CHAPTER FOUR
When Ruby opened the door with her skeleton key several hours later she wasn't really surprised to see Emma curled around Regina, spooning the brunette in her sleep, or the clothes thrown around the room.
"Ahem," she cleared her throat loudly. Emma grumbled but didn't open her eyes and Regina didn't flinch. Figuring she would need to be a little more abrasive to get them moving, she tried yelling. "Rise and shine, officers!"
"Ruby," Emma groaned. "Go away."
"And how is everyone feeling on this fine, beautiful morning?"
"I feel like if you don't shut up I'm going to fucking murder you."
Regina rolled over and buried her face in Emma's neck before pulling her pillow over her head to muffle the sounds of the sisters bantering.
"Well, look," Ruby drawled in a bored tone, "I just thought you'd like to know your Mercedes is about to leave the property."
Regina shot up, "What? Why?"
"You gave it away last night. Or do you not remember?" Her face broke out in an evil grin. "I wonder what else you don't remember giving away last night," she said with a wink, enjoying the way the brunette's cheeks turned rosy and she struggled between pulling the sheets up to cover her naked skin and wanting to leap from the bed and find her car.
"Why would I give my car away? Who did I give it to?"
"You lost it playing poker," Ruby explained easily like this was an everyday thing at Lucas's. "Dopey came back this morning to pick it up."
"Dopey?" Regina's face scrunched in confusion.
"I don't know what his real name is," Ruby sighed. "He's a little dopey looking guy. Am I supposed to remember everyone's name? Isn't it enough I stalled him with breakfast so you could have enough time to get dressed and make him give it back?"
That was all Regina needed to hear to jump into action. Ruby laughed and closed the door to give them some privacy, hearing the mumbling and bickering while they dressed, the thump of Emma, no doubt, falling down while shimmying into her skinny jeans, and minutes later the door was yanked open and they followed Ruby towards the parking lot.
Regina held a hand up to protect her eyes from the bright sunlight while she checked her phone.
"Oh, Jesus. Ten missed messages," she huffed.
"There he is," Ruby pointed to a short man stumbling towards Regina's Mercedes.
Regina held her phone up to her ear and pushed Emma's shoulder.
"Would you go get him, please?"
Emma sighed and sauntered ahead, yelling out to him as he opened the driver door, definitely not taking her aggression out on the little guy because she suddenly felt terribly whipped.
"Hey! Get out of the car, asshole!"
As soon as he sat in the driver's seat, the car exploded. The windows shattered. The hood, trunk, and doors popped open. The alarm went off. Dust and debris fell all around them. The car was left a flaming hunk of scrap metal, burning in the remains of a fireball.
"Oh, shit!" Emma coughed, standing back up from where she had been knocked down by the blast.
Regina stood up as well, dusting her pants off where she had fallen and stared open-mouthed at the inferno that used to be her car.
"Oh my god."
xxxxx
Firefighters were the first to respond to the scene, followed shortly by Maleficent and DEA Special Agents Whale and Beastly who filled them in on the information that had been left on Regina's voicemail.
The brunette gaped, "How did Hook escape?"
Maleficent sighed, "Federal Marshals transferring him got ambushed. We're not sure whether Rumpelstiltskin's men followed the marshals or got information from the inside."
"You don't think it's a little obvious?!" Emma shouted, pointing at Whale.
"Fuck you!"
"I know when I smell a fucking rat and it's you, One Direction."
"If you want to point a finger around here, why don't you point it back at yourself?" Whale yelled, ignoring Maleficent when she held her hand up to quiet him. "No! If you two hadn't brought Hook in, Rumpelstiltskin would have never known we were on to him and then this whole case wouldn't be the giant mixed-up bucket of shit that it is now!"
Beastly nodded beside him, "Now Rumpel knows who you are, and Hook is angry as shit. If I were you, I would get out of town."
Regina smirked condescendingly, "You'd like that, wouldn't you?"
"Mills," Maleficent crossed her arms. "He's right. This isn't a choice."
Regina was about to argue when her phone beeped. Glancing down at the screen she saw it was an incoming picture message from a private number.
"No!" Emma yelled. "No way! You're not my boss, lady! And even if you were, you still couldn't stop me. I have more invested in this case than any of you assholes and now you fucked it up, didn't you?" She stopped her rant when Regina nudged her, discreetly showing her the screen of the phone. It was a picture of Emma's family. The same Christmas photo Regina had seen in Emma's apartment. She rolled her eyes at the image, "Yeah, thanks. That's another fucked up area of my life. Thanks for bringing it up."
