Pokémon GO Away Emma!
Regina had a new addiction, nearly as strong as her former pull to the darkness, and nobody could learn of it.
She had to get her fix.
She crept around the corner of a building in Storybrooke on a warm summer day, creeping down a back alley with her phone in hand. According to the map on the screen, she was close—so close. Just a little further.
She grinned as the Pokémon popped out on the app, clicking on it with her carefully manicured finger. It was an Abra, and though she was new to this whole Pokémon craze, she had been playing long enough to know this was a good Pokémon, and, according to Henry, one that was very hard to catch.
She readied the pokeball and, just as she was about to fling it towards the Pokémon, heard a voice behind her, startling her into tossing the ball too far.
"Regina?" Emma called.
Regina swore under her breath as the Abra disappeared completely. "Yes, Miss Swan?" she responded, her voice dripping with even more disdain than usual.
"What are you doing back here?" Emma asked.
"What are you doing back here?" Regina mirrored, subtly pocketing her phone and crossing her arms over her chest.
The sheriff rolled her eyes. "I'm on patrol, just checking around," she responded, but her answer wasn't terribly convincing.
Regina narrowed her eyes at the blonde before noticing the phone in her hands. She gave a wicked grin. "Are you playing that Poke—whatever game that Henry keeps going on about?"
Emma's cheeks turned a light shade of pink and she turned away, holding her phone against her chest to hide the screen. "Maybe," she answered.
Regina laughed and began walking away. "You're such a child, Miss Swan."
Emma grumbled when Regina turned around the corner and turned to her phone once again. She may be a child at heart, but she was determined to catch that Abra for bragging rights against her son.
And what was Regina doing back there anyway?
The next day found Regina trying to catch a Zubat in her office, but the damn thing wouldn't hold still. She was about ready to chuck her phone across the room and incinerating it with a fireball.
She threw another ball and the irritating purple bat dodged it yet again. Regina swore, slamming down her phone.
"Woah, Madam Mayor," Emma greeted as she walked through the door. "You all right?"
Regina fumbled with her phone, locking it and placing it in her pocket. "Yes, quite all right, Miss Swan. Can I help you?"
"Just had some paperwork to drop off," Emma answered. "I was just going to leave it with the secretary, but I figured I'd stop in to say hi." She had her phone out and was staring at the screen as she spoke, tapping at it with her finger.
Regina watched for a moment, waiting for Emma to say something else, but she just poked at her phone. Regina sneered. "Emma, are you catching a Pokémon in my office?"
"Maybe," Emma gave a sheepish grin. "But I really did want to say hi."
Regina gave a small snort. "Right, well, hello. And now, if you don't mind, goodbye—I have work to do." She gestured to the door.
"Yeah yeah, just give me one second, I almost have it," Emma said, and then she grinned. "Got it. All right, see you later then."
Regina rolled her eyes as Emma shut the door behind her and pulled back out her phone to catch the bat, only to find it was no longer there. "Damnit, Swan."
Maybe she would have better luck early in the morning—that was Regina's next thought, and so she found herself out and about before work, heels marching across pavement in her search for more Pokémon.
At the moment she was tracking what appeared to be a Magmar, judging by its shape. She recognized it as something Henry had shown her, and he had claimed that it was pretty rare, so she was quite determined to catch it in hopes that it would help her hold the Town Hall gym better.
Someone named FllnKnght kept taking it for team yellow, and she kept taking it back for team red. Once, she even took it back from theAuthor on team blue, who she knew to be Henry. She had literally giggled upon taking the gym from him before recovering and looking around to make sure nobody had seen her to do.
It seemed like the Pokémon was inside Granny's, so she walked inside and ordered a coffee—she needed some legitimate excuse to be in there, after all. She took a seat in the corner booth by the back hallway and tapped on the Magmar that had appeared on her phone.
It was proving quite difficult to catch, not that it surprised her. Henry had said it was a rarer one, after all. She didn't even notice Emma come in until the blonde sat down across from her with nursing a hot chocolate. At the very same moment Regina captured her Magmar and pocketed her phone, hoping sheriff hadn't seen what she had been doing.
"Hi," Emma greeted with a smile.
Regina looked across the table and raised a brow. "A hot chocolate in the middle of the summer?" she asked in her usual sarcastic tone.
