Author's Notes: First ever Once Upon a Time fic!
That's How You Know
As the students wander off in pairs and trios, Regina Mills takes a deep breath. This isn't the first time a group of teens from Storybrooke have visited New York City, but it is the first time the former queen has chaperoned the trip. She hadn't been part of the original group. Difficulties between the Merry Men and the Lost Boys (most of whom are really getting too old for that title) meant that Robin couldn't leave town, and Roland had used his puppy dog eyes, and before she quite knew what was happening Regina found herself agreeing to taking the archer's place as one of the adults in charge.
Thankfully, the students are old enough they don't need constant supervision. Ashley laid down the ground rules, they listened with an amazing amount of patience given their ages, and now they have several hours to explore before they have to meet up for dinner. Frederick and Ashley politely offered that Regina could join them as they wandered around, but neither looked too upset when she declined. She may no longer be the Evil Queen, but hanging around with her former subjects still seems to put everyone on edge.
Thankfully, the area the students are to stay within includes a small park. As they head for streets and shops, Regina turns to paths and trees. As green spaces go, it's not much, but to someone who grew up in a place called the Enchanted Forest it provides a welcome reprieve from concrete and steel. Regina picks a direction and starts walking, enjoying the sights along the way: Battles of wits at the chess tables, children running and climbing at the playground, a family having a picnic in the shade of a large tree, couples walking together, wrapped up in their own little worlds. Regina feels a hint of nostalgia at the sight. It's been a long time since she and Robin took a walk… Shaking her head, Regina shifts her focus instead to a pair of squirrels chasing each other through the trees.
Someone barrels into her from behind, pushing her to the ground. Even disoriented from the fall, Regina still catches a glimpse of jeans and a t-shirt as the person responsible for this change in perspective continues running down the path. A heartbeat later, another figure follows, clad in black and red, blonde hair streaming out behind. Regina lifts herself to hands and knees as the latter tackles the former. By the time Regina gets to her feet, her erstwhile assailant has their arms twisted behind their back. Blondie shifts, and Regina catches a flash of silver as cuffs lock into place. Blondie stands up, hauling the other person to his feet. A voice carries to Regina across the short distance, informing the prisoner of his rights, but the exact words don't register. That voice… The pair in front of her swings around, and over the shoulder of some loser, Regina meets Emma Swan's eyes for the first time in eight years.
A spark of something races through Detective Emma Swan's system as she meets the brunette's eyes, something equal parts lust and intrigue, with an odd sense of déjà vu mixed in. Whoa! Emma shakes herself slightly to clear her thoughts. Yes, the woman intrigues her, but right now Emma has a suspect in custody. It wasn't much of a chase, but she'll still need to catch up with… A familiar face appears on the path, moving at a trot. "Sorry Swan," the other detective calls as she passes the mystery brunette. "Thought he was headed down a different path."
Normally, Emma would toss off a witty retort, leading to good-natured banter as they walked the perp back to their car. But Emma's attention still pulls towards the woman up the path, the one pretending to straighten herself up after her fall but keeps watching Emma. So all Emma can say to her partner is, "No worries, Maza. Can you take Mister Pace back to the car?"
From the way Elisa looks at her, Emma knows her partner can tell something's off. They have a quick, wordless conversation before Elisa says, "sure thing," gets a grip on Pace's upper arm, and steers him back down the path. Emma follows a couple of steps behind, not really attempting to hide the fact that she's headed for the bystander. Said bystander suddenly makes a show of straightening her jacket and purse, and Emma has to swallow a laugh before asking, "Are you alright, ma'am? Do you need me to call EMS?"
"That won't be necessary." Her voice hits Emma right in the gut: A little deep, a slight rasp, confident. Sexy. "I'm perfectly fine, Miss…" she trails off as she finally looks at Emma again.
"Swan. Detective Emma Swan." Emma offers her hand.
The brunette's eyebrow twitches, like she can't quite believe what she just heard. "My apologies, Detective," she says as she grasps Emma's hand. Her skin is soft and warm against Emma's.
"Accepted, Miss…"
"Mills. Regina Mills."
"Miss Mills. Do you mind if I ask you some questions?" Somewhat reluctantly, Emma lets go of the other's hand so she can pull out her notebook. It's a flimsy excuse to keep talking to this woman, but she'll milk it for all it's worth.
Now Mills' eyebrow does arch. "About what?"
"You saw the man I arrested?" A nod. "He was hanging around the park for a while this morning. Did you see him with anyone?"
To her credit, Mills actually thinks before responding. "I think I saw him loitering near the chess tables when I first started walking, but I don't recall seeing anyone with him."
Emma feels her lip twitch at the way the other woman talks. Between her vocabulary and her clothes (black jacket over a red blouse and dark blue pants), Mills clearly comes from money. Probably has a job to match, too. Emma gives herself a slight shake to chase the errant thoughts away and dutifully writes the information down. "Anything else?"
"No, I didn't pay much attention to him until he ran me over."
"Witness's sense of humor intact," Emma states, pretending to write in her notebook, which earns her a small snort. She glances up to see Mills fighting a smile. Emma grins, and Mills gives in to her own. Gorgeous. "Seriously, though, are you hurt at all?"
"I'm fine, Detective." Now it's Emma's turn to raise an eyebrow. "A little rattled, maybe," Mills amends. "I didn't expect to talk to the police during this trip."
"You from out of town?" A nod. "Hopefully this encounter hasn't put you off the city." Mills merely tilts her head to the side, as if to say, we'll see. "Well, I won't keep you any longer," however much I might want to. "If you think of anything," Emma reaches into her pocket for a business card, "you can reach me here." She passes the card over. Mills hesitates for the slightest moment before taking it. Before she can overthink it, Emma blurts, "Miss Mills, have we met?"
