A/N: a thank you to everyone who reviewed, favorited and followed :D this chapter hopefully will get you hooked (if the first one hasn't done that already)
oh and just in case anyone was wondering, the story takes place sometime during season 1, before the whole curse breaking business
Furry Little Thing Called Love Pt. 2
"What do you mean you lost him?"
Regina was pressing her lips into a firm line and that was never a good sign. Emma still had time to explain herself until the vein in the mayor's forehead started to pulse in rhythm with her anger, because then it was most definitely too late for any excuses.
"I got out of the car and turned to take the cage, and through an unfortunate series of events he escaped?"
"Is that a question? Sheriff Swan, you are dealing with a cat, not Houdini. Had I known that you are completely overwhelmed with the simple task of the transporting an animal from one place to another, I would have let someone else do it."
After Mary-Margaret had straight out refused to pick up Love from the mayor Emma had begrudgingly agreed to bring him to her instead, only this time with a whole lot of plastic in between her and those claws.
"Well, it can't be changed now. So I think I might know in which direction he went and I hoped you would help me find him since he is obviously more inclined to come to you."
Emma turned hopeful eyes to the mayor who crossed her arms before her chest defiantly.
"I think you are mistaking me for some sort of animal catcher. I am not going to crawl through bushes and hedges all day long only because you haven't managed to keep a cat locked in its cage."
Emma rolled her eyes and impatiently shifted her weight from one foot to the other.
"I am simply asking you to walk with me for a bit to see if he comes back on his own."
"My time is precious Sheriff Swan."
"So is that cat."
"Not to me."
"So you don't care if he has fallen down into a well and is drowning miserably?"
Regina narrowed her eyes.
"There is no such thing as a well here."
"That's not the point."
Emma raked a hand through her blonde tresses and looked around, her eyes searching the bushes nearby.
"Fine. If you don't want to help I'll do it by myself. Can't be that hard, right? Already found him once."
"I found him, to be exact."
Emma grimaced and turned away from Regina who still stood there scowling with her arms crossed.
"Technicalities. Have a good day Madame Mayor," she called over shoulder.
There seemed to be no use in arguing with Regina and of course Emma knew that she did not like being left standing like that in the middle of the sidewalk. It was the little things that made her day, like annoying the shit out of the mayor just a tiny bit more.
"Sheriff Swan!"
Emma grinned, but wiped the smirk off her face before turning around yet again.
"Yes?"
"I have an hour to spare before a council meeting, no more, I hope that is clear."
She fluffed her hair with a few flicks of her hand and strutted down the sidewalk past Emma.
"Can't have the townspeople thinking that their Mayor is not interested in the well-being of the city's cats?" Emma inquired cheekily.
"Exactly."
Regina had reacted far too quickly to the offered explanation and they both noticed it.
Together they ventured in the direction Emma had seen Love take off. But naturally there was no sign of the cat. Neither of them was remotely trained in the art of tracking animals, let alone small ones, so their endeavor was seemingly an overall lost cause.
Not too far from the last house of their little journey down the street stood an abandoned building that had once been some sort of small factory.
The building was already destined to be taken down in the not too distant future and Regina paid it no mind as she looked around.
Emma however made her way across the street to inspect the ramshackle building a bit more closely.
Sure enough there was the faint sound of pitiful meowing coming from within.
"I think I might have found him," Emma called and, not heeding any of Regina's warnings regarding the stability of the old factory, moved closer until she realized that the sound was coming through a broken basement window.
She knelt down and peered into the darkness below. She couldn't really see anything, but the meowing came most certainly from down there.
"I'm gonna go in and get him," Emma announced.
"Most certainly not. The entire thing could come crashing down over your head before you even knew it," Regina responded, now standing behind the sheriff.
Her entire posture was rigid and she was obviously surprised by her own words.
"It's fine. I'll be quick."
Emma was already moving to sit down to slip through the cellar window feet first when Regina bent down and grabbed her shoulder.
