Author's Notes: Just a quick note, I thought I'd let those reading know that I plan on updating every Monday and Thursday (until I run out of chapters unless I can keep ahead, which is the plan, but life gets in the way sometimes). I would love to know what you think so far and yes, I know it's a bit of a slow burn, but SwanQueen is coming. I just wanted to paint a picture of Emma's life in this alternate universe first before we reach the good stuff!
"What is that look for?" Mary Margaret asked as she set the kitchen table, much to the disdain of Emma and Ruby. "What?"
"We know what you did on that table last night," Ruby muttered under her breath. "I really hope you disinfected it. Thoroughly."
Mary Margaret's pale skin flushed bright red and she snatched the two placemats she'd just put down on the table quickly. Emma watched in amusement as her roommates both exchanged a look and Ruby reached for the disinfectant spray from the cupboard under the sink and tossed it at Mary Margaret. A roll of paper towels followed and Mary Margaret, as embarrassed as she was, grumbled under her breath as she generously coated the table with the disinfectant.
"So, Em, when are you heading out?" Ruby asked.
"Seven," Emma replied. "Carl set it up at some restaurant called La Mer."
"Oh my god!" Ruby exclaimed excitedly. "Are you serious? You're going to take this guy down at La Mer?"
"So?" Emma asked as she picked at the peeling linoleum countertop. "It's just another place. The guy thinks it's a date."
"At La Mer."
Mary Margaret looked over at both of them. "David took me to La Mer for our first date. It was so incredibly romantic," she said with a lovesick look falling over her still flushed face. "It takes ages to get a reservation there. Carl must have pulled out all the stops."
Emma looked at her two roommates in confusion. To her, it was just another job at another restaurant, another guy who was in trouble with the law or owed money to an ex-wife or got caught embezzling funds. It didn't matter to her where it all went down because all she needed was the right moment to catch the guy, either serve him the court papers or apprehend him and haul his sleazy ass down to the nearest police precinct. Tonight, she'd do both if she were lucky.
It had been a while since Emma had been on a job, but she was ready for whatever the night presented, whether it was one of the easy ones or if she had to give chase. She had gone to the gym for a quick workout after she went to the office to fill out the paperwork. She'd spent most of the afternoon cleaning, even squeezing in a quick nap before Mary Margaret had come home from her shift at the café and Ruby finally woken up for the first time all day.
"What are you wearing?" Ruby asked. "Do you need to borrow something?"
"I don't—what does it matter what I wear?"
"La Mer has a very strict dress code," Ruby said and she grabbed Emma's hand. "Come."
Emma allowed herself to be dragged to Ruby's room just off the kitchen and she sat down on the edge of Ruby's unmade bed with a heavy sigh. Ruby's room looked like a bomb had gone off with clothes everywhere, but then again her room always looked like that unless she brought back her on-off boyfriend Peter home or one of her dates when she and Peter were "off" for the hundredth time.
"I can find something of my own to wear, Ruby," Emma said as Ruby went through the closet, flinging out a few slip dresses behind her and on the bed. Emma glanced at a few of them and shook her head. "I'm not wearing any of those."
"Firstly, I love you Em, but your wardrobe needs a bit of an upgrade in the classy section."
"I don't have anything classy, much less a section."
"Exactly."
Emma sighed and watched Ruby grab a garment bag from the back of her closet with a delighted squeal. Emma had been in that very position before. Many, many times but the novelty of it had yet to be lost on Ruby. Emma played along every time because that is what she'd always done. It was easier to play along and go along with the ride than fight it, even if it meant that Ruby turned her into a two-bit whore with too much makeup and not a whole lot of clothes.
Not to mention the too high heels that almost always threatened to break her ankles if she so much as picked up a pace past a saunter in them. It was not her style, but she had to trust Ruby as that very ploy had worked in her favor in the past.
Yet, Ruby Lucas was a hard woman to say no to on many different levels. Emma had learned that the hard way the first time she let Ruby help her dress for a job. And the second time, and the tenth time and the twenty-third time.
