Hello! Hope everyone is good! So apparently "as soon as I possibly can" meant less than 12 hours. Here's the next chapter!
Emma Swan had decided that Tuesdays sucked. What were they good for? The end of the week was too far away and it held none of the possibility of Monday. Emma's stomach grumbled as she pushed through the incomplete documents Mr. Brooks had left and she absentmindedly remembered that besides her coffee, she had not yet eaten today. She was probably just hungry, it's not like she actually resented Tuesdays for existing.
Every breakfast since the previous weekend had paled in comparison. She thought about walking up to Granny's to get some lunch and considered if she even had any food in her fridge. The basement apartment was dark and small, but little by little, it was becoming hers. Emma flipped through more paperwork, scowling at the stack when her phone lit up and buzzed on the makeshift desk she had created in her small Storybrooke apartment. She picked it up, feeling it's familiar weight in her hand, and unlocked it to reveal a text from a number she didn't recognize. She read,
Hello, Emma. This is Regina. You told me to use your number if I needed to. Well this isn't exactly urgent, but my afternoon seems to have cleared up, so I wanted to do some shopping for Henry's party. Since we both are just getting to know him, would you care to join me and assist me? I understand if you're busy. Let me know.
Emma laughed to herself while reading, thinking about how formal Regina seemed to text. It was as though she was standing right there, speaking. She ignored the flitter in her stomach and responded,
Hey Regina, I can get away early today. Want to meet at the store?
Where is the store?
And 5 seconds later,
Where should we meet?
Regina laughed at the 3 successive texts and realized she had been holding her breath waiting for a response. She looked up apologetically when a few faces scowled at her, and she quickly turned the sound down, forgetting it had even been on. She didn't text people often, but she wondered if that was simply because she didn't really have anyone to text. The only person she might have texted would have been Katherine but she saw her at work every day. They worked in the mayor's office, but in a usually sleepy town like Storybrooke, and assistants like Regina and Katherine, she wondered what the portly old man actually did in that huge office of his. She only had the phone in the first place so that the school could reach her at any time. She waited a minute so not to appear too eager, and responded,
We can meet in front of Granny's in 15 minutes?
Regina figured that if Emma knew nothing else of the town, she'd know where the diner was, it was kind of a beacon in the center and its red neon sign assisted with that. Her phone went off with a more quiet ding.
For sure, see you soon
Emma packed up her things and made her way to the diner. She slid on her sunglasses as the comfortably soft lighting of her apartment transitioned into the glaring sunlight. She walked the short walk to Granny's, enjoying the crunch of leaves under her boots. She stood in front and felt slightly awkward just standing there as people entered through the door and the cheery bell chimed. Some teenagers on their lunch breaks were eating cheeseburgers and barely chewing while laughing about something that had happened in second period. She tried not to think about how good a burger would taste and brushed a long blonde lock out of her eyes. The turn of her head while fighting with her hair brought her eyes to the figure of Regina walking down the street. How is it that I'm fighting with this mane and she looks like she just walked off a photo-shoot? Emma thought. It's barely fair.
Regina took in the sight of Emma in the distance as her heels clicked on the pavement. Her blonde hair would not stay in place, despite Emma's efforts. She saw Emma struggle and watched helplessly as one of her locks entangled itself in her sunglasses. As she made her way to her, Regina forgot herself as she stood directly in front of her and used her own hand to brush Emma's hair back and release the entangled bunch before it got any more tangled. Their hands joined in the effort and Emma cursed the situation all together, one, because Regina's proximity was entirely too close for rational thought, and two, because she was entirely at Regina's mercy and she felt utterly powerless. They stood in the moment a few moments longer than necessary.
Somehow, Emma found her voice. "It's really windy today…" Her voice trailed off and Regina was smiling again, the crease in her forehead from focusing was gone. She cleared her throat.
"Should we go inside? Prevent you from any more hair emergencies? I don't know about you but I could eat some lunch."
Emma nodded and entered through the door Regina had held open and Regina could still feel the silk of Emma's hair on her fingertips.
They sat at a booth and both ignored the questioning looks from other patrons. Ruby was quickly at their table and brought by menus, not that either woman needed one. Regina had lived in Storybrooke long enough to know what was on the menu, and Emma had skipped cooking long enough over the past few weeks to also know what was on the menu.
"So," Emma broke the silence, "Busy morning?" Emma knew that Regina worked for the mayor, but hadn't actually had a chance to talk about it with her.
"Not bad. Nothing that can't be completed tomorrow anyways," Regina said.
"So how'd you end up in the mayor's office?" Emma asked. They were stalled by ordering their lunch but their conversation picked up again.
"Well, I did political science in University. I had dreams of being the first female president at one time…Well my mother had that dream for me. I always found politics interesting, thankfully. When my mother passed away, I returned to Storybrooke and I was given her estate. I had intended on selling the property and returning to the city, but I soon realized that the only thing I didn't like about Storybrooke was no longer an issue." Regina realized just how much she had shared and expected Emma to look horrified at the revelation. Somehow though, she didn't.
