Chapter twenty
Lily Page was exhausted after spending one night in New York and convincing her adoptive family to get up ridiculously early to drive to Maine, but she was determined.
They all seemed to understand how desperate she was to see her best friend.
In normal circumstances, she would be excited to see her, but a lot had happened since she had last laid eyes on Emma Swan.
Lily had yet to confirm with her own eyes that she had in fact recovered from the horrors of the Chases, even if she sounded fine over the phone, she couldn't help but often think about the phone call when Emma claimed to be sick.
She now knew that she sounded weird because her nose had been broken.
She was fairly confident that she didn't need to have the same worries about the Mills family, there was no way that August would let it happen again and Dr Hopper sounded pretty good too.
As much as Emma complained about the treatment for PTSD that she was currently undergoing, Lily was getting the sense that it seemed to be helping her.
The other problem was the whole 'Regina Mills' issue.
Lily perhaps should have been more surprised when she discovered that Regina had kissed her friend, but she was shocked that Regina had run away.
Emma may have been confused about what Regina's actions meant, but there was no doubt in Lily's mind that the blonde's feelings for the cheerleader were reciprocated, the problem was that she wasn't clear on what exactly the girl wanted from Emma at this point.
She had kissed her once, ran away, almost kissed her again and then ran away again.
To Emma, the actions seemed to suggest regret even if Regina had directly told her that she wanted to kiss her, she wasn't the best prepared in usual circumstances to decipher what people meant, but it was all the more difficult when they said one thing seemed to do the opposite.
It was for this reason that Lily convinced Mal to let her go straight to Milfin Street after they dropped their bags off at the B&B, which her adoptive mother thankfully agreed to.
So Lily marched up to the mansion (trying not to be too envious by the sheer size of the home of the mayor of Storybrooke) and knocked against the door hard and fast.
She then placed her hands behind her back and rocked back and forth as she waited.
The door was opened a moment later and the woman's confusion turned to a smile as she pushed the door further and Cora Mills said, "oh you must be Lily, Emma mentioned that you would be coming over, I do hope that your family has enjoy what you have seen of Storybrooke so far?"
Lily followed the mayor into the foyer and her mouth formed an 'o' shape as she looked around the space.
Emma had really undersold just how big this place was!
She was literally the only person that Lily knew who wouldn't have described a house like this in great detail.
"It's…beautiful…" Lily said, though she wasn't sure if she was talking about Storybrokke or this house.
Cora smiled at the awe in the girl's voice and she replied, "thank you, dear, Emma is just…"
She didn't get the chance to say that her foster daughter had just gone to the kitchen to grab a drink of water because the girl appeared at the threshold, obviously beckoned by the sound of the front door closing, Zelena not far behind holding her backpack.
Emma smiled broadly at Lily and the brunette didn't hesitate before she went over to engulf her in a crushing hug, which Emma returned.
It may have been a few years but to Lily, Emma appeared to be exactly the same person that she knew.
It was made that much better that there didn't seem to be even a single bruise on her anymore.
Zelena shared a smile with her mother, neither of them had seen Emma willing to hug someone before and it was nice to know that she had someone to lean on who was also her own age.
Lily finally released the blonde and said with a little laugh, "hi, Em."
"Hi," Emma replied.
Lily's eyes moved over to the red-head behind Emma, trying to decide if this could be Regina, but she decided she was too old.
This was confirmed by Cora, who announced, "Lily, this is my eldest daughter Zelena, my other children are…" she trailed off when she looked up to the stairs to see Regina standing in the middle step staring onto the scene with widened eyes, "oh, and this is Regina, I would have to assume that Henry Jr is still asleep."
Lily swivelled round to the stairs before she could introduce herself to the redhead and Zelena tilted her head when she noticed a distinct cringe adorn Emma's face.
"Regina?" Lily repeated with narrowed eyes.
In that moment, Regina realised that this girl knew what she had done and she swallowed hard under the filthy look she was receiving.
Mayor Mill's eyes flicked over to her eldest daughter to see that she was just as suspicious about why everything had gotten so awkward.
As far as she was aware, Emma and Regina had been getting along really well recently, so why would Emma's best friend be looking upon her daughter with such contempt?
Regina cleared her throat and said, though she made no attempt to come down the rest of the steps, "it's nice to meet you, Lily, Emma has told us a lot about you."
"Yeah, she's told me a lot about you too," Lily replied coldly.
Regina's eyes flicked to Emma, who appeared to be burning up from this conversation, but the young genius seemed to realise that there was something that she could do about it.
She stepped up next to Lily and grabbed her friend's arm as she said, "would it be okay if I took Lily to the diner for breakfast?"
