Bad Day.
This is for anyone that is having a bad day.
I own nothing except the mistakes.
From the moment that Emma Swan walked in to kitchen she knew that Regina was already having a bad day. Now, Emma wasn't overly perceptive by any standard, but the fact that Regina was still in her nightgown and standing at the kitchen island drinking coffee, her hair in a simple ponytail, and half of the coffee pot already gone made it hard to miss.
'Hey baby.' She said, coming up next to Regina and kissing her on the cheek. 'How'd you sleep?'
'Awful.' Regina grumbled, and it was clear by the way she continued drinking her coffee that she wasn't going to say anything else on the issue.
Emma grabbed her own mug of coffee and stood beside her wife, not saying anything, but hoping to convey that she was there if needed. And when she felt Regina's foot shift over on the floor and stop flush with her own, she knew that the gesture was received and welcomed.
-xo-
It was barely past ten in the morning and Emma was already bored at work. And not only was she bored, but she was also worried about her wife, and it took all her might not to make up some excuse that would have her in the Mayor's office within twenty minutes. No, she had to wait until Regina came to her otherwise she would get defensive and never talk about what was wrong. So, she sat at her desk, ripping pages out of a note book so she could shoot them through the hoop that was stuck to the wall beside her desk. She was too lazy to pick up the ones she had already thrown, so she had the brilliant idea of keeping the Station stocked with two hundred page notebooks that she could keep ripping the pages out of.
An hour later Emma was trying not to fall asleep at her desk when she heard the sound of heels clicking towards her desk. Her first thought was Regina, but when she realised that the sound wasn't menacing enough, her next guess was...
'Hey Rubes, what's happening?'
'Hi Em. Not much, actually. Belle and I were just gonna head out for a picnic, and Granny asked if I could drop this off on the way.' She replied, dropping a small folder of paperwork on the desk.
'Her statement about the graffiti on the diner?'
'Yep. She's still super angry about it – you should see the way she glares at anybody under the age twenty when they come in to the diner!'
Emma let out a laugh, knowing exactly the type of glare that Ruby was talking about. She'd been on the receiving end of that glare when she'd gotten a little too drunk at the Spring Festival three years back and started a food fight with Granny's rhubarb pie. It took her months of flowers and apologies to finally get back in to Granny's good graces.
Speaking of flowers, Emma thought she had a brilliant plan.
'Hey, Rubes? Does Belle's dad still own the flower shop in Main street?'
'Game of Thorns? Yeah, he does. Why?'
'Never mind.' Emma grinned, pleased with herself for her apparently brilliant plan.
-xo-
At eleven-thirty Emma was walking in to the flower shop owned by Moe French with one goal in mind. She was going to find the biggest bouquet of red roses she could find and have them delivered to Regina at work. She was greeted by the owner as she shut the door behind her.
'Ah, Miss Swan, what can I do for you today?' He asked.
'I'm after your biggest bunch of red roses. I need them delivered as soon as you can.'
'Of course.' Moe replied, his face smiling kindly, as if he knew exactly what Emma was doing.
She watched as he grabbed the best bunch of roses he had and wrapped the stems in purple tissue paper before tying a lighter purple ribbon around it. Apparently he did know that they were for Regina, and apparently everyone assumed that her favourite colour was purple. When he was done he handed her a white card with a floral design in the corner and a pen, and she wrote the words:
You will always be loved.
xo
Satisfied, she handed the pen back to him and affixed the card to the flowers.
'I'll deliver them within ten minutes.' He told her confidently, and she payed for the flowers and thanked the man.
-xo-
Not long after the Sheriff had returned to the Station she felt her phone vibrate in her back pocket. She had a feeling that she already knew who the message was from, but seeing her phone light up with a picture of Regina just made her smile even wider. She opened the text message, and even though it simply said, Thank you xx, Emma was so damn happy.
After smiling at the text message for ten minutes, Emma decided that she really needed to start working on her ever-growing pile of paperwork if she ever hoped to have them all complete before the month was up. Apart from looking at the clock every five minutes, Emma did pretty well with her paperwork... until twelve-fourty-five came around and her stomach started to grumble. She stalked over to the fridge in the Station's kitchenette and pulled out the container of left-over lasagne that she'd brought from home that morning. While it was heating up, she grabbed her phone out of her pocket and dialled Granny's diner's number.
