A/N: Sorry for the short chapter. I usually write half of Wednesday's instalment at the weekend but due to the mammoth one I published, I didn't have time. Anyways, onwards and upwards.
At dinner that night, Regina announced to her parents she wanted to return to school the following day.
"Are you sure you're ready?" Henry asked, concerned it was too soon.
"I'm sure," Regina nodded. "Might as well get it over and done with, right? People are going to have endless questions and want to know what happened. I'm fine. I just want to keep busy and I will need to answer their probing questions sooner or later."
Henry and Cora exchanged a glance from either end of the long dining table around which they were sat. Regina's seat was exactly halfway between them.
"Ok," Cora agreed. "If that's what you really want."
Regina smiled her thanks and continued to eat her dinner. She felt a mix of guilt and excitement and apprehension. Guilt for lying to her parents, excitement at the prospect of seeing Emma again and apprehension at how the court appearance would pan out for the blonde. For it was to the courthouse Regina was intending to travel the following morning, not her school.
As soon as her plate was clean, she excused herself and headed for her room, navigating to call Zelena as she ascended.
"Hey," her friend said, answering just as Regina closed the door to her bedroom. "What's the plan?"
The redhead had been let in on Regina's idea to bunk off school so she could be at the court the previous afternoon when the two best friends had talked about Emma. Well, Regina had talked; Zelena had gaped.
"They've agreed to let me go to school," Regina said, flopping back onto her bed. "So I need you to cover for me."
"While you sneak off to see the hot blonde criminal in court?" Zelena asked. Regina could see the scandalised and excited expression her friend was wearing even though the phone.
"I'm going to be there to support Emma, yes," Regina replied, rolling her eyes. "So, can you cover for me?"
"Sure? How do you want me to play it?"
Regina had already thought of their plan. "The school is going to want to call my parents to find out how I'm doing if I'm not there. Can you say we want our privacy or something, so they don't chase up my absence? I don't need my parents finding out that I'm sneaking around their backs to see Emma?"
"You don't think they'd approve?"
"Of me being present in the courtroom while the woman who held me hostage pleads guilty or whatever is going to happen?"
"No, doofus, of how you feel about Emma?"
Regina blushed and rolled onto her side, curling up into a ball and sighing deeply. "I don't know how I feel about Emma," she admitted quietly.
The conversation she and Zelena had had the day before had been long but confusing. Regina hadn't been able to find the right words to describe the way she felt when she was with Emma. It was all too much, too fast, too intense. Zelena had tried to understand but Regina's garbled sentences hadn't made much sense. By the end of their two hour talk about the blonde, however, her best friend seemed to have come to a conclusion which Regina's own mind continued to evade.
"Yeah, you do," Zelena said. "Or at least you do deep down and you're not ready to accept it yet."
The brunette said nothing but let out another low sigh. Her friend was right; she wasn't ready to accept it, or face it, or give it a name.
"Are you scared because of what happened on Friday or because Emma's a girl?" Zelena asked.
Trust the redhead to cut right to the heart of the issue, Regina mused. The woman had no tact but her bluntness did at least mean that there was no bullshit when it came to important conversations. The day before she had remained mostly silent; listening and trying to understand the convoluted way Regina described the mysterious young blonde. Now, however, it was time for her best friend to hear the truth.
"Both," Regina shrugged at last. "I mean what about my parents?"
"You don't think they'd be ok with you being in a relationship with a woman?"
"Relationship? I think you're jumping the gun a bit there, Zee. Emma and I are … look, nothing's happening. Hell, she's going to prison. And I'm with Daniel. But no, I don't think my parents would care if I were in a relationship with a woman."
"But they'd care if that woman was the one who held you hostage, right?"
Regina winced at the blunt delivery but she couldn't deny the accuracy of the words. "They'll never accept her, will they? And I know I'm thinking way in the future and I don't even know if Emma feels the same way but if we did try to make a go of whatever it is that is between us, my parents aren't going to welcome her into our family with open arms are they? They hate her!"
"They agreed to let Tink represent her," Zelena pointed out.
"Because of me," Regina replied.
"Right, because you're the centre of their universe. If Emma's the person who makes you happy, surely your parents are going to be supportive of that. They only want what's best for you, Reggie. They're not going to stand in the way of your happiness. And if it's Emma who makes you happy, then they'll learn to accept it."
