Note: I hope you guys enjoy this chapter...I certainly enjoyed writing it :P THANK YOU FOR THE REVIEWS! You guys are the best! Alright, enjoy! :)
Regina put the car in park in front of the school and looked down at the clock on the dash: 7:55. She leaned her head back against the seat for just a moment to relax after the crazy morning Claire had given her. Claire had been cranky and whiny all morning. It was a relief Regina even got her to school on time.
Regina sighed angling her body to look at Claire in the backseat. The younger brunette had already unbuttoned her seatbelt, which Regina would have scolded her about if she weren't already tired from this morning.
"Did you remember to pick up your book off the kitchen counter?" Regina had repeatedly told Claire that morning that she needed to get the book off the counter and into her book bag for school.
Claire sighed with annoyance, "Yes."
Regina ignored the attitude, "Good. Have a good day at school, all right? I will be right here when you get out." Regina smiled, while Claire started moving towards the door without looking at her. "I love you."
Claire nodded, grabbed her backpack and pushed the door open. She sat on the edge of the seat swinging her legs trying to decide if she wanted to jump down or not. Regina contemplated helping her, but decided it would only cause a scene and she didn't like other people knowing the struggles of her personal life.
Finally, the little girl jumped down and started running towards the school leaving the car door wide open. Regina sighed out of her nose closing her eyes briefly before putting her hand on her door handle and opening it.
"Don't worry, I got it." Regina jumped a little, startled from the familiar voice. The brunette looked back at whom the voice belonged to.
"Thank you, Emma," Regina gave a small gracious smile.
Emma returned the smile. The two women stared at each other both temporarily at a loss for words. "So…rough morning?" Regina regained her focus by looking down at the console.
The brunette nodded, "You have no idea." Regina looked back up at the blonde; "Claire was quite the tyrant this morning." Emma chuckled still holding the backseat door open. She didn't want to push the woman to say anymore because she knew Regina would talk when she was ready. Both women sat there in comfortable silence for a moment longer unsure of what to say or do.
Regina met Emma's eyes once more, "Is Henry ready for his game tonight?"
Emma nodded, "Yeah, I think so. He keeps talking about this bet he made with his coach…"
"If he kicks so many goals, he gets ice cream." Regina finished for her with a smile.
"Yeah!" Emma exclaimed with a smile and light quiet laughter that was joined by Regina's.
Regina looked over at her dash: 8:10. "I'm sorry, but I must cut this short. Goodbye, Miss Swan." Regina closed her own door. Emma stuck her hands in her pockets and nodded in understanding.
"You can stick with Emma, you know. Miss Swan is too formal." Emma watched the brunette's expression change from confusion to understanding.
Regina smiled, "Emma." She repeated and for some reason Emma liked the way her name sounded coming from the mayor. Regina needed to get this conversation back into her control. She looked over and spotted the one thing that would steer them back into a professional conversation. Regina looked over at Emma, "Sheriff, if you don't stop Leroy from going near the school," She pointed over to where Leroy was stumbling down the sidewalk holding a beer can and singing horribly off tune, "I suggest you rethink your position. Now if you'll excuse me, I have work to do." Regina put the car into drive and drove away. All the while, Emma was grinning like a fool. She loved sassy Regina sometimes.
Emma looked over in the direction of the singing and sighed, "Leroy, you are going to scare the children. Come to think of it, you are scaring the children…and me." Emma jogged over to her yellow bug, pulled out the handcuffs and began to walk over to Leroy. This was going to be a long day.
Heels clicked against the tiled floor as Regina walked past her assistant and into her office. She looked around before she shut the door behind her. Walking to the desk, Regina looked through her purse until she found the dream catcher. She was afraid to know what the dream catcher now possessed in it's curves and lines.
Regina's fingers traced the lines and edges, while she contemplated if she should go through with this. Staring at it. Still staring at it until finally she felt her magic course through her body and into the thing in her hands. It glowed. All Regina saw was swirls of purple and greens before a picture started playing like a movie.
A boy that looked like Henry stood beside Claire facing a woman with dark brown hair. They couldn't see her face, not yet. Her back was to them while she was talking.
The woman gave off a low evil laugh, "Do you really think you can take me on…all by yourself?" Henry started pushing Claire behind him.
"Maybe I can't, but I can hold you off until both my moms get here." Henry challenged. The woman turned around. Henry couldn't figure out who this woman was or how she got here. All he knew was that she seemed dangerous and he had to get Claire out of here before she got hurt.
The woman's face contorted into a grin, "Foolish boy, your mommies can't defeat me. I'm immortal." Claire continued to peak out behind her brother not sure what to do. She was scared. Scared for her. Scared for her brother.
Claire started pulling on Henry's shirt, which made Henry look down at his little sister. He bent down to her level and wiped some of her tears away. "I need you to be a big girl, okay?" The five year old nodded. "I need you to run. Run as fast as you can and find mom and Emma. Tell them…." He was at a loss for words. He didn't know what was going to happen once she left and he definitely didn't know if he could hold his own with this woman.
"Tell them that I love them and that they need to come into the forest and find me. You got that?" Claire nodded once more as another tear ran down her face. Henry couldn't take it anymore, so he brought Claire in for a hug. Claire wouldn't let go when Henry tried to step out of the hug, but Henry detached her. "Run, Claire, run!"
Claire ran as fast as her little feet could take her. She heard something like a buzzing noise from behind her along with a cry from her brother. The little girl looked back and saw Henry holding his arm, but it was useless because blood was oozing.
The colors faded once more. Regina held one hand to her mouth as tears fell from her eyes and the other hand clutched the dream catcher. All Regina could think about was what if this was a premonition and someone terrible was coming to Storybrooke. She didn't know who this woman was nonetheless the powers the woman possessed. How can you fight something you know nothing about? It started getting harder for her to breath through the tears and panic that was flooding her chest.
She dropped the dream catcher and placed both hands against her desk while she tried to regulate her breathing. It was useless really. Every time she gained some normalcy in her breathing, the panic flooded back in and squeezed her chest.
Regina heard a knock at the door and she quickly brushed away her tears and stood up to find and sit in her chair. She sniffed and rubbed her hand under her eyes to fix her makeup once more. "C-come in." Regina cleared her throat and sat up straight right before her assistant peeked her head through the door.
"Um, Ms. Mills there someone on line one wanting to talk about the next town meeting." Regina put on her best smile at the time and nodded.
"Thank you. I will be sure to answer that right away." Once the other woman closed the door again, Regina leaned back in her office chair and let out a breath to help calm herself. She needed to talk to somebody. She knew she couldn't go to Rumple because if she did he would only take advantage of her vulnerability.
A list of names ran through the brunette's head and she mentally crossed off all but one name. Regina found her cell and dialed the all too familiar number.
Side Note: If you guys want to see a specific moment or interaction...review and I will try my best to put it in the story! :) If any of you have a tumblr, you can find me here: longlive-myevilqueen (feel free to chat me up!)