Hello, Regina. Welcome to Granny's. Enjoy your stay.
Regina's eyes shot open and she sat up, the blonde woman's words from the night before echoing in her head. A wave of vertigo hit her and she eased back down against the overstuffed pillows. She squinted against the bright light filtering in through the gauzy curtains, wondering how late she'd been out. It wasn't like her to sleep in, but then again, it also wasn't like her to wake up on a stranger's doorstep without any memory of how she got there. She groaned, pressing a hand into her forehead. There was a dull ache behind her eyes that was growing sharper by the moment. How hard had she hit her head?
A knock on the door startled her out of her thoughts. "Come in," she called, pulling the blankets up over her chest. She'd fallen asleep in her rumpled clothes.
The door opened to reveal Emma, carrying a heavy breakfast tray. She was wearing a white tank, and Regina couldn't help but appreciate the way her arms flexed under the weight. Her curling hair was tossed up in a haphazard ponytail again, and she was bare faced, reminding Regina that she had fallen asleep in her own makeup and it must now be smudged around her eyes.
"Goodmorning," She tried, voice hoarse.
Emma avoided eye contact as she kicked the door closed behind her and made her way towards the nightstand. She set the tray down heavily, the silverware clattering against the wood. "Afternoon," she grunted. "It's one in the afternoon." She thrust open the curtains, allowing the full force of the sun to brighten the bedroom. Regina winced against the light, earning a muttered "Sorry."
"I didn't realize it was so late." That didn't earn a response. "Thank you for the food," Regina continued.
Emma shrugged, still peering out the window. "My mom asked me to bring it to you. Don't expect breakfast in bed every day," she warned. "Doctor Whale will be here in an hour. You might want to get dressed."
Regina started to thank the woman again but before she knew it she was out in the hall, slamming the door behind her. The gauzy curtains fluttered a bit in her wake. The blonde had managed the entire interaction without so much as a glance in Regina's direction. Some bedside manner, she thought, detangling her limbs from the sheets and reaching for the tray. A bowl of fruit, a sunny side up egg, a slice of toast, and a glass of water.
Her typical weekday breakfast.
Hello, Regina. Welcome to Granny's.
Something about the breakfast order triggered it. It hit her, all of the sudden, why the blonde's greeting had been haunting her.
Emma knew her name.
She hadn't introduced herself yet, and she certainly hadn't had breakfast here before, but the woman knew her name and she knew exactly what she liked.
Sighing, Regina shook her head. There had to be a reason for Emma knowing her name, and really, there wasn't anything unusual about fruit and a sunny side up egg for breakfast. Really, they were pretty standard options. She picked at the offerings, but her stomach had been rocky since the night before, and she ended up reaching for her suitcase instead. Maybe a shower and a change of clothes would help her to feel better.
The clothes were packed exactly as she liked them. Her favorite outfits were within, organized and folded just as she liked, as if she had time to plan this trip and consider every outfit carefully. The problem was - she had no recollection of why she had put the supplies together. It was a big suitcase, too. Her largest one. There were enough outfits for two or three weeks inside without having to do any laundry, and several pairs of pajamas. Clearly, she had been planning to be away for awhile. If only she could remember why.
She pulled out something comfortable, a pair of nice jeans and a cozy shirt. There had been a chill to the air the night before, promising the turn of autumn to winter before long. That, and the bed and breakfast was a little cooler than she typically liked.
Frowning, she realized that the clothes in her suitcase resembled those that she had on. Rumpled, with a little pilling, and a bit of fade, as if they had been laundered incorrectly a few times.
Just how much time was she missing?
Making a mental note to ask the date when she saw Mary Margaret next, Regina pulled her toiletries from the bag and made her way to her bathroom. It was small, no frills, with a single sink, tiny mirror, slim shelving for linens that had been lined with towels and washcloths, and a stand-up shower. She missed her own bathroom, with its deep tub. She could go for a long soak at the moment.
The stairs creaked as she made her way down to the common areas. She hadn't had a chance to get a good look at everything in the dim light of the night before, and she took the opportunity to get her bearings. The steps marched up in a spiral, and despite the towering appearance of the building's exterior, only spanned two levels. They let out into a seating area, complete with a fireplace and a television. A small gaming set was plugged into the television, and a boy of maybe fifteen was sprawled out on one of the couches. The cushions looked far too fancy for him to be sitting that way, but he seemed comfortable in that way that teenagers sometimes were, oblivious to their surroundings.
"Hello," She called, bracing herself against the railing of the stairs to peer down at him.
He jolted into a sitting position, immediately putting both feet on the floor and twisting around to face her, guilt momentarily edging into his features. He was lanky. Tall for his age, Regina thought. Ordinarily she would have mistaken him for older, but his face had a boyish quality that betrayed his youth. Freckles smattered his pale skin, and he had a wild puff of wavy brown hair that was overdue for a trim.
"Hi," He replied, a slight waver to his voice. He was staring at her with wide eyes. After a moment too long he opened his mouth as if he was about to say something more, but he was cut off.
"Henry, go help Belle with the laundry."
Regina turned to find Emma in the adjacent room - a kitchen, it looked like. The dining room must be to the right, she thought to herself. There was a doorway that looked like it led somewhere, and that must be it. Emma was standing at a counter, a sandwich in her hand. She was once again refusing to look at Regina, her eyes trained on the boy.