There was a long pause. Regina rolled onto her back and draped her forearm over her eyes, pressing lightly against her skull. "This is so fucked up."
"What? The fact that you're attracted to a woman or the fact that the woman is a criminal?"
"She's not a criminal."
"Yeah, she is," Zelena laughed. "It's ok, you must just have a thing for bad girls."
Regina let out a hollow chuckle. "Perhaps. Or perhaps I just have a thing for Emma."
It was the first time she had admitted it. Although it had been barely forty-eight hours since the two of them had met, to Regina it felt like an age. A lot had happened; a lot of life changing events had taken place, for both women. And while there were many unknowns and confusing elements, she was no longer able to deny that there was something, something intense, between the two of them.
"You need to tell Daniel," Zelena said softly.
"That I'm attracted to a woman?"
"Or just that you're no longer interested in dating. I mean, you guys were never official, right? But he needs to know you're never going to become a couple. It's not fair to him to keep stringing him along. The boy is besotted with you."
Regina wrinkled her nose. She knew Zelena was right; Daniel was obsessed with her and it was unfair of her to continue to give him false hope that their dating would develop into a relationship. It wasn't as if she was expecting her and Emma to become a couple but she was certainly more interested in pursuing that than whatever had been between her and Daniel.
"Yeah, I know," Regina sighed. "I'll do it tomorrow."
"After you see your bad girl?"
Regina scowled. "Don't call her that."
"Why not?"
"Because that's not the only thing that defines Emma. Yes, she's in some trouble now," Regina heard Zelena scoff on the other end of the call and continued anyway, "but there's so much more to her than the events of Friday. Wait til you meet her, Zee."
"Sure, I'll drive out to Rikers to meet your girlfriend."
"Apparently parking at Rikers is a nightmare. I'll probably get the bus out there."
"Oh my god you did research," Zelena laughed. "And you're willing to get on public transport for this girl. You're so in love.
"Shut up," Regina whined.
"Nope!" Zelena cackled. "Regina's in love! Regina's in love!"
"I hate you," Regina growled, knowing full well that neither herself nor Zelena believed the words.
"Love you too, babes," Zelena sing songed. "See you at lunch?"
"Yeah, I'll see you at lunch. And thanks for covering for me tomorrow."
"You're welcome, lover girl," Zelena said before hanging up the call and leaving Regina alone with her racing thoughts.
Emma tugged at the sleeves of the navy blue suit jacket Tink had thrust into her arms and told her to put on when she arrived at the courthouse that morning. She had made herself look as presentable as possible in the bathroom but without a shower, there wasn't much point.
"Ready?" Tink asked, poking her head around the doorframe. "I want to go over the deal with you. The prosecutor will be here in ten minutes."
"I told you," Emma sighed, allowing herself to be cuffed by the court martial, "I'm not making a deal."
"Whatever," Tink said, disappearing from the bathroom, knowing Emma and her chaperone would follow.
The trio marched down the wide corridor, Tink's heels clacking on the marble, until they were led into a small side room. "Can you make sure Hades knows we're in here please," Tink said to the martial as Emma was uncuffed.
"Who's Hades?" Emma asked.
"The DA," Tink said, sitting down and pulling several files from her briefcase.
"The man prosecuting my case is named after the lord of the underworld? Awesome," Emma grunted, taking the seat opposite her lawyer and folding her arms.
"I know, right? What a name. He should have been a defence attorney, actually. Evil little man."
Emma raised an eyebrow. "Are you an evil woman?"
"I'm not a defence attorney, remember?" Tink said, locating the piece of paper she was looking for and pushing it across the table to Emma. "I'm just doing this for the Mills family. Read that."
"What is it?" she asked, picking it up and scanning the lines.
"The terms of the deal Hades is offering."
There was a short pause as Emma digested the document. "He'll drop the armed robbery charge?"
"Yep," Tink said, a smug smile on her face. "I mean, you never fired your weapon and the gun wasn't loaded when you were arrested so I think that's pretty convincing proof you never intended to use the gun."
"But I'm still being charged with kidnapping? Second degree? What does that mean?"
"We can't get out of that one, I'm afraid. The Police Commissioner seems pretty insistent that everyone involved serves time for what happened to Regina."
