Authors Note: First, Thank you for the responses. I hope you liked the first chapter and I hope you like this chapter! Second, I untagged Robin Hood because a few people got upset he was tagged and wasn't positively portrayed in the story. Lastly, this story is slow building so I thank you for your patience. Enjoy.

...

"Hey Emma!" Charlie shouts as Emma walks into the kitchen. "Do you want to go to the park? Mommy is going to take me and I get to go on the slide!"

"Yeah, that sounds like fun!"

"Yay!" Charlie shouts and runs and jumps in Emma's lap. Emma stiffens for a moment before relaxing. She still hasn't gotten used to how freely Charlie shows her affection and still has moments of discomfort.

Amanda walks in and scolds lightly. "Charlie don't be so loud, your mom had to work really late last night and you don't want to wake her up."

"Sorry Mommy." She whispers with a cute grin on her face. "Emma is going to come to the park with us today."

"She is. That's great. I thought we might could go Ice Skating too."

Charlie looks like she is going to burst with excitement and makes a muffled squealing noise.

"Now, what do you to girls want for breakfast."

"Oatmeal!" Charlie whisper screams.

Emma gives her a funny look. "What kid says oatmeal?"

"She surprisingly isn't much for sweets. Which is good because she has enough energy as it is."

"Well oatmeal sounds good to me as well." They quickly eat and began to get ready for their day. About thirty minutes later Amanda knocks on Emma's door and then peeks her head in. Emma's propped up reading a book.

"Hey, Charlie is picking out her clothes so we can leave in a little while."

"Okay. Well I am ready when you two are." She expects Amanda to leave after that but instead she come and sits at the edge of the bed. Emma can already feel the anxiety building within. She is horrible with small talk and even worse at conversations that actually have substance.

"What are you reading?"

Emma sits her book down.

"It's called After." She can't help but fidget with nervousness.

"Is it any good?" She can tell that Amanda didn't stay to talk about books but it's nice to have someone to talk too.

"Yeah, it's one of my favorite books. I've read it several times."

"I can't tell with how worn it is. What's it about?"

"It's kind of weird. It starts out with this girl in high school that has a baby and throws it in the trash, pretty much. Of course she is arrested and it's from her perspective about the process of it all and what she was feeling and thinking throughout everything. Obviously, I don't think throwing the baby away was the best decision but its interesting to see how this girl goes from being a star athlete and great student to being on trial for attempted murder." As she is finishing her explanation she feels a little bit of excitement that she was getting to share something that she is passionate about. She hasn't had anyone that has cared about her interests in so long.

"That doesn't sound weird at all. It actually sounds very fascinating. I will definitely have to borrow it one day."

"Sure. Do you like to read?"

"I do. Its harder to find time with kids and a career but I try to make time." Emma just nods in understanding. Since she doesn't have many friends all she has had is time to read for the past couple of years. "I should go make sure Charlie is still doing okay."

They walk to the closest park with Charlie chattering away about everything and nothing. As soon as they get there Charlie lets go of her mom's hand and runs straight to the slide. Emma laughs as she watches her quickly make friends with another little girl. She feels a small pang in the back of her mind that she was once that carefree. She quickly pushes those thoughts away.

"She is the cutest."

"She really is. Liv and I are very lucky." They watch Charlie in silence for a while just observing and making sure she doesn't get hurt.

Amanda side glances at Emma and prepares herself for the awkwardness of the conversation to come. "So, how are you feeling about about your time with us these past couple of weeks?"

Emma looks shocked at the bluntness of the question. Amanda quickly explains. "From what Carol told us, it had been a while since you had lived with a family outside of the group home. I just want you to be as comfortable as possible around us and with our family. We want you to feel like its your home too. I know that is probably hard for you to do and you aren't used to trusting people. I know that isn't going to happen over night, but we do want to help the process. I would at least like to verbalize to you that we like having you around." Having a hard time processing what Amanda just said, Emma can feel a lump forming in her throat. She tries to swallow it down as much as possible.

"I'm sorry, I know that was a lot at once so you can take a second if you would like. I just want to let you know how we feel and Liv wanted to be able to have this conversation with you too but she has just been so busy with work." Emma nods.

