Escort Services: Chapter 13 - Break
Author's note: Hey all! Oh my god! I'm so sorry its been like two weeks since my last update, you can blame it on all my teachers! Thank you all for the amazing reviews as always and I can't get enough of them! This is the next part! Please tell me what you think! Even just one word! (And if you've noticed i like to use excalmation points!) hahaha anyway here it is, hope you enjoy!
Please Review! (360 reviews in total in the next 24 hours and I'll give you another update in 48 hours - its all up to you!)
"What about python?"
"No."
"Burmese?"
"No."
"Eagle?"
"That's not even a type of snake."
"Why does it have to be a snake!?" Emma exclaimed with a mouth full of her donut. She waved Ruby over for a refill of their hot chocolates.
Henry nose crinkled at Emma's open mouth chewing, "Can you please chew with your mouth closed? Then I might be able to understand you." He smirked at her shocked reaction.
Emma gave him a light-hearted glare before reaching for a napkin and wiping her mouth. "You are just like your mother, kid." She chuckled at the effect Regina's nuturing had on the boy.
Henry grinned, "I know."
Emma frowned at his expression, however, before she could say anything Ruby came over and refilled their hot chocolates. "How's everything?" She grinned at the mother and son pair. Emma had grown a strong liking to the waitress in a friendly manner and decided that she may as well tell her anyway since most people across Storybrooke already knew.
"Pretty good. Your bear claws are to die for." Emma drawed out.
Ruby smiled, "Mmhhmm, that's code for 'Ruby can I have just one last bear claw' " The waitress chuckled as the blonde feigned horror.
Emma put her hand on her chest, "Me? No, not at all." She shook her head glancing from Henry to Ruby who both rolled their eyes in affection.
"Another bear claw coming right up." She winked and went to serve the other customers.
Emma looked at her son again with the same confused expression as earlier on before Ruby came. "Henry, I don't understand. You think your mom is the Evil Queen and that she placed a curse on everyone in fairy tale land and that sent them here yet they have no idea who they really are." She looked unsure but Henry nodded in reassurance.
"And I am the Saviour destined to break the Evil Queen's curse?"
"Yep." He gleamed.
Emma had a desire to approach a different aspect of this subject, "So your mom, do you love her despite her being the Evil Queen?" She used air quotation marks with her fingers. She was truly mesmerised by his vivid imagination that she hopelessly found herself engulfed by it.
Henry was silent for a few moments as he formulated and answer in his head. "Yes, I do. I just believe she was looking for her happy ending that's why she enacted the curse. There's probably more to it but my book doesn't tell me." He frowned.
Emma raised her eyebrows, "Okay one: you need to show me this book of yours sometime and two: you should love your mom, which I'm glad you do because she..." Emma paused for a few seconds, "...she provided you with everything that I couldn't. Food, water, shelter, an education, a stable life and to be dead honest she's not that bad. I seem to be warming up to her despite our usual arguments." She gave a lopsided grin to the boy who chuckled.
"Yeah I know. She's just hurt, I think. I know she'd never hurt me but other people...i'm not so sure. Most people in Storybrooke are scared of her." He ducked his head at the realisation that he used to be scared of her when he first realised she was the Evil Queen. He was convinced she was evil after reading the book numerous times but it was not only til a month when he came to notice that the book never explained how she did become evil and why. All this unanswered questions left him re-evaluating his view towards the woman who claimed him basically since the very day he was born or close to it.
Emma gave him a weak smile, "I'm not gonna lie, kid. She can be very scary but I can tell you this...she loves you more than anything else on this planet. You keep her going everyday." She nudged his leg under the table in a playful manner. The boy could only smile.
"Oooo and I think its time for school. Let's go. I'll grab my bear claw on the way." She slid from the booth with Henry emulating her action on the other side.
"Can you see if mom wants to have dinner with us later here at the diner?" He hoped.
Emma dug her hands in the back of her jeans pockets, "Sure, I'll put it out there." She smiled.
"Oh and you better go for a run later to work all that sugar off. Cya!" He grinned before legging it out of the diner.