"I will not have you force me to tell Henry that you got yourself killed over saving a cat."
"Listen it's not a big deal, let me just…"
Suddenly the earth beneath them moved and Emma squeaked in surprise as she slid forward and through the window. Regina completely lost her footing and, as concrete and sand underneath her feet gave away, followed Emma involuntarily right down into the darkness.
-#-#-#-
"Ugh… Regina? Are you okay?"
Emma tried to brush some sand off her upper body and legs while looking around. Everything was covered with a thin layer of dust and sand, even the body of the mayor who lay unmoving in a corner of the little cellar.
"Regina!"
The sheriff scrambled to her knees and crawled over to the prone form.
"Oh no, no no no, don't do this. Come on!"
Regina lay on her stomach, facing away from Emma and the blonde grabbed the mayor's shoulders and pulled her around and into her lap. Regina's face was dirtied with dust and blood that seeped from a small cut on her forehead. Emma smoothed some black hair out of her face and examined the wound.
Luckily it was only superficial and not particularly wide.
Carefully shaking the unconscious woman, she kept on urging her to wake up, but Regina's eyes remained closed.
"Shit. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen. Come on now, you have to wake up, for Henry you know? He'd be crushed if you didn't."
Of course she was rambling, Emma knew she was, but she couldn't think of anything else to do, feeling so incredibly helpless with an unresponsive Regina cradled against her.
"Okay, I'm going to get you out of here, just hang on for a bit."
Emma looked around the darkened cellar.
They were sitting on a pile of sand and concrete and above them the cellar window was barely visible anymore since parts of the wall of the crumbling building had almost completely blocked it.
Sure enough there was the small head of Love poking through the tiny opening. He meowed loudly and then disappeared from sight.
"Great! Just fucking great!"
Of course the cat would have managed to get out of the cellar before the building came crashing down, but unfortunately the two humans were not as lucky.
Emma carefully propped Regina against the nearest wall.
"Let me check if there is a way out."
Naturally there was no sense in talking to the mayor since she still hadn't regained consciousness, but Emma was so damn nervous that she needed to focus on saving their lives instead of fearing that Regina could be seriously injured.
The cellar was halfway filled with rubble from their little slide down into it, and apart from a few abandoned shelves and boxes there was nothing in there that would've been in any way useful.
The door at the far end of the room which could've possibly led them out of the cellar was locked from the other side and wouldn't budge even as Emma threw her entire weight against it. It was made of metal and there was no way she could've kicked it out of its hinges.
The sheriff panted quietly after several attempts to open the door with brute force.
Her shoulder was hurting quite terribly but the frantic beating of her heart drowned out the pain for the time being.
Regina then groaned quietly and Emma was beside her in the blink of an eye.
"Regina? Can you hear me? Are you alright?"
"How could I possibly be alright when my head feels like it's about to burst into pieces at any moment?!"
The mayor pressed the heels of her hands against her temples in an attempt to get the pain under control.
"What happened?" she asked as she looked around.
"We're sort of trapped in here," Emma admitted quietly.
She had reached out to Regina on instinct, but was now demurely resting her hands in her lap.
"I told you to stay away and all you do is go and trap us in here!"
"Oh it's my fault now?!"
"Obviously!"
Emma clenched her jaw and moved away from the mayor. She wasn't really offended and the other woman was usually much crueler in lashing out with words, but she was saddened by the fact that Regina thought she would intentionally bring them into such a situation.
"I didn't think the ground would cave in… how was I supposed to know this would happen?"
Regina must have heard the defeated tone in the sheriff's voice, or maybe she just wasn't in the shape for it, but she refrained from pushing the issue.
"No changing it now. So how do we get out of here?" she asked instead.
Emma sighed.
"I have no idea. The door is most definitely locked and we won't fit through the window up there either."
The sheriff struggled to her feet and groaned quietly when a sudden pain shot from her shoulder across her entire back.
