AN: A little angsty last chapter, this one is way more fluffy! Also good job to Reviewer 1shanelle on FFN who caught the subtle nod to Layla and Tala in the last chapter!
The first rays of dawn were peeking over the horizon through the window of the study, lighting the sky with a growing blanket of orange. Regina pulled away slightly from Emma, placing a comforting kiss onto her forehead. "Here, come with me." She got up from the couch and held out her hand which Emma took. Regina led her through the house and into the backyard.
She sat on the steps of the deck, motioning for Emma to sit beside her. "This side of the house faces east. There's not much to look at except for a few fields, but it does have the most amazing view of the sky."
Emma sat down beside her and the two sat in silence as they watched the sunrise over the clear Maine sky.
Chapter 12: Patrol Duty
"Sheriff Mills?" A man's voice echoed through the station, "Excuse me…Sheriff Mills?"
The man continued to speak but Emma was busy reading the newspaper while chewing on an apple that Regina forced her to eat.
Emma rushed down the stairs while she was swishing mouthwash and hastily fastening her green button up top. She rinsed out her mouth in the kitchen sink, and began to look around the room trying to locate her badge and keys when an apple was pushed into her view.
"Eat this, you didn't get much sleep last night." Regina placed it on the kitchen counter along with the Sheriff's badge, keys and wallet.
Emma finished buttoning up her top and picked up the items on the counter, leaving the apple behind. "Regina, seriously, I'll be fine with getting something from Granny's."
"What? A bear claw and diabetes?" Regina reached over and straightened out the blonde's collar, "Yes, Miss Swan, that definitely sounds like the breakfast of champions."
"Alright, alright," she picked up the apple, "Happy?"
"Yes, very much so."
"Sheriff Mills!" The man cleared his throat then sneezed loudly before it finally hit her.
"Oh right! Yes, that's me!" She looked up and saw a familiar face, "Mr. Clark? How can I help you?"
"Well, some kids are loitering around my shop! I thought you said you'd do something about it?! I had to close early because I'm sure they're up to no good!" He sneezed again, barely getting his handkerchief to his nose in time.
Emma raised an eyebrow, "Let me get this straight; you closed your shop because you think that something might happen? Have the kids given you any concrete reason for you to feel like this? And just to make this clear, hanging around Main Street doesn't count."
"Well you need to do your job! I've been sending you a complaint about this for weeks!" He slammed his hands down onto her desk, "And don't think I won't report you just because you're married to the Mayor. Everyone else might think that she's changed but to me she's still an Evil Bitch."
Emma stood from her desk, although she was only a few inches taller, she practically towered over him. "I'll look into the kids loitering, but I won't take you talking about my wife or the Mayor this way. And if you even think about questioning how I do my job again, I will personally make sure you can never drive even a single mile over the speed limit without getting a ticket."
Visibly cowering, the dwarf turned on his heel and rushed out the door nearly bumping into David on his way out.
"Well he looks like he might cry." David sent out a smirk as he crossed the room towards the Sheriff, "Did he sneeze in your porridge this morning? Oh wait, he didn't. Because your wife told me this to give to you." He handed Emma a brown paper bag and sat down at the desk in front of hers.
"Thanks?" She grabbed the bag and set it on her desk and as she opened it she found a small container with a yellow post-it note attached.
Emma,
I know that your bottomless pit of a stomach would not be able to function on a single piece of fruit. David came by the house a little after you left to drop off the cookies from last night. I asked him to bring this to you. I will be at the office if you need me.
-Regina
Emma smiled to herself as she pulled the note from the container and stuck it on her desk. She opened it to reveal a full breakfast, complete with eggs, bacon and toast and two of the cookies that Mary Margaret had made.
"Regina also told me to tell you that the bacon is extremely low sodium, made of turkey and has not 'been rolled around in artery constricting fat'. I think what she means is that she has baked it instead?" David pulled a chair back and sat in the desk in front of hers.
