AN: Hey guys, I was feeling inspired so here's another chapter. And I'm really glad that you guys are liking my take on our beloved duo. To be honest I don't think I've ever read a SQ tattoo artist/book store owner myself but so far from the comments it appears that I'm doing something different which I'm really glad to hear. Enjoy!
Regina stood at her window, mug in hand, Graham was standing next to her sipping his tea.
"I guess he's not coming today, shame I was hoping I'd get to say goodbye before I head home. He's an adorable dog, seems to have a crush on you" Graham suggested. It had now been three days since the last time Brutus had shown up on her lawn. She kept expecting to see the dog bounding down the street straight toward her tree but he didn't, it was unnerving. She just shrugged it off.
"He more than likely has a crush on my poor apple tree." She stalked off into the kitchen to wash her dishes.
Graham followed her and chimed, "It almost sounds like you're jealous of your tree if you ask me."
"Well it's a good thing I'm not asking you then. Are you all packed?" She sounded like a scolding mother.
"Aw, you're going to miss me. I'll be back soon you know." He sent her a dopey grin.
"Yes I'm well aware you will be back soon, but if I remember correctly you will be finding your own place and not mooching off of me."
"I knew it, you're really going to miss me." He playfully poked her in the side which caused Regina to smack his hand away in feigned annoyance.
"Go get your stuff child, I won't have you late for your flight. As much as I know you'd like to stay to continue sucking Kathryn's face off you have a business you need to take care of."
He scoffed, "I was not sucking her face off."
"Tell that to my therapist Graham, I saw what I saw and it has scarred me for life. I'll have my guy talk to your guy about reparations." She sent him a smirk.
"Ha ha, very funny Regina."
"This is no laughing matter Graham, I'm just thankful you both weren't in the nude. Imagine with bills for that trauma."
"I'll make sure to hang a sock so you don't walk in on us next time." He started heading toward the door grabbing his suitcase.
"You were in my living room, were you going to trap me outside of my own house?" She locked the door behind them as they headed toward her Benz.
"Then thank god I'll be getting my own place huh?" He waited for her to unlock the trunk.
"Yes, I'll make sure to add God to my thank you card mailing list immediately."
He chuckled, "I've really missed you."
"Well come on, the faster we get you home the faster you can return." She gracefully got in the driver's side as he less gracefully sat down in the passenger's side. The ride for the most part was silent as she drove him to Logan International Airport.
Emma woke up confused. Her head was throbbing, her body was aching and her phone was ringing.
"Sorry I'll be there in a minute," she muttered into the phone, her voice was hoarse.
"You plan on being in Boston in a minute Swan?" His condescending voice rang through, Killian.
"I didn't check the caller ID, what do you want?"
"You sound bloody awful, are you sick?"
"I don't know, maybe. Why did you call Killian?" Her eyes felt heavy and every second spent talking to him was only making her more agitated.
"Well, I was calling to see if you were all set up for Henry to visit tomorrow but if you're sick I won't have him being around that. We will have to reschedule this visit."
"I can take care of him, I'm fine." It probably would have sounded a lot more convincing if it wasn't followed by a vicious sneeze.
"Sorry love, maybe next time."
"I haven't seen him in months Killian, I deserve the right to see him."
"I believe I am the one that decides when you do and do not get to see him. It would be in your best interest to not get on my bad side Swan. And I'm choosing to not allow him to see you until you're healthy. Would you like to talk to him?"
She felt the rage building in the pit of her stomach but she held it down. For now Killian had the advantage but she knew she had a chance to get, at the minimum partial custody rights. "Yes I'd like to talk to him."
She heard a shuffle on the phone and then she heard an excited voice, "hey Ma! I'm so ready to come and see your new place! It's near the ocean right? Have you already found the best grilled cheese in the area?"
"Sorry kid, I'm sick, I've got a flu maybe. Your dad isn't letting you come visit." There was a pause before she heard him sigh, "I know buddy, I've been dying to see you as well. But as soon as I'm doing better I'm going to find a way for you to come and visit. I really wanted to show you my shop, you'd love it, books everywhere."
"I was really excited to see you." He sounded dejected. The sadness in his voice nearly broke her heart. She just really wanted to hug him and tell him everything was going to be okay.
"I love you kid."