'Granny's diner, how may I help you?'
'Hey Ash, it's me, Emma.' Emma said, recognising the voice on the phone straight away. She had always liked the girl and was so proud that she was able to work part-time at the diner and take care of her baby girl, Alexandra.
'Emma, hi! Do you want your usual?'
'No, not today. Actually, I wanted a white chocolate and raspberry muffin delivered to the Mayor's office. Do you think that would be possible?'
The waitress was silent for a minute, pondering the options, Emma assumed.
'You know Granny doesn't like orders delivered if they're under twenty dollars...'
Emma was about to interrupt when the girl continued.
'...But I get off in fifteen minutes and could deliver it on my way home.'
'Really, you'd do that?' Emma asked gleefully.
'Of course. I'll stick it on your tab and I'll let you know when I've delivered it.'
'Thank you so much!' The Sheriff replied before hanging up the phone and fist-pumping the air in what she called victory.
-xo-
While Emma was more than happy to sit at her desk and alternate between playing basketball and taking a nap, apparently the residents of Storybrooke had other plans. It was one-thirty when she got a phone call that required her to leave her secluded life at the station and head down to the docks where a bunch of teenagers were hanging out.
She parked her cruiser half a block away from the docks and decided to walk the rest of the way. The only way she had any hope of talking to any of them was by a surprise visit, although she wasn't exactly sure how that was going to work. As she got closer she could make out just who the teenagers were and she sighed, because really, this was not the first time she'd been called out to deal with the Lost Boys, as they called themselves.
As silently as she could, she walked up behind them and before any of them noticed, she was sitting down next to them, her legs dangling over the ledge towards the water.
'Really guys? Out here in the open?' She asked, staring out towards the calm water.
All four teenagers startled, and as they made to run, Emma sighed again.
'Come on, I know who all of you are, so why bother running?'
She was surprised when they all stayed in place, their shoulders seeming to slump in defeat.
'What are we doing out here?' She queried, 'What class are we skipping today?'
'Sport.' They all grumbled at once, and Emma had to stop herself from laughing at their synchronising.
'Awe, come on, what's so bad about sport?'
'Everything!' One of the boys answered at the same time another said, 'The sport part.'
This time Emma did let out a laugh, and it caused all four boys to look at her.
'Sorry! But, you know I can't just leave you here. C'mon, I'll take you back to school before I decide that I should lock you all up instead.'
-xo-
By the time Emma got back to the Station it was after two-thirty. She was taking the Lost Boys back to school when she noticed that she had forgotten her mobile phone, so that was the first thing she looked for when she got back to work. After a good five minutes of searching, she finally found it on top of the microwave where she assumed she left it after getting her lunch out.
She unlocked the device and noticed that she had two text messages. The first was from Ashley telling her that the muffin had been safely delivered, and the second one was from Regina, which read, Delicious. Thank you, my love. xx. Emma grinned to herself again. Surely these gestures were helping to make Regina's day a little better, but there had to be more that she could do. She headed back to her desk for another round of basketball while she thought of what else she could do.
It was after she shot her seventh miss in a row that an idea hit her. She re-directed the phones to her mobile, locked up the station and headed out the doors.
-xo-
Emma walked up and down each aisle, bottles of wine surrounding her from both sides. The problem was that she couldn't pick one wine from another. The difference between whiskey, scotch and bourbon? Sure, she was your girl! The best tequila? Absolutely. But telling the difference between wine? Even being married to Regina for three years couldn't help that. It wasn't until a sales assistant came to help her that she felt like she was finally getting her. She didn't necessarily want their most expensive wine, but she did want a darn good one – one worthy of not only a Mayor, but of a Queen.
After the help of three assistants and Google, Emma finally had a bottle of wine that met her standards, and she just hoped it met Regina's too. She was just getting in to her car when she felt her phone vibrate in her back pocket. She pulled it out to see Mary Margaret's face looking back at her. She checked the time, and shit, she was late to pick up the kid. Through her continuous boredom and worry about Regina, she had totally forgotten that she had told Henry that she'd pick him up from school so they could go comic book shopping.
'Hey Mum.' She mumbled guiltily.
