Sheriff Swan

By the time Emma got to the station on her first day in the job there was already a considerably sized pile of envelopes sitting on her desk,

"What are these?" she asked David brow forming into a frown,

"They're the complaints that you told people to write in with" David answered cheerfully "I must say a lot of people are pleased to have you here and so willing to work through the towns issues with them" he smiled, and Emma was filled with a sort of ominous dread, what had she set herself up for?

"Okay" she sighed after all she couldn't go back on her word now and maybe it wouldn't be as bad as she thought it would, "But I'm not looking at them until Monday morning, I thought that, that would give everybody a chance to get their complaints in and then I can just shift through the lot, you know throw out repeats and put them in order of urgency, that kind of thing and in the meantime I can get started on this" she groaned inwardly as she pointed at the stack of paperwork sitting on her desk,

"Sounds good to me, so what would you like me to do with them for now?" David asked helpfully,

"I don't know" Emma sighed sitting down to think "Can you get me a large cardboard box?" she asked suddenly coming up with an idea, David nodded and hurried returning momentarily holding a box in each hand, Emma selected one and quickly got to work,

"Ta da" she said as she held her box out triumphantly twenty minutes later,

"Brilliant" David beamed looking at her creation,

Emma taking inspiration from something that she had frequently come across and even helped make in her group homes, had crafted a cardboard post-box, even testing out the letter box by posting some of the letters that had been on her desk after placing the rest inside before taping it all up securely, she had also made a sign informing people of what it was for,

"We'll put it just inside the door" Emma suggested leading the way "That way people don't need to keep coming in to disturb us if they are just delivering a letter"

"Good plan" David nodded,

"Are you always this agreeable David" Emma laughed,

"I am until you give me something to disagree with" David replied brightly making Emma laugh even more.

The rest of the day passed slowly, too slowly for Emma who spent the first few hours slogging over paperwork while she sent David out on patrol, the benefit of this was that she was alone and she could blast out the stereo while she worked, the cons was that there was so much to work through that her recent predecessors had neglected and being bent over the desk for so long was causing her legs to cramp and her back to burn with a gradually worsening dull ache that was travelling up into her head, and as if her throbbing temples to go with her aching body wasn't enough she had a steadily growing pile of paper work that would need to be signed off by the mayor which meant that a trip to her office was imminent. Still Emma intended to lag it out for as long as possible, nothing was particularly pressing and until something was, she would hold off going to Regina until she was finished if that proved possible and then she would just take everything in one go, she couldn't see the point in repeated visits that weren't necessary.

David returned after his lunch break as she had instructed and Emma headed to grannies to grab a sandwich to go before she took over the patrol for a couple of hours, patrol had been a welcome reprieve from the mind-numbingly repetitive paper work and it had come to an end to soon for Emma, it seemed like she only just left when she returned to her seat behind her desk and began to tackle the mountain of paperwork that she had still barely made a dent in all over again, her muscles remembering the hours that she already spent in this position earlier on that day began to protest far quicker during this sitting until it had become almost unbearable but still she pushed through, ticking boxes, signing lines until her eyes began to blur everything into one. She felt a little disheartened as she looked at her desk when she was done for the day, on the one hand the pile of completed work wasn't unsubstantial, but on the other the one of work still to do seemed bigger than ever. Sighing in frustration Emma took a chunk from the top opting to carry on at home where at least there she could relax on the sofa and have her tv on in the background.

She worked at home until she passed out from exhaustion the TV still playing some old movie that she hadn't really been watching switching itself off some hours later leaving Emma to sleep on in the silence. Falling asleep on the sofa meant that she hadn't gone through her bedtime routine and therefor also hadn't set her alarm for the morning, so it was lucky that the early morning rays filtering through the blinds landed across her face and woke her up early,

Emma groaned, sat up and stretch, feeling a little sore from a combination of sitting over her desk so long the day before and sleeping on the couch, she padded to the kitchen flipping on her coffee machine before heading into the bathroom where she took a quick shower wrapped herself in her robe and padded back into the kitchen to retrieve the cup of coffee now sat waiting for her under the automatic spout of the machine, then pausing to add a dash of milk to the steaming cup along the way Emma made her way back to the couch sitting down and beginning to sort through the paper work again. It was very early. much earlier than Emma would have usually gotten up so by the time she was ready to leave for work she had drunk her way through three cups of coffee and managed to finish the paperwork that she had brought home with her the night before.

