Chapter 6

Morning came all too quickly. Emma shivered as she woke from her light slumber and rose to check on Regina, the night before seemed like some sort of lucid dream. Her chilled feet hit the floor and she could feel the need for coffee and pastries urging her forward.

Regina was still soundly sleeping until the sounds of coffee brewing and cabinets shutting caused her to stir. The person was trying to be quiet but obviously hadn't quite grasped the idea of 'little to no' noise. She kept her eyes closed to savor the normality of the situation. No chamber maids scurrying around trying to anticipate her every move. No fire being lit and being muddled by an idiot causing smoke to fill the room. No, nothing more than lying around in her (well, Emma's) underwear and wrapped in well-worn blankets that smelled of laundry soap and comfortable sleep.

"Regina?" Emma half whispered, not wanting to startle the woman on her couch.

"Mmmm?"

"You want any coffee?" Emma had moved closer but didn't sit beside the sleepy brunette.

"Oh…" Regina tried to stifle a yawn but was unsuccessful.

Emma smiled, "I'll take that as a yes."

Regina was torn between wanting to cuddle further in to the warm nest she had created and fall back to sleep and wanting to sit up and talk to Emma.

"You like it black?" The blonde called over her shoulder as she poured the hot liquid into heavy mugs. While she waited for a response, she continued her cabinet rummaging and managed to find her stash of day old doughnuts that she was sure Henry hadn't gotten in to yet. Okay, maybe they were two day old doughnuts by now.

The former queen could no longer keep from fully acknowledging the fact it was time to get up, "Yes, dear. Black… Thank you." She sat up against the couch and stretched deeply.

Emma picked up both cups of hot bitter liquid and balanced the pastry box on top and made her way back to the couch. They needed to discuss what was to happen but not before they were both fully awake and functioning.

The brunette sat up and took the cup, "Thank you."

"Okay, skootch over. I'm freezing my butt off. Somehow, I managed to give you all of my warm blankets." Emma may not have been annoyed by the situation but she still intended to rectify it as soon as she could.

"I want to make sure you know how much I appreciate what you did for me last night. You didn't have to." Soft brown eyes glistened with honest gratitude as she moved over to only one cushion.

"I know. And, I probably shouldn't have. It's the strangest thing. I know we've only just met, but I feel like we know one another." Emma stopped talking then and stared openly at her new, well, whatever she was. Maybe they would be friends.

"Here." Regina broke the growing silence by handing the other woman one end of the blanket she had become so attached to.

"Thanks." A thin smile stretched across the blonde's face and she finally plopped down on the couch. It was warm from Regina's body heat and made her want to melt into the cushions for the rest of eternity.

"So, where do you come from?" Emma couldn't wrap her mind around how someone could show up in New York without a place to stay or any prospects of a place to stay, especially in the winter.

Regina's stomach did a little lurch. The Savior was asking a question that had uncomfortable answers. Instead of immediately answering, though, she took a long hot sip of the bitter coffee. Perhaps she should have opted for a little cream and sugar for the cheap brand after all.

"Please don't avoid the question. I mean, hell, we're cuddled up on my couch in my blankets together less than twenty four hours after we met. And, you are wearing my clothes. I think I deserve some sort of answer." There was little force in her voice, but Regina knew Emma meant business and would enforce said business in a less than pleasant manner if not taken seriously right then.

"I'm from Maine." The words felt choked out, but it was the best she could do on the spot. How could she have allowed herself to get so comfortable and confident only minutes before?

"Please don't tell me Storybrooke. I don't think I can take much more weird right now."

"Um, well, just a little town very near Augusta. My parents were high society socialites and I got tired of the games they played." How much more should the brunette offer? None of that was a lie but she didn't know how long before Emma's super power picked up on the displaced truths.

"Okay? So how did you end up in my store last night with no idea what you were doing?" A light tan eyebrow arched in mild skepticism.

"I left in a bit of a hurry. Things weren't going well for me and I needed to run." While separate, they were truths, but together? That was questionable, especially considering the entire idea of her coming to New York had been planned for several months.

"Alright. I don't think you're telling me the whole truth, but I know that you're giving me something. Why don't we just stop with the questioning now and drink our coffee? Lester should be up and around soon. We can talk to him about getting you a place then." With that, Emma began to shove a half stale bear claw in to her mouth.

"I don't think anyone will give me a place to stay."

"Why? You got a history?"

"I don't have a job." The admission was somewhat humiliating. The entire trip had been dependent upon a child and a woman who was barely more than an overgrown child herself half of the time. There was no possible way for her to arrange employment ahead of time, but even so, she hated being so unprepared. It was rather unacceptable.

"Oh!" Emma shouldn't have felt so surprised.

"This trip was really very last second. I would almost say that I didn't even know I was coming here until I was here."

"That, I believe." What a strange woman this Regina was.

"If Lester is a trusting man, I'm sure I could obtain some sort of work before I was to pay any rent." Regina hoped that her situation wouldn't put her further away from Emma and Henry. She didn't have any sort of exit strategy if this didn't work out.

