Authors Note:
i'm sorry this one is short and is pretty much a filler to close up on things. stay with me though, things will get interesting again, i promise!
Thursday 15th February 2018
Emma woke up groggily to the sound of her alarm going off on her phone that still sat in the pocket of her work pants. She was thankful in a way that it was going off because she was busting to go for a pee. So she scooped up her pants on the way past and turned off the alarm before retreating to the bathroom. Upon re-entering the bedroom, she gave Regina a soft kiss on the forehead before grabbing her bag and taking it into the bathroom to ready herself for her day.
Its 04:30 in the morning and Emma knew that she had to remain as quite as possible. Henry wasn't here, but Regina always did have her busiest days on Thursday. The day usually consisted solely of meetings for the departments that worked under the government. Emma's meeting ran into their lunch break, so they had an hour and a half together in the middle of the day that was always a treat for them. Emma showered quickly then dried herself off before brushing her teeth. To kill the time while scrubbing, she looked around the bathroom and noticed that it was beginning to have her own stuff in here. She had a spare hair brush that sat in her own drawer that had magically appeared empty and then the next visit had her own toiletries in there. The toothbrush she was currently using had a spot for it in the holder next to Regina's. even her own shampoo and condition had magically appeared in the shower. Emma smiled to herself before rinsing her mouth and searching through her bag for her clothes. But because, once again, Emma had forgotten to do her laundry, Emma found herself in Regina's closet and picking an outfit for herself in there. Emma choose a pair of Regina's black jeans that looked like they'd never been worn and a blue button up shirt.
As Emma walked out of the closet, buttoning up her shirt, Regina spoke with a deep sleep hazed voice, "there are other more enjoyable ways to get into my pants, Dear"
Emma wriggled her eyebrows with a cheeky smirk, "don't tempt me". she walked over to the bed and cupped each side of Regina's face and kissed her lovingly, "good morning Beautiful" she whispered against her lips.
Regina purred as she stretched her limbs out like a cat, "come back to bed"
"as much as I would really love too, I've got to get into the station early" Emma said, regretting it profusely.
Regina pouted before looking over at the alarm clock that displayed the time. 04:53 flashing back at her. she growled, "it's still too early"
With a light chuckle, Emma kissed Regina on the forehead, "go back to sleep baby, and I'll turn the coffee machine on for you."
"Thank you, my love" Regina said before she slipped back into sleep.
Emma made her way down stairs to turn on the coffee machine for Regina and then head off to the station early so she could make sure everything was alright after the drama of yesterday.
Graham was finalizing his nightly reports and sending them to the Sheriff when she arrived. He looked at his watch and saw that it was 05:15. "you're early" he said to her with a deep voice that indicated he was in dire need of sleep.
"forgot to turn off my usual alarm and decided an early start was in order."
He nodded along to what she was saying and then pointed at the coffee machine, "just brewed it not even ten minutes ago, help yourself"
"thanks, I need it! Grannies should open at 5:00 instead of 5:30" Emma laughed.
Graham laughed along with her, "or… you could of waited that extra half hour and still of gotten to work early"
"hush, you!" Emma snorted, "how's bout we do this hand over and you can call it a night. You look like you're ready for bed."
"oh, I most definitely am." Graham stated and closed down his computer before following the Sheriff into her office to perform their handover so he could go home.
Thirty minutes passed in a lightspeed and Emma then repeated that same handover to Mulan and they then commenced their duties for the day. Emma went out and attended to Bonnie who had stayed the night at the station with Graham. Her dog greeted her with an eager whimper and jumped into her with long licks across her face. Emma laughed at the show of affection and gave her a big hug before they both went back into her office. Bonnie cuddled up at her feet under the desk while Emma read through the emails, informing her of the happenings of the other Maine Police Stations.
8 o'clock came and went, as did Regina and the Grannies made coffee that she'd brought with her. it was now 9:30 and Mulan was arriving back at the station and asking Emma for a word in her office. They both settled into their respected seats and Emma encouraged her to speak with her calm and relaxed demeanor.
