"Henry, I have a meeting with the governor tonight. Be in bed by 10:00—oh, and don't run off to see Sherriff Swan; she's busy with night duty. Love you." Regina kissed her son on the head, wishing that just once he would say 'I love you' back, even if he didn't mean it. She longed to feel him near her, to feel that he at least paid attention to her, because, contrary to popular belief, her heart wasn't entirely made of stone. There was a little patch of grass there, which Henry and Daniel occupied. It was admittedly small, but it was there.
Henry mumbled something in acknowledgment, and Regina felt a small smile on her face. She put on her blazer and walked out the door. The meeting with the governor concerned funds and figures on where they wanted to be in the next 5 years. Regina couldn't help but smile, because the governor was not from Storybrook. He wondered why there didn't seem to be much crime or much of anything, really.
Because she, Regina, had everything under her control. That is, until a certain blond low-life wanderer showed up. As a result, she could feel the curse weakening, and just as important, her son's devotion to her. Regina knew that conflict arose when two or more entities wanted the same thing. The conflict between her and Sherriff Swan was no different; Henry was the thing they both wanted. Not that Regina was totally uncomfortable with her son being with the Sherriff, but lately, that fire of jealousy, of wanting to grab hold of everything that was hers, was growing. She didn't want Miss Swan—or Emma, rather—to just waltz in, steal her son's affections, leaving nothing left to salvage of Henry and Regina's relationship. But that's exactly what she had done.
Regina kept seething silently until the governor got tired of looking at her ideas for the next library—the old one was falling apart—and decided to leave the town hall. Regina got in her car and started it up, when a police car swerved loudly down the street, appearing to be in hot pursuit—of what?
The patrol car stopped and Sherriff Swan got out, wearing that damn red leather jacket that could be seen from a mile off. Regina rolled her eyes.
"Aren't you supposed to be on night duty, Sherriff?" Regina purposefully injected cold poison into her words. "Isn't that what I pay you for?"
Emma didn't look flustered at all; she was getting used to Regina's coldness and superior vocabulary, unfortunately. She went straight to business. "Yeah, I was on patrol. I just wanted to see who was at the Town Hall so late. Sorry." She turned to walk away.
"Well, it's good to see you—"
"Really?" Emma whirled around in surprise.
"I was saying, 'it's good to see you doing your job.' I was just having a meeting with the Governor, actually." She stopped herself in surprise; she was talking with Sherriff Swan about her day. That was not what enemies did. They hated each other; well, at least she knew she hated the Sherriff. "It is late, good night, Sherriff."
"Do you want me to see you home?" Emma offered.
It was Regina's turn to be shocked. "Um..." she never used that word! "No, thank you. I'll be fine." She backed out of her parking space and drove away.
Emma watched the Mayor drive away in her black sedan that looked like it came out of a 1950's movie and got back to doing her rounds. Her shift ended at midnight, and it was barely 10:00. She sighed and went around, driving down the same dark streets, seeing the same old nothing—until she drove past a little house in the neighborhood. Some potheads were lighting up.
The evening wasn't totally unproductive, then. She knew that if she wanted, she could assign night duty to Ruby—but she knew that Ruby would probably quit, and then she would be without a deputy. The Storybrook PD was a pitiful excuse for a law enforcement unit—but then again, there wasn't much crime to solve. Except for the disappearance of Katherine a couple months back, when Regina had tried to frame Mary Margaret. Emma could see that Regina had some huge issues with her. It was plain to everyone that Regina and Emma were enemies, all because of Henry. At the same time though, they had seemed to reach a silent understanding that fighting in front of Henry would only hurt him.
Emma was thankful when midnight rolled around. She drove to the police department to drop off the patrol car and then drove to her apartment that she rented with Mary Margaret. But she wasn't there for long. Ruby called her and convinced her to come to Errol's, a bar close to the outside of town. Emma caved, knowing that it was okay; she was off duty, after all. She ended up having a lot of fun. Sure, there weren't that many people, but the ones that were there were fun as hell. Ruby was drunk and stripping off her clothes for anyone who would watch, and Emma was most definitely watching. She tried to disguise it as interest in the painting behind the drunk deputy, but that fooled no one. The bar closed at 4:00 am, and Ruby was staggering on Emma's shoulder, her breath rank with beer, and her hair all mussed up. Emma had had to pull her off the bar, and Ruby would not go easily. She was surprisingly strong for a skinny girl.
