CHAPTER 4 – Emma – Decided

"Alright, you ready?" I asked.

It was the next morning, and Zelena had just arrived to help me clear our my mom's apartment: if Regina had seen it was already furnished, she would've been too suspicious about this whole situation. We needed to be extremely careful about this kind of things.

I started concentrating, feeling the magic run through me as I got ready to use it… When Zelena, with a lazy movement of her hand and a roll of her eyes, made all of the furniture disappear, only to then poof away herself.

"Well, that was easy…" I said to no one in particular, admiring her work; all of the armchairs, beds, tables, bookshelves were gone. I checked the bathroom, and it was completely empty as well. Nothing was left on the walls either. Seeing that flat so empty made me feel quite uncomfortable; I had gotten too used to it over the years, a familiar shelter that had become a part of who I was. I decided not thinking about it was the best thing to do.

Luckily, my phone went off, announcing a text message: my dad was changing Neal's diaper, under the strict supervision of my mom, and I was waiting for them to be ready for our usual 'Breakfast at Granny's'; I couldn't have asked for a better distraction.

From: Regina I found a dog hair in my apple pie.

I gawked at my phone for a good thirty seconds, before realizing what was happening. Did she seriously just text me to complain?!

That was such a Regina thing! It made me grin despite everything. She was still there, somewhere…

"Wow, I haven't seen you smile like that in a long time!" mom commented when she saw me. She and dad were finally ready.

I quickly looked away, feeling my cheeks heat up, and we headed straight to Granny's without acknowledging the matter any further.

When we got there, one thought immediately came to my mind: something was wrong. You could hear their voices from the outside, and the conversation between Regina and Granny was most definitely not friendly. I hurried inside, planning on stopping whatever was going on quickly.

"I'm not going to pay for this, there was a dog hair inside!" Regina shouted, slamming a hand on the countertop, looking at Granny with pure hatred. As soon as she did so, the neon lights on the ceiling flickered.

She didn't seem to notice, but everyone else surely did – and flinched in surprise and fear. She didn't know she had magic, so she couldn't control it, either… I had to stop her before she made a disaster.

"Well, there is a bitch around here, now that I think about it!" Granny yelled in reply.

"ENOUGH!" I growled, for the second time in less than ten hours, standing between them and distancing Regina. I shot Granny a glower: she should've known better than to pick up a fight with an amnesiac former Evil Queen.

"What did you call me?!" Regina tried to pounce on her, but I held her by her shoulders, impeding her. She squirmed out of my grip and shot everyone a look of despise, before spitting out, "I'm out of here."

As Regina slammed the front door shut, I told Granny to put that piece of pie on my tab and scurried outside, right behind that hothead.

"Miss Mills, wait!" I yelled, panting, but she didn't listen. I kept running until I managed to finally catch up with her. "Well, you sure know how to make a scene."

"Oh, now don't you start too!"

"Hey, I was just joking," I replied, patiently, waiting for us to be sat on a bench right in front of the clock tower to continue. "But if I were you, I would show some respect to the Sheriff."

"Who, Lady Tremaine back there?" she scoffed, ironic.

"No," I said, slightly baffled by her choice of words, "me."

She turned towards me, raising an eyebrow. "You're the Sheriff," she said, skeptical and even a bit jeering.

I simply nodded in response, chin up with pride.

"You used to be a thief," she said, as if it didn't make sense, "and now you're a sheriff."

"Is it so hard to believe?"

"Well, dear, let's just say that, if that's how the government makes its choices, then no wonder this country is falling apart…" she commented.

Ouch. I didn't reply to that, giving her time to cool off.

"I do respect you," she said after a while. She was slightly uncomfortable, but I could tell she wasn't lying. "I just have a bit of a quick temper, that's it."

I giggled at what clearly was the understatement of the year, and she grinned in return.

"You should smile more." The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. It didn't embarrass me, though – it was the simple truth. I shrugged. "Your whole face lights up. It's nice."

By the look on Regina's face I could tell she was surprised and, seemingly, flattered. I didn't know what had gotten into me. It was simply something that I had always wanted to tell Regina, and now that she was back I wanted to make sure she knew; after all, that could be the last day I would be able to see her for a very long time.

She looked away, admiring the speckled sky, lost in her thoughts. I noticed a slight blush on her cheeks, and I couldn't stop the wave of smugness that spread through me.

"It doesn't often happen that I smile," she confessed in a bittersweet voice.

"How come?"

"I very rarely have something worth smiling for." She shrugged. "My life tends to be very uneventful, a never-ending routine that oscillates from work to mental issues and then back to work again."

"Mental issues?" I could hear the astonishment-mixed-concern in my voice. This is new…

"Yes – well, at least that's what I believe they are. I'm not sure why I'm telling you this, but I have a lot of trouble sleeping," she articulated. "Call me insane, but I can't stand the noise of The City. It's bearable during the day, when I have things to distract me, but at nighttime it becomes simply overwhelming… It makes me feel as if I'm not meant to be there. Tonight I managed to sleep, even if only for a couple of hours, for the first time since I have memory."

So she wasn't happy in New York, either… Maybe bringing her back wasn't all that selfish, after all.

"I don't think you're crazy," I said quickly. "Your brain is telling you that you don't belong in New York. That's completely understandable. Why… why don't you stay here for a while? It might do you some good. You can restore yourself."

"I thought about that as well," she murmured. "This would also be a nice place to live in, although I would probably be unemployed – I don't think many people here need an interior designer, albeit those rooms at the inn truly are unwatchable…"

"…Alright, enough of that." I interrupted her rant about Granny's and stood up. "I still haven't had breakfast, and you still haven't made up with Granny. Just know that, if you decide to stay for a while, I can show you a nice place – a friend's house, much more tasteful than the B&B. She's… on vacation, but she wouldn't mind letting you stay there."

Regina walked with me, even though a few vexed snorts hinted me that she wasn't exactly enthusiastic about the idea of apologizing.

"What even is her name?" she asked me, as we got closer to our destination.

I assumed she was talking about Granny, but I froze, flaring my eyes in surprise. "I… have absolutely no idea."

The corners of her mouth quirked up at my words, but she didn't reply as we entered the diner yet again. Regina and Granny seemed to avoid eye contact as much as possible, during the time we were in there, but at least they made an effort not to yell at each other. We sat with my parents and Ruby, whom, for the second time, gave me a weird look – again, one I couldn't decipher.

As they went on making small talk and I finished my breakfast, I tried to think of a way to make Regina believe in less than two hours; the only answer I could find to that question was to use magic right in front of her, but I immediately excluded the option: she was definitely going to think she had actually gone nuts, and I didn't want that to happen. I just need more time…

It didn't take long for my wish to be granted.

Ten minutes later we were back at the loft, and Regina was expertly eying the main room. Mom and dad shared a worried look, probably concerned that by the end of this sham our flat would end up looking like Regina's office back at Town Hall.

"You know, I kind of feel like I've already been here," she murmured, and everyone in the room held their breath, "so I already have a plan on how to furnish your apartment. Now, I have to go back to New York to arrange some things with my boss and change my schedule a bit, but I'll be back in a few days with my ideas all printed out, so that you can give me your opinion."

My heart skipped a beat. She was coming back to Storybrooke! A part of my mind realized I was beaming, but it really didn't care. We had a chance to have our Regina back, and nothing else mattered.

A/N: Aaaand here's chapter 4! Shortest one yet, but I guess it's better than nothing at all. Please, feel free to let me know what you think about this story!