Disclaimer in Chapter One
AN: Thank you so much for the great reception to the first chapter! You guys are great :)
"Where were you last night?" Kathryn asked over a late lunch with Regina. When she realized the brunette hadn't been following her, she attempted numerous times to call her only to be directed to her voicemail. The text message she'd receive that morning had her breathing out a sigh of relief that her friend was in one piece.
"You drive like a maniac," Regina answered clearly annoyed. "And you left me stranded in the slums of New York."
"No," Kathryn gasped, a hand on her chest for emphasis. "Did you get mugged?"
"No. Thank god," the brunette answered piercing a fork into her apple salad.
"Then where were you all night?" Kathryn leaned in, her voice low. "Did you meet someone?"
Regina glared at her friend. "My phone died and I got a flat tire. Luckily enough it broke down a few blocks away from a bar."
"So you did meet someone," the blonde grinned wickedly, sipping from her wine glass.
"If you call a stubborn, manner-less, rude bar manager good company then yes, I suppose I met someone," Regina grounded out, already angry at the mere memory of Emma Swan. "She eventually replaced my popped tire."
"So that's why your Benz was in the shop this morning," Kathryn pieced together. After a beat, she pointed to Regina with her fork, mischief and wonder in her eyes. "What was it like?"
"Dirty. Wreaks of alcohol and body odour."
"So it wasn't that bad based on a normal human standard?" The blonde quipped.
"I beg your pardon?" Regina gaped.
Kathryn ignored her friend's expression. "Do you remember where it is?"
"It was called the Wooden Whale." She eyed the blonde carefully, brown eyes narrowed in questioning. "Why?"
Kathryn simply grinned mischievously.
Emma had managed to get her sleep when Henry laughed and reminded her that it was Sunday. After pulling herself up and off the couch and thanking Ashley again, Emma led her son downstairs to their apartment before crashing for a solid eight hours. She usually spent as much time as she could with Henry, but as the boy got older he was all too aware of the late hours his mom kept and let her sleep as much as she could, preoccupying himself with books or homework.
It pained her that when Henry had suggested to eat out that night, she thought about the overdue rent and was forced to say no, but the boy didn't seem one bit disappointed, and instead helped his mother crack open a box of KD before he had to go back to Ashley's for the night.
It was that guilt of sleeping through the day and not being able to provide her kid with a simple fast food meal that made Emma hit the counter more often than usual that Sunday night, wearing her shortest shorts, a ripped v-neck t-shirt with a black lacy bra, and bring all too eager men on stage with her. She didn't realize that in her fifth dance, an unlikely person had begrudgingly stumbled into the bar and had kept her brown eyes locked on her all throughout her dance. With a final swing around the pole that August had jokingly installed but turned out to be a great crowd pleaser, Emma stepped down from the counter, pocketing tips into the strap of her bra before nodding her head at a young blonde woman who looked much too dignified to be in a bar like this if her designer jeans and Louis Vuitton clutch were anything to go by.
"What can I get you?" Emma asked wiping the table in front of her.
"You tend the bars too. Impressive."
Emma did her best not to roll her eyes and simply smiled tightly. "Let me guess. Cosmopolitan?"
Without waiting for an answer, Emma began mixing the drink when a familiar voice sounded beside her customer. "Actually make mine an Apple Martini."
Emma looked up quickly upon hearing the voice, legitimately surprised to see the one and only Regina Mills. The blonde bartender smirked as she shook the cocktail and used her free hand to prepare the martini. "What's a girl like you doing back in a place like this?"
Her blonde friend raised an eyebrow between the brunette and bartender and spoke none too quietly to Regina. "This is her?"
"One in the same," Regina answered, her eyes never leaving Emma's.
"Let me guess," Emma said as she shook the martini shaker before pouring both into two cocktail glasses. "Your car broke down."
Regina laughed. "Please. Like that's ever going to happen again."
"Then I want my tire back," Emma said with a shrug sliding over the women's drink.
Kathryn took hers, sipping on the alcohol as she watched the back and forth exchange.
"You want your tire back?" Regina asked appalled and amused. "Here I was about to pay you for your mechanical services, but if all you want is your tire."
Emma shook her head smiling tightly before moving down a few people to refill a few pitchers from the tap. When she passed by Regina again she was surprised when the brunette slapped down a few hundred dollar bills. "That should suffice, yes?"
Emma eyed the money, knowing she could desperately use it, but the self-righteous smirk currently plastered on Regina's face made the blonde push the bills back towards the brunette. "Thanks, but no thanks."
"Excuse me?" Regina asked following Emma down the bar as she catered to patrons, leaving behind her friend who quickly took an interest in the brunette hunk who began chatting her up. "Surely that's more than what you make when you swing around that pole."
"I'm not a stripper," Emma retorted defensively, nearly yelling over the loudspeaker as she grabbed a bottle of gin and tossed it around her body effortlessly like some juggling act.
"Oh I'm sorry. Exotic dancer." Regina's eyes sparkled challengingly until she noticed Emma's attention was on the men enjoying her bottle show. "Can you stop that?"
"Am I distracting you?" Emma turned abruptly, nearly leaning completely over the counter and poured a gin and tonic mixture for them men while keeping her eyes firmly on the brunette. "Call me what you want, but I actually work to make a living, and I don't need your charity."
The blonde collected an empty tray of glasses before depositing it on the rack for the dish boy to wash then turned sharply back to Regina.
