Hey guys! Sorry for the delay on this chapter my mind has been going every where. I'm so thankful for all of the reviews and follows! Dear Taylor, Popcorn Love, and SQA016 came in the mail for me today and I have no idea which one to read first! I'm so excited for all of them! So I got some pretty positive feed back from last chapter so this one is set up the same! Hope you guys enjoy! Also, I'm going to need some help writing a couple of scenes down the line, if you are interested on helping or want more information please don't hesitate to PM me or comment down in the review section! I seriously love you all and can't thank you enough for your support! Also, if someone would like to make a cover art for this please feel free to do so!

Chapter 10: Good Friends and Copy Machines

Maleficent was a CEO of a magazine in Boston. As a woman, she always had to stand up for her right to be the boss, her prerogative to say yes or no at any given situation, and the privilege she had to make those decisions. She had to stand up for what she believed in and let her voice be heard. That's how she had made it to the top, that's how she had gotten this far. She didn't know another way.

That's why Mal stood in her Boston office, amazed at herself, because for once, she was truly speechless.

"Are you there?" Henry asked.

"Yes- yes I'm here."

"I take it from your hesitation, you know my mother."

"It wasn't hesitation darling, it was hope. I know your mother very well; we met through a mutual friend."

"Okay, and that mutual friend is why I'm calling."

"Why? Did something happen to her? Is she alright?"

"She's fine, nothing happened, but I think she's unhappy."

"Oh, dear, I could've told you that; she misses your mother terribly."

"My mom misses her. More than she even knows."

"So why exactly are you calling me?"

"I don't know what your relationship with Regina is. I don't know how well you know or even like my mom. But from where I'm standing, life is too short to be unhappy. We only get one chance at it. I don't want them to go through life without knowing what they could've been. I'm calling you, because I think you want to help them too. I want to get my mom back to her happy ending."

"I agree. Regina has never been this depressed. Hell even when Robin cheated on her, she cried, but she was okay. Now she just mopes around and doesn't smile. I miss her smile. I miss her jokes; I miss the woman she used to be when she was with Emma. There was never a time when she wasn't happy or smiling, or being all obnoxious in love. I miss that."

"So you'll help me?"

"Yeah kid. But there's one problem, I live in Boston now, how am I supposed to make up a reason for going to Storybrooke?"

"You're the CEO of a magazine, surely you can plan a 'business trip' around that area couldn't you?"

"Well, yes I suppose that wouldn't be terribly difficult."

"YES! Awesome fantastic!"

"But, even if I spent a weekend down there, and talked to her, that's probably not going to be enough to convince her to go see Emma."

"It won't have to be, you just have to make sure that she is open to the IDEA of Emma coming back."

"Why? What's happening?"

"Because, my mom is headed back to Storybrooke as we speak."

"What?"

"She's interviewing with Mr. Gold for a teaching position down there."

"But, why? Last I heard she was a paralegal or bounty hunter or something."

"She was, she decided she wanted to teach."

"Why Storybrooke?"

"She told me she couldn't stand the thought of teaching anywhere else than her favorite high school."

"And her favorite high school just happens to contain her favorite woman."

"Yes, but she doesn't know that. She thinks Regina is gone, she has know idea. Don't you see? This is a perfect opportunity to get them both back together! But this is our last chance, we have to make it work."

"Okay kid, I'm in. So what do we do first?"

"First, you need to book a flight to Storybrooke, and then we need to call another family friend."

Just as they finished putting all the food on the table, the door bell rang. The guests had arrived. Sure enough as the two of them started walking together towards the door, they heard their best friends cutting up with each other.

"Em! Open up!"

"Yeah Gina before we freeze our asses off!"

The two women indoors just laughed.

"Are you ready Regina?"

"Nope, but they'll kick the door down if we don't open it so,"

"So you're ready?"

"Yeah."

Emma opened the door wide and extending an arm while she said, "Welcome!"

Red immediately flew in for a hug while Mal hugged Regina. Then they switched partners and hugged them as well.

"Well it's nice to see you two get along," Emma said.

"Oh yeah, we bonded on our fondness and aggravation that is you both," Ruby replied.

"Mhm. Cheeky."

"Well I'm afraid it's true darling, you two are exhausting," Mal admitted.

"Ah well thank you both so much for being dears and putting up with us," Regina replied sarcastically.

