Blue Valentine

After what happened in Emma's office things had gotten easier between Emma and Regina. They had been making a point of talking to each other and being kinder towards each other. It's been working for them and Henry has been noticing the change in his mothers behavior towards each other. He no longer overhears them insulting each other. This is a welcomed change for him, he is happy things are changing.

"Hey, do you have a second to talk?" Emma said to Regina through the phone.

"Yes, dear, what's on your mind?" Regina asked.

"Do you have any free time this week?" Emma asked. "I want to take you out, I have something important I want to tell you."

"Should I be worried?" Regina asked concerned upon hearing Emma's ominous tone.

"No, no. Can you come down to Boston on Thursday?" Emma asked. "I want to take you out."

"Yes, I believe I can go down to Boston on Thursday. I'll hire a babysitter for Henry." Regina said. "Is everything alright, Emma?" She asked just to make sure.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Everything is fine." Emma said reassuringly. "I just need to talk to you about something, that's all."

"Nothing serious?" Regina asked nervously.

"A little bit, but its best if we just talk face to face ok?" Emma said.

"Fine. I'll see you on Thursday, dear." Regina said.

"See you then." Emma said before she ended the call.

The drive from Storybrook to Boston seemed eternal for Regina. Since Emma's call, her brain had been running trying to figure out what was it that Emma needed to talk to her about. On one side she was nervous about what Emma had to say but on the other hand she was anxious to see Emma. It had been days since they last saw each other and Regina, and even though they spoke on the phone almost every day, she still missed being physically close to Emma.

"You made it." Emma said standing up from her seat at the table she had reserved for them earlier in the week. "Did you any had trouble finding the place?" Emma asked before she gave Regina a quick hug.

"I found it just fine, dear." Regina said with a smile before she sat down in front of Emma. "So…what was it that you wanted to talk about?"

"Going straight into it, aren't we?" Emma mumbled. "Here's the thing, remember that job I talked to you about? The one in Maine?"

"Yes…" Regina said urging Emma on.

"My boss and I talked and we made it official. I'm moving back to Maine in a month." Emma said. "I'm going to be working about fifth teen minutes away from Storybrook so if anything ever happens I'm going to be near by."

"That is great, Emma." Regina said with a genuine smile. "Henry is going to be pleased to hear that. I know he would like to see you more often."

"Yeah, about that…" Emma started to say.

"You want to change our arrangement." Regina completed what she thought was what Emma was going to say. "You want Henry to stay with you more often."

Emma decided to ignore Regina's input and continue with what she was saying. "I was thinking that maybe its time we talk to Henry about what is going on between us." Emma said.

"Don't you think that is a little bit premature?" Regina asked.

"I don't know." Emma said. "I know I want to be with you and Henry. I'm doing everything I can to make that happen."

"I know. I am not questioning that." Regina said. "However I'm not sure if we should talk to Henry about us just yet."

"Why not?" Emma asked but before Regina could answer the waiter interrupted their conversation to take their order.

"Because there is still not certainty that this will work out." Regina said. "We still have a lot of work to do on our relationship. I don't want Henry to go through what he went through the last time things went awry between us."

"I understand what you're saying, I really do, but there is never going to be any guarantee that things will work out, we just have to take the risk." Emma said.

"I'm not willing to take that big of a risk, Emma." Regina said.

Before Emma could get a word in the waiter interrupted them once more to bring them their order. After a polite nod and a thanks to the waiter they continued with their conversation.

"What did you mean by that?" Emma asked confused.

"I don't want to tell Henry about us." Regina said. "I don't want my son to suffer like he did when you moved out ever again."

"He won't." Emma said. "He's older now, he'll understand. We just have to talk to him and explain to him what is really going on between us, that's all."

"It's not that simple, Emma." Regina said with a big sigh. "You weren't there to see him cry when it became real for him the fact that you had moved out for good."

"Well don't make it sound like I completely fucked off." Emma said starting to get angry. "I didn't fucked off. I wasn't there all the time, I know that but it wasn't like I completely abandoned him. I was there for him whenever I could."

"He didn't need you there whenever you could, he needed you there all the time." Regina said. "You can't just pick and choose when to be a parent."

"Is that what you think?" Emma asked feeling a little hurt. "That I'm a parent whenever is convenient for me?"

"Emma…I didn't mean for it to sound like it did." Regina said. "I'm trying to express you my concern as to why I don't want to bring our relationship to Henry's attention."

"I want to tell him." Emma said. "I don't like lying to him. And we're back together and when I move back to Maine he is bound to notice."

"When are you moving back?" Regina asked deliberately changing the subject. "And are you moving back to Storybrook?"

"I'm still apartment hunting." Emma said. "We're opening in two months but I need to be back in Maine as soon as possible to get everything ready so I was thinking about moving in with Ruby until I find a place of my own."

"I'm not comfortable with that." Regina said putting her cutlery down.

"With what?" Emma stopped mid chew.

"With you living with Ruby." Regina said folding her hands in her lap like she usually did when something was about to go down.

"Is not like I'm moving in with her." Emma defended. "It's not something permanent."

