A/N: Once again, my not so punctual butt took forever to update. So I apologize for that. I'm still extremely busy, and forgot to sync my phone to the document so that I could write without my laptop. Whoops. But here it is, as promised. I'm kind of iffy on this chapter, but I re-wrote it like 4 times and this was the best for developing the story. So bear with me, it might be a little meh.
Also, I used some song lyrics so I'll state now that I do not own them:
Discovering the Waterfront - Silverstein
It was the start of a new day, and Emma was hoping that it would be better than the last. She had been up all night, tossing and turning, her mind swarming with thoughts. Ever since the previous night when Ashley mentioned that Regina's last name was Colter, she's been wracking her brain on if this was the same R. Colter that she had sent the envelope of photos to for Robin. It could just be a crazy coincidence, but it was odd enough that Emma spent all night on the computer investigating. It bothered her knowing she may know something the brunette doesn't.
But to no avail, she found a whole lot of useless information. There were a handful of people with the name R. Colter and even weirder was the fact that three of the women were married to men named Daniel. She couldn't get very far on her Facebook investigation because all profiles were heavily privatized. So, Emma was completely unsure if Regina was the actual recipient of the photos, and that bugged her.
She's not exactly sure why she cared so much. What Regina did to her still hurt her to the core, and she knows she may be acting a tiny bit irrational, but with the truth of her past with Ashley, she couldn't help it. She can still remember that day, clearly, even if it was five years ago. They had broken up when Ellie was 4 years old.
5 Years Ago
Emma was sitting in the living room, watching TV with Ellie when Ashley emerges from the bedroom. She had gone to their room hours ago to rest, but when she walks out, Emma notices that Ashley has puffy, red eyes, as if she had been crying.
"Hey." Emma draws out. "Is everything okay?"
Ashley shakes her head and looks down. "No, can we talk for a minute? Alone?"
Emma looks down at Ellie who is happily watching The Lion King and she nods. "Sure."
Her stomach felt uneasy as they walk down the hallway to the bedroom. "What's going on?"
"I'm sorry." Ashley starts crying. Her body heaves uncontrollably as the sobs start to take over.
Emma moves towards Ashley, wrapping her arms around the blonde. "What are you sorry for?"
"I-I... this isn't working, anymore."
Emma takes a step back, cautious, terrified of what Ashley's about to say next.
"What's not working?"
"Us, Emma!" Ashley exclaims through tears. "I tried, I really did."
"I'm not sure I follow you..." Emma draws out, and she's not. She has no idea what's come over Ashley, or what she means by saying she tried.
"I need to tell you something, and I feel awful. I really do." Ashley starts to calm down. "But... I tried for so long to make this work, to believe you were the one for me but you're not. I-"
"You...?"
"Cheated..." Ashley starts.
"On me...?" Emma questions, her heart jumbled and her head reeling.
"No." Ashley shakes her head. "I cheated on someone else... with you. And then I got pregnant and so I stayed with you. And I've tried, Emma. For the last five years I've tried to make a life with you, and be happy and in love, but I'm not."
"So you stayed with me because you thought you had to... and that these last five years have been a lie?" Emma asks, the hurt and sadness suddenly turning into something much worse: anger.
"Emma, I'm sorry. I tried so damn hard. I didn't mean for any of this to happen."
Present Day
So yeah, Emma really remembered that day. She remembers it so much and that's the reason why she's having a hard time with what had happened recently. That anger that she felt when Ashley told her the truth reared its ugly head as soon as she found out that Regina was married and that she essentially got used again.
Emma sighs loudly as she gets out of bed, walking over to her desk. She flops down in the chair, grabbing the acoustic guitar that's sitting by the window. She needed some music therapy, and she needed it fast.
She starts playing the melody to the song she had written all those years ago when she found out the truth. She figures if it helped her then, it'll help her now.
'While I'm trembling, thrown overboard,
And I'm ready to relive the past.
Counting down, make that sound.
Break the silence.
Pretend it's not forever, I'll pull myself together.
I'll say that I'll forget her, I'll breathe.
And I'll say she never hurt me and look at it as learning. And laugh about the good and the bad.
Because I won't live forever, we don't belong together.
I know I'll feel better, one day, when I can make it through.'
Emma sets her guitar down and leans back in her chair, tapping her fingers on the desk. She presses her lips together and closes her eyes, exhaling loudly.
"What a mess." She mumbles to herself as she decides to get up and go wake up Ellie.
She walks barefoot across her room, heading for the door when a sharp pain radiates from her foot.
