CHAPTER TEN

Emma was held in the cell overnight. It had been cold and annoyingly light. The cot was hard and creaked with every move Emma made. It was unkind of the universe to make Emma go through this for a crime she didn't commit.

Midday came and with that made a stale lunch that Emma was oddly thankful for.

Like clockwork on Emma's last bite of her meal in marched her mother and Mr Darling. Her mother looked pleased but Mr Darling looked grumpy as though he didn't want to be in the Sheriff's station.

"Mum?" Emma didn't need to say more.

"You're final exam, dear. Mr Darling has been kind enough to allow you to complete it here." Mary-Margret smiled and made a face at her daughter, the one that made her say-

"Oh, thank you very much Mr Darling." Emma smiled largely at the man, there was no need to be insincere as Emma was truly thankful.

"You have two hours and one chance." He grunted as he handed a piece of paper and a pen through the bars.

"Thank you!" Emma smiled largely, her heart was racing. Had this been Regina's doing?

Emma happily sat on the floor with her paper right in front of her. Mary-Margret and Mr Darling watched her closely from their now seated positions on the other side of the bars.

The two hours passed quickly for Emma but luckily enough Emma had managed to answer each question with answers she thought were correct.

"Done!" Emma's voice was a shock to the silent room, it was as though it had woken time for Mary-Margret and Mr Darling.

"Very good, Emma." Mary-Margret smiled as she stood from her chair and stretched.

"You'll have your result in a week or so." Mr Darling sated as he made his way over to the cell.

"Okay." Emma smiled like a child on their birthday, it was pure and untainted- this second chance meant the world to her.

Mr Darling took the paper form Emma and made for the exit. He had never really enjoyed Emma and her being locked up proved to him that she was a no good greaser, so he wasn't happy that he had to sit with her for two hours. He would have been happy to let her fail.

"Thanks mum!" Emma smiled as she hung her arms out of the bars.

"It wasn't all me," Mary-Margret smiled back as she took Emma's hands in a loving hold. "You can thank Regina Mills for bringing the issue to my attention."

Emma smiled at that. Regina had kept her promise and Emma would be forever grateful. Getting out of this back water town was the thing that kept Emma together.

"When did you become friends with Regina? You've been awfully chummy with her lately."

"Oh," Emma paused, perhaps yes, her mother would bat an eye. "Well, a while after she came around for dinner. We bonded over our interest of literature." It wasn't completely a lie, they did share a love for the written world.

"Well that must be a strong bond. I see her near the house in the mornings. Do you drive her to school?" Mary-Margret had seen her on weekend mornings before but she thought that she best not mention that, yet.

"Yeah, well she lives quite a few miles from school." It seemed simple enough.

"Okay, well I'm glad you are mature enough to look past this whole 'squares' jargon you once stood by." Mary-Margret smiled, though her child was currently in a cell Mary-Margret was sure that Emma truly was turning into a fine young lady.

"Yeah." Emma nodded not willing to break the glass wall for her mother. Squares were still the enemy of Emma Swan, but just one had slipped through the cracks.

…

In the evening Regina was back in the station to visit Emma.

Emma smiled and rose from her cot when she saw Regina walk into the station.

"Emma," Regina greeted as she came to the bars.

"Thank you, Regina, thank you." Emma smiled as she slipped her arms between the bars and hugged Regina. "Mum and Mr Darling came in earlier and supervised my exam." Emma was smiling like a child.

"That's great! I'm so glad." Regina said before pulling away from the hugged.

"Do you need me to help you study for tomorrow, since I know all the questions?" Emma asked with a wink.

"I've done all the studying I need." Regina said with a rather cocky grin. "Plus, we have other things to talk about." Regina said more seriously.

"Oh?"

"I heard mother talking to daddy, and I overheard her saying that she saw you and your car fleeing from the crime scene in the early hours of the morning."

"But I was at home."

"Someone that looks like you perhaps?"

