"I'm practise for my birthday," Henry explained, already going back to decorating his cookies.

"Practising," Regina gently corrected. When he repeated the sentence with the correct word, Regina kissed his temple and motioned for Emma to approach.

"Henry, do you remember our special friend?"

"Emma," Henry answered obviously, sprinkling a ridiculous amount of coloured sugar onto an unfortunate dinosaur.

Emma's heart swelled hearing him say her name. If she was giddy when Regina said it, the feeling she got when Henry voiced it made her own voice catch in her throat. She had watched him grow up through drawings, tracking his progress from meaningless doodles to complete pictures of his day at the park. She had read about his first word, his first step, his first time sleeping on his own, but hearing him say her name for the first time was something else entirely.

"Right, Emma." Regina caught her eye. "Can you say hi to Emma again, please?"

Henry looked up at his mother confused before looking back at the blonde stranger in his kitchen. The gears in his head shifted quickly for he comically widened his mouth and all but leaped from the chair into Emma's arm. "Emma!"

"Hey," she grunted, just barely catching him and reassuring Regina's worried look at Henry's antic with a nod. She succumbed when Henry wrapped his arms around her neck and squeezed. It was all Emma could do but to hug back and revel in the boy's warmth and excitement. "Hi, Henry."

He pulled back and grasped Emma's cheeks between his sticky palms. "You here for my birthday?"

Emma wanted to smack herself if she wasn't currently holding a two-year old. She almost forgot the kid's birthday coming up. She caught Regina's eye, and when the brunette didn't say no, Emma nodded. "Yeah, kid."

He grinned and leaned over toward the island, signalling his need to resume his decorating. Emma nearly lost her hold on him at the unexpected maneuver. "Easy there, daredevil."

He shot her a toothy grin before turning to Regina. "Mommy, can Emma help too?"

"You're just about done, dear," Regina said as he finished the last dinosaur. "We can try your treats after dinner, and after your nap."

"But Emma's here." He looked to the blonde with the biggest puppy dog eyes she had ever seen. Regina must have sensed her weakness for she tugged his face back to her, tapping his nose with a finger. "Nap first, Henry."

The boy continued to pout but sunk to all fours on the chair before climbing down. He took off his apron and gave it to Regina to hang on a hook where her own apron hung.

He sprinted out of the room, ignoring the calls from his mother to slow down leaving Regina and Emma in the messy kitchen.

They caught one another's eye both blushing at the contact before Regina grabbed the tray of cookies and set them aside.

"You were right," Emma broke the silence. "He's cute."

Regina smiled proudly at the statement. "To my own detriment though. Even I have fallen prey to those large eyes once or twice."

"You? Regina Mills?" Emma feigned shock as she helped put away the candies. "There won't be any hope for humanity if Henry keeps that up."

Henry's call disrupted them once again, and promising to return, Regina left Emma alone in the kitchen.


"But I don't wanna nap, Mommy." Henry rubbed at his eyes, already tucked into his bed as he succumbed to a big yawn yet continued to speak. "Wanna play with Emma."

She covered his mouth for him and removed his hands, settling him firmly into the bed. Henry was usually polite to everyone he met, he was the Mayor's son after all, but Regina was a little surprised how quickly he had accepted Emma into his life after hearing only stories of her. She was grateful Emma could actually keep up with him. Leaning over and kissing his temple, she said, "you may play with her when you wake."

"I'm awake now," he reasoned tiredly.

She chuckled to herself and began humming the bars of a nursery rhyme her father used to sing to her. Soon enough, his breathing evened, and Henry was down for his nap. Standing, she left the room leaving the door ajar as she made her way back downstairs where Emma Swan was.

When Regina woke up this morning, her to-do list involved confirming catering with Granny's for Henry's third birthday the following Saturday, picking up her dry cleaning, and baking with Henry. Finding Emma on her doorstep had been quite the surprise, though, if Regina was honest with herself, a pleasant one. Sidney had been pestering Regina to divulge information about her military correspondent for his human-interest piece, but Regina had no wishes to do so. Perhaps before she would have allowed it to set up an image for herself in the town, but now, Emma was her friend. The word still baffled her, but she knew it to be true.