"Love you too mom. I gotta go, Dad's calling me, gotta go hang out with his stupid girlfriend." He sounded annoyed.
She snorted at that, "Good luck, see you soon. Be good."
"I always am Ma. Bye."
"Bye kid." She hung up the phone, she sent a quick text to Ruby telling her that she wouldn't be able to make it into work. She put down her phone and rolled over in bed only to come face to face with a sleeping Brutus. She shrugged and draped an arm over him and fell back asleep. If she couldn't give Henry motherly cuddles Brutus would have to make do.
Regina had finally arrived back home, it was now late morning and she'd taken the day off. Graham was most likely now boarding his flight. She grabbed a book and sat down on her sofa. She hadn't had a lot of time to catch up on her reading lately but before she got five pages in her phone was ringing. Glancing at the caller ID she saw "Idiot dog owner" was calling.
This was the first time Emma was calling her and it intrigued her since she hadn't seen the woman in a few days. She picked up her phone and answered, "Miss Swan to what do I owe this call?"
"He got out, I don't even know if you're home but he got out and he's headed to your house." Emma sounded like hell, her voice was raspy and there was a sniffle followed by a sneeze. "I'll come get him."
"You will do no such thing. You sound like you're on your deathbed. I will find someone to fetch your dog." She stood up and headed to the window to see Brutus bounding over and plopping down next to her tree. "Stay home Miss Swan, we do not need you sneezing yourself into a car crash."
Before Emma could reply she hung up and that was when she realized that she was the only person available to bring Brutus home. Kathryn, Merida and Robin all had clients. Ruby and the rest of Emma's employees were bound to be working. Graham was on his way to LA. She sighed and paced back and forth, she couldn't very well renege her offer.
If she was going to be escorting a dog three blocks she might as well bring food for Emma, the idiot probably hadn't eaten anything. She swept around her kitchen grabbing ingredients for chicken noodle soup placing them in a bag. Why she was doing this she had no idea but it's probably the most humane thing to do for a sick woman.
She held the bag of ingredients in her hand as she glanced out the window seeing Brutus in pretty much the same spot except now he was rolled over onto his back. She walked to the front door and held onto the handle for a minute working up her courage.
He's only a dog. He's a giant bundle of fluff and he never attacked Graham or Kathryn right? Why the hell was she doing this? She swung the door open, walked outside, closed and lock it and walked through her yard, past Brutus toward Emma's place. She only knew where her place was because she had seen that obnoxious yellow bug parked in the driveway more than one time on her way home. She was praying Brutus would just follow her. She swiftly made it the three blocks and she could hear the dog following her. Emma's car was a beacon of her destination.
She walked up the pathway and knocked on the door. It was a smallish house, but nice. The door slowly opened as she saw Emma standing there with a blanket draped over her entire body, held in place at the neck by her other hand.
"Regina?" She sounded genuinely confused. Brutus bounced past her and into the house.
"I brought you ingredients for chicken noodle soup. Are you capable of cooking?"
"Normally yeah, kinda not in the mood to do anything." Emma looked like she was about to pass out causing Regina to do something she normally wouldn't do. She reached forward and rested her hand on Emma's forehead, she was burning up. She moved inside past Emma who gave her a look like she was seeing a ghost.
"Where the hell are you going?" Emma managed out as she shut the door.
"Which way to your kitchen Miss Swan? You should go lie down you look like you're about to faint."
"You hate me. Why do you want to go to my kitchen? You also hate my dog who is currently most likely grabbing all his toys to show them off to you."
"Don't worry, I'm not going to poison you. I'm just going to make you soup, make sure you don't die and then I'll be on my way." Emma shuffled past her and waved at her to follow which was an amusing sight since Emma looked like a giant moving blanket.
The two made their way into the living room which was connected to the kitchen. Regina's eyes swept over the room taking in all of the half put together furniture and a few boxes here and there. Emma flopped onto the sofa as Brutus reemerged with toys in his mouth tail wagging. He dropped them in front of her and headed back out the doorway from where he came.
Her posture must have given her away because Emma mumbled, "you can leave if you want. He doesn't bite though. I'm pretty sure it was his genius plan that got you to come over today."
"You think your dog made a plan to trick me into coming here?"
