Chapter Thirty-Seven: Dishonesty

"Good morning," Emma said entering the kitchen.

"You know, it wouldn't kill you to do the dishes once in a while," Regina said not turning around "I'm not your maid"

"It's not even eight in the morning yet, Regina," Emma sighed "I'm guessing you are still mad at me?"

"What do you think?" Regina said.

"How many times do I have to apologize before you forgive me?" Emma said as she walked behind Regina and wrapped her arms around her waist "I'm sorry"

"I know," Regina said turning around "But I'm still furious at you"

"I know," Emma said looking down.

"I have to go to work," Regina said breaking free from Emma's heart.

"I'll drive you," Emma said.

"No, I need my car today," Regina said, "I saw it in the garage, did Billy tell you what was wrong with it?"

Shit!

The car.

"Emma?" Regina asked her voice getting angry now "You did take it to Billy's, right? I asked you this two weeks ago"

"Yeah, I…I… did" Emma lied "I did, but maybe you should take the bug"

"Why?"

"Well, I mean, I don't know, I just don't really trust to use the car right now," Emma said "If you need it to something important. Just take the bug, Regina"

"Nonsense. Billy is the best in town"

"He's really not that good," Emma said her heart pounding in her chest.

"Well, I guess we'll find out," Regina said and walked to kiss Emma's cheek "I'll see you tonight"

Regina walked away as Emma sat down on the kitchen island eyes widened. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck! Why did she lie again? Her relationship with Regina was already on thin ice and now this? Why didn't she just take that damn car to the shop already? Why didn't she let Regina take it when she said she had time to do so? What the hell was wrong with her? She felt like she was deliberating making things that would eventually make Regina walk away from her. Emma closed her eyes and breath in. She couldn't let Regina go thinking the car was fixed and so, she rose from the chair and ran outside, but there was no sign of Regina. Emma walked to the garage, thinking Regina was still in there trying to turn the engine on, but when she walked in, the garage was empty. Emma walked back inside the house and up their room and called Regina but she didn't answer. Damn it! She was about to text her when the phone suddenly rang in her hand.

"David, I can't talk right now," Emma said when she answered the phone.

"Emma you have to come in, we have a situation"

"What kind of situation?"

"Armed robbery with hostages"

"What?" Emma said on the phone "In Storybrooke?"

"Yes, I'm surprised too"

"Where are you?"

"All unities are parked in front of the bank," David said "You need to hurry up"

"Yeah, I'll be right there"

Emma put the phone in the back pocket of her jeans and ran out of the house. She stopped by the station first to take her badge and gun before driving to the bank. When she arrived, she saw three Sheriff's department cars parked in front of the bank and David holding a megaphone.

"David, what the hell," Emma said kneeling next to him "Who is in there?"

"Only Leroy" David said "He let the other hostages go"

"Do we know anything about this guy?"

"All I know is that his name is Isaac" David said.

"What does he want?"

"A car to leave the town with the money," David said.

"And Leroy?"

"He will take him with him until he knows he is safe"

"Yeah, like hell I'll let that happen," Emma said "Give me the megaphone"

David handed Emma the megaphone and she took it, walking closer to the bank door. He tried to pull her back, saying it was too dangerous but Emma didn't listen to him. She walked slowly with her hands up and when she was closed enough that she could see them she spoke on the megaphone.

"Isaac, my name is Emma. Emma Swan" Emma said "I'm the Sheriff in this town"

"I already told your deputy what I want" Isaac screamed back.

"Why don't you come a little bit closer so I can hear you," Emma said.

"Do you think I'm stupid" Isaac screamed "You'll shoot me"

"I'm unarmed," Emma said, "Can I walk closer to you?"

"Why?"

"So we can talk without shouting," Emma said "And I need to make sure Leroy is okay"

"Okay. But I'll tell you when you are close enough" Isaac screamed "And keep your hands up"

Emma nodded and walked closer to the glass doors of the bank. She kept her hands up and her steps slow. She looked at everything around her while speaking to Isaac. He told her the car he wanted and Emma hold the urge of rolling her eyes as Regina would do. A sports car? Who the hell robbers a bank and asks for a sports car to run away from the robbery? He kept on listing his demanding and then he made a movement with the gun that caught Emma's attention. The trigger was orange. She didn't see it before because his finger was covering it, but she could see it now. The fucking asshole was using a toy gun. Emma felt her blood boil as she stormed inside the bank. She Heard David screamed behind but she paid no attention to him.

