Beep beep beep...
She rolls over in her Queen size bed and slaps at the alarm clock, hitting it more than once, but only to make sure it's entirely shut off. It's another day, another cold day, she tells herself as she feels the cool breeze in her one bedroom apartment on her leg that has decided to poke itself out from the warmth of her blanket. Quickly, the brunette tucks it back in and curses the day for starting. She groans, covering her face and not wanting to take on yet another day of work at her awful job, okay it's not awful, but she certainly has seen better jobs even though she's doing what she loves at this one.
Throwing the duvet off her body and rolling over to climb out of the comfort of her bed has got to be the worst start of any day, she believes. Especially with the growing headache she feels forming in the front of her mind almost every morning. She immediately walks into her bathroom, bare feet padding on the, once again cold, hardwood floor. Before even using the toilet, she gets into the medicine cabinet to dig out her pain medication for those said headaches. This was a great start indeed, she told herself while looking tiredly into the mirror.
Once finished in the bathroom, her feet carry her back into the bedroom, dreading her next step- finding clothes to wear. She runs her fingers through her hair and blows out a sigh at everything in her closet. A new wardrobe wouldn't hurt, she thought, reaching for a black velvety top and a pair of navy blue jeans. She tosses the clothing onto her bed, not caring if they became unfolded. The woman rubs her temples in hopes it calms her aching head before tossing off the giant t-shirt she sleeps in. A bra is found, in her laundry basket of course, but it smelled fine so she put it on anyway. Finally, she's dressed and ready to start in on the next part of her morning. Her hair.
She wasn't blessed with easy hair, no, instead this lovely brunette hair is the most ratted and curly mess anyone would ever see if she ever left it natural. But, she hates it that way, has to fight it when she runs a brush through it and sometimes curses to just shave it all off. Well, instead of shaving it off, she straightens it until there isn't a curl in sight, letting it flip a little at the ends as it covers her shoulders. Sighing at the sight in her mirror, she isn't a fan, but it'll do for today.
Now onto her last bit, the brunette only wears a light bit of makeup. Base, powder, eyeliner, mascara. That's it. She's happy with it, likes how it makes her look. It's nothing too extreme, but it keeps her from looking so tired and drained all the time from her lonely, boring life. She sighs at the thought, shaking her head before checking one last time in the mirror at everything. It's not perfect, she doesn't even want to be awake at the moment, but it's a work day. There's no choice for her. So with a heavy sigh, shoes on her feet, keys in her hand, and bag on her shoulder, she believes she's ready to start her day.
It's safe to say, Regina Mills is not a morning person.
Regina arrives to work just on time, two minutes before she's supposed to be there. It's not like it matters if she's late or not, nothing can get started until she arrives, but she likes to be on time anyway. Regina is an artist, but not just any artist, she does witness description composite drawings. She sits with witnesses or victims to determine what a person looks like so the law will have a suspect to look for. It's a great job and she loves to draw, but it's hard sometimes, especially when she basically asks some of the people to relive whatever they went through, she connects too much. When there isn't a case or she isn't needed, Regina just sits in her office drawing and painting for herself. It's her passion and she hopes one day to place one of her pieces in a gallery.
As she walks inside, she looks at the case board and sees she isn't needed as of now but they'll have her on call for if anything comes up. Which is great for her, she can have more Regina time than she thought she'd have this morning. Which is why she's now sitting in the floor of her personal office, finger painting on a medium size canvas while waiting on someone to need her. She's almost off into her own world, and would be fully gone if there wasn't a knock on her door. Regina looks up to see a coworker of hers, her best friend actually, standing in the doorway and smirking.
"You know you really should get your own studio, get out of here and do what you really love."
"Aw, I can't do that. You'd miss me too much, Emma." Regina smirks up at the blonde.
It was true, Emma is the only reason Regina has stayed here at this job for so long. Claims the woman needs her.
"Do you need something?" She adds only a moment later.