"If La Mer is as fancy as you guys claim, I won't make it past the front door in this," Emma said as she stood in front of the mirror and carefully examined the tight red dress Ruby had all but forced her to try on. "I can't wear this there, Ruby!"
"You can," Ruby said calmly, yet her expression was that of an excited high school teenager going out to their first party. "You look hot, Em. This guy isn't going to run, at least not very far."
Emma sighed and turned to look back at her friend. "I can't promise you nothing is going to happen to this dress," she said with a slight frown and Ruby shook her head and spun Emma around to look in the mirror once more. Emma tugged on the edge of the short dress and shook her head at Ruby. "God, if this is short on me, how the hell do you wear this thing?"
"Very carefully," Ruby chuckled. "Come on, let me do your hair."
"Just keep it simple."
"Simple doesn't get you laid, girlfriend."
"It's a job, Ruby, not a date."
"Maybe one of these days the job will turn into a date."
"I'm not interested in dating sleazy men who are on the run," Emma scoffed. "I'm not interested in dating anyone. Period. How many times do we have to go over this?"
"As many times as it takes for you to go out there and meet somebody, Em," Ruby winked at her in the mirror. "You're almost thirty, babe. You haven't had a serious relationship in the time I've known you. Have you ever been in love before? Don't you want that?"
"I want a lot of things, Ruby," Emma sighed. "But a lot of those things I can never have. I've accepted that a long time ago. Now," she said as she turned to her. "Are you going to do my hair or not? I want to get there early, stake the place out, make sure there is no more than two different ways this guy can get away once he figures out I'm there to serve him papers."
"Just serving him papers?" Ruby asked. "What, not one of those embezzlers this time?"
"Just another low-life skipping out on alimony payments. Warrant out for his arrest on unrelated matters, so I thought I'd get two birds with one stone on this guy."
"Then after you do your job, you'll come down to the club?"
"Ruby—"
"Just promise me you'll think about it?" Ruby pressed on and batted her eyelashes dramatically until Emma just nodded her head. "Perfect! Can't let this dress go to waste, huh? You seriously look hot, Em. You need to dress like this more often."
"Dress like this? Like I am about to take the stage at a strip joint?" Emma teased and that earned her a playful slap on her rear from Ruby.
"It's been a long time since you've been on stage."
"I know and it's not something I am particularly proud of, Ruby, but it paid the bills, got me by at least, and then I met you and Mary Margaret and left that part of my life behind. Now," she said with a heavy sigh. "If you're going to do my hair, can you please get it done? I need to leave soon."
"Only if you promise to teach me some moves."
"Pretty sure you already dance better than I do, Rubes," Emma chuckled and Ruby pulled her out of the bedroom and into the bathroom quickly. "Remember, keep it simple."
[X]
Emma sat in the dimly lit restaurant, feeling a little out of her element at such a fancy place. People had turned to stare as she was led to her table, and she'd even heard a few murmur some comments about how inappropriately she was dressed. Still, she held her head high and kept her confidence in check.
It was quiet in the restaurant aside from the soft jazz music the three-piece band was playing across the room. She had seven minutes to spare, making it there before her "date" and it gave her plenty of time to scope out the entire place just on the walk from the hostess stand to the table. Emma sipped from the glass of wine the waiter had served her as soon as she'd sat down and subtly scoped out the people dining around her.
It was on her second sweep through the room when she saw her, the woman from the Laundromat and then again at The Perk who had forgotten her delicious lemon tart. The first thing Emma noticed was the tight black dress the woman had on and then her expensive looking jewelry that literally sparkled in the dim light. The second thing that Emma noticed was that she was not alone. Seated across from her was a blonde-haired woman, dressed to the nines, and absolutely stunning.
"Would you like to order, ma'am?" The young waiter asked and she turned to him with a small shake of her head.
"I'm waiting for someone."
"All right, I'll return when your date arrives, ma'am."
