A/N: Thank you so so much to all of you that have followed, favourited and reviewed already! When I first started writing this on tumblr I had no intention of making it more than a one-shot, so it was a lot speedier than I would have wanted it to be. The narrative in this chapter will be a lot slower than the last one because of this, which hopefully you'll prefer!
I also wanted to make it clear that the way I use Robin in this fic is nothing against the actual character, I just needed Regina's partner to be a bit awful and didn't want to use Daniel. No offence, Robin!
Theoretically, I can carry on writing this for as long as you guys are interested. It might just take me a bit longer to get parts up because of work, so sorry in advance! I'll stop waffling now hahaha. Here's part 2 anyway, I hope you enjoy this just as much as part 1! Xxx
Emma arrived at work the next day on a respectable 2 hours sleep, somehow having survived her subway journey without falling asleep on a stranger's shoulder. Once getting home from the benefit the night before, Emma had lay in bed for hours mulling over the day's events. She nearly kissed her, she realised. Her boss. Regina Mills; the most stubborn, professional, ruthless woman she'd ever met. Obviously that made no difference to the crush Emma had been harbouring since near to her first day on the job, but none the less it caused her no end of problems.
She settled at her desk with an air of over-eager professionalism, and kept her eyes trained on Belle's desk on the other side of the room. Belle probably thought she had a crush on her. But that didn't matter, because avoiding looking at Regina as much as she could seemed like her best bet if she didn't want to make a fool of herself.
After an hour or two in which Emma kept herself busy with anything she could find, the phone on her desk rang.
"Hello, Runway magazine. Regina Mills' office. Emma speaking, how may I help you?" Emma was still getting the hang of this long-winded greeting, and stumbled over the words once or twice.
"Hi, Emma. It's Jill from upstairs. Just calling to remind that Regina has a meeting with the department heads at 2."
"Alright, thanks Jill." Emma hung up, and considered how long she could physically leave it before having to go and face Regina.
"Emma… are you going to go and tell Miss Mills whatever that phone call was about?"
"Hmm? Oh right, yeah." Emma stood up absent-mindedly and knocked on Regina's door once before entering.
The woman in question was sat at her desk, in the midst of a video call. She signalled at Emma to come in further.
"If that's everything, Angelica, we'll speak again next week."
"Yes, I'll speak to you then." An Italian voice purred from the speakers, and disconnected.
"Jill called to remind you about the department head meeting later."
"Ah yes, thank you Emma. Are you alright to make notes?"
"Of course I can make notes. You won't find anyone that makes them better." As soon as the words left Emma's mouth, she wondered what the hell she was talking about. "Sorry. Maybe I'm still a little drunk from last night."
"I sincerely hope not."
Emma laughed awkwardly, or at least she exhaled sharply in a way that might lend itself to being called a laugh.
"You know, Miss Swan, if I didn't know any better I'd say you were avoiding me."
"What? No – that's…" Emma went to continue, but was interrupted by the door bursting open.
"Ah look, the happy couple!" Robin walked in and towards Emma, before changing his mind and returning to the middle of the room.
"Excuse me?" Regina scoffed, avoiding Robin's gaze.
"Have you seen these?" Robin pulled some crumpled papers from his trouser pocket, and offered them to the air. When neither Emma nor Regina took them from him, he threw them onto the table. Emma hesitantly crept towards the desk and took the nearest paper, which she found to be a newspaper clipping.
"'Blondes really do have more fun'… oh jeez" Emma read the title out loud, before seeing the picture underneath. It was of herself and Regina the night before, their hands intertwined and the brunette whispering closely into her ear. Truthfully, Emma couldn't blame Robin for jumping to conclusions after seeing this.
"Read it aloud." Regina sighed, looking as though this whole situation was taxing more than anything else.
"Erm… 'Regina Mills is often known for her hard exterior, but that couldn't be a further departure from her appearance at the Elias-Clarke Benefit Gala last night. Pictured here, with a mystery blonde, the Runway magazine editor was said to look 'totally loved up'." Emma coughed, "'Yeah, those two were all over each other. They make a cute couple.' our source added. But just who is this mystery woman, and what about Robin, Regina's long-term boyfriend? What does he have to say about the new woman in her life?' …And then it just talks about our outfits."
Robin's face remained harsh as Emma had read the article, and remained the same as the three of them stood silent afterwards.
