"Your turn dear." Regina says in a quiet voice, reaching down to kiss Emma and pull her up.
"I... I don't really want too. I just wanted to give you some satisfaction." Emma protests, shaking her head.
"But Emma-" Regina starts, confused. Emma's never turned down sex. Ever.
"Just leave it be Regina." Emma says quietly, and goes into the washroom, closing the door.
Regina sits on the bed naked, completely dumbfounded. Her relaxed demeanor has disappeared, and instead she's as stressed as she would be in a difficult meeting. She pulls on the nightgown that was thrown on the ground and walks over to the bathroom door. Regina pulls on the sliding door but finds it locked.
"Emma, open the door." Regina says in a calm voice. But after waiting for a few moments, she gets no response.
"Emma. What's wrong?"
"Answer me, please."
Time ticks by, and slowly Regina loses her determination. It's not like she knows how to pick locks anyhow.
"Fine, but if you want to talk I'll wait for you in bed." Regina gives in, and then goes back to bed. She puts her glasses on her bedside table and turns off the light. With a glance over at Emma's phone she has the urge to look through it. But instead of doing that she rolls over and closes her eyes. Even with the worry of Emma on her mind, Regina falls asleep.
~~~
Emma doesn't know how long she's sat on the bathroom floor, but she finally gets up and walks over to the door. With quiet hands she unlocks it without a sound, turns off the light, and then slides the door open. A small slit of moonlight cuts across the bed and Emma can hear Regina's light snoring. She walks slowly along the carpet to her side of the bed, and picks up her phone. She unlocks it and hopes the glow doesn't wake up her sleeping wife. Her thoughts swirl in her head and she goes to Lily's name.
Emma: You find a place yet?
Lily: I'm still looking, but I think I got something. I'm at the B and B until I get it figured out.
Emma: You mind if I come hang out tomorrow?
Lily: Of course I don't mind. What time were you thinking?
Emma: Well Regina will be home from work around five, so before then?
Lily: Are you avoiding her?
Emma: No, I just want to give her some space.
Lily: Well whatever, I'm in room thirteen.
Emma: Okay, I'll be there.
Emma then locks her phone, pulls up the covers, and then falls asleep.
~~~
Emma's alarm goes off early in the morning, and she slides out of bed after quickly turning it off. Regina doesn't even stir, and Emma gets into the shower. She showers in five minutes, and then manages to brush her teeth, put on some make-up, and pull on a slightly see-through blouse, and some jeans. With only ten minutes before Regina's alarm will go off, Emma goes downstairs, puts a Keurig cup into the coffee machine, and quickly stuffs a muffin into her mouth while she waits for her coffee to brew. She double checks there's enough breast milk in the fridge for Ava for the day, and then she slips on her boots, and is out the door.
~~~
Regina's alarm stirs her from sleep, and with a cottony head she sits up and swings her legs over the edge of the bed. The memories from last night come back to her and she looks over to Emma's side of the bed. It's empty, the covers pushed back and Regina's first thought is that Emma is feeding Ava. I didn't even hear her cry, Regina muses. I guess I slept quite heavily last night.
With a shrug, she goes into the washroom and starts up the shower. She glances about the bathroom as the hot water steams up the mirror. Some things look somewhat out of place but she pays it no mind, instead dropping her nightgown and getting into the water stream. Regina sings as she showers, and then once she's out she notices how Emma is not back in bed.
"Odd." Regina says, and then pulls on a signature pantsuit before wandering down to Ava's room. She quietly walks in and then finds that Ava is still sleeping in her crib, and that Emma is nowhere to be found. So she goes downstairs to the kitchen and can smell coffee that was recently brewed. But Emma isn't in the room.
"What the hell?" Regina frowns, but decides she needs to get breakfast ready for herself and Henry. When she turns to the fridge she finds a note taped to the spotless appearance. She plucks it off and turns to the window where lots of light is coming in.
Regina, there's lots of breast milk in the fridge for Ava. I'm going out for the day, won't be back for supper.
Emma
With confused and hurt feelings, Regina crumples the note into a ball and throws it in the recycling bin.
"Goddamn it Emma. What is your problem?" She growls, and then turns back to the fridge to get out some eggs. Henry comes downstairs a few minutes later and plops himself down at the table.
"Good morning my little prince. Eggs on toast for breakfast, and I am expecting you to get yourself some milk, and some fruit to go along with it. I've already eaten, and I'm going upstairs to get ready." Regina says, laying down a plate for him.
"Thanks. Where's Momma?" He asks, sounding so much like the little boy she first met.
"She's upstairs sleeping in. Don't disturb her, okay?" Regina lies, putting on a politician's face.
