Part Three: The One With the Accident
Emma stared back at the brunette woman in front of her, shifting her weight from one foot to the other.
This was so awkward.
And it didn't help that all Emma could think about was how stunning the woman in front of her was.
These thoughts should have no place inside her head.
And yet…
"I'll just... go check on Henry, make sure he is okay," The man behind the brunette woman said.
Emma shifted her attention to the man and watched as he disappeared inside the house.
Was he her husband?
No, it couldn't be.
Henry said earlier it was just him and his mom.
Boyfriend?
Damn it, why was Emma even wondering about that?
This was none of her business.
Not him, not the kid, and certainly not the beautiful brunette in front of her.
Emma shifted her attention back to the brunette woman and did her best to hide the fact that the woman simply took her breath away.
Why was she feeling like that?
Why was her heart racing inside her chest just because she was near this woman?
What was it about her that somehow looked so familiar to Emma?
What a weird birthday this was!
"How would you like a glass of the best apple cider you ever tasted?" The brunette woman asked her.
Emma looked at her sideways, discreetly checking her out.
"Got anything stronger?" Emma asked.
The woman half smiled at her before giving her back to Emma and started to walk in the direction of the house.
And Emma appreciated the view of her rear in that dress as she followed the woman inside, wondering where the hell that small voice of caution inside of her was.
"My name is Emma, by the way," Emma said when she walked through the door "Emma Swan"
"I'm Regina," The brunette woman said, without turning around.
Emma stopped following the woman when she went through a door in the dining room.
She tucked her hands inside the front pockets of her jeans, waiting for the woman to re-appear again while looking around the house.
Not house, mansion.
The place was huge and she bet the kid had his own bedroom too. Something she didn't have until she was twenty-six years old.
How could that kid possibly want to run away from this?
How could he say that his mother didn't love him when she could provide for him…
Emma was pulled out of her thoughts when the woman… Regina reappeared with two glasses in hand, walking in the direction of a small bar to her left.
"How did he find me?" Emma asked.
"No idea," Regina said fixing their drinks "When I adopted him, he was only three weeks old. Records were sealed. I was told the birth mother didn't want to have any contact"
"You were told right," Emma said with a confidence she wasn't really feeling.
"And the father?" Regina asked.
"There was one," Emma answered, slightly uncomfortable.
"Do I need to ve worried about him?" Regina asked.
"No," Emma said seriously "He doesn't even know"
"Do I need to worry about you, Miss Swan?" Regina asked, walking like a feline in Emma's direction before handing her the drink.
"Absolutely not,"
Emma took the drink from her hand but when their fingers brushed on the glass, Emma felt a shock run through her veins.
It was very small and not enough to make her flinch, but still big enough to make her give a step back.
She could pretend it was static for the sake of the night even though she knew the glass was not a conductor of electricity.
What a strange night indeed.
Emma looked at the other woman in the hopes to see if she had felt the same jolt of electricity from when their fingers quickly brushed.
But Regina just siped her drink, looking back at her with an expression that was neither here nor there.
"Madam Mayor," A voice came from up the staircase "You can relax. Other than being a tired little boy, Henry is fine"
Regina smiled at the man when he reached the base of the staircase but didn't move an inch from where she was.
"Thank you, Sheriff,"
Emma looked at the man up and down, only now noticing the badge on his shirt.
Sheriff!
That's why he was here.
Emma felt a strange sense of relief wash over her as the man smiled politely at both of them and then walked out of the house.
Apparently, he wasn't her boyfriend.
And Emma wished she could understand why was this any of her business or what this weird feeling of connection was.
Why was she suddenly so drawn to this strange woman she just met?
"I'm sorry I dragged you out of your life," Regina's voice scared her.
Emma was so lost in thoughts of… her… that she didn't even notice the woman was talking to her and she had to hurry up to follow Regina as she started to walk again around the house.
"I really don't know what has got into him," Regina said.
"The kid is having a rough time," Emma said entering another room "It happens"
Emma looked around and realized she was now inside the woman's study.
"You have to understand, ever since I became Mayor balancing things has been tricky," Regina said.
Emma made herself comfortable and sat down on the couch, sipping the apple cider.
The drink was quite amazing and Emma made a mental note to ask Regina what the brand was before leaving her house.
Leaving!
Suddenly, the drink went from sweet to bitter on her tongue.
"You have a job, I assume?" Regina asked behind her.
Emma nodded while looking behind her, secretly admiring the woman standing in front of a large fireplace.
"I keep busy," Emma say lightly and turned to put her drink on top of the coffee table.
And to stop staring at the woman she had literally just met.
