"And what about this?" Regina pressed her hand to foil that was wrapped around Emma's forearms and darted her eyes to her similarly cladded legs.

"The kid wanted to match," she defended.

"And you don't see yourself as a knight," Regina teased, turning back to the children.

Emma rolled her eyes, leaving for just a moment only to return when Regina felt something placed on her head. She automatically reached up to feel a construction paper cone hat with ribbon glued to the tip. She examined it to see the same apple insignia as Emma's sword and Henry's shield placed at the base of the hat. "Then you're a princess," the blonde grinned.

"I'd be a queen." Regina couldn't help but return Emma's smug grin though it was accompanied by an eye roll as she replaced the hat on her head. "Better?"

"Much."

Henry's loud scream made the women jump. There it was, Regina thought. Disaster had struck. But when they turned to the noise, already stepping forward to find the boy, they saw that Henry was pinned under Pongo, the Dalmatian licking him fiercely.

"Help, Mommy! Help, Emma! Dragon eat me!" Henry gasped out between licks.

"The prince of Mills Castle needs some assistance," Emma said in a loud stage voice.

"If only there was a knight around," Regina played along.

Emma smirked and held up her sword, marching toward the swarm of children narrowly avoiding Pongo's licks. "Did somebody say dragon?"


Emma dropped down on the couch, a garbage bag full of gift wrappings, paper plates, and empty juice boxes slumped by her feet. It was only evening, but Emma could already feel the weight of the day tiring her out in the best possible way. She had rescued Prince Henry from the treacherous Pongo, and according to Henry, Queen Regina had to give the brave knight a favour. The napkin with blue and red balloons on it had sufficed and was currently still in Emma's pocket.

Her sword was strapped through her belt loop, and her armour had torn from her battle with the dragon, but to the praise of the children and even with Regina's applause, Emma had won. Now the little prince had been relocated to his bedroom once the festivities were over with, sleep coming exceptionally easy to him that night.

She looked up when Regina entered the room, a plate of red velvet cake in her grasp as she took a seat next to Emma.

"It's the last slice," Regina said, forking a piece into her mouth.

Emma gaped at Regina's coy look as the brunette deliberately forked another piece into her mouth. "Hey, I was waiting for that cake since last night."

Emma was not subtle in stealing Regina's fork and piercing off a healthy amount of cake and cream cheese frosting. She moaned when the cake melted in her mouth. "Damn, I can't believe you made that."

"Are you surprised?" Regina asked taking back the utensil. "And /thank you/ for getting your germs on my fork."

Emma laughed and relaxed back into the couch. "You're welcome."

"This was the first party where there was no incident," Regina said, willingly offering the fork to Emma.

"It's because I was here." Emma took the utensil and ate a piece.

Regina rolled her eyes but didn't deny the claim.

The blonde stretched and draped her arm along the length of the couch, opening her mouth for another piece of cake. She was more than a little surprised when Regina sighed but complied with the blonde's request and fed her some cake.

"So you do this birthday thing every year," Emma questioned.

Regina smirked. "That's generally how birthdays occur."

"Chasing around kids is a full time job," the blonde commented.

Regina laughed once. "You shoot guns for a living and go on reconnaissance missions. Are you telling me a handful of three year olds are more intimidating and tiring than fighting a war?"

"Yes," Emma deadpanned, stealing the fork. Her attempt was futile when Regina moved it out of her grasp. "Hey."

"Your survival skills are lacking, soldier." Regina purposely moved away as Emma raised up on her knees, reaching for the fork.

Emma distracted Regina with her right hand but swiftly leaned up and stole the fork with her left. "Ha!" Emma taunted at Regina's surprised eyes. She split the last piece of cake and offered half to Regina.

"You play dirty," Regina said impressed around her cake.

"You have to if you want to survive." Emma finished off the cake and took the plate from Regina and settled it on the coffee table.

"You could be a politician."

"You could be a drill sergeant."

"I prefer cunning manipulation rather than raising my voice," Regina admitted teasingly.

"Are you sure you weren't a queen in a past life?"

