Author's note: Hello all! Thank you once again for the lovely comments 3 They mean more to me than you think.
This chapter focuses on the beginning conflict -besides the getting Emma and Regina together one-. I am also ALWAYS up for any suggestions that you guys have! I write what amuses me, but I crave fresh ideas. You have no idea how often I roll around on my bed when I can't think of where the conversation I'm writing is going. Plus, I'm trying to keep this as canon as possible, but sometimes I write before an episode and then I don't want to rewrite my chapter -because good god, I would never update that way!- so I apologize if anything is a bit outdated.
I want to apologize for the late updates. I am a senior in high school, taking college classes, trying to get into a musical theater program in college while working and training horses. I try to work on this as much as possible (aka, during my psychology and physics classes) and I am not dropping it anytime soon. If I do end up dropping it ever, I will let you know with an author's note. But don't plan on that ;) Now enjoy!
Disclaimer: Don't own characters except my oc, no affiliation with abc... -yawn-
Over the next few weeks nothing was out of the norm, except for a few certain members of Storybrooke. Ever since the party, Emma had been running into Regina more than usual. The mayor had been doing more and more drop-ins at the department, and for the most ridiculous reasons. What is the recent crime rate?or How are the cell bars holding up?The thing that bothered Emma was that she found herself not minding the routine meetings with the mayor. In fact, she found herself waiting for Regina to visit her. The mayor had also been running into Evangeline more and more; There were incidental meetings near Mary-Margaret's apartment, or at the diner, or anywhere in town, really. The young girl seemed to enjoy the mayor's presence almost as much as Emma did, although Emma didn't know why she enjoyed it. It was wrong. Regina was her enemy, right? The only thing different about Evangeline was that she was a bit bi polar in her reactions to Regina. Sometimes she'd be as happy with the mayor as Emma was, while other times she was distant and cold.Along with the curious appearances of the mayor, Mr. Gold had been robbed and caught beating the man responsible with his cane. The pawnshop owner's jailing had given Regina even more initiative to visit the station. The first time the brunette had stopped by to check on Gold, however, she'd been cold to Emma. "I'm giving you one half hour to take Henry for ice cream, sheriff." And that was that. Emma took Henry for ice cream and made sure to bring him back after twenty-nine and a half minutes; Regina wasn't one to cross boundaries with that day.Mary-Margaret had been strange around David, or rather, she wasn'taround David. Kathryn had found out about the two and had acted, in what Emma thought, was a rational way to act when you find out your husband is having an affair. Although, Mary-Margaret and David weren't having an affair, she still had a right to feel betrayed.Today, Evangeline had asked to go to the station with Emma. She didn't blame the girl. Sitting in Mary-Margaret's apartment until one of the two women came home from work had probably worn itself a little thin. So, Emma agreed. What Evangeline didn't realize, was that Mr. Gold would be in the same proximity as her, which the sheriff realized once they both stepped foot into the station. The young blonde stopped in her tracks upon seeing the man in the cell, but soon kept walking closely to Emma, grasping her hand in the process. Emma smiled to herself and gave Evangeline's hand a reassuring squeeze before letting go and sitting down at her desk, groaning at the stack of paperwork in front of her. "Not gonna lie, it gets pret-ty boring around here," she said after a while, slapping another piece of paper off the stack onto the space in front of her. "That's fine. I was getting bored just sitting at hom-""Well, that's a problem that could easily be solved." Came a voice smoother than silk and more dangerous than a tiger. Rounding the corner was Regina and Henry, who had a giant grin on his face upon seeing Emma and Evangeline. He bounded up into Emma's arms and then turned to Evangeline to give her a bear hug, which she uneasily relaxed into. Regina wore a soft, warm smile which Emma had been seeing more and more often lately and reached out to pull Emma's hand and lead her toward the door. "Why don't you take a break to eat lunch with Henry and I? Evangeline can come too, of course." the mayor said with her trademark smirk. Emma's heart stuttered and she hesitated, but