CHAPTER 2 – Regina – Bugged

Swan?, I thought. Talk about a coincidence…

"Shall we?" Miss Swan asked, motioning to her car with a telling gesture. "I got this, you just go ahead." She grabbed my suitcase and placed it in the trunk, as I took my place in the passenger seat and tried not to cringe at the poor conditions of the vehicle.

I felt uneasy. I couldn't fathom why, but Miss Swan looked rather familiar, and my guts were telling me that, somehow, this trip was going to surprise me. I tried not to overthink it too much, as we set out onto the main road, and I shifted my attention on the sunset. The sky was a rainbow of blues, purples and reds, and the sun had already disappeared behind the dark profiles of New York's skyscrapers. I knew I was supposed to find it beautiful, but it actually scared me quite a bit; I was afraid. I always was, when the sun started to set: it meant that the night was approaching, and the monsters in my head were about to wake up.

I sighed with resignation, aware of the fact that I was never going to defeat what was inside my own mind. And yet, the tiniest, most insignificant spark of hope was fluttering somewhere around my stomach… Miss Blanchard had told me that her hometown was very small, too trifling to be even registered on a map; then, perhaps, it would be silent as well, devoid of traffic and loud, drunk teenagers… Perhaps I would be able to sleep…

"So, why don't you tell me something about yourself?" Miss Swan interrupted my trail of thoughts. I looked at her as she continued. "If we're going to stay in this car for like, seven hours, we might as well get to know each other."

"I don't particularly enjoy talking to people," I replied, and turned my head to resume cloud-gazing out the window, resting my chin onto my hand.

Miss Swan chuckled. That was most definitely not the reaction I had expected…

"What's so funny?" I spat out, trying to convey enough rudeness to erase the amusement off her face.

"Oh, sorry- you just reminded me of someone I knew." Albeit she was still smiling, her eyes turned slightly sadder as she pronounced that last word; she seemed lost in her thoughts, as if a cluster of memories had suddenly come rushing back, overwhelming her.

The more I looked at her, the bigger that sensation of familiarity grew. Maybe I had worked for her before?

I only realized I had been staring for a long time when she quickly shot me a baffled look, momentarily diverting her attention from the road. "You alright?"

At that point, I couldn't resist any longer. I had to know, and voicing my doubts was the only solution. "Have we… Have we met before?" I stammered.

The smirk on her face disappeared almost immediately, although I had no idea as to why.

"I don't think so, sorry," she answered, and I decided to drop the subject. I had the inexplicable sensation that she was lying, but I didn't think much about it, blaming it on lack of sleep and exhaustion, instead.

Determined not to ponder on the matter any longer, I once again turned my attention back to the sky.

We fell into a silence that was only interrupted by the sound of occasional cars and motorcycles passing by. We had already glided onto the I-95 S, and the sky had already turned pitch black, when she broke it.

"You look pensive," she murmured. I was secretly glad she had talked; I could feel the cloud of noise starting to overwhelm me, and I surely wasn't looking forward to losing my composure in front of a stranger.

I didn't want to start a conversation – call me a misanthrope, but I didn't exactly appreciate people – yet, I needed a distraction from my thoughts.

"Well, way to be both extremely perceptive and unnecessarily invasive," I said. I knew being rude wasn't the most appropriate approach to take, but I was too proud to show how weak I actually was – especially to a woman I had known for approximately three hours.

A frustrated snort hinted me that I had managed to annoy her. Good.

"I'm most humbly sorry, Your Majesty," she mumbled sarcastically, a pout distorting her expression. Your Majesty… Why do I like that?

"Oh, please, are you going to sulk for the rest of the day, now?" I blurted out. Normally I wasn't quite this straight-forward with my clients, but there was something about Miss Swan that just spurred me to be my worst self. "If you're expecting an apology from me, I'm afraid you'll be disappointed, dear."

"I don't expect you to be sorry, but you could at least try to be polite!"

"I don't do polite," I quietly retorted, feeling a frown make its way onto my face. "What made you choose yellow?" I added after a second, my voice accompanied by a grimace for good measure.

I was trying to offend her, but I was increasingly aware of the fact that we sounded precisely like five-year-olds bickering.

"What?"

"Your bug! Yellow? Bold choice."

She didn't reply for a while; for a moment I even almost felt guilty, thinking that I might have managed to offend her. Did I go too far? Well, so what? Who cares!

"I like yellow," she murmured, and by her expression I could tell she was upset.

I decided to just change the subject – we were only half-way through our trip, and as little as I cared for a stranger's feelings, I didn't want the atmosphere between us to be this tense the whole time.

"Let's go get some dinner," I said. "I can drive afterwards, if you want me to."