"so yesterday was quite intense" Mulan began with a tight brow and stiff posture, "I'm not sure how I feel about it"
Emma chewed on her lip as she pondered a moment over it, "you've not been in a situation like that before, have you?"
Mulan shook her head, "not in a real scenario like that. We had done the exercise in the academy, of course, but occurrences like that rarely happen here in Storybrooke, if ever."
"are you okay? Do you want to talk about it?" Emma asked concerned. Mulan's demeanor was not like her usual self.
"I do, but I don't know where to start with it. It is so confusing to me with it running over and over in my head. I fear what would of happened if you had not been there with me."
"ok, we'll start there. What was the experience for you?"
"well," Mulan began nervously as she looked around the room for something to stare at. "I went to the back door like you asked and I drew my weapon and checked it was live before I pressed the radio and waited the two seconds. I then busted in the door and checked the surroundings as I heard you enter in the front. It was all clear, so I waited by the staircase for the moment it took for Bonnie to bolt up there with you on her tail. That's when I followed you up.
I froze up when I saw Robert's gun pointed at Moe. I had no idea if I was about to witness a murder in front of my eyes. That's when thousands of thoughts ran through my head of whether I was going to be able to make it home to my family or not. The next thing I knew was that Bonnie was shaking his arm while you disarmed him and then you let her pull him to the ground.
I came back to my senses in that moment. I ran over to Mr French to check he wasn't in further danger"
Emma nodded along as Mulan spoke, "that is a normal reaction, Mulan. I am quite desensitized with armed suspects, so I'm used to those kinds of situations. I will suggest you speak to Dr Hopper for a few sessions to talk about your fears that appeared in the moment, but other than that, I think you handled the situation quite well for it being a first experience for yourself.
I will set up a training session with everyone to go through empty hand techniques and make sure we are all refreshed with our training because of this incident.
I will understand if you think you need a day off today to recollect yourself?"
"thank you, but I think I will be fine. Just talking about it with you has been helpful enough."
Emma offered her a reassuring smiled and was glad to see one in return, "I'm glad. You're quite an amazing police officer Mulan, and I am glad you are a part of my team. I think you should know that I completely felt safe with you by my side when we were on the scene. I knew you had my back and I never doubted you for a second"
"thank you, Sheriff, that means more to me than I can express."
Emma laughed at the goofy smile that dawned her deputies face, "good. I think you'd make quite to Sheriff if you ever wanted to become one. Not here though, this station is my baby and I'm still 50 years away from retirement and not giving this up" she laughed.
Mulan chuckled too and stood from her chair, "thanks Sheriff, I would happily serve under you for those fifty years instead. I have not much desire to run a station on a fulltime basis. Too much paperwork"
Emma widened her eye at the ever growing pile that sat on her desk, "oh I hear ya! Speaking of, I should really get back into it. That is if you're alright now…"
"of course, I won't hold you back any further. Like I said, just saying it out loud was helpful enough. Thank you again, Sheriff"
"any time" she said with a grin and watched as Mulan left her office more relaxed and got stuck into her own work.
The next two hours flew past and Emma was now on her way over to town hall with lunch and budget files in her hands.
"Morning, Jess" Emma greeted as she walked past the secretary's desk and walked straight into the Mayors office. She heard the woman's blushing hello back and closed the door as she entered the office. Regina was on the phone and was pointing at the small lounged area to the side for Emma to sit at.
They had got into the habit of sitting on the lounge together and eating their lunch as they tackled the stations spending's and anything else that needed addressing before finishing their time cuddled up on the couch.
Emma set up the Mayor's kale salad and root beer on the table as she bit into one half of her grilled cheese while she stuffed an onion ring in her mouth as well. She finished it off with a swig of her own root beer and groaned as the mixed flavours erupted in her mouth.
"your eating habits never seize to amaze me" Regina snorted as she approached the lounge and took her seat, "hello dear" Regina said and lent over to give her a quick kiss before getting into her salad.
"hey" Emma said dopily with a mouth full of food, "How's your day going?"
