Chapter Two: Strange Things New Faces

Regina Mills had a headache.

She slowly opened her eyes, taking in the surroundings of her living room around her. The morning hue of the sun was starting to poke through her windows. Squinting, she turned her head, checking for the clock on the wall.

7:34am.

What had happened? Regina didn't remember falling asleep on the couch last night. The last thing she remembered was reading last night after her son had gone to bed. After that, her memory was blank.

"Mom?"
Turning her head, she watched her son, Henry; walk into the room, his book-bag swung over his back.

"Mom?" he asked again. "Are you okay?"
She forced a smile. "I'm fine, Henry. You should have already left for school."

"I know, but John's mom is picking me up and taking me. I told you that yesterday night, don't you remember?"

Regina just shook her head. "No. No, Henry, I guess I don't."
A car honk sounded from in front of the house. Henry walked up to his mom and gave her a hug, "I'll see you later, mom."
"Have a good day at school," Regina called after him.

It took her a moment after he left to get herself up off the couch. It was still racking her brain how she had ended up sleeping there last night. It didn't make any sense to her. She never had slept a night on that couch before; never. The fact that she had was totally baffling her. It just wasn't something she did.

She walked up the stairs and into her room. As quickly as possible, she splashed water on her face and got dressed for the day. She had an important meeting at her office today that she couldn't afford to be late for. Finally deciding on a modest pants suit, she ran a brush quickly through her shoulder-length raven hair, applied lipstick and almost sprinted out of her bedroom and back down the stairs, almost falling in the process. At the door, she threw on her high heels and shook her head before walking out, regaining her composure. The people of Storybrooke couldn't see their mayor like this.

Regina skipped her morning routine of getting coffee at Granny's on her way to work in fear of being late. At exactly 8:15am she arrived at her office. She nodded briefly to her secretary before unlocking her office and walking in. A small sigh of relief escaped from her lips as she realized she wasn't late at all for the meeting. Putting her purse down on the desk, she walked around and sat down in the black leather chair of her office, staring down at the two unfinished papers on her desk. She guessed that someone had placed them on her desk after she had left yesterday. Probably Anna, her secretary.

She turned her attention to the papers, running her eyes over them briefly, reading the words on the pages to see what they were about. One was just a report from Sydney, a review on something he had told her he was going to write about in the paper. Scoffing, she crumpled it up and tossed it in the trash. She had told the demented writer many times before to stop bothering her with reviews on things; she really wasn't interested. The other paper was from an unknown sender. Confused, Regina read carefully through the paper. It had been submitted without a name, which usually she would have automatically tossed it, but this was different. This paper explained how there was a rumor of someone new coming to the town. That a conversation had been overhead and they thought the mayor should know.

Regina Mills crossed her eyebrows in confusion and frustration. It was absolutely ridiculous that someone new was coming to town. Not to mention unheard of. The people of this town didn't have contact with the people outside the town. They had no need of it. They weren't aware of it, but they didn't even really belong in this world. Regina smirked at the memory, her brain taking her back to when she had completed the mission she had set herself to complete for years.

The phone ringing snapped her out of her memories, the mayor opening her eyes and staring at her phone for a moment before answering. "What is it Anna?"

"I'm sorry Madame Mayor, but there is someone here to see you."

Regina straightened up in her chair. "Yes, well, send them in at once, thank you."

"Madame Mayor…it's not…"

But Regina had already hung up the phone and was searching for the documents she was going to need for the meeting. It was only 8:32, her person for the meeting was early, but she wasn't going to complain. She folded the paper that had been sitting on her desk about the stranger coming into town; she would look at it later. Within a moment, someone was knocking at her door. Regina cracked her neck for a moment before turning her attention toward the door. "Come in."

The knob turned. Regina was expecting the man she had a meeting with to walk in. Instead, a woman walked into her room. She was wearing skin tight jeans and a white shirt with a maroon leather jacket over it. Her hair was blonde, hanging down past her shoulders in a un-brushed mess.

"Hi," the woman said, her voice filled with surprise as well as confusion. "Uh, my name is Emma Swan. Someone here sent for me and the dude at your police station said to come here."

Regina was almost at a loss for words. Her stomach was twisting in knots from both anger and something else she couldn't identify. Who was this woman? What was she doing here? Fighting back her urge to ask a million questions, she slightly nodded for her to enter her office. "Please," she said, her voice cold, "please come in, Miss. Swan."