A/N Sorry for the long wait. I seem to have hit a bit of writers block. But here is chapter 7, I hope it was worth the wait. Thank you for being patient.

Chapter 7

Emma was looking through Mr Locksley's schedule on her computer when her eyes widened when she saw a particular name. Miss Mills 12:45. Emma's heart skipped a beat. Had she read right? She had worked for the company for a long time and Miss Mills had rarely been known to meet people outside of her own office. It had only been two days since the ball she thought. Maybe she wanted to see Mr Locksley again? She thought to herself, she remembered Miss Mills asking her whether she was his girlfriend and her being slightly relieved when she had said that she wasn't. Her heart sunk, what if Miss Mills liked Mr Locksley, he was definitely not good enough for her. She shook her head. It's not your business Emma. She thought to herself.

For the rest of the morning she found herself unable to concentrate on her work, she found her mind kept wondering towards what would be happening at 12:45. She was so wrapped up in her own mind that she lost track of time, when she looked at the clock it was 12:20. She jumped up and practically ran out of the building, there was no way she would get Mr Locksley's lunch to him on time but she would try and not make it worse by being even later.

She stumbled through the door of Granny's, she had sprinted here but she was not out of breath because it was not much of a workout compared to what she was used to. She reached the counter where Ruby was already waiting with her usual order.

"You're late." She sounded worried.

"Sorry, I lost track of time, I should go now before I am even later." She placed the money on the counter, grabbed the food and started to run back to the office. She was gone before she saw the concern increase in her friend's face. Ruby was worried about Emma, who knows what her boss will do when she brings his lunch any later. She worried that he would hit her, Emma always claimed that he was never physical but she had once seen Emma sporting a black eye and when she had asked Emma about it Emma had looked surprised for a second almost as if she had forgotten it was there before giving some vague excuse. Ruby worried that if it got any worse Emma would not be able to defend herself. She had no idea how wrong she was.

Emma walked into Mr Locksley's office with his lunch at 12:34 and he was furious. His face was a deep shade of red. Here we go again Emma thought.

"SWAN, WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN!" He yelled.

"I'm sorry Mr Locksley, it took me a bit longer than usual to get your lunch." She spoke calmly not at all scared by his outburst, she was probably the only person in the building you wasn't afraid of Mr Locksley yet she was on he receiving end of his anger more often than most.

"THAT IS NO EXCUSE, IF I ASK FOR MY LUNCH AT 12:30 YOU BRING ME MY LUNCH AT 12:30!" He was still yelling and seemed no less angry. But then again Emma was no more scared.

What neither of them had realised was that someone was listening to heir conversation, it wouldn't be hard to do as Mr Locksley was shouting loud enough to be heard across town. Mr Locksley's office had solid walls so you would not be able to see anyone outside unless you look through the door. Because of this neither Emma nor Mr Locksley had noticed that Miss Mills had arrived early for her meeting and was listening with growing horror to the exchange. She looked at her watch and saw that Miss Swan had only been 4 minutes late with his lunch.

"I'm sorry Mr Locksley, it will not happen again." She was most definitely not sorry and was sure that it would probably happen again, afterall not everything was within her control.

"See to it that it doesn't or I will have you out of this office before you can even blink!" He was still shouting but it was not as loud as before.

"Yes Sir." She said, his threats didn't scare her either, he was too lazy to follow through with them.

Emma had turned around and was walking towards the door when she heard him mutter "Ignorant fool". She was this close to spinning back around and slapping him but had to remind herself that it would not be acceptable so she continued walking.

Regina who had also heard Mr Locksley's last remark was utterly horrified. How could anyone treat someone this bad. Especially when that person was Emma Swan, she deserved so much better. Wait, what are you thinking Regina you don't know Miss Swan, regardless anyone would deserve better than to be treated like that.

Emma closed the office door behind her and looked up to see Miss Mills standing there. Her heart fluttered but she was able to keep her composure. She noticed that Miss Mills was looking at her curiously.

"You're here early." She said breaking the silence.

"Does he always treat you like that?" She asked shyly.

Emma tilted her head slightly unsure of why Miss Mills was asking but thought it best to answer truthfully. "Yes, although it isn't just me, he treats everyone like that I just happen to be on the receiving end of it a lot." She tried to laugh slightly to alleviate the tension between the two of them.

She looks at Regina and sees a brief flash of anger go across her face but it is gone so quickly that Emma wonders if it was even there in the first place.