"And if you're just here to mock me, then you're out of luck because sister, you're in my world now," the blonde said with an arrogant eyebrow raise as she twirled two bottles of vodka in her hands before pouring them in a row of shots. A crowd of men pushed forward taking one and cheered, leaving Regina uncomfortably squished in the middle.
Breaking free Regina scoffed attempting to regain some sense of dignity and popped the cherry from her drink into her mouth. "I'm not here to mock you." She retrieved the wad of bills from her clutch again handing it over like it was nothing more than scrap paper. "I pay my help."
Emma rolled her eyes at the money and nudged Ruby out of the way when the leggy brunette offered to take it if Emma wouldn't. She leaned over the counter again pouring two shots and sliding one over to Regina. "So you're paying a debt?"
"Precisely." The brunette leaned forward, matching Emma's stance and closing the distance as if a bar wasn't in between them.
Their gazes held, both refusing to be the first to break when Emma smirked. "Bullshit."
"What?"
"I think you're here looking for a good time, and what better place to do it than at some lowly bar where no one here knows your name," Emma answered leaning back with her arms folded.
"You think this is my idea of fun?" Regina motioned around her. "A tightly packed bar that's a step above a brothel and a poorly made martini?"
"That is the best martini you've ever had," Emma pointed at the brunette defensively. She took a step closer and downed her shot. "Yes. I think you're looking to let loose."
With no preamble, Emma turned and sat on the counter, swinging her legs up and stood. As if on cue, music blared for the blonde as she sauntered around the bar, pulling up the bartenders one by one as all the girls took the stage and performed a choreographed sexy cowgirl dance. The blonde grinned as she stole a man's cowboy hat and placed it on her head and winked when she caught Regina's eye.
She may not have had much, and she was damn sure aware of her status when it came to Regina, but hell did she find sport in toying with the woman.
By the time Emma had announced last call and the last drifters had filtered out, she cleaned up the bar, and had only enough energy to don her red leather jacket instead of changing all together. She leaned against the brick wall letting her muscles relax in anticipation for the day off she had the following evening and the lucky haul she sprung tonight. She already had a good chunk of her rent money and she'd have enough to surprise Henry with a trip to Chuck-E-Cheese.
She pushed off the wall, glad that she was able to close just after half past 2 and moved to make her way to her car when she almost bumped into the one and only Regina Mills.
"You're still here?" Emma asked skeptically. "Are you stalking me or something?"
"Why would I want to stalk you?" The brunette asked with disdain. She motioned her head to the side where the friend she had come in with was leaning against the brick wall batting her eyelashes at the hunk she had been talking to all night. "My friend seems to be indisposed at the moment."
"And you stayed with her," Emma nodded impressed. "That's friendship."
"I couldn't leave her out here alone, could I?"
Emma shrugged. "We're not all thieves and murderers, you know? Frederick's one of the good ones. He runs the gym at the community youth center."
Regina glanced over to where Emma was staring. "Kathryn seems smitten."
"Maybe you should cock block. Wouldn't want labourers mixing with family money."
The brunette whipped her head back to Emma prepared to argue with her but the ringing of the blonde's cell phone interrupted her before she got the chance.
Emma looked at the screen worriedly before flipping it open. "Hey Ash, is everything okay?" She waited a moment and spoke again. "Yeah, put him on."
Regina raised a curious eyebrow at Emma who responded by taking a step away from Regina. The brunette looked back to Kathryn and Frederick who were still very much deep in conversation and felt foolish standing alone on the sidewalk. She sighed aggravated, unwillingly picking up Emma's side of the conversation.
"Hey buddy, you had a nightmare?" Regina's ears perked at that. She never heard the blonde's voice soften like that and she never imagined Emma would have a child at home. Of course, when would she have the opportunity to find out? "I know, but it was just a dream. I'm coming home right now, okay? No, I'm done working. I'll see you in a bit. I love you."
She watched as Emma flipped her phone closed and shoved it into her pocket. The blonde turned back to her with a tired smile, the only genuine smile she had ever shown Regina, and held her hand up in goodbye. "Maybe I'll see you back here."
Without waiting for a response, Emma stepped off the sidewalk to walk across the street, but before she could get very far Regina found herself calling the blonde's name. "Ms. Swan. Wait a minute."
Emma turned her head but kept walking. "I really need to go."
Regina caught up to her, forcing the bartender to face her and pressed the bills she had attempted to give her earlier into the younger woman's palm. "It's not charity."
"I really don't need your money, Regina."
"Forgive me for begging to differ," Regina said with only just a hint of arrogance, which was saying a lot judging by how confident the woman presented herself as. "You changed my tire and you worked hard for this money."
Emma stared intensely at the older woman, wondering what she was getting at but all she saw was genuine sincerity which seemed out of place for a woman like Regina. Finally she nodded minutely, taking only one of the hundred dollar bills and returning the rest to the brunette. "If that's how much you're paying to get a tire fixed, you're getting scammed."
Regina whirled her eyebrows at Emma's response.
"Thanks," Emma mumbled sheepishly motioning to the money. "I hope you had fun for once."
With that, the blonde turned and got into her car, the engine backfiring before she sped off.
Kathryn returned by her side, her phone shining with the addition of a new contact and her face smiling from ear to ear. "Tonight wasn't a complete waste."
Regina stared off at the fading red taillights before the horrendous yellow bug made a turn. "Yes. I suppose it wasn't."