AN: So, I guess procrastination is a good thing. I have an essay due in within the next 24hrs and it's not even half the wordcount of 4k, yet here I am writing fanfic...*panic setting in*
Graham had the decency to look ashamed of himself when he came to see her. Half-stuttering, he admitted to his plans for Emma's temporary employment and waited for Regina's anger. To his surprise, the mayor was calm.
"Emma told me."
Graham absorbed the news. He was still alive, which meant that Regina hadn't killed him. Yet.
"Perhaps you didn't understand our previous conversations, where I specifically mentioned wanting her out of Storybrooke?"
"She wouldn't accept your money to fix her car. This way she gets the car fixed and you know where she'll be."
Regina smiled at him. "Nice try, but you should have spoken to me first."
"I'm sorry."
"Did you also discuss wages with Miss Swan?"
"No. I thought you…"
"Good. Dr Whale has said Emma can be released in two days. Assuming she wants time to get settled back into Granny's B&B first, I'll suggest she goes to the station by the end of the week so that you can go through anything she needs to know."
"Yes, madame mayor."
"I'll draw up the employment contract and you can take it to her in the morning, when visiting hours begin."
"Thank you." Graham turned towards the door.
"And Graham…?"
"Yes?"
"Don't do this again."
"Mayor?"
"You're the Sheriff. I'm the Mayor. Try to remember that."
Graham nodded and left quickly. He smiled as he headed back to work. It had gone a lot better than he expected.
Two days later, Ruby delivered Regina's usual lunch order to the town hall and she ate at her desk, catching up on the extra work brought on by Emma's destruction of the bus sign. She had been careful to word Emma's new contract making sure it stated that the role was temporary. Hopefully Emma would be willing to work extra hours for the money to get her car fixed. Graham had delivered the contract to her, but as Emma had asked for the chance to look it over before signing he hadn't returned with it yet.
The blonde was due to be released from hospital today. Regina wondered if she would have to send Graham to the B&B for it. It would have to be filed and Emma's details entered so they could pay her wages at the end of the month. She wasn't worried about Emma taking Henry and leaving town, at least not while the yellow car was effectively being held hostage by the town mechanic. Emma had seemed to care more about getting the car back than her son.
Regina had told Henry about offering Emma the job. She hoped that the news of his birthmother staying around wouldn't make him think anything had changed. He was wary at first, looking for a way she might be trying to hurt her, then pleased when she agreed to let him spend time with Emma at the weekend. If it went well, and if Emma followed her rules, she hinted that it could be repeated another time.
"Is this a bad time?"
Regina looked up as Emma's voice interrupted her thoughts and saw the younger woman standing in the doorway to her office. She couldn't remember whether Ruby had left the door open. If she hadn't, she needed to tell Emma off for not knocking.
"I didn't realise you would be having lunch. I brought the contract," Emma didn't step into the office, "should I leave them with you or on the desk out here?"
"I don't have a secretary," Regina indicated to a tray marked 'IN', "there will be fine."
"Okay."
Not wanting to be rude when Emma didn't leave straight away, and because she wanted Emma on her side when it came to what was best for Henry, Regina realised she would have to make small talk: "How do you feel?"
Emma smiled at the thought of someone showing an interest in her, especially when she could count on one hand the number of people she knew in the small town, "much better, thanks. The doctors promise if I take it easy they'll clear me to drive again soon. Until then it's public transport and hitching lifts."
"Just as long as you don't accept a ride from strangers when you have Henry with you..."
"I promise. One of the volunteers at the hospital gave me a lift to the B&B to drop off my stuff and I enjoyed the walk here. You have no idea how crazy being cooped up in a hospital like that can make you."
"I think I have a fair idea," Regina disagreed, remembering her other life and being trapped first by her mother and then by her husband.
"Well, anyway I should get going. I'm sure you have lots of work to do."
"There are some horrendous forms," Regina surprised herself by teasing Emma, "to do with a damaged bus sign…"
Emma laughed, "I am sorry about that. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?"
"Unfortunately they require the Mayor's signature. Or are you familiar with forms G87-XY and T982-5?"
"Sounds like you could do with that secretary."
Regina smiled, "it's a small town, so far I haven't found anyone up to the job."
"Well maybe I could help out, you know, when I'm not at the Sheriff's station? The additional money would help pay off the car repairs faster, though I warn you I have no experience beyond answering a telephone…"
Regina weighed up the options: getting Emma out of Storybrooke quickly, or having to put up with an invasion of her workplace? Of course, she could offer a higher wage than the one Emma had accepted for working with Graham, and Henry might visit more…
"If you think the Sheriff could spare you, then I suppose you could have a trial run," Regina agreed.
"Great."
Over the next few days, whenever Emma was around, Regina kept getting a feeling of déjà vu. The blonde would bring her coffee, take away any papers for filing and pass on messages when Regina went to meetings. One time, when she had gone into the stationery cupboard for some envelopes, Emma had come looking for her. As they stood in the small space, Regina felt her pulse quicken, her breath catch in her throat and a fluttering of butterflies in her stomach. It was as if part of her could see a different Emma standing there, slightly younger and in different clothes. The look in that Emma's eyes had been different too, hungry, as though she wasn't thinking about work.
Regina tried to forget those thoughts. She pushed aside any part of her that dared even thought about the blonde like that. It was ridiculous. She wanted the other woman gone from Storybrooke, and the sooner the better.
"I'm sorry, madame mayor, but…"
Regina's glare cut off Emma's interruption, though her door had been open to admit any visitors. She hated that her mind kept wandering to her new, part-time assistant.
"What is it?"
"I'm going to get some lunch…."
"I'll have my usual."
"I thought you might like to join me, it's just Granny's diner, but you're in this office so much..."
Regina looked up, startled. No-one had ever invited her for lunch before. She had always ordered Graham to bring her something, or arranged for Ruby to deliver lunch, if she didn't have time to make something for herself.
Her first instinct was to claim that she had too much work to do, but as she thought about it, she realised this was a good way to show Henry that she could be friends with Emma. He might begin to believe that she would let him stay in contact with the blonde once she left town.
"We'll take my car."
"It's a nice day, we could walk?"
Regina looked at her window and nodded, "very well."