"So, I was wondering if you would like to come and have dinner with Henry and myself tonight... Henry really wants to see you again." She adds on the last part quickly. Way to go Regina, let Henry take the fall if she doesn't want to come over, your such a great parent.

Emma is knocked off balance by this offer, not only has no one ever offered her something like this before but this was Regina. Regina Mills not only the most successful business woman of her time but also the hottest woman that Emma had ever laid eyes on. Why would she want to have Emma over for dinner.

"It's okay if you don't want to come over." Regina says when Emma doesn't immediately answer. She feels a bit deflated.

"No, I would love to have dinner with you, your offer just surprised me that's all." She smiled at Miss Mills.

"Great." Regina gave returned the smile, "We normally eat at 6:30, would you be able to make it then?"

As soon as Regina mentions the time Emma's smile drops. She won't even be allowed to leave until 7 and that was not including the time taken to get home, change and make her way over to wherever Miss Mills lived.

Regina noticed her change in demeanour. "Is that not okay for you?"

"I would love to join you at 6:30, but I'm not allowed to leave the office until 7pm." She sighed, she couldn't look Miss Mills in the eye.

Regina's heart dropped. 7pm, why on earth was she working until 7pm. To add to her confusion Emma had said the words 'not allowed' as if she were being forced to be there.

"Why are you at the office so late does Mr Locksley really need a personal assistant at that time?" She asks trying to clear up her confusion.

"Oh, Mr Locksley leaves the office at 4pm. He makes me stay behind and finish all the work that he didn't complete throughout the day which is most of it." She says this as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

Regina stares at her blankly but inside her blood is boiling. That Mr Locksley was an overpaid bully. Not only did he treat Miss Swan so badly but he also had her doing the work that he should be doing. Regina was furious. She was going to get rid of this man, but not right now, she thought, she had an idea and in order to make it work she would need Mr Locksley to keep his position for the time being. However what she could do right now was get him to let Emma leave earlier today.

"That is not right. Do not worry, you can come over for dinner tonight, I will let Mr Locksley know that you will be leaving the office at 5pm today and that he will have to finish his own work." She smiled at Emma before barging into the office.

Emma was left with her jaw hanging open. Why would Miss Mills be doing this for her? Well at least she thought that Miss Mills didn't like Mr Locksley and that was a relief.

Emma couldn't hear what was being said in the office so whatever was happening they weren't shouting.

Thirty minutes later Miss Mills exited the office. "I'll see you at 6:30, my address is 108 Mifflin Street." She gave Emma a smile before leaving the room.

Emma couldn't help but smile, she had no idea what was happening but she was beginning to feel something she had never felt before. The feeling was both thrilling and terrifying at the same time. She still had a smile on her face when a smug looking Mr Locksley sauntered out of his office five minutes later.

"Today's your lucky day Swan. I've decided to let you finish work at 5pm today." He said this in a way as though he was giving her a huge favour when in reality Emma knew that she should only be working until 5pm everyday. Not only that but Mr Locksley should also work until at least 5pm but he always left at least an hour early.

"Thank you, Sir." She thought it was best to be polite, she wasn't in the mood to deal with his anger again.

"You know, I think Miss Mills had taken a fancy to me, why else would she come to my office." He said smugly. "I bet I'm going to be able to tame The Evil Queen." He laughed at his own comment.

Emma was furious, how dare he refer to Miss Mills like that, as though she were an animal to be tamed. He would never treat her respectfully. I would treat her like she deserves to be treated Emma thought. She didn't even realise that she was thinking about Miss Mills in that way.

Emma decided that wanted Miss Mills to stay away from Mr Locksley even more than before. For her own good of course. You never know what he might try to do to her.

Emma stared at her computer and watched the minutes tick by. Although she was finishing two hours earlier than usual she found that time was passing much slower than normal.

As soon as the clock turned to 5pm she was up on her feet and leaving the building. She would have time at home to decide on what she should wear. She had looked the address up and realised that although it was in a much nicer part of town, 108 Mifflin Street was actually only a fifteen minute walk from her own apartment so she had decided that she would walk there.

When Emma arrived home she went straight to her bedroom, it was going to take her forever to decide on something to wear.

At 6:10pm Emma was leaving her apartment and beginning to make her way towards 108 Mifflin Street. She found that the closer she got the more nervous she became. She reached her destination at 6:25pm and knocked on the door.

She took in one last deep breath waiting for the door to open.