Regina opens the door, but no one's there. Then she looks down. A beautiful bouquet of twelve red roses, with a card that clearly said Regina in calligraphic letters.
She quickly glances around before scooping up the flowers and taking them inside.
It couldn't be Robin who'd sent them, could it? No. He chose Marian. He wouldn't be sending roses to an old flame two weeks after the fact. They'd been broken up already longer than they'd been together.
With a fast-beating heart, Regina picks up the card and slowly opens it.
Regina,
You've been mad at me for two weeks now. And you have every reason to be, I ruined your life. But you have to know that I'm sorry. I've been sorry since the second I saw your face. And to prove just how sorry I am, I'm going to send you roses. Every day, roses. And I'm going to keep sending them until I've sent one for every day I've known you up until the day I ruined everything. That's 749 roses. I really hope you can somehow forgive me before I run out of flowers to send.
-Emma
P.S. That's 12.
Regina sighs. She tucks the card into the pocket of her blazer and brings the bouquet to the kitchen to put in water.
Emma is bluffing, surely. She doesn't have the money, nor the patience to actually send Regina 749 roses. It'll go on for a week at most.
All the same, she pulls out her phone and sends Emma a short text message. Nice try, dear. It's going to take more than flowers to make up for what you did.
The reply is almost instantaneous. But they've already gotten you to talk to me (:
Regina sighs. She doesn't reply; just sets her phone down on the coffee table and resumes the latest episode of Law and Order: SVU, trying not to think about anything that's happened in the past two weeks.
The doorbell rings at 6pm, just as it did yesterday. Regina sighs. Just as before, no one is at the door; just another bouquet of roses sitting on the step. The card looks identical to the first one. Regina brings the flowers up to her bedroom, gently running her finger over the first card, which she placed on her bedside table.
Then she opens the second one.
Regina,
You know these aren't going to stop coming until you've received every single one, right? I've done the math. It's gonna take me exactly two months and a day. I'm giving up every penny I have for two months and a day to make sure you know how sorry I am. Doesn't that count for something?
-Emma
P.S. That's 24.
Regina gently refolds the card and sets it beside the first one. Two months and a day, huh? She smirked. "Let's just see how far the Savior will go," she says aloud. For the first time since Marian arrived, Regina's about to have some fun.
Soon, Regina has a month's worth of cards lined up neatly on her bedside table. She has to admit, she's impressed. 372 red roses have been delivered to her house, a bouquet of twelve arriving each day at precisely 6pm, each one with a uniquely written card.
She's taken to sitting in front of the door every evening just before 6:00, waiting for the doorbell to ring, but she always seems to look away just as whoever it was drops off the flowers. It's almost like… magic.
It's the 32nd day. Regina sets the roses on the kitchen counter to be planted in her garden with the rest of them later, and takes the card up to her bedroom with a glass of wine.
Regina,
Well, we've passed the halfway point and I still haven't heard from you except the one time. I'm impressed. I still hate myself for what I did, you know. I haven't gotten over it any more than you have. Just give me a call sometime, okay? Just one, so I know you don't want to murder me. I miss you.
-Emma
P.S. That's 384.
It's then that Regina finally breaks down and calls Emma.
She answers on the first ring. "Regina?" Emma says eagerly.
"Miss Swan."
"Oh." Emma sounds suddenly deflated. "We're back to that."
Regina sighs. "The roses are very sweet, but they won't be necessary."
"Why's that?"
"I… I forgive you."
"Seriously?" Regina can hear the smile in Emma's voice. "That's amazing. Thank you. But… I'm gonna keep sending the roses."
"Why?" Regina exclaims. "I already forgave you!"
"I want to finish what I've started. And I want you to know how much you mean to me." She pauses. "And I already paid for 749 roses."
Regina rolls her eyes. "Only you would pay for all of that at once."
"Well it worked, didn't it?"
"I suppose it did."
"Hey, since you've forgiven me and all… do you wanna meet me for breakfast tomorrow?"
Regina hesitates. "I… I guess I can do that."
"Awesome! Granny's at eight sound okay?"
"Yes, that's fine."
"I'll see you tomorrow then!"
"Goodbye, Emma." Regina hangs up, letting out a breath she didn't know she was holding. It's just breakfast, she thinks. Yeah for someone you've wanted for over 749 days. "Shut up," she grumbles to herself. "She doesn't even feel the same way."
The roses keep coming, and Emma and Regina keep making up. They're becoming even better friends than they were before. In fact, Emma is getting pretty affectionate; both in person and in the small notes in her bouquets.
