Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon A Time or its characters, I just borrowed them for this story.
Summary: This is an encounter between Regina Mills and Emma Swan inspired by Billy Joels awesome song "Uptown Girl".
Smoke was not good. Even with little to zero knowledge about cars Regina Mills knew that smoke coming out from beneath the hood of her beloved Mercedes was not a good sign. Cursing under her breath she steered into parking lot in front of a tacky little diner. Granny´s. How unimaginative, she thought. Sighing she exited the car and pushed the door open. Maybe the staff could point her to the nearest garage so someone could fix her car.
The diner looked like it came straight from the fifties with pleather seats and lino covered tables. Behind the counter stood a young woman in very little clothing obviously matched to the red streak in her long brown hair. ´Ruby´ read the name tag on her shirt. Leaning against the counter she watched the few occupants who munched away on their Sunday afternoon pie.
At the sound of the wind chime above the door Ruby's eyes fell onto Regina. "Welcome to Granny´s, how can I help you?" Ruby gave Regina a bright smile. "Would you maybe like some apple pie? With a cup of coffee, it´s our Sunday special offer."
"No, nothing like that." Regina shook her head. "My car broke, unfortunately right in front of your premise. I need someone to fix it as soon as possible. If you could tell me where the nearest vehicle repair shop might be?"
"Oh wow, that´s bad luck, especially on a Sunday. What happened? Is it bad?"
Regina gave her an eyeroll. "If I knew what happened, I would not be in need of a mechanics assistance, now, would I, Miss…"
"…Lucas…"
"Just point me in the right direction, please."
A little taken aback by the harsh request Rubys smile faded into a frown. "Well, there´s only one shop in town, just two blocks down the road. If you´re lucky, one of the guys is in today. Usually, they use the Sundays to tinker with their own cars."
"Thank you. Good day, Miss..."
"…Lucas." Ruby repeated and crossed her arms in front of her chest incredulously. But Regina just nodded and left the shop, her heels clicking loudly on the floor.
With a sceptical look Regina contemplated whether it would be safe to drive her car the short distance to the shop or better to walk down there. To not take any chances she decided it would be better to walk and come back with a tow-truck. Walking down the street she inspected the buildings lining up. This whole town seemed untouched by the twenty first century, little shops next to each other, no brand anywhere to be seen, a Sunday deserted primary school. A petite woman in a floral patterned skirt and a plain cardigan passed her by with a warm smile. Yeah, this seemed like the place where people would greet each other on the street and everyone was up to their noses in each others business.
After a few minutes of walking Regina found herself in front of the garage Ruby sent her to. Determined to find somebody she crossed the courtyard where a few cars were parked under a large canopy and walked to the building behind. The front door of the little shop to the left displayed a sign saying ´Closed´ but the large leaf door on the right was wide open and loud music wafted out. Billy Joel, how fitting.
"Hello?" Regina called out walking towards the door. She narrowed her eyes to be able to see something inside the dark garage. When she passed the threshold a strong smell of oil, gas and rubber reached her nostrils. Slowly her eyes became adjusted to the darkness and she could make out her surroundings. She found herself inside a big workshop with two lifting platforms with cars on them and working spaces for another two vehicles, only one occupied with a small VW Beetle. A pair of work pant clad legs sticking out from underneath the yellow car illuminated by a lamp lying next to the persons body.
"Hello?" Regina asked again walking towards the car. "Hello?!" She basically yelled now standing next to the person who sang along with little talent and lots of enthusiasm to the music blasting from a little speaker on the cars hood. "Do you hear me or are you deaf?!" Irritated Regina nudged the safety boots with her own foot.
The singing stopped and two very oily hands appeared against the side of the car pushing their owner out from underneath it. After the well-used overalls, a white tank top appeared exposing muscular arms and finally a face emerged. Surprised to find a woman Regina stepped back to muster the mechanic who scrambled to her feet. Although she wore heels the woman was taller than Regina, unruly blond hair was pulled back into a messy bun. Her skin was covered in sweat mixed with streaks of oil and dust.
"Not deaf, just focused." The blonde said while she took a rug out of her back pocket and wiped her hands on it. "Impatient, are we, lady?" She added with a smirk.
"Are you always like this with potential customers?" Regina said and stared challenging into the woman's green eyes. Against the smudgy background of her oil covered face in the dim light her eyes almost seemed to sparkle.
"Only the ones attacking me whilst working." The mechanic answered with a cocky grin, sizing her up, mustering her from her perfectly coiffed hair over the designer suit down to the high heels. Everything about Regina screamed Uptown Girl. "So…" she said and put the rug down next to the speaker. "What can I do for you?"
"My car broke down in front of the diner, and I need it fixed."
"Well, it´s a Sunday. And I´m just here for my own bug. So, if you´re car is not broken down in the middle of the street…" The blonde crossed her arms. "I suggest you come back tomorrow and one of the guys will take care of it."
"And I suggest you take whatever you need to help me, it shall not be to your disadvantage, Miss…"
"Swan. But Emma´s fine. And really, from physically attacking me to blatant flirting in less than a minute?" The blonde, Emma, raised one eyebrow and gave Regina an amused smile.
"Flirting? Maybe in your wildest dreams." Regina answered, the audacity of that woman.
"Yes, maybe…" Emma smiled a crooked smile and gave Regina a look that held something different, a look that made her heart flutter a little.