The Sheriff picked up a strip of bacon between her thumb and index finger and crunched down, "Hmm, it's pretty good, wanna try?" He shook his head as she grabbed a piece of toast and dipped it into the yolks of the eggs, "Hey thanks for switching shifts with me, I really wanted to go to Henry's game tonight."
"No problem, you know I'd do anything for my little girl." He ruffled her hair while she tried to bat his hand away, "By the way, thanks for getting the shooting range built, not to mention hiring an actual squad of officers. Now that Storybrooke is filled with almost everyone from the Enchanted Forest, we needed more man power to deal with the population increase."
Emma raked her hands through her tresses and smoothed out her hair, "Well even though we're pretty awesome, I thought it would benefit us to not be the only two officers in a growing city."
"On that note, I need to go on patrol." He opened a small lockbox on Emma's desk, "I'll take squad car 4 and Phoebus is riding with me today. I'll see you in a few hours to switch patrols."
I guess my project worked out, this place is running like an actual police department. "Sure thing, but I think I might have to deal with Mr. Clark first."
Emma finished her breakfast and packed the container back into the bag. She looked at the sticky note on her desk but couldn't bring herself up to throw it out. She picked it up and opened the top drawer of her desk when several loose pieces of yellow paper caught her eye. Emma reached in, pulled out the small stack of papers and leafed through them. To her surprise, the stack of papers were several sticky notes that Regina had written to her over time. She began to read through each one.
Emma,
I had to go into the office a little early today. I didn't want to wake you, lunch is in the fridge. Do not switch lunches with Henry, he will tell me. Don't forget to take your blood pressure medication which is on the nightstand.
Love,
Regina
Emma,
Your budget report is due next week. No, you cannot get an extension. And to address your question last night in bed, you cannot write my name under the 'items spent' column.
Love always,
Regina
Emma,
Your parents asked if we could watch Neal for the weekend. I am fine with it, so let your mother know if you want to babysit him this weekend. Henry won't be able to since he is going away with his friends to the cottage. Also please thank her for the biscotti she had baked for us.
Yours,
Regina
Emma,
I know you are working hard on the string of arsons in the city. I missed you last night and wish you didn't have to work overnight. I asked Ruby to bring you your favourite meal from the diner.
Don't work too hard,
Regina
Emma couldn't help but feel how much this Regina loved her, she wondered how their dynamic changed so much in the last 5 years. Picking up the last note Emma's heart leaped out of her chest.
Emma,
I hope you have a good day at work. I love you.
Yours forever and always,
Regina
Emma gently placed the notes back into her desk but kept the last one in her hand. She noticed a picture frame on her desk which contained a photo of her and Regina both in elegant wedding dresses. In the photo Emma had her lips pressed to her wife's cheek while both of them held onto the bouquet of light blue and lavender flowers between them. Emma stuck the note onto the bottom of the photo and smiled to herself. For the first time she felt a warmth travel through her hand as she looked down at her ring, it began to glow with a faint purple.
She picked up her phone and began to type out a message:
Emma: Hey.
Regina: Hey? Do you have a reason for interrupting me?
Emma: I just wanted to thank you for breakfast, it was delicious!
Regina: You're welcome.
Emma: So are we supposed to just do our jobs as normal?
Regina: Yes, give me one moment.
A few minutes passed and Emma's phone began to vibrate on the table with a flattering picture of the Mayor smiling into the camera. She picked up the phone and tapped the 'answer' button.
"Miss me already?"
"Oh yes, apparently we're the type of couple who needs to be in each other's business at all times like some co-dependant entity." Emma could hear the sarcasm dripping from the Mayor's tone, "I called to tell you that yes you should be doing your job. It seems that, like our personal situation, we have some subconscious knowledge regarding our jobs. You should be fine, just go about your day. You are quite the hard worker now; I was looking through some of your reports and they are quite impressive….Sheriff Mills."
Emma sighed as she looked at the placard on her desk with the words 'SHERIFF E.S. MILLS' engraved on it. "I would really like to know why I decided to use your name, not that I really mind. It looks way more badass than Swan."