"Thank you. I really appreciate you saying that. I really like staying with you guys."

Emma didn't mean to admit that out loud. She wasn't sure that she had even admitted that to herself yet. "You are right. I don't usually trust people but its been easier with you guys if I'm being honest.

"I'm glad to hear that. We don't want this to just be temporary. We would really like you to stay with us for as long as you like. We also went ahead and got you a cell phone. We figured even if you didn't want to stay with us it would be something you could still use."

"You guys didn't have to do that. I'm used to not having one anyway."

"Either way we would like for you to have it. It's at home but you can get it when we get back."

"Wow, thank you." She didn't know what to say beyond that. She wasn't used to receiving gifts or just having someone who seemed to genuinely care so she wasn't sure how to react.

"You're welcome."

They went back the silence for a while. Emma was trying to take in everything that Amanda had said. It was hard to hear someone say that they wanted her around. In a way it scared her. If they really knew her, if they had known the things that she had done, they wouldn't want her. They wouldn't want her around. They don't know anything about her. How can she say these things not knowing who Emma really is? She can feel anger bubbling up but more than that she can feel dread creeping in. Dread for what she is sure is coming. "You don't even know me. How can you say that you want me to stay in your home, around your child, when you have no idea the things I have done in my past? How do you know that in a month you're not going to get tired of me and send me back?" She can't stop herself. This is what she does. She pushes people away so that when they finally realize how screwed up she is, she isn't the least bit attached.

"Emma, we do want you around, no matter what you have done in the past. We want you in our family." Emma whips her head around to face Amanda and tears immediately spring up and she can't help when they fall over.

"You don't mean that."

Amanda grabs her hand. "Yes, honey I really do. I know its only been a month but you are a great person and you deserve more than the hand that you have been dealt. We want to be able to provide you with love and support. We want you in our family." She pours all her emotion in her face and hopes that Emma believes what she is saying. She didn't expect the conversation to get this deep but she can't help but to be glad that she is getting to express these things to Emma.

"I need a minute. I am just going to go for a walk. I'll be back in a second."

"Okay, take your time." Amanda watches her walk away hoping she didn't say to much to make her run.

Emma eventually comes back and joins them but tries to avoid being left alone with Amanda at all. When they get back to their apartment Liv is in the kitchen doing dishes.

"Mom! I missed you!" Charlie runs a jumps in her moms arms.

"Hey baby girl, I missed you too. How was the park?

"It was the best. We went Ice skating and guess what mom?"

"What?"

"Emma is the best ice skater ever. She can jump in the air and not fall." Olivia looks at Emma with surprised eyes and Emma looks away sheepishly.

"Its true. She was pretty awesome." Amanda says as she is putting down their stuff and taking off her coat.

"I wish I could have seen for myself then. Where did you learn to skate so well?"

"My mother used to take me all the time when I was a kid. I had my own skates until I was about fourteen and then a foster sister I had decided she needed them more than I did. Anytime I have had extra money I like to go."

"Well, we will have to start going more."

"You can take me a lot and teach me how to twirl around." Charlie runs over and hops in Emma lap. Emma welcomes it and laughs at her.

"Of course I will. I'm sure with a little more practice you would be great since you are such a great dancer."

"Okay, Charlie why don't you watch TV in the living room and rest because Zelena and Astrid are going to come over later tonight and we are going to have a game night." Olivia gives Amanda a kiss and walks into the laundry room to switch out the clothes while Charlie runs off to the living room. "Zelena called earlier and thought it would be a good idea. Astrid is having a hard time getting used to Killian not living there anymore. She thought it would be a good idea if Astrid could have a night to play with Charlie since they get along so well." She explains to Amanda. "I thought I would call Regina also. I think Robin is probably out of town and she might like to come and let loose for the night."

"Alright, that sounds nice." Amanda sits silent for a moment. Then she speaks again "Does Robin seem different to you?" She's hoping Olivia has noticed some changes and she isn't just being delusional.

"I guess. I think he is just having a really stressful year with the promotion and everything."

