Emma's eyes snapped open, heart racing, her breathing laboured, a cold sweat glistened on the surface of her skin and fresh tears flowed freely down her cheeks as the remnants of the nightmare that had just woken her flashed in the forefront of her memory, counting backwards from ten Emma closed her eyes forcing her breathing to slow to normal rate as she did, once she had reached zero she sat up threw off her duvet and began the process of stripping the bed, making it back up with fresh sheets then going to the bathroom to freshen up before returning to slip into the clean bed with a sigh, she ran through her exercises and let her eyelids drop closed praying that the nightmare wouldn't come back to haunt her for a second time that night.
Someone she thought must have been listening because the rest of her night's sleep remained blissfully dream free and by the time she had showered had breakfast and her morning caffeine fix the nightmare had faded into nothingness replacing it was excitement at the prospect of seeing Regina for lunch which was bubbling away inside of her so enthusiastically that it was making her jittery and she still had several more hours before their meeting so she decided to go for a run to try and shake it off.
She pulled her damp hair into a scruffy ponytail not really caring how it dried because she knew that she'd be in need of a second shower once she was done running anyhow and slipped into her running gear then she attached her iPod to her right arm inserting her earbuds and exited her trailer music filling her ears as she left the complex nodding a polite greeting at the security guards stationed at the entrance that morning as she went.
Her feet thudding rhythmically as she ran was comforting and familiar to Emma, already her jitters were beginning to ease as her heartrate accelerated and her exhalations came out steady and controlled, the concreate underfoot gave way to earthy ground and dense trees rose all around her as Emma took a familiar well-trodden path that would take her first deeper into the forest and then eventually lead her back out again.
The endless forests had quickly become one of Emma's favourite things about living in Storybrooke, she always felt calm when she was surrounded by the tree's escaping the world for a short while, and she had spent many hours exploring with Ruby when they were teenagers, or climbing the trees by herself in search of the comfiest branches to sit on to read,
they had, had to promise Granny that they wouldn't venture beyond certain points alone which the old woman had marked out on a map for them and though both Emma and Ruby had promised that they wouldn't stray into the marked area's Granny had frequently worried that their adventurous side would get the better of them and they would go prying where they shouldn't anyway, but she also knew that she couldn't keep the girls wrapped in cotton wool, she had to trust them at some point even if It felt all kinds of wrong,
Emma and Ruby for their parts had gotten up to untold amounts of mischief together but neither of them fancied becoming bear food so they had always listened to the old widow whenever they ventured into the tree's and neither of them had ever crossed into the marked area's on the map, but what they had done was to explore every inch of every other area that they could, found secret hideaways, hidden places to skinny dip in cold fresh water, laughing and splashing until they were exhausted,
Granny had given them a tent when they were eighteen and they had gone camping for many a weekend with a few friends from school. Emma had a lot of fond memories in amongst these tree's and they always somehow felt like home.
The run worked and by the time she had climbed out of the shower for the second time that morning her jitters were gone, her stomach was growling and there was no time for the jitters to return before she got to Grannies.
Regina was already there when she arrived, waiting as promised seated in their usual booth, looking as beautiful as she always did with a share basket of fries sat in the centre of the table,
"Hey" Emma grinned sliding into the seat opposite Regina and helping herself to a fry "how was your weekend"
"Not too bad it was nice catching up with Zelena, I was worried about you though" Regina replied eyebrows knitting together in a concerned frown,
"I'm fine" Emma tried to reassure her munching her fry and reaching for another "It's nothing haven't been through and gotten over before" she said with a casual shrug,
"How did you sleep last night" Regina pressed, and Emma knew exactly what she was getting at,
"Oh, you know, just the one nightmare" she said offhandedly "but it wasn't as bad as the night before or at least thanks to Archie and his techniques I got over it quicker" she smiled
"Hmm" Regina replied not sounding entirely convinced,
"Really I'm fine" Emma said brightly "please tell me about your weekend, how was your shopping trip with your sister?"