"Okay." Henry says, quickly believing her lie. He has no reason to not believe her. She turns and goes upstairs with fast movements. Picking up her phone, she opens Emma's contact and sends her a fiery message.
Regina: What the hell is this? "A day out"?
She throws her phone on the bed and then goes to put on her make-up and brush her teeth. Regina hears Henry come and go, and then he yells a quick goodbye before running out to the bus. By the time she's done getting ready she realizes that she doesn't have anyone to care of Ava and needs to take her to work.
Regina: I am so angry with you. You left me with Ava and no plans on a caretaker for the day. I'm taking our baby to work with me.
She packs up a diaper bag, puts a still sleeping Ava into a car seat, and then gets her work stuff together. Like a true mother she balances it all and manages to get to work without blowing her top. As she walks up the stairs to her office, Ava wakes and begins to cry. Getting onto the second level, Tink looks up from her computer.
"I thought I heard a baby crying." She comments and jumps up from her desk to help her boss without being asked. "Come here sweetheart." Tink croons as she grabs Ava's car seat and puts it on her desk and then gently pulls the baby from it.
"Thank you. Emma left me with her and I didn't have time to find a babysitter. I just had to bring her in today."
"That's quite all right. Between the two of us I think we can manage today's tasks and this little one." Tink says, rocking Ava back and forth as the cries quiet some.
"I'll get a bottle ready for her, just one moment." Regina says, bringing all her bags into her office and then warming a bottle in the microwave. Once it's ready, she brings it out to Tink, and tries to take over.
"I've got her, I'll forward all calls to you, and here's a list of meetings for today." Tink says, being Regina's perfect assistant.
"You are an angel."
"I prefer fairy godmother." Tink grins, and then she bumps her hip with Regina's. "Anything for you boss."
"Well I'm off to deal with other people. Once you're done feeding her, feel free to put her back in the car seat. I occasionally rock her with my foot if my hands are busy." Regina says. Tink laughs, the sound light and carefree.
"Okay mom, I got it. Get out of here." Tink rolls her eyes.
"Yes, okay." Regina sighs, and then is off to deal with everything else making her life difficult.
~~~
Between Regina and Tink they manage to get through paperwork, meetings, and phone calls as well as dealing with Ava. The day comes to a close and Regina packs all of her stuff up and gets ready to go home. Tink puts Ava in her car seat and then carries her down to Regina's car.
"I want to thank you again for doing so much to help me out today." Regina says once they've strapped the car seat into Regina's vehicle.
"It was a treat to see the little cutie. I didn't want to ask, but Emma left you with her? What happened?" Tink asks, and she crosses her arms as her curious nature takes over.
"I don't know honestly." Regina shrugs, putting some stuff into the passenger seat. "I woke up and she was gone, told me to take care of Ava and that she wouldn't be back until later."
"That's super odd of her. I mean, Emma doesn't do that shit." Tink says, shaking her head with a frown.
"I know. But we had a moment last night and I think it threw her off."
"A moment in the bedroom?" Tink immediately asks, and Regina chokes on air.
"Tink!"
"Sorry!" Tink says, and puts her hands up in defense.
"That's none of your business." Regina points out, and Tink blushes before lightly punching Regina.
"Damn. Get it girl." Tink coughs, trying to cover the statement.
"I'm going home." Regina states, going around the car to the driver side. She glances over at Tink and the tiny blonde opens her mouth to speak. "I am still your boss, remember that."
"Yes Madame Mayor." Tink salutes with a wink.
"Goodnight dear." Regina sighs with pursed lips, and then she gets into the car.
~~~
"Mom? Is that you?" Henry yells out as soon as the door opens and Regina steps inside.
"Yes dear. Can you come and help me please?"
"Coming!" He calls to her and then is in view seconds later. He stops in his tracks, cocking his head to the side. "Why is Ava with you?"
"Well, your momma is gone for the day and I had to take her to work." Regina admits.
"Gone where?"
"I'm not sure. She didn't say."
"Was she even sleeping this morning when I left?"
"No, dear, she wasn't."
"Why did you lie?"
"I didn't want you to worry."
"Well that's stupid." Henry tells her, wrinkling his nose.
"I guess so. But let's not worry with it now, and you know I don't like when you use that word. Let's just eat, and not worry about her."
"She probably just needs to get away or something. She likes to run from her problems." Henry points out- ever the observant boy -as Regina puts Ava into her baby swing. She freezes for a moment, thinking about the truth of Henry's statement.
"Yes, she does run sometimes when things get hard." Regina says, clipping Ava in. She thinks about how Emma avoided her for a while when she brought up children.
"Anyways, what's for dinner?"
~~~
updating on a Tuesday! yay me *claps for myself* so for this chapter... my question is...
what do you want to do for a career, or if you already have a career, what is it?
please vote and comment :)