Emma hung her head, embarrassed. She deserved to be charged with kidnapping; After what Regina went through, Emma deserved to be punished.
"So, you'll make the deal?" Tink asked after a moment of silence.
"What?"
"Make the deal and I reckon I can get you a five year sentence."
"Five years? And I'd have to rat out a friend?" Emma asked, aghast. "No!"
"Emma, five years is the minimum sentence for second degree kidnapping. You'd be eligible for parole in half that with good behaviour. Without this deal and with the additional charges of armed robbery you're looking at twenty-five to life. It's a good deal, honestly."
"And Lily gets, what?"
"Life, obviously. She murdered someone. But the defence want corroboration, even though they don't exactly need it. Pretty open and shut case if you ask me. Nevertheless, they're offering you a deal and you'd be a fool not to take it."
"No, I'd be loyal," Emma retorted, shoving the paper back across the table.
Tink sighed. "Seriously? You wanna throw your life away for some street rat?"
Emma narrowed her eyes. "I guess that makes me a loyal street rat, huh?"
Oops, Tink thought. Perhaps she should have chosen her words more carefully. She leaned forwards, placing her elbows on the table and linking her fingers.
"Emma, do you want to have a life? Do you want to have some sort of future which doesn't involve the four walls of a cell?"
"What sort of question is that?" the blonde asked, exasperated at the situation, exhausted from too few hours of sleep, and still feeling guilty about the events which had gone down three days earlier.
"This, my dear," Tink said, pointing to the discarded piece of paper, "is the only way you're ever going to breathe fresh air before your fortieth birthday."
Emma got to her feet and stalked over to the small window which, although fitted with bars, gave her a view of the busy New York street beyond. She couldn't do it. She couldn't make a deal which landed her friend in prison just to set herself free, could she? There was a knock at the door. The DA. It seemed she didn't have much time to make this decision. Behind her, she heard Tink stand up and cross to open the door.
"What are you doing here?"
"Is Emma with you?"
The blonde whipped around at the sound of the familiar voice. What was Regina doing here? As that question raced around her mind, pushing all thoughts of sentencing and deals and parole from her mind, Tink opened the door wider and allowed the brunette to step inside.
"Emma," she said, a soft smile on her lips. "You look …," her eyes trailed up and down the suited blonde, "wow."
"What are you doing here?" Emma asked, unable to think of anything else to say as she drank in the beautiful young woman before her.
The smile faltered for a moment but was back in place almost instantly. "I wanted to be here with you. To support you, I guess."
"To support me? Why?"
Regina looked like she was trying to find the right words.
"Um, I'm not supposed to leave you two alone, what with you being the perp and the victim and all that," Tink said, "but I'm just going outside for a cigarette. Regina, while I'm gone, perhaps you can talk Emma into the best deal I've ever managed to get someone who is facing a life sentence, ok?"
"You're not taking the deal?" Regina asked, stepping further into the room as Tink left.
Emma waited until the door snapped shut before crossing back to her chair and sitting down. After a moment, Regina did the same and took the chair which Tink had vacated.
"No, I'm not," she said, pushing the paper towards Regina for her to read.
The brunette's eyes scanned the text quickly before looking back up at the blonde. "Emma, you have to take this deal," she said firmly.
"I don't have to do anything," Emma shot back, arms folded. "Lily is my friend. I'm not testifying against her."
"So you're going to go away for the rest of your life? Just to protect a criminal?"
Emma laughed. "I'm a criminal too, Regina, remember?"
"Yes but you're different."
"How?" Emma asked. "You think Lily didn't have a fucked up childhood. Or Peter or even Neal, come to that. We've all got shit in our pasts, Regina. We've all got a sob story. I'm not going to sell out my friends just so I can have a life I don't deserve."
"You do deserve it, Emma."
"I don't," the younger woman sighed.
"Yes, you do," Regina said, reaching across the table and placing her hands on top of Emma's which were fidgeting. "You deserve better than what life has handed you so far. You deserve a future. I know that. And I also know that … that I don't want to spend the rest of our lives visiting you in prison."
At last, green eyes finally met brown. Regina's heart skipped a beat.
A/N: I'm flying back to the UK on Monday and everything is a bit crazy but I will try to get a chapter up on Sunday for you and then write on the plane for a Wednesday chapter too!