"No! Emma, pleeeassse, I wanna dance!" Emma laughed.
"Ruby, we gotta get you home. You can dance some other time." Emma opened the door to her yellow bug, and gently guided Ruby on the passenger's seat. Ruby leaned over, and Emma leapt out of the way just in time. She dropped Ruby off at her house, and then drove home and passed out on her bed.
When she woke up, Mary Margaret was gone already. Emma hadn't been drunk, she knew, but her head still felt funny. She poured some coffee and nearly pissed herself when she heard the phone ring. Not her cell phone. The old creepy looking cat phone that sat in a forgotten corner of the apartment. She warily walked over to it, expecting—well, she wasn't sure what to expect. She picked up the phone and whispered 'hello?' Not because she was scared, I mean, she was never scared of anything.
The voice on the other end of the line was impatient. "Sherriff Swan, is that you?" Oh shit, it was the mayor's voice. What the hell had she done now?
"Uh yeah. Why?"
"I needed to speak with you about your behavior last night. It was irresponsible to let your deputy display herself like that. It does not bode well for the police department to have employees that revel in public drunkenness. Am I making myself clear?"
"She was off duty—"
"That is no excuse for her to be publicly indecent."
"How did you know about that?"
"Sidney Glass told me."
Emma laughed. "He's a pervert."
"Just promise me you'll keep a hold of your deputy. She has done enough already. Goodbye, Sherriff Swan."
Regina had been harsh. Maybe a little too much, but, Emma had to be dealt with. She was getting more and more uncomfortable with the fact that Ruby was deputy, and that Emma seemed to have hired her on a whim. She didn't like it, not at all, and she wasn't quite sure why. She had things to do that morning anyway, so it was futile to spend it wondering what Emma saw in Ruby to hire her so quickly.
Unless…unless Emma and Ruby…no, of course not, the idea was absurd. Regina shook her head to clear it and buried herself in the paperwork that the governor had given her the night before. At some point, she fell asleep, and was woken up by Emma Swan, telling her to come to the police department right away, because Henry had been hurt. She said nothing more, and Regina met her at the police department, ushered immediately into the patrol car, with Emma at the wheel. But they didn't go to the hospital, like she expected. They went to the woods instead, to this rustic looking cabin. Emma got out of the car, but Regina didn't know what was going on.
"Sherriff—where's my son?"
Emma didn't say anything, all she did was walk closer to the mayor. "I have no idea, Madam Mayor. I just brought you out here because you have been on my mind all day. You are jealous of Ruby, aren't you?" Emma's smirk was so infuriating, Regina wanted to slap her.
"Whatever in the seven heavens gave you that idea? I—"Regina couldn't say another word, because Sherriff Swan—the woman who from the moment she arrived at Storybrook, had taken Regina's life and made it so different, so out of control, so unlike before—was coming closer. Her face was inches from Regina's, and she could feel her breath on her own lips. It smelled like cherries—
Regina woke up with a start, her head buried in the Mt. Nagasaki of paperwork that she had to do. She had druel on her chin, and some of it had gotten on the papers.
That was the craziest, most unexpected dream she had ever had. She decided to think nothing of it—dreams don't mean anything. It was just her neurons firing—no reason to get herself in a tizzy. Sherriff Swan could date whoever she chose, be it man or woman, or slutty deputy—
Where did that come from? Regina looked at the clock. It was around noon. She decided to break for lunch and come back to the work later. Most of it was files for the citizens' taxes and repairs that the town needed, or just complaints from citizens, most of which she didn't bother looking at. So she went to have lunch at the town Co-op, because thankfully Storybrook had one of those. The food was healthy and it gave her new strength and concentration. She went back to her office and decided once and for all to finish her work.
She completed that task by 7:00 pm that night, and drove home to cook dinner for Henry, in case he hadn't eaten yet. They ended up ordering pizza, because of an unexpected thing that, in hindsight, probably was destined to happen, because, of course, that one person that you make an effort to avoid, to forget about, is suddenly around you all the time. It's Sod's law. Emma Swan was at her house when she got home, due to Henry's invitation. Henry had insisted, he said.
"Mom, you are always saying how I spend too much time with her, and not enough with you, so I thought I could solve that problem and we could all be together!" He looked up at Regina, like he had just found a cure for cancer, and she couldn't help feeling…proud.
