A/N: This is my very first OUAT fic. And it's sort of a prelude to Swan Queen, which I ship so hard. I've been out of the fanfic writing game for quite a bit now, but thought I'd use a four word flash fiction challenge from a blog I follow as a tiny entry point while I figure out if any of my longer SQ fic ideas are gonna work. The four words are: saw, bully, milkshake, and flowerpot.

Oh, and while I asked around for a beta I couldn't find one. So all mistakes are mine.

Timeline/potential spoiler alerts: I figure this takes place somewhere after the pilot and "The Thing You Love Most," but is before Emma is deputized by Graham in "That Still Small Voice."

And away we go...

Shake It Up

"Bully."

Regina Mills, the mayor of Storybrooke, overheard the muttered word as she passed the blonde in that awful red pleather jacket on the stool in front of the bar at Granny's.

"You take a chain saw to my tree and have the gall to call me a bully, Miss Swan?" Out of the corner of her eye, Regina looked to see that Henry had not overheard the caustic exchange. She let out a breath of relief to see he was already settling into their "usual" booth by the corner window, reasonably out of earshot. She started to turn away from the blonde interloper, wishing yet again Miss Swan would just move on already, like she had from every other place she'd roamed the last several years.

"If the shoe fits, Madame Mayor." The appellation was said with significant derision. Regina was unused to such blatant disdain after 28 years of obeisance from everyone else in this town.

Regina narrowed her brows and turned back to face her accuser. In another life her expression would have literally frozen Emma Swan where she sat. However, unfrozen and apparently unfazed by one of Regina's better cutting expressions Emma swung her own narrowing expression upward from her tall glass as she set it back on the bar surface. Was that a milk mustache across the woman's upper lip? Now Regina understood where her son Henry had gotten the idea. Damn, even when he wasn't openly goading her about his real mother, he was following the bitch's every example.

"And," Emma continued, as Regina tried to bore holes with her gaze. "Henry's healthy and growing. One milkshake won't ruin his appetite for dinner."

"What would you know about growing boys and appetites?" Regina snarled.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. You're his mother. We've covered this ground, Regina." Regina bristled at the woman's use of her first name, though it was said with considerably less derision, and considerably more exhalation, as though the blonde was resigned to plunge onward. "I don't know how many times I have to say it before you believe it. I'm not here to take Henry. But I am not leaving until I'm sure he's all right." Regina opened her mouth to point out her care of him. Emma's waved her hand in front of her face. "Look, I get the kid on some level. I did a lot of bitching about my foster families, too. But I did not have some fantasy belief that my foster parent was an Evil Queen."

"You don't believe him then?"

"That you're a hardass?" Emma stated crassly. "Yeah, that I believe. But that's not the real problem between you."

"I have done nothing to him. I've given him everything I possibly -" Regina jerked abruptly upright as she caught her own defensive tone. She hadn't meant to sound so pitiful. Crap. She started to turn away. Damn Miss Swan anyway.

Emma wasn't done with her advice however. "Then let him have a milkshake from time to time. It won't kill you... or him. And it might just repair a few bridges."

Suspiciously Regina glanced back at Emma. Having said her peace though, the blonde woman shrugged and turned her back to her, lifting and sipping her milkshake once more. Regina looked over toward Henry only to see him on his knees keenly watching her interaction with Miss Swan.

She resettled her purse on her shoulder and walked over to the corner booth, sliding onto the bench opposite Henry. Ruby Lucas, in her mini skirt, ridiculously bright red boots and that appalling slash of red dye and ribbon in her brunette hair, appeared with her order pad, pen poised. "What'll it be today, Madame Mayor?"

Regina tried to look past Ruby's hip but couldn't see Miss Swan at the counter. She looked at Henry who wouldn't look up at her now that she was across from him. He looked meek. For some reason it made her think of her own childhood. Hiding her face from her mother so that Cora wouldn't see what she was thinking or feeling. Damn. That hurt. She swallowed. "Henry, why don't you order tonight?" she asked as neutrally as she could manage around the sudden lump in her throat.

"Really?" She nodded tightly, just once, but the smile that was his reaction was broad and included his eyes, which warmed her as few things had in the last couple years. "All right. Ruby, I'd like a burger with all the fixings, and..." Henry paused. Regina said nothing as she met his gaze. She bit the inside of her cheek to prevent herself from both a smile or a comment. Henry looked back up at Ruby. "And a large milkshake, please."

Ruby glanced at the mayor who made no correction to her son's selections. Finally she asked Henry, "What flavor?"

"Strawberry."

"All right. Mayor Mills?"

Regina looked up as Ruby's attention fell to her. Out of the corner of her eye she spied Emma nearing the diner entrance, on her way out. The woman's jeans had to be painted on, and those boots... Regina thought uncharitably that the woman had the fashion sense of a hobo. Enunciating clearly, Regina looked at Henry as she spoke. "A burger and milkshake sounds wonderful, Henry." She looked up at Ruby then. "Please make mine chocolate. Thank you." She ignored Ruby's wide eyes, pleased to witness Emma stumbling into the huge flowerpot just outside the diner entrance.

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, Regina decided. And if this meal didn't kill her, perhaps she would be strong enough to finally drive Emma Swan from Storybrooke.

Emma heard the mayor's order and couldn't believe her ears. But she hadn't really believed her eyes either, having caught the expression on the mayor's face as she looked at Henry's downturned head. There was real pain there. Whatever Henry believed, Regina Mills was in an amazing amount of pain. Emma had seen that walking wounded look on a lot of people over the years, usually other foster kids who hadn't yet developed Emma's "I don't give a fuck what you think" defense mechanism. She remembered throwing the question 'what made you this way?' at Regina after the woman had set her up so Henry would overhear her call his fairytale theory crazy. She had only a few days left of the week she promised Henry and the only thing she knew was Henry hated Regina, and Regina was devastated that Henry hated her.

Emma couldn't afford to get entangled here; she'd already fielded two calls from her bail bonds job, telling Pete she'd be back soon. But if she couldn't get Henry over this, Emma couldn't move on in good conscience. And without the mayor's approval Emma couldn't arrange any sort of visitation to get to know her son. While she still was in no position to be a parent, she did feel the parental responsibility to understand this child who had been born of her body.

So, it looked like learning more about Henry and Regina would be Emma's top priority. She'd already partially read Henry's file at Dr. Hopper's office, but there were other sources of information on the history of the mayor's relationship with her son that would not trigger an arrest warrant. She decided to begin with Mary Margaret Blanchard. With school out, the school teacher would likely be at her apartment. Emma turned smartly on her heel at the next street corner, just as the level of twilight triggered the lamppost sensors illuminating the street where she walked.