A/N: A little shorter chapter this week, but next chapter will be a lot longer.
Not a whole lot more to say other than thank you for all the comments and favs! Enjoy :)
The light rain hadn't let up since the day before, still giving a chilling bite to the otherwise mild weather. Maybe that was why Emma seemed to unconsciously lean closer to Regina whenever the wind picked up, enjoying that slight warmth her magic gave off whenever Regina was near. At least that was what she told herself; any other reason would have been more than a little inappropriate. It was a funeral, after all.
Besides her and Regina, not a lot of people had come to say goodbye to what might have been Storybrooke's most reclusive inhabitant. In lieu of a proper priest or other official, the fairies had sent Nova to lead the small funeral. Leila Watts – Vickers' neighbor, the one who had called about her in the first place – was there, together with a few others Emma only vaguely recalled from her interviews in that neighborhood. Kathryn Nolan had also come, as had her father.
Nova cleared her throat, gathering everyone's attention. "I'm not very used to this, I'm afraid," she began with an apologetic smile, "and I wish I could say something meaningful about Bethany Vickers, but I didn't know her. I lived here for years without even knowing she existed." Her smile faltered, and she looked down on the notes she clasped in her hands. "We fairies – and nuns, during the curse – were supposed to care for everyone here. To make their lives better. But... I suppose we have a bit farther to go. Even though she was forgotten during her life, at least she'll be remembered in death."
After Nova had finished, Kathryn stepped up to take her place.
"Like most of you, I didn't know Bethany. Even though we talked during the curse, I never got to know her, and I never saw her again after the curse broke. I don't even know who she was before we came to Storybrooke, even though she worked in our castle. It's strange how someone can be both so important and invisible at the same time, isn't it? Back in the Enchanted Forest I was a princess – a spoiled one, too – that didn't think anyone without a title was someone to care about. And despite all that, I remember seeing Bethany there. Maybe she did something so strange or amazing that even I noticed it, or maybe... something entirely different." She paused for a moment, looking increasingly uncomfortable. "I'm sorry," she continued with a weak chuckle. "I– I didn't really plan this out, speaking and rambling here like this. I guess I'll just finish with what Nova said: no one should be left behind again like she was. Everyone should feel welcome here in our community."
"Didn't really expect to see you here," Emma said after the official ceremony had ended. Despite the worsening weather, everyone had stuck around, talking in small groups nearby.
Regina looked past her, towards the flowers neatly arranged next to Vickers' coffin. "And why is that."
Emma shrugged. Truth be told, she hadn't thought about it much. "I guess I just figured you had more important things to do."
"I'm the one who got her here." There was a hollowness to her words that Emma wasn't used to. "I was in charge of the town for most of its existence, and I barely even saw her."
"Seems like that's the topic of the day, huh," Emma muttered, shoving her hands deeper into her pockets. "Still, you don't tend to be the sentimental type."
"Just because I don't wallow in self-pity doesn't mean I don't feel some responsibility for my–" she quietly cleared her throat– "for people I'm in charge of. Being here was the least I could do."
"Hey, I'm not criticizing you or anything. I mean, it's not like I've got much better of a reason for being here. I still don't remember talking to her at all."
Regina glanced over at her with an eyebrow raised. "Is that why you're here? Hoping anything will jog your memory?"
She was about to reply when Nova and Kathryn came up to them, having just seen off the others.
"Regina, it's good to see you," Kathryn said, smiling as she approached. "And you too, Sheriff. Can I borrow Regina for a moment?"
Emma blinked. "Uh, yeah, sure." The words kind of tumbled out in tandem with her own realization that she had just had a fairly normal conversation with Regina for the first time in weeks, and despite the rather grim circumstances, it had been... just kind of normal. Familiar. Just two fr– people talking for a moment. Huh.
"I see you and Regina has been patching things up a bit," Nova noted when she and Emma were alone.
"I guess," Emma said, her gaze still following Regina as she and Kathryn as they walked away. "It's... it's a bit weird right now." She shook her head and turned to Nova. "Anyway, how have you been? I haven't seen you in a while, and last time you kind of ran off."
"Oh. Sorry about that. You know how I can be," Nova chuckled, fiddling with the papers in her hands. "I've been really busy. There is so much for us fairies to do around town, helping people any way we can. Blue always has something for me to do."
"Keeping you on a short leash, huh? I hope I didn't make things more difficult for you, asking you to help with my magic and all that."
"No! No, it's nothing like that. We talked and she understood completely." Nova smiled again. "She has high expectations, of course, but she's always fair."
Emma nodded. "It just takes a lot to earn her trust," she filled in.
"Yes. And I really want to, so I can help make the town a better place. For everyone." She paused, adjusted her grip around her notes again, and then continued, "how well did you know Bethany, by the way? I mean, if you knew her. Since you're here..." She shrugged with a helpless laugh. "Sorry, I'm not making a lot of sense."
"I'm not sure, actually. Apparently I talked to her at some point during that month I don't remember, but I don't have a clue about what."
"You didn't find anything about her in her house?" Nova asked. "I heard it was almost completely empty. It's so weird how she didn't leave anything behind. Everyone keeps something, right?"
Emma shrugged. "She had some old taped shows. Maybe she was just really into TV."
"Oh, right. We don't really watch TV that much in the convent, to be honest. There's always so much to do."
As Nova looked back towards the grave, seemingly lost in thought, Emma studied her for a moment. Although Nova was often a bit skittish and tended to ramble, something seemed a bit more off with her than usual, but Emma couldn't put her finger on what was different. Maybe she just had a bad day. Organizing a funeral certainly couldn't have helped things.
