Reset

“Henry, half an hour and then it’s bedtime,” Emma told him and he nodded as he picked up her controller and re-entered the game. As Emma went upstairs she could hear the mother and son discussing tactics and she shook her head.

“They are crazy, Grace,” she told the girl who was staring up at the lights in the ceiling with interest, “although in the event of a zombie attack on the town this would be the place to be.”

Grace look at Emma and Emma wondered, not for the first time, if the little girl had any idea what she was rambling on about. They entered Grace’s room and Emma turned off the baby monitor, she’d learnt her lesson with that particular device.

“So, more Twist?” Emma asked Grace as she sat in the chair beside Grace’s cot and laid the girl down in her arms, “take the edge off of all the mindless violence downstairs, eh?”

Emma picked up the book and found the page where she had finished before and started to softly read.

Chapter 78

When Emma got downstairs forty minutes later she was surprised to see Henry and Regina were still playing on the games console.

“Henry!” Emma admonished him.

“Mom said it was okay,” Henry told her as he paused his half of the game and looked over the back of the sofa at Emma.

“We’re very close to total domination,” Regina told Emma without looking up from the game.

Emma looked at Regina in stunned silence and then at Henry who seemed to be noiselessly pleading for his freedom. She shook her head and pointed to Henry’s controller and gestured for him to hand it over which he dutifully did and Emma paused both screens of the games.

Regina looked down at her controller in surprise and started mashing keys to no avail before she turned to look at Henry and Emma who were staring at her.

“Henry, time for bed,” Emma said as she turned to her son who happily jumped up from the sofa and then paused as he looked around the room, “I’ll clean up, just go to bed,” she smiled at him.

Henry didn’t complete his usual routine of kisses and hugs and instead ran towards the stairs and shouted a goodnight to both his mother’s over his shoulder. Emma opened her mouth to speak but suddenly Henry appeared again and looked at Regina, “thanks, Mom, tonight was really cool,” he smiled at her and then headed to the stairs.

Emma looked at Regina and tilted her head, “so, you don’t play games?”

Regina flushed, “well, I hadn’t realised how exhilarating it is, it’s all the fun of war but without the bloodshed!”

Emma shook her head, “I’m going to totally pretend I didn’t hear that sentence,” she laughed as she started to disconnect the games console from the television.

Regina furrowed her brow, “yes, maybe that could be misconstrued,” she agreed before picking up the box for the game that Emma had just placed on the coffee table, “are there other games like this one?”

Emma smiled, “yes, but why don’t you focus on killing everyone who pissed you off in this edition first?”

“Where’s Grace?” Regina asked as she mindlessly picked up some popcorn and ate a few kernels from her cupped hand.

Emma turned around and looked at her, “seriously?”

Regina smirked and Emma laughed, “okay, you got me there, well done..”

“Did she go down okay?” Regina asked as she took a sip of apple juice.

“Yes, we hardly got two pages into Oliver Twist,” Emma sighed, “it’s going to take me a decade to read that book at this rate.”

“I honestly don’t think she’d mind, or notice, if you skipped ahead a few pages when you read to her,” Regina pointed out as she found herself staring at Emma’s behind as she leaned behind the television to unplug a cable.

“I just don’t want her to miss anything, ya know?” Emma said as she reached further down behind the television.

Regina shook her head to distract herself from the sight of Emma’s rear covered in tight jeans, “did you bring the baby monitor down?”

“Yup,” Emma said as she stood up and pointed to the armchair where the monitor sat.

Regina reached over and picked it up and turned the volume up to check it was all working when she heard Henry’s voice. Emma stared at Regina and they both quickly gathered around the device and listened to Henry whispering to a sleeping Grace.

“..and then we’re gonna practice your crawling, I know you can’t do it yet but Mom says that you should start soon and I’m gonna help you so that’s tomorrow planned..”

Emma and Regina stared at each other with enormous grins on both their faces as they listed to Henry kiss Grace goodnight.

“Sweet dreams, Sis,” he said softly and then they heard the sound of him leaving the room.

Regina turned the volume down a little on the monitor and a small tear escaped from her eye and ran down her cheek and Emma smiled at her with similarly tear-filled eyes.

“He’s a good boy,” Regina said steadily.

“Yes,” Emma agreed, “you brought him up well.”

Regina opened her mouth to say something but Emma just placed a single finger on the seated brunette’s lips, “you did and I’m going to be eternally thankful for that.”