Crossing Paths

Chapter 20

Emma's P.O.V.

I'd wanted to send her away. I'd really wanted that, but then I asked myself why. Why did I so badly want Regina to leave? I was only hurting myself and her if I pushed her away.

So, here she was, sitting on my couch as I was preparing two cups of tea for the both of us.

She'd hugged me, she'd calmed me down. We hadn't shared a word, except when I asked her whether she wanted tea.

I had no idea where this was going. It had been three weeks and four days since I'd last seen her and here she was, looking prettier than ever.

Regina looked at her fingernails as I observed her. How had I managed to stay away from her for over three weeks?

It had been incredibly hard and she had been the only thing on my mind every single day, yet I had never been ready to mend things between us.

I didn't know what I wanted to happen between us. I always figured we had all the time in the world to figure out what was between us, but now it felt as though I had to choose.

Was I going to continue developing mine and Regina's relationship, with children? Or were we going to have a platonic friendship?

Of course, Regina had hurt me, but in the past three weeks it had seemed to be so minor. It seemed like I had left her for no reason, but when someone broke my trust, it was hard to get over.

When the water was boiled, I poured it into two mugs and put a teabag along with it. I watched the hot steam evaporate in the air as I mentally prepared myself what was to come.

This wasn't how I'd expected my evening to go. I hoped Regina wasn't too mad at me for inviting Lily over. I had no idea the woman wanted to start a threesome with me and Regina.

I just wanted Regina.

I grabbed the mugs from the counter and carried them to Regina, handing her one of the two mugs.

"It's quite hot," I said softly and as I didn't have a table near the couch, she set the mug down on the windowsill.

I sat down on the chair opposite Regina and let the mug warm my hands. The heat stung my skin, but I didn't mind the pain.

We looked at each other for a minute, before I cleared my throat. "How, uh.. how are the kids?"

I didn't know whether it was appropriate to ask Regina about her kids, after lashing out on her because she kept them a secret from me, but I was genuinely interested.

Roland and Henry were sweet children. In the past week I'd figured that if Regina were to have any children, it was nice that they were so adorable.

"They're great," Regina replied softly with a sincere smile. "Emma, I am so sorry. I should've told you about them. I was so wrong, keeping them from you and I have nothing to justify it. It was wrong and I totally understand if you're done with me, but I just.. I didn't want to leave it the way we left it."

I swallowed and took a sip of my tea after blowing off some hot steam. "You hurt me, Regina," I said softly. Now was the time to confess the way I felt and that also meant some negativity.

The brunette woman rubbed her hands together, which were glistening from sweat. She seemed quite nervous.

"I know," she whispered and dropped her gaze.

"It'd been long since I'd been so vulnerable in front of someone and this.. children are a huge part of people's lives. I should've told you much earlier about having given away my son as well, but I still think it's different, because he isn't a part of my life anymore. It just feels like you left out a huge part of yourself and your past by not telling me this and I thought we were really far into getting to know each other. Even though we don't know each other for that long. We just.. clicked."

Regina apparently didn't know what to reply, because she kept quiet and looked up in guilt.

"But I missed you a lot, these past weeks. And your sons seem sweet, I'd like to officially meet them," I whispered, "if you'd let me, of course. But otherwise I'll probably see them soon enough once they run away again," I teased and stood up from my chair to sit down next to Regina.

She nodded and looked at me, before she scooched closer and rested her head on my shoulder. "I'm so grateful to have you in my life," she said as I stroked her cheek.

I sighed contently and kissed the top of her head, before I leaned my head against hers.

"You were quite young when you had Roland," I said as the thought occured to me.

Roland was eight years old, that would mean Regina was nineteen when she became a mother.

"Yes," Regina replied. "Nineteen."

"And Robin's the dad?"

Regina nodded. "What I told you about my past furthermore is all true. Robin and I met when I was fifteen and we'd been together for eleven years. When I was nineteen, he got me pregnant."

She kept quiet for a moment and put her hand on my lap.

"It wasn't planned, but our parents helped out and we actually we're stable enough to take care of a child. At least, so we thought. Last year, I realized that I'd gotten married way too young and never saw what else was in the world. That too, helped me with filing a divorce."

I put my free hand on top of hers, my other hand was still stroking her cheek. I was so glad I could finally touch and hold this woman again.

"And Henry? Was he planned? Twenty one is quite young as well," I said.

Regina nodded. "My pregnancy with Roland didn't go so well. I had more pain than I should and his birth didn't go too well. That might have been because I was rather young, but I actually didn't want to go through that again. However, Robin and I did want another child. Things with Roland had been great and we wanted him to have a little brother or sister, but not too much of an age gap."

"So, you made Robin carry the child?" I joked and Regina playfully squeezed my hand.

"Henry is adopted," she said. "Closed adoption, never heard of the birth parents ever again."

I nodded slowly. Moments like these made me wonder where my son was, somewhere in the world. I didn't think about him a lot, but when I did, I just hoped he was happy somewhere.

That he was loved and felt at home, things that I could never give him.

"I'd never guessed that," I muttered and Regina sat up straight again and stretched her neck.

"He doesn't know, though," she said. "Roland does, but Robin and I felt like it was too soon for Henry to know."

"And Roland hasn't said anything to him?"

"Not that I know of, no," Regina responded and I smiled.

I really wanted to try building a relationship with Regina and the children. I simply couldn't ignore the butterflies in my stomach every time Regina looked at me.

She was absolutely stunning in every way and even though we had to work to make everything go back to normal again, I was more excited to do so.

I leaned in and looked her in the eyes, before she closed them and scooched closer to me. I shut my eyes as well and captured her lips.

The familiar feeling of her lips against mine seemed to be exactly what I needed in that moment.

All my conflicted feelings washed away as our tongues found the normal rhythm and her hands caressed my back.

I was never letting her go again.