"Long and a little tedious, don't get me wrong I love to shop but Zee, she's something else" Regina sighed taking a fry for herself "the woman takes shop until you drop to a whole new level, it's like an extreme sport or something for her and to top it off she would insist on shopping in New York"
"Shut the front door, you were in NYC this weekend" Emma exclaimed in wide eyed amazement
"I was" Regina smiled back,
"But how I thought you were meeting Zelena in LA?" Emma asked
"I was and I did but as I say my sister is quite the shopper and she decided on New York and one of the perks of her being her is that she has her own private jet" she shrugged
"No way" Emma laughed
"So, am I right in thinking you've never been" Regina asked
"I've never been anywhere but here and Boston" Emma replied "I guess I'll have enough to go exploring a bit more on my new salary though" she shrugged,
"We should go together sometime" Regina enthused getting caught up in the moment "How about Christmas? We get three months break then and it's so beautiful when it's all lit up for Christmas, we could do our Christmas shopping together in New York and I could show you the sites, what do you think?" she asked eyes shining with excitement
"Umm yeah sure I'd love to" Emma replied hardly able to believe what had just happened she had just been invited to go Christmas Shopping in New York with Regina freaking Mills how the hell had that happened Ruby was going to lose it when she found out and Emma realised, she was also going to want to come,
"You don't seem to be convinced" Regina frowned the sparkle in her eyes dimming "You don't have to go if you'd rather not you know"
"No, it's not that, I was just surprised that's all, good surprised but surprised" she smiled "But I really want to go" she assured Regina who returned her returned "Hey didn't you just complain about shopping in New York" Emma jested
"No, I complained about shopping with Zee in New York" Regina retorted "There's a difference dear do keep up, though I have to say that it is very likely that Zelena would show up at some point so we would probably end up getting roped into a shopping trip with her" Regina grimaced, and Emma laughed
"Speaking of sisters" Emma said seeing an opening "How would you feel about me asking mine and her girlfriend along on our little trip" Emma asked
Regina frowned ever so slightly, and Emma wanted to kick herself as she wondered if she had inadvertently offended her friend then Regina's eyes widened as though she had come to a sudden realisation,
"Oh, you mean like a double date?" she asked
"What, no, huh" Emma stammered flustered, wondering how the conversation had ended up going in the direction as her face flushed red "of course not I just meant that she'd probably love It, she's never been out of Storybrooke in her life and it's not like she'd be hanging around with us all the time anyway she and Dorothy would most likely be doing about their own thing most of the time" she smiled tentatively,
"Oh, I see" Regina replied seeming to mull it over and Emma sighed with relief "so what you're saying is that you want your sister to come but you also want to ensure that you get plenty of alone time with me" she winked suggestively mischief gleaming in her eyes,
"What, no, I mean yes, I mean no, not like your suggesting" Emma paused and sighed aghast wondering what in hell was happening right now, she closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths trying to steady her heart which was screaming out that she really would like to spend time with Regina like she was suggesting, then she tried again "yes I'd like to spend time with you because your my friend" she said "and I just thought if we would be meeting up with your sister it might be okay if mine came to, but if it's not please just say and I won't mention it again" Emma opened her eyes to meet Regina's humoured filled one,
"Are you laughing at me" Emma demanded grabbing fry and throwing it at Regina
"I was just messing with you" Regina began to laugh out loud while fending off a second and third fry that flew her way "Hey quit that" she said grabbing Emma's hand as she reached for the bowl for the fourth time stopping her in her tracks, their eyes met across the table and both women paused in their actions, a silence fell between them as their eyes remained locked together for a few long seconds then clearing her throat Regina released Emma's hand glancing away from the intensity of Emma gaze and continued from where she left off,
"And of course, it's fine for you to bring your sister along, the more the merrier" she smiled suddenly reaching for something on the seat beside her that Emma hadn't noticed before,
"I got you a little something" Regina smile grew as she passed a very pretty gift bag across the table,
"What's this for" Emma asked accepting the bag but not opening it right away,
"I saw them when I was out with Zee yesterday and thought of you, I hope you don't think it too silly" she said and for the first time since Emma had known her Regina suddenly looked a little uncertain of herself almost as if she was regretting her decision to give Emma the gift at all, "It seemed like a good idea when I saw it" she mumbled.
