Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize.
A/N: Thank you so, so much to everyone who reviewed the first chapter or added this story to their favorites or alerts list. Your words of encouragement have truly been inspiring, and are the reason I decided to continue. This chapter contains spoilers for episodes 1x06, 1x11, and 1x14.
Much thanks to Melissa for betaing!
i.
It's nearing two in the morning when the heavy knocking on the door pulls her from sleep. For a moment she thinks she's only imagined it, but when it increases in volume, she realizes she can't ignore it any longer. Emma swings her legs off the bed, pulling a sweatshirt over her white tank top as she pads down the hallway and opens the door.
"Dr. Whale?" she says in surprise, her eyebrows knitting together. "And…ah."
"I believe this belongs to you," he drawls. She can smell the liquor on his breath from here.
"Hi, Emma," Mary Margaret says sheepishly. "Did we wake you?"
"It's okay," Emma answers, stepping aside to allow them in. Mary Margaret practically falls into her arms the minute Dr. Whale lets go. "How much did she drink?" she asks.
"Too many," he grumbles.
"It was so much fun, Emma," Mary Margaret giggles.
"I'm sure it was," Emma assures her. "I'll take it from here," she tells Dr. Whale, who is clearly too far gone to be any help at all. "Thanks for bringing her home." She swings the door shut in his face.
"Are you hungry?" Mary Margaret asks eagerly. "I could make pancakes!"
"No, that's okay. I'm not hungry." She half-leads, half-carries Mary Margaret into her bedroom. The minute she sees her bed, Mary Margaret collapses onto the mattress. Emma watches her uncertainly, wondering what to do. She tries to remember the last time she took care of someone drunk and realizes it was her first week of freshman year, when her roommate came back at four in the morning completely wasted.
She left her roommate alone and slept in the hall the entire night. It didn't matter. She withdrew from the school two months later.
But she can't abandon Mary Margaret, she thinks. It's a school night – or a school morning, as it were – which doesn't matter so much to her, but should matter a lot to Mary Margaret. Emma is suddenly horrified at the thought of Henry seeing Mary Margaret hung over, or worse still drunk, at the front of the classroom tomorrow.
"Emma?"
She looks down at Mary Margaret's expectant face. "Yes?"
"I'm tired."
"I know," she says. "Here." She opens a drawer and pulls out a pair of pajamas, which she deposits on the bed. "Put these on. I'll be right back."
When she returns from the kitchen two minutes later, a box of wheat cereal and glass of water in hand, she finds Mary Margaret dressed and sitting up on the bed, waiting for her.
"Here," Emma says, handing the box and glass to her. "Eat this, and drink that. You'll feel much better tomorrow morning if you do."
"You're the best, Emma," she gushes. "You're like my knight in shining armor. A real Prince Charming."
Emma sits down next to her and reaches for the cereal. "Yeah," she replies. "Something like that."
ii.
"Damn it!"
"Emma?"
"Damn it!"
"Emma, what's wrong?" Mary Margaret comes rushing into view. "Did something happen? Are you all right?"
"Damn it!" Emma repeats, slamming her bag onto the chair.
"Why do you keep saying that?"
"Sorry. I thought I was alone."
"Oh…" Mary Margaret falters. "Well, I could, um, leave. Is that what you want?"
"No," Emma responds. "Yes. No – no." She pushes her bag off the chair and sinks down in its place. "I don't know."
"Do you want to talk about it?" Mary Margaret asks as she pulls out the chair beside Emma and sits down. "What happened?"
Emma sighs heavily. "I don't know."
After a moment, Mary Margaret begins quietly, "Does that mean you don't know if you want to talk about it, or you do but don't know what happened?"
Emma considers her. Mary Margaret is clearly uncertain, uncomfortable because she does not know what to do. Emma knows she's not making it easy for her, but she's never been one for talking about her problems. Or maybe, she thinks – even admits – she's just never had anyone to talk to before.
"I messed up," she says at last.
"How bad?" Mary Margaret asks, and Emma does not miss the lack of judgment in her tone.
"Bad," Emma admits. "I tried to go after Regina, and it backfired on me."
"What happened?"
"I…accused her of spending the town's money on a villa in the woods. Turns out it was a playground for the children. Not exactly Sheriff of the Year material."
Mary Margaret bites her lower lip. "So…you're not sheriff anymore?"
Emma laughs bitterly. "No, I'm still sheriff."
"Then what did she do to you when she found out?"
She sighs and turns to Mary Margaret almost sheepishly. It suddenly feels like she's eight years old again, relaying a recess incident to the principal. Or telling her foster parents how she'd ended up in trouble again and what the punishment would be this time. "She forbade me from seeing Henry."
