terror that still resided in her was entirely Cora Mills fault. The elder woman had reduced her to a child mindset simply be arriving in Storybrooke. How had she even found her? Oh gods, worse yet she had found her and knew about Henry and Emma now. It wasn't enough to have robbed the younger Mills of love the first go around but she wouldn't stand for a repeat performance from her mother. Not this time, not to her son and not to someone as special as Emma Swan.
First things first, Regina had to ensure Henry's safety. Thankfully he would be at school, but she wasn't content with just relying on the school system to do its job. Unfortunately, she was going to have to seek assistance from another adversary and this one was somehow harder to face than her mother. It took everything inside of her, along with several minutes of pacing in front of her bed as she chewed on her bottom lip before dropping down in front of her vanity as her thumb placed the call she was dreading.
There was no reason for the woman to pick up this early or at all, especially when the mayor was going to make this request so early in the morning and by the third ring, she'd nearly talked herself into ending the call until a chipper voice sounded on the other end.
"Good morning, Madam Mayor? How are you the beautiful morning?"
Oh. Fuck.
Mary Margaret would be all sunshine, rainbows and chipper to boot before Regina had even enjoyed a morning coffee. She allowed herself an eye roll before swallowing all the spite she felt for the younger brunette. 'Think of Henry, think of Henry. You must protect your son.' It was drive enough to push past any issues she may have had in the past to make this odd request. "Good morning, Miss. Blanchard. Mary Margaret. I have kind of an odd request which leads me to call upon you at such an early hour," She looked out her curtains, another check to see if her mother was just standing on the street with a scowl but thankfully, she wasn't there "My mother has unexpectedly brought herself to visit, an unwelcomed visit mind you. I haven't been able to get a protective order put into place yet… but I'd appreciate it if you could keep an eye on Henry today? I don't want my mother to get anywhere near him. There may be another person as well- a man, wears too much cologne and eyeliner, has an honest to gods hook for a hand? Yeah, I doubt any parents want him near school grounds. I realize I haven't been kind to you in the past but… for Henry I was hoping we could work together? He adores both of us and looks to you, me and Emma as the people to keep him safe."
Regina realized she'd been rambling for so long, not taking a break, and her pacing had started back up again at some point. She held her breath as there was nothing but silence on the other end. Crickets. She swore to fuck that she could hear actual, literal crickets on the other line and there weren't crickets in Storybrooke, Maine's recorded history but the agony of waiting on the other woman's answer was making her damn near delusional. Opening her mouth to speak again was the right decision because Mary Margaret Blanchard was the one to cut her off.
"Of course I will, Madam Mayor- Regina. I know how much Henry means to all three of us and I can assure you I will look after him for the next few days like he was my own child. Do you want me to talk to Davi- the Sheriff? About the protective order for you Regina? I wouldn't have a problem doing that for you and I am here if you ever needed someone…. I'm happy to help." Ugh, Mary Margaret's additional help made Regina almost reflexively ill. Her help had been so devastating in the past and she wanted to limit it to only matters regarding Henry's safety, a matter she hoped couldn't be destroyed by the pixie haired teacher.
Regina cleared her throat to not give her immediate reply and shook her head "No, thank you, Mary Margaret. The help you are already offering is more than sufficient I assure you and…. Thank you, again. Henry and I... and Emma- we all truly appreciate you doing this," She turned her head towards the door and sighed "I hate to end this conversation so abruptly, but I must go check on them both before getting ready for work. I want to thank you… You didn't have to help me, and you did. A regular Snow White." Ending the phone call before there could be much thought put into her final words she decided to go and see if either her child or the woman she was head over heels for were awake.
Walking down the hallway she found both doors undisturbed, still closed at least, and she counted her blessings as she was hoping to surprise both with breakfast. Cora could try her damndest to derail Regina's life, but she was going to fight such attempts and make sure Henry never suffered for it. The hope was to make up for the damage already caused to Emma as well- the look on the blonde's face the night before had been haunting her all night long, tearing her up from the inside out and she couldn't stand to see it happen ever again nor be the cause of it.