"Stay back" Isaac screamed his eyes widened looking at Emma "Or I'll shoot him"

"Oh, shut up"

Emma closed her hand in a fist and punched Isaac. Right in the middle of his nose. He looked at her saying something about her breaking his nose while Leroy ran out of the bank. A second later, David came in with other deputies, all guns in hands pointing at Isaac.

"Emma, what the hell?" David said next to her.

"It was a toy gun," Emma said "This idiot tried to rob a bank with a toy gun"

"What if it wasn't?" David asked "You could be dead now"

"David, I'm not stupid," Emma said "I only walked in because I was sure the gun wasn't real"

"Good call, Sheriff," One of her deputies said behind her.

"I can't believe the paperwork I'll have to do because of this idiot," Emma said.

"If I were you, I'd be more worried about picking up Leroy later," David said, "Can you imagine how drunk he will be tonight?"

"Can I punch this idiot again now?" Emma asked.

"I will sue you!" Isaac screamed "You broke my nose, you bitch"

"Hey," David raised his voice "You are lucky that is all she broke"

Isaac was handcuffed and taken to the hospital. Emma and David went back to the Sheriff's station to get his cell ready and stat on paperwork. Later that day, Dr. Whale called Emma to inform her the prisoner would have to spend the night in observation. He complained about his breathing and Whale figured it was best to keep him in the hospital. Emma rolled her eyes but had no other choice but to agree to his medical decision. She spent most of the afternoon doing paperwork on the case. A robbery with a toy gun. God, you gotta love a small town.

In the afternoon, Emma did her rounds. She stopped by the ice cream shop and told Elsa what happened. Her friend was torn between laughing out loud and worry about Emma's safety. In the end, they both decided to have a good laugh. Emma returned to the Sheriff's department at five. David had the night shift and Emma gathered her things to drive back home. With all the excitements of the day Emma had totally forgotten about Regina. She took her phone from the drawer on her desk, but the device was dead. Damn it! She drove home quickly and was surprised to see a very familiar car parked in front of the mansion. What the fuck was Robin doing in her home?

"Regina?" Emma asked when she entered the house.

"In the kitchen" She heard her voice saying back.

Emma walked to the kitchen where she saw Regina washing something in the sink while Robin and Rolland were sat on the island. They were laughing and Emma felt her heart squeeze painfully in her chest. That fucking perfect family picture again. They just fit together, didn't they? Regina would do such a wonderful wife and an amazing mother. And that's what she wanted, isn't it? She wanted children and hey, Robin already came with one and the equipment to make more.

"Hi, Emma," Rolland said to her "Auntie Gina is making lasagna"

"Lasagna, hun?" Emma said and looked at Regina "I can't remember the last time you made me lasagna"

"Well, dear, you haven't exactly deserved my lasagna lately, have you?"

"Have I deserved your lasagna, auntie Gina?" Rolland asked.

"Always" Regina smiled at the boy.

"Regina, can I talk to you for a second?" Emma asked.

"Not now," Regina said dryly "Dinner is almost ready. Would you please set the table?"

"Yeah, sure"

Emma moved awkwardly in the kitchen picking everything she needed to set the table in the dining room. Regina's lasagna smelled amazing but Emma didn't have much of an appetite. The conversation happened mostly between Regina and Robin with Rolland saying something cute here and there. Emma didn't even bother telling what had happened that morning in the bank even though she knew it would be on every paper in the morning. And with every paper, she meant The Mirror, the only newspaper in all of Storybrooke.

After dinner, Robin offered to clean but Emma refused to let him. This was her house and he needed to get his dirty claws out of it. Emma washed the dishes but Regina didn't stay to help dry. She walked out of it with Robin and Emma felt her heart squeeze again. When she finished, she walked to the living room, thinking they might be there but the room was empty. Emma went outside and noticed Robin's car wasn't parked in front of the house anymore. Emma panicked! What if Regina had run away with him? What if she had decided Emma wasn't good enough after all and just took off with him? Emma felt her eyes fill with tears as she turned back and ran inside the house.

"Regina?"

Emma screamed but there was no answer. She went to the kitchen but the room was empty. She checked the living room again. Empty! She ran up the stairs to their room and opened the door. Empty! Emma felt her heart racing and hands shaking. Her eyes filled with tears again and then she heard the click on the bathroom door. Emma looked intensely at the door, her eyes widened. It felt like a lifetime before Regina pull the door fuller open and appear by the door.

"I've been calling out for you," Emma said "Why didn't you answer?"