Emma nodded and smiled politely at him before slipping her phone out of her borrowed clutch. Carl had given her not only an in-depth description of the man but also a copy of his police record that included a picture. Thomas Moffat was pushing forty and bald. Emma had seen the man before in the paper after he'd been arrested for hiring an undercover cop posing as a prostitute. The warrant for his arrest was for a laundry list of crimes, but what he was wanted for didn't make a difference to Emma. He was another mark and she was there to do her job.
Her eyes drifted back over to the brunette's table and what she saw was something that certainly surprised her. The blonde had leaned forward and placed a lingering kiss on the brunette's cheek that left them both smiling and laughing softly once they parted. Feeling her cheeks flush, Emma quickly looked away, studying the menu she had open in front of her and trying not to gasp at the insane prices for each dish.
Thomas Moffat showed up almost ten minutes late. Emma spotted him as he approached the hostess stand and gave the woman his name. Emma sipped her wine and got into the zone, something that was easy enough for her to do, like slipping on another set of skin. She inwardly laughed at the relieved look on the boorish man's face when he was led to her table, relief that she either wasn't a dog or a cop, maybe both.
"Emma?" He asked and she nodded, reaching out to shake his hand. "I'm Thomas."
"Pleasure to meet you, Thomas," Emma smiled sweetly.
"Sorry I'm late," he said gruffly as he took a seat across from her. "I thought this place had valet parking, considering the price they charge for the steak."
"It's all right," Emma replied and she swallowed thickly. "Where did you park?"
"Around the corner in some dodgy looking lot the attendant charged me twenty dollars for," he replied and he let out an exasperated sigh. "Have you decided what you want to order, Emma?"
"Actually," Emma said as she leaned forward. "I was hoping we could talk and get to know one another first."
"You told me a lot about yourself when we chatted online the other day," Thomas said lowly and Emma had to fight to keep the surprise from showing at all. "I told you a lot about myself as well."
"Right. So, let's get to know each other a little better than," Emma said coyly. There was no way she was spending her usual ten minutes to butter this guy up. She could barely stand to look at him with the leery grin he had dancing over his thin lips. "Let me go first."
"All right," he chuckled and unbuttoned his blue jacket as he leaned back in his chair.
Emma downed the rest of her red wine and ran her fingers over the borrowed clutch, keeping it within reach as she cleared her throat. "Where should I start? Oh, I know, your ex-wife, Sharon, has been after you for months for alimony, alimony the court ordered you to pay her monthly."
"What the hell is this?"
"Oh, I shouldn't forget to mention that you were arrested last month on charges of—"
Thomas Moffat practically flipped the table into her lap as he jumped up and started to run for the entrance. Emma was quick to follow, darting through the restaurant as quickly as she could in six-inch Louboutin heels she'd borrowed from Ruby. She had barely caught up with him when the brunette stranger was suddenly in her path and the two collided, hard.
"Excuse me!"
"Sorry," Emma blurted as she tried to steady the brunette, but her attention was not on the woman, but on her mark that was already out the door. "Really, I'm so sorry."
Emma groaned inwardly at the appalled look on the woman's face before she took off in a slight jog towards the entrance. Once outside on the street, she spotted her mark huffing and puffing his way across the busy road. She had the advantage, not because she was younger and fit, but because he had told her where he'd parked and Boston was a city she knew as well as the back of her hand.
Emma ducked down an alleyway, moving quickly, her heels clacking against the pavement and echoing off the brick walls. She made it to the lot and exhaled sharply, looking around in the darkening light and spotted the man just coming into the lot and making a beeline for a silver Jaguar parked near the entrance.
He wasn't alone either. The waiter from La Mer was right behind him along with two burly security guards. They were closer and Emma sure as hell wasn't going to let them take her mark. She needed to get him down to the precinct if she wanted to get paid and she needed the money. Badly.
With a practiced speed and skill, Emma smacked the heel of her palm into Thomas Moffat's face and grabbed his left arm, twisting him around and raising it halfway up against his back, just enough to cause him to scream out in pain.