Regina grunted in reply, "I was just talking to Doctor Whale from the hospital, despite that we had our meeting an hour ago. He insisted that the ct scanner be updated to the latest model, although it was only updated 6 months ago. He doesn't consist the courage to argue it out with me to my person, so I refuse to meet his demands over the phone. he's an incompetent swine and was too busy ogling my chest than pay me any attention to adjusting how he spends his budget"
Emma listened attentively to her girlfriend as she spoke and ended up smirking in the end, "to be fair babe, you do have ogle worthy breasts"
Regina tssked her and began to eat her salad and ignored Emma's snickering beside her.
"while you eat, I'll go over my budget and let you correct anything you see fit" Emma said and slid a paper over to Regina to read along with her.
They then went through the stations spending's and found the extra room to account for further training that Emma spoke of earlier with Mulan. Regina then reminded Emma of the uniform policies that she'd 'forgotten' to bring with her to the meeting. Mulan and Graham already wore the uniform all the time when they were on duty, but Regina strongly insisted that all of the station now do the same. All the other government departments already had it implemented and it showed a new level of discipline that Regina appreciated. It did irk her that she had to constantly remind her girlfriend, but she knew that Emma would have it to her by the end of the day, like she has now asked.
After finalising their meeting with a kiss, Emma laid flat on her back on the couch and pulled Regina on top of her in a koala hug. They stayed like that for a few minutes with light kisses as they reminisced the night they'd had last night. In fact, yesterday was an emotional day for them for the entirety of the day. from it starting with the gun scare, to the intimate lunch, then romantic dinner and then the sexy rest of the night... it was quite a day.
Their time came and went and it was then time for Emma to get back to the station and relieve Mulan so she could go on her own lunch break. Once she reached her office, she sifted through the massively growing pile and groaned at all the work she had to do. With a final huff, she grabbed the first document on top and began the processing.
Emma was so zoned into her work, that when Mulan knocked on her door a few hours later, she ended up slightly jumping from the unexpecting noise.
"what's up?" Emma asked, trying to play off her fright by sounding 'cool'.
"the hospital called and said that Mr Gold is ready to be discharged. They need to know what you want to do"
"give me a moment and I'll call the state, to see where they want him" Emma then sifted through her desk and finally found the number she was looking for. She typed it into her phone and called.
It was 40 minutes later and she was driving her car down the freeway with Robert Gold in the back of her SUV. The State had said to bring Gold down to Windham Correctional Centre and they would prosecute him from there. The man already said he'll plead guilty and agreed to begin his time now and accepted his punishment. Emma kind of thought that maybe he was lonely and didn't want to wait alone at home for his sentencing. It was quite sad really. He was married long ago and had a son that apparently never came back after his mother died.
That then had Emma thinking that maybe she should contact the man and get him to claim his father's properties in town. Seeing as Gold was an old bloke, he would probably end up dying in prison, especially after all the charges that are laid against him. Emma then shook herself out of those feelings. In a few hours, Gold will be the states problem and not hers.
As she continued to drive, the afternoon flashed back in her mind. Despite that is was short notice, Emma had forgotten to inform Regina that she'd be leaving town just as her shift finished. So when her and Henry came bounding into the station with Henry screaming out that they're getting ice cream, Emma had to break his heart and tell him that she's still got work to do. He looked disappointed but also tried to brave his face about it. It shattered her to piece's, so she promised him that they'll have a games night tomorrow night, as long as it was ok with Regina of course. That was when Regina had laughed at them and told them that she had no say when they both sported the same puppy dog face at her. They then gave one another kisses and cuddles before Emma left to do this pain in the arse job she's doing now.
The hours went by and it was just passing midnight when Emma finally got home. The drive was long and exhausting, but it was done and that case was now closed for Storybrooke Sheriff's Department. She threw a few items in the washing machine, set it for a quick wash and then went and had a well deserved shower. She cleaned away the muck of the day and got herself dressed in her pj's before placing the washed clothes in the dryer for her to wear in a few hours time.
Emma then zombie walked to the bed and flopped down on the mattress and snuggled into her blanket. With one final exhausted exhale, she fell asleep, knowing that tomorrow was going to be a busy as fuck day.