On the 44th day, her card says this:
Regina,
I know it's been like two weeks since you forgave me but I still can't believe it. I seriously owe you for what I did. I bet you're gonna miss all my roses once you've gotten all of them, huh? What are you doing with them anyway? I'd love to see. Maybe I'll drop by and bring you some of my famous breakfast food. I've heard I'm pretty good at it. Call me.
-Emma
P.S. That's 528.
And on day 53, the card reads:
Regina,
Did I mishear you today when you told Tinker Bell you don't think you deserve happiness? Because you're wrong, you know. You deserve it more than anyone else I know. And I know you'll find it, it just maybe won't be in the places you've looked before. Because if it was there you'd have found it by now, right? Sorry, that sounded bad. Just know that you can talk to me okay? Don't be afraid to. I don't bite. Usually.
-Emma
P.S. That's 636.
On the 57th day, Emma holds Regina's hand. And Regina doesn't pull away. Her heart pounds so loudly she's sure Emma can hear, but she forces herself to keep a straight face.
"Look," Emma says on the 62nd day. It's been exactly two months since the first bouquet was left on Regina's doorstep, and she has 744 red roses in her garden that remind her of Emma. "Tomorrow's the last day. I've only got five roses left to send. And I need to ask you something."
Regina's breath catches in her throat as Emma speaks her next sentence.
"Say I have feelings for someone. And say I did something really shitty to this person, and I did something crazy to make it up to them. I guess I just don't know what to do next."
"I think… I think you should tell them. I'm sure they like you as well. How could they not?" Regina's voice is breathy, as Emma has stepped forward so that their faces are just inches apart. It would be so easy to just close the distance right now, she thinks briefly. It would be so easy to kiss her. But she doesn't.
"I think I will." Emma's staring at her lips now, not even bothering to be subtle.
And suddenly, Regina can't breathe. She's thinking too much. "Let me know what happens," she says quickly. She turns and hurries off, back to her home where she can think alone.
Once the door is closed behind her, she collapses on the couch and clutches a pillow tightly in her lap. "Why must I love all the wrong people?"
At 6pm, the doorbell rings and there is a small bouquet on her porch step. Regina half-smiles as she picks up the flowers. She counts them aloud as she closes the front door with her hip. "745, 746, 747, 748…" and that's it. There are only four roses in the bouquet. She frowns. She must have miscounted; surely this was all of them. She pulls out the card.
Regina,
So, this is it then. The last bouquet I'm gonna give you, the last card you're gonna read. It's been fun, you know, watching you try to catch me dropping these off. On a completely unrelated topic, I've been getting really good at the invisibility spell. Ha. Got you. I guess I'm gonna miss this. I hope you got the message. Two months and a day ago, I told you I was sending you all of these to apologize. That's still true. I'm still sorry, and I'll probably never stop being sorry. I'm just glad you forgave me.
-Emma
P.S. That's 748.
Regina frowns. She's only gotten 748 flowers. There must be a reason; Emma never does anything without a reason, even if that reason isn't always a good one.
So she grabs her phone and dials Emma's number. "You're missing one," she says before Emma can say anything.
"Yeah, I know."
"So where is it?"
"Look outside."
Regina opens her front door, but all she sees is her front walkway. "There's nothing here."
"Backdoor."
Frown deepening, Regina goes through the kitchen and opens the door to her backyard. Emma is standing there beside all of her roses. Regina slowly hangs up her phone and approaches Emma.
"I'm glad you kept them," Emma said quietly.
"I kept the cards too. In my bedroom."
Emma smiles. "I like this. It's beautiful."
Regina nods, realizing she's still holding the bouquet of four. She waves her hand, and the roses are engulfed in purple smoke, reappearing perfectly planted with all the others. Then she arches an eyebrow. "There are 748 roses in this garden."
Emma closes her eyes and opens her palm, and a swirl of blue smoke appears in her hand. As the smoke clears, it reveals a single red rose. "This is the most important one."
"How so?"
"Well, each rose represents one day I've known you right? Well this one… it's number 749."
"And?"
Emma looks up to meet Regina's eyes. "The 749th day I knew you was the day I ruined everything."
Regina says nothing, just flickers her eyes down to the flower then back up to Emma's eyes.
"I wanted to give you this one in person. So I could tell you just how sorry I am." She holds out the rose, carefully clutching the stem so as not to impale her fingers on any of the thorns.
Regina takes hold of it gingerly, but Emma doesn't let go.
Instead, she leans forward and captures Regina's lips with her own. It's soft and chaste, and Emma's free hand moves tentatively to Regina's waist.
Regina fists her fingers in Emma's hair. The rose drops to the ground, forgotten as their hands roam around on each other's bodies.
"I love you," Emma mutters against Regina's lips.
"I know."
And so they stand there, bodies flush against each other, sharing a kiss two months and a day in the making in a garden of 749 roses and it just feels so right.