"Ah, what the fuck is your problem, bitch?" He yelled and Emma tightened her grip on his arm and raised it a little higher.
"I'm taking you in, Moffat," she said into his ear. "Whether you like it or not."
"What are you, a cop?"
Emma laughed as the two burly security guards and the waiter walked up to them, breathless from the brief chase. "Bail bondsperson. Got a court order for you and, this is the best part," Emma said as she struggled to keep a hold of the man. "A warrant out for your arrest."
"God damn it."
"You're a slippery little sleazebag, aren't you, Moffat?" Emma asked and one of the security guards stepped forward to help her hold him. "Sorry," she said to the waiter. "I was going to come back and pay for that glass of wine as soon as I took care of this asshole."
"Not a dine and dash?" The waiter asked and Emma shook her head no. "Could've fooled me."
Emma patted Moffat's pockets down until she found his leather wallet tucked into the breast of his jacket and pulled it out. "What do we owe you, hmm? Twenty? That's what a glass of wine goes for at La Mer, no?"
"Ma'am—"
"I suppose you need a tip too, huh?" Emma asked as she flicked through the bills in the wallet and pulled out a fifty. "And a little extra off the top for inconveniencing you tonight."
"You can't do that!" Moffat yelled and he started to squirm again, but the guard that was helping her hold on to him held on a little harder. "Jesus!"
Emma smiled sweetly at the waiter before reaching into her clutch for the zip tie she used to bind her mark's hands behind his back securely and probably just a little too tight as payback for making her chase him down.
"Need some assistance, ma'am?" The security guard who had helped her hold him asked as the waiter and the other guard walked away. "My brother works the beat down here and he's working tonight. I could call him up and get him to take this guy off your hands for you."
"And lose my paycheck? No thanks, man. Appreciate the hand, though," Emma smiled at him before she grabbed on to Moffat's arm and started to walk to where she parked the Bug on the opposite end of the lot. "You try and make a run for it again and you'll be hauled into a cell unconscious. You understand?"
Moffat grunted but didn't say a word. Emma just laughed and practically shoved him into the passenger seat of the Bug with a sense of satisfaction and relief the job was nearly done. A quick trip down to the precinct that was only two blocks away, some quick paperwork and a trip down to the office to collect her check, and she'd have the rest of the night off.
[X]
The Velvet Room was packed when Emma arrived just before ten. She had planned on going home after hitting up Ray's downstairs for a cheap bottle of wine, but Mary Margaret had texted her, practically begging her to come down to the club for a couple of drinks. She left her car in the back parking lot and walked the few blocks down to the club where Ruby was working the late shift.
"Emma!" Mary Margaret waved from the far end of the bar. "Emma, over here!"
"Great," Emma muttered under her breath when she saw David standing beside the stool Mary Margaret was sitting on. She put on a fake smile and made her way through the crowd, ignoring the hoots and hollers from some of the men she passed by. "Hey," Emma said as she took a seat beside her roommate. "Busy here tonight, isn't it?"
"Singles night," Mary Margaret replied. "It's always busy."
"So, if it's singles night, what are you two doing here?"
"Date night!" David smiled at her. "Plus, Ruby kind of talked us into it."
"Of course she did."
"Em!" Ruby laughed as she bounced behind the bar towards them. She grabbed three shot glasses and filled them with white rum, handing them to each of them before leaning over the bar. "Shots on me tonight, but you'll have to buy anything else you want to drink. Luc will start getting suspicious if I don't charge you guys for drinks."
"But he won't over free shots?"
"Not from this bottle," Ruby said as she leaned back and waved the bottle with a laugh. "So, how was the job, Em?"
"He was a runner. Got him, though," she replied and she downed the shot quickly. "I'll tell you the whole thing when you're not working, Ruby," she added and Ruby nodded. "Can I get a beer, babe?"
"Local craft? Domestic? Foreign?"
"Surprise me."