"I don't care." Regina said. "I'm not going to be comfortable knowing that you're spending your nights with her."

"For God's sake, Regina, I'm not going to be sleeping with her." Emma said.

"How can you assure me that you will not sleep with her?" Regina asked. "She certainly is attractive…if you like that sort of women."

"I can assure you that I will not be sleeping with Ruby because I know I wont." Emma said. "She's my friend and she is doing me a favor. There aren't any ulterior motives."

"That's what you think." Regina said with a scoff.

"Come on, let's not start this again." Emma said.

"I'm not starting anything." Regina said. "You're not staying with Ruby and that's final."

"Let's finish eating and we'll talk at home." Emma said not wanting to have the argument that was sure to ensue in such a public space.

"Whatever you say, dear." Regina said in a kind of condescending tone, in response Emma just rolled her eyes.

After having dinner Emma and Regina were walking out of the restaurant, surprisingly enough holding hands. Before they could walk out of the restaurant someone called Emma's name making both Emma and Regina stop in their tracks and turn around to see who was calling for Emma.

"Emma, hey." A woman called. She was a redhead that looked to be about Ruby's age.

"Rachel! Crazy seeing you here." Emma saw as Rachel walked up to her.

"I haven't seen you in a while." Rachel said with a smile as she gave Emma a tight hug. "How've you been?" She said placing a hand on Emma's bicep.

"Good. Busy with work." Emma said discreetly shrugging the hand away. "You know how it is." Emma's hand moved to grab Regina's once more. This move was not lost on Rachel.

"Rachel Burke." Rachel said extending her hand out to Regina.

"Regina Mills." Regina said taking with despise the hand being offered to her.

"Oh." Rachel said as she let go of Regina's hand.

"Yeah." Emma said. "We have to get going but it was great seeing you."

"Same here." Rachel said. "I guess I'll see you around?" She asked Emma.

"Yeah, I'll see you around." Emma said before she and Regina walked out.

***************

"She's pretty." Regina said after they got to Emma's apartment.

"Who?" Emma asked distracted as she tried to open a bottle of wine.

"Rachel, whatever her name is." Regina said. "You have good taste in women."

"I know." Emma said with a smirk as she poured Regina and herself a glass of wine.

"You're an idiot." Regina said.

"I'm your idiot, though." Emma said as she stole a kiss from Regina's lips.

"As long as you do as I say, yes." Regina said.

"You're lucky I find your slightly psychotic ways endearing." Emma said as she kissed Regina once more. Emma's phone started buzzing from the top of the table but Emma ignored it.

"You're phone is buzzing." Regina said against Emma's lips.

"I know." Emma said as she kept kissing Regina.

"It might be important." Regina said.

"If it was important yours would be buzzing too." Emma said.

"Fair point." Regina said as she brought her lips to Emma's.

Emma led blindly Regina towards her bedroom. Clothes were playfully taken off on the way to the bedroom cluttering the hallway with discarded clothing.

*****************

"You're not moving in with Ruby." Regina said as she tangled her legs with Emma's.

"You're bringing this up now?" Emma asked barely being able to keep her eyes opened.

"I figured that after the orgasm you just had you're more keen to do my bidding." Regina said.

"Fine." Emma said too exhausted to argue. "I wont move in with Ruby. But when I end up homeless, that's going to be on you. I hope you know that."

"Always with the dramatics." Regina murmured in a singsong voice. "I love it when you do as I say." She said before she kissed Emma's cheek.

"I know you do." Emma said her eyes closing all by themselves.

"You can stay in the guestroom." Regina said after a few seconds of silence.

"What?" Emma asked.

"You can stay in the guestroom." Regina repeated. "Until you find your own place, that is. Wouldn't want you to live out on the streets."

"Thank you, how generous of you." Emma said sarcastically. "I will take you up on that, though. Are we still going to have sex after I move in?" She asked half asleep tightening her hold on Regina.

"After Henry goes to sleep." Regina said resting her head on Emma's chest.

"Love you." Emma said before sleep took over her.

"I love you too." Regina said even though she knew Emma was no longer conscious.

Even though she was tired she could not bring herself to fall asleep. She untangled herself from Emma and went to the kitchen to get herself a glass of water. She was mid sip when she noticed Emma's phone just sitting there on the table. She remembered how earlier that night Emma's phone was buzzing, the curiosity to know how was trying to contact Emma so late at night was too much for her.

"Called to remind you to not forget your 9:00am appointment. Also I made a list of apartments for rent near and in Storybrook. You're welcome." – Tiffany

That text message was of no alarm for Regina because she knew that Tiffany has been Emma's secretary for years now and that the relationship they have is more of a mentor-apprentice than anything else. But still there was a message from someone else.

"Nice, you're back with your ex-wife. Guess the fun is over for us. Good luck with her." – Rach.

Regina didn't know how to take that text message. She knew that Emma had had a fling with Rachel but it still bothered her the thought of Emma with someone else, even if it had been a meaningless fling that was long over. Regina decided to stop brooding over the text message and went back to bed. Anything she needed to say to Emma could wait until the morning.