They made their way through the hallway, towards the kitchen and kept laughing and talking. While at dinner, they continued joking about the blonde and brunette and making fun of them both. They both shared anecdotes about the opposite one: pulling everything from Emma's bad girl moments to Regina's AquaNet infused hairstyles. Mal and Ruby both had things thrown at them for bringing up embarrassing stories from the past, but they didn't care. They did however love that Emma and Regina had found each other. Ruby loved Regina for showing Emma what true love was, and Mal loved Emma for bringing the smile back on Regina's face. They laughed and talked all evening, making for a very late night by the time the guests were packing up to leave.

"Thank you both for a wonderful evening, now that I have met her, Ruby and I have so much to talk about." Mal said.

"Oh yes I agree completely," Red replied.

"Alright you two, that's enough. Don't forget that we have just the same amount of stories on you both!" Emma reminded them.

"Maybe darling, but do you have pictures? Because, we have pictures." Mal teased.

"Oh okay so this was fun, see you both next year?" Emma asked, teasing back.

"Come on Em, you know we couldn't go a year without seeing them." Regina said.

"Maybe not, but I could deal with not seeing those pictures," Emma admitted.

They all laughed and said their goodbyes, hugging their closest friends and watching them exit the driveway.

"See, now that wasn't so bad was it," asked Emma as she wrapped her arm around Regina.

"No, I actually had a great time," Regina said.

"Who knows, this might become an annual thing between all of us, I know I would love that," Emma said, almost in an asking tone.

"I would love it too Emma, very much," Regina added, leaning in to kiss Emma.

Emma leaned back, "Excuse me ma'am but I don't see a mistletoe."

Regina smiled, reached into her jacket pocket, and pulled out a mistletoe and hung it over their heads, "What about now Emma?"

"See, now I can kiss you."

Emma kissed Regina so softly as Regina smiled into the kiss. When Emma suddenly broke the kiss, leaving Regina stunned.

"Mistletoe kisses aren't supposed to last more than 10 seconds, it's rude," Emma said while grinning like a Cheshire cat, backing away slowly as Regina walked towards her.

"Oh, so you're trying to be polite is that it?"

"Well yes, I do have my morals Regina."

"Fine, then I suppose I have no choice but assign you to something very courteous."

"Really? And what might that be?" Emma said, leaning in to Regina, pupils getting larger by the second.

"You're on dish duty," Regina said as she brushed past the blonde and made her way to the kitchen.

"Shit."

It was Emma's 30th day teaching. She never knew she could love a job this much. She had some smart ass kids, which was perfect because that was basically her personality in a nutshell. She had the shy, sweet, and innocent ones as well, ones that she questioned their actual interest in criminal justice, however most quiet ones have the loudest minds. Her students proved that, especially on paper.

Speaking of which, she was out to make copies of a worksheet she had found, only to realize the copier was out of paper. She sighed in frustration, pulled out her phone, and shot a text to Red.

"Hey Rubes, copier is out of paper, where do I find more?"

"I don't know, I've never used it before, ask Regina."

"You can't be serious."

"I am if you're serious about the copier. What's the big deal it'll take like two seconds, if you can resist her that long that is."

Emma just rolled her eyes at her friend, completely ignoring that last statement. "Fine," she finally breathed out. She could do this, she was a grown ass woman, she could be in the same room as her ex. So she made her way back through the hallway to Regina's classroom. The door was open and it looked like it was empty. Emma knocked on the archway of the door, letting her presence be known.

Regina's voice rang out from behind her desk, not paying attention to who it was, just simply saying, "Yes, come in."

Emma walked in slowly, taking in the scene before her. Regina was working, probably grading papers or proofreading. She had a red pen in her right hand, while her left was propping her head up. She had on her glasses that she only wore when she was reading, and her hair was hanging over, somewhat in her face. Emma couldn't help but think she looked breathtaking.

"Hey, are you busy?"

Regina immediately dropped her pen and looked up, recognizing Emma's voice as soon as she heard it. She just shook her head, eyes still looking surprised, "Just grading some papers, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine; I just am not getting a very warm welcome from the copy machine."

"Ah yes well, get used to that. The copier seems to want to be alone most days," Regina responded, lightly smiling.

"I know how it feels."

"Do you not like it here?"

"I love it here, the students, my colleagues, everything. It's great."

"Besides the copy machine?"

Emma laughed, "Yes exactly. Well that, and memories. I can't seem to get rid of those yet."

Regina paused, not really knowing what to say, "Hopefully not all bad memories."

"No, I think it would make things easier if they were bad memories. It wouldn't be my life if things were easy."

"I'm sorry Emma, I don't know what to say," Regina admitted.

"Say you'll help me figure out the machine?"

"Of course," Regina smiled, getting up from her desk to follow the blonde.