16.
Cora was waiting for her in her study. A glass filled with amber liquid in her hand, she gazed out of one of the windows, her back turned to Regina.
"I tucked him in and he's fast asleep," Regina said as she walked to her desk to pour herself a glass as well. Cora turned and moved over to her, raising a hand to brush a strand of hair away from her face.
"Good. And I am glad you are alright dear. No mother wants to get a call from the hospital telling her that her only child has been admitted."
Regina smiled and briefly leaned into the touch. "That is exactly why I didn't call you. I didn't want you to worry since it was nothing too serious."
"Not serious? You fainted Regina."
"I did not."
Cora raised an eyebrow at her and she huffed quietly, stepping around her mother to pour herself a glass of scotch. "Well I do know that you are stubborn and rather solve your problems on your own than involving anyone and asking for help. However what I do not know is how exactly this Emma Swan person fits into all of this."
Regina took a sip from her glass and walked over to the couch to sit down. "It's complicated."
"Isn't it always?" Cora asked as she followed to sit next to her.
Regina sighed and cradled the glass against her chest. Did she dare tell her? But if she couldn't even share her secret with her mother, who else would understand?
"Emma… I basically picked her up from the side of the road."
Cora gasped and stared at Regina who looked back with raised eyebrows. That fact alone shouldn't be such an awful thing to begin with.
"Do you mean to tell me that… that she is… a prostitute?" Cora whispered the last part with a wide-eyed look.
Regina stared completely dumbfounded for several seconds until she burst out laughing. The scotch in her glass sloshed back and forth along with her heaving shoulders.
"Mother, why in all the world would you think that?"
"You just told me yourself that you picked her up from beside the road and we all know what that means," Cora said with a small huff.
"In this case it means that there was a rainstorm and Emma was trying to hitchhike to the next town," Regina answered, still chuckling with every word.
"And you stopped for a stranger by the road? That's unlike you."
"Oh and picking up a prostitute is not?"
Cora hid a snort by taking a sip from her own glass as she waved her hand. "I was wrong to jump to conclusions I admit, continue please."
Regina smirked and shook her head. She could already imagine Emma's face if she told her that her mother had readily assumed she was a prostitute.
"So yes, I stopped and I fully intended to take her to the next town but the rainstorm got worse so we had to stop at a hotel for the night."
"Regina you do realize that your story does not really contradict my first assumption," Cora remarked with a raised eyebrow.
Regina shot her a sharp look and Cora casually shrugged one shoulder. Regina decided to ignore the comment. "Coincidentally we met again after that and somehow Emma ended up coming to Storybrooke. The rest, well, it's not hard to figure out. However…"
Regina raised her hand to her mouth and bit down on the fingernail of her thumb in thought. Cora leaned forward and rested a hand on her thigh, silently encouraging her to continue. Regina took a quiet breath and released it between her teeth.
"She is Henry's biological mother."
Cora gasped quietly and shot up from her sitting position. "Regina that is not funny."
"No, it's not."
"You can't be serious."
Regina looked up at her mother with a pained expression. "I am."
"But… but I don't understand, does she know? Does Henry know?"
"No."
"Oh Regina."
"I know, I know."
Cora shook her head and sat down again, wrapping both arms around her. Regina leaned her head against Cora's shoulder and breathed a silent sigh.
"How am I going to fix this?"
"I can't answer that but I am here for you, whatever you need."
"Thank you."
That night Regina went to bed with a strange mixture of feelings swirling around in her head. She was relieved to finally have told someone, but she also knew that she couldn't go on like this. The truth had a tendency to surface and Henry and Emma would never forgive her should they find out what she was hiding from them.
How could she tell Emma? She'd given up a baby eleven years ago and probably had no intentions of ever seeing her child again. But she liked Henry, she'd said so herself. What if she suddenly decided that she regretted her decision?
She had no legal claims on Henry, but the thought alone made Regina's chest tighten uncomfortably.
She was still gazing at the ceiling by the time the first rays of the sun crept into her room. Another sleepless night wouldn't make her day any longer but she would be exhausted by the time she got out of the office. She sighed and moved to get up until she remembered that she actually didn't have to go into work. She reached up and carefully trailed her fingertips across the band-aid on her forehead. She knew the stitches underneath would be removed soon but it would surely scar.