"Ow! What the fuck?" Emma gasps in pain as she moves her foot back and looks down at the floor. She notices a small item, glistening in the sunlight shining through her window. She kneels down and her heart drops as she picks the culprit up off of the ground. Regina's ring.
She knew it had to belong to the brunette. There was no one else in her bedroom in recent months who was married. Emma's grip around the ring grows tighter as the anger once again flows through her. This made it more real and Emma grows upset at realization that she'll need to figure out a way to get this back to Regina. She drops the ring into her pocket, looking at the imprint it left in her palm, like it was mocking her.
"Fuck me." Emma groans as the brushes her hand against her pants, trying to remove the marks. She shakes her head and tries to clear her mind of all of the negative feelings, knowing that today, she got to spend time with her daughter. "This is all that matters right now, Emma. Just keep your mind focused on Ellie and work."
Other Side of Town
"Thank you so much for letting me come over last night, Belle. I really appreciate it." Regina smiles as she grabs her jacket from the coat hanger.
After all that happened with Daniel and not wanting to deal with it because the meeting wore her out, Regina called her best friend and asked to stay the night.
"You're welcome, Gina." Belle mirrors her smile. "I still don't know why you stay with that asshole. He shouldn't be laying hands on you."
"I know… I'm… I'm figuring it out, Belle. I promise." Regina sighs, raising her left hand to her face to rub her forehead.
Belle cocks her head to the side and notices that the wedding band from Regina's finger was missing and she raises an eyebrow. "Is that why your ring's off? Are you actually leaving him?"
Regina's eyes grow wide and she looks at her hand in shock. She hadn't even realized that her ring was missing. She remembers taking it off at the bar when she met Emma and she totally forgot to put it back on when she left the blonde's house. "I- uh… No, that's not it. The other night I kind of went to this hole-in-the-wall bar and I just didn't want to get mugged over it, so I took it off."
"Huh." Belle shrugs her shoulders. "Well, I guess that makes sense. Just don't let Daniel see that or he'll go ballistic on you."
"Yeah." Regina sighs loudly. "I was trying to forget that his temper has gotten a little out of hand…"
"A little? Regina, he literally thinks he OWNS you. He got mad at you for having a meeting." Belle emphasizes. "I know you've been together since college, but like… I just think you need to leave him."
Regina nods. She knows Belle is right, she's been feeling it for awhile now. But she also still feels guilty about cheating on Daniel, even if he has been an asshole. Because that wasn't who she was as a person and her one momentary lapse of judgement is weighing heavily on her mind. She knows she's going to have to tell him, but she knows that it will probably end up with belongings in their house being broken and a yelling match.
"We'll see." Regina tries her best to smile, hugging Belle one last time before she leaves. She's dreading going home, but she knows she has to or else… "I'll see you on Monday, okay? I'll be fine, I promise."
Colter Residence; 12:00
Regina has been sitting in the garage for the last thirty minutes, staring out the windshield into nothingness. She arrived home and noticed that Daniel wasn't there. Like she expected anything else. He supposedly broke away from his 9 to 5 job and works whenever he pleases. Regina knew what it meant, she knew it in the depths of her heart that there was a reason he was never home, but she didn't want to admit it.
She sighs loudly, getting out of the car and walking out of the garage towards the mailbox. She blankly stares at the neighborhood as she opens the mailbox and grabs what appears to be a package out of it.
"Weird." She said as she turns the package around and noticed it was addressed to her. "Uh… weirder."
She shakes her head, thinking about what might be in the package. She knows she hasn't ordered anything, and even if she did, she wouldn't address it to herself under R. Colter. Her suspicion grows as she enters the house.
She throws the envelope down on the kitchen table and stares at it, trying to figure out what it could possibly be. The package was too small to be a bomb, so she's ruling out the fact that someone may want to kill her. Not that anyone would want to kill her, but she watches a lot of shows about murder, so of course her mind goes there. She pushes all thoughts of what the package could be to the side and works on opening the other pieces of mail she received.
She hears the garage door close and she groans loudly, knowing that Daniel was going to probably pick a fight about why she didn't come home last night. She waits as he enters the kitchen, bracing herself for the worst.
"Hey." He says in a monotone voice. "Welcome home."
"Uh… thanks?" Regina is instantly shocked that he hasn't started yelling yet, but she can still tell he's not being sincere. "Welcome home to you, too."
"Uh, yeah. So, where were you last night?" Daniel presses.