"What is it Sheriff?"
"I'm going to see if there is anything in those boxes that could be of help."
"That's not what I meant."
Emma only glanced at Regina who still sat rigidly leaning against the wall.
By falling through the window and roughly landing on her back Emma had probably hurt herself quite a bit more than she was willing to admit at the moment.
She was about to open the first box when suddenly the building above them shifted yet again and parts of the wall that had previously blocked the cellar window came crashing down.
Regina moved as quickly as she could but barely managed to escape one large block of stone that threatened to crush her.
Emma took a few long strides and wrapped her arm around the mayor's waist to help her move out of the danger zone toward the locked metal door.
It seemed oddly familiar and Emma clearly remembered how she had dragged an injured Regina out of the burning building after the explosion.
There was a loud crack and the ceiling directly above them split in half. Emma's eyes widened with alarm before she pushed Regina forcefully toward the door.
-#-#-#-
The entire thing stopped as abruptly as it had begun and left Regina panting heavily with her back pressed against the door.
Shocked brown eyes darted around the now completely dark room. She couldn't see a single thing but that wasn't the most worrisome part about it.
"Sheriff Swan?"
When there was no answer something akin to panic rose within her.
"Sheriff Swan, I swear if you don't answer me right now…!"
"Calm down Regina," Emma cut in with a strained voice.
"I'm still alive if that's what you're worried about…unngh…"
"Where are you?"
Regina was holding her hands out in front of her, trying to find out what exactly had happened by means of touching what she couldn't see.
"I'm down here…"
Emma sounded strange and the mayor couldn't help but feel alarmed and slightly frightened.
"Then get up Sheriff!"
"I can't."
"Why not?!"
Emma groaned again quietly but obviously in pain.
"Because there is a piece of wall crushing my leg and I can't fucking get it out!"
"Oh."
Regina started to take tiny steps forward.
"Sorry, language, I know."
"Well in this case I believe you're entitled to it."
Emma chuckled but it turned into a dry cough a moment later. Regina could clearly hear her taking a deep breath before speaking.
"Are you alright though?"
Regina nodded, knowing full well that Emma wouldn't be able to see it anyway.
"Yes I'm fine."
Slowly the mayor took small steps forward until she was somewhere in the vicinity of the sheriff and dropped down to her knees. She fumbled around until her hand landed on a warm thigh.
"Do you think there's any chance to free your leg?"
Even though she wasn't keen on doing it she moved her hand down and found a large block of stone resting right on top of Emma's knee.
Trying to push it upward and away was completely fruitless because the block was way too heavy to be lifted by either of them.
"Don't think so," Emma mumbled.
Regina knew that the sheriff was in great pain and although she didn't think Emma too capable she had to admit that she admired her ability to deal with it. Not that she cared whether this nuisance of a woman died in here or not. In fact it would be a rather welcome turn of events should it so happen that she lost her life in an accident that had been her fault in the first place. Right?
But Henry would be devastated. It would break his little heart if Emma was suddenly gone, and she couldn't do that to him, could she?
"Alright, we need to think of something to get us out of here. Have you got your cell phone with you?" Regina asked and checked the pockets of her coat, coming up empty.
"No I left it in the car. Forgot to take it with me when Love escaped," Emma answered.
"That damned miserable cat."
If it wasn't for that furry little creature they would have never gotten into this mess.
It was slowly starting to get quite hot and Regina took off her coat. She didn't see Emma but still managed to reach out and touch her shoulder to gently push her to lie down. She bunched the coat together and placed it underneath the sheriff's head.
The gesture was rather unexpected for both of them.
"Thanks…"
Emma sounded quite sleepy but Regina slapped her uninjured thigh none too gently.
"You need to stay awake Sheriff."
"I am! No need to be so rough."
"I'm going to find something that I can use as pressure bandage for your leg," Regina announced and rose to her feet, swaying slightly from the sudden return of the headache she had been able to ignore until then.