"Well, I'm sure we'll find out sooner or later. Perhaps it's because Swan was also too much of an ironic statement and you jumped ship as soon as you could."
The station phone began to ring, signalling the emergency line.
"Hey I gotta get that. I hope you have a good day at work."
"Thank you. I will call you after my meeting with Mother Superior. Have a good shift, Sheriff."
She locked her cellphone and answered the station's emergency line, "Storybrooke Police Department, Sheriff Sw—Mills speaking." She paused for a moment, listening to the panicked pharmacy owner on the other end of the line, "...Yes Mr. Clark, I already told you I will look into it….no, it is not a priority….I will notify the patrols to see if someone is in the area, until then it is up to you if you want to reopen your shop. For future reference, please only call this line in case of emergencies."
"Was that Tom again?" Tinkerbelle walked into the station and placed her hoodie on the coat rack, "You better head over there, you know him, he'll just keep calling."
Tinkerbelle looked the same, except that her hair was cut short in an asymmetrical bob that suited her surprisingly well. She was wearing a dark blue button up dress shirt trimmed with black, a clip on tie and a bullet proof vest over top finished with a badge pinned to her chest. State of Maine uniforms? Damn I got serious.
Emma stood from her desk and grabbed the set of keys labeled 'Sheriff, Squad car 1', "Alright I'll head over there now, can you hold down the fort?"
"Of course, you know I can!"
With a quick nod, the Sheriff walked into the change room, put on her patrol uniform and headed out of the station.
"Here, kitty, kitty, kitty." Emma was precariously perched on the top step of the ladder she had leaning against the tree, "Come on, I've already gotten into a fight with the dwarf, I don't want to get into a fight with Granny too…have you seen her with a crossbow?"
She reached a little further trying to coax the orange tabby to come her way, "I have snacks?" She held out the treat to the feline.
"You know I would rather you not try to coerce me with such offending treats. That, is for a dog, yes?" The tabby sat on its haunches and looked disinterested at the Sheriff, before continuing in what sounded like a Spanish accent, "You tell Granny that I am not willing to come back until she has gotten that wolf spayed."
Oh god seriously? Is that Puss in Boots? Emma realized that there were more Enchanted Forest characters that she knew about, "Are you talking about Ruby? Cause I'm pretty sure that she wouldn't want to get spayed. I know she enjoys her lady bits a little too much sometimes." She reached a little further, accidentally knocking over the ladder. What she lacked in finesse she made up for in reflexes, she grabbed onto the branch preventing herself from falling eight feet to the ground.
"UGH WHY?!" She hoisted herself up and straddled the branch before she leaned against the trunk of the tree. "Are you happy? I could've fallen to my death! My whole life flashed before my eyes… I haven't even tried a decent Eskimo pie yet." She looked over at the cat and sighed, "What exactly are you fighting with Granny about?"
"Well she was supposed to let me stay in a room at the bed and breakfast in exchange for my family's secret recipe for Empanadas." He walked over and whispered in the blonde's ear, "But then the wolf came and chased me around the woods for an hour yesterday."
Emma pictured Ruby, human Ruby, chasing the cat around before she understood that it was the beginning of wolf's time on Friday. "Look can we make a deal? Cause according to the paperwork Granny gave me, she technically is your owne—er I mean guardian."
He stood on his back legs and polished his paws on his chest, "Well, there may be one thing that we can trade for my most precious of recipes." He leered at the blonde, "I want your wife's apple cake recipe, complete with the caramel sauce she makes…it is not…regular sauce, yes?"
Emma looked at the sky and thought about the cake recipe the feline was talking about. She remembered Mary Margaret talking about how amazing it was and that she has been asking for the recipe since before the curse broke. "I doubt that, that's her secret recipe apparently."
She looked back at the cat only to see him holding its little cavalier hat in his paws, looking up with big watery eyes. Where the hell did the hat come from? She tried to look away but was instantly wooed by the intense cuteness of the cat, "Okay fine! But I can only ask her, there's no guarantees."