Emma shook her head and couldn't suppress the forming grin, "Just like his mother. Genetics is hopeless as fuck I tell you." She mumbled to herself as she watched him through the window meet some of his friends. She smiled as he went off to catch the bus.
...
Emma groaned as she fumbled the key into the door lock of the apartment. She cursed under her breath while before it gave way. The blonde held her stomach in agony as she slumped against the closed door.
A look of concern crossed Mary Margaret's features as she took in the blonde before her. She rushed over to Emma's side from behind the kitchen counter.
"Oh my gosh, Emma, are you alright?"
Emma moaned in response and pointedly help up her index finger, "I am never going on a seafood diet ever again. That's final." She mumbled while barely getting her legs to function in the short distance from the door to the couch.
"Why would you go on a seafood diet? That's crazy! Besides you hate fish." Mary Margaret frowned in confusion at the blonde's confession.
Emma slouched along the sofa and waved a hand dismissively, "No, not a seafood diet with fish and all sorts of slimy molluscs that have unflattering tentacles. I mean a see-food diet. Basically when I see food I eat it and I saw way too many bear claws." She held onto her stomach in agony as it churned.
Mary Margaret folded her arms across her chest and gave a prominent smirk. "I told you one day you'd be sick, didn't I? You and those sugar coated desserts..." She trailed with a shake of her heard. "You will never learn." The pixie hair-cut woman sighed as she sauntered over to the kitchen to retrieve the blonde a glass of water out of her own kindness.
"Here." Mary Margaret handed her the glass.
"Thanks." Emma mumbled in appreciation.
"Now." The black-haired woman clapped her hands together, "No more bear claws for the rest of the month, for your own good. I'll be making it quite clear to Ruby as well not to serve you any." She nodded at her own plan of action.
The blonde swallowed another gulp of the cold liquid before waving her hand at the woman. "Yeah...sure, mom." She attempted to sound convincing but Mary Margaret was sceptical once she heard the blonde snort into her glass. The teacher decided to ignore her response and instead tackle another subject that happened to leave her feeling rather intrigued at the notion.
"Okay, I have to know!" She abruptly exclaimed, startling the blonde before her.
Emma frowned, "Know what exactly?"
Mary Margaret raised an eyebrow, "Know how you are really associated with Regina. There's no way you are a Politician or close to any sort, so come on. Spill." She sat herself down on the other end of the couch with an expectant expression fluttering across her face.
Emma stared off into space for a few seconds with numerous thoughts racing through her head. The consequences of telling Mary Margaret were low aslong as Regina never found out. If she did well...Emma knew she'd be lynched the next day without further question. Then again, she had felt this loving feeling coming from the teacher, something that she had never felt before. Emma knew she could trust Mary Magaret but not with the fact that she was an escort - she was going to play it safe. With her mind made up she sighed in defeat with her mind made up.
"Okay, I have absolutely nothing to do with Regina's life and work as the Mayor. I don't do any business meetings, none of that crap. But I do assist her in another way." Emma tentatively approached the subject while trying to quickly come up with a believable.
"As you know Regina is not very...friendly nor social..." Emma trailed, quickly glancing at Mary Margaret who seemed to give her full attention to the blonde.
The teacher nodded, "Yes, I know...but what does that have to do with you?" She turned her head slightly.
"Errmm I kind of teach Regina how to interact and be...friendly..." She stated awkwardly. "And she is doing well, to be honest." Emma spoke truthfully. She remembered the night at Pulse in Boston when the Mayor was relaxed and they were grinding into each other. Then their was their heated arguments that after a while turned into a rather friendly banter with mild insults. She smiled at the memories.
"Wow. And I thought you being Henry's birth mother was a shock." Mary Margaret spoke after a few moments, adjusting to the idea. "So that's why you and Regina are always out of Storybrooke on the weekends." She put the pieces together and smiled.
Emma nodded, "Yeah...lucky me." She mocked slightly with a light-hearted chuckle. Truth was, being with Regina wasn't as awful as she'd like to think. It was strangely comfortable to be in the brunette's presence, but now with Henry added to the equation she knew that they would be around each other for a very long time.