'Emma, sweetie, is everything alright? Henry said you were supposed to pick him up today.'
'Uh, yeah... I just, lost track of time... or, possibly forgot him?'
'And that is something that I'm not going to tell him. Are you on your way?'
'Actually, can I ask a favour? Could you possibly keep him with you for a few hours? Regina's been having a bad day and I want to do something nice for her tonight, so... do you think you could take Henry comic book shopping and then maybe keep him for dinner?'
'Of course! It's no problem at all. I'll make sure he's fed, bathed, and his homework is done.'
'Thanks Mum. I'll pick him up between eight and nine. You're the best! Love you.'
Emma listened as her mother told her she loved her too and then hung up the phone. She felt guilty for forgetting him, and for the fact that he was now going comic book shopping with his grandma instead, and so she made a mental note to make it up to him when she could.
She pulled out of her car park and headed towards the flower shop for the second time that day. As she entered, she didn't miss the surprised look on Moe's face.
'Emma? Is everything alright?'
'Yeah! I just need three more roses.' She laughed, before adding, 'This time I need two red and a white please.'
As she did earlier, she watched as the man gathered the roses, wrapped them in paper and tied a ribbon around them.
'A card this time too?' He asked, raising his eyebrow.
'No thanks. They're fine like that.'
Again, Emma paid for the flowers and thanked the man before exiting the shop.
So, so far she had the bottle of wine, some more roses, and a kid free house for a few hours. The evening was shaping up to be a pretty good one, indeed, if Emma could say so herself. She headed home and let herself in through the front door, careful not to drop the wine bottle on her way. After all, she was notorious for being incredibly clumsy at the worst of times; just like the time she tripped over her own foot at the Christmas Fair last year and ran in to the freshly decorated Christmas tree, almost making it topple over on to Leroy who was on the other side talking to Astrid.
-xo-
It was just after six, and Emma knew that Regina was due home any minute. As she listened for the front door, she continued to stir the carbonara sauce that was simmering on the stovetop. She was incredibly proud that, so far, her cooking had looked, smelled, and tasted just fine. Of course, she wouldn't mention the fact that she'd had her mother on the phone the whole time, reading the same recipe that Emma had in front of her so she could help her. Regina didn't need to know that fact. But now, it was just Emma, a simmering carbonara sauce, and a packet of uncooked fettuccine. That was, until she heard the front door open and then close again.
She turned the stove down before heading out in to the main foyer to greet her wife. She noticed that the bouquet of flowers was absent, but she assumed that Regina would prefer them at her office to help her through the day.
'Hey baby.' She said, smiling gently.
'Hi.' Regina smiled back, and it was clear to Emma that the smile didn't quite reach her eyes. She was exhausted, that much was obvious. Emma took her coat and bag and hung them up inside the coat closet before leading her in to the study.
'Take a seat here for a few minutes. I'll come get you shortly.'
Regina raised a curious eyebrow but did as Emma requested. Honestly, she was just happy to be sitting somewhere that wasn't her office at City Hall.
Emma raced out of the room and took the stairs two at a time until she hit the landing at the top. She slowed down as she walked through their bedroom and in to their ensuite. As she had already planned in her head, she turned the taps to their oversized bath on and added some refreshing bath salts. Once the bath was full, she plucked the rose petals off a red and a white rose and scattered them on top of the water. Happy with how it looked, she raced around to light all of the candles she had placed around the room earlier. She took the final red rose and headed back downstairs.
Before heading back in to the study, Emma ducked in to the kitchen to stir her pasta sauce again. Once satisfied, she turned on the water for the pasta, estimating that she had twenty minutes before the water boiled, and then another twenty before the pasta was cooked. That was forty minutes she had to help Regina relax before dinner. She headed back in to the study to find Regina with her eyes closed, her head resting back against the sofa.
'Come on, sweetheart.' She said quietly, not wanting to startle the woman.
Regina opened her eyes and gave Emma a tired smile. Emma stretched out her hand and was happy when Regina took it and allowed herself to be pulled along. Before they reached the bottom of the stairs, Emma turned around and presented Regina with the final red rose.
'Another beautiful rose for a beautiful woman.' She said honestly, and the smile that Regina gave her caused butterflies in her stomach.