She glanced at me, a surprised look on her face.

"See? It wasn't that hard, was it?" she asked me as we slowed down and drove off the highway, into a rest area.

"What are you talking about?"

"Being polite." She flashed me a smile, right before getting off the car.

I followed her with a frown, enjoying the brief moment of brisk air before we entered the building. It was pretty large; there were quite a lot of cafés and fast foods, all of which were clustered around the perimeter of the area, whilst the middle space was filled with booths and stands of books, stuffed animals and souvenirs.

"Where would you like to eat?" Miss Swan asked me.

I let my eyes wander around, seeking for a place that would serve something seemingly healthy. I spotted a small coffee shop with a variety of sandwiches displayed, on our left hand side.

"I imagine that will do," I sighed, pointing at it.

We approached the counter and chose our dinners.

"What drink do you think I should get?" Miss Swan asked pensively, still looking up at the menu displayed right above the counter.

"How about a glass of the worst apple cider you've ever tasted?" I replied ironically, glaring at the salesperson.

"Hey, behave!"

"I'm not a child!" I snapped, hurt. How dare she? She had known me for, what, ten minutes?, and was already insulting me. Granted, I had been trying to get on her nerves for the best part of the last three-and-a-half hours, but still.

"Then stop acting like one!" She turned away from me, officially ending the fight, and addressed the saleslady. "A hot cocoa for me and a hot apple cider for Your Majesty, please. Both with extra cinnamon."

"How did you know I like extra cinnamon?" I asked surprised, our quarrel already forgotten.

"I just assumed." She shrugged, leaning onto the counter as we waited. "So, how do you like New York?"

There she goes again, I thought, trying to make small talk.

"I don't," I replied, stubborn. I found her question quite unusual – as if she thought I had just moved there, curiously enough.

"Why not? I lived there for a while, with my son. It was great."

"You have a son?" I couldn't help but ask. Albeit I had tried to mask it, my voice was filled with decades-old envy.

She hesitated. "Yes, I do. His name's Henry. He's almost fourteen, now."

"You're lucky. I've wanted a child my whole life, and yet here I am," I said with a bitter scoff. "You must have been young when you had him."

Our dinners were ready; we picked up our trays and chose a table.

"I was eighteen when he was born," she narrated, once we had sat down, "and in a prison cell in Phoenix."

I tensed up. She was a criminal?!

"Yeah, I went to jail for a robbery Henry's father did. He didn't even get caught – actually, he sort of screwed me over – but… it's complicated." She laughed a little, lost in bittersweet memories.

"He appears to be quite the asshole," I said, brutally honest, as I took a bite out of my sandwich. Much to my dismay, it was really tasty.

"I thought so too, at the time," she concurred, "but we met again and he explained why he had done it. We got back together for a while, a few years ago, before he… passed away."

It was guilt, the foreign feeling that sparkled within me at her words. I shouldn't have asked the question. "I'm sorry," I uttered, surprising myself as much as her.

"Yeah, me too. In the end, he turned out to be a great person; I wish I had realized it sooner. My parents named my brother after him, actually."

"So you had to grow Henry all by yourself?"

"Oh, not at all!" She laughed. "I gave him up as soon as he was born: I knew I couldn't give him the life he deserved, so I… gave him his best chance. He was adopted by the Mayor of the town I now live in, Storybrooke."

"Storybrooke? Seriously?" I murmured to myself. "So, now are you and this Mayor together?"

She burst into a wholehearted laughter at my question. "I'm afraid not," she replied, giggling as if it was the funniest joke she had ever heard. "We share custody of Henry. It's… much more complicated than you could ever imagine."

She didn't seem like she wanted to continue the conversation, so we finished our dinners in a comfortable silence. I thought I might have misjudged Miss Swan: she sounded like quite an interesting person. Fascinating, even. I could tell she had lived through a lot, and I was curious to know what exactly that was.

Half an hour later we were back on the highway, the oppressive, silent noise that I was so afraid of completely forgotten.

For once, I had something to distract me even if it was nighttime. Somewhat to my surprise, a simple acquaintance such as Emma Swan was saving me from myself.

A/N: Thanks a lot for the positive feedback, it makes my day to see someone's enjoying this fic! I decided to update TWICE A WEEK, every tuesday and saturday, since I'm only a few chapters away from the end of this story and the installments are relatively short.

I'd also like to mention that, for I first started writing this fic about a year ago, you can clearly see some sort of 'evolution' in the way I write, as the chapters go by. It becomes more articulate, more descriptive, and hopefully you won't mind.

The chapters will be between 25 and 30, in total. I hope you guys liked this second part, and I will see you on saturday with another update!