She didn't show it though. "Henry, I haven't had anything prepared, and I am too tired to cook for three people." She looked up at Emma. "You understand, I'm sure, Sherriff, how distracting work can be."
"Yeah," Emma said, laid back as ever, "that's fine. Henry, we'll do it some other time. 'Night, all."
The look on Henry's face had an effect on Regina that made a tiny crack in her wall of rules and regulations. So, to Regina's chagrin, Emma stayed, and ordered in pizza.
Henry went to bed at 10:00, and Emma was still at the Mayor's house. Regina secretly plotted how to bring up Ruby again, but wasn't sure why she wanted to. She couldn't help thinking about that dream she had earlier that day, and to her dismay, she was curious what would have happened if she hadn't woken up. Would Emma have kissed her?
"You wish."
Regina fairly jumped out of her skin. "What were you saying, Sherriff?"
"Oh, Henry was just asking if he could stay up until 10:30. I was just enforcing your rule—is that okay?"
Sweet, innocent Miss Swan. Always caring about Regina's opinion, even though it was not reciprocated. Not in the least. Regina smiled, an authoritative, I'm-in-control smile and said, "Yes, go to bed Henry. Good night, I love you."
Henry bounded up the stairs, silent as usual. Emma seemed to sense the tension, and gulped loudly. "Does he—"
"No. Not since you got here." Regina didn't try to keep the bitterness out of her voice. "You seemed to have poisoned him against me, Miss Swan, without even trying."
"Why—why do you always call me Miss Swan, or Sherriff Swan? Why are you so formal?"
Regina laughed bitterly. "We're not exactly friends, are we, Sherriff? Two people, forced to act civil to one another because of an unfortunate turn of events. Because 10 years ago, you gave up a son for adoption, and by some sick twist of fate, I adopted him. And now, he finds you, sure that you'll save him, and be the hero, while I'm disgusting to him, some sort of Evil Queen—" Regina stopped herself finally. She hadn't meant to vent. Especially to Sherriff Swan, of all people.
Emma seemed unsure of what to say. "So he told you about his book, huh?"
"No, his teacher did. I'm sure you remember."
Emma got uncomfortable. "Well, it is really late, and Henry's in bed, so I should probably go."
"I see. Do you have night duty again?" Regina couldn't help herself.
"Nope, gave it to Ruby. Wouldn't want to lose hold of my employees, now would I?"
Well paint Regina blue. The Sherriff could actually be bitter when she wanted to, what a surprise.
"Good night, Madam Mayor."
"Wait, Sheriff…"
Emma turned, obviously impatient.
"Are you and Ruby…er…roman—
"How is that any of your business?" Emma got angry, red in the face, which strangely aroused Regina. Wait, what?
Regina gulped, unsure of what was happening to her heart rate and her breathing. It seemed as though she was getting nervous. Why? She didn't care if Sherriff Swan was mad at her. Most of their encounters had been of the more aggressive nature, and she had sort of gotten accustomed to it. So why was it different now?
Because of the dream. That stupid dream she had was mirroring reality now. The Sherriff was getting close to her, her eyes snapping with quiet rage.
"Answer me." Emma spoke quietly.
"I—I can't…" Regina, for once in her life, was speechless.
"Let's get one thing straight, Madam Mayor. Graham might have been in your pocket, but I refuse to be. You don't own me, or Ruby, and I will date whoever I want."
"So, you like her then?"
Emma rolled her eyes. "What are we, in 5th grade? It's none of your business! Good night!"
And with that, the sherriff stormed down the steps, the walk, and into that sorry excuse for a vehicular transport.
The last words she said-'good night'-resonated in Regina's head. When Regina slept, she dreamt again of Miss Swan, and the dream was of a sexual nature, which scared her awake.
Mary Margaret was genuinely afraid for her life. She gripped the mug in her hands tightly, trying to make out what Emma was muttering about as she paced the apartment, not stopping to look at anything, just concentrating on walking back and forth. That, and the fact that she would occasionally just throw something, or hit something for no apparent reason, was why Mary Margaret was starting to think that Emma might have anger issues.
She had come home at 10:30, and before Mary Margaret could get in so much as a hello, Emma started in on a rant about where she had been—the Mayor's house—and that she had had dinner with Regina and Henry. That was surprising, in and of itself. But then, Emma blurted that Regina had tried to stick her nose into her romantic affairs. Mary Margaret assumed she had asked about August Booth—a man who had recently come to town—but no, Regina had asked about Ruby and Emma's relationship.