Mary Margaret chuckled, "I'd pay to see Regina be nice to people. It'd be a rare, rare sight."
Emma smiled, "Yeah it would be but you along with the other people in this down would definitely be surprised." She glanced at her watched and immediately realised that she needed to see Regina at her office about dinner tonight at Granny's with Henry. She was planning on inviting the brunette which happened to be Henry's idea. "Actually I need to go see the Mayor about this weekend." She got up from the sofa. She still felt the bear claws in her stomach and groaned at the fact.
"Okay, I need to head off to school anyway. I just came back to get my lunch."
"Cool. So I'll see ya later, maybe go get something at Granny's for lunch?" Emma offered as she walked backwards towards the door.
Mary Margaret smiled, "Yeah, that'd be great. I'm so not in the mood to cook." She chuckled with a shake of her head.
Emma glanced over her shoulder while on her way out, "Yeah well my foster mom knows how dangerous my cooking is, I mean why else would grace last half an hour?"
...
The days seemed longer with the nights becoming incredibly shorter. That, however, was the perception of the Mayor who had allowed the blonde to spend quality time with her son. The fact that she had agreed to such a preposterous idea only left herself feeling quite perplexed by the situation. Yet, when she saw Henry arrive home at an ungodly hour that she was sure to scold Emma for, the gleaming grin plastered on his face left her weakless to do anything that would be perceived as irrational. She hadn't seen him fulfilled with such warmth and happiness in so long that she couldn't say 'no' to him whenever he'd ask to go out with Emma for the afternoon.
The fact that the blonde could make Henry smile within five days of knowing him indicated that this arrangement was going to last for a long time. It also left her slightly infuriated that she was no longer able to make her son smile, however, within moments the anger would revert to profound sadness that only threatened to make cracks in the mask she wore every second of the day. It was for her own protection, something she had become accustomed to within the last 28 years.
Regina breathed out a heavy sigh and resisted the urge to sink into her chair, knowing full well that she would end up with spinal problems in the future. She scanned her eyes over the multiple applicants for the position of town Sheriff. Graham had decided on working at the animal shelter. Why he would want to work with unhygienic mutts? Left the Mayor clueless. A scoff left the back of her throat as she read Leroy's file. Not having a desire to waste time that she did not have she tossed his application into the bin beside her desk.
"He's just about as useless as a grave robber in a crematorium." Regina mumbled in an unimpressed manner.
The abrupt opening of her office door made her snap her neck upwards to view the source. A tired groan passed her lips at the sight of the blonde.
"Hey-lo!" Emma grinned while purposely strutting further into the office before unceremoniously collapsing into a chair opposite from the Mayor. She released out a heavy breath due to exhaustion and found the Mayor glaring at her.
"Miss Swan, may I remind you that I am very busy woman and require all to book an appointment." Regina chided the blonde at the unannounced visit. However, no matter how much the brunette denied it this had become a routine for both of them. One time during the start of the week Emma would visit the Mayor during her 'lunch break' (let's be honest, Regina would never indulge in a break)
Emma briefly hung her head in defeat before glancing up at the brunette. "Come on, Regina. You know I don't do appointments. I'm rather the element of surprise, you don't know when or where I'll turn up." She gave a cheeky smile.
"That is precisely what I dislike. And it is Madame Mayor or Mayor Mills." Regina handlessly flicked her fringe out of her eyes and made a move to retract into a more upright and authoratative position.
Emma rolled her eyes, "Fine, Madame Mayor. I came here to find out what's happening in a couple of days for the next celebration thingy?" She inquired with no real interest but deemed this visitation as the perfect way to irritate the Mayor.
"It is Mr. Aaron Goodwin's turn. His celebration is rather...distinctive from the others judging by his invitation." The brunette spoke in a cold manner but failed to disguise how uncomfortable she was about the scenario. Emma stayed quiet and let the woman continue. "It's a pool party." She bluntly announced and quickly averted her gaze back onto her paperwork.