"So you moved home and got to stay? And got a job working for the mayor?"
Regina nodded.
"So…were you…alone when you came back?" Emma asked hesitantly. This might have been crossing a line, but she was too curious and they talked too comfortably for her not to go there.
"Technically, yes," Regina responded. "My mother had ideas of who she wanted me to be with…I had my own ideas. But at that time, yes I was alone. But enough about that, that is conversation for another day. What about you, Emma? What's your story?" Emma sensed a very neatly wrapped up, closed-door-in-her-face answer on that topic and decided to file it away for later.
"I got in to social work because I was in the foster system growing up. I figured, I can make more of a change from the inside than if I tried to avoid my past for the rest of my life. It's there, it's a part of me, and I want to do everything I can for kids like Henry, and kids like me. It wasn't great for me, but it can be for kids if people in my position actually care."
She said it so simply that Regina almost choked on the salad she was currently chewing. She had a feeling Emma had experience with foster children before working with Henry, but she didn't imagine she had actually been a foster child herself. The way her eyes lit up when she talked about her work was appealing; she was so passionate about it. Regina could tell she truly did care.
"And you were able to move your life and move to Storybrooke?" Regina asked. She was too intrigued.
"Yes well, I was able to delegate some of my cases to other workers because of a special request. I think Henry needs me…needs us right now. He seems to be doing well though?"
"As far as I know yes, as I said the one boy Bryce and he have seemed to have become fast friends, and the other day he mentioned an Anna, who he also seems to be getting along with."
"That's so awesome."
"So…are there any special people waiting for you back home?" Regina knew she probably shouldn't ask considering she had shut down the same question, but Emma answered before she could really curse herself for asking it without thinking.
"At the moment, no. Being single made it really easy to pick up and go. Something I learned pretty young."
The conversation settled as they finished their lunch. They found their way back into simple topics, nothing delving too deep, and they went back outside to begin their party shopping.
"Now, I know the file said Henry likes blue, but is it blue overkill if all of the party decorations are also blue?" Regina asked Emma as they stood in the aisle at the dollar store. Regina had wanted to go to the party store but Emma insisted that she could get way more for her money if she went there.
"I'd say, use blue as an accent, and keep it simple. Chances are, he'll be so overwhelmed, he's not going to notice the 3 shades of blue streamers and balloons. Or, yes, it will be blue overkill and he'll think he's in some kind of all-blue fantasy-world and you'll be dealing with blue-world nightmares for the next 6 months." Emma responded, deadpanned.
Regina laughed, but sighed and decided Emma didn't care about the streamers as much as she did. She weighed the initial answer, pre-sarcasm, and decided Emma had a point. Just as they were checking out, Regina's phone began to ring.
"Hello, Miss Mills?"
"This is she, to whom am I speaking?"
"This is Mrs. Johnson, from Storybrooke Elementary. It seems Henry has been involved in an altercation." The secretary spoke formally and professionally, as though she and Regina had not been in the same English class four years in a row back in high school. Even though Mrs. Johnson's boyfriend had developed a crush on Regina, nothing had ever happened and when they broke up, she took no time in moving on to Mike Johnson, the man to whom she was now married. For some reason, she seemed to still hold a grudge.
"Is he alright? Is everything okay?"
Mrs. Johnston ignored the questions and continued, "We need you to come to the office. And since he is a ward of the state, we'll be calling Miss….Swan as well."
"Well she's here with me now, we'll be right there."
From the look on Regina's face, the speed at which she had hung up her phone, and the half of the conversation she had heard, Emma knew it was time to go.
"Okay, I'm going to run and get my car. I will sprint, and I'll come and pick you up right here. If he's in the office, nothing else is going to happen. We can take ten minutes. You buy the stuff and I'll be right back, okay?" Emma asked quickly. She knew that telling Regina to stay calm would be even worse. "Regina! Buy the stuff. Remember, if he had gotten really hurt or something, we'd be going to the hospital. If they want us at the school it's going to be okay." With that, Emma ran out the door.
Regina was thankful that Emma was with her, considering her first instinct had been to run out the door of the little store and sprint to the elementary school in her pencil skirt and impractical heels. As she checked out the so carefully chosen items, she couldn't help but wonder what was happening with Henry. The moment she turned to leave the store, absentmindedly thanking the employee, she wasn't surprised to see Emma's barely safe-looking car waiting for her with Emma panting in the front seat. She noticed the popped trunk and deposited her bags there, while rushing to get into the front seat.
"I ate too much at lunch, or I would have been faster," Emma apologized. Regina appreciated how quickly Emma drove to the school, and the two women got out and ran in the front door.
When Henry looked up at the sudden rush of colour and movement through the front door at his spot on the bench by the office, Regina gasped and Emma swore under her breath at what they saw before them.