"He found a way to escape the backyard without a trace by opening the gate latch, he's smarter than he looks."
He bounded back in and dropped a ball at her feet before leaving again.
"Do you have a soup pot?" Regina tried relaxing a bit. Brutus was just trying to be friends.
Emma nodded and waved an arm toward the kitchen. Regina strode into the open kitchen and placed her bag onto the island trying to take in her surroundings. She spotted the large pot hanging from the wall, her kitchen seemed to be the most put together room in the house so far.
She found a sharp knife and cutting board and began slicing the vegetables. At first Brutus bouncing into the room made her uneasy but after the sixth toy was dropped in her vicinity she was more at ease with his presence. She put the soup on the stove to finish cooking and now she had no reason to stay.
She stepped over the now 15 deep pile of toys and walked over into Emma's sight, facing her. "The soup is on the stove. Feel better Miss Swan."
"Emma," she muttered before violently sneezing. Regina raised an eyebrow and Emma just looked back at her pathetically, "you can call me Emma. My ex calls me Swan. Why are you being nice? Did you answer me last time? I don't remember."
"Because despite my temperament I am a human being, Emma."
"Hmm that sounds better, can you stay? I'm lonely." Emma sounded like she was out of it and Regina couldn't help but feel sorry for her so she sat down on the sofa near Emma's feet. "I'm sorry Brutus got out again. I opened the door, he snuck past. Do you keep doggy treats buried under your tree?"
Regina snorted, "Not that I know of." She snuggled into the sofa and finally realized Emma's tv show of choice was Family Feud. She rolled her eyes at the ridiculous show choice but she didn't say anything. Brutus spent it curled up on his doggy bed, she felt like she should be uncomfortable but she wasn't. He stayed on his side of the room and Regina stayed on the sofa. Emma fell asleep at the introduction of the families and woke up during fast money with chills. Regina reached over placing her hand on Emma's forehead again. "You're hot, do you have a thermometer somewhere? Have you taken anything?"
"No," Emma moaned but snuggled her face into Regina's hand. "Haven't been able to get meds. Your hands cold, it's nice."
"Alright, I'm going to go and get you some medicine and a thermometer, make sure that it isn't dangerous."
Emma mumbled out ,"No liquid."
"No liquid? Are we talking medicine?"
"Yeah no liquid medicine."
"Any particular reason why?"
Emma's voice came out soft, "I was a foster kid, one of my foster parents liked to dose whoever was misbehaving with liquid nyquil before bed. I had to take it a lot. So no liquid medicine."
"I'm sorry about that Emma, I didn't mean to pry such personal information out of you. No liquid it is then. I'll be back soon." She promised before heading to the front door. She wasn't sure why she was taking care of Emma but she didn't have anything better to do so she walked home and got into her car and headed to the store. The local drug store was quiet which made it easy for her to find exactly what she was looking for. She grabbed the cold pills as well as some advil and a thermometer. She was headed to check out when she walked out of the aisle and nearly straight into her mother.
"Regina, lovely to bump into you." a fake smile was plastered onto her mother's face. She looked composed as always.
Regina mirrored the expression, "Mother"
Cora eyed down Regina who was wearing a short sleeve blouse and slacks, she eyed the tattoos as if they were contagious. Her eyes eventually landed on the items in Regina's hands. "Are you sick dear?" she asked with feigned interest.
"No, I'm simply helping out a friend." Regina replied trying to maintain the facade of nicety. She was never in the mood to talk to her mother.
"Of course, send Kathryn my well wishes. I do hope whatever she has isn't contagious." Cora had a way of making snide remarks, without actually saying anything rude. Regina knew that Cora could care less about Kathryn, the one time she had met Kathryn the two had been at each other's throats. Kathryn was apparently a very defensive friend and didn't like the fact that Cora had attempted to prevent Regina from seeing her dying father.
"She isn't the one sick, but I'll pass on your well wishes."
"Is that so? Then who might this friend of yours be?" Of course Cora was making a remark about Regina's ability to make friends. She'd always been more of a lone wolf, partially because growing up everyone in town was terrified of Cora.
"Her name is Emma, she's new in town, I should be getting back to her."