A light squeal erupted from the blonde at the details for the next celebration. "Are you serious!?" She inquired with a beaming grin, leaning forward in her chair with eagerness.
"Unfortunately so..." Regina trailed with a less than enthusiastic attitude as she shuffled and squared her papers.
Emma groaned in irritation and relaxed into the chair once again. A weak smile graced her lips as she eyed the Mayor. Regina noticed the blonde staring at her and almost shrugged in response. "Okay, never in my life have I seen a reaction like that from someone being invited to a pool party. What's so wrong with them?"
Regina huffed in exasperation, "I simply find them to be quite juvenile. It is also highly inappropriate for these occasions."
Emma frowned in confusion, "Didn't you say that Aaron was one of your good friends?"
Regina gave a curt nod, "Yes, however, that doesn't mean that I won't criticise his choice of celebration. Besides I would prefer not to be scarred for life by the images of middle-aged men shirtless." The Mayor spoke with disgust at the sudden thought that happened barely evaded her mind.
Emma's face crinkled at the thought, "Ewww Regina, now my mind is scarred. Thanks a lot." She groaned.
"I do try." Came the satisfied response. Emma didn't even need to look up to know that Regina had a smirk plastered across her face. As it was heavily evident in her tone.
"Okay, look at the positives. There will be alcohol...and a lot of it. Beautiful women in bikinis and my personal favourite those little coloured umbrellas in the margaritas. What more could you ask for?" Emma flailed her arms in the air to emphasise her point. A beaming grin took hold of her face as the Mayor met her eyes with a growing smirk which Emma had come to love.
Regina quirked an eyebrow, "You'd prefer beverages with an umbrella in them, than gorgeous women in skimpy, revealing attire?" She inquired in a provocative manner with her voice reaching a low forbidden octave. A prominent smirk remained firmly in tact. Regina suppressed a small chuckle at the faint blush that consumed the blonde's cheeks who was undoubtedly surprised by the response.
Emma recomposed herself and cleared her throat in an attempt to buy herself some time. "Most of the time, yes. But then again it all depends..." She trailed while purposely acting in a nonchalant manner in a hope to evoke a response from the seemingly intrigued looking brunette.
Regina elegantly crossed a leg over the other while holding her gaze with the blond. "On what, dear?" She tilted her head slightly with a quizzing expression.
Emma thought about her reply for a few seconds before answering, "The woman. I have a certain type..." She gave a sweet smile. Regina unknowingly found herself reciprocating the unusual expression.
"Really now? Tell me, what is your type?" The Mayor leaned forward in her leather chair demonstrating to the blonde that she had indeed gained her full and uttered attention.
Emma smiled at the question as she knew the answer was right in front of her eyes. "Hhhmmm let's see...brunette, brown eyes, beautiful, has a killer smile. Someone who is strong-willed, has an unresisting charm..." She paused for a few moments as she noticed Regina's eyes dilate. The blonde gave a sly grin before continuing, "...Is confident, can have fun, and possibly the Mayoral type but they would have to be incredibly sexy." Emma finished before shooting Regina a salacious wink. Her eyes found the Mayor's chest with a few of the top buttons undone and found it extremely difficult to tear her eyes away. It had been less than a week ago when she had the brunette writhing before her. It was an endearing sight, one that never escaped her memory. It was purely indelible.
The brunette failed to hide the blush that crept onto her cheeks. She cleared her throat, "Well I guess I have nothing to worry about then." She flirted along with the blonde who was once again caught off-guard by the response. Emma had noticed Regina's confidence had indeed grown rapidly in a short amount of time, she wasn't complaining.
Emma tilted her head, "No, you don't." She lightly chuckled at her own admission which caused the brunette to display a small smile. "God, I just remembered why I came to see you in the first place. It was to-" Regina interrupted her.
"Stare at my chest?" She suggested in a light-hearted manner. Emma immediately blushed at getting caught.
"Unfortunately, no. But that was an extra bonus." She smiled. "I came here to see if you wanted to have dinner with me and Henry tonight at Granny's. He wants the three of us to 'chill'." The blonde used her fingers to quote the word Henry had used to descrobe their evening out. Emma immediately noticed Regina's posture become austere with her jaw clenched. Her eyes were now averted onto the stacks of files neatly set on her desk.
