A/N- Thanks for the reviews and comments. Any questions or concerns? Feel free to PM me with anything. Our ladies are figuring each other out, but Storybrook is about to have a monster of a problem.
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"Henry."
"Yeah, Henry."
"I honestly think he will be rather...excited about this development."
"Yeah, I get that feeling myself." Emma answered. "He's been hinting that I should move closer. I think he wants me over at your house all the time."
"He did mention to me that he wants you to move in."
Emma laughed. "And his reasoning was...what? So that he could have both of us at the same time?"
"Something like that."
"Well, moving in is a big step."
"I quite agree." Regina turned to her. "However, it is good to know that were you to stay the night, Henry wouldn't freak out."
"Freak out?" Emma chuckled.
"What?"
"Nothing…" she shrugged. "It just sounds funny coming out of your mouth."
"Why is that?"
"I dunno." The blonde shrugged again. "I guess because you're usually so stiff."
"I'll show you stiff." The brunette warned her.
"Please." Emma rolled her eyes at the challenging woman before her. "I've seen what you can do; you're not so mysterious now. You can't threaten me."
"Oh, but I can." Regina grinned maliciously. "You forget, Emma, that I have quite a record for making threats and quite a reputation for making good on them." She stalked closer to the blonde who refused to back down. "You very reluctantly gave me control; next time I won't be so patient. Next time, I will take what I want."
The blonde scoffed, but silently marveled at the shorter woman's ability to intimidate her even as she stood in bare feet. "Whatever, Regina." She shook her head. "I'm stronger than you, ergo I'm the dominant one."
The brunette leered at the woman before giving her a pitying look. "Miss Swan, you have so much to learn of dominance and submission. But I will save that lesson for next time. In the meanwhile, I think it best to be upfront with Henry about our… relationship."
"Except the bit about the sex on the table."
"Yes, excepting that bit. But as far as the rest of the town goes…"
"We could take out an ad in the newspaper."
"You are not helpful." Regina frowned. "I think it best that we have an 'ask at your own risk' policy. We don't advertise that we are a couple, but if anyone asks why you are at my house-"
"I'll tell them you keep me up all night-"
"Or why we eat dinner together-"
"I will say that we like to eat from each others'...plates."
Regina rolled her eyes. "You are the least helpful creature I know."
"Aww. Thanks." Emma faked wiping an imaginary tear.
"Now," The brunette said, ignoring the blonde's antics. "Henry will be waiting up. I need to get home."
"Alright. I'll stay behind and get some actual work done. You are so distracting, did you know?" The blonde teased, but the brunette closed the distance between them and pecked her on the lips.
"You don't know the half of it." She warned and was out the door, heels in her hand.
Emma sank back into the chair in front of the dwindling fire and rubbed her fingertips across her mouth carefully. The blonde forced herself not to think too intently on the past hour and a half's occurrences; but it was difficult. Who would have thought the Savior and the Evil Queen would be lovers? What was more was that Emma cared about Regina; deeply. It went beyond what she knew of love in the traditional sense. There was the desire and the longing and the prefered company for the brunette that made up what Emma had experienced with other people.
However, there was a deeper understanding of partnership and teamwork with Regina than Emma had ever felt before. The blonde respected the brunette as a mother, a leader, a witch, and a person. She had baggage, but hell, so did Emma. In spite of the odds stacked against her, the brunette had managed to put herself back together time and again and come back stronger every time.
Emma didn't just care for the Regina she knew currently, the ex-Evil Queen and Henry's mother; she also cared for the younger Regina that had been so badly damaged and the future Regina that strove to be better every day. She wanted that woman to continue to succeed and she wanted to do what she could to help her.
This was a totally different relationship than any Emma had been a part of. It was a new experience and yet it felt familiar; like things had been slowly shifting this direction and she had simply fallen into a natural current. Whatever the case, the blonde felt at ease about the tide and had very little anxiety about the situation. Maybe things were finally calming down.