"I didn't hear you," Regina said dryly.

"You should have told me you were inviting forest boy to our house," Emma said angrily now "It is our house, right? Because when my friends show up without notice, you were pretty upset about it!"

"Well, Emma, if you would bother to pick up your phone you would know I invited Robin and Rolland for dinner"

"My phone discharged," Emma said "And why the hell would invite them for dinner?"

"As a thank you for driving me home," Regina said angrily "You know because my car broke down halfway to the stables"

"Regina, I can explain…"

"Can you? Really? Because you lied to me, Emma! Again!" Regina screamed "I called Billy you know? I was furious that he didn't fix the car! Imagine my surprise when he told me he had never even looked at it. You never even called him!"

"I know! I'm sorry" Emma said "I panicked when you asked because I forgot and I felt ridiculously guilty about it. I tried to call you, but you didn't answer and then something happened…"

"There are always thousands of excuses with you, Emma"

"Regina, that's not fair!"

"You seriously want to talk about what's fair with me?"

"Regina, can we please don't do this right now?" Emma said "I had a pretty intense day at work"

"Oh, too freaking bad for you," Regina said "I'm sorry if drunk Leroy took you out of your bear claws eating day"

"Regina…"

"I was mortified when Billy told me. He endured a lot of bitching from me, and he didn't even deserve it" Regina said "If it wasn't for Robin, I would have to walk…"

"Fucking Robin again," Emma said "This guy is always between us"

"Oh, don't you dare, Emma!"

"Don't I dare what?" Emma asked, "Of course you are taking his side, I mean why wouldn't you?"

"Because he is not the one who is wrong," Regina said "You are. You cause this, not him"

"You know what, Regina?" Emma screamed, "Why don't you keep him!"

"Excuse me?"

"Keep him! It's what you want, right? Robin and Rolland"

"Emma, you can't be serious"

"Well, I am," Emma said and opened the door "Sorry I'm a fucking bother to you guys"

"Emma, where are you going?" Regina screamed "Emma!"

But Emma didn't bother to look back or respond to Regina. She raced down the stairs out to her bug. She was crying when she got inside the car and her hands were shaking. Why did Regina have to bring out Robin? Why couldn't she see that all of their problems were his fault? It was him who always made their fight. It's always him! Why couldn't Regina just see that? Unless she didn't want to see it. Unless she secretly liked having his attention. She says she's gay but so what? So was Lily!

Emma shook her head and turned the engine on. She drove to the station, the tears running freely down her face now. Shit! She knew she shouldn't have run away but this was second nature to her. To run away. Not deal with problems. She was good at that. It was easy to just walk away from problems than deal with them. Emma drove to the station and cleaned the tears from her face before leaving the bug.

"Get out," Emma said when she entered the station.

"Emma?" David asked "What are you doing here? Were you crying?"

"Go home, David" Emma said "I'm taking the night shift"

"Did something happen with Regina?" David asked.

"Go home," Emma said again, a little for fiercely now "I'm not telling you again"

"It's my shift, Emma"

"And I'm your boss. If I'm telling you I'm taking the night shift you just obey" Emma said "It's free of charge, David"

"Okay! I'm leaving" David said as he gathered his things "Enjoy your shift"

Emma crashed down on the chair inside her office when David left. She needed to think. She needed to process everything that had happened not just tonight but in the past two weeks. She looked at her computer and saw the post-it note glued to the screen. A remind she wrote herself to take Regna's car to Billy's shop. Why didn't she take her car to the shop? Why didn't she just called Billy and asked him to go pick up the car? Why did she keep forgetting about it? Emma took the post-it note from the computer and sighed before turning it into a ball and toss it away. If she had just got the car to Billy none of this wouldn't have happened. Robin wouldn't end up being the fucking hero while Emma was the villain. The villain who drove Regina every morning to work for the past two weeks and picked her up, but hey, let's just forget about this right? Let's just pretend it didn't happen because fucking Robin drove her home one fucking night when her car broke down. He was just fucking perfect, wasn't he? He even came with a kid who was the cutest thing ever? Maybe Regina should just…

"Emma?"

"Ruby!" Emma said looking at the figure by the door "What are you doing here?"

"I brought this!" Ruby said.

"Tequila?"

"Yeah, I figured you needed it"

"Why?"

"David stopped by Granny's. He told me how upset you were"

"Oh!"

"I figure we could have some drinks," Ruby said "In case you don't want to talk about it"

"I don't want to talk about it"

"Good," Ruby said, "Shot?"

