Pillow Talk
Rating: T (mild language)
Summary: Post-7:15 a.m. Emma begs the question, "Why do you like birds so much?"
Emma shivered as she shut the door to the apartment behind her, soaked to the bone and thoroughly exhausted after spending the day preparing Storybrooke for the storm of the year. The first round had blown in and out in less than an hour the day before, wreaking havoc on the roads. But if the forecaster was to be trusted, tonight would be the worst of it — with wind gusts at near-hurricane speeds. The rain began to pour the moment she'd stepped out of the station; to which she looked up with a resounding, "Really?" Before driving herself home, hoping her seat would be dry by morning.
Mary Margaret caught sight of her dripping water all over the floor and Emma sent a pleading look. "Could you get me some clothes? I'm going straight to the shower and I don't want to make more of a mess than I have to."
"Of course," Her roommate responded, dashing up the stairs as Emma peeled off her soaking jacket, hanging it on the coatrack after moving dry items to other hooks. She stepped out of her rain boots, which did little to keep her feet from getting wet as she stepped onto the soggy floorboards.
"Yuck," She mumbled, tugging off a blue, v-neck shirt, not caring that she was standing in the doorway wearing only a bra.
After rolling her pants up in attempt not to track water all over the floor, Emma tip-toed to the bathroom, starting the water, praying for near-boiling temperatures as she fumbled for a towel, shivering. Mary Margaret appeared moments later, placing a stack of clothes on the counter an asking, "Need anything else?"
"I'm good, thanks," She replied as the shorter woman shut the door. Finally able to remove the rest of her sopping wet clothing, Emma sighed in relief as the hot water sprayed down her back when she stepped into the shower.
Not five minutes after standing mindlessly in the steamy shower, a popping noise filled the apartment and the lights went black as the power went out. "Really?" Emma questioned loudly as a whining, "Why?" filled the kitchen from Mary Margaret.
"Hold on, I'll get a flashlight for you," Mary Margaret called as Emma realized she hadn't actually started washing up yet and began a quick shampoo.
The door cracked open and Emma took a sharp breath at the sudden rush of cool air. Mary Margaret set a flashlight on the counter, streaming up. "Is this okay for you?"
"Yeah," Emma mumbled. "I hate nature."
Mary Margaret giggled and left the room, filling various surfaces of the apartment with candles until she had no more. Emma emerged a few minutes later, wearing pajamas with a towel wrapped around her head. "If there's one thing I hate...well, there's a lot of things I hate...but going to bed with cold, wet hair is one of the worst feelings in the world."
"You could cut it all short and it dries in about ten minutes," Mary Margaret said with a shrug, plugging the kitchen sink before dumping ice cube trays into it and settling a milk jug and carton of eggs in it.
"Eh, not happening," Emma said as a shiver ran down her spine. "I'm not one of the lucky women of the world who can pull off what you've got working."
Mary Margaret said a silent prayer of thanks that she hadn't updated to an electric stove, and turned on the gas burner before lighting a match for hot water. "How come you got home so late?" She asked her roommate, who was fussing with the towel against her blonde locks.
"Getting back-up generators to the hospital and blocking off access to a few roads, stuff that was in some 'emergency weather' book that I doubt was ever used, but...whatever. I followed the procedures so that Regina couldn't yell at me. And I saw—"
A loud clap of thunder startled both of them, causing Emma's heart to race as she nearly fell off the stool she was seated at. "Jesus," She muttered, catching her breath and daring to look up to meet her roommate's dazed expression, "You okay?"
Mary Margaret shook herself of thoughts from the day before, in the cottage, of her and David's near kiss, which was replaced by an actual one hardly twelve hours previous. "Fine...tea or hot chocolate?"
"Chocolate, please," Emma said as she attempted to finger-comb a stubborn knot in her hair before giving up and stomping to the bathroom, knotting her curls at the top of her head, leaving a few strands dangling down.
"You know you're going to regret doing that in the morning," Mary Margaret warned as she pulled down mugs for the coco.
Emma fought the urge to roll her eyes and chide yes, mom. Instead, she shivered and ran up the stairs, fumbling around in the dark for a sweatshirt and socks, then dragged a quilt off her mattress, wrapping it around her shoulders before rejoining Mary Margaret at the counter. She stood with a pout, glaring at the kettle, willing it to boil faster as another shiver ran through her.
"You can go in my room if you want," Mary Margaret offered, "I had the space-heater on since six, so it's still considerably warmer—"
She didn't even finish as Emma shuffled across the floor, sitting at the edge of the bed, joined a few minutes later as Mary Margaret set a mug of hot chocolate in her hands. "Thank you," She mumbled, trying to exercise self-control and not chug the piping hot beverage.