"Good, that is more than I can ask for." He jumped from the branch and onto the ground below the Sheriff and put his hat on with a flourish, "I shall see you and your wife in a day's time for the recipe. Good day Sheriff Mills."
"Wha…wait!" Emma slumped against the trunk as she watched the cat disappear into the distance. There goes getting out of this mess without anyone knowing about it. She reached for her radio strapped to her shoulder, "Attention Squad Car 4, Squad Car 1 requesting assistance at the North East corner of Main and Richmond. Not an emergency….bring a ladder."
Regina sifted through her files, thanking the gods that she kept detailed notes on all her ongoing projects; before long, hours passed as she continued to take detailed notes of her project with the convent and the Blue Fairy. A gentle knock broke the silence at the door, "Mayor Mills, your one o'clock is here."
Regina looked at her schedule, "Ashley, dear, I don't seem to have a one o'clock appointment written down in my schedule. Can you remind me as to who it is?"
Ashley laughed genuinely then winked, "Riiight, I'll just send her in now. It's not like you don't have this meeting every Monday, Madam Mayor. I'm going to go on my lunch. See you at 2!"
As Ashley left the room, Emma walked in holding a paper bag and two to-go cups of coffee. Regina looked the Sheriff over, shifting slightly from the apparent arousal that was rising in her body while she eyed the uniform she was wearing.
"Aaaand lunch is served!" The blonde placed the two cups of coffee and the paper bag on the marble table at the side of the room then crossed over to sit in front of the Mayor's desk. She removed her black bullet proof vest placing it gently on the chair beside her. Regina unconsciously licked her lips at the sight, uncrossing and crossing her legs on the opposite side while pressing her thighs together to relieve some of the pressure that was building.
"Is there any reason why you decided to be here, Miss Swan? As much as I appreciate the effort, we didn't plan to have lunch together." Regina averted her gaze and began to mindlessly straighten out the stack of papers on her desk.
Emma held out her phone and pulled up the calendar app, "Yeah we did, apparently every Monday for the last two years." She tapped on the blocked segment in the calendar labeled 'Mayor's Office Mondays'.
She looked over the details of the appointment in the blonde's phone, not even trying to hide the smile that it caused. "I have a lot to take care of at this moment, but I guess I can take an hour to have lunch."
Regina stood up and grabbed the food from the table, bringing it back over to her desk. She sat down and took another examining look at the Sheriff, "Why exactly are you wearing a uniform? I thought you were the type to try and 'fight the system' everywhere you went." She removed a wrapped sandwich from the bag and handed it over to the blonde.
"I apparently made it mandatory to wear a uniform while on patrol, y'know to make it more professional. I figured it would help since we actually have a police force in the city now and it's actually something I was going to propose at the next town meeting before we woke up married." She unwrapped her sandwich and took a bite, "Itsh not like you have shome weird fetish to shee me in uniform." She swallowed her food and shot the Mayor a sultry look despite the bags under her eyes from watching the early morning sunrise.
Regina began to blush as she felt a wave of arousal flutter in the pit of her stomach. She opened the container of chicken salad that was in front of her, and began to eat. "So Sheriff, how was your day so far?"
"Well you know the usual, I was fighting crime, saving cats and walking old ladies across the street. Oh and Puss in Boots apparently is here and wants your apple cake recipe."
"Absolutely not." The Mayor flicked her hand in dismissal, "If that feline is here, tell him he still owes me for convincing that insufferable donkey to shut up."
Emma laughed, "Well he is coming over for dinner tomorrow apparently, maybe we can work something out?" She tapped the badge on her chest and smiled seductively, noticing that the Mayor was shifting from side to side and pressing her legs together. I totally called it, she loves a woman in uniform. Total badge bunny. Emma loosened her tie a little (she knew she should be wearing a clip on but she couldn't find it at the station), then began to unfasten the first few buttons on her shirt. "I'm still trying to get used to wearing this thing."
