"Come back! Fuck!" Emma cringed as she watched her car be driven away with her best friend in it, her entire world crashing down and burning right before her eyes. Granny, the waitress from the diner, ran outside just as the yellow bug reached the end of the road and made a screeching left before continuing to speed off. "Oh dear, come on in here and we'll call the police..." Too distraught to fight it, the blonde teen drags herself back into the diner, fighting back an onslaught of tears that would probably scare the old woman.
Regina flicked away the small piece of her blunt that was leftover, sighing with lidded eyes as she tried to have a positive outlook on her situation. The burner cellphone in her pocket, the one that's been tucked away throughout the time period she's been locked away yet again, starts buzzing as she stops at a nearby bus stop, flopping down on the bench to catch her breath. Pulling out said phone and answering it, she wasn't surprised when the masculine voice spoke and she knew exactly who it was, "I heard they let out my annoying little sister. Is that true, Bugsy?" Her face starts to light up, "I didn't know Zelena was out yet. Did you tell mom?" They share a chuckle and it's so needed for her after months of being surrounded by gloominess that she actually sheds a few happy tears. "Nah, I'm talking about the annoying little sister I like." She sniffles, still smiling, "Shut up, Killian. Where are are you?" He laughs and there's some shuffling going on at the other end of the line that makes her worry until he speaks again, "At work, genius. Where do you think I am?" With a relieved sigh, she slumps back on the bench and scoffs, "Since when do you have a job?" Killian mimicked her scoff, "Since my girlfriend got pregnant and mom bitched that I needed to make an 'honest woman out of her.' But I'm not marrying her, we're not there yet."
Her eyes widened, "Pregnant? You got Lacey pregnant? What even, bro?! Congrats. I'm going to be an aunt!" Chuckling, her brother shook his head, "Yeah, man. Who else would I get pregnant? I took one look at that sonogram and knew right then and there, I couldn't continue with the life of crime; my kid was going to need me. So I went legit, opened up a restaurant, with mom and dad's help of course, and now we're doing pretty good. Paying rent on time every month feels better than I thought it would." Regina went silent for a moment, letting everything sink in; her older brother had been her partner in crime, that was who she ran with and when she got arrested this last time, he was with her but got out earlier than she did. Snapping herself back to reality when she hears Lacey speak in the background, the younger Mills smiles in spite of the three or four tears cascading down the apple of her cheeks, "That's so great, Killian. I'm proud of you, man. I should go though, I still have a ways to walk before I get back to the house." Her brother is quick to respond, "Where are you? I'll come get you." But the last thing she needed was to see him right now, "That's alright bro. Handle your business. We'll get together soon for lunch, alright? Your treat?" The brunette fakes a laugh to try and reassure him, the sooner she could get off the phone at this point, the better. "…Right. My treat. Wherever you wanna go, Bugsy." "Love you," was all she said before hanging up and sliding the phone back in her pocket.
There's only a beat of silence before the chest-constricting crying begins, leaving Regina to hide behind her hands as she mourned the loss to a lifestyle she had become so accustomed to. It's as if the things her mother had predicted for her were actually coming true for once. That alone was enough to scare the shit out of her and now she had no choice but to do a complete 180; this was her chance to keep her word about never returning to that God-forsaken place. She was grateful that no one had seemed to be in the area because it would've been embarrassing to be witnessed sobbing and gasping for air to replenish her lungs. When she was finally able to calm and compose herself, her hand fished around in her pocket for loose change while she checked to make sure the bus would take her in the right direction, her body becoming too tired to continue the journey home. Like clockwork, the bus pulls up a few minutes later and the driver opens the door, prompting Regina to stand up and reveal the dollar and change needed to ride. She's barely putting the money into the machine when she hears the sound of tires screeching and a yellow Volkswagen comes into view through the wide bus windows. The brunette was going to simply ignore it, take her seat and go the hell home but then there's screaming and someone running away from the car, then before she knows it, a dog hops out of the car and almost looks as if it's going to dart across the street; her conscious would never let her live a day in peace if she didn't do anything.
So with great reluctance, she stops the driver and hops off the bus to weave her way through oncoming traffic, ignoring horns that blare as a warning and when she reaches the shoulder of the road where the car is, Regina slows her running to cautiously approach the dog. "Hey there, buddy…" Her eyes take in the sight of red-stained blonde fur but the wagging tail hinted that it probably wasn't the dog's blood. Extending her hand to let Blondie sniff at her first, to conclude that the woman wasn't a threat, she finally exhales when she's granted the approval to pat the canine's head. "Alright…See, we're cool, right?" A bark is the answer she receives, which elicits a hesitant chuckle from the jailbird and it prompts Blondie to lay down and roll over, putting her belly on display in the hopes of getting it scratched just like her best friend would do daily. It proves to be more than helpful because her collar becomes visible and her new acquaintance studies it while giving her that belly rub she had been aching for since she woke up. "Blondie? So you're a-" One look farther down from where she was diligently scratching and rubbing confirmed her guess, "yep, you're a girl. I see there's a number on your dog tag too. Let's call your owner and let them know where you are." Of course the blood on the dog's fur was a warning of what Blondie was capable of but she trusted that if her affection was so openly accepted, there'd be nothing to worry about, at least in regards to the dog. The abandoned car was a completely different story.
"Can you describe what the thief looked like, young lady?" One officer spoke while the other scribbled a bunch of lines on the pad, the sound of his pencil catching most of Emma's attention as she zoned out. This simply wasn't her week apparently and the shit show had only just begun. Granny snapped her fingers in front of the blonde's face, pulling her from the self-induced trance, "Sweetheart, answer the nice officer." Inhaling a shaky breath, she shakes her head, "Sorry, no. Whoever it was had a hood on and I was too far away to get a good look at them before they sped off with my dog in the car." More scribbling, and for a second she feels as if the length of writing doesn't match the length of her answers, but before she can comment on it, her phone's ringing. "Give me a second, I should take this," Excusing herself off to the side where it was a bit more quiet, she doesn't check to see who it is before answering, too conflicted with her emotions to truly think straight. "Hello?"