"Well." Regina shook her head to recompose herself. "I don´t have time for your jestering. Are you going to help me or not?"
"Would it be so hard to ask nicely?" Emma challenged.
Regina gave her a displeased look but when Emma didn´t back down she amended: "Please, Miss Swan, do your job and help me."
"There you go." Emma said satisfied. "I´m going to grab the keys from the office and then we can drive to the diner."
Sitting in the car Emma eyed Regina curiously. "So…" she said. "What brings you to our lovely Storybrooke?"
"Business." Regina answered tersely. "My business."
"Alright, sorry for asking something so offensive, Miss…Mrs., hey, I never caught your name?" Emma asked.
"Miss Mills, will do."
Emma nodded and pulled up next to the black Mercedes. "Nice car, really high class." She said while they exited the truck. She held her hand out to Regina in a silent request who looked confused between Emma and the outstretched hand.
"Your car keys." Emma clarified. "And can you tell me what happened?"
Regina stood back and watched Emma opening her car and popping the hood. "I was on my way back home when smoke started to come out from underneath the hood."
"Something else? Weird sounds or warning lights?" Emma inquired.
"There was this red symbol with waves and a thermometer next to it…" Suddenly Regina looked uncharacteristically fidgety.
Emma snorted amused. "Yeah, well that means you ran dry on engine coolant. And you didn´t think that listening to the warning system in your car would be a good idea?"
"I planned to bring it to my regular garage first thing tomorrow morning." Regina snapped angrily at being reprimanded. "Can you fix it? I really have to get back home."
Underneath the harshness of her voice Emma heard something else in Reginas tone, something longing and wistful. She couldn´t quite place it. But it made her soften her voice: "Yes, it´s quite an easy fix. I´ll refill your coolant and do a quick check for further damage, just to be sure the car is safe to use for now. I still would recommend an extended check tomorrow. How far are you planning to drive tonight?"
"I have to go back to Portland." Regina answered still a little huffing.
"Unless we´re talking about Portland, Oregon, I don´t think that should be a problem." Emma said winking. "Why do you have to get back so desperately? Some Uptown Boy…or Girl waiting for y…" She started but stopped herself at Reginas glare. "Never mind. I´m just gonna load up your car. You want to come to the shop with me or grab a coffee here at Granny´s and I´ll give you a ring when I´m done?"
"I´ll come with you and wait there." Regina said and added quietly. "Thank you, Miss Swan."
Emma gave her a smile and started working on the car.
"Hey, Em." A voice called her name, when she attached the last fixation to the Mercedes´ tyre and wiped her hands on her pant legs. Regina was already sat inside.
"Hey Rubes!", she greeted the brunette now standing on the front porch of the diner. "How´s it going?"
"Super-Sunday-busy, everyone wants a piece of my pie." Ruby grinned coquette and leaned forward onto the banister. "How are you? Helping a lady in need, I see."
Emma just shrugged. "Well…we better get going. Bye, Ruby!"
"Bye Emma, do I see you tonight for some cocoa before bed?"
"Sorry, I can´t, but I will come over tomorrow for lunch. See you then!" Emma said and got in the car.
They arrived at the shop in silence and Emma got work on the Mercedes while Regina took a seat on the bench in front of the shop and did some work on her phone before stepping away to make a call.
"Hey, kiddo! What has you singing?" A warm voice interrupted Emmas workflow when she was almost done. Smiling she tuned towards the new arrival. "Hey, dad! I don´t know. I got the Uptown-Girl-tune kinda stuck in my head since it played earlier."
He stepped closer and placed a hand on her back. "What are you working on?"
"A woman ran aground in front of Granny´s. She needs to get to Portland tonight, so I helped her out. It was just a coolant-refill and a quick check." Emma answered.
"That´s very nice of you but don´t you work the night shift today? It´s almost six o´clock." He asked her.
Emma looked at the big clock on the wall. "Oh, right. I´m just gonna quickly finish the check-up. And then head out."
"Want some help?" He questioned.
"Thanks dad, but I´m almost done. But could you maybe take care of the paperwork and hand over the car. That would be great. I think the owner, Miss Mills, is waiting outside."
He nodded and left the workshop to fill out the billing and paperwork with Regina while Emma got back to work, still humming along to Billy Joel.
"Thank you, Mr. Nolan." Regina said when they stepped out of the shop.
"Anytime, Miss Mills." He said walking closer to the Mercedes which was parked in the middle of the workshop´s yard. He opened the drivers door for Regina. "Here you go. I think Emma left the keys in the ignition when she left for work."
"Oh, she doesn´t work here?" Regina asked surprised.
A proud smile made its way onto his face. "No, she just helps out around here, but she´s very good with cars. She works in the city."
"Oh well, give her my thanks and have a good day!" she said and closed the car door. Starting the ignition she wanted to check the rear-view mirror to find a yellow post-it sticking to it.
Written on the paper underneath a phone number she read:
If you ever get tired of your high class toys, give me a call. Emma Swan
Author´s Note:
I hope you enjoyed the story. There might be more of it in the future, if anyone wants to read it and the muse decides to kiss me again. Until then it´s marked ´complete´.
Also, I have no extensive knowledge on cars, if that´s not how it works, I´m sorry.
Feel free to leave a review but please be kind (I´m a first time writer) and respect the rules polite feedback. Thank you!