"Of course," Cora conceded, Regina began moving toward the register as Cora called after her, "it wouldn't be Emma Swan would it? The woman with a police record who opened up shop next door to you. Interesting choice of friends dear." Regina tried to ignore the remark and made her way to the register.
She checked out without bumping into her mother again, thankfully and made it to her car. Apparently Emma was not just a blonde in a red leather jacket with a dog. Emma was a foster child with an ex, and a criminal record who also happened to be a blonde and also happens to look good in a red leather jacket. She was trying to figure out this woman as she drove back, parking next to the bright yellow bug.
She knocked on the front door before opening it, "Emma?" She heard a groan in response so she made her way inside finding Brutus and Emma in the exact same places she had left them. She realized that the soup was still on so she rushed over and turned off the stove, she shouldn't have assumed that Emma would remember. Rummaging around the kitchen she managed to find a bowl and a cup. She filled them with their respective contents and put them on the coffee table in front of Emma, before she opened up the thermometer box. She pulled out the thermometer with the slew of paperwork that came with it.
"Open up." Regina commanded. Emma gave her a groggy look of confusion, "Your mouth Emma, I need to take your temperature." Emma just nodded as Regina placed the thermometer in her mouth. "Keep it under your tongue and keep your mouth closed." She sat down on the edge of the coffee table watching Emma who was trying to get comfortable all while keeping the thermometer under her tongue. She heard the beep go off and took the thermometer looking at the reading, "101.4, impressive. You should eat and drink a lot of fluids. I also got advil that might help bring it down but generally we want to let fevers run their course."
"This isn't the first time I've had a cold you know, and I'm not hungry." Emma attempted to curl up under her blanket more but it just moved the blanket so it wasn't covering her feet which made her groan.
"You need to eat. Now sit up and stop being a child."
Emma gave her a dirty look but sat up and took the bowl from Regina, "Happy?"
"Yes I am." She smirked.
"I'll eat if you eat," Emma bargained. "You haven't eaten."
"Fine, just eat the damn soup Emma." She got up and went into the kitchen and grabbed herself a bowl of soup before sitting back down next to Emma. Emma was slurping up the soup while Regina began eating in a much more dignified manner. She watched as Emma put the now empty bowl down and sip on the water before she laid back down, this time her head was closer to Regina. Emma snuggled her head against Regina's thigh and passed out. Regina rolled her eyes and finished eating. Apparently whatever channel Emma had on was running a Family Feud just crossed her arms and braced herself for the stupidity of the answers.
"Everything hurts," Emma moaned. "Maybe I'm dying."
"You aren't dying, you'll be fine, just go to sleep." Regina's voice was soft. Emma mumbled a rebuttal and curled up as close to Regina as she could get. An episode in and Emma began lightly snoring. Regina watched her sleep for a moment, she looked so peaceful, she had the urge to wipe Emma's hair out of her face but she abstained and instead turned her focus back on the tv and continued scolding the families for being so daft.
Somehow Regina was so focused on the show she didn't noticed that Brutus had curled up on her feet. Somehow she felt completely relaxed, she heard the buzz of Emma's phone on the coffee table, she glanced at it and saw that a "Dickhead" was calling so she adverted her eyes back to the show. Emma was fast asleep and she needed her rest. Only two minutes later her phone was buzzing again. Two more times her phone buzzed from the same number, so whoever it was really seemed to need Emma. Regina gently rubbed Emma's arm trying to wake her out of her sleep. Emma groaned into consciousness.
"There is someone named Dickhead desperately trying to get in contact with you. Feeling any better?" Regina asked as Emma sat up reaching for her phone.
"Yeah, I think the fever has gone down, my eyes feel less droopy."
"How articulate."
Emma looked at her phone in disgust, "Lovely, I get to talk to him twice in one day." She answered the phone, "What do you want Killian?" Emma paused, "Sorry I was sleeping, I'm sick remember?" her voice was dripping with sarcasm but then Emma sat up straight abruptly, Regina watched her reactions out of the corner of her eye, "What the fuck do you mean you don't know where he is?"
Emma looked pissed as she stumbled to her feet, she snarled "Well maybe if you weren't so busy focusing on your new fuck buddy you wouldn't have lost my son Killian. I swear to god if something happened to him I will personally kill you."
AN: I'm sorry, I like writing cliffhangers but I know reading them is excruciating.