"Well. I should probably get going," Nova said just when the rain began to pick up. "It was good talking to you again, Sheriff." With a quick smile she turned and hurried off, soon disappearing into the rain.
"Nova already left?"
Emma turned back to find Regina coming up to her again.
Emma chuckled. "I wondered what made her run off that fast. Should have figured it was you."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well, you know," Emma started to make a vague gesture before deciding the biting chill against her skin just wasn't worth it, shoving her hand back into her pocket, "you two don't have the best track record. She probably still thinks she's on your shitlist."
Regina looked increasingly bewildered. "What are you talking about?"
"Come on, Regina, don't tell me we're back to this. Nova told me you made her keep quiet about that month."
"Yes, I asked her not to say anything, and she agreed. Because she wanted to stay out of our drama." She sighed. "I know I can be a little... intense, but trust me when I say that all of my anger back then was firmly directed at you, not at Nova."
Emma rolled her eyes. "You can be pretty intimidating even when you're just 'asking', you know. Besides, I talked to her, she was basically freaking out as soon as I mentioned my magic–"
"Because she was getting pitted between us!"
"What, you're blaming me for this?" Emma shot back.
"I'm not–"
Emma closed the distance between them in two steps. "First time I talked to her she was a little nervous, but then when she showed up at the library to help me and Belle, she literally ran out of there when I started asking about why the memory spell was made with light magic."
Leaning forward until their noses almost touched, Regina bit out, "It wasn't me."
"Seriously?"
"Yes!" Regina let out a frustrated sigh. "I asked her. What would I gain from threatening her besides awful PR and another angry mob defacing my porch?"
Emma deflated a little. "But... this doesn't make sense. If you didn't threaten her, who did? Why did she run off like that?"
"Nova is hardly known for her bravery. She probably got spooked by the scary light and ran back to that blue moth for a hug," Regina scoffed. Then she went silent, watching Emma with an odd expression. "Honestly, this was a pretty silly theory, even for you. I'd have to be a complete idiot to threaten a fairy these days. Maybe I should go kick Pongo and steal your brother's lollipop while I'm at it."
Emma opened her mouth to argue, but changed her mind at the last moment. As much as she hated to admit it, Regina did have a point. Ever since that month, Regina hadn't tried to involve anyone else or let anyone get in the crossfire, as far as Emma knew. Threatening Nova would have been pretty dumb.
"Fine, fine. You're probably right."
Regina's smug smirk almost made her take it back.
An especially cold gust of wind gave Emma a full body shiver. How long had they been standing there?
"I think we're the only ones left," Regina noted, apparently having the same thought. "Do you need a ride? I didn't see any police car or that yellow deathtrap when I parked."
Emma's eyebrows rose. "You're offering?"
"Yes." Regina gave her a deadpan look. "I see you're really improving those detective skills, Sheriff."
As Regina shook her head and turned to head for the parking lot, Emma finally pulled herself out of her stupor and followed.
"So if you didn't threaten her, any ideas who did?" Emma asked when they both were seated in Regina's car.
Regina just shrugged. "There are plenty of idiots in Storybrooke. Not sure who'd have any interest in terrorizing Nova, though. If someone actually threatened her."
The car engine hummed to life and soon the graveyard was rapidly shrinking behind them. There was something oddly comforting about an older car like this, Emma noted absentmindedly to herself. The particular smells, the textures, the sounds – it was all a lot more homely than newer ones. It wasn't as cozy as her Bug, sure, but it did come close.
Frowning, Emma glanced over at Regina. They must have traveled together in Regina's car during the month, right? Getting all this nostalgia from a short ride like this all of a sudden was a bit too convenient. She slowly reached out and touched the handle to the glove compartment, concentrating on the cool feeling against her fingertips.
"If you're done reverently caressing my car, we're here," came Regina's dry remark, pulling her out of her thoughts. "Duty calls, Sheriff."
"I wasn't– whatever. Thanks for the ride." She got out of the car, thankful that the rain had let up a little. "I'll see you around, Regina."
Regina sped off without much of a goodbye, leaving Emma on the sidewalk, following the disappearing vehicle with her eyes for a few moments. There had to be something with that car. Either that or she was just getting paranoid from all the weird shit going on around town. Honestly, both explanations were pretty likely.
Later that day, Emma was back at the station, busy procrastinating finishing up some excruciatingly dull reports – the things people would report their neighbors for were just mind-boggling sometimes – when a soft knock on the door made her look up and hastily pull her feet off the table.
"Uh, come in?"
A short woman entered the station, looking nervously between Emma and Mulan. "Hi. I... We haven't talked– not really, but I'm Dawn. Or Amelia, from the curse. I'm one of the fairies?" She shifted uncomfortably, her eyes flitting to the cells at the far side of the room for a brief moment before coming back to Emma. "I left you a note at Granny's a while back. We, uh, we met out at the–"
"At the Toll Bridge," Emma filled in as Dawn said the same thing, all thoughts of dull police reports gone in an instant. "You lost your phone there. And you shot magic at me."
The color drained from Dawn's face and she licked her lips, but still nodded. "Yes. I'm really sorry about th–"
"So why are you here now?"
"I'll tell you everything, in private," Dawn said, glancing warily at Mulan.
"Mulan here is my deputy. Anything you tell me, you can tell her." Emma got to her feet and headed for the interrogation room, gesturing for Mulan to come along. "But I suppose we might as well do this the proper way. Follow me."