"No," Regina murmured quietly. "That was just sent to me."
Emma took a deep breath and handed Regina back her phone, then faced Maleficent and the agents with her hands up in surrender.
"Okay," she sighed. "Fine. I guess I'm out of line, huh? I'll step back and see what you assholes can do. Go USA," she cheered mockingly before turning away, pulling Regina with her. "Let's go. We've gotta get my family out. They're gonna kill them."
Regina nodded in agreement, "I'll talk to Mal. The FBI can arrange everything."
"No way. Are you kidding? We got a mole in there. I'm assuming it's that Jonas Brother," she looked back over her shoulder at Whale who was scowling, watching them walk away. "We are going in there by ourselves and doing it now. Are you with me or not?"
Regina tangled their fingers together.
"Of course I am, dear."
xxxxx
"This is bullshit!" Kristoff yelled. "Why should we uproot our lives because you're an asshole?"
"Don't talk to her like that," August pushed him out the door. "It's not her fault."
"You want to bring everyone?" Regina asked incredulously, watching the entire family filing out carrying their respective luggage.
"No," Emma shrugged, "but it'd be like Schindler's List."
"Where are you going?" Regina asked Lily, who was trying to sneak back upstairs. "Go outside."
"Fuck you, I live here."
"Go get in the van you fucking brat," Emma yelled at her.
Lily got close to challenge her, then laughed.
"Is that a hickey?"
One of Emma's hands flew to her neck and the other pushed Lily out the door as Kristoff came walking back up the steps, a bat in his hands.
"Why the fuck do you have that?" Emma asked, already exasperated with her youngest brother.
"Just let 'em try to come over here, Em," he muttered, dropping it loudly into an open palm. "Just let 'em try."
"They're not gonna throw baseballs at you. They're gonna shoot you, moron. Get in the fucking van."
Regina gave up trying to shepherd everyone into the vehicle and left Emma to complete that particular task, instead sitting in the driver's seat of the van, waiting for the family to finish loading up so they could leave.
She rubbed her temple, the headache she felt since she woke up building and she couldn't decide if that was because of her hangover, her car exploding, or this family.
Lily approached the driver's window Regina had left partially rolled down.
"Hi," she smiled at Regina for the first time, trying to win her over. "Can I drive?"
"No," Regina rolled her eyes and pointed around the car, "but if you could make your way around..."
"Get out and let me drive," she interrupted. "I'm a really good driver."
"Emma!" Regina yelled.
The blonde screamed several more colorful threats at her family and when that didn't manage to get everyone's attention she pulled her gun out and started waving it around.
Regina heard August laugh in the back seat.
"That got them moving, huh?"
"So, August," Regina said awkwardly, well aware she had just spent the night with his sister. "Your family seems nice."
He chuckled, "Yeah, we have our good days."
Emma pushed them all in the van but before she could finish securing them inside Kristoff stuck his arm out to stop the rolling door.
"We gotta get Anna."
"For what?"
"Because you put her fucking life in danger!"
Emma rolled her eyes, "Nobody gives a shit about her."
"If I'm going, Anna's going." When Emma didn't acknowledge his demand he tried to push past her and climb back out. "I'm not going unless we get Anna!"
Emma pushed him back inside the van, "Fine!"
"We're getting Anna!"
"I said fine! Put your feet inside before I chop them off!"
Slamming the door closed she huffed before taking her position in the passenger seat next to Regina who looked over at her and clasped her hands to her heart dramatically.
"My savior!"
"I hope a truck hits us and we all die," she grumbled.
xxxxx
Emma and Regina left August, Lily, Anna, and Elsa to find spare rooms at Lucas's, Kristoff posted outside with his bat, and went to have breakfast in the diner out back. Granny and Ruby insisted they weren't going to miss work and Emma gave in because at least this way they could still keep an eye on them.
Emma directed Regina to a booth in the corner before following Granny into the kitchen, coming back with two mugs of coffee.
"My savior," Regina said again, sounding far less mocking than she had in the car, and hummed appreciatively with her first sip. She noticed Emma's eyes darkened, no doubt recalling the other ways she had made the brunette hum like that the night before. "Focus," she teased with a smirk.
"Shut up," the blonde mumbled, unable to shake the silly grin from her face.
Regina scrolled through the messages on her phone before placing it aside.
"If we just knew where that shipment was coming to, we would have Rumpelstiltskin and Hook. They would both be there, and we could get them," she huffed, annoyed.