XXX
After breakfast, or the first meal of the day that Regina ordered her food, Emma tromped down to the Sheriffs' station to meet Mulan for her first day of training. The blonde got there just as David was letting Thomas into the building. She greeted the men and then followed them inside.
Emma sat down at her desk and conversed with her coworkers briefly until Mulan appeared just a few minutes later. "Alright." Emma nodded to the two rookies. "So Thomas, David is going to be working with you on the calls that pertain to the outer portion of the town and Mulan," She turned to the woman and the warrior nodded attentively. "you and I will work the inner portion after lunch and the guys will stay here. This way, there is always someone at the station and someone out taking care of complaints."
"And that way, if there is an emergency, someone is here to take the call and someone is out there," David jerked his head toward the door where the chaos of Storybrook awaited them, "to respond to the emergency as needed."
"Right." Emma nodded. "As problems and situations arise, we will address them. Don't be afraid to ask questions. David and I sometimes can't remember everything and sometimes we have to have conversations about the best way to handle things. You will be trained in all areas, but know that we work as a team and if you need help; ask for it. Got it?"
David looked around the room as Thomas and Mulan nodded quickly. "So, Thomas, ready to go?"
"Sure." The man smiled.
"See you at lunch." Her father said to her before he and Thomas eagerly took their exit.
Emma gestured to a spare desk across the room and Mulan sat down. The blonde took out copies of the most common forms they were required to fill out and moved over to the desk. She began to walk the brunette through the paperwork and they discussed scenarios and situations in which to use the forms. All in all, it seemed that the stoic warrior was quite a quick study.
I hope she picks up firing a pistol as quickly. The blonde thought to herself as the phone on her hip rang. "Sheriff Swan." She answered automatically.
"Hey, Emma."
"What's up David?"
"There is something out here I think you need to see."
"Right now?" The blonde asked in surprise and Mulan's eyebrows shot up.
"Yes." The man said with certainty.
"Alright, where am I headed?" Emma grabbed her jacket, jerked her head toward the door, and led her companion to her yellow bug. David gave her the address and she hung up. "Well," The blonde cranked the car and put it into drive as she looked over at Mulan. "it looks like we have something interesting on your first day."
"Where are we going?"
"David said that he received a report last night about a gorilla-"
"I'm sorry, an ape?"
"Yeah...and then he got another report this morning about a sasquatch-"
"A what?"
Emma laughed. "A sasquatch. It's a bit of a hoax really. People have claimed that they have seen a large half man, half ape thingy running around. But as far as I know, even Storybrook doesn't have gorillas or sasquatches….sasquatch? Sasqui? What's the plural form of that word?" Emma got off on a tangent and Mulan shrugged. "Anyway, David said he found some tracks, but wanted your opinion."
"My opinion?"
"You're the tracker, right?" The blonde asked.
The stern woman smiled. "Right."
XXX
Emma pulled the bug onto a winding path that began just outside of the more metropolitan area of the city. Here the trees were dense and there was an ominous fog hovering in the undergrowth. As she came around a bend, she stopped abruptly because the cruiser was parked in the middle of the tiny road.
David came walking up with Thomas just a few steps behind him. Beyond the two men was another man who looked to be in his mid-fifties. He had the brim of his hat tipped low on his brow as he stood leaned on his shotgun with a world-weary looking Walker Coonhound at his side.
"Hey."
"Hey." Emma returned and glanced around her father. "Who is this guy?"
"Mr. McLeach was the one that filed the complaint about the sasquatch."
"Ah." The blonde got out of the car and Mulan followed suit. "And?"
"And we patrolled the area where the sighting took place and found something unusual."
"Unusual?" The blonde repeated. "This is Storybrook. Do you still want to go with the word unusual?" Both men just looked at her. "How unusual?"
"Like a footprint bigger than mine." Thomas offered. Mulan and the blonde exchanged glances.
"Know anything that could do that?" Emma asked the woman.
"What exactly is a sasquatch again?"
Emma shook her head and approached the man with the shotgun. "Mr. McLeach, I'm Sheriff Swan."