She was first into the office that morning and once she had added last nights completed paperwork to the pile of complete work from the day before she felt a lot better about what was left and was certain that if she could keep up the pace, she's have it finished by Friday,

'Ready to face the letters on Monday' she thought with a sigh,

She chose to take the first shift that day returning to eat her lunch at the office while she started on her work there again the pile of which was finally starting to look a little smaller,

And so that was how the week continued, nothing much happened when she was on patrol, the most exciting thing she did was to help the towns favourite therapist find his dog Pongo who had taken himself for a wander and it turned out they needn't have bothered to look for the animal in the end because he found his own way back and was proudly sitting at Archie's office door waiting for him to arrive looking very flustered with a much less flustered but still rosy cheeked Emma after their venture through the woods calling the dog's name repeatedly in tow, poor Archie hadn't been able to apologise enough on behalf of his naughty hound but Emma had insisted that it was fine and waved him off with a laugh.

She made steady progress through the paperwork celebrating with one of Grannies grilled cheeses once she had made it to half way point and finally late Friday afternoon she ticked her final box and sat back triumphant, David had very helpfully been filing everything that was destined for a drawer in the stations office away every morning that it was Emma's turn to patrol, so by the time she was done she only had a very small pile paper work to file and she was only too happy to put it away immediately and see the back of it, the rest she had to take to the Mayor's office.

Glancing at the clock she saw that it was almost six pm and she wondered if perhaps by this time on a Friday Regina might already be at home with Henry in which case she could slip in and leave everything destined for the Mayor's office on her desk ready to greet Regina first thing on Monday morning without having to face the woman herself, plan decided she pulled a form up on the computer printing it out and settling to fill it in, it was the last thing that she needed to do before she left and it was the one request that she herself was making on behalf of the station, she sought to employ a new officer because as small and quiet as the town was Emma felt it would be better to have at least three of them to delegate the work between and cover if anybody was ill, in fact she knew that David had only managed when he had been alone by taking on somebody part time and even then they had completely neglected all of the mounting paper work, none the less David told her that Mulan had been a great asset to him and that as happy as he had been to have Emma join the team he had been sad to see Mulan go and felt that she would be only too happy to take on a more permanent position and Emma had assured him that if she managed to secure the extra funding needed to hire a third officer then Mulan would get first refusal before she advertised the role to the general public.

Emma took a deep breath as she entered the town hall, it was gone six now and very quiet with most people including the mayor's personal secretary having gone home already, Emma hoping that her luck would hold out and that the mayor's office would prove to be as empty as the secretary's just outside of it approached the door with bated breath and knocked three times,

Regina's reply was instant "Come in" she called from inside,

"Shit" Emma cussed under her breath pushing the door open and stepping into the huge fancy office,

"Evening Madam Mayor" she said aloud as she approached the desk, keeping this as professional as possible, trying her best to ignore the questioning quirk of Regina's brow "Sorry to disturb you so late on a Friday, I'll just leave this here and be out of your hair" placing the pile of paperwork in an empty spot on Regina's desk Emma turned immediately to leave, she was almost to the door when Regina called her back,

"Emma, do you have a second before you go?" she asked taking the blonde by surprise,

"Uh, I guess so" Emma stammered turning back to face her without moving any closer,

"It's Henry's birthday next week" Regina said and now Emma was even more taken aback and wondered where this was leading,

"Okay" she answered unsure of what else to say,

"He's having a party at home next Saturday afternoon and I was wondering if you were free to come?" Regina asked getting straight to the point,

"Oh, I'm not sure that, that's such a good idea" Emma replied hastily "Henry's a sweet kid and I'm sure that you and his father are super proud of him and that you'll all have a wonderful party without me hanging around" she stammered out a red glow rising in her cheeks as she turned to leave,

"Henry's father isn't in the picture anymore and that's kind of why I'm asking" Regina replied,

Emma paused in her retreat turning back to face Regina for a second time her curiosity getting the better of her, she watched as Regina sighed before she pressed on,

"Daniel died when Henry was three" Regina informed her

"Oh god Regina I'm so sorry" Emma replied taking a couple of involuntary steps forward until Regina raised her hand halting her progress,

"It's not important" Regina told her "At least it's not to me anymore, there was a time when I thought that Daniel and I would be in it for the long haul, but truth be known I knew it wasn't meant to last long before he left"

"Left?" Emma frowned confused "but you just said that he…."

