Andante, Andante

Chapter Fourteen

"Regina darling, are you going to be able to keep ignoring Robin?" Her mother questions innocently hoping she won't agitate her daughter about the redundant topic that has already run itself dry.

"Yes, mother. How many more times must we discuss this?" Brown eyes roll as she continues breaking apart the ends of the green beans.

Emma is sitting right beside her, chopping garlic and is unnervingly quiet at the moment. Her head is down, and those long blonde curls are appearing as a curtain, keeping her facial expressions securely hidden, and annoying Regina.

"It's just, I don't believe he will stop. You have always been by his side and I think he won't be accepting the word, no, so easily," Cora calmly explains while she stares aimlessly at the pot before her, clearly avoiding Regina's eyes as well.

"That's why I gave him a week to get his shit out of my house, that way, I wasn't around, and I wouldn't be persuaded into another relationship with him."

"I don't know the guy," Emma chimes in, "but I agree with your mom, he seems to think you will always be there and forgive him no matter what," she confesses, but Regina really doesn't want to argue with her, so she doesn't reply.

Her mother timidly spins around from the stove to finally face her. The older woman's face is filled with sorrow and is projecting guilt, which means Regina is not going to like what she has to say.

"What about Roland?"

Regina's fingers instantly stop snapping the beans as her eyes wander to meet her mother's. "What about Roland?" She slowly questions, narrowing her eyes, challenging her mother to utter one more word about the little boy.

"Robin will use his son as an excuse back into your home and eventually back into your heart. You have to know this by now," Cora explains in her most stern, yet, motherly tone.

"Regina," Emma sighs, turning in her chair to offer her full attention. "Your mother is right, I know how much you care about Roland and I don't want your affection for the little boy to cloud your better judgement. Or even mistake your affection for Roland, for Robin as well."

"Seriously? You don't even know either of them," she snaps, her anger and frustrations about the sore subject are slowly bubbling to the surface and somehow, she can no longer control her tongue. "Don't you have your own mother to kiss ass to?" She snarks at the blonde, hoping Emma will stop ganging up on her with her own damn mother.

She's quiet. A little too quiet, so Regina takes a chance and catches a glimpse of the blonde beside her. Her thin lips are trapped painfully between her teeth making her lips appear nonexistent. Her palms press flat against the edge of the table, slowly pushing her chair away from the table. Emma calmly walks away before Regina even has a chance to reach for her. Emma crosses the threshold, never once looking back, but slams the door way too hard on her way out, expressing how angry she truly is.

"What the hell?" Regina blurts out while roughly snatching up another bean and snapping the edges off with all her pent up rage for a certain blonde.

"Regina!" Her mother scolds in a tone she hasn't heard in quite some time.

"What?" She snaps right back and tosses a green bean aggressively into the bowl.

"How could you?" Cora is attempting to yell, that much is evident, but there's a whimper lacing her voice, confusing Regina's mind.

"What? I didn't do anything," she quickly defends. "Why are you blaming me? She had no right to storm off like that. That was a bit dramatic," she scoffs and continues with her task at hand to distract herself from the uncomfortable situation she has found herself in.