Disclaimer: No copy right infringement intended towards anything mentioned or written about or characters etc etc.
Here is Chapter 8, which I got very annoyed with because it not the way I wanted it and I'm at war with the editing of it. Anyway, I hope it's enjoyable enough, chapter 9 will be coming your way shortly. Also... ONCE IS RETURNING TONIGHT ASDFDGSFASD.
Chapter 8
A week had passed since Regina and Emma kissed and since then some hostility had returned in their friendship. Emma would come home late, because Granny needed Ruby full time and Leroy was indulging in alcohol and bar fights more often due to being rejected by one of the fairy nuns.
The two women barely saw each other and whenever they were in the same room together, they avoided eye contact and had fallen back to talking sarcastically and bickering.
Henry was in fact the person most confused by this, as he was under the strong impression they liked each other.
Although he had witnessed one good interaction with them once through out the week, in which Emma almost fell down the steps (she was texting someone and missed 3 steps) and when Regina had heard a thud she came running, thinking it was Henry.
That was when he saw them, from the adjacent banister above them, the way Regina laughed and the blonde whined because she'd banged her arm on a step that she'd tried to hold on to. Regardless of the laughter he noticed that his Mom froze at the sight of Emma's arm going purple.
She helped her up and took her to the kitchen. Henry shook his head, he had clearly heard his mother say she'd look after Emma as the two went to the kitchen, which was good- but why were they acting so cold with one another?
He sighed as the bell rang signalling the start of school.
Emma trudged into the Mayor's office knowing an extremely boring half an hour awaited her in a conference room, which her parents had decided they needed to be present for, as "Regina cannot be trusted."
Over the past week Emma had found it increasingly hard to be in the presence of the Mayor so she'd gone to her parents more often, which was a worse fate in the end.
Every single time she visited she'd hit an argument with Snow and David always backed her. She understood the Mayor's frustration with the two. Just because they had true love didn't mean they had to win most annoying couple of the year award, and Emma smiled at herself and wondered if her and Regina would ever be like that.
Her face turned pink and she felt someone walk into her.
"Sorry," she looked ahead at the Mayor's back and realized she'd walked into her, and waited for Regina to lash out at her.
The brunette turned slowly and Emma saw she too was deep in thought. This was the closest the two had been in weeks and Regina resisted hugging the blonde she'd missed so much over the week. She strongly believed Emma was ignoring her and had lead her on.
The two stood there afraid of saying anything that would ruin the moment, until Snow showed up next to them with David and an extreme awkwardness filled the hallway. Emma noticed Snow's pained expression, feeling that shame and guilt creep up on her again. She broke the silence by opening the door her and Regina had been blocking for the past 10 minutes and walked right into the dreaded meeting.
During Henry's lunch break, he decided to ask his teacher and grandma some questions to help him with his operation.
He found her sitting outside on a bench table and sat next to her. "Snow, how did you know that you were in love with David?"
Snow looked down at Henry surprised, so concentrated on her work she hadn't noticed him until he spoke. "Henry. Well, you see, in the Enchanted Forest everything was much clearer to understand and at first David and I became enemies..." Snow's face softened when she remembered all those times.
"Why were you enemies?" Henry's eyes were wide, he knew most of the story from the book but personal experience always differed.
"Well he stood in my way but that made it so I wouldn't commit a huge mistake." She looked at him and frowned, not wanting him to know she'd attempted murder on his mother.
"Oh yeah, cause you tried to assassinate my Mom, well the Evil Queen," the color drained from her face, "he took an arrow for her, right?"
"Yeah..." She felt embarrassed beyond measure and Henry shook his head sadly.
"You know, it was never really the Evil Queen's fault, she was just angry that her life didn't turn out how she wanted, I mean, imagine if that happened to you? If someone you loved killed David?" Snow's eyes filled with tears, and remembered Cora, the person who truly was to blame for everything.
The school bell rang, letting children and teachers know lunch was over and Snow had the hardest time she'd ever had being in the classroom.
In the meeting, somehow she'd managed to gain David as a Deputy, and her gaze was constantly on the Mayor. Emma had also noticed the decline in people present since the curse broke, each month. Storybrooke was becoming less and less like the town she knew and she'd even heard some people and gone to live in the woods, fearing Regina.
The Sheriff wondered how Regina managed to instill so much fear into these people and remembered how annoying Snow had been. She'd interrupted Regina constantly and nearly accused her own daughter of taking sides with the Mayor.
Emma had to admit it was pretty childish, and of course Prince Charming had to top it all off by saying he spoke for the people of Storybrooke, when he said they wanted to go back to the Enchanted Forest and that's when Emma snorted. Everyone in the room stared. She tried to hold herself together as she remembered a film she'd watched with Henry called Enchanted.
She saw the panicked face Regina