Emma slid Regina the menu she knew by heart, "I'm just happy that August is out of there for now."
"Yeah," Regina nodded, the wheels in her head turning. "Shame, though. Having your brother on the inside would be a coup for us."
Emma lowered the brunette's menu, making eye contact and frowning.
"That's what you want to say? Because you're saying that out loud."
Regina scoffed, "You would say the exact same thing if it wasn't your brother, and you know that."
"We're done talking about this."
"So if it was just some random drug dealer, you wouldn't send him back in? If it was someone like Cassidy-"
Emma crossed her arms defensively and scowled.
"We're not talking about Cassidy, we're talking about my brother."
"We all have a lot to lose if we don't catch Rumpelstiltskin."
"What do you have to lose?"
"I have a lot."
Emma continued to rage, not seeing the care in Regina's eyes.
"Some bullshit promotion? You don't give a shit about my family or if August goes out there and gets killed."
"I feel you're not being honest because nobody forced your brother to get involved with drugs."
Emma pointed at her, "You're an asshole for that."
"Okay, that's not helping either," Regina sighed, knowing this was going nowhere. She let Emma sit for a moment in silence to cool down before reaching across the table and gently untangling the blonde's arms from across her chest. "I'm trying to create a dialogue," she said softly. "Note that I start my statements with 'I feel.'"
"Oh, I feel like you're an asshole."
Emma was still scowling but at least she had lowered her tone.
"I feel like you've worn that hideous jacket every day since I met you."
"I feel like maybe you don't like this jacket as much as that hoodie last night, but you're still fond of it."
"Oh, really? Well, I feel I disagree."
Emma sat back in her seat, "Must be nice."
"What?"
"Must be really nice for you to know everything. To be so much smarter than everybody else."
Regina rolled her eyes, "I don't profess to know everything, but I do know quite a bit. What I know is accurate and scientifically proven, and I share that information with you. If you have a problem with that, tune me out like you always do."
"I feel like-"
Regina's phone ringing interrupted Emma.
"Mills," Regina answered quickly, then rolled her eyes and handed the phone to Emma. "Why don't you have your own phone?"
"Who am I, the Queen of England?" Emma replied sarcastically before throwing her own phone on the table with a loud thump. "Dead battery."
"I don't know, does the Queen of England only wear skinny jeans?"
"Fuck you."
"You," Regina pointed at her. "Eff you."
Emma glared at Regina one last time before yanking the phone out of her hand and holding it up to her ear.
"This is Swan."
"Em, I left. I couldn't sit there anymore."
"What? August, where are you?"
"I talked to them and everything's fine. Nothing's weird. We're good."
"It doesn't work that way, Auggie," she sighed. "They know you're my brother."
"But they also know you arrested me and that made it seem like I hated you. That's good, right?"
"No, no, no. It doesn't work that way!"
"Shut up for a minute! Look, I know where the shipment's going to."
"I don't give a shit about the shipment! Just get your ass back here now!"
"I gotta stick around or they'll know something's up. Just trust me, I'm trying to do the right thing here."
Regina grabbed the phone back from Emma, "August? What's going on?"
"Don't talk to her!" Emma yelled.
"The shipment's coming to Boston Harbor Shipyard at 11:00. It's a big freight, tons of guys."
"I got it."
"They'll be heavily armed. You got to be careful, you hear me? The ship is called the S.S. Tank or some shit like that."
"I promise we'll be there."
"I got to go."
The phone call disconnected without another word.
Emma shook her head, scowling.
"You just made my brother a dead man."
"No," Regina reached out to take Emma's hand but she pulled it away. "He's gonna be fine." Meeting Emma's icy gaze and silence Regina tried to reassure her, "Emma, I swear. He'll be fine. We're gonna have the full power of the Boston FBI down on that terminal tonight. I promise you, he'll be fine." Emma just scoffed. "It really is a good thing. You'll thank me."
"Shut up."
xxxxx
That night Emma, Regina, Maleficent, Whale, Beastly, a dozen Boston FBI field agents, and a SWAT Team raided a boat full of innocent civilians.
After the waste of time search Maleficent pulled Regina aside.
"Well? The boat's clean. Oh wait," she scoffed, "I'm sorry. One girl had a joint in her purse. What a wonderful use of resources and manpower. Do you understand what kind of mess this is now?"
"Ma'am, we just have to hit the streets again and if the shipment comes in-"
"Mills! Enough. It's over. I'm sending you back to New York."
"Mal, no! Please! I'm telling you, I'm so close. This was just a little hiccup."
