AN: As promised: chapter three. I thought I was done last week and then realized there was a lot to edit, sigh, but here it is, beta-read and everything. Hope you like!
Heart of Stone
"The mayor just arrived and complained about the trash cans being full. Didn't you empty them?"
It was always the same, the mayor this, the mayor that, mayor mayor mayor. She never failed to find something to complain about. I had almost completed my second week at the office and despite the woman in charge it hadn't been as bad as my first one.
"No, I thought you did?" I said, frowning at Ashley who was the one I was working with today.
"Oh. No, I must've forgotten."
The younger woman looked tired and confused, and then suddenly anxious.
"Do you think she'll be mad at me?"
"The mayor? Isn't she always mad at, like, everyone?"
"Well," the girl said, lowering her voice to a whisper. "We don't call her the Evil Queen for nothing..."
"You guys call her that? For real?" I asked with a chuckle.
Ashley let out a nervous laugh and shifted her eyes, as if she expected the mayor to appear from a puff of smoke any second now.
"Sometimes," she guiltily admitted. "But never so she hears, of course."
"Of course," I said, grinning mischievously, the macabre painting in the lobby coming to mind. "You wouldn't want her to rip your hearts out."
The girl paled and I regretted my unnecessary comment. She was obviously frightened by the mayor and I didn't need to intensify her fear with my silly jokes, she already had too much stress to deal with and her baby was almost due.
"Hey, how about you stay here and I go upstairs to deal with the trash cans?" I offered.
"I'd be grateful," Ashley said, breathing out a sigh of relief.
I smiled at her and left for the elevators. There weren't a lot of things that scared me. The mayor was intimidating, yes, and I wouldn't say I felt particularly safe with her, but she didn't frighten me. Not really. Therefore, I didn't bother to hurry on my way to her office. There was no point, she would be displeased either way. Bracing myself I knocked at her door.
"Room service!"
"Come in," followed her irritated reply.
She was clearly not in the mood for jokes – which I suppose she rarely was – but I didn't care much, this was my way of getting back at her for being a bitch all the time. I entered and noticed that she – to my pleasure – didn't look her usual perfect self.
"Rough night, Madame Mayor?" I asked suggestively.
She gave me a poisonous stare in return and I shrugged, walking over to empty the trash can.
"I just...thought you looked a little tired, that's all," I said with feigned innocence.
She huffed dismissively.
"If you must know, my son had nightmares. Neither of us got much sleep tonight."
Her son? She had a son? She was a mother? I tried to wrap my head around that new piece of information while pitying the poor boy. Had the mayor been my mother I was sure I would've been troubled with nightmares as well.
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear. Is he alright?"
"Yeah, he's fine. He just has a vivid imagination, more so than the average nine-year-old. I keep telling him there're no such things as monsters and evil witches but he doesn't believe me," she explained, putting a stack of paperwork in a folder.
"Naturally," I said with an eye roll, earning another glance from her. "He's a kid."
"Don't tell me what I already know."
She looked down at the folder she was still holding in her hands and placed it neatly on the desk. Despite her still hostile tone, the mayor seemed to be in a better mood now when talking about her son. She looked a bit distant and a small absent-minded smile lingered on her lips. I continued to watch her while moving toward the door, plastic bag in hand. Halfway there I stopped and tilted my head. She hadn't moved an inch, seemingly lost in thought. I glanced over at the only thing hanging on the wall, an elegant silvery frame enclosing a photograph of a smiling boy.
"Is that him? In the picture?" I asked.
She blinked and looked up at me momentarily before turning around, her smile growing wider.
"Yeah, it is," she said, a sudden warmth in her voice.
"Cute."
There was a moment of comfortable silence and I felt as if she had let her guard down a bit. Softened. As if she had peeled off at least one of all those layers that was the mayor and was letting the person inside shine through. She was...glowing really, with this earnest affection she clearly felt for her son. I watched her – or stared possibly, I might have stared...probably did – and felt strangely drawn to this other version of her. The woman underneath all of those layers, the woman behind the hard-boiled facade, the woman that was simply Regina Mills. If she even existed, but I was pretty sure she did and that I had just gotten a glimpse of her. Regina Mills.
Unfortunately no moment lasted forever, and this certainly didn't. Out of nowhere her mood dropped and the Evil Queen – as the others apparently called her – was back in a flash.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I have work to do," she snapped.
"Yeah, yeah me too," I mumbled and quickly left her office, not sure what had actually just happened.
I gave it some thought while checking the rest of the floor for any other trash cans Ashley might have missed. Talking and thinking about her son had made the mayor open up briefly, and then what? She was so madly serious about her work that she got mad at me for tricking her into spending a few of her precious minutes to be sentimental? It did sound a bit farfetched but what did I know. Something had undoubtedly made her turn back into her usual vitriolic self.
It was none of my business really, but I decided I wanted to figure out what her deal was. She intrigued me and I was way too curious for my own good. There ought to be reasons behind her behaviour other than pure viciousness. She'd at least shown me she didn't have a heart of stone, which was comforting. Not that I'd ever have a chance to...anything with her anyway – and not that I wanted to – but yeah. Still curious.
I finished the floor and returned to Ashley, thinking she might be able to help with my new self-assigned mission.
"About the mayor..." I began, gaining the girl's attention.
"What about her?" she said, looking up at me with inquiring eyes.
"Has she always been like this? So..."
I thought back on all of our unpleasant encounters, struggling to find the right term.
"...contemptible?"