When Mary Margaret spat tea all over herself, Emma looked up briefly, exclaimed "I know!" and kept on going. She was really, for lack of a better word, pissed.
After ten minutes of Emma's pacing, Mary Margaret snapped. "Emma, honey, sit down."
Emma turned, surprised. Had Mary Margaret just treated her like one of her students? Should she be sort of offended? She decided that she should be. But she begrudgingly sat down anyway.
"What?" She asked, sounding exactly like Henry, Mary Margaret thought.
"For two people who supposedly despise each other, you and Regina do spend a lot of time in each other's company." She knew Emma would want to interrupt, her mouth was open with a reply, but she held up her hand, which worked. "I know you have to, because of Henry. Honestly, I think this is kind of like a divorce. Hear me out. When two people divorce, they have to come up with some ground rules for when they can see the kids, what stuff is theirs, and, lastly, that they can see other people. Do you understand where I'm going with this?"
Emma looked as though she absolutely did not. Flabbergasted was a good word for the emotion playing on her face. "Do you know how weird that sounds? Regina and I were never married—if we were, I would have committed suicide. Do you know what she puts Henry through? What she puts me through? She is a bitch!"
"Calm down. That is why I am suggesting you set up ground rules."
"I just can't believe she had the nerve to ask about Ruby and me."
Mary Margaret knew she had to proceed with caution. "You are right. It's none of her business that you two are going out."
"You're right." Emma suddenly realized what she had just said. "I mean, no, no, no…we're not going out. Nothing has happened, I like guys, I always have—"
Mary Margaret couldn't help laughing. Emma was just so cute. Not in that way, of course, but almost in a childlike way that she couldn't explain. Not that Emma was immature, but she was kind of headstrong and impulsive, which was a trait Mary Margaret had often seen in her students. It wasn't that big of a leap. "It's fine. Who you date is fine with me."
Emma visibly relaxed. "Well, at least someone is fine with it."
Ruby yawned, wishing she could have invented a time machine and go into the future, to when her shift was over. She was sitting at her desk, bored as ever, waiting for the phone to ring. The Sherriff was nowhere to be found, and Tyler—one of the policemen—had spent all morning trying to flirt with Ruby. He brought her donuts, saying she was far too skinny, which she didn't really appreciate, and then he tried to cop a feel when he was showing her some paperwork from a drug bust. Why men were such pervs, Ruby would never know.
Emma had told her about Errol's, two nights ago, when she had gotten drunk and started peeling off her clothes. She just said to be more careful, that the Mayor had heard about it and had gotten angry. For punishment, she had had to make rounds last night, and it sucked. She barely got any sleep, and had to come in at 8:00 this morning. Well, the mayor was going to pay for this. She decided to write a complaint, and that's what she was working on when Emma strolled in at 11:00, rosy cheeked and rested. Ruby smelled a new perfume, and wondered why Emma would wear that at work.
Ruby smiled and gave her some coffee, although it didn't look like she needed it.
"It's been a slow day, Emma. There was a robbery on Greek and Elm, but we've got men on it. And, there was a kid missing, but it turned out he was just at the arcade. This town is sinfully boring, I know. It seems like Errol's was the only fun place, and now—" Ruby didn't want to sound like a baby, so she stopped.
"Hey, you can still go; you just can't strip." Emma grinned.
"It's not my fault; when I get drunk I automatically go into stripper mode."
"Well, then, maybe there should be someone there to make sure that doesn't happen." Something in Emma's voice made Ruby snap her head up. Emma was flirting with her!
"Yeah, that would be sweet. Are you offering to go with me?"
"Yeah I guess so. Just once a week, though, okay? And we'll make sure that Sidney isn't there. He's the one who snitched on you."
Ruby practically floated to the ceiling. "Thank you, thank you, thank you so much, Emma!" Impulsively she got up and hugged her.
The next week, on a Saturday, Emma and Ruby went to Errol's, as a sort of date, although that's not officially what they called it. Ruby thought Emma was sweet, and wouldn't mind having a one night stand with her—but if Emma wanted commitment, then she was out. Emma seemed to just want to have fun, though, and they ended up talking about movies, music, different books they had read, and different people they had dated. They were good friends, so the night went well. Ruby didn't have a drop of alcohol.
Until the mayor walked in.
