Shared Pain

Chapter 5

To Emma's surprise, Killian was willing to come home early to have dinner with the kids. It was six o'clock and Killian was supposed to arrive any moment now.

Emma didn't want to leave the kids until she was certain Killian would come. She sat on the edge of the couch where Eva was lying with her eyes closed.

"Mom?" She muttered. The doctor had told them that Eva had a mild concussion and that it would be over in about a week if she rested enough.

Emma had called Ashley as soon as they were done at the doctor's to ask if she could watch Eva. Luckily, her friend was more than happy to help her out.

"Yes, sweetie?" Emma asked and softly stroke the younger blonde's forehead, wiping away some hairs.

Emma heard the living room door open and saw Henry and Lola softly entering the room. "How is she?" Lola tried to whisper as Henry softly closed the door.

A smile crept upon Eva's lips, she was happy that she has such caring siblings. "Better," the seven year old muttered. "But mom, why is dad coming for dinner tonight? He's always at work when we eat dinner."

Emma sighed softly. She knew it wasn't a good sign that her kids were confused that their dad was joining them for dinner.

"I have to go somewhere tonight and I asked dad if he wanted to come home early," Emma replied kindly and she heard the living room door open once again.

"I'm home," Killian whispered, not wanting to startle everyone or hurt Eva.

"Hi, dad," the kids greeted him in sync and Lola ran up to him to embrace him. Killian pressed a kiss against her temple and he gestured Emma to come to him.

As Emma kissed Eva's forehead softly, Killian set Lola gently down and the two of them walked to the hallway.

"Em, I want to apologize for last night," Killian said. "I'm sorry that I didn't listen to you, I shouldn't have been such an ass."

Emma nodded slowly. "Apology accepted, but Kil, I think we need to have a talk soon. About us."

Killian nodded agreed and the corner of his lip curled up. "Have fun with your friend," he said and kissed her softly.

"Take good care of the kids," Emma replied before she stepped back. "Bye."

Emma left the house and sighed softly as she heard the door slam shut. She walked over the pavement to the street and saw that Regina was already on her way her house.

"Hi," Regina greeted her softly and offered her a sincere smile. Emma politely smiled back and nodded curtly before they started walking.

The only reason Emma had agreed to this, was because she figured Killian wouldn't take time off to eat with the kids. Once she'd asked him, he wanted her to go and enjoy herself.

She really didn't want to talk to Regina about everything that had happened. After Emma had asked Regina what had changed now that she knew Regina didn't know it was Emma's boyfriend with whom she had been sleeping, they hadn't said much.

Regina hadn't known the answer and therefore she hadn't said anything anymore. Emma had finished Regina's nails with a thick tension lingering in the air.

They arrived by the restaurant, having exchanged no words so far and Emma secretly hoped it would stay that way for the rest of the night.

There weren't many restaurants in Storybrooke. Besides Granny's there was just the one restaurant and Regina had managed to get a reservation there.

A waitress led them to their table and once they sat down, Regina cleared her throat. "I think we need to clean up.. whatever the mess is that's between us," Regina started and as she didn't feel like talking, Emma just nodded.

"I want to say that I am really sorry," Regina continued. "I can't believe that I went with someone who already was in a stable relationship with the most beautiful woman I've ever seen."

"Okay, you can stop trying to seduce me. Somehow, you managed to wrap Neal around your finger, but it's not going to work on me."

Regina chuckled softly at the stubborn blonde. "I honestly wasn't trying to seduce you, I know you're in a happy marriage and I'm not going to jeopardize someone's relationship yet again."

Emma swallowed thickly when Regina said "happy marriage". Lately, she'd been rethinking how happy she truly was in her marriage with Killian. For now, she just hoped that the kids were alright with their father.

"How long were you two together?" Emma asked. She only knew that Neal had cheated on her, but she didn't know for how long.

The brunette opposite her bit her lower lip and dropped her gaze. "A year," she muttered and peeked through her eyelashes at Emma.

Emma shuddered and clenched her teeth. "A year?! And all that time you didn't know he was in a relationship?" She asked and scoffed.

"You didn't know he was cheating on you either," Regina defended herself.

"That was different," Emma stated and straightened her posture.

Regina cocked her head and shrugged. "How is that different? You know, you thought you were in a happy relationship with Neal, but don't forget that I thought the same. We weren't technically together yet, but we did spend a lot of time together. I didn't know he had an official girlfriend already and you didn't know he was cheating on you. That's on him, not you, not me, but that was Neal's fault."

Emma clenched her teeth again by the mention of Neal's name. She had been together with Neal for five years, since she was fifteen.

"Who wanted to meet up by the docks? Was that your plan?"

"He said the water calmed him and as I didn't know how he would react on me breaking all the contact with him, I figured we could go there. So yes, it was my idea to meet up by the docks."

The same waitress who'd led them to the table, approached their table with a notepad. "Can I get you something to drink?" She inquired politely.

"White wine, please. Dry," Emma said with a polite smile.

"I'd like a glass of your finest red wine," Regina said.

The waitress scribbled something down and left their table, allowing Regina and Emma to continue their conversation.

"So, you led him to the docks and you were angry with him and later that night he got killed," Emma stated and raised an eyebrow before she grabbed one of the menus the waitress had left.

Regina's eyes widened. "Do you think I got anything to do with his death?" She asked and her voice cracked.

Emma shrugged. "Well, I don't know, I wasn't there. Except that I was. I saw my boyfriend getting killed, doing nothing but walking home."

"The police established that it was because he witnessed a crime scene. People dealing harddrugs, which is beyond illegal. They arrested two men, the killer and a stooge."

"They arrested one stooge. Wasn't it suspicious that you left earlier than him?" Emma inquired.

Regina tapped nervously with her fingers on the table. She didn't like being suspected for murder on her ex lover, especially because it seemed impossible to assure Emma that she had nothing to do with it.

"He could have left too, right? Emma, I don't know what you're aiming for, but I don't appreciate it. It hurt me too, you know. You may not see it, but I did like him. I would never kill someone for something like this. I was mad at him, but that doesn't mean I'd murder him."

Emma swallowed and nodded curtly. One skill she'd had her whole life was being able to tell if someone was lying or not and she knew that Regina was telling the truth. She had nothing to do with it.

"But why were you there that night?" Regina inquired softly and Emma's cheeks turned pink of embarrassment.

She was not going to enjoy telling Regina this story.