"Oh come on, Robin. You don't seriously believe that?" Regina chimed in eventually, sniping at him.
"Don't I? Look at the two of you!" Robin snatched the clipping from Emma's hand and thrust it into Regina's face.
"I won't try and reason with you on this. But even if it was true, Robin, in case you've forgotten, we've separated. It's none of my business who I go to events with."
"I know it isn't, I know." Robin's voice lowered, and he sat on the chair opposite Regina's desk. "But they're talking about me. You understand why I'm upset, right?"
"Hey, I get it. I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings." Emma cut in before Regina had the chance to say any more. "Regina needed a date, so I went with her. It's shitty they talked about you. Whether they knew you'd broken up or not, that's shitty."
"Which paper is this from?" Regina pointed the question towards Robin.
"The Herald."
"Herald… Herald." Emma could see Regina trying to think of a name. "Emma, get me Amelia on the phone. She'll be mortified when she sees this, and from her own paper, no less. She owes me a favour, and I'm sure given a few choice words she'll redact this and we'll hear no more about it." Regina smoothed the front of her skirt down, as if preparing to leave.
"Right. Sorry again, Robin." Emma gave him what she imagined was a sympathetic smile and scarpered out of Regina's office.
She got as far as her seat before she heard raised voices. Belle, to her credit, acted as if nothing was happening, and Emma sunk behind her computer monitor so she wouldn't see her face burning red.
"I saw it." Belle said eventually, a nonchalant tone to her voice. "Well," she corrected, "I overheard. And then I looked it up."
"…Ok." Emma waited for her reaction as she dialled the number for the Herald's editor.
"She's going to get it redacted, yes?"
"Yep." Emma still hid her burning face. The voices in Regina's office raised higher.
"Do you want a copy to frame? They call you 'suave'." Belle noted, and Emma looks up to see a grin over-taking her face.
"Suave? Really?"
"'The blonde looked suave and elegant in a tailored black suit on the editor's arm'" Belle announced in a mock-formal voice, from memory.
"Can't argue with that. Yes, hello, Regina Mills calling for Amelia?" Emma held a finger up to pause Belle as she spoke to the Herald editor's assistant. "Yeah, about the article. Ok, I'll put her through." Emma pressed the connection button, and after hearing Regina's desk phone ringing, returned to her conversation with Belle.
"I'm guessing it isn't true." Belle raised her eyebrows in accusation.
"What? No. Of course it's not." Emma fidgeted, her hands jerkily tapping on her legs.
"Why are you so nervous?"
"That." Emma signalled towards Regina's office, where all had gone quiet, presumably as Regina spoke to the Herald.
"Ah, yes. Sounds as if he could have taken it better."
Emma scoffed, as the man in question came out of the office. Belle went quiet, and Robin gave her a look as he stormed past.
"Emma." Regina calls from her office, voice devoid of emotion. Belle gives her a sympathetic look as she hesitantly enters.
Regina was sat once again at her desk, her phone resting between her ear and her shoulder. She gestured for Emma to sit, but she declined.
"Yes, well. I'm sure if it's redacted with a printed apology we can all forget about this. Yes I know. I know, dear. Goodbye." Regina hung up the phone, and ran a hand through her hair. "Well, that's all sorted."
"All?"
"You sound disappointed."
"They called me suave."
Now it was Regina's turn to scoff. "Only suave by association, believe me dear. I'm going out to lunch."
"Need me to get you a table?"
"No, I'm fine. I'll be back before our meeting this afternoon."
"Ok." Emma stayed stood shifting from foot to foot by the door.
"Was there something else?"
"So… Robin. That was intense."
"Oh, Emma, please." Regina shook her head to stop the topic from going any further.
"Are you ok?"
"I can handle myself, Miss Swan."
"I know you can, Miss Mills. But I'm checking anyway."
Regina, who had been packing her handbag ready to leave, paused for a moment. "I'm fine." She decided on eventually, looking up to meet Emma's eyes.
"Cool. So.. I'll see you later?"
"You will."
Emma ate her own lunch at her desk with Red, aptly named Ruby, from reception. While Emma had been physically cringing every time she felt a person's eyes on her, Ruby was taking nothing but delight from the situation.
"Hey, there's worse people to be accused of dating. It could be Larry the janitor!"