The last time she'd been in such an accident it had also left a scar. Her fingers moved down her cheek to her upper lip for a few seconds until she dropped it next to her on the bed. She would head into the office anyway to get some folders to work through at home. No one was going to take over her job and despite Aurora being a capable assistant she needed to take care of a few things that just couldn't wait.
She slipped out of bed and walked over to the window to pull the drapes aside. The view on Storybrooke was breathtaking and she enjoyed the feeling of knowing that in some way this was indeed her town. She headed into the bathroom for a quick shower which turned out to be more difficult than she anticipated with the band-aid on her forehead. She managed to wash her hair without getting it too wet but still didn't look much like herself after getting dressed in one of her usual suits. There were dark circles under her eyes that even her make-up couldn't cover up.
She would be back before her mother or Henry were even up and they wouldn't know that she'd been gone at all. She headed down the stairs, shoes dangling from her fingers, and stopped in the foyer.
She stood there for several moments, staring at the front door without moving an inch. She didn't have a car. How was she going to get to town hall without a car?
She glanced around the foyer and saw a set of keys sitting on the small table next to the door. Dare she take her mother's car? She felt like a teenager about to sneak out of the house to go to a party. She sighed quietly and slipped her shoes on. She would be back in no time and Cora would be none the wiser. Unlocking the front door, she opened it and reached for the keys at the same time as a voice almost startled her out of her skin.
"Morning."
She squeaked quietly and took several stumbling steps backward.
"Sorry, I thought you knew I was here," Emma said stepping forward and grasping her forearm with one hand, holding a cup in the other.
"What… what are you doing here?"
"Henry texted me last night. He thought you were going to go out to pick up some work although you're not supposed to. So he asked me to come by and take you. And I brought you coffee," Emma answered, holding the cup out to her like a peace offering.
"He… what?"
Regina usually wasn't this inarticulate, but she had some trouble catching up since her heart was still beating double time in her chest. She hadn't expected anyone waiting for her behind that door.
"He just knows you better than you think. So, ready to go?"
Emma smiled and shoved the cup into Regina's hand before leading her out the door and over to the car. She opened the passenger door with a little bow and waited until Regina got in before slamming it shut and moving to the driver's side.
Regina looked at her with a small frown and Emma turned to face her.
"Are you alright? I'm really sorry for scaring you earlier."
"No that's not… don't worry. I just… you don't have to do this you know. You don't owe me anything. I made you get up on that horse in the first place, the least I could do was make sure you got down without killing yourself."
"I know. And I want to do this, I mean it's not like I've got anything else to do and I like spending time with you. A lot."
Emma smiled at Regina's silence and inclined her head toward the cup in her hand. "With vanilla, you like it that way right?"
Regina nodded and took a sip from the cup, enjoying the taste and warm feeling of the hot liquid settling in her stomach. She knew she couldn't attribute the heat spreading across the rest of her body to it but she refused to acknowledge that Emma's words were making her feel warm all over. She cradled the cup in her hands and leaned back, looking at Storybrooke as it passed by. The silence was not uncomfortable and Regina was reminded of the first time she'd met Emma. They hadn't spoken much either then but somehow she'd understood what was happening between them without having to say anything at all. That hadn't changed.
She didn't realize the car had stopped until Emma rested a hand against her shoulder.
"We're here. You sure you want to go in and get your work, because you could just as well be sick and not do it."
"No one will if I don't."
"Says you."
"You do realize I'm the mayor?"
"How could I forget. But don't you have someone to do this stuff for you?"
"I do, but there's a reason why my assistant is on my payroll and not the other way around."
"Fine, let's just get on with it then. The less time we waste now, the faster you'll be back to relax. With your paperwork. I hope you hear how that sounds."
Regina smiled and got out of the car, Emma following close behind. She made her way into town hall and up to her office.
"Madame Mayor, I didn't think you'd be back that soon," Aurora said as she rose from her chair at the front desk outside of her office.
"She's just here to pick up some stuff," Emma answered before Regina even had the chance to speak. She turned halfway around to glance at Emma who cleared her throat and looked away.
Aurora walked around the desk and glanced up at Regina's forehead and the band-aid there.
"How are you feeling?"
"I am fine, thank you for asking. Do you have the Acheson papers?"
Regina whipped out her keys and unlocked the doors to her office while Aurora moved back to her own desk to rummage through a pile of folders.