"Of course, dear," Cora replied automatically and Emma dragged Lily towards the door.
"It was nice to meet you, Mrs Mills," Lily called over her shoulder.
"You too," Cora replied just before the door closed behind the pair of teens and she turned to look at her youngest daughter, "it there something wrong?"
Regina shared what looked like a meaningful expression with her sister before she shook her head and replied, "everything's fine, mom," before she dashed back upstairs.
Cora frowned and asked Zelena, "have you noticed anything?"
The red head shook her head as eh moved across the foyer, clutching the strap of her backpack as she replied, "no I haven't, I'm sure they're fine."
She also ascended the stairs after her sister and Cora narrowed her eyes before she muttered 'teenagers' and decided to go and make breakfast, probably ready for her son to have for lunch.
Meanwhile, Zelena finished taking the stairs two at a time and was across the hallway to open Regina's bedroom door within a few seconds.
The red-head closed the door and found her sister pacing back and forth in front of her bed.
"What did you do?" Zelena asked.
Regina came to a halt and the reply spewed out of her mouth before she could reconsider sharing, "I kissed Emma."
Zelena's eyes widened and Regina took in a deep breath of frustration through her nose.
"When?" Zelena asked in spite of her shock.
"A couple days ago and…then almost again yesterday," Regina said and fell down to the end of her bed with her face in her hands.
All she was imagining now was what Emma would have told Lily about her.
She couldn't imagine that she would come off well in the story from Emma's perspective, she hadn't particularly explained herself well in the car.
For the first time, Regina was truly grateful that her older sister knew about the whole situation since she hadn't even brought herself to tell Killian about the kiss. She just knew that he wouldn't be helpful.
"Almost?" Zelena asked and came over to sit next to the younger Mills woman.
Regina raised her face up and replied, "the first time…I freaked out and ran away…Emma apologised to me yesterday and I told her that I really did want to kiss her…she got a call from Lily and I ran away again."
"Why did you keep running away?" Zelena asked.
"Well the second time, it was because of the call…"
"And the first time?"
"She was crying because of her parents and I kissed her…we were really close together and she looked so beautiful…I shouldn't have done it when she was upset," Regina admitted and fell back against her duvet.
"But she said that she wanted to kiss you too?" Zelena asked.
"Yeah but…" Regina began, but Zelena held up her hand to stop her from further verbal spew.
"Emma can be upset and still want to kiss you at the same time, it doesn't make what you did wrong, Gina," Zelena replied, "other than running away obviously, you shouldn't have done that."
Regina groaned and threw her arm over her eyes.
She really thought that she could just have breakfast and then go to the library to catch up on some of her assignments that had been neglected since the kissing incidents that has been occupying her mind for two days straight.
She didn't think that she would witness Emma hugging her friend with the kind of ease that she was definitely jealous of, only to then be stared down by said friend.
Her thoughts turned again to wondering what Emma have told Lily.
Was it a good thing that Emma had to discuss what happened with her best friend?
Zelena pulled Regina's arm from her eyes and looked at her expectantly for a reply.
"I…still think that Emma deserves someone better than me, someone who knows how to help her…" Regina replied.
Zelena sighed and laid down next to her sister as she asked, "don't you think that should be up to Emma?"
"I guess," Regina mumbled.
Seeing that Regina needed time to think about this, Zelena said, "mom is suspicious, by the way, if you're still not ready to talk to her about all of this, you really should stop acting so weird."
Regina closed her eyes but still hummed in acknowledgement, though she found that she was preoccupied by considering whether Emma and Lily were talking about her right now.
S
"Why would you do that?" Emma finally asked once the waitress had placed their breakfasts in front of them and walked away.
There was a chance that someone could hear the conversation about the mayor's daughter so Emma had to wait until they made it to the diner and then grabbed a table a far way from everyone else.
Lily drank deeply from her coffee.
She hadn't meant to do anything like that in front of Regina's mother and sister but it wasn't her fault that it was her first instinct, right? Even if Emma was currently staring at her reprovingly, not even touching her toast as she did.
"She deserves it for how she had been acting," Lily replied and placed her mug down and reached for her sandwich.
Emma glanced around to make sure that no one could hear them and then said, "I think that she's afraid of people finding out, she only runs away when we get interrupted. She probably hasn't come out to anyone yet, I can't really be mad at her for that…"
"All she had to do was tell you that though," Lily shot back.
Emma tilted her head and Lily blew out a breath as she deflated.