Emma shrugged. "It doesn't beat the heat, but nothing beats a good ole' hot cocoa!" She lifted up her phone and poked at the screen. "I'm really only here for this rare Pokémon anyway," she explained.
"Oh, still playing that silly game then?" Regina teased, finally taking a drink of her coffee.
Emma just grinned. "Yeah, why not? I'm already all over town when patrolling, so it makes sense, right? Unless you'd rather me go back to sitting around at the station waiting for something interesting to happen."
Regina rolled her eyes. "That's quite all right," she said. "I'm glad Henry has someone to run around with." There was a hint of something in her voice—regret?
"You could play too, Regina," Emma declared. "I bet Henry would really like that."
Regina shifted in her seat, contemplating why she was keeping her participation in the game a secret. Surely her reputation wasn't so important that she couldn't play a game with her son, but it appeared that it really was. On the other hand, she liked secretly ruling over gyms.
Emma stared at her as if trying to figure something out before turning back to her phone. "Oh!" she exclaimed, "Henry's favorite Pokémon is just outside!"
"There's a Cubone outside?" Regina exclaimed, much to Emma's amusement, before she calmed herself back down.
"Yup, I'm going to go catch it. He'll be so excited," Emma grinned.
"I'll…come with," Regina added, standing up with Emma. "I'd like to see if you catch it or not," she explained.
Emma bit her lip and turned her head away to hide her mirth. She led the way outside holding up her phone as she went. She walked a bit down the sidewalk and turned to face Regina, pretending to be catching the Pokémon on her phone.
Regina took out her phone as well. "I'll just send this work email while I wait for you to catch it," she explained, her eyes not meeting Emma's. She opened up the app and frowned when she couldn't see the Pokémon. She looked over at Emma. "Is it still here?" she questioned.
"Of course," Emma answered. "It got out, but I'll catch it," she said, determined, but she wasn't looking at her phone. Instead, she watching as Regina poked and prodded at her own phone as if trying to figure it out.
Regina nearly growled. She really wanted to catch the Cubone, too, for Henry. If it was showing up for Emma it should be showing up for her too, but she couldn't say anything without giving herself away.
She sighed. "Can I…watch you catch it?" Regina asked, looking up towards Emma again.
Emma quickly pocketed her phone. "Oops, sorry," she lied, "I just caught it."
Regina looked positively downtrodden at missing her opportunity.
Emma nearly said, "Better luck next time!" but she knew that would give away what she knew, so she held her tongue. Instead, she just said, "Well, I best be off. See you later Regina."
"Bye, Emma."
Over the next few weeks, Regina noticed that they seemed to be running into each other all the time. Any time that she was out chasing after some Pokémon, she seemed to run into Miss Swan and had to tuck away her phone. She lost track of how many Pokémon she had lost because of this fact.
There were lucky times where she went out without running into the sheriff, but without a doubt, if she was tracking down one that was especially rare, Emma was there too.
This time she was out in a meadow, somewhere she was pretty sure only she knew about, and she was excitedly looking around for what appeared to be a fiery horse. She walked in circles a bit before narrowing down the location, grinning triumphantly as the tracker showed that she was getting closer and closer to the Pokémon in question.
"Whatcha doing way out here?"
Regina nearly jumped out of her skin at the sudden voice, turning around to glare fire at the intruding sheriff.
"What the hell are you doing out here?" she snarled.
Emma gave a small smile and a shrug. "Honestly? I saw you headed this way and was curious about what you were doing."
"Are you serious, Miss Swan? Have you no boundaries at all?"
The blonde at least had the decency to look a little sheepish at that.
"I'm just out for a walk," Regina explained. "I've always enjoyed it out here."
Emma nodded. "Are you sure that Ponyta over there had nothing to do with it?" she teased.
Regina froze and sputtered.
Emma laughed. It wasn't often that anyone really caught the former Evil Queen off guard so easily.
"How—how…did you know?"
"Come on, Gina. You aren't exactly subtle about it. I had my suspicions for a while, but I got my proof when you followed me out of the diner looking for a Cubone that never really existed."
Regina's jaw fell for a moment before she shut it and held it tight. She was furious. "Why would you play me for such a fool? Is that why I keep running into you everywhere?"