Mary Margaret also slugged a blanket over her shoulders, struggling for a moment to keep it in place as she drank. "Now would be the opportune time for a Snuggie."
"Only if you want me to arrest you for a crime against fashion," Emma joked dryly as she stared at her roommates night stand. "Why do you like birds so much?"
The teacher sighed, tilting her head as she pondered it. "I don't know. I guess I always have. They're loyal creatures...you build them a home and treat them with love, and they'll return to you time and time again."
Emma smirked, realizing what her friend had said had a lot more depth then she probably realized. "Kind of like me?" Mary Margaret raised a brow and Emma explained. "Well...you gave me some place to stay, feed me, do my laundry, pack me lunches—"
The brunette laughed and took a sip from her cup. "Well, you are Emma Swan."
"Okay, so I get the bird love...but was it really worth the risk of going out in the storm yesterday?"
The windows began to rattle as if on cue, from wind and rain. Mary Margaret shrugged. "Probably not. But...somebody had to do it. All creatures deserve their best chance, don't you think?"
Emma attempted not to gape at her words, trying not to let Henry's crazy seep into her. "Yeah. I guess..." Switching tactics, she came right out and asked, "I'm sure it had nothing to do with a certain employee of the Storybrooke animal center, right?"
Her roommate took a turn to stare in wonder before trying to cover it up. "No...no, not at all. It was the right thing to do. And I'd do it again."
The blonde shrugged and downed the coco, not caring that she likely seared her tongue and wouldn't be able to properly taste anything for a week. "I saw you and David this morning," She confessed quietly, not meeting Mary Margaret's wide eyes. "All I'm going to say is be careful. There're eyes everywhere in this damn town."
The teacher struggled to find words to defend her actions, but came up with none and leaned back, covering her face with her blanket.
Emma sighed and reached a hand out, touching Mary Margaret's shoulder. "I'm not judging you. I want you to be happy. But you need to be smart about this."
"Sometimes I wish Henry was right," She muttered, sitting back up. "And David would be Prince Charming and I'd be Snow White and we'd be living happily ever after in some far away castle, with no ex-wives and evil mayors."
"You said it," Emma responded, watching Mary Margaret's face twist into confusion. "Hey, you'll figure it out. He'll decide what to do about his wife. Maybe you will live happily ever after."
"Oh, there's no happy endings in this world," The woman said bitterly. "It's not designed that way..." With a heavy breath she confessed, "Sometimes I wonder if it would just be easier to get away from it all...go somewhere isolated, where no one can hurt you."
"That sounds lonely," Emma mumbled. "And I'm speaking from experience. Up until Henry brought me here, I was living by myself, all across the country, running when things got hard; never forming real human connections...It sounds nice in theory, but actually living it is something else all together."
Mary Margaret's face relaxed. "And you don't miss the solitude? Not at all?"
"No," The sheriff answered quickly. "I like coming home and having someone to talk to," She confessed without meeting her roommate's eyes. "I like walking Henry to the school bus, and I like driving around town and checking up on people, helping them if I can. I know that now, I could get hurt. You told me to take a few walls down, and I did; and when Graham..." She trailed off, "It still does hurt, but at least I'm not suffering alone."
Rain continued to beat against the windows as the women sat in silence, each contemplating the new and strange situations of their lives. The wind roared over the roof and Emma groaned as she sprawled out on her roommate's bed, "I'm not going to sleep at all tonight."
Mary Margaret nodded. "Me either...I almost actually just asked if you wanted to watch a movie," She said with a laugh. "But obviously not...Do you want a book?"
Emma screwed up her face. "Twelve years of falling between the cracks of the education system kind of burned me into reading only when I have to. You can read to me though," She teased.
Being a teacher, Mary Margaret didn't catch the suggestion as a joke, and shuffled to a bookshelf in the main portion of her apartment, returning with a wide smile and one of her favorite novels. "You'll like this series," She said, "I've probably read it six times over...if not more. And I could read it again and again for the rest of my life. Get comfy!"
Emma grinned and scooted so she was laying up against the headboard. "I was just kidding," She said with a smile in her voice as she curled into a ball, looking at her roommate expectantly. "But I don't think anyone has ever read me a bedtime story, so if you want to be the first..."
Mary Margaret snuggled herself under the covers and opened to chapter one, beginning to read as Emma relaxed, letting her imagination follow the words her roommate spoke.