"This wasn't just a little hiccup, Regina."
"I'm sorry," she said, tears in her eyes and hands out pleading.
"Don't. Don't even..." Maleficent muttered and walked away.
All Regina wanted was to turn to Emma. To say she was sorry for putting August in danger for nothing. To cry about disappointing her boss and jeopardizing her career. To lament being sent back to New York, away from the blonde she had grown so fond of. Turning, she expected to find Emma nearby and she frowned when she didn't spot her.
She stopped a field agent walking by, "Have you seen Detective Swan?"
"Hospital. Some kind of family emergency."
"Oh god."
xxxxx
She ran around the corner and saw Emma sitting in a chair several feet away from August's hospital room, the rest of the family arguing near his door. The blonde looked up when she heard running and sighed noticing it was Regina. She couldn't hide her red-rimmed eyes so she just sniffled. Regina would know she had been crying anyway.
She took the seat next to the blonde and quietly waited.
"He's in an induced coma. They shot him and left him out in the street."
"I'm so sorry, Emma." She placed her hand over the blonde's. "I'm sorry."
"He was trying to move on. He had a job interview. I saw the resume." She chuckled, wiping her eyes. "It was a terrible resume. He mentioned prison and in Special Skills he said, 'Keeping it real.' But he was trying, you know?"
"How's your family holding up?"
"They're not talking to me. Blame me now more than ever."
"It's not your fault."
"Yes, it is. Damn it! I should have handled it by myself," she wiped angrily at the tears that kept falling and stood up, walking away.
"So that's it?" Regina called out, her voice cracking and tears threatening to fall from her own eyes. "I'm not your..." she didn't even know how to define them, "I'm not your partner anymore?"
Emma turned back around, "No, you're not. You're not my anything anymore," she said firmly. "You're another fucking disappointment." She shook her head and marched over to her family. "I just want you to know that I'm gonna find the man responsible for this."
xxxxx
"Hey," Regina said, knocking on Graham's cubicle, the box of files he had given her on her first day on the job in her hands. "I'll give these back to you. Thank you so much for your help."
"Anytime," he smiled. "We're gonna miss you around here."
Regina laughed mirthlessly, "I don't think so."
"I might," he smiled again. "You did a good job out there."
She shook her head, "Goodbye, Junior Agent Humbert."
She gave him a small wave before turning around and heading for the elevator that would take her down to the lobby, out of the Boston field office, and back to New York. Rounding a corner, she heard voices coming from a conference room and recognized the one currently speaking as belonging to Maleficent. Peeking in the room she could see Maleficent, Whale, and Beastly standing in front of a projector, briefing a room full of agents.
"...we sent out alerts to airports, train stations. DEA's gonna take the lead on this one. Although this is a joint task force, we're also working with the Boston P.D."
Whale pointed to his partner, "Adam and I will be handpicking all the officers so we don't wind up with this." Pushing the button on a remote brought up an image on the screen. Emma's mugshot. The room broke out in hearty laughs. "Any questions?"
Regina couldn't just stand back and let them laugh at Emma or pretend she hadn't heard or seen what was going on in that conference room. She pushed the door open, barging into the meeting.
"Hey," she pointed at the screen. "That's not right."
Whale looked back at the image on the screen and laughed again, "No, it's not."
Regina scowled, "That officer you're making fun of, the one that you're all laughing at... has more integrity, more commitment, more courage, and more guts than anybody in this room."
"Yeah," Whale scoffed, "but less mental stability."
The agents laughed again but Maleficent shot him a warning glance.
"So just to be clear," Regina snarked with a roll of her eyes, "what does mental instability look like? Keeping people safe? Protecting the community? Getting the job done? Is that what it looks like? Then great. If that's what it looks like, sign me up for the crazy house! That officer right there... is a better law enforcement officer than anybody in this room. Myself included. She is better than you," she pointed at Whale, "she is better than you," she pointed at Beastly, "and she is definitely better than you," she sighed at an agent who was ignoring the conversation for his phone. "What are you doing? Are you texting? Playing a game? What is it? Put it away!" The agent jumped to attention, almost dropping his phone in his rush to stuff it in his pocket. "God, what is the matter with you? Fuck all of you!"
She slammed the door behind her as she stormed out, missing the look of amusement and approval on Maleficent's face.
xxxxx
Emma took a deep breath outside the door of a well known drug house, bounced slightly on the balls of her feet, then turned and raised her foot, kicking the door in. Seeing only one visible suspect who was seated in the kitchen cutting cocaine and weighing it with a scale on the table in front of him, she pointed her gun at him and yelled.