"Ummm," Emma thought for only a moment before the perfect solution presented itself, "I know!" Emma's face brightened from a pensive, far away stare to one of utter satisfaction with her own cleverness.

"You know where I can get a job?"

"Yes. You can work at the store. We have an evening position that just came available yesterday. You really couldn't have had any better timing. All I'll have to do is take you down there to talk to Rocky. He'll get you all set up." Yes, there Emma went saving the day again.

"And I would be…? Scanning groceries?" The thought of being a simple low level servant to the public repulsed the regal woman in a way that brought back all her mother's lessons from years ago.

"Would that be a problem? I mean, it would be a job that pays your rent. Unless you WANT to live on the streets with the crazy drunken bums who want nothing more than to feel up your fine lady parts." Emma admitted in her head that she was laying it on quite thick, but she saw Regina's reaction coming a mile away. She as very obviously accustomed to the finer things in life but a little sarcasm mixed with logic could typically get the point across quite well, she had found.

The blonde had a valid point. This wasn't the Enchanted Forest and it wasn't Storybrooke. She needed to do what was necessary to achieve her ultimate goal, "No, it isn't a problem." Very little disdain remained in Regina's voice after quick but careful thought of living on the street.

"Well, alright then! Let's finish up here and get that taken care of as soon as possible." Emma pulled the blanket up closer to her chin and settled in with her breakfast for the little while she could afford to enjoy it.

"Alright then," the former queen swallowed what was left of her pride and told herself to suck it up. She knew that this type of thing could happen. It wasn't like she could be Mayor of New York after showing up by way of a magical wish.

"May I shower?" Even if it was only an entry level service job, Regina insisted upon looking her best.

"Of course, let me know when you're ready and I'll show you where everything is." Emma briefly thought about the shower she had had last night and the thoughts that ran through her head while in there. It was a little awkward to know that the very object of her thoughts would be in the same area, naked, wet… Swan! No!

"Miss Swan?"

Emma shook her head, "yeah?"

"I said I'm ready, if it's still alright."

A nervous laugh escaped Emma. She had not a clue as to how long her day dreaming had lasted, "Yeah, it's fine. Here." And she motioned for the other woman to follow her.

Emma led the brunette to her room. She and Henry had a guest bathroom but it was pretty much his so, as expected of any adolescent boy, it was filthy most of the time. While the master bedroom was not exactly immaculate, it would pass for clean and far more appropriate for adult guests.

"Okay, towels are here, use as many of them as you need. Shampoo, conditioner and body wash are up on the shower shelf. If you don't want to use my poof, there are clean wash cloths above the towels. All set?" Emma couldn't bring herself to look in to Regina's eyes, she was mildly ashamed of the thoughts that had been running through her head while in that very shower. They were pleasant thoughts, but ones that shouldn't have been happening. How could she feel so free with such a stranger? The whole last day had been a blur of crazy. The trust she felt towards the gorgeously dark woman was instant and on a level that couldn't be explained in such a short amount of time. It was like her body was instinctively drawn to the other woman by some unknown force.

"I'll be fine. Thank you…Emma." Regina was eager to get in to the hot water and have a moment of comfort and luxury to take in the last several hours. She felt like she was experiencing some sort of emotional whiplash.

"Good. I'll get dressed and wait for you."

The former queen softly grasped the aged brass door knob and shut it feather soft behind the Savior. Her luck was running too high, she was beginning to feel like she was walking on a razor's edge. How much longer could she rely on Emma's unexplained acceptance before things fell apart as they always did? She didn't have blind faith on her side to bolster courage or to push her through the difficult times she saw coming from a mile away. Working in customer service? People had never been her strong suit.

The shower roared to life with excellent water pressure. Steam curled from the streams of flowing water, promising to massage the worry from the woman's shoulders. She stripped the impossibly soft boxers and tank off and folded them neatly on top of the vanity.

The hot water was blissful. Regina turned to face the water head on and let it hit her face with lips gently parted, allowing the water to flood around her tongue and fall right back out. The Enchanted Forest had been much improved from the way it was before her curse but it was still lacking indoor plumbing and water heaters. A hot shower was worth more than all the riches in the land. She washed away months of tears and body wrenching spasms of heartache while also locating a razor to remove the small amount of stubble that had collected due to general negligence.

The body wash wasn't anything she would have had as mayor in Storybrooke, but it was acceptable. A spicy vanilla scent filled the moist room when she dabbed a small bit on to the poof that had been sitting beside the bottle. She saw no reason to cause Emma more laundry by using a wash cloth.

Regina's skin was red and verging on raw by the time Her Majesty was done scrubbing. Rivulets of bubbles worked their way down her body carrying away a few of her worries with them, for the moment at least.

Emma. Henry. What could she do to get what she wanted? The job as a cashier was the only option. She had to make it work. She had to charm this 'Lester' to be able stay in the same building. She must forget any amount of entitlement that remained from her days as monarch and politician and become what she had always been taught was wrong and beneath her. She would become a common peasant and it would be okay. It was absolutely required, in fact.