Adam and Eddie greeted Emily Sworn when she came in the door with a cup of coffee and their firmest handshakes. Emily wasn't a "hugger" and she almost intimidated the two men in her worn motorcycle jacket. Her helmet she sat wearily on one of the chairs at the small table in the small trendy coffee shop in the shadow of ABC development studios, whipping her long blonde hair back from her face, and smiled gratefully when a waitress brought over a latte, glancing appreciatively at the waitress' hips before turning to them with her full attention.
"So we have a job we think you'd be perfect for." Eddie started. "We've got this fairy tale series, it's sort of the same idea as Lost- a group of people trapped in a fantasy environment, lots of puzzle elements, longform serialized drama."
"And our main character is essentially you. Our Emma Swan isn't a freelance writer, but it's a big part of her background as a character that she was also abandoned as a baby to the foster system, I hope that's alright if we incorporate that and we want her to sort of dress and act like you- -"
Emily sniffs. "I guess I'm flattered? I don't know. Depends on how you write her. "
"How we write her." Adam hurriedly interjected.
"We'd love for you to come onboard, as we're sure your agent has told you. We want all the writers to meet each other at a retreat up in Big Bear next weekend. All expenses paid. We're going to try and break the season up there before we start assigning scripts." Eddie and Adam paused, expectantly, waiting for Emily to signal her agreement.
Emily kept them waiting another long moment before nodding. "Is this 'Emma Swan' also going to be gay like me?"
Adam shrugged. "Who knows. That's what breaking the season will help us determine."
Emily thought of her almost-empty bank account. Adam and Eddie were offering her what could possibly be a very lucrative job. And the idea of them writing a show around her as a character, well, that could get tricky but…she'd be lying if she said she wasn't touched. Adam and Eddie, college buddies from way back, were as close to family as she'd found since moving to LA.
"I'm in." Emily Sworn said.
The cabin was luxurious, a three story log-cabin mansion in the most exclusive gated community on the mountain. The eight writers who had been chosen were met at the door with hot toddies and a team of interns who happily took their luggage to their rooms. Adam and Eddie, flanking a huge whiteboard by the fireplace, welcomed everyone in the main hall and told them they were going to get started right away with establishing the premise.
Emily looked around the room, looking for someone she might know, but all the writers were new to her. Most were the standard shlubby-guy-wearing-converse variety of professional writer, but she noticed one other woman, already seated near the fireplace, in a perfectly tailored pantsuit. She had an ipad out that she was flipping through impatiently and a cocktail on the hearth. Her jaw-length black hair hid a heart shaped face with large, dark eyes. She sat like she had a ram rod for her spine, her posture perfect. Adam was introducing another writer to her, a handsome guy with cowboy boots and a bit of scruff on his jaw.
"Gray, I'd like you to meet Ramona Mayor…."
Emily took a seat, crossing her leather clad arms, her mud-spattered boots sprawled out in front of her. The other writers were taking their places. They went around the horn and each gave their names. Then Adam and Eddie stood before the whiteboard, markers in hand and started talking. Emily was listening attentively, and liked their description of Emily, thought it was interesting her parents were Snow and Prince Charming- although they'd have to work out how they hadn't aged in the intervening 28 years- and then noticed Ramona perking up when they started talking about the 'big bad', a villain named Regina.
"So Regina will be beautiful but very cold woman-" Adam's eyes flitted to Ramona as if in apology, the same way he'd looked at Emily when he described Emma as "a gruff, tom boy sort of woman."
"She antagonizes Henry in some way. We're thinking maybe his adoptive mom in town works for her. Maybe she even has tried to kill him in the past…"
"Or maybe Regina's the one that adopted him." Ramona's clear, strong voice filled the circle of writers. "Wouldn't it be interesting if the villain also loves the protagonist's kid? It gives them both a conflict and a shared goal."
Adam and Eddie looked appreciative, and the other writers murmured a little at the interjection.
