That One Second

Chapter 15

Regina looked in the rear mirror of her black Mercedes and reapplied her lipstick. She checked if there wasn't any food between her teeth, and when she considered herself appropriate enough, she got out of her car.

There was not a single bone in her body looking forward to this parent-teacher meeting, that seemed to be a formal booty call of her wife, but she was doing it for Emma, who'd seemed rather relieved when she'd offered to take her place.

The only reason this was slightly bearable was knowing that it could help Henry and Regina getting to know how he could be up to date once he awoke. Regina would do anything for her children, even meet the potential future partner of her wife.

Although, Emma really hadn't expressed any interest in Lilith from what she'd seen, so maybe it really was one-sided. She did feel somewhat jealous at the thought of Emma with someone else, though she wished she wasn't. Especially because it could become reality very soon.

Regina smoothed her skirt and straightened her posture as she walked down the schoolyard towards the entrance of the school. Eight p.m. was a really odd time and the school seemed empty, but when Regina arrived at Henry's classroom, she noticed the lights were still on.

She knocked briefly on the door and opened it when a woman's voice had allowed her to. Regina wasn't sure what she'd expected, but every thought about Lilith trying to seduce Emma had been confirmed when she caught her quickly opening another button of her blouse.

"Hi.. oh?" Lily's voice cracked when she noticed Regina in the doorway and her face turned a bright red. "Sorry. I expected Emm.. Miss Swan."

"That's quite alright, dear," Regina said, calmly, and took place across the teacher. She didn't ask whether she was supposed to, she just did it. It was clear to both of them that Regina had the upper hand. "Henry is my son, too. Whatever concerns Emma about him, concerns me, too."

"Uhm.. of course. I just.. thought.. it's alright. I mean, of course he's your son too. I've just never really.. met you, no. I'm sorry, for this stuttering, I.." Lily was clearly trying to subtly cover her cleavage and Regina almost felt sorry for her.

"Like I said before," Regina said, "it's quite alright. It's rather entertaining to meet the woman that's been flirting with my wife." She flashed the teacher a confident smile and savored the moment of causing the red hue on Lily's cheeks.

"Oh, I.. no, I'm not trying to seduce your wife," Lilith quickly defended herself, but Regina didn't buy it. She continued smiling, though, and put her hand on top of Lily's, showing her dominance.

"Hmm," she hummed and looked at Lilith's shirt, "nice top. A little inappropriate, don't you think?"

It was clear Lily was intimidated by her and Regina feared she was taking it one step too far, but she enjoyed having people wrapped around her finger and give them what they deserved. Lilith had hit on a married woman, Regina didn't have any respect for that. Even though her marriage with Emma was over and she could barely call Emma her wife, Lily had crossed a boundary.

"I wasn't trying to.."

"Yes, you were, dear," Regina cut her off. Her eyes drifted off to the woman's bag and she cocked her head when she noticed the cork of a wine bottle. "It was clear to me you hadn't planned a typical meeting, but even the thought of including alcohol hadn't crossed my mind. You don't have any limits, do you? Going after a married woman while her son is in the hospital? That's bizarre."

"You're getting it all wrong," Lily said, with a harsher tone than the one she'd used before and she quickly buttoned up her shirt. "It's true, I wasn't really planning on discussing Henry with Emma. He's an incredibly smart kid and he could miss two months of school, without it being an issue. But I'm worried about Emma. She's been going through a very hard time these past months, especially with what's happened to Henry and I thought she could use a night where nobody expected anything from her. A night where she could just let it all go and think of entirely different things."