She knew that Emma was more qualified than she was on the whole 'coming out' topic, even if she was pissed at Regina for confusing her friend, surely it wasn't fair to expect her to talk about her feelings so easily just because the situation seemed simple to her.
The brief moment that she had seen Regina look at Emma in the mansion, she definitely saw something more than panic behind her gaze.
"She's only known me for a couple months Lily, I can't except her to change everything for me," Emma replied.
Lily sighed and said, "Dr Hopper must be really good."
Emma rolled her eyes and plucked up her toast.
In spite of her general discomfort with feelings, the man had really gotten more out of her than any other medical professional who didn't have the time of resources to try to get.
"Can you just back off with Regina? Don't like interrogate her while you're here?" Emma asked after swallowing a bite of her toast.
"I'll try," Lily replied and Emma just accepted that this was the best that she was going to get here, so Lily swiftly changed the topic, "Mal asked if you could have dinner with us later?"
Emma nodded and replied, "I'll ask Cora but I'm sure it will be fine."
Their conversation drifted into other things and away from Regina.
How each of their schools were, colleges they might want to go to and then into some funnier stories from their shared foster homes.
They talked long after their empty plates were removed and their drinks taken, until Emma excused herself to go and use the restroom.
Lily set about pulling out her phone to tell Mal that she was just finishing up and would meet the rest of the family for whatever activity they went for.
She didn't even get to unlock the device though, because a tall blonde and brunet slipped into the seats opposite her.
The boy was smiling and the girl appeared to be here against her will.
Lily furrowed her brow and said, "hello?"
"Hey," the boy replied and then elbowed the girl who huffed and said:
"Hello."
Lily's brow unfurrowed when she detected the British accent and she asked, "Alice?"
Alice's resistance fell away and she nodded, it was always nice to know that your friend talked about you.
"And you are?" Lily asked.
"Killian," he replied, searching her face to see if it meant anything to her.
Lily's smile made it clear that it did.
Emma told her all about Regina's friend who saved her from a very public panic attack.
"And you know who I am?" she asked.
"Lily, right?" Killian replied hopefully and when she inclined her head, he continued, "we've been waiting for you to get here….you know all about Regina, right?"
Lily looked between the pair.
If she didn't already know about Emma's trust in these people, she would have been suspicious.
As it was, Lily felt pretty confident that they had her best friend's interests in mind.
"Yes I do," she replied with a scowl.
Alice and Killian exchanged a look and decided that she obviously had been told about the romantic aspect of their relationship as they suspected.
"We kind of have this…" Alice began but couldn't say the next words, so Killian finished for her:
"Operation SwanQueen," he whispered and Alice rolled her eyes as he leaned forward, "we've been trying to get them together but it's harder than I thought."
Lily glanced over to the rest room to see that Emma still wasn't coming back.
She did have an idea but it would involve breaking her promise to leave Regina alone, then again, she did only say that she would 'try', it wasn't exactly iron-clad.
So she turned around and asked, "is there a private place to set up a projector in Storybrooke?"
S
Lily didn't get the opportunity to enact her plan until the next day.
She spent her first day in Storybrooke trying out horse riding at the insistence of her adoptive sister and Emma finally met the people who had taken her in since she was allowed to meet them for dinner.
Overall it had been a great day, she got to see that Emma was truly happy win this small town, even if there was a certain cheerleader causing her some romantic confusion.
This left very little room in Lily's brain to consider what it was that she was going to say to Regina when she got the chance to corner her without anyone else around; however, she was currently in the diner with her family and she just saw Regina get up from her booth where she was having a drink with Killian.
Lily excused herself to follow in the same direction towards the ladies room to pursue this golden chance, even if she had no idea what words would leave her mouth.
Before Regina could make it to the restroom, Lily succeeded in grabbing her elbow and pulling her over to the nearest door.
The cheerleader didn't have any time to react before she found herself in a storage room, but she was wearing an outraged expression once Lily released her and stood in front of her to stop any chance of escape.
"What the hell?!" Regina demanded in a loud whisper as she looked around for any sign that someone else had seen this happen.
"I need to talk to you," Lily replied and crossed her arms over her chest as she sized up the other teen.
"Look, I get that you don't like me, but it's none of your business…" Regina began.
"I never said that I didn't like you, I don't really know you," Lily replied, "the problem is that Emma really likes you. You kissed her and ran away, and upsetting her makes it my business."
Regina deflated and asked meekly, "She was upset?"
Lily uncrossed her arms as she critically inspected the expression of regret on the other girl's face.
It just screamed how much she cared about Emma and it instantly made all anger leave her body.
She couldn't be angry with someone who would be this distraught about the thought of upsetting Emma.