couldn't protest when Henry begged with major puppy dog eyes: something he definitely got from her. She smiled, nodding, and then allowed herself to be dragged out the door by a very excited Henry and Evangeline, who was just happy to have something to do.As the first three left the station, Regina moved to follow but was stopped by a mumbling from the cell across the room. "What?" she snapped, turning to stalk up to the bars."I said, nice little family you got there, your majesty," Gold remarked with a knowing look in his eyes. Regina's eyes became darker than they'd been in a long time as she neared his enclosure with her teeth almost barred. "I'd hate to see a happy group, such as that, to have something unfortunate happen," he added. The brunette snarled, dangerously close to him, her hands gripping the bars white knuckled. "You. Wouldn't. Dare." she whispered hoarsely, never loosing an inch of composure. "Oh, I'd never," the man replied sickly sweet, with mock innocence.Regina smiled nastily at him. "Good. Because if you do," she put a finger to her lips in thought. "Well, let's just hope you don't.""Well, pleasehurry to catch up with your group Madame Mayor. Wouldn't want you to... be late." Gold said, with a hint of threat in his voice, and Regina's head snapped to the door with worry in her face, eliciting a dark chuckle from the pawn shop owner. She snarled once again at him before quickly exiting the station to find Emma and the two children waiting for her._The lunch at Granny's was sufficiently awkward for everyone, even Ruby, who didn't dare make any playful comments about the odd group. Henry was the first to bravely cut through the silence, which Emma was grateful for and made a mental note to thank him later. "So Ev-Angie," he covered up with a small cough. "you... into any sports?" Regina's eyes widened ever-so-slightly and Emma almost did a spit take, while Evangeline remained perfectly composed. "Actually, I dance." she replied cooly, taking a sip of her cocoa. Emma turned to face the young blonde with disbelief on her face. How was she so quick witted? "What about you?" she asked with complete innocence on her face.Henry shrugged and leaned his arms on the table top. "Nah, I'm not the sporty type." Silence. Again.Ruby rounded the table with their orders, thank god, and they all happily munched, thankful of the reason to not make conversation. After lunch was over, Emma got into an argument with Regina about who was paying and the two kids leaned against the bar next to Ruby, rolling their eyes. When all was said and done, Regina ended up paying for everyone leaving a grumbling sheriff back by the table. "Have a great day Emma." Ruby emphasized as Emma passed, giving the blonde a wink before spinning on her heels to get back to work. With a confused look on her face, Emma turned to follow everyone out when she collided with the stationary body in front of her. Tingles shot from where she made contact with the person in front of her throughout her entire body and eventually short circuited her brain. All she could do was make a futile attempt to catch her breath, but her body seemed to have forgotten how exactly to do that. After the feeling passed, it left her with a pleasant buzzed feeling in her head. She moved her gaze to meet that of the person's in front of her and she found Regina once again mirroring her expression. The two of them quickly looked away from each other, but as they made to leave the diner, Emma realized that Regina had intertwined her hand with the blondes. Regina didn't remove her hand, and Emma didn't protest when they kept them together all the way back to the station. It made everything seem okay, and Emma wasn't one to pass that feeling up right now.
She really needed to find a new way to release her tension. That was her first thought as she ripped the lid off of the coffee maker. Her second thought was that she had horrible aim, as she threw the lid at the trash can, completely missing and probably leaving a dent in the cabinets with a loud clank.What the hellwas she thinking? Walking through town holding hands with the mayor?Storybrooke was really having an effect on her, and not a positive one. What was happening to her? First, lunch. Then, holding hands? This was stupid, stupid, stupid.Oh, there goes the waffle iron. Shit. She's going to have to reimburse Mary-Margaret for a set of new kitchen appliances. " "
"Nope." Mary-Margaret opened her mouth to respond, but decided to leave it alone and headed upstairs. Irritated, Emma pulled a blanket up to her chin and jabbed the buttons on the remote to watch something that would take her mind away from everything. " "