Regina swallowed audibly and moved to sit on the edge of her chair, "I think it suits you. And I agree that the uniforms will provide a level of professionalism that was lacking in the department prior."
Trying to regain some decorum, she closed the lid of the salad she was eating and turned the monitor as far as she could on her desk to face both of them. "It looks like my meeting with Mother Superior is regarding converting the convent into a teaching facility. This will help the new inhabitants of Storybrooke with establishing a new identity here and learning basic facts of the country and other important information. We will provide glamour spells to those who were brought over from the second curse who still are in their non-human forms, such as Puss in Boots. The only thing I find off with this is that I was already working on this project in our Storybrooke. That means we've only begun to break ground five years later?" She began to pull up blueprints and agreements on the screen.
"Well it was a really big project and I remember you had to try to purchase the building from Gold. With all his contracts and fine prints it must've taken a lot longer than you thought." Emma got up and rounded the desk to try to get a better look at the blueprints, "Oh wow, these are amazing, this is the first time I've seen your plans in detail, Regina." She turned to look at the brunette whose face was completely flushed and eyes a little glazed over. Emma looked at her surroundings and realized she was situated between the Mayor's chair and the desk.
Emma noticed the brunette was trying to advert her eyes, but returned them every so often to dart over her figure. Oh this is interesting…I see the tables have turned from for all those times she tried to seduce me when I first became Sheriff. The blonde turned to face the Mayor fully and leaned back onto the desk. She crossed her arms at her chest and squeezed them together causing her breasts to pop as best she could without giving away her intentions. She lowered her voice to a growl, "So, Madam Mayor, what exactly did you want to do for the last fifteen minutes of this lunch break?"
I would like to push you on the desk and fuck you senseless. "I think we should discuss the constant calls I keep getting from the dwarf with the nose infection." The Mayor moved a hand from the arm rest of her chair and began to run her index finger subconsciously across her bottom lip. "He tells me that you don't know how to do your job, Sheriff."
Emma scoffed with a laugh deep in her throat, "I think you and I both know that I know how to do my job." She leaned in close, "And I know how to do it very well."
Regina parted her lips and breathed heavily, she felt goose bumps rise on her skin at the proximity. She placed her hands on the Sheriff's hips. uncrossed her legs and pulled her between them. Emma leaned forward, steading herself with a hand on the back of the Mayor's chair. She moved closer and pressed her lips against red ones, quickly parting them to deepen the kiss. Regina let a quiet moan leave her lips as she stroked her tongue against the blonde's.
She untucked the Sheriff's shirt and ran her hands underneath the fabric caressing over the smooth skin of her stomach. "Emma…" She mewled in pleasure against her lips before reluctantly breaking the kiss and moving her hands away, "We…I'm not quite ready for this, I'm sorry for instigating."
Emma pulled away a bit and looked directly in her eyes, "It's okay, I'm sorry I'm so hard to resist." She leaned in and placed a lingering kiss on the Mayors lips, "You know I don't mind waiting." She walked over to the front of the desk as she unbuckled her belt and began to tuck her shirt back in. Winking at the Mayor, who she knew was staring at her, she buttoned up her shirt and straightened her tie before picking up her vest and fastening tight to her body. She pulled her hair back into a loose ponytail and nodded at her wife with playful professionalism.
"Mayor Mills."
"Sheriff Swan."
Emma tapped the name embroidered on her vest, "That would be Sheriff Mills, Madam Mayor." She walked over to the brunette one more time and gave her a soft kiss. "I'll see you at home around 6?"
"Yes, don't be late. We have our son's football game to attend." Regina smiled against her lips.
Emma smiled back before leaving the room.
AN: This was really fun to write! It looks like our girls are getting comfy with each other~! As per usual, please let me know what you liked and didn't like! I love feedback and I always take your suggestions into consideration when I'm writing! Such as the Guest Review on AO3 mentioning that the last chapter felt a little too angsty! So I made sure there was some good light hearted humour in this chapter!
I LOVE COMMENTS! AND I LOVE QUESTIONS ON TUMBLR! (reighne-sq