"Judging by Henry's fixation on the medieval period I wouldn't doubt it." Regina stood then, taking Emma's garbage bag and shook it to move the trash to the bottom before tying it up in a neat knot. "We may have spoiled our dinner, but would you like something to eat? I'm sure I can whip up something other than chicken strips."

"After you, Your Majesty."

Chapter 5

Chapter Notes

Disclaimer in Chapter One.

AN: Sorry for the late post, but life has caught up with me. Thank you so much for your support! I'm still in the process of answering your reviews, but I hope you guys enjoy the chapter :)

"Look who finally remembered me," August teased as way of greeting when Emma had called her the Sunday after Henry's party. She had returned from her run, and after dressing from her shower, she asked to use Regina's landline to call her friend and check in on him. She was currently in Regina's home office, sitting behind a grand dark oak desk, seated in a leather chair more comfortable than the cot she was used to sleeping on at Camp Victory. The chuckle echoing through the phone made Emma roll her eyes and shake her head.

"I called you three days ago," Emma reminded him, giving a pointed look to the man despite his inability to see her.

"Who knows what could have happened in that time? I could have-" he stopped abruptly, and Emma shut her eyes, pushing away images of the nightmares that still haunted her sleep. The tension that seized her body in mere seconds barely subsided when August cleared his throat and spoke hastily. "Nevermind. I got a cat."

That was enough to make Emma squint and question her hearing. Sure, sometimes there would be an odd ringing in her ear every now and then, but no way did August say what he just said. "What?"

"I got a cat," August repeated. "He's black and white, and I named him Figaro."

"Isn't that the old lady's cat who lives two doors down from you?" Emma wondered, allowing August's absurdity to distract her from his earlier statement. Already the tension in her body was being replaced by complete and utter confusion.

"No," August insisted, though even Emma could hear the petulance in his voice. "He's mine, now."

"Now," she mocked. "August, you can't just take other people's cats."

"I didn't take him. I was coming out of the elevator and he jumped into my lap. The lady has so many already. I let him out at night," he added the last part hastily as if that made his thievery any better.

"I can see your nose growing from here."

"Are you calling me a liar, Corporal?" August assumed his authoritative voice.

Emma laughed before a thought struck her and she asked solemnly, "so have you been drinking?"

There was a brief pause before August answered, almost happy to do so. "I'm actually writing. A lot. Not in a Hemingway kind of way, though. My shrink says it helps get down my thoughts and feelings and all that good stuff."

"You always wanted to write," Emma remembered nostalgically.

"The ladies appreciate it."

"Oh, I bet they're all over your sensitive soul," she gushed.

"That's not the only thing they're over," he said not even waiting to finish his sentence before laughing.

Emma grinned, rolling her eyes at his obnoxiousness. "But you're doing okay?" She asked again, just to make sure.

"Never better, kid."

Emma heard the truth in his answer, joking with him some more before regaling him on how successful Henry's party was. She told him about Regina's cake, and Henry's costume, and how she played with the kids, and even how they trekked through the forest a couple days ago and how she taught Regina and Henry how to track and which plants were poisonous to touch.

"I'm gonna take him to the store today so he can pick out a bike," Emma finished.

"You're getting him a bike?" August asked surprised.

"A little tricycle thing. They come with handles for adults to push. Kids like that, right?" Emma asked suddenly self-conscious of her choice of gift. There was a long silence on August's end, and Emma suddenly rifled her through her childhood memories desperately trying to think of what she wanted when she was three. Well, she was sent back to the orphanage, but that was beside the point. Henry had a ton of stuffed animals already. A book, maybe? Was there a Chuck-E-Cheese around here where she could take him?

"You really like her, don't you?" August questioned by way of response, interrupting Emma's laundry list of possible gifts.

She paused, reading between the lines of his question but squinting nonetheless. "Yeah, she's my friend."

"That's not what I mean, and you know it."

Emma rolled her eyes and sighed obnoxiously. Sometimes it sucked that August had been there for a few key years of her adolescence. "Just 'cause I fooled around as a kid doesn't mean I'm in love with every pretty girl that crosses my path."