Emma's curiosity peaks when they start talking about Regina. "Where does he work?" Emma asks hoping they don't mind her asking.

"He's an engineer. He was just promoted this past year to the lead engineer at his company so he has twice the responsibilities. I think it has put a little bit of strain on Regina. He goes out of town almost every week to oversee different projects."

"Wow, that is impressive." Emma says with raised eyebrows.

"He is so smart but he also has that personality that he has to be right about everything. I'm sure you picked up on it little the other night." Olivia come back to the kitchen and sat down at the bar top with the other two. "He isn't a bad guy, just a tad obnoxious."

"I could definitely tell that the other night. Regina seems really nice though. What is it that she does?" Emma could feel her cheeks getting a little warm. She hoped neither women noticed.

"She is an Anthropologist."

Emma was impressed. She could tell the woman was smart but that's not something you heard of a lot of people doing. "That's also impressive. What do Anthropologist even do?"

"Well just from the little I know there are different fields of study in it but she is a cultural Anthropologist. Which I'm not really certain what she does besides study different cultures. You should ask her for more details about it though. She works for a museum right now but she has traveled all over studying and working."

"That is really cool." They all chatted for a while longer before Emma decided to go read for a little while before people started to arrive.

...

At seven Zelena arrived with Astrid. Charlie and Astrid immediately ran off to Charlie's room to play and the adults gathered around the dining table with wine. Emma wasn't sure at first what to do, so she just stood awkwardly of to the side.

"Emma you're allowed to the join us. Unless you just want to go to play Barbies with the little ones." Olivia said in a playful tone.

"I think I would rather be an adult today." Emma sat down and listened to Zelena complain about her ex-husband and the headache he was. Not long though the doorbell rang and Emma felt her heart quicken. Amanda got up to answer the door and when she returned Regina was with her. Regina came in carrying a bottle of wine and Emma couldn't help but feel nervous. She didn't know why she was so nervous around the older women. Regina went to the kitchen and got her own glass of wine and sat right next to Emma.

"So ladies what are we playing tonight?" Regina asked as she started to shuffle the deck of cards.

"Well I figured we could just play Texas Hold'em. Emma do you know how to play that?"

Emma hid a smirk. Of course she had played before. That's how she made her money in the group home. She had a superb poker face. "I've played once or twice."

"Great! I'll get the poker chips." Olivia jumped up and got the case of chips out of the cupboard.

"Alright, ante up." Regina said with a salacious grin as she started to deal.

Three hours later and couple of glasses of wine for everyone but Emma and it was down to her and Regina. The little ones had gone to bed quickly since they helped tire one another out. Emma had quickly shown that she was a force to reckon with when it came to poker. She had quickly knocked Amanda out and Zelena followed not long after. Olivia fell to Regina when she got scared and folded with a 3 of a kind and Regina had only an Ace high. It was now just Emma and Regina facing off and Emma was feeling confident.

"Well Miss Swan, It looks like you are quite the little hustler."

Emma gives a hair flip and says sarcastically "I do what I can. But I am going to go all in on this one." She has a full house and is positive she won't be beat.

"I suppose I will too." Regina pushed all her chips to the middle of the table. "Alright, lets see what you've got."

Emma threw her cards down with a cocky smile and raised eye brows. "Full House."

"Oh, darn." Regina looks down as if she lost. Then her frown turns into a smile. "It looks like you've lost." She threw down her cards and had a 4 of a kind.

"No freaking way! How did you do that!" Emma face shows pure astonishment. "I just knew I had that one in the bag. A freaking 4 of a kind. That's the first time I've lost in forever." Regina is laughing while scooping all the chips towards herself.

"Alright, I need to be getting Astrid and myself home." Zelena gets up and starts to clean up after herself.

"You don't have to worry about it. We will clean up, and if you need to stay here feel free. We will make room." Olivia also gets up and starts picking up.

"No, I think we will just go home. Thank you though.

"No problem. Regina, what about you? Did you drive here?"

"No, I walked. I think I will stay if you don't mind. I had a bit to drink." She is still counting the chips that she had just won.

"Okay, you didn't even win real money. You can stop counting your chips now." Emma gives her a fake scowl. Regina just laughs and starts putting the cards and chips away.