Ruby returned with a bottle of Stella Artois and gave Emma a wink before she ran off to tend to the people waiting a few stools down. Emma took a sip and spun around on the stool to look out at the people dancing on the small dance floor and when her eyes landed on the brunette in the tight black dress, she nearly choked on the beer as she tried to swallow it.
"Emma, you all right, sweetie?" Mary Margaret asked as she patted Emma on the back until she could catch her breath again. "Emma?"
"I'm fine. Just…went down the wrong tube, is all," she said, trying to shrug it off, but her eyes were glued to the brunette that was dancing with the same blonde woman Emma had seen her with at La Mer.
Emma wasn't sure what it was that was drawing her into the brunette, but she couldn't seem to take her eyes off of her as she danced with her blonde-haired date. The two women were dancing close, hands wandering and grasping, and laughter escaping past their lips whenever a man tried to cut in between them. Emma tried to take her eyes off the two women, but the way they danced together was almost flawless, and she definitely wasn't the only one who couldn't take her eyes off of them.
Every time Emma tried to turn her attention to Mary Margaret and David's mundane conversation about the latest rescue dog his small veterinary office had taken in, her eyes drifted over the crowd and right back to the brunette and her date. After a couple of songs, Emma watched the two walk off the small dance floor and take a seat in one of the small booths along the back wall.
"We should dance," Mary Margaret said as she leaned over towards Emma. "David doesn't want to. Come dance with me, Emma."
"Maybe later."
"Who do you keep looking at?" Mary Margaret asked. "Did someone catch your eye?"
"No, nothing like that," Emma replied and she turned around on the stool and caught Ruby's attention. "Just someone I've run into a few times, that's all."
"Another?" Ruby asked and Emma shook her head no. "Shots?"
"Yes. Three."
"Three?" Ruby laughed. "Looking to get wasted, Em?"
"Something like that."
"She keeps staring at someone," Mary Margaret said loudly to be heard over the music. "Whoever it is, Emma can't keep her eyes off of him."
"Who?"
"Nobody," Emma muttered and she rapped her knuckles on top of the bar. "How about those shots, Ruby?"
"Emma!" Ruby exclaimed as she leaned over the bar. "Did you meet someone you haven't told us about?"
"No."
"Liar," Ruby laughed before she jumped back and grabbed a bottle of tequila off the shelf and five shot glasses. She poured the clear liquid into each shot and slid them forward quickly. "I have a break in an hour. You and me, we're going to dance for a few songs, all right?"
Emma sighed and took back the first shot, knowing it was impossible to say no to Ruby. She lifted up the second glass and raised it to Mary Margaret and David before downing it and struggling to hold back a cough that came with the harsh burn down her throat. She took a breath before downing the third shot and she gave Ruby a nod of thanks when she placed a fresh bottle of beer down in front of her.
The club wasn't Emma's usual scene anymore and it wasn't Mary Margaret's either, but after a few more shots, they made their way to the dance floor with David lingering awkwardly behind them, and they really started to enjoy themselves. It'd been a long time since Emma really let loose and she found herself lost in the steady beat of the music while fending off some of the men who tried to squeeze their way in to dance with her.
She was aware of the eyes that were on her when Ruby finally got her break and joined them on the dance floor. She was also aware that the brunette was back to dancing with her date and they were barely ten feet away. But what she was most aware of while she was dancing with Ruby was the fact the brunette's eyes were locked on her, and the intensity of her gaze was overwhelming.
It was just before midnight when Mary Margaret and David decided to leave, and Emma headed back to sit at the bar, noticing that the crowd had thinned out of the last hour. She stopped drinking, sticking to water and watched people all around her mingle, some hooking up with strangers they'd just met that night, others leaving together and likely end up doing the walk of shame in the morning. Emma searched the crowd for the brunette several times, but she was nowhere to be found, and Emma figured she just left with her date, likely having a good time in a bed somewhere.
"I'm going out for a smoke," Ruby said as she tapped the top of the bar. "Come with me."