"Why do you want to know?" Regina quips back, growing defensive.
"Because for the hundredth time, Regina, you're my wife. I deserve to know these things." He argues.
"I was at Belle's, Daniel. God, not everything about my life revolves around you." Regina huffs out causing Daniel to scoff. "What? Am I not allowed to have friends anymore?"
Daniel rolls his eyes at his wife when he looks down at a large envelope on the kitchen table addressed to Regina, wondering what it could possibly be. He gets up from the table, trying to hide the fact that he was bothered by Regina's somewhat suspicious behavior.
"Whatever."
Regina just brushes off her husband's attitude and grabs the package. She opens it carefully, pulling out a bunch of what looked like photographs with a note attached to the front of them.
Figured you'd like to know what all of those 'issues' at work were really about.
"What the hell." Regina says out loud, causing Daniel to turn away from the sink and look at Regina who is currently removing the note from the pile.
He can't see what she's looking at, but by the expression on her face, he can tell it's not good. In front of Regina is a photo of Daniel and Marian, his best friend's wife, at a hotel. Her husband was kissing this other woman's cheek, time stamped at 8:00am the previous morning. She cycles through the photos and notices that there were multitudes of photos of the two of them together.
"What the actual fuck!?" Regina exclaims loudly. She gets up from the table and flips over a picture of Daniel and Marian kissing. "Mind explaining these to me?"
She doesn't even give him a chance to respond as she throws the image at her husband. She grabs the envelope off of the table with the rest of the photos and all but runs for the garage. She grabs her keys off of the hook and gets into her car, locking the door when she notices Daniel followed her.
"OPEN UP THE DOOR, REGINA!" He screams, furiously trying to open her car door. "OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR RIGHT NOW."
"Fuck you!" She screams through tears and her closed car window. She turns the key in the ignition and throws the car in reverse, hitting the gas and speeding out of the driveway. She speeds down the street, sobbing uncontrollably as she tries to wrap her mind around what she had just seen.
She stops at a park a few miles away, knowing damn well that Daniel was too much of a coward to follow her out into public and cause a scene. She knew he wouldn't risk her big shot reputation over anything, especially something like this where it was apparent he didn't give a flying fuck about his wife or their union.
Her fist slams into the steering wheel as she cries and curses. She had her suspicions, but seeing those suspicions be true with her own two eyes, that was doing something to her. And while she knew she had also fucked up, it looked like this was going on for a long time.
She glances down at the envelope and types the sender's address into her phone's GPS. She needed answers, and she needed them now.
Emma's Office; 12:45
"Hey Rubes, I'll be back, okay? I have to take Ellie home." Emma tells Ruby, her best friend and co-investigator. She and Ellie had stopped by the office to have lunch with her before Ellie had to go home and Emma inevitably had to go back to work.
"Okay, Emma, sounds good!" Ruby smiles as she runs to hug the blonde and Ellie. "Bye, Ellie!"
"Bye Aunt Ruby!" Ellie exclaims loudly. "I'll see you next week?"
"Of course, munchkin." Ruby beams. "I'll just answer any calls and if they demand to talk to you, I'll let them know they can either come and wait, or to call back later. Sound good?"
"Perfect, thank you so much!" Emma replies as she hurriedly rushes Ellie out of the office.
Ruby nods and gets back to work, addressing portfolios of photos to certain clients, as she did everyday when Emma didn't need her on the field with her. Ruby didn't mind doing office work, she actually quite enjoyed it. And it was a nice break from the diner where she worked with her grandma. That, and Emma paid her well, plus she got to spend time with her best friend. After Emma left the police force, Ruby noticed that she was busier than she was when she was on duty. So, working for and helping out Emma was definitely a win-win for them. Emma couldn't keep up with all of her clients, and Ruby got paid to hang out with her best friend.
She's been working away at paperwork for ten minutes when the door flies open and a disheveled looking brunette all but rushes into the office.
"Who the fuck ordered you to follow my husband around and take photos of him!?" The brunette furiously screams at Ruby.
Ruby raises her hands defensively. "I don't usually take the pictures ma'am, I just kind of help out where I can. I mostly do paperwork."
"Where is the person who was following them around?" She demands to know.
"She's out right now. You can go wait in her office… uh…?"
"Regina, my name is Regina. And I want answers." Regina replies, trying to curb her anger. "So when will whoever she is be back?"
"I don't know!" Ruby exclaims, fear lacing her voice as she stares at the anger hiding behind the brown eyes in front of her. "Just go wait in the office. It's over there."