"I don't think that would be a wise idea, Miss Swan." Regina stated in a cold and unwelcoming tone, it vastly contrasted the Mayor's demeanour only moments ago.
Emma rolled her eyes in exasperation at the use of her last name, "Please, not with the Miss Swan again? Besides Henry really wants you to be there...in fact he would have asked you himself except his at school." Emma reasoned with a weak smile, her eyes still on the seemingly uncooperative brunette.
Regina shook her head, "No, I also have copious amounts of files to do and-"
Emma cut her off, "I want you there as well." She blurted out and only a few moments later did she realise how desperate she sounded from her tone of voice. Regina's neck instantaneously snapped upwards at the unexpected admission that made her frown in slight curiosity.
"And why would you want that?" She retorted after a few moments of processing the confession.
Emma shrugged, "Would it matter?" She was quick to reply.
Regina uncomfortably shifted in her chair and cleared her throat, "Of course not." She managed to retain their gaze by a mere thread of confidence that she had supposedly lacked in the current moment.
"Anyway I should be heading off." Emma slapped her hands on her knees and leapt up from her chair, ready for this conversation to end before either of them had the chance to reveal anything that could indeed make the entire situation very very awkward.
Regina gave a curt nod and averted her eyes elsewhere from the emerald pair before her. "That would be a wise idea. You've already wasted enough of my time." She in a cold manner yet her voice lacked any real malevolence.
Emma fought the urge to roll her eyes and instead sauntered over to the otherside of Regina's desk, now next to her leaning on the marble. The Mayor seemed startled by their closer proximity but vaguely depicted that she was. She cleared her throat and kept her eyes on the documents in front of her.
"Can I help you, dear?" Regina muttered in disdain with no interest at all as she shuffled through papers.
Emma moved her hand to cover one of Regina's. "Stop." She ordered quietly in a placid tone. The Mayor immediately halted her actions at the tingling sensation arising on the surface of her skin at Emma's touch. Her eyes snapped up to meet Emma's. The blonde gently rubbed her thumb back and forth on the top of her hand in a soothing manner.
"I know things are moving fast and I know..." Emma paused as she contemplated how to follow through with her explanation. "...I know you don't like me but please just do this for Henry's sake. He loves you so much, Regina and he wants you to be happy. I also want you to be happy." Emma shyly averted her eyes from the brunette's at the confession. Regina remained silent and hadn't moved a single muscle throughout Emma's little explanation.
"Okay, I will be there." She announced quite unsure of herself. To be honest she was mainly stunned by what Emma had to say combined with the blonde's current gesture on her hand.
Emma broke into a beaming grin, "Good. At 7?"
Regina slowly nodded, "At 7."
Emma reluctantly removed her hand from Regina's already missing her touch before gently pushing herself off the desk and strolling over to the office door all the while knowing Regina's eyes were following her the whole time. She reached the door and turned around much to Regina's surprise.
"You should smile more often. You have a beautiful smile. It's the second best thing you can do with your lips." Emma winked at her before sliding through the opening and shutting it behind with a satisfied smile brimming her features.
Regina battled to keep her laughter inside but ultimately failed as the sound echoed in her office at the blonde's kind and sexually referencing words. It had come to the brunette's attention that Emma was indeed breaking down her walls, walls that had been up for more than 28 years, walls that had always kept her protected and walls that incessantly kept her safe from pain yet it denied her any sort of true happiness, that was besides Henry. It unnerved her that Emma, the Saviour had this power over her but at the same time it left her feeling rather excited. Emma was bringing emotions out of her that hadn't reached the surface in a long time, such as laughing - an everyday sound heard and done by many.
There was another one, another emotion, one that was almost forgotten. This was the one she was afraid of. One that Emma could by chance and even so effortlessly bring out of her. Love.
what'd ya think?
I actually thought about deleting this fic a couple of days ago :/ i almost did I just wasn't happy with it, but its all good now :)