"No, I don't need anything, just came to inform you that there is a man asking for you in the front room. Says to call you 'regi' and you'd know who it was?" Emma shrugs. "I don't know, but he's cute."
Regina's eyes widen and she stands quickly, not saying another word to her friend as she darts passed her and out towards the front room.
"You know I hate that name."
"You know I love to torture you with it."
Regina rolls her eyes, walking to him and hugging him.
"It's been three years, you don't get to call me nicknames." Regina fires back, pulling away from this stranger that only she recognizes. Emma stands back a bit with another coworker of theirs, watching them talk.
"Ohhhh- this must be the famous Daniel Colter." The blonde says softly so Regina would hear.
"Who?" Asks Sydney, the colleague who was always watching with Emma.
"Daniel, her teacher. Well- art teacher. He's the one who taught her everything she knows and-"
"And they were really, really close?" He finishes her sentence.
"Mhmm." Emma nods. "This should be good."
Regina laughs at something Daniel had said then shakes her head. "I have to get back to working, but we could catch up at dinner tonight if you're free?"
"For you, Regi? I'm always free." He responds, smirking.
Her phone rings, alerting her that she's needed for a drawing being done and she sighs.
"Fantastic, I really have to go, but you can pick me up at seven. Here." She nods then grabs her bag and heads out the door.
Emma walks over to Daniel with a smirk of her own, not saying anything but definitely being suggestive. He raises an eyebrow at her but shrugs it off and turns to leave as well. Excited to spend time with Regina again.
It was quite a surprise to see Daniel again, Regina wasn't expecting it. Though she can't complain, she's always enjoyed the company of her ex teacher, and yes ex lover, but ex is exactly what it is and she will not be having any new relationship forming with him. She shakes those thoughts out of her head once she arrives in the FBI conference room where the witness was being held for the time being. Sitting with the woman, she realizes it's not only a witness, but she's the victim as well and these never go over great for the artist. Though Regina gets through it, asking her usual questions and forming a rather descriptive drawing of a man this woman claims to have raped her. This story feeling all too familiar to the brunette, so the quicker she gets out the better.
"Here, Robin, this is the man she said assaulted her." She hands him the sketch then turns to make a quick exit before she is thrown into one of her panic attacks, but he stops her.
"Regina, wait! Hey-" He lightly touches her arm. "Are you okay?"
Robin is one of the leading FBI agents in the bureau, he and Regina know each other well enough to talk like this with each other, have been working together long enough. Sometimes she even goes out with him to a witnesses home to make it easier on the witness. So she stops for him, nodding and smiling softly.
"Yeah, I'm okay, you know how I am. I feel for these people."
"I know, and you know if there's anyway I can help you cope with these then I will." He spoke softly to her, but as an understanding friend.
She only nods and thanks him before walking back down to her part of the building. Ignoring Emma as she tries to get her to talk about Daniel.
"So is this dinner a date?"
"No, this relationship is purely platonic." She sits in her floor again and tries to continue her painting.
"Mmhm, then why were you so excited to see him?" Emma taunts.
"Because it's been three years and he's a good friend of mine."
The blonde scoffs. "Fine, fine." She turns and leaves the office, letting Regina get back to painting.
A few hours later, she's beginning to get ready to leave with Daniel whenever Robin walks inside her office with a file in his hand. He smiles at all her artwork, admiring every single one as he always does.
"Regina, is there anyway I can get you to conjure up a drawing of this description of a woman for the local police department? They heard you were the best and wanted a good drawing of her." He asks, watching her pack up her things as if she were heading home for the night.
"I would love to, but I am off for the rest of the night. I have a dinner." She smiles.
"A dinner?"
"Yes, with an old friend of mine. How about tomorrow?"
Robin takes a deep breath, looking down at the file for a moment before back up at her, a genuine smile but it doesn't reach his eyes. "Of course, call me tomorrow and I'll have the file sent to you when you come in."
"Great, see you tomorrow."
She then leaves, heading out to where Daniel is waiting for her outside of his car.