"Imagining having another one on top of it," Regina said while sitting on the couch across from Emma "That's been a single mom, so I push forward"
Regina smiled at Emma so brightly that Emma couldn't help but smile back at her.
And then she frowned at the little pull she felt on the pit of her stomach.
"Am I strict?" Regina asked and Emma immediately recovered herself, looking seriously back at her "I supposed. But I do it for his own good. I want Henry to excel in life. I don't think that makes me evil, do you?"
Regina looked softly at Emma and she could see hurt running behind those beautiful brown eyes, even though she doubted the woman was aware of it.
She could tell Regina was much like herself in that aspect.
The kind of woman who hated showing weakness.
"I'm sure he is just saying that because of the fairy tale thing," Emma said hoping that would ease the hurt Regina was feeling.
She leaned forward and took her drink from the coffee table.
Emma needed to occupy herself with something else otherwise, she would just stare at Regina.
And that would just look weird.
Even for her!
"What fairy tale thing?" Regina asked.
"Oh, you know, his book," Emma smiled softly at Regina "How he thinks everyone is a cartoon character from it. Like his shrink is Jiminy Cricket"
"I'm sorry I really have no idea of what you are talking about,"
Every single alert inside Emma's build-in lies detector beeped so loud that Emma wasn't sure how the woman in front of her couldn't hear them.
Emma stared at her for a second too long, wondering why would she lie so deliberately about that.
It was such a blatant lie, but the woman's poker face in front of Emma was so innocent and confused that hadn't been for her superpower, Emma knew she would have believed her.
But she didn't.
Not for a second!
She was lying.
And Emma wished she could ask why.
Unfortunately, this wasn't her business.
None of it was.
Neither the brunette woman nor the kid.
"You know what? It's none of my business," Emma said "He is your kid, and I really should be heading back" Emma said and sipped her drink again.
"Of course,"
Regina rose from the couch before the strong cider taste made it down to Emma's throat.
Emma looked at Regina, who was already opening the study door, and swallowed the liquid quickly, nearly coughing as some of it went down the wrong pipe.
Emma rose from the couch and walked past Regina, completely ignoring the fact that she inhale deeply when the scent of the woman's perfume invaded her nostrils.
In fact, Emma was positive she would ignore everything that happened tonight, from the second the kid knocked on her door to the moment she laid eyes on Regina.
This was way too much for her and Emma had no interest in being pulled inside other people's family drama.
Regina walked Emma to the door and smiled politely at her as she wished Emma a safe trip back.
And that smile, as fake as it was, still did things lower on Emma's belly.
She was ignoring that too.
Emma walked the front yard path that led to the gate in front of the mansion and fished her keys out of her pocket.
When she passed through the gate, something inside of her made her stop.
It was like this sudden thought that hit her all at once.
And when she turned around, Emma saw the kid in the window looking disappointed down at her before he disappeared inside his room, turning the lights off.
Emma bit her lower lip as she stared at the darkness of his window and ignored the squeeze inside her heart when she told herself he wasn't her kid.
He belonged to someone else.
To the beautiful brunette woman who had lied right to her face.
Inside the car, Emma drove the streets of Storybrooke for a while before she could find the main road to leave the town.
Fortunately enough it was such a small town that after three or six wrong turns, Emma found the main road that would take her back home.
Back to Boston.
Emma gripped the steering wheel as the green sign of leaving Storybrooke grew closer and closer.
So many questions were running inside Emma's mind.
Her kid whom she have given away ten years ago had found her.
He lived in a charming little town and was the mayor's son.
The mayor who was without a doubt, one of the most beautiful women Emma have ever seen in her whole life.
And who also happened to be a liar.
Why would she lie about not knowing about the book?
Was it because she didn't think it was Emma's business or was she in denial about her son's issues?
Because the kid obviously had some problems.
Thinking his mother didn't love him was one thing, and for what Emma could see, not true at all, but to think that everyone in this town was a fairy tale character?
That was beyond absurd.
The kid was ten not three.
Emma yawned and looked to the side, seeing the fairy tale book lying carelessly on the passenger seat.
She smiled softly and shook her head because that was exactly the kind of shit she would do if she was in the kid's shoes.
"Sneaky bastard," Emma said looking at the book.
And when Emma's eyes fell on the road again, she saw a giant wolf standing right in front of her in the middle of the road and Emma hit the breaks as fast and as deep as she could, turning the wheel to the right, but the road was wet and Emma's little bug was not made for such abrupt stop, and Emma ended up hitting what she thought it was the Welcome to Storybrooke sign instead of the Leaving Storybrooke sign and Emma wasn't sure why she was thinking about that before everything around her turned black.