Emma frowned. "I wasn't trying to make you out to be a fool. And I didn't mean to follow you around. At least…not at first." She smiled weakly.
Regina raised a brow.
"Nothing, nothing," Emma said, waving her hand as if to be rid of the whole conversation. "I just had to make sure I kept taking the gym back," she taunted. "RegalLdy couldn't possibly be anyone other than you."
Regina narrowed her eyes and thought back to her struggle to maintain the gym against her own son and the other mystery person. "FllnKnght? Really?" She laughed and Emma laughed too.
"Seemed like a good name for a Savior with insecurity issues," she admitted. "Now, go catch your Ponyta before it gets away." She had a feeling that such a Pokemon would be appreciated by the former Evil Queen, thrower of fire and lover of horses.
"Fine," Regina huffed, "but don't think this conversation is over."
They trekked a bit further until they found themselves beneath a large, beautiful Willow and the Pokemon finally appeared. Emma caught hers first, but Regina didn't take much longer. There were a few missed tosses, but soon she had her own fiery horse as well. Judging by the wide, beautiful smile on her face, she was quite content with the capture.
When she looked up she caught Emma watching her with a wistful expression, and she immediately felt self-conscious.
"Miss Swan?" she asked gently, no edge to her voice.
Emma shook her head and looked away. "Yeah?"
Regina bit her lip, wondering what was going through Emma's head in that moment. She looked at the blonde where she stood, leaning against the tree, and had a sudden desire to close the gap between them.
"You said earlier that you weren't following me around at first. Please explain yourself."
Emma sighed and pushed herself off of the tree to pace around nervously. "To be honest," she said, "I got bored of the game about a week ago, but I kept hunting the Pokémon because…well, because I kept hoping to run into you."
Both of Regina's brows raised and then furrowed. "Why?" she asked simply.
Emma stopped pacing and faced the mayor, looking her in the eyes with an intensity that made her once-enemy falter. "Because, Regina, I like being around you. I like talking with you. I like…I like you."
"You like me?" Regina asked quietly, irritated with how weak her voice sounded in that moment.
Emma laughed. "Regina Mills, I'd scour the countryside to catch a hundred Ponyta just for you, if it would get me more time with you."
"More time…like a date?" Regina asked, allowing herself a small smile.
Emma turned beat red at the suggestion. "I uh… I mean, if you…yeah, if you wanted."
Regina stepped closer, backing Emma up against the tree. "What is it you want, Em-ma?"
Emma gulped and stared into the dark eyes peering back into her own emerald hues. "Well, right now," she glanced down at the red lips so terribly near, "I wouldn't mind you coming a little closer." She internally berated herself. Where had that cocky confidence come from?
Regina smiled a wide, toothy smile that had Emma melting and acquiesced, stepping even closer and pressing her lips against the blonde's. Emma's mind exploded—there was no other way to describe what happened to her thoughts. They all shattered, fractured, and disintegrated as if Regina's lips were the match to her fuse and boom, there her mind went.
Regina pulled away after a moment, but stayed close, close enough to feel the other woman's breath on her lips.
"That was…that…you…wow," Emma sputtered. She shook her head again and pressed her hands to either side of Regina's face, pulling her back in for another kiss. Regina wrapped her arms around Emma and held her close, opening up for a deeper kiss, losing herself in the moment.
They pulled back again for air and Emma grinned widely, the look so damn adorable that Regina almost laughed happily at the sight, a smile just for her.
Emma broke the silence. "I always imagined that happening on your front step after our first date," she laughed, "but jumping straight to the first kiss is fine too."
Regina rolled her eyes. "You can still have the date, if you'd like." She wondered just how often Emma imagined their first kiss.
Emma grabbed Regina's hand and placed a soft kiss on her knuckles, a move that swept the former Evil Queen clean off of her feet. "I'd love that," Emma said breathlessly. "When works for you?"
"Well," Regina thought about it for a moment. "How about…" her phone vibrated in her pocket and she whipped it out excitedly. "Oh, another Pokémon!" she exclaimed, turning away to catch it.
Emma stared, incredulous, before rolling her eyes and taking off after the woman. And she calls me childish, she thought with a smile.