He began to protest but Emma repeated herself, with an implied now. His wide eyes glanced back at Regina once more before he obeyed, stalking off down the hallway and out of sight. Regina descended the rest of the way, socks making soft padding noises on the carpeted runners.
"Oh, you're awake, good!" Mary Margaret's cheery voice sounded behind Emma and she appeared from the doorway Regina had noted a moment ago, a stack of dishes in her hands. "I hope breakfast was alright. Emma made it for you," She noted, glancing pointedly at her daughter, who was ignoring everything but her sandwich and scrolling through something on her phone.
"It was lovely, thank you." She shuffled for a moment, thinking that she probably should have brought the tray down with her.
Mary Margaret nodded, setting the dishes down in the sink. "Good, good! Emma always seems to know what everyone will like." She ignored the disbelieving grunt that Emma let out, but she pressed her lips together when her daughter slid out from her chair and took her sandwich to another room. She opened her mouth as if she was going to say something, and then closed it again. Instead she filled the sink with soapy water and began to scrub at the plates. "I haven't had the chance to ask your name," She finally asked.
Regina shifted uncomfortably, Emma's words from the night before echoing in her mind once more. "It's Regina. Regina Mills."
"That's beautiful." The other woman turned towards her. "It means queen, you know. Royalty."
Regina gave a small smile. She did know, in fact. Her mother had taken every chance she could to remind her. "That it does."
Mary Margaret continued to stare at her for a moment, as if she was expecting some other reaction, but when Regina didn't say anything more she turned back to her task. "The doctor should be here any moment. He'll have you patched up in no time."
"I didn't know that there were any doctors that did house calls anymore."
"Well, it's a small town," Mary Margaret explained. "About a half hour down the road. It's like a place trapped in time." She paused her scrubbing for a moment, eyes glazing over. "I spent a lot of time there when I was younger. Everyone was so close."
"Must be nice," Regina mused. "I grew up in the city. I never had anything like that." She tried to picture her family, in their nice home in the suburbs, but it was fuzzy. She knew that her parents had good jobs, that they had been well off...but beyond that, it was hard to picture anything concrete. She bit the inside of her lip, hoping the other woman couldn't sense the apprehension that was building in her chest. If she couldn't even remember her own family, how well did that bode for her recovery?
Mary Margaret snapped out of her trance, eyes meeting Regina's. "It's not too late to make something. We could have that again."
The statement hung in the air. Regina leaned back instinctively, flinching away from the intensity of her gaze. And then it was gone, and she went back to scrubbing the dishes, a smile on her lips. "Both of us, I mean. It's never too late to build yourself a life."
"Right." Silence hung between them after that, until Regina broke it. "I didn't get the chance to properly thank you, by the way. For taking me in," She explained. "And for the doctor, and for your husband checking over my car. Please, let me know how much I owe you."
The other woman looked taken aback. "No, you owe nothing! You needed help."
"Please, I insist —"
"It was an act of kindness, and that needs no reward." She snapped a towel off the oven handle and began to dry the dishes. "You owe nothing. And don't try it with Granny either,``she warned. "I've already told her not to accept any payment."
"Granny? Does she help you with the business?"
The other woman laughed. "Oh no, this place is Granny's. I don't run anything. I just help keep it going, and so does Emma. But really, we just live here."
"So there really is a Granny at Granny's Bed and Breakfast," She mused. "Must be interesting, meeting all those people passing through. Do you get a lot of guests here? I saw some keys missing."
Mary Margaret shrugged. "Oh, here and there," She answered vaguely. "Most of the missing keys you saw belong to permanent residents. Myself, my daughter, and her son Henry; Ruby and Belle."
"Henry was the teenager, I presume?"
She nodded. "Yes, he's really quite a remarkable young man —" She was cut off by a sharp knock at the front door.
"Hello? Mary Margaret?"
A voice called, and the woman shot out of the kitchen, dishes forgotten, with a hasty "That'll be the doctor!"
"Well, you have a slight concussion," The doctor concluded, packing up his supplies. " It explains the memory loss, and the headaches. Those should go away soon. You'll be alright, but no screen time for awhile, and take it easy. If any of your symptoms get worse give me a call, but you should make a full recovery."
"I suppose I can spend a night in a motel instead of going straight home," Regina conceded, pressing a hand to her temple. The sharp ache had dulled to a throb, but she was still uncomfortable.
"Oh, you can't drive! Not until you've healed!" Whale insisted.
"Your car's in no shape to drive anyway," Mary Margaret added. "I don't really understand any of that mechanical talk, but my husband said that it'll take awhile to fix."
Regina pressed a hand to her head, accepting one of the pills the doctor had handed her and downing it with a glass of water. "What exactly is the problem?"
"He didn't say. But he's very good with this kind of thing, I'm sure that he'll have it fixed in no time." The other woman was avoiding her eyes. "Besides, don't you want to stay for awhile?"
Regina eyed her. The pixie haired woman's gaze was still fixed on the counter. There was something desperate in her tone, and Regina wondered if she was desperate for some company what with the way her daughter seemed to avoid her every word. Finally, she sighed, conceding, "I suppose I could stay for a few days."
The other woman seemed to brighten at her words, and Regina felt a small satisfaction at being able to give her some happiness.
Besides, she could hardly hit the road and head home, she realized, the warmth in her chest washing away to be replaced by an icy grip.
She couldn't remember where home was.