"I'll gather everything for you."
Regina nodded and walked into her carefully decorated office. A low whistle sounded from behind her as Emma followed.
"Nice office. Maybe a splash of color would be nice?"
"Are you criticizing my taste in interior design?" Regina asked with a raised eyebrow as she walked over to her desk.
"No I mean it's nice, really, but it kind of looks a little… boring."
Regina was about to retort when Emma rummaged through the pockets of her red leather jacket and produced a small plastic figure. It was a wizard with a purple robe, holding a wand.
She walked over to Regina's desk and plopped the little figure down right beside the picture of Henry on the far end.
"There that's much better."
"Seriously?"
Regina regarded her with a raised eyebrow, her gaze flickering from the little figure to Emma and back.
"Just to remind you of me until I can think of something better," Emma said with a small shrug. Regina shook her head and began to rummage through her own folders, gathering everything she knew couldn't wait any longer. She pushed everything into Emma's unsuspecting arms and guided her toward the doors.
"Be a dear and take this to the car, I need to reschedule some appointments. I'll be with you in a minute."
Emma was teetering dangerously from one side of the corridor to the other trying to balance the stack of folders in her arms.
"Why can't you put all this stuff on your computer," she grumbled on the way.
"Because this is Storybrooke and for some reason people are very fond of filling out actual paper forms," she called after her with a quiet laugh.
Aurora smiled when Regina told her to rearrange and cancel several appointments. She would only be gone for two or three days, but the paperwork was still going to be piling up on her desk.
"I think that's everything," Aurora said while glancing at the screen in front of her, fingers dancing across the keyboard.
Regina nodded and walked over to the doors of her office to close them.
"I hope you'll be feeling better soon Madame Mayor."
"I'll try to be back as soon as I can."
Aurora smiled and inclined her head as Regina gave her a small nod and walked down the corridor. She stepped outside and found Emma chatting with someone in a dark leather jacket and black ponytail.
"So that's your VW bug at the auto shop?"
"Yeah that's my baby. The engine died on me the other day but it should be fixed soon, as in tomorrow or the day after that. He's finally got the part replaced that –"
Emma fell silent when she saw Regina approaching and Mulan turned around, holding a brown bag in her hand.
"Madame Mayor, I came by to bring Aurora her lunch. She forgot it at home."
"That's very thoughtful," Regina replied tersely.
"I'll see you around," Mulan said turning back to Emma who nodded and smiled.
"Sure."
Regina climbed into the passenger seat wordlessly and waited for Emma to join her before she spoke.
"You didn't tell me your car was going to be fixed soon."
"Uh… well I just got the call yesterday."
She refused to look at Emma and gazed straight ahead with narrowed eyes.
"Regina?"
Warm fingers came to rest against her chin and her head was gently turned so that she had to focus on Emma if she didn't want to appear completely childish and jerk her head away.
"Regina, even with my car fixed I won't just leave okay? Unless… unless you want me to."
"No, I don't want you to leave," she replied quietly.
The words sounded strange to her own ears, but it was the truth. The thought of Emma simply turning her back on Storybrooke caused an unpleasant shiver to run down her spine. She'd become a calming presence in Regina's life.
Something that she could look forward to, something she wanted to have to herself.
But Emma would have to leave eventually. She couldn't stay without a job and Regina doubted that she had saved enough money to keep afloat for more than a month. Emma just wasn't the type to plan ahead, and even if she did she surely hadn't prepared for staying in some small town in the middle of nowhere for a longer period of time.
Emma smiled and leaned closer, her hand still gently cupping Regina's chin.
"You think too much. Don't worry, we'll figure it out."
She closed the distance between them and Regina's eyes fluttered at the first touch of lips against her own. It was familiar but also different. The way Emma's mouth moved was slow and gentle, almost shy. A warm hand came to rest on her thigh when Emma leaned in and deepened the kiss.
She didn't realize how much she'd missed this until Emma slowly retreated, pressing several soft and short kisses against her lips.
"We'll figure this out," Emma mumbled.
She liked the sound of that.
"We?"
A/N: well I guess this is the part where I admit that I'm kind of stuck on the next chapter. I know where I want this story to go and it's all in my head, but somehow the next chapter is reluctant to just pop out. anyways, so I would be gratetul for kind words, suggestions, wishes and whatever else everyone might have to say. thanks!
