So Does This Make Us Both The Other Woman?

4. Exploration Of Communal Motherhood (But It's Not Awkward)

"I don't know what to do." The voice is curt, harried, and sounds more like Mary Margaret Blanchard than Snow's been since the first curse had broken. "He's crying and crying and I thought I was a patient person, I thought I could do this but–" A long, shuddery gasp, the kind Regina's been longing for from Snow for decades. "You have to help me, Regina, because otherwise, I'm going to put him down and run out of this fucking house and–!" She squeaks at her own profanity. " Please. "

"Where's Emma?" She'd given the other woman memories of raising Henry, and though those memories are fading now that reality has hit again, she should be more than equipped to help her mother without thoughts of homicide- so, well, one step up from Regina.

Snow sighs. "Killian took her and Henry out on the Jolly Roger for the day. I don't want to disturb her. They're all so happy– "

Regina hangs up and gets her coat.

Snow is hovering by the door when she gets there, the baby still screaming in her arms, and Regina takes him from her, an old deja vu hitting as she does. "I don't get it. I've tried everything, I've changed him, I've fed him, I've wrapped him and unwrapped him and put him in his swing and he just won't stop! How do I know if he's sick? What if I..." She stops, staring wildly at Regina. "What did you do?"

The baby coos up at her, and he's got Emma's eyes and Henry's hair and thankfully looks nothing like his namesake. Regina curls her arms around him, holding him tighter to her chest. "You need to calm down," she says, and she can't quite remember a time when she's spoken this softly to Snow White but the baby is gurgling at her and she doesn't know how her mortal enemy has produced so many precious people. Maybe it's David's genes. He'd purportedly had a decent human being as a mother. "I had the same problem with Henry. He can sense that you're stressed and it's agitating him, too."

Snow stares at her pleadingly and Regina can see dark circles under her eyes and the way her hands are still shaking. "How am I supposed to calm down when he's crying all the time?"

She's going to regret this. "How well have you been sleeping at night?"

Snow shakes her head, half-pointing at the baby. "I don't know. A little?"

"Go take a nap," Regina orders. "I'll take him until Emma gets back." She's barely seen Emma since her birthday, just brief greetings in the street and the one dinner that Emma had come late to and left early from. It's not awkward. It's...busy. It'll be good to see her.

That's why she's staying, not to do Snow a favour, so she puts on her best Evil Queen voice and says, "You can trust me to take care of Leopold."

It's enough to freeze Snow halfway to her bed, and she turns around, her eyes wide. Regina raises her eyebrows, rocking the baby in her arms and waiting for Snow to take the bait. Instead, the younger woman says. "Okay, Regina. You do that."

She must be exhausted. What a disappointment.

Leo snuffles a little and his eyes droop closed and Regina sinks down onto the couch, picking up a photo album and flipping through it. It's all Mary Margaret and Emma at the start, then Henry and David, and some of the later photos even have her in them. She glares at one of her asleep on her own couch in her own home with Henry passed out against her. It's unquestionably Emma's fault. "I used to be an evil sorceress," she informs Leo. "Whole villages would fall to their knees when I rode past. You'd do well to fear me." His lips part in a little bubbly burp and she sighs. "You're going to be just as bad as your sister, aren't you?"

They sit in content silence until there's the sound of voices outside and Regina peers out the window to watch her son and his companions make their way up to the house. Henry is running ahead, Emma shouting something after him, and Hook trails behind her. He says something and Emma shoves him a little, rolling her eyes and opening the door before Henry gets in. "You can stop talking about it, maybe?" she says, annoyed, and Regina's mood brightens in an instant.