"You're a really good player. I'm very impressed."

"Thanks, it's something I have always enjoyed playing." Emma could feel her cheeks burning from the praise. She didn't know what it was that made her so nervous around the older woman. Maybe it was because she was so smart and beautiful. She couldn't pinpoint it.

"I'm going to check on Charlie and then go to bed." Amanda got up and gave her wife a kiss on the cheek and walked off down the hall.

"Let me grab you some blankets Regina and get you set up and ready for bed." Olivia walked over the the hall closet and started grabbing blankets.

"Okay, thanks again. I didn't mean to drink that much. We were just having a good time." She stood up and started walking away. "I am going to go wash my face, you can just throw the blankets in there."

"Okay, goodnight, We'll see you in the morning. Emma are you going to bed right now?"

"Yeah, I was just going to watch a little television first if that was okay?"

"Sure, goodnight sweetie." The term of endearment caught her off guard but she just smiled.

"Goodnight." Olivia gave a knowing smile and walked down the hall.

Emma picked up the remote and started flipping through channels.

"What are you watching?" Emma jumped.

"I didn't hear you walk back in here."

"Sorry." Regina said with a sheepish smile.

"It's okay. And I don't know. Just kind of flipping though the channels. I have a hard time just falling asleep so I usually have to watch some mindless show to fall asleep and move to my bed later." She didn't know what made her say all that. She focused back on the t.v. and found a show to watch.

"I get that. Do you mind if I join you for a little while?" She sat on the opposite side of the couch and Emma noticed she had found some pajama pants.

"No, feel free." Emma couldn't help but notice how much younger Regina looked without makeup on. She would probably guess she was only in her early twenties. "I see you found some pajamas."

"I did. I'm pretty positive they are Noah's seeing as they are two times too big." Emma hummed in recognition and turned her attention back to the television.

She didn't know what had her so intrigued about Emma but Regina couldn't help but to want to know more about her. About where she had come from, what her life had been like, what her interest were. She was a curious person in general but there was something more that just curiosity when it came to Emma.

"So, how did you learn to play cards so well? You have a killer poker face."

"A couple of the older kids played in one of the group homes I was in. I learned pretty quickly and they started letting me play. We would bet with extra food we had or any extra luxury we had, so I got good so I wouldn't lose all my stuff." Playing cards with the other kids were some of the best memories she had of living in the group homes. She got caught up in the memories for a second then remembered Regina was still sitting there. "What about you? How did you learn how to play?"

"Believe it or not when I first turned twenty-one I was a bit of an addict. I went to the casinos often and lost most my money often. I guess just a lot of practice. I'm pretty good at reading people too, so that helps."

"That is somewhat shocking. I don't really know why but I guess I don't pin you as the type to be addicted to anything."

"It was out of character but I guess I just always had so much fun when I went. It was a good distraction from real life so I think that's what really drew me in. I was broke all the time before I finally figured out some of the strategies. Thank God I finally learned what the hell I was doing." They both laughed and let the silence fall around them as they focused back on the television.

After a few minutes Regina couldn't help but let out a yawn. "Well I should probably go to bed. Robin is coming home tomorrow so I need to clean the apartment so he doesn't know I'm secretly a pig when he isn't home. I had a lot of fun tonight though. We should hang out again soon."

Emma was kind of shocked at the offer. She didn't know why someone so gorgeous and smart would want to hangout with her but she chalked it up to just an offer of courtesy. "I had a great time too. We should hangout again."

"I'm being serious. This isn't one of those fake offers. All I ever do is work so outside of that I have a lot of free time." Regina stood up but kept eye contact with Emma to show she was serious in her offer.

"Okay, I believe you."

"Good. Well I hope you sleep well. Goodnight Emma."

"Goodnight Regina." Emma watches her leave the room and can't ignore the little jolt of excitement that she felt at the thought of being friends with Regina. She pushes those thoughts away and turns her attention back to the show she has on. She drifts of to sleep with the thought that maybe this home be more long term than she originally planned.

…

I plan on updating a lot quicker than I did for the second chapter.

Until next time.