As Regina started on mixing up pancakes her mind began to wander as to why she had to protect Emma in the first place, if she hadn't claimed they were just friends Cora would have been relentless the night before. They'd both have been lucky to get away unscathed and who would be there to stop Cora from getting her evil claws all over her precious son Henry? No, it wouldn't happen if Regina was breathing. She moved to pour the mixture- chocolate chip pancakes as both Henry and Emma would love them- into the pan before grabbing her spatula and sighing to herself. One thing to have already endured her mother interjecting on her love life so many years prior but to reinsert herself now? Gods were truly damning her from on high.
If there was anyway to reverse Cora's rude intrusion on her date the night before or send her packing right back to where ever the hell she came from… Oh gods. Had she come from home? There was no way Emma and Henry needed to learn anything about her home or the hellscape she came from. It almost had her in a vice grip by the time she realized she was going to risk burning the pancakes, flipping it with a huff. "Hey Mom-" She nearly leapt out of her skin at the tired voice of her son and turned to see him standing in the hallway "Is that pancakes?" Henry immediately brightened up and got excited at the possibility even moreso when his mother smiled and nodded her in affirmative.
He hurried to set the table for the three of them before starting to get drinks, on his second pass by the hallway there was a blonde standing there yawning in her glasses and pajamas. "Morning Emma! Mom's making pancakes, I think," He paused to look around a few times and lower his voice "I think she made us chocolate chip pancakes eventhough she doesn't really like them. I've never gotten her to make them- I just have to put chocolate chips on mine." Henry continued to set the drinks out before looking over at Emma again.
The blonde was stuck watching Regina making pancakes in her robe, such a gorgeous and domesticated image that it wrapped around Emma's heart and squeezed tight. Not to mention the fact that this little gesture, making the chocolate chip pancakes for her and Henry instead of what she usually did, was already touching to say the least… Pushing her glasses up again she moved into the kitchen, leaning up against the counter by the sink so she could be in Regina's view.
Stilling for a moment, she could clearly see Emma had gone out of her way to come over and put herself as front and center as she could considering the mayor needed to stay by the stovetop and she wasn't sure what to say at first. Regina forced herself to meet Emma's eyes, mustered the weakest smile and tip of the spatula "I'm making pancakes?" It was both a sentence and a question, a question if Emma was going to stay and join them or not. A terrifying thing to consider- if Emma would just say no and leave after the way she was treated.
Emma stood there for a moment, felt like another eternity to Regina, chewing her lip and contemplating what to say exactly before breaking into a smile. "Of course you are. Anything I can do to help or should just stay out of the way?" There was still some hurt from the way Regina had handled things with her mother but it wasn't anything Emma couldn't understand or handle- hell, the foster care system had set her up for bigger disappointments than being labeled a friend rather than a girlfriend.
Regina broke into her first actual smile of the day and shook her head, slowly at first and then rapidly before setting another pancake on the stack "No, no there's no need to help. I appreciate you wanting to, my dear," She sighed and poured more into the pan "I know you should be furious with me after last night with… my mother," Her voice dropped at that and she looked over at Henry who was none the wiser and not close enough to hear "But you are more than just my friend and I know we both know that…. However my mother doesn't need to know that. If she had that information, if she knew what we were…. it'd be Daniel all over again and I just couldn't handle that again. It would destroy me Em-ma."
Emma shook her head and stopped the frantic woman from trying to flip the pancake too early, holding both hands in her own after setting down the spatula. "Regina, stop, stop. You don't need to explain it to me, really. I understand why you don't want Cora to know who I am and it doesn't matter what she thinks of me. What matters are what you and Henry think of me and if that hasn't changed which," She stopped to look over at the young man in question who brightened when he saw them both looking over and waving "I don't think it has for either of you."
"Of course not! How could anything change how much I adore you, Em-ma? Or how much Henry loves you? No, I'm sure of it now as I always have been. We need you and I hope you feel as though you need us," She plated the last pancake for the three of them before grabbing the syrup "You are simply stuck with us now, Swan, your loss. Times two." Regina shrugged and moved for the table only to be stopped and kissed on the spot by the blonde.
Typically, such displays of affection in front of Henry would leave the mayor angry, borderline furious but with how terrified she'd been to lose her? It took every ounce of willpower not to drop the syrup and wrap Emma up, arms and legs and just encase the beautiful woman. Regina managed to pull herself away and smile "Simply stuck." She murmured before heading to the table once again.
Emma couldn't help but beam as she started to portion out the pancakes for the other Mills; she didn't mind being simply stuck as long as it was with them.