"Okay, lets up that up on the board as a possibility." Eddie said, and wrote out "Regina: raised Emma's son?"
The idea touched off a flurry of brainstorming. So many connections were now being made with just this small adjustment to the character of Regina. She was an Evil Queen, yes, but with an Achilles heel, a boy she'd doted on for ten years. The heir to her worst enemies. Hours flew like minutes, and a catering truck arrived with platters of burritos and tacos for lunch, so the writers had to break off mid-flow.
"And after lunch, we're all headed to the lake for a team building exercise. " Adam announced as his assistants hurriedly passed out food. "So get those calories- you're going to need them!"
The handsome guy in the cowboy boots sought Emily out, giving her a big handshake once they'd all finished a catered lunch and headed to the lake that lay at the edge of the cabin's property. A small, chipper young woman with purple dyed hair and a nose ring also made a point of saying hello. Ramona seemed to keep her distance- not just from Emily, but from the entire group.
Perhaps that's why Emily was so fascinatedly staring at her as Adam and Eddie split them into two groups and assigned each group to different sailboats moored at the harbor. The lake was just a short walk from the cabin, and Eddie and Adam were like two summer camp counselors, buoyant about the team-building task at hand.
"Writing takes team work, and trust, and communication. So this sailboat race is going to put all those skills to the test!"
Emily saw Ramona make her way onto the boat she'd been assigned to, picking her tall, elegant black Laboutins through coils of rope and puddles on the white, chrome-spangled deck with a distasteful expression on her face.
"First time on a boat?" Grey called to her with a cheerful smile. Ramona nodded, fastening her life preserver.
"Not only that, I can't swim." Ramona replied, but gamely grabbed the rigging as she was instructed by their boat leader and started putting her small heft into lifting the sails.
Adam stood on the deck and fired a starter pistol, and the two sailboats erupted in a flurry of activity.
Emily had sailed a boat before, as a kid in Florida, so she was working perfectly in step with the captain hired to direct them from the afternoon. Their main sail caught a big bellow of air and Grey, steering, made the most of it. They made an almost flawless turn around the buoy that marked the half mile point, out in the middle of the lake.
That's when a gust of sail pushed a smaller sail Ramona was responsible for directin just out of her reach. Emily watched, horrorstruck, as the small woman put a knee on the chrome rail, putting all her balance on one specific point just as the ship turned- and fell straight into the choppy lake water below.
"Man overboard!" Emily cried, and jumped in with one fluid motion.
In the water, Ramona had sunk like a stone, then come back up, arms flailing. The wake of the boat was pulling her in a crazy arc, like a riptide, straight toward the side of the boat. Emily's leather jacket and motorcycle boots weighed down, exponentially heavier now they were waterlogged, but Emily called on every scrap of her strength to blaze through the water to grab her before she'd strike the turning boat.
Emily caught Ramona's lithe torso with one toned arm and started kicking toward a wooden platform moored close to the race course, pulling with all her might to escape the drag of the vessel. Once they got to the platform she held it steady and made sure Ramon had clamoured up to safety. Then, with the last of her strength, she pulled herself onto the platform, turning to face the beautiful dark haired woman trembling on her knees beside her. Both boats were making lazy turns back toward the platform. Emily could see a dingy approaching with a concerned Adam and Eddie inside. The air, on her wet skin, was much colder than when she'd been dry, and as she wrang out her leather jacket she fought the urge to hang it on Ramona's shoulders. No, the last thing the panting woman next to her needed was more water. Ramona was taking inventory of her spoiled tights and missing shoe with a look of extreme vexation.
"Are you okay?" Emily asked at last, watching the olive-skinned brunette next to her gasp for breath.
"Yes, but what the hell did you do that for?!" Ramona snapped, her eyes on fire. "You just cost us the race."
"What do you mean I cost us the race? Who cares? You were about to bang right into that boat."
"That was none of your concern, Ms. Sworn." Ramona snapped.
Eddie and Adam, watching, exchanged glances.