Emma shrugged, not many people looked like her in town, and though some people dressed like her they had rather different physical features.

It was as if a light bulb went off above Emma's head. "I couldn't find my keys yesterday morning, they weren't where I left them. They were by the back door, on the ground." Emma recalled.

"Oh?" Regina was lost in thought for a moment. "Your car was in the drive-way and I left just before six." Regina said, she remembered that because the car was in the same spot every time she snuck home in morning.

"And again when I left for my Mathematics exam." Emma slumped against the bars. "So, what exactly did Cora say?"

"She said she saw a greaser fleeing the Nolan home in a black Cadillac, from her bedroom window in the wee hours of the morning."

"Why was she even awake?" Emma found that the strangest part of Regina's sentence.

"Mother doesn't sleep much." Regina shrugged. "I'm not sure why, it's rather odd."

Emma scrunched up her face. "Not a dragon, a vampire." She corrected herself.

Regina gave her a look. "Anyway," She continued. "I didn't actually hear her mention you, just a 'greaser.'"

"Didn't she say she was happy to see a greaser like me "get what's coming to them"?"

"Well yes, but after describing the car perhaps Sheriff Humbert made the assumption that it was you and she went along with it." Regina mused.

"But why? Why not say she didn't get a good look at the driver?"

Regina laughed at that, she full heartedly laughed. "Emma, she hates you, why would she make a correction that would save you from world of misery."

Emma tilted her head. "She hates me?" She was a little offended. Not because she wanted Cora's approval but because she thought she was a good actress. "She's only met me once." Emma was baffled.

"Mother is rather good friends with Abigale Nolan. They spend a lot of time together and with the other rich parent's; they bad mouth people li-"

"What? People like me?" Emma knew she should be offended but in honesty she wasn't.

Regina nodded. "Mother knows a lot about you." Regina's voice hit a low sinister level. "And boy does she want to see you suffer."

Emma gulped. She did not want to be on the receiving end of Cora's rathe. "Does she know we're friends?"

"Heavens no." Regina had wide eyes. "No." She repeated.

Emma chuckled. "If she knows so much about me then why doesn't she know that I've kissed her daughter?" It was dark, salty and slightly sexy.

"Because Billy Nolan's mother doesn't know."

"But surely Billy would have made a comment to Mrs Nolan about how you broke up with him for- because of me." Emma smirked.

"Well I do my part to make sure things like that don't find their way back to mother." Regina seemed cool and calm in that moment, as though she held an unseen power of manipulation of information.

"Well in that case, thank you." Emma sighed, she truly was thankful. She could deal with Cora coming after her for her hood rat status but not for her love of Regina.

"You're welcome." Regina smirked, she played a good game, she had learnt from her mother and perhaps now she had become the master.

"Was it even my car? How do they know it was mine?" Emma asked after a long silence.

"Perhaps it was a look alike." Regina offered.

"It wasn't."

Emma and Regina's eyes darted towards the entrance.

"Graham?"

He walked into the main room of the station and took a seat on an empty desk that sat close to the cells.

"I know your car," Graham said with a dazed look in his eyes and a faint smile. "And there isn't another in town like it."

"Oh." Regina pulled a face a she tried to figure everything out in her head.

"How much did you hear?" Emma was curious and cautious about how much her friend knew.

"I hear everything from "Well in that case, thank you."" He smiled. "I can leave." He said as he started to feel the hostility towards him.

"What else do you know about the case?" Regina quickly asked before Emma could shoo him.

"Not much," He crossed his arms. "But the evidence points to Emma. Her car was seen fleeing the scene. She was his only enemy." He uncrossed his arms and jumped off the desk.

"Ya didn't do it did you?" Graham asked, sadness cracked through every word.

"You know I wouldn't do something like that." Emma pleaded with her friend that was now a mere meter from her cell.

"Well, apparently you killed him in his sleep."

Emma's eyes widened. Her mouth gaped for a moment. "Regina…"

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