Emma now burning with curiosity worked the knotted handles holding the bag together with nimble fingers under Regina's watchful eye, when the knot was finally loose and the bag stood open before her, she reached inside carefully lifting out its contents,
"Wow its beautiful" she breathed holding up the dream catcher to look at it from every angle, a lump forming in her throat and tears prickling in the corners of her eyes, this was one of the most thoughtful and beautiful gifts that anyone outside of her family had ever given her and Emma was touched beyond words,
"They say that if you hang one above your bed it keeps bad dreams away" Regina explained while Emma nodded mutely, "Like I said, it was probably a silly idea" Regina babbled as Emma's continued silence caused her worry to resurface once more,
"No, it's one of the most beautiful gifts I've ever had" Emma said finding her voice at last, "Thank-you Regina, I love it"
"Really?" Regina asked still a little uncertain, but hope was also creeping in in spite of herself, "because you can say if you think it's silly you know"
"But I don't think it's silly" Emma said carefully returning her gift to its bag and reaching across to give one of Regina's hands which had been resting on the table clenched into an anxious fist a reassuring squeeze "I truly love it" she tried to assure Regina and apparently it worked because Regina let out a sigh and relaxed returning Emma's squeeze with a gentle one of her own,
"Good" she beamed "I'm so pleased"
The moment was interrupted seconds later by a very smug Ruby who had been watching their interactions from afar serving them their lunch, Emma knew from her demeanour that she had not missed their briefly connected hands which meant that she would be getting an interrogation later, Ruby really could be like a dog with a bone at times she thought rolling her eyes unnoticed by anybody else as she focused her attentions on her meal still maybe she would be able to distract her with the news of their pending trip she thought tucking in to her burger.
"When you've finished, I got you something else" Regina smiled placing a plastic carrier on table beside the condiments,
"You really shouldn't have" Emma smiled feeling bad that she didn't have anything to gift to Regina in return,
"Please Emma, I went shopping in New York, you have to bring back gifts for you friends when you shop In New York it's like an unwritten rule or something" she grinned turning her attention to her chicken salad,
Emma waited until the dishes had been cleared away before she opened the carrier to retrieve her other gift pulling it out with a big smile on her face,
"This is brilliant" Emma exclaimed turning the oversized white tee-shirt with 'I' in a bold black font above a big red heart which had 'NYC' written beneath it in the same bold black font with a little picture of the top half of the statue of liberty holding her torch high in the air below all of that and off to the right a little, in front her,
"Another unwritten rule" Regina laughed "By your friends a silly touristy gift"
"Hey, my tee-shirt is not silly" Emma retorted mock offended as she hugged her new tee-shirt close, making Regina laugh harder as she pointed towards the diners bar, Emma looked over and fell into her own fit of giggles as she saw Ruby and Granny standing there, their own matching tee-shirts forced over the top of their work uniform Ruby held her pen and pad in her hands and Granny tapped a spatula on her palm as they posed,
"So, you got them one too I see" Emma said wiping her tears,
"Of course," Regina replied still giggling,
Emma was sorry to part ways when lunch was over, but Regina insisted that she must get back to her trailer and unpack and she had a car waiting for her out front which still had all of her things inside it so after a brief embrace they said their goodbyes for now and Emma returned to her bug placing her bag of goodies onto the passenger seat and headed back to her own trailer.
As soon as she was in, she secured her new dream catcher above her headboard and placed her new tee-shirt on her pillow, it was very oversized and would be perfect for a bed shirt she thought a warmth rapidly spreading through her body as stood back to admire her work.
Would the dream catcher chase away her demons in the night Emma wasn't entirely sure but the thought behind it was so beautiful and it touched Emma to her soul, it made her feel happier just having it there and who knows maybe that was where its power lay.