"Died" Regina cut her off and finishing her sentence while Emma nodded mutely "and he did" Regina continued "he just left first, apparently he couldn't get out of here fast enough, he lost control of his car just outside of town and crashed head on into a tree, he was found early the following morning, I didn't even know that he'd left us until after I got the news of his passing, I found his leaving letter much later that evening after I'd already broken the news to Henry, and put him to bed. I hadn't known why Daniel had been in his car outside of town that morning until that point and I couldn't bring myself to break Henry's heart any further by telling him that his father and died as he tried to leave us forever so I haven't told him that part yet, I don't intend to keep it from him forever, one day I'll show him that letter but for now I think he has enough to deal with"

Emma nodded her understanding of the situation not quite sure why Regina was telling her all of this or what it had to do with her being invited to Henry's party,

"I'm telling you this to help you understand why I'm asking you to come to Henry's party" Regina explained "I completely understand why you are hesitant and I am not asking you to make any commitments right now I am just asking for you to consider it because Henry asked, he's taken a real shine to you Emma, surely you must have noticed that" she implored and Emma nodded,

"Of course, I have, and I like him to, like I said he's a great kid" she smiled,

"Yes he is" Regina smiled proudly "but you see you've only known Henry for a short while so you don't know what life's been like for him for these past two years, I thought Henry would be okay with his father's passing you know, because he was so young I thought he'd be able to bounce back from it more quickly than if he'd been older and move on with his life without being weighed down by the grief of his loss……God" she added resting her elbows on top of her desk and massaging her temples "that sounded terrible"

"No it didn't" Emma assured her taking the seat opposite Regina's "I get it, I really do" and she did more than Regina could possibly know, because she had seen many an orphan child come through the doors of the group homes that she had lived in and she herself had been in their position once upon a time, she had been hours old when she had been abandoned on the side of the road and though it hurt to think that she been left like that and though she did feel a certain sense of loss she had no memories of her biological parents at all and she knew that she didn't experience grief for them the same way as she had seen older children who arrived in the home ending up their after their parents had been cruelly snatched from them by death, she had never lost anybody that truly loved her that way, her grief always came in the face of rejection or betrayal, her earliest memories of that had been from when she was around three and she had been returned to the group home by her adoptive parents after they had conceived their miracle baby and had no use for their little orphan girl anymore, as a general rule Regina was right the younger the kid the easier it was to bounce back, Emma's experiences growing up had taught her that, but occasionally a younger child, one whom had been expected to get through what the care workers sometimes referred to as rocky patches quickly went against the grain and usually they were among the ones that took their loses the hardest, Emma had been one such child when she had been returned and based on what Regina had already said she guessed that Henry was another a fact that Regina went on to confirm seconds later.

"But the loss" Regina sighed sadly "It had such a profound affect on him, Henry became so quiet and withdrawn, for a long time and when he did talk it was only to ask questions about death, I even took him to see Archie but nothing helped, part of me wished I could turn back the clock find the letter first and just tell him that Daniel had left because I sometimes think that, that might have been easier for him to handle at least until he is bit older, either way it was like I lost a part of my boy that day too, he's never truly been the same child since" Emma sat silently watching as Regina wiped a stray tear from her cheek finding herself suddenly longing to reach out and comfort the woman, it was a strange predicament for sure and one that she didn't give into, opting to sit on her hands instead as she remembered some of the kids that came into the home, just like Regina had just described Henry as being and her heart went out to the boy,

"But since you arrived something changed in him, it's like you switched the light back on somehow and my Henry has come back to life, he still misses his father but now he has something more than just his grief to focus on and he's truly happy and carefree again for the first time in over two years and that's because of you Emma, he asked for this party just so that he could invite his new best friend" Regina smiled pointedly across at Emma

