Emma woke a little before her alarm clock Monday morning. It was the first day that she was supposed to begin her job as town deputy. She went to the bathroom to brush her teeth and wash her face. When she was finished, she took a moment to look herself over, running her fingers through her brown locks. Maybe she should go back to blonde. Regina would surely recognize her then. Her fingers trailed down to her necklace. She didn't have a 5 year old child accessorizing her neck today. That means her necklace would be in full view when she stopped by the Mayor's office later. She decided to remove it, taking it off slowly and placing it into a small emerald green, velvet drawstring bag. She had only taken this necklace off twice since it was given to her. Once during her short trip to jail and again when she had Henry. She hated being without it.
Once Emma was dressed, she grabbed the small velvet bag and slid it into her pocket. She got Henry up and ready to go and headed downstairs to the diner. She was going to need to find a place of her own soon. The Bed and Breakfast was very welcoming, but she needed more space for Henry and herself. She had run into Belle over the weekend. The Australian woman was more than happy to offer her services as Henry's babysitter while Emma was at work. They were to meet Belle in the diner for breakfast before she headed to the station. When the two entered the diner, Emma noticed Regina sitting at the front counter. She opted to sit in a booth as far from the woman as possible to hopefully avoid drawing her attention. That plan went downhill when Henry let go of his mother's hand and eagerly ran over to Regina.
"Gina!" the small boy ran to her side, scrambling onto the stool next to her.
"Well hello there, sweetheart. How are you this morning?" Regina ran her fingers through his hair. Emma decided to remain behind and watch the interaction between the two.
"Great! Mommy has to go to work today and I get to spend the entire day with Miss Belle. She's really pretty and she talks funny." Henry was excited to share his plans for the day.
"It's called an accent, dear. She speaks that way, because she is from Australia." She informed him with a chuckle.
"Is that in Maine?" He asked curiously.
"No, Henry." She smiled. "It is not in Maine." She decided she wasn't quite ready to give him lessons in geography.
"I wish I could stay with you today. I like you, you're nice and really pretty too." He leaned in and hugged the brunette. Regina had never had a child take to her so quickly. He was simply adorable.
"Thank you, dear. You are very sweet. I'm afraid you would not enjoy sitting around my office all day while I did paperwork." She put her arm around Henry and gave him a little squeeze.
"Is that like homework? Mommy had to do lots of homework when she went to school on her computer. Can I come see you today? Mommy always said I am a great excuse to not work. I can be your excuse too!" He finished with a very proud smile on his face.
"Yes, it is a bit like homework and I would love for you to come see me... if it is alright with your mother, of course." She smiled.
"Can I, Mommy?!" Regina had finally looked up to see the deputy standing quietly a few feet behind them.
"Of course, Henry. But, only if Miss Belle doesn't mind taking you" she answered, stealing a glance at the Mayor.
"Yesss!" The boy exclaimed.
"Well then, I hope to see you later." Regina addressed Henry. "I must be going. Deputy Swan, I expect to have those forms on my desk by 10 o'clock."
"Of course, Madame Mayor" was Emma's late reply. Regina had already turned and began walking towards the door.
Belle had arrived shortly after the Mayor's departure. Emma had gone ahead and ordered their breakfast to allow Henry a head start at finishing his food. Emma couldn't eat, so she only ordered herself a coffee. Her nerves were a complete mess. The forms Regina needed were all employee papers that needed to be filed. It was standard procedure, but Emma was nervous that Regina might want to go over them with her. That would inevitability lead to her seeing Emma's first name. She was lucky the Mayor skipped over her resume, due to the workload from the upcoming festival. If she were really lucky, the Mayor would over look this too.
Emma sat with Belle and Henry for another 20 minutes before heading off to the station. She still had a few of those forms to complete. When she arrived Graham was already there in his office.
"Good morning, Sheriff." Emma made herself known.
"Deputy." Graham returned with a smile.
