Reset

“Yes, sure!” Mary Margaret smiled, “women can be great lovers.. not that your father isn’t..”

“Stop talking!” Emma shouted again, “right.. okay.. I think, I think it’s best,” Emma paced the room, “I think it would be best if you and I didn’t discuss this.. in any detail.”

Mary Margaret nodded quietly.

“And.. I’m.. going to go home. To Regina’s home. Where I live at the moment,” Emma explained as she put her leather jacket on inside out, “and I’m going to talk to her.. to figure this out. And then,” she tried to zip up her jacket but realised it was inside out and frowned.

Mary Margaret approached her and helped her to remove the jacket and turned it around the right way, “Emma, don’t overthink this, don’t over complicated it. I’ve been watching you both for a while and it’s obvious you both care for each other very much, I think you belong together and I think you’d be good together,” she held the jacket out for Emma to put her arms into.

“But there’s no pressure, obligations, just.. just love.. see where it takes you. It can be an amazing journey but don’t worry about where it leads,” Mary Margaret said as she did up the jacket with a smile.

“Okay,” Emma whimpered.

Mary Margaret looped her arm through Emma’s and slowly walked her out of the therapy room.

Chapter 74

Emma’s leg was killing her by the time she drove back to Mifflin Street and she slowly got out of the Bug and pulled out her crutch. She hated the therapy for a number of reasons but the damage it did to her mobility straight after was right up there. She slammed the car door and accidentally dropped her keys to the floor and rolled her eyes before struggling to bend down and get them.

As she stood up again and locked the car door she heard the front door open and the sound of Henry’s flatfeet pattering down the path.

“Hey, Kid,” she greeted without turning around.

“What did you do?” Henry demanded.

Emma quickly masked the panic she felt as she hobbled to turn around, “what do you mean?”

“Mom is acting weird,” Henry informed her, sending her heart rate soaring at the thought of what that might mean.

“Again, what do you mean?” Emma asked casually as she started to limp up the path in order to get to the house sooner so she could see for herself what was going on.

“When I got home from school she was cleaning the kitchen,” Henry whispered as they got closer to the house.

Emma paused and looked at him in shock horror, “oh no, not cleaning the kitchen,” she laughed and then carried on limping along.

“Laugh it up,” Henry shook his head, “don’t say I didn’t warn you,” he took off up the stairs as soon as they got into the house.

Emma frowned and shook her head as she threw her keys on the hallway table and shrugged off her jacket and then attempted to remove her boots. She struggled to bend to get the boots off so she gave up and cursed under her breath and took a deep breath to get up the stairs and into the kitchen where she could hear the exacting tones of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony playing quite loudly.

She edged open the door and took a step in and looked around in surprise. Henry was right, Regina was acting weird.

Every cupboard and drawer was open and all the contents were strewn throughout the kitchen. Pots, pans, dishes, tins of food, tea towels, Tupperware and things Emma couldn’t even identify were piled high on the dining room table and the kitchen island. Regina was wearing an apron and had rolled up the sleeves of her red sweater and was now also sporting matching red rubber gloves which Emma decided must have been created by magic.

Regina was stood on top of the kitchen worktop and wiping down the shelves in the top cupboards while the string and percussion sections of some orchestra belted out Beethoven’s greatest. Emma didn’t know a lot about magic but she did know that no one in their right mind would be emptying out their entire kitchen and scrubbing everything by hand if they had access to magic.

The brunette hadn’t noticed her enter and was busily shaking her head as she looked at the cupboard and wiped away dirt that was as invisible as the piece of lint she constantly chased around her clothing when she was nervous.

“Spring clean?” Emma said loudly over the music.

Regina spun around and looked at the blonde with an unidentifiable stare before nodding, “the kitchen was getting filthy.”

“I see,” Emma said as she looked around, “so, how can I help?”

Regina put on her best Mayoral campaign winning smile, “don’t be silly, dear, you’re a guest. I’m quite able to do this little clean myself.”

And with the Regina turned back to vigorously scrubbing the cupboard and Emma took a deep breath before shaking her head and leaving the room and walking to the bottom of the stairs and calling for Henry. A few moments later he appeared and looked over the bannister rail and she beckoned him to come down the stairs.

“Sorry, my leg isn’t up to those stairs yet,” she explained quietly as her eyes flickered to the closed kitchen door, “what is going on?”