"You could do a lot worse than Larry."
"I know, I know. I'm going to end up asking him out one day."
"As long as I can be bridesmaid."
Ruby made an indistinguishable whining sound, and bent her head down to Emma's desk.
"But come on, Regina's hot. Like hot. If people thought I was with her, I wouldn't be in a rush to correct them. Hell, I'd be trying to make it come true."
"I can set you up if you want." Emma joked, and Ruby lifted her head from the desk to give her a look.
"Don't joke about that, Em. Only say that if you mean it."
"Yeah, that's not happening."
"Oh ok, so maybe you really do want her for yourself?" Ruby's voice raised, and Emma tried to put a hand over her mouth to halt the conversation as Regina walked into the office.
"Well, this is cosy. Miss Lucas, I may not be your boss but I'm certainly Miss Swan's, and I'd prefer this kind of tomfoolery not happening on my time. Back to work."
"Tomfoolery? What is she, the queen?" Ruby muttered under her breath mockingly as she pulled herself up from her chair.
"She is around here. I'll see you later." Emma patted Ruby on the back as she walked away, and gathered her files and notepad ready for hers and Regina's meeting.
The meeting had been going on for a little over 45 minutes, and Emma was beginning to drift out. 2 hours of sleep will do that to a person, especially when they have to sit through a budget meeting the day after.
"Miss Swan, could you at least attempt to look interested?" Regina, of course, seemed wholly unaffected by their late night.
Emma sat up straighter in her chair, and cleared her throat. "Sorry. Tired. Had a late night."
Regina's face softened ever so slightly. "Well, I'm sure none of us would be even the slightest bit interested in your social life."
"I'm sure you wouldn't." Emma raised her eyebrows, and Regina held her gaze for a moment before diverting to the previous conversation.
After another 40 minutes, the meeting was over. Emma took a little longer to leave as she gathered all of her documents, with all but Regina beating her out of the door.
"So, Emma." Emma's head snapped up, and she found Regina hovering around the desk she had been stationed at.
"Regina."
"I do hope last night wasn't too taxing on you."
"Like I said last night, I had a great time."
"You didn't, actually." Regina noted, rummaging through her bag with her eyes cast down from Emma.
"I didn't? Well, I was thinking it anyway." Regina still didn't look up. "You weren't paranoid about that, were you?"
"I'm sure you know better than to ask that question."
"I do."
Regina finally looked at Emma. "Good. Dare I say you might be willing to make this more of a regular arrangement? You'd be reimbursed for all costs, of course."
"Wait wait, you want me to be your escort? That's not… no."
Regina frowned, "Very well." She picked her bag up from the table in front of her and moved to exit the room.
"No, I mean… I'd go just to spend time with you. To be honest." Emma fumbled.
"I see."
"I enjoy spending time with you."
"Yes, so you said last night. It's just you'd do well to remember that debacles like this today aren't a one-off. If you're to be accompanying me to events in the future, this will to continue to happen."
"What – with Robin? He'll get over it eventually."
"I meant if you were to enter into a relationship. I'm not sure your future boyfriends would take kindly to opening the newspaper and finding you draped all over your boss."
"Boyfriends?" Emma spluttered, "Erm… boyfriends won't be a problem."
Regina looked up at Emma in the way she had when they first met. Her eyes hovered on Emma's. "My apologies. Girlfriends, then."
"Regina… can I ask you a question?" Emma frowned, which was greeted by confusion from Regina.
"What is it?"
"It's just last night I thought…. Well, I don't know what I thought. But, I guess I imagined today going a little differently."
"You and me both. Look, Emma." Regina ran a hand through the front of her hair. "When I said last night to go a day at a time, I meant it. If today's debacle has taught us anything, it's that it's far too early for me to be entering into anything new."
"Sure. Sure, I get it."
"That's not to say that we can't enjoy each other's company, however. Would you perhaps like to have dinner with me?"
"Dinner? Really?"
"You sound shocked."
"I guess I just thought this conversation would lead in the opposite direction."
"You should have a little more faith in yourself. I'll see you on Saturday at 7 at my place."
"Tomorrow, 7. Got it. You want me to bring anything?"
Regina looked up once again. "Just yourself. I'm sure that'll be more than enough."
A/N: Next chapter is date night! I've started writing it already, I promise it won't be too long before it's up.
Don't forget to review!