"I know who you are Savior." The man spat a stream of tobacco juice out of the side of his mouth, narrowly missing the domed head of his hound dog. "I'll show you them prints, but don't get in my way. I plan on baggin' me that sascootch out there."
"Bagging it?"
"And having it taxidermied. Ain't no one else I know got a stuffed sascootch."
"Right." Emma nodded as if this wasn't the most bizarre thing she had heard in several weeks. "Well, Mr. McLeach-"
"Call me Percy." He grinned with all of his five teeth and Emma grimaced back.
"Well...Percy, if we are able to apprehend this...sascootch...you are more than welcome to have it stuffed and displayed on your property."
The man put a finger on the brim of his hat and tipped it to her in an odd sign of respect. "I thankee' kindly, Sheriff. If you all will just foller me thisaway." He gestured into the underbrush and the blonde lead the train of officers into the woods behind the man and his dog who kept turning around and looking at Emma with a shrewd expression.
They stopped abruptly and the man pointed down. Emma circled the spot he was gesturing to with the double barrels of his shotgun. "Holy shit." She cursed quietly and squatted to take in the full effect of the perfect foot print in the muddy ground. Several feet further along were a few more prints; though none as clear as the one they now hovered over.
"Exactly what I said to Joanna here when I saw the prints." The man gestured down to the hound.
Emma took out her phone and began snapping pictures. She then put her own hand down beside the print without disturbing it and took more pictures. "David hand me your flashlight."
"Sure. Why?" The man took the heavy, black flashlight from his tac belt.
"Because I don't have a ruler or measuring stick and I know this," She waved the instrument, "is just over a foot long." She laid it down and snapped more photos before turning to Mulan. "Look like anything you've seen before?"
"No." The warrior squatted. "It looks like a bear track...but I've never seen one this big."
"Grizzly?" Thomas asked.
"The toes look like a Grizzly." David pointed to the digits. "See the way they are closely grouped?"
"Yeah, but Maine doesn't have grizzlies." Emma reminded them.
"Maine might not, but Storybrook could." Mulan said in an undertone.
"It's still too big to be a grizzly."
"Kodak?" Thomas offered. "Polar bear?" He joked.
The blonde smiled. "It is closer to the size of a polar bear…" She shook her head. "But don't you think someone would have noticed a massive white bear running around?"
"The report from yesterday was of a gorilla." David pointed out. "So I'm thinking whatever this thing is, it's black or brown."
"Black bears don't get this big." The blonde looked back at the mud. "I mean," she stood, "look at the stride for god's sake." She took several long steps and stopped again. "And the depth of the track. This thing is monstrously sized."
"I told you all: it's a sascootch." Percy said impatiently. "Ain't no gorilla, nor no bear for that matter. Only one thing can leave tracks like this here."
"Thank you, Percy." Emma smiled at him. "I think we have all we need. We appreciate your cooperation and will be in touch. Let us know if you see or hear anything else out here." The blonde led her companions back out of the woods and toward their cars before turning to Thomas and David. "What was his initial report?"
"That he was eating at his table and heard a roar. He came out to investigate, saw the trees rustling and opened fire. He heard the...thing take off and when he went out to see if he had shot it, found the prints."
"There was no blood." Mulan stated.
"So he didn't hit what he was aiming at." Thomas supplied.
"Right." Emma frowned. "Mulan and I are going to head back to the office and do some research while you two attend to the other patrols you have lined up. We can reconvene at lunch before we swap stations."
The officers bid goodbye to one another and David and Thomas ducked into the cruiser as Emma and Mullan got into the yellow bug. "What do you think it is?" The brunette warrior asked.
"Honestly, it looks like the biggest bear track I've ever seen."
"Why has no one reported this before? I lived in these woods and never came across anything like that."
"Whatever this is, is new. A report last night and one this morning of the same thing. It doesn't hide well."
"So what does that mean? It can't have wandered in; that wall still cloaks us."
"It means that someone here set it loose or created it."
"Or it came through a portal."
"There is that." Emma conceded then glanced at the woman. "And here I thought life could be normal."
"You should have known better."
The blonde grinned ruefully, "Yeah. I should have."