"I don't think so," Mills replies, studying the business card. "I'm new to the city."
Emma waits a moment to see if her superpower activates, the built-in lie detector that makes her such a good cop. "I'm sorry," she apologizes when nothing happens. "You just seem… familiar, somehow." Mills finally looks at her again, and thankfully doesn't appear to be put off by her odd behavior. "Sorry. Sometimes my mouth gets ahead of my mind." Now Mills is smirking at her. Emma skin tightens as goose bumps race up and down her arms at the sight. "How long are you in the city?"
"One week."
That's not nearly long enough. "May I?" Emma motions to the card in the other woman's hand. Mills passes it back. Emma quickly flips it over and scribbles on the back. "Ignore this if you want, but it's my personal cell phone. I can be a pretty decent tour guide." She holds the card back out, heart pounding.
Time stands still as Mills looks at the card. A long moment later, she takes it back. "I'll keep that in mind," she says.
Suddenly dizzy, Emma smiles again. "Enjoy the rest of your day, Miss Mills."
"You too, Detective."
Regina sits on her bed at the hotel, staring alternately at her phone and the business card that lies next to it on the bedspread. This little piece of cardstock weighed down her pocket all afternoon and evening, distracting her all through dinner and the meeting that followed, outlining the coming days' activities. Since last night passed on the bus from Storybrooke, tonight they merely got everyone checked in to the hotel, reminded them of the rules, and sent them to their rooms.
Regina did briefly surface from her tangled thoughts to deal with booking a room for herself. According to the original chaperone arrangements, Robin and Frederick would have shared, with Ashley on her own. It took Regina a moment to realize that she was now expected to share a room with Ashley, as per the budget. But she played the former-mayor/former-queen card and used her own money to procure a room for herself. It's a bit cramped, but she's the only one in there, so it's worth it. Besides, she saw the room Ashley has, and even with a second bed it's not much larger. Anyway, Ashley looked rather relieved with how things turned out.
The moment she stepped in the room, Regina put her purse and Emma's card on the bed, hoping that some physical distance, however small, would calm her mind. She unpacked her suitcase, put her toiletries in the bathroom, and went through her nightly routine, trying to purge the swirl of thoughts from her head.
It didn't work.
Two hours later, and Regina's mind races faster than ever. Somewhat surprisingly, the number Emma scribbled is not the same one saved in Regina's phone; she never could bring herself to delete that particular item in her contacts list. Robin asked her about it once. She fed him some line about how she hadn't realized that it was still there, and she'd get around to it eventually. When Snow noticed, Regina admitted she didn't like losing the link to Henry, even though neither he nor Emma remembered her anymore. Then Snow revealed that she also had saved Emma's number for the same reason, and Regina didn't know whether to feel relieved or ill.
As stupid as it seems now, it didn't really occur to Regina that coming to New York might mean running into Emma. Oh, she may have secretly hoped it would happen, but in a city of eight-and-a-half-million people, how likely was such a meeting? Math was never Regina's strong suit (something Henry had been quick to point out whenever he needed help with homework), but even she had known the odds against such a meeting were almost impossibly high.
Maybe someone used pixie dust on her again.
She snorts at the thought. Tinker Bell is back in Storybrooke, the fairies are as stingy as ever when it comes to using their dust, and Regina highly doubts it would work outside of Storybrooke anyway. And didn't the fairy once tell her that each person only got one dust-ordained soul mate?
Regina shakes her head, banishing that question and all of its implications to some dark corner of her mind. Those are thoughts for another time, preferably not in the near future. For now, she needs to decide what to do about the current situation. The fact of the matter is Regina has one week in New York City. Emma knows she's here, and has basically issued an open invitation for spending time together. As much as Regina might like to spend all of her time with the detective, they both have jobs to do. And while Emma may not worry about her coworkers, Regina finds that she doesn't want to tell Ashley or Frederick about her encounter just yet. The students don't worry her quite as much; most of them never knew Emma, or are too young to remember her properly.
Taking a deep breath, Regina snatches her phone up and dials Emma's number before she can overthink herself to death. It rings once, twice, and then Emma's voice speaks. "Detective Swan."
"Good evening Detective. This is…"
"Miss Mills!" Is it Regina's imagination, or does Emma sound excited? "How is our fair city treating you?"
Slightly taken aback by the other's quick familiarity, it takes Regina a moment to formulate a response. "So far, so good. Thankfully, I've had no more run-ins with its lower class."
Emma chuckles in response. The sound warms Regina. "I'm glad to hear it. Although it does make me wonder why you're calling a detective."
Don't overthink. "I find myself in need of a tour guide."
"Really?" Regina swears she can hear the smile in Emma's voice. "What would you like to see?"
"Preferably, some of the nicer restaurants, not the typical tourist traps." Most days, the kids are on their own for lunch or dinner, so this won't pull Regina away from her chaperone duties. Hopefully, it doesn't come off as too forward.
"I can meet you for lunch tomorrow," Emma replies. "Any idea where in the city you'll be?"
"I'm spending the morning at the Museum of Natural History." Is this actually going to work?
"Ooo, I know this great little place nearby. Does twelve-thirty work for you?"
"It does." Regina listens carefully as Emma describes how to find the place. "That sounds perfect," she says as Emma finishes. "I look forward to seeing you there."
"Me too." Regina hears a faint noise from the other end of the line. "Sorry, I have to take care of that. Good night, Miss Mills."
"Good night Detective."