She continued to pull Regina up the stairs and in to their ensuite. She watched Regina's face turn from curious and tired to loving and grateful as she took in the sight of the darkened bathroom, illuminated only by the flickering light of the candles.
Without saying a word, Emma pulled Regina to her and proceeded to undress her slowly. Although it could have been considered entirely sexy, Emma's only intentions were to get Regina in the bath, by herself, so she could relax. And that is precisely what she did. Silence had surrounded them until Regina was fully settled under the water, her features already looking more relaxed.
'You stay here and relax and I'll be right back.' Emma ordered gently. She leant down and stole a kiss from Regina before exiting the ensuite. She didn't get too far before she heard Regina's content sigh behind her.
Emma raced down to the kitchen so she could stir the pasta sauce and add the pasta to the boiling water. She was just about to put the lid back on the pasta pot when she heard her mother's voice in her head telling her to place a wooden spoon across the top of the pot instead, and so she did. She still marvelled at just how many tricks there were to cooking, but then decided that she really shouldn't think about them too much because she had no immediate plans to take up cooking. Satisfied that dinner was on track, she filled up two wine glasses and headed back up to to their ensuite to see how Regina was doing.
Emma tried to remain as silent as she could, and so when she reached the entry to the bathroom, she stopped and marvelled at how peaceful Regina looked with her head back and her eyes closed, the light from the flames flickering across her smooth skin. She was the picture of beauty and perfection, and it made Emma wonder just how she got to be so lucky. There was not a day that would go by where she wouldn't remind herself how lucky she was and that she was never to take Regina or their family for granted. After a few minutes of unashamedly watching her wife, Emma finally entered the bathroom and took a seat on the edge of the tub. She watched as Regina opened one eye first, and then slowly opened the other one, looking at her with the most intense brown eyes that Emma was sure she'd ever seen.
'Hi' Regina finally said, taking a glass of wine out of Emma's hand and taking a sip.
'Hi yourself.' Emma replied, a crooked smile on her face. She took a sip of her own wine, and damn was she proud with the choice she had made on the wine.
Regina took another sip of wine before her eyes widened comically.
'Uh, where's Henry?' She asked, looking ashamed that she hadn't asked earlier.
Emma let out a laugh, remembering how she forgot all about him too. It wasn't funny, of course, well, at least it wouldn't be to him, and probably not his mother either.
'He's with my parents. I thought you could do with a few hours to just relax without worrying about whether he's eaten enough or finished his homework. Mum is taking care of that for us. I'll pick him up around eight or nine.'
Regina nodded, appreciation all over her face. She hated when he wasn't at home with them, but understood that sometimes it was good to let him go just a little bit. Besides, he was only at his grandparent's house for a few hours, not forever.
'And, speaking of eating. Dinner will be ready in about twenty minutes. Stay here and relax, and when the water starts to cool down, come downstairs.'
'Thank you, my love.' Regina smiled warmly, 'For everything.'
Emma just nodded before taking her wineglass and heading out of the ensuite.
-xo-
'Something smells delicious.' Regina commented as she entered the dining room just as Emma was putting pasta bowls on the table. She had her nightgown on with her hair pulled back in to a ponytail, and Emma thought she looked absolutely stunning, and so much more relaxed than earlier.
'I hope it tastes delicious.' Emma replied, filling up their wine glasses. 'We all know how much cooking and I don't mix.'
Regina chuckled, remembering the story that Henry had told her years ago about the time he stayed with Emma at Mary Margaret's apartment and she tried to cook a roast; it had been in the oven for four hours when the timer finally went off. Excited, Emma went to check on the meat only to find that it was still cold. She eventually realised that she had turned the timer on but never turned the oven on. According to Henry, they had burnt grilled sandwiches that night.
'I'm sure it will be fine, my sweet.'
And it was, Emma decided. It was hands down the best meal that she had ever cooked, and if the moans coming from her wife were anything to go by, she appreciated it too.
Once they had both finished their dinner, Regina got up from her seat and pulled Emma up with her. With a soft tug, she pulled Emma flush against her and placed her palms either side of Emma's face, her thumbs brushing soft strokes against her cheeks. And before Emma leant in for a kiss, she heard a single sentence being muttered.
'You make my life worth living again, Emma Mills-Swan.'