t w o

[changethings]

Thanks for the heads up on the whole "permanent loss" thing by the way. [ Is Emma bitter? No. Not at all. (spoiler: this is a lie) ] It was great to discover almost a month later that I'm cursed to word vomit on certain occasions for the rest of my stay.

[ It ruins her usual way of dealing with her problems. ]

Comments

[changethings]

Don't be late or I'm eating yours. [ :) Isn't she the greatest mother ever? ]

[fantasies]

Don't! [But his tone is clearly smiling. There's a slamming of a door in the background.] I'm coming, I'm coming!

[changethings]

Hurry up! [ Laughing, yup. ]

[fantasies]

[And, well, maybe he overestimated the quickness of the elevator, because it's maybe 6, 6-and-a-half minutes before he gets down to the lobby.

YOU BETTER NOT BE EATING HIS VANILLA CHOCOLATE SWIRL.]

[changethings]

[ SHE TOTALLY IS EATING IT!!

Only she isn't. At all. She's waiting for him with a grin on her face. ]

About time you got here.

[fantasies]

I had to come all the way downstairs!

[changethings]

[ A laugh. ]

And I had to walk across the lobby, it was exhausting.

[fantasies]

[He goes to grab her hand and drag her towards the doors before she can change her mind.]

Yeah, yeah. Come on, let's go!

[changethings]

[ Another laugh and she follows with him, skipping a couple of steps to catch up. Gosh Henry don't drag your mom around. ]

[fantasies]

[NOPE. Need ice cream now!]

Okay, so I know there's an ice cream place near the fountain in town, but I bet there are other ones, too. I don't know which one has the best flavors.

[changethings]

[ SO DEMANDING. ]

We can check them out, now that we don't have only a limited amount of time. [ Fuck yeah, no Regina. ]

[fantasies]

Can we try a bunch of them, too? Like with the little spoons?

[changethings]

Sure.

[fantasies]

Yes! I'm going to try all of them.

[changethings]

And give yourself a brain freeze. [ Doop doop doop, sup city. ]

[fantasies]

It'll totally be worth it.

[changethings]

Of course it will. [ And she is totally going to laugh at you when you've got a brainfreeze, because she is the BEST. MOTHER. EVER. ]

[fantasies]

This one first, here! This is the one I was talking about.

[He grabs for her hand again and makes a beeline for it. LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED.]

[changethings]

Looks fancy. [ She says a little sarcastically.

Whatever she is still all smiles as he pulls her along. ]

[fantasies]

It's not supposed to be fancy, it's supposed to be delicious.

[changethings]

Get picking, we've got a lot of these places to visit. [ A beat. ] Pick something.

[fantasies]

Hang on, I have to try them first.

[He goes up to the display case and goes up on his tiptoes to talk to the worker.]

Can I have those little sample spoon things? One of each.

[changethings]

[ Emma hangs back behind him, arms crossed and lips twitched into a smile. She sees brain freeze in Henry's future. ]

[fantasies]

[The guy gives him like six little spoons before he cuts Henry off. Henry eats them all one right after another.]

The middle one! Like, four or five. [He points into the case. It's some kind of bubblegum ice cream.] Yeah, that one. Emma, you have to try this.

[changethings]

[ She does! And is pleasantly surprised by the sample taste. ]

Hey, this is really good. I'll take one of those too, thanks.