"I know that its more than I've a right to ask and I recognise the unfairness of me putting this on you after all of these years, but that's why I'm only asking you to consider coming to his party, I know its bit of a strange situation and I truly hope that we'll be on better terms than this one day, because I know exactly what Henry see's in you Emma, I wish you could understand exactly what that Christmas meant to me and how you've influenced my life for the better" Emma visibly stiffened at the mention of the time that they had spent together but Regina pressed on anyway needing to get out what she had been bursting to say since Emma had brought Henry back to her house on her first day in town, "Daniel and I might not have been meant for the long run but he was my choice at the time and when we first met I truly felt in love with him, Henry was a wonderful surprise and it was all only possible because of you, the confidence that you gave me to go out and live my own life and I can never repay you for that Emma so believe when I say that I know I've got a lot of nerve asking you for more and you can also believe that I wouldn't be asking at all if it wasn't for Henry but please say that you'll at least think about it, that's all I'm asking of you"

"I'll think about it" Emma promised standing to leave, already knowing in her heart that she would be going to that party,

"Thank-you Emma" Regina smiled casting her eyes over the top piece of paper on the pile that Emma had placed on her desk to distract herself from the emotional intensity of the conversation that they had just shared,

"And I'll look into freeing up some funds for your new officer" she added holding up the form that Emma had filled out not so long before, "If I can find the money then you can have the extra hand" she promised,

"Thanks'" Emma nodded appreciatively, knowing that this wasn't some kind of bribe on Regina's part it was just a way to move the conversation onto lighter topics, "I plan to offer the job to Mulan, you know if a post becomes available" she smiled,

"Yes, I think she'd like than" Regina replied returning the smile with a small tentative one of her own, "I guess I'll see you soon then"

"Yeah, I'll see around" Emma said hand already on the doorknob and this time there was nothing that prevented her from leaving.

Emma's head was spinning with everything that Regina had told her late that night, poor Henry, she felt so sad for him, even though he had his mom throughout his grief it still hadn't stopped him from visiting the same dark places that many of the kids that she had shared a home with had been and she knew only to well the kind of toll that, that took on people, she also knew if there was any way that she could help lighten that heavy load for a child she would do it and so she found herself sitting in the station on Monday morning shuffling through the crammed post box pondering her latest dilemma, what to get a child turning six for his birthday.

"Any idea what six-year-olds are into these days?" she asked as she accepted a very welcome cup of coffee from David,

"Hmm are we talking six-year-olds in general or a six-year-old in particular?" David replied with a knowing glint in his eye,

"Henry Mills" Emma sighed "I have no idea what to get him for his birthday"

"So, you're going then" David smiled "to his party I mean" he continued when he saw a slight frown forming on Emma's face,

"How did you know about that?"

"Small town, news travels fast" David shrugged "especially when your wife baby sits the mayor's son on a regular basis and he can't stop talking about how he's invited the sheriff to his party" he added casually making Emma laugh,

"So, what's he into then?" Emma pressed,

"That I don't really know" David frowned as he wracked his brain for answers that never came "but I'm sure that Mary-Margaret will have a better idea" he said brightening "I'll ask her and get back to you"

"Thanks" Emma grinned returning to her attention to her work "I'd really appreciate that"

By the afternoon Emma had whittled the letters down into four piles, one for repeated complaints all of which she had dutifully read through just to be sure that no additional points had be raised within them before she delegated them for the shredder, another for the most urgent requests, a third for the quickest enquiries to deal with and a fourth for everything else, now she was plotting her route on another town map that she had salvaged from David, she was mapping out the locations of the most urgent jobs so that she could pinpoint the quickest ones in between each one and utilise her time as efficiently as possible while simultaneously pleasing as many of the town folk as she could in the shortest time possible,

"You okay, to man the station tomorrow?" Emma asked and David nodded "Thanks" she smiled folding her map and putting it away, "I'll take this home with me and get straight to it in the morning, I'll be back at the station in time for you to go on lunch" David nodded, and Emma moved to leave for the day leaving David to lock up while she headed home.