Ruby points Regina to Emma's office and Regina huffs loudly, storming into the office. She angrily plops down in the chair, looking around the blandly decorated office. There were photos up everywhere, but they were photos of random people's lives. There was nothing to indicate who this person was, except for one tiny little trinket sitting on the desk, that was going unseen by the brunette.
Regina stands up and starts looking around the office, careful not to overstep any boundaries by looking through their files. She looks at the photos of people living their lives, not knowing they're being watched, and that's when it hit her. Whoever this person was, they were probably a private investigator or a murderer who stalks their victims. Both ideas worked in her mind.
Regina sighs as she heads back toward the desk, staring at the contents on it when something catches her attention out of the corner of her eye. It was a ring sitting next to a stack of papers, but that wasn't all. As Regina scrutinizes the ring, she notices that it looks way too familiar, like the ring that was currently missing from her finger. She can see the tiny inscription on the inside of the band, and that's when it hits her.
"No fucking wa-" Regina starts but she's interrupted by the sound of someone entering the office.
"Sorry for the hold…" They say, making eye contact with Regina. "…up. Shit, are you kidding me?"
Regina looks at Emma and Emma looks at Regina, both silent, both staring immensely at each other.
"What are you doing here?" Emma asks, moving quickly around Regina to sit behind her desk. "How did you know where I worked?"
"I-I didn't." Regina stutters, placing the envelope on the table. "I'm here because of these."
"Shit." Emma curses. "So, it was you."
"What does that mean? Did you know about this?" Regina questions.
"I didn't know that he was your husband. Obviously, my client didn't give me your first name. Do you know how many R. Colters there are in this stupid fucking city?" Emma retorts.
Regina sighs loudly. "Who hired you to watch Daniel?"
"No one. Someone hired me to watch her." Emma points to Marian. "And why are you so concerned? You cheated on him, too."
"Emma, now is not the fucking time to make me feel like shit about what I did." Regina growls. "I obviously fucking deserved this."
Emma shakes her head. "No, I'm sorry… I shouldn't have blown up on you. I'm just hur-… I'm sorry, okay?"
Regina nods. "Okay…"
"I don't want to get into this with you." Emma says softly. "So, you can uh, take your ring and go."
"What if I don't want to go?" Regina asks, standing up and moving closer to the blonde. "What if I don't want to go back to the reality of my shitty life?"
Emma looks up at Regina and the brunette takes this opportunity to quickly lean forward and kiss the blonde. Emma inhales sharply, pushing herself away from Regina and looking at her.
"I can't." Emma says sternly. "I'm sorry, I can't be that person."
"I know, you told me yesterday." Regina backs away.
"Then why did you kiss me?" Emma raises an eyebrow, confused.
Regina shrugs. "I don't know."
And Regina knows she's lying, but she can see the seriousness in Emma's eyes and that intimidates her. But if she were being completely honest with herself, she can't seem to get the blonde out of her head. Even if the guilt of what she had done with Emma looms over her, she can't seem to let it go. The way that Emma made her feel was more than she ever felt in her entire relationship with Daniel; and that scared but thrilled her at the same time. But she can see the hurt in Emma's eyes, she can see the betrayal and the thoughts swimming through her head, so she plays dumb.
"I'll just go." Regina says softly, grabbing her ring from the desk and cupping it in her hand. "I guess this is goodbye?"
Emma just nods. She doesn't want to let Regina know that she cares. She built up her walls and she needs to keep them up. She cannot afford to get hurt again, and the only thing she knows aside from the fact that Regina makes her fucking heart skip beats is that the brunette also hurt her. And that is something that she cannot deal with right now. So, she sets her feelings about Regina to the side and swallows her pride.
"Yeah, I guess."
Regina gets ready to turn around and leave, but something stops her. She can't exactly pin point what it was, but she lingers around for a few seconds.
Emma stares at her with those piercing green eyes that are burning holes into hers. Regina follows suit and stares at Emma, gripping the ring in her hand tightly, feeling the diamond imprint on her palm.
They stay like this for a few minutes, the tension between them. And it's killing both of them, but neither of them say anything.
Regina finally turns around and lets out a huge sigh. She grabs the door handle and presses it down, opening the door.
"If only I had met you after I saw those."
Until next time. I'll try to get the next one out sooner. Once again, I'm sorry this chapter was kind of bleh. I'm still trying to rack my brain on how I want this story to go in the long run. I was planning on it only being a few chapters, but I think I may expand it into a fuller story.