"What do I owe for my tab?" Emma asked. "I think I'm just going to call it a night."
"Now?" Ruby looked at her in surprise. "But it's still early!"
"I know," Emma said with a heavy sigh and pulled out a few bills from her clutch. "That'll cover it, yeah?"
Ruby nodded and cashed out her tab before they headed out the side entrance and into the dark alleyway so that Ruby could take a quick smoke break. The night had cooled considerably and Emma shivered as she crossed her arms over her chest and stood beside Ruby.
"So, who was it that you couldn't take your eyes off of earlier?"
"Nobody."
"It sure didn't look like you were staring at nobody, Em."
Emma sighed. "It was that woman I ran into at the Laundromat last night. She was here with a date. I saw her at La Mer with that woman, too."
"That hot lesbian couple that was here tonight?" Ruby asked with a short laugh. "Plenty of people couldn't take their eyes off of them. So, that was her? The one with the dark hair?"
"Yeah."
"I've seen her around here before," Ruby said before taking a long drag of her cigarette and exhaled sharply. "Always with a different woman, too, sometimes a man is with her, but it's never the same person from what I've seen. She's here almost every Thursday night since Luc started the whole singles night promotion two months ago."
Emma nodded and she wasn't sure why she was so interested in the brunette or why she hadn't been able to take her eyes off of her for long periods of time. It'd been so long since anyone caught her attention like that, but it was the first time it had ever been another woman.
"Em, are you crushing on her?"
"What?" Emma looked at Ruby in shock. "No!"
"You are," Ruby chuckled and she casually draped an arm around her shoulders. "Looking to take a little walk on the Sapphic side of life, Em?"
"No."
"Afraid you'll like it?"
"Ruby."
"Come on, as your best friend, I'm worried about you."
"You're worried about me?" Emma rolled her eyes. "Because I haven't been dating anyone?"
"Well yeah," Ruby scoffed and she dropped her arm from around Emma's shoulders. "When was the last time you went out on a date?"
"I can't remember."
"Exactly. That's how you know it's been far too long."
"Ruby, I told you before, I'm not looking for a relationship right now. When are you going to get off my case about it?"
"When you meet someone," Ruby replied with a sassy grin. "Look, Peter has a few friends who are single and they're good guys. Let me set you up with one of them. No expectations, just a date, and who knows, you might even have fun, or dare I even say you might even get laid."
"Pass," Emma sighed. "I'm just going to head home. What time do you get off?"
"Three. I'm closing tonight."
"Okay," Emma nodded and she started to walk towards the street. "I'll see you later, Ruby."
"Text me when you get home so I know you got home safe!"
"Yes, mom," Emma chuckled and she shook her head before she walked out to the street.
Her feet were throbbing, the heels finally starting to make them sore, but she wasn't going to walk the streets in bare feet, not in that neighborhood anyway. She crossed the street at the corner and saw a handful of people from the club drunkenly stumbling their way down the opposite side of the busy street.
It was a bit of a walk, especially feeling buzzed, but Emma had made that walk plenty of times in the past. She wasn't worried about being mugged, she could protect herself, and she had mace in her borrowed clutch if she truly needed it. She made it halfway home before she heard a whimpering noise coming from an alley between two rows of townhouses. Her curiosity got to the better of her and she entered the alleyway, alert and ready for anything.
Halfway down the narrow alley, the whimpers became louder and she stopped just beside a dumpster when she found a small German Shepherd huddled up against the wall beside the dumpster and whining as it licked at its front right paw.
"You okay little guy?" Emma asked tentatively and the dog looked up at her, its whimpers ceasing just a little. "I'm not gonna hurt you, okay?" Emma said as if she expected the dog to understand her. She pulled out her cell and called Mary Margaret at the apartment, relieved when she answered on the second ring. "Is David still with you? I found a dog and its hurt. He can help."
"Where are you?"
"Not far," Emma replied. "Just up the street."
"We'll be right there."