Ruby almost shit a brick. Emma noticed her deer-in-headlights expression and turned to see what she was staring at. Emma threw up. The mayor sauntered over, careful not to step in Emma's puke, and let her eyes wander over Emma and Ruby.
"What are you doing here?" Ruby spoke, trying to sound brave.
"I'm here on business, not that it's any of your concern." It's true. The mayor was an Ice Queen.
"Okay, well, it's nice to see you." Ruby lied.
"You too, with your clothes on—that's a change."
That's when Ruby ordered a scotch on the rocks.
Emma and Regina ended up having to drag Ruby out of the bar, because she had tried to punch out the DJ for not playing "Drop it to the Floor." Regina was surprised that Ruby could get drunk that fast; Regina had been there for maybe thirty minutes, and now she was stuck carrying Ruby into her car, with the person she hated most on the planet. That smug, self-righteous, impulsive, infuriatingly attractive blond—
She should have ordered a drink at the bar. Regina felt Ruby's hand slipping, and pulled her arm tighter around her shoulder. Her car was ten paces away. Regina said that if she puked, she'd have to clean it up later, and Ruby just giggled.
"I have to come too." The Sherriff stood by the car.
"No, it's fine, I have it from here."
"With all due respect, Madam Mayor, you don't know where she lives."
Regina did know where Ruby lived. She knew everything. But Sherriff Swan didn't know that, and she had no intention of telling her. "Fine. Get in."
After they dropped Ruby off and made sure she made it to the door, Regina offered to just drive Emma home.
"Why were you at the bar tonight?" God, this woman was annoying. Regina shot her a look that could kill, but because it was dark, the effect was lost.
"I told you, I was there on business."
"I think you were there to spy on me. You could have had the owner of the bar mail you that check."
Regina laughed. "Why would I spy on you?"
Emma hesitated. "I think we need to set up ground rules—
"Answer the question, Sherriff." Regina was sick of Emma's deflecting.
"I don't know—maybe because you're…jealous?"
"Right, me jealous." Regina chuckled, trying with all her might to sound sarcastic. "You have an insufferable ego. How does anyone stand you?"
"I could ask you the exact same thing. You think you can control everyone, have everything be the way you want. Have you ever had anyone stand up to you, and challenge you? No, I bet you haven't. Well consider this your first time, then, Madam Mayor."
Regina didn't hide her surprise. It's true, no one in this town had ever challenged her the way Emma did. She pulled up to Emma's apartment and watched the blond climb out.
It was hard for her to just drive away, without saying what she really wanted to say, which was,
"Get the hell out of my head, Sherriff Swan."
Oh. My. God. Damn her vocal chords!
Seemingly, in slow motion, Emma turned around. "What?"
Regina started her car up again. "Nothing, good night." Damn, damn, damn. She started to pull out, but Emma sprinted to the window and grabbed onto the car.
"What did you say?"
"I don't know what you mean. Maybe you are a little tipsy, Miss Swan. Some rest would be good for you."
Emma leaned in closer, and Regina couldn't help but smell her perfume, and her hair, the scents of which mixed together so nicely, it made her want to lean in and—
"Cut the crap. I heard you. Why exactly am I in your head?"
Regina sighed. "I—had—a dream.
"I've heard that speech, Regina. Martin Luther King was awesome, but I asked you a question.
Regina couldn't help laughing. "I did, Miss Swan. About you." Regina gritted her teeth; she didn't want to go into detail, so she left it at that. "That's why I want you to leave. Just leave my town, get out of my head, and let my son be mine again."
Emma's expression was unreadable. Then she laughed, which pissed Regina off to no end. "So, what, you had sex dreams about me?"
Regina rolled her eyes. "If you're going to act like a horny frat boy then I'm sorry I told you."
Emma looked sorry right away. "Look, I just…that's unexpected, is all. And weird. Really weird. Maybe you're right; maybe I should leave. It's been nice getting to know Henry, though, and being your sworn enemy."
She turned to go, but something in Regina screamed to not let her go without seeing…seeing if the dreams she had had any place in reality. She hurriedly climbed out of her car, took Emma by the shoulders—gently, and eased in closer to her. Emma's eyes panicked, but Regina held her fast, so she couldn't turn to go. Her lips brushed the sherriff's, and there was instant heat that radiated from the desire that Regina didn't even know she had.
They broke apart all too soon, but the look on Emma's face was one of surprise and happiness.
They were both in so much trouble.