She had always wondered what her correspondent looked like, but seeing her now, looking older beyond her twenty years, and Regina could venture a guess as to why, her mind hadn't done Emma justice. The blonde was quite pretty, even when she was dumbfounded or brimming with anger - Oh dear god, she confiscated her car. Regina nearly stopped dead upon the realization but continued to make her way into the kitchen. She did stop suddenly there to see that Emma had cleaned up the island. The candies were back in their respective bags, and the stray sprinkles and coloured sugars were wiped away leaving her counter spotless.

"Sorry," Emma said looking up from the sink where she rung out a dish rag. "I figured I could save you the mess. Plus, habit, you know?"

"You didn't have to do that." Regina cleared her throat, her cheeks tinting at the thought of her actions to the blonde earlier. "I should be the one apologizing. My actions toward you upon your arrival were uncalled for. I'll have the sheriff remove the boot from your car."

Emma turned so her back was to the sink and smirked. "It'll be a funny story later. I did show up uninvited so not entirely your fault."

Regina returned the smile and cocked her head to the side. "How would you like a glass of the best apple cider you've ever tasted?"


"You're not legal yet." Regina refrained from giving Emma the tumbler when realization dawned as their hands brushed for the exchange.

"In a few months," Emma pointed out. When Regina refused to relinquish her hold, Emma laughed once. "I can die for this country, but god forbid I drink in it?"

Regina mulled over her words, a little unnerved at Emma's outright bluntness of the consequences of her job before conceding. "Just this once."

"Did you make this from your Honey Crisp apples?" Emma asked taking a sip of cider, nodding appreciatively at the taste.

"Yes." Regina sat opposite Emma in her study and drank from her own glass. "The tree is planted just outside Town Hall."

A silence encompassed them as they seemed to be studying one another's features. When their eyes met, Emma let out a breathy laugh at being caught but took another large gulp and leaned back on her couch. "You're different than what I imagined."

Regina cocked an eyebrow. "What kind of different?"

"The kind of different that shows its difference to only certain people."

"Well," Regina began crossing her legs daintily, "that's what being a politician is."

"I didn't say it was bad. It's just, it's just really nice to put a face to the name."

"I admit, I imagined you more..."

"Butch?" Emma provided for her, smirking at Regina's blush. "If you imagined me doing chin ups for hours on end and spitting tobacco, then yeah, that's me, minus the tobacco."

"I guess we are all full of surprises." Regina toasted her glass to which Emma returned the gesture. Once she had settled her glass down, Regina looked intently at the young woman across from her, her voice softer than Emma had yet to hear. "How are you?"

Emma ran a hand through her hair and let out a dry laugh. "Good. Really, I'm- it's just good to be back."

Regina nodded, allowing the answer for the time being. "How long are you here for?"

"A month."

"That's all?" Regina asked baffled. "You've been gone for a year."

"Yeah," Emma let out another dry laugh. "Part of the job."

"Are you going back to Iraq?" Regina questioned, worry etched onto the lines of her face.

Emma shrugged. "I go where they tell me."

"And you're okay with that?"

Emma almost wanted to say she didn't have a choice, but she did, and at the end of the day, wearing the uniform, representing an entire country, meaning something, it was worth it. She nodded. "Yeah. Yeah I am."

Regina took a moment to soak in Emma's words before nodding almost imperceptibly.

"What?" Emma asked catching the action.

"Perhaps our first meeting may not have gone exactly as we imagined, but I was correct in one aspect."

"What's that?"

"I tell Henry about you, and I say you're away because you are very brave fighting dragons like the white knights in his books," Regina explained.

"I'm no knight," Emma shrugged bashfully.

"To him, you are. And you are quite brave."


Regina and Emma talked for the better part of an hour as if they were old friends catching each other up before the soft pattering of Henry's feet as he climbed down the stairs travelled down into the study. Regina had asked about Emma's plans for the month, and when the blonde was at a loss for words since in all technicality she had been kicked out of August's, Regina found herself offering to give Emma a tour of the town for the rest of the week before the party. Emma, after voicing her concerns about imposing her presence on the family, soon conceded and eventually, she found herself sitting in the living room after a ridiculously good home cooked dinner, Henry on the floor at her feet while Regina had left the room to take a business call.