Standing in the deep night shadows of the old tree, Emma silently watched the solitary light that illuminated the living room window of the large house on the other side of the quiet suburban street. This was the fourth, no, fifth night in a row that she had held this solitary vigil waiting and watching until, at last, the light would be extinguished for the night. Maybe tonight would be the night when Emma would finally summon enough courage to do more than lurk unseen.
It had all been going so well – an unspoken peace had been brokered between them and sometimes, when life seemed to be grinding its teeth against her soul with more ferocity than usual, Emma had always bolstered herself by allowing herself to think that they had even finally become friends. But then Emma – stupid, awkward, thick Emma – had gone and ruined everything with one simple mistake. Sure, what she had done had only been motivated by the best of intentions but she should have stopped for a moment to recall that the road to hell had always been paved with good intentions. She had always been able to screw things up on the largest of scales.
And now? Now that she had ruined everything? Now it was a constant tirade of icy attitude, malicious sneering and venomous comments being hurled in her direction whenever she made any tentative attempts to approach her former associate. Heck, even if she made the mistake of inadvertently walking on the same side of the street, the reception was frosty to say the least.
This torture had gone on for several weeks and showed no sign of abating in the near future and it was starting to rub Emma emotionally raw. If only things could be as they had been before Emma had made her mistake – if only the antagonism could be dispelled and become nothing more than a distant memory. Being pragmatic, Emma knew that it was unrealistic to want life to be exactly the same as it had been before – it was unrealistic to expect such a miracle even in a town infused with magic – but maybe, just maybe, she could do something to make things tolerable. So Emma devised a plan which would surely work.
Well, she thought, it would work if she could summon up enough courage to follow through with this plan of hers but, so far, she hadn't been able to get any further than lurking beneath this tree. And that wasn't changing things at all except for making Emma feel like she was becoming stalker-like in her behaviour which was seriously worrying.
Emma sighed quietly. It was now or never, she decided. After all, what was the worst that could happen? No, don't think about that, pretty bad things could happen if things didn't go as she had planned but that was a risk that she was going to have to take. Taking a deep breath and clutching almost frantically at her remaining shreds of courage, Emma stepped out from the comforting shadows and crossed the street.
Somehow the door before seemed imposing even though it was the same door that she had passed through so many times before. But it was now or never. Emma knocked on the wood before her with a confidence that she most certainly didn't feel. It didn't take long before she could hear the soft footfall of slippers approaching the door with a determined tread. Fighting a sudden urge to flee, Emma waited – her heart beating so hard she feared it would burst out of her chest. Well, at least it would save Regina the trouble of having to do so, she thought wryly.
The door swung open abruptly and bright light spilled out over Emma. Clearly not amused at being disturbed at this late hour, Regina scowled out at whoever had disturbed her evening. When she realised that the intruder was Emma, her scowl deepened even further and she started to slam the door. Expecting that this would probably be Regina's initial reaction, Emma was prepared and quickly stuck her foot in the doorway.
The door ricocheted off Emma's boot and nearly hit Regina on the rebound. Her dark eyes flaring with a dangerous light, Regina tried to slam the door again with the same lack of success. Why this apparently wasn't harming Emma's foot in any way, Regina did not know nor did she really care except, perhaps, for the sole reason that her actions weren't causing Emma any apparent discomfort. For a third time she tried to slam the door on the annoying blonde even though she knew it was a futile action. But it was the intent of her gesture that mattered.
This time as the door swung back towards Regina, Emma gave a sheepish grin and explained, "Leroy's steel-cap work boots."
Holding the door partially open Regina snarled venomously, "Well Ms Swan, you can take Leroy's boot from out of my doorway and shove it where the..."
"Regina!" Emma interrupted, "I need to talk to you."
"I don't think so, Ms Swan," Regina growled. "There is nothing that I can think of that we would need to discuss. Not now, not ever." She gasped audibly as Emma shoved the door open and pushed past her into the foyer. "I don't know what makes you have the right to just barge..."
"Look," Emma said, her voice tight with emotion, "I know that I'm the last person on Earth, or anywhere else, that you want to see but I have something I need to say to you." She clenched her fists in frustration. "Just let me say what I've come to say Regina. Then I'm outta here and you'll never see me again."
Her dark eyes still flashing dangerously, Regina said, with obvious distaste, "Very well. Say what you must Ms Swan, though I doubt that there's anything you could say that would be of the slightest interest to me. And when you've said it, get the hell out of my home." She pulled her robe more tightly over the top of her satin pyjamas and then folded her arms just as tightly over her chest. She was not amused by this intrusion and was making sure her unwelcome house guest was aware of this fact.
Shoving her still clenched fists into the pockets of her red leather jacket, the blonde stared at the floor, trying to get her thoughts into order.
"For someone who was so fired up to talk to me that she had to force her way into my house so late at night, you certainly are being reticent in your comments," Regina growled.
Emma raised her head to look Regina straight in the eyes. Taking a deep breath she said, "I came to apologise for ruining your chance for a happy ending with Robin by bringing Marion back with me."
Regina smirked. "And so you should be sorry."
Emma glanced up at the ceiling and chewed on her bottom lip for a moment. Then she looked straight at Regina again. "That's the thing – I'm not sorry." Choosing to ignore Regina's shocked reaction, she continued, "I apologise because it wasn't my intention to break the two of you up but I'm not sorry that I did. In fact, if I had the opportunity to make the choice again and I knew that I would be rescuing Marion, I'd do the exact same thing again."
"But why?" Regina frowned at her adversary. "What reason would you have to that? I thought we had become friends. Why would you want to hurt me?"
Emma sighed and removed her now unclenched hands from her pockets. "For such an intelligent woman, why are you sometimes so thick?"
This comment didn't go down well with the mayor. "I could say the same Ms Swan," she spat. "You seem to forget that I'm quite capable to turning you into a cinder if I wanted to. Annoy me any further and you may find out first-hand what I mean."
Holding up her hands in supplication, Emma said, "Okay, okay. That was something I shouldn't have said. I wasn't trying to antagonise you."
"You weren't? Now that's not like you."
A determined expression on her face, Emma deliberately stepped forward into Regina's personal space and continued to step forward until the mayor was backed up against the wall. Putting her hands up on the wall either side of Regina so that she couldn't sidle away, Emma said, "I hated it you know – watching you two together. All the hand-holding, all the giggling together at some lovers' joke, all the hugging, all the kissing, all the happiness. It just about drove me crazy."
Regina gave a regal sneer. "So all this is because you were jealous of me being with Robin? You thought that someone like you had a chance with him? Please don't make me laugh."
Straw meet camel's back. Emma thrust her face close to Regina's and growled, "No! You stupid woman, you still don't get it. I wasn't jealous of you, I was jealous of Robin. I wanted to be the one holding your hand, I wanted to be the one who made your face light up when you smiled, I wanted to..." So overwhelmed by emotion she was unable to speak coherently any more so Emma grabbed Regina's face firmly in her hands and gave her a passionate lingering kiss before letting her go.
Regina was completely stunned by this and stood as if a statue.
Emma collected herself. "So now you know. That's what I had to tell you. Goodbye Regina." She turned and walked outside, closing the door softly behind her.
Inside Regina raised trembling fingers to her still tingling lips and stared at the closed door for a long time.