They spent about 45 minutes getting Emma all set with everything she needed. The uniform, badge, station keys, cruiser key, issued firearm, and so forth. By the time she was all set, she had a little over an hour to get her forms to Regina. She got right to work. The office was quiet this morning and it seemed Graham had some paperwork of his own to finish up. It was 20 minutes to ten when he decided it was a good time to strike up a conversation.
"So I thought a lot about what you said at dinner the other night." He approached Emma's desk. She stared blankly at him for a second.
"Oh, right." She finally recalled their conversation from Friday.
"I decided I needed more than Regina was ready to give. I broke things off with her" he announced.
"That's good for you, Graham. I hope you find what you are looking for." Emma smiled politely.
"About that..." She looked up at the sheriff and waited for him to continue. "If you're still offering, I'm willing to give this a try." Another blank stare from Emma. This one lasted much longer.
"Offering?" She paused again. "Are you really that dense?" she asked, once she had caught on to what he meant. Graham looked confused. "I wasn't talking about me, Graham" she corrected him.
"But, I thought..." he was cutoff.
"No! Just stop..." Emma rolled her eyes and gathered the forms from her desk. "I have to get these forms to the Mayor's office. Maybe while I'm gone, you can use that time to figure out who I was actually referring in the conversation." She was starting to question whether she should even push him toward Red. She could clearly see that her friend was attracted to him and she knew Graham had changed a lot since high school. But, I mean, really?!
She was ten minutes late when she reached Regina's office. She knocked on the door when the secretary gave her the all clear.
"Come in." Regina called out. Emma entered and closed the door behind her. "You are late." She continued shifting through the papers on her desk.
"Uh, yea. Sorry about that. Graham needed to talk to me." This caused Regina to raise her head to look at the deputy. Regina held out her hand and Emma quickly handed her the forms. The Mayor set the forms to the side and went back to looking at the other files on her desk. Emma felt a wave of relief when she saw that they weren't going to review the forms. She shrugged and turned around to head back to the station, when Regina spoke again.
"Deputy Swan..." Regina stood up and moved to the front of her desk, leaning against it. Emma turned around with a curious look on her face. "It was brought to my attention that you felt the need to speak to the sheriff about his involvement with me." Regina had crossed her arms and stared down the deputy.
Shit. Shit. Shit... was all that ran through Emma's head. She pulled herself together, taking a slightly defensive stance.
"And what if I did?" Emma replied. Regina's brows creased slightly as a wave of Deja vu passed over her. She shook it off.
"If you did, Deputy, then you have clearly crossed a line. What happens between Sheriff Graham and myself is not now, nor will it ever be, any of your business." Regina growled. She had moved a few steps closer to the deputy and taken a defensive stance of her own.
"So what? I'm supposed to just sit back and watch you dangle him around like your little puppet?" Emma challenged her.
"So is that it? You saw your chance to push me out of the way so you and sheriff could have some epic fucken love story. I swear, Miss Swan, if you even..." She was cutoff.
"Jesus! What is with everyone thinking I'm into Graham?!" Emma had had enough. She dug into her pocket, pulling out the small velvet bag, and tossed it to the brunette. Regina caught it and looked up at Emma clearly confused. "Geez, Gina... It was never about Graham. It was always about you." Emma turned and stormed out of the office, leaving a very stunned and confused Mayor behind. Emma got into her car and finally let out the breath she was holding. She couldn't believe she just did that. Shit! Emma thought to herself again as she peeled of and headed back to the station.
Regina stood there for what felt like hours. She was angry and she was confused. The velvet bag in her hands drew her out of her haze. She eyed the small bag curiously, then slowly opened the drawstring. She poured the contents into her hand, noticing a pendant on the white gold chain. The next moment seemed to happen in slow motion. She lifted the chain to look at the small pendant dangling from it. Her breath caught when she saw the easily recognizable swan. She flipped the pendant over.
"Emma." She gasped. She slowly shook her head. "No" she whispered to herself. She hurried over to her desk and grabbed the folder Emma had handed her not long ago. As she flipped through the forms, it got harder to breathe. Every form contained the name Emma Swan...
"Oh, god." She gasped and slowly lowered herself into one of the chairs in front of her desk.