Mary Margaret gasps. "Oh no! For how long?"
Emma shrugs. "As long as she wants, I guess."
"Oh, Emma-"
"I don't-" Emma interrupts, and then realizes from Mary Margaret's shocked expression that her tone was too harsh. She takes a deep breath. "I'm sorry," she says, "I don't want to talk about it anymore."
Mary Margaret stares at her for a moment and then nods. "Okay." She turns to go, but then says, "Do you want to take your mind off it? We could make cupcakes. Or I could make them, and you could-"
She doesn't feel like cupcakes, but suggests, "Can't we just drink instead?"
Mary Margaret grins. "Drinks it is."
iii.
"Emma!" Mary Margaret calls excitedly. "Emma, where are you? I have wonderful news!"
Emma sighs as she pulls herself up into a sitting position on the bed. Her day has been exhausting and emotionally draining. She isn't ready to face Mary Margaret yet, not with this news, which she knows will destroy her, and especially not now when Mary Margaret is so happy. But she knows she has to, because she promised him that she would, and she does not want to break that promise.
Before she can open the door, it flings open and Mary Margaret appears. Her face is flushed, her eyes shining. "We sold them! We sold them all!"
"What?" Emma says blankly, standing aside to let Mary Margaret in. "All of what?"
"The candles!" she exclaims, as she sits down on Emma's bed. "Leroy did it, he actually did it!"
"That's great," Emma supplies. "That's really great news for the nunnery."
Mary Margaret's smile falters. "What's wrong?"
Emma hesitates, unsure if she should lie and say nothing, put off this conversation until tomorrow, but she doubts she can get away with it. Mary Margaret will find out anyway, she knows. Better if it comes from her than Regina. She steels herself, walking slowly over to Mary Margaret, and then joins her on the bed.
"It's David," Emma says.
"What about him?" Mary Margaret's tone is worried.
Emma swallows. "I…I had to arrest him."
Mary Margaret's mouth drops and she simply stares. Finally she asks, "Is it because of Kathryn? You think he did something?"
"I don't think that," Emma insists.
"But you arrested him," Mary Margaret counters. She suddenly stands and begins to pace. "You must have a – a reason or you think…Oh, Emma! You don't really think that –"
"No," Emma assures her. "I don't think he had anything to do with this. But the evidence is telling me another story."
"Evidence?" Mary Margaret stops pacing and looks at her. "What evidence?"
"I can't get into that now," Emma responds. "But I do think he's being set up."
Mary Margaret sinks onto the bed, looking utterly defeated. "Poor David," she sighs. "He must be so worried. Is he – are you keeping him over night?" Emma nods, and Mary Margaret gasps. "Oh, how horrible!"
"I know," she agrees. "I'm going to talk to him first thing in the morning. We will get to the bottom of this."
"Can I see him?" Mary Margaret asks.
"I don't think that's a good idea," Emma responds hesitantly. "People might get the wrong idea."
"The wrong idea?"
Emma vacillates, unsure how many of her concerns she wants to voice aloud. It's not that she thinks Mary Margaret – or David – had anything to do with Kathryn's disappearance, but she fears what the evidence is telling her, how far someone (and she has an idea who) would go to make them look extremely guilty. She can't stop whoever is trying to set up Mary Margaret, but she can at least prevent her from looking guiltier.
"Emma?"
"It's just that…" She pauses, trying to frame her words as delicately as possible. "Look, you know what people in this town think of you…of the affair." Mary Margaret opens her mouth to protest, but Emma barrels on, "And I don't agree with any of it, you know that. But someone is trying to make David look guilty. And I'm worried that the same might happen to you…and if I let you talk to him, people might think that you're, I don't know, getting your story straight or something."
"But that's ridiculous!" Mary Margaret exclaims. "You know I didn't do anything!"
"Please, Mary Margaret," Emma says. "Try to understand it from their point of view. I'm just trying to explain why someone might be suspicious. I'm…I'm scared for you."
"You're scared for me?" she repeats.
"Yeah," Emma admits, "I am."
Mary Margaret faces her and takes her hand. "You have no idea how much that means to me."
A/N: I plan to continue posting new chapters of this story periodically. Each chapter will be a set of vignettes that are missing Emma/Mary Margaret scenes from episodes. I am so excited about all of the awesome new material that the most recent episodes (specifically 1x16-18) have given me - we are finally getting some great Emma/Mary Margaret interaction and material! My next set will probably all be scenes related to Mary Margaret's arrest, and I am super excited to delve into that. So in the meantime, give my muse some food for thought and please review!