troubled teachers

Chapter 22 (SMUT)

Emma shrugged on her red leather jacket, flicked off the light, and left her bedroom. When she arrived downstairs, she popped her head around the living room door to check on her son. Henry was lying on the sofa watching an old episode of Top Gear.

"I'm off to Miss Luccas' for dinner. When are you heading to Peter's?" she asked.

"I'm not," Henry grunted.

"I thought it was his birthday party tonight," Emma frowned.

"It is. I'm not going," Henry replied.

Emma sighed and stepped further into the room. She had been putting off talking to her son about what was going on since the previous evening, hoping Rose had been wrong about what she had seen in the playground. Evidently something had happened between the two friends however and Emma was beginning to worry.

"Henry, what's going on between you and Peter?" Emma asked gently.

"Nothing."

Emma sat down on the end of the sofa. "I don't believe you," she said. "Henry I just want to help. If you tell me, maybe I'll be able to give you some advice."

"There's nothing going on so I don't need any advice. Go and have fun with your girlfriend and leave me alone."

Emma frowned at the harsh tone but stood up, knowing it wouldn't help to push Henry into talking. "I'm here if you need me, kid."

There was no response so Emma left the room and headed out of the house.

At the same time Regina was also preparing to leave her home. She tapped her chin thoughtfully as she perused her wine collection. That was one of the things she wished she could have taken from her old house on Mifflin Street but after Robin's arrest, the place had been cleared out by the police. She wondered where all those vintage wines were now. Eventually she settled on a Pinot Grigio she knew Emma was rather partial to and returned to the hallway. As she gathered up her bag, she glanced up at the calendar on the wall. It was only a week before Valentines Day and over six weeks since her … ordeal. She wondered whether Emma would want to do anything now they were officially together. She made a mental note to ask the blonde when she got a moment later that night.

Locking the house securely, Regina slipped her keys into her pocket and headed down the path towards her car.

~

"Perfect timing."

Emma spun around on the pavement as she heard someone approaching her.

"Oh, hey!" she said, leaning in to kiss Regina on the cheek. "How was your Saturday?"

"I'm up-to-date on all my lesson plans and marking so productive but not exactly interesting," Regina said as she led the way into Ruby's apartment building. "How did your talk with Henry go?"

"Badly," Emma replied. "He's on the sofa sulking as we speak. Something's definitely off between him and Peter though because it's his birthday party tonight and Henry isn't going. He'd been chatting about that party for over a month and now he's spending his Saturday evening watching Jeremy bloody Clarkson."

"Hey," Regina said, turning in the corridor to look at her clearly frustrated girlfriend. "It'll be ok."

Emma huffed out a breath. "I hope so. I just wish he'd talk to me, that's all."