She started to rummage through the boxes that were now spread all over the floor. It was a fairly difficult task since she couldn't see a single thing but she eventually figured out that most boxes were filled with old linen clothing and shoes. She vaguely remembered the factory producing clothes at some point in time but she had closed it down after three years or so. Taking a pair of pants she knelt down beside Emma and fumbled around until she had managed to wrap the cloth around her thigh as tightly as possible. Of course she had not really an idea of what she was doing, but she knew that she had to prevent Emma from losing too much blood.
"God fucking shit that hurts…!" Emma hissed between clenched teeth.
"I know. Try to think of something else."
Of course it was lame, she knew that, but Regina had nothing else to offer. She couldn't help Emma in any other way, and for some odd reason that made her feel sick to the stomach.
They sat there in contemplative silence after Regina had also tried to open the door by pushing against it or pulling on the handle.
There was really nothing in the room that could possibly help them to get out of this forsaken cellar. Emma had been suspiciously quiet and the mayor kept on asking her random questions to see whether she was still awake.
"I know you came back that night."
She heard Emma wriggling on the ground, presumably to look in the direction from where the mayor's voice was coming.
"What do you mean?"
"When Henry thought someone broke into our house. I know you came back after you left, I heard your car outside. Care to explain why?"
"I… uh… I might have forgotten my gun…"
"What?! You actually came into my house twice without being invited? In the middle of the night I might add."
"Regina, can we please save this discussion for another time?"
The mayor huffed.
"Fine."
After a while she could clearly hear Emma drawing in a shuddering breath.
"Sheriff?"
"Y-yes?"
Emma's voice was raspy and she sounded rather breathless. Without thinking about it Regina moved over to her and reached out. Her hand landed on the blonde's chest.
"What are you…?" Emma began but fell silent when Regina's fingers traveled upward, along her neck and jaw to her cheek.
The mayor frowned deeply when her fingertips traced the wet trails on Emma's chin up to her cheekbones, her suspicion confirmed.
"You are in great pain."
It wasn't a question so Emma didn't bother to answer.
There was no way in telling how much time had passed since they'd been trapped in the cellar. So somewhere in between the ceiling caving in and starting irregular conversation with Emma, Regina had decided that she couldn't let the sheriff die down here, or else Henry would be devastated and forever and ever believe her to be the Evil Queen.
Regina stared into the darkness and mindlessly began stroking her thumb back and forth across the sheriff's cheek. She knew that if Emma hadn't pushed her away when the ceiling had come crashing down she could have been the one now buried beneath tons of rock and sand.
She owed Emma her life.
Again.
Why kept this woman risking her life in order to save hers? There was no love lost between them, quite the opposite in fact.
Every time they were in each other's vicinity they started arguing, verbally and sometimes even physically, and yet here they were. Regina had to admit though that her life had become far more interesting ever since Emma Swan had shown up on her doorstep. She enjoyed being the Mayor of this town well enough, but where was the fun when no one dared to antagonize her?
A small smile spread across her lips.
It had come so far that she even sought out the Sheriff only to start yet another argument about unfinished paperwork that wasn't really important.
"And here I thought I hated you," Regina mumbled under her breath.
Emma had turned her head to lean into the mayor's gentle caress but now jerked away as if realizing for the first time that they were actually touching. Regina removed her hand and rested it on her own thigh instead.
"What?" Emma asked.
"Nothing. I was just…"
The mayor had to clear her throat before continuing to speak because it was getting quite hot and stifling in the cellar.
"Oh god…"
Widened brown eyes stared at the spot where Emma was resting beside her in the darkness.
"Regina. What?!"
"I hate to break it to you Emma but there is absolutely no light in here and that means there is also no air coming in either."
The mayor tried to sound as calm as she possibly could while it dawned on her that no air meant that they were not going to stay conscious, let alone alive, for that much longer.
"You just called me Emma," was seemingly all the sheriff could think of to say in that moment.
-#-#-#-