"Hit me!"

Ruby smiled as Emma walked out of the little office. She found two coffee cups and they both sat down on the floor, their backs to the cell gate. Ruby poured some of the liquid in one cup and then the other. They clicked their plastic cups and Emma drank the tequila all at once.

"This is terrible," Emma said making a face.

"I know" Ruby laughed "Another?"

"Yes, please"

"The bank things this morning was pretty intense," Ruby said while pouring the tequila on Emma's cup "It was very badass of you to just storm in like that"

"How do you know that?" Emma asked.

"I saw you. I was worried out of my mind when you started to walk inside the bank"

"I knew the gun was fake"

"Regina must have been so worried about you," Ruby said.

"Yeah, I doubt that" Emma smirked "I believe she was more concerned about someone else"

"What you mean?" Ruby asked.

"Never mind" Emma shook her head "Hit me again!"

"No, tell me," Ruby said while filling Emma's glass again "We are friends, right?"

"I didn't have the chance to tell Regina about the bank," Emma said "Because she was too busy cooking for someone else"

"Who?"

"Robin" Emma said with disdain "She made him lasagna"

"Who's Robin?" Ruby asked filling Emma's glass again.

"Her fucking stable boy" Emma laughed and drank the tequila all at once again.

"Regina likes men?" Ruby asked filling the cup again.

"No! I mean she told me she's gay"

"I don't get it," Ruby asked confused.

"He likes her. And it's so ridiculously visible to everyone, but her"

"Oh, I doubt that" Ruby laughed.

"What?"

"Women knows these things, Emma," Ruby said "Especially with a man. If he is into her, she knows"

"Why would he lie?" Emma asked.

"Maybe she likes the attention," Ruby said "Maybe she's sleeping with him"

"Regina is not like that" Emma said feeling her head dizzy.

"Isn't she?" Ruby asked "You know her for what six? Seven months?"

"No, she wouldn't do that" Emma said "Fuck, what's in this tequila?"

"Remember that time we stayed out drinking at the Rabbit Hole until they kicked us out and then we went inside the woods"

"What?" Emma asked, her head already spinning.

"It was summer and it was so hot. We walked all the way down to the river and then we stripped and jumped in the water"

"Ruby, why are you…"

"That was the day I realized I was in love with you"

"Ruby…"

But Emma didn't have time to finish her sentence. Ruby leaned in and captured her lips on a kiss. It felt wrong. It felt so wrong having her lips upon hers and still, her dizzy brain took a minute to register what was happening and one more to react. Emma pushed Ruby away from her and rose from the floor.

"Ruby, you should go," Emma said looking down at her

"Emma, can't you see?" Ruby asked "We belong together"

"Ruby, just go"

"Do you seriously want to stay here and cry over Regina?" Ruby asked, "You know she is with Robin now, right?"

"Shut up"

"She probably called him and they are together fucking in your bed right now"

"Shut the fuck up!"

"He is probably on top of her…"

"Shut up"

"His dick hard, pressing against her"

"Stop it"

"She is probably begging him to fuck her"

Emma felt her blood boil and all she saw was red. She grabbed Ruby with force and smashed her back against the cell bars, lifting Ruby's arms up and keeping her in place while her other hand snickered under her skirt. Emma roughly pushed the panties to the side and penetrate Ruby with two fingers, thrusting inside of her.

"Is that what you want, Ruby?" Emma asked, her voice full of anger.

"No, Emma, wait," Ruby said "Not like that"

"This is what came here for, isn't it?" Emma asked, pumping harder now.

"No, Emma, stop"

"Why?" Emma asked, "You want me to fuck you, don't you?"

"Stop!"

Ruby screamed and pushed Emma away from her. Emma looked at her in complete disbelief about what she had done. Her eyes were widened and her breathing erratic. She could feel her throat closing in on her as her eyes started to fill with tears. What the fuck did she just do? Emma looked at Ruby and saw tears running down her face and Emma felt deeply ashamed of herself. Why did she do that? What the hell was wrong with her?

"Get out," Emma told her "Get the fuck out, Ruby"

Ruby didn't obey at first, she was probably in shock about what had happened. Emma couldn't exactly blame her, she wasn't sure of anything herself. Emma told Ruby to go away again and this time, she listened. Ruby walked away and when she was out of sight, Emma crashed down onto the floor. She buried her head between her knees and just let herself cry. She cried until her eyes had no more tears to drop. If Emma hadn't lost Regina before, she sure as hell did just now.