"I've only worked here for a year, so I can't really tell, but she's been this way as long as I can remember," she told me. "Though, I feel like she's gotten worse lately. Since about when you started actually."
"Oh?"
"I'm sure it has nothing to do with you," she said reassuringly. "You're doing a great job."
I perked up at the compliment, glad that at least someone had noticed my hard work.
"I do try to do my best."
The conversation died out, both shifting focus back to our task at hand. I pulled on a pair of latex rubber gloves and wrinkled my nose, looking down the toilet. My favourite thing to do. At least I got paid.
"Hey, Birdie!"
My mood darkened at the unwelcome nickname and with an annoyed expression I turned to face the guy that had spoken. It was the building maintenance worker with his hallmark eyeliner – I hadn't bothered to memorize his name, just knew that he was Irish – or more commonly known as The Guy. The Guy, who fixed all sorts of things and made sure everything in the building was tip top and working properly. He was sitting by himself at a table in the breakroom, checking me out while slowly stirring his cup of coffee. I bet it was spiked, he seemed like the type. Not just because of the fact that he was Irish but... Well, I guess that was part of it too.
"I'm not a bird."
"No? Swan? I thought it was pretty clever."
I rolled my eyes and walked past him to one of the employee's shared fridges. It was sandwich time. I had actually brought real lunch the days I had worked during those hours but today I was just scheduled for the morning. I placed my snack on a small plate and put it into one of the microwaves. While waiting for it to get heated I looked around for a seat, quickly ruling out the Irishman's table. I noticed Ashley sitting with some old lady – I didn't know her name either, she wasn't one of the office cleaners – and they were talking about the pros and cons of natural childbirth, apparently. Nothing I was particularly interested in but it was probably – definitely – my best option. The machine declared my cheese and bacon sandwich ready with a ding! and with my stomach growling I picked it out and walked over to the females. I plopped down next to Ashley, mindlessly taking a big bite of my scorching food. Ouch, hothothot! I put it down, breathing open-mouthed to cool my burned tongue while trying not to spit unchewed food all over the table.
"Hey, Emma," the Irishman tried from his table across the room.
His timing couldn't have been worse. My mouth was still hurting, and very much full, so I was tempted to ignore him. But my curiosity got the better of me and I chewed quickly to minimize the pain.
"Yes, Mr Not So Clever?" I said, slowly turning toward him.
"I thought you didn't like nicknames," he remarked.
"Not for me, but well for others," I smirked.
He grinned at this and I glanced suspiciously at my sandwich while waiting for his reply, not trusting it to have cooled down just yet.
"I can live with that," he nodded. "But only if you do me a favour."
"A favour? Why I would do that, exactly?"
"Join me for drinks tonight and you'll be free to call me whatever you want..." he said theatrically, pausing for effect, "...and whenever you want."
He arched one of his eyebrows suggestively and I just...no.
"Ugh, please..." I said and turned back to my table, diving into my now moderately tempered food.
"Was that a no?"
You're damn right it was. Apparently he was not only irritating, but also dim. Not even good looks – which he didn't quite have, although he wasn't ugly – would have been enough to weigh up for his awful cheesiness. That was, even if I'd been straight. I swallowed down my current bite and sighed, my back still turned to him.
"It was. And it is."
"Woe is me, I guess I'll have to work on my seduction skills then. Would you mind to practise with me, Emma?"
Was this guy for real?
"Will you just shut up already? I'm trying to eat here and you're making me feel sick," I exclaimed, waving my half-eaten sandwich in the air for emphasis.
"Whoa. The lass is having a date with her sandwich, I better leave them alone..."
Yeah, he better do that. Not that it sounded like he was going to.
"Miss Swan?"
Now that was another guy entirely and I didn't hesitate to turn around this time.
"Mr Humbert," I acknowledged.
"The, um, mayor wants to see you," he said reluctantly.
I skeptically furrowed my brows. I had been there just an hour ago, emptying her trash can. What could she possibly want with me now? Ashley gave me a worried look.
"Ehm, okay. What's the matter?" I asked, stuffing my mouth full with the remainder of my sandwich before I stood.
"Can't say," he said, not quite meeting my gaze. "She wanted to tell you personally."
That couldn't be any good. I grabbed a tissue on my way out and wiped the grease off my face and hands, Mr Humbert joining me in the elevator. We stayed silent though and he left at his floor, leaving me alone with my thoughts for the rest of the ride. I decided it was probably best to skip the jokes this time, so when I was outside the mayor's office – once more today – I simply knocked and then entered at her command.
"You wanted to see me, Madame Mayor?" I said, determinedly walking up to her desk with my shoulders squared.
"Yes," she purred, a devious glint in her eyes. "You see, we have a problem."
I wondered what this problem might be but trusted her to let me know. She looked like she had this big secret she was going to share with me.
"Or rather, you have a problem. One of our regular office cleaners has requested to go from part-time to full-time," she explained. "We have approved, which means we'll no longer have any use for you."
She had got to be kidding me.
"Miss Swan, you're fired."
She wasn't kidding.
"But I've only been here for two weeks! I need this job!"
"Well, we don't need you."
"But..." I began to object again but didn't know what I could possibly say to change her mind.
They didn't need me anymore, so, of course I had to go. But the way she had said it, the way she was looking at me... Could someone please take away that satisfied smirk from her face? To hell with her not having a heart of stone! She was enjoying this moment, enjoying to push me down and take away what little hope she had given me when offering this job in the first place. How could she enjoy that?
"Well, that is all," she declared. "You're dismissed."
And dismissed I was. Very much so.