"Get on the ground!" The suspect sank to his knees, hands in the air. "You're under arrest! Get down on your stomach, put your hands behind your back, and tell me where the fuck Hook is!"
"I think it'd be much more better if you put your hands up," a voice behind her said and the barrel of a gun was pushed to the back of her head.
Emma swore under her breath and put her hands up, but before the perp could take the gun from her loose grip, a new voice was heard in the doorway.
"Much more better?" Regina scoffed, pushing her own gun barrel against the man's head. "Drop the gun and take a grammar course, you idiot."
"Who the fuck are you?" the man questioned incredulously, dropping his gun to the floor.
Emma turned at the sound of the brunette's voice, pointing her gun at the man between them as well.
"Me and her," Regina smirked at Emma, "we're the fuckin' heat." Emma grinned at her adoringly before stepping back to cuff the suspect on the floor, Regina cuffing the man in front of her. "All right..." she smiled at Emma, "we've got some scumbags to visit, huh?"
Emma laughed, "Yeah, we do!"
xxxxx
After raiding a warehouse, another drug house, and a dealer in the park, Emma and Regina had finally found some useful information leading them to a new distributor. They knocked on the door, guns drawn.
"Oh, shit, man!" Neal whined once he opened the door and realized who it was.
"Guess who," Emma smirked.
"Come on, man!" he yelled when she pushed her way inside, Regina following close behind. "I don't know what you're doing here! I'm out of the game. You know what I hate? Drugs. I'm a different man!" It took Regina 30 seconds to reach the kitchen, open the freezer door and pull out a large bag of cocaine. Her eyebrow raised and she threw it at him, "This is not mine. I just bought that fridge the other day. This must have been in there."
Emma grabbed the bag of coke from his hands, hitting him over the head with it.
"We want to know where all this new shit is coming from. Is it Hook?"
"Em, what part of 'I'm out' do you not understand? I'm out!"
Emma and Regina shared a glance.
"You want to interview him?"
"No," Regina smiled mischievously. "No, I think I have something better in mind."
Emma grabbed his arm, twisting it behind his back and making him yell out from the sharp pain in his shoulder. Regina stepped around them and opened the door to the balcony, motioning for Emma to escort him outside to the fire escape. Once outside they shared a glance and a wordless conversation before bending and quickly flipping him upside-down over the railing, each holding him by an ankle, dangling him high in the air over the alley below.
"Oh shit!" he screamed. "I don't know shit! Come on!"
"I don't know," Emma drawled, "you're getting awfully heavy, Neal."
"Yeah," Regina agreed. "Lie to me again, Mr. Cassidy. I want to feel your body sliding through my delicate hands."
"I don't know shit!"
"Whoa," Emma shook the leg she was holding, "I can't hold you!"
"No, no, no, no! I don't want to die!" He screamed in frustration, "Okay, okay! It's at a warehouse on Summer Street!"
"I'm almost disappointed! Okay," she told Emma in a quieter tone, "let's pull him up."
They both pulled on his legs, struggling to pull him back over the railing.
"I'm not kidding anymore," Emma grunted. "I really can't lift him up. I can't lift him up!"
Neal squirmed, panic kicking in and his limbs flailed.
"Lift my ass up!"
"I've only done this one other time," Regina admitted, "and it was a really tiny hooker."
"You don't fucking put somebody over a rail if you can't fucking lift them up!"
"Okay," Regina tried to make her voice sound calm. "Umm, you need to... Just tuck your head and relax your body."
"Lady, what the fuck?!"
Neal's continued squirming added to his weight they were already struggling with pulling over, until he finally started to slip through the pair's fingers.
"Crap!" Regina grimaced, knowing what was coming. "Crap!"
He slid out of their grasp, falling on the hood of an SUV in the alley below, denting it with a loud thud. Emma and Regina ooh'd in unison, knowing that landing had to hurt.
"That was on me," Emma yelled down to Neal. "I take that."
"Thank you," Regina gave him a thumbs-up he couldn't see. "Thank you again!"
He coughed, "I hope this isn't my car."
"He's all right, right?" Regina asked Emma. "That... metal car broke his fall."
The blonde waved her hand dismissively, "Yeah."
"He'll shake it off," Regina nodded in agreement though she wasn't convinced.
"Oh, shit!" Neal yelled again, having rolled over and realizing he had, in fact, dented his own car. "My 2003!"
"Let's load up," Emma instructed, leading Regina away.