Reset

“What changed?” Emma repeated with a roll of the eyes, knowing full well that Regina was trying to get out of answering the question, “what turned you from the Evil Queen into..” she gestured the brunette, “the kind woman who is making me breakfast.”

“I had a startling fall from grace?” Regina questioned casually with a shrug.

“Nope,” Emma said as she poured herself some orange juice, “then you’d be all bitter and twisted that your dastardly plans didn’t work out.”

“I see,” Regina said noncommittally as she placed butter and jam in front of Emma.

“So, what changed?” Emma asked again, determined to figure out what had happened.

Regina sighed as she removed the croissants from the microwave and placed them on a plate, “to answer that I’d have to explain how I turned into the Evil Queen and that, my dear, is a conversation for another day.”

Emma could see the emotions warring on Regina’s face and nodded her agreement to drop the subject but softly said, “I’d like to know, one day, when you’re ready to tell me..”

“Will you be having lunch here with Henry or are you just dropping him off?” Regina asked distractedly.

“I’ll just drop him off,” Emma replied, “I have a therapy appointment this afternoon and then I have a few errands to run and then I took your advice and invited my parents to the diner for dinner.”

Emma looked up and Regina hopefully and Regina raised an eyebrow, “what?”

“I thought maybe you could join us?” Emma asked hopefully.

Regina laughed, “no, definitely not,” Emma’s face dropped into a sulk, “they’re your parents, you have an obligation to see them. While things are certainly better between us I have no such obligation.”

“That’s mean,” Emma jested.

“Looks like there is still some of the Evil Queen remaining,” Regina said with a wink as she left the room.

Chapter 54

The whole way to the Sheriff’s station Henry had been beaming happily and it was driving Emma nuts so when she parked the Bug up in the parking space outside the front door she looked at him and asked, “what is going on?”

“What do you mean?” Henry asked with puzzlement.

“You’re smiling like you just got a chocolate bar the size of Grace, what’s up?” Emma said as she stared at him.

“Are you asking me why I’m happy?” Henry questioned with a bigger smile.

“No, I’m asking why you’re happier than usual, like.. I dunno, uber happy..” Emma said with a nod, satisfied that she didn’t sound ridiculous.

Henry shrugged, “sorry, I’m just happy..”

“But why?” Emma pushed.

“Mom’s getting better, you’re not dead, we’re all living together, I like spending time with Grace, I dunno,” Henry shrugged, “stuff is good. I’m happy.”

“So..” Emma tried to not make it sound like a big deal as she casually asked, “you’re okay with me living there? At your Mom’s I mean.. it’s not.. I dunno.. not weird or anything?”

Henry made a face, “no, why would it be weird?”

Emma counted to three in her head, she had started the conversation and now it was out of control and she wanted to reign it in, “I don’t know,” she shrugged, “just asking.”

They sat in silence in the Bug until Henry turned to her, “are we going inside or are we waiting for something?”

Emma shook her head, “sorry, didn’t sleep very well, let’s go inside..”

They both entered the Sheriff’s office where Sean was sat at a desk filling in paperwork, when he saw Emma he smiled broadly, “morning!”

“Hey, Sean,” Emma smiled.

“Hi Henry,” Sean said as he saw the boy follow her in, “what are you up to?”

“We’re tracking down a perp,” Henry nodded.

Sean smiled at Emma’s eye roll, “we’re just looking up some things,” she said, “everything okay?”

Sean nodded, “yeah, all pretty quiet so I’m just catching up on the traffic violations and code changes from the Mayor’s office.”

“Great, we’ll be in the archive room,” she said as her and Henry entered the room filled with old wooden filing cabinets.

“I thought we’d be staking out the cannery?” Henry questioned.

“Yeah, but then we’d see cannery workers and I don’t know which one I’m looking for,” Emma smiled at Henry’s enthusiasm, “sorry, Kid, a lot of this kinda work is searching for information in files.”

“Sean used to work at the cannery,” Henry pointed out.

“Which is why we’re not telling Sean what we’re doing, yet,” Emma pointed out as she sought out the school records cabinet and opened a drawer.

“Don’t you trust him?” Henry frowned.

“I trust him but when a case is close to someone they can be unpredictable, Sean might know Joshua’s dad, they could be best friends, fishing buddies. It’s best to keep things secret for now,” Emma said as she pulled out a few files.

“Okay, there are sixteen Joshua’s at your school,” she said as she flipped through manila folders and check out information, “nine are too young, two are too old, two are black so we’re left with..?”

Henry counted on his fingers, “three?”

Emma nodded, “yup, Joshua Richards?”

“He is in maths club, plays the trombone in school plays,” Henry said.