"She was more confused," Lily corrected, "and that's why I need to talk to you…look, Emma is a really dumb genius, socially speaking anyway. She can memorise a textbook but she can't figure out what a smile means. She's the kind of dumbass who would wait to call the police to make sure that her abusers' kids get a good social worker. She deserves to have someone who will just be honest with her, you know? So just tell me, do you like her back?"
Regina swallowed hard.
This was her chance to say that it was all a mistake.
To say that the kiss had changed her mind about the feelings she thought she had for her foster sister.
Maybe it was the best way for the message to get to Emma without her having to try and lie to her face.
It would certainly be the simplest solution.
However, her mouth didn't seem capable of forming the sequence of words necessary to deny her feelings for Emma Swan, so she admitted, "I feel the same way, but…after what happened to her, I really don't think I'm the best person for her."
Lily took a step back, disarmed by the honesty.
She had expected, a lot of defensiveness and excuses for what happened, in fact, she really thought that the 'none of your business' line of argument would go further than it had.
This response was something that she was pretty sure that she could work with.
It would certainly help with the part she was hoping to play in Operation SwanQueen.
"You think that you can't be together because of what happened to her? Do you think that you can't handle it?" Lily asked.
Regina shook her head vehemently and said, firmly, "no it's not that, it's that…I'm not sure that this is the right time for her…"
Lily smiled, it was nice to know that the cheerleader cared enough to overthink all of this and it was exactly what she was hoping for her to say in response to that question.
"I see where you're coming from and that's really sweet but that's not how Emma's mind works," Lily replied, "it probably wouldn't even have occurred to her that what happened to her could affect her relationship with other people, she isn't too fragile to date."
Regina drew her bottom lip into her mouth.
It was basically what Zelena said but coming from Emma's best friend, it hit differently.
She really did believe it.
When Regina didn't say anything, Lily added, "she has been happier than she has in a long time since she got here and you have been a huge part of that, so if you know that you feel the same way, aren't you wasting time by avoiding each other?"
Regina released her lip and asked, "so you're saying that I should ask Emma on a date?"
"If you want to," Lily replied, "I already have an idea of what you could do together…all you have to do is ask."
Regina was about to as what her plan was, but they were interrupted by a waitress entering the stock room.
That wouldn't have been a massive deal, Regina would have taken the opportunity to apologise and leave, but this was a student of Stoyrbooke High who was working for extra money during winter break.
"Regina?" Ruby asked and the captain of the cheer squad bit the inside of her cheek.
Lily inspected the taller brunette and briefly wondered if this was Kathryn.
After hearing about what happened at the mall, she knew that she wouldn't be able to hold back if she got to meet her.
However, Regina confirmed that wasn't necessary as she said, "Ruby."
Ruby tilted her head and looked at the unfamiliar girl, but she didn't get an introduction since Lily said, "I should get back just let me know what you decide, Regina."
Lily left without waiting for any response and Regina was about to follow her but her friend held out her arm before she could escape.
"Who was that and what was that about?" Ruby asked.
"Lily, she's Emma's friend and she was just asking if Emma's okay," Regina lied.
Ruby narrowed her eyes and asked, "are you sure that was it? It looked like a pretty intense conversation…"
"Why would I lie?" Regina asked, but Ruby grabbed her arm before she could try to leave again and Ruby let out a huff through her nose as she turned to look at the hand on her elbow.
She really did still need to use the restroom after all and she had no intention of revealing everything to Ruby right now.
They may be friends, definitely closer than she had ever really been to Kathryn, but things with her had never really been the same as they had been with Killian.
After all, she had only really become friends with her after they both joined the cheer squad.
"Tell me what is going on with you, Regina," Ruby demanded.
Regina wanted to lie again but she knew that the taller girl would keep prying so she decided to just be as vague as possible, "I've just been…reconsidering some things."
Ruby frowned and released her arm as she asked, "what does that mean?"
Regina shrugged and replied, "I don't really want to talk about it right now, Rubes."
"Does this have anything to do with missing practice?" Ruby said before Regina could make it to the exit.
"It's one of the things that I'm reconsidering," Regina admitted, but didn't give the other teen any chance to try and grab her arm again to stop her before she slipped out of the stock room.
She had actually forgotten about going to the rest room, she needed to go to Killian and demand to know what involvement he'd had in the conversation that she'd just had.
She wasn't sure why she was suspicious, but it definitely seemed like someone in Storybrooke had to be involved for Lily to already have a plan for a date with Emma.
Ruby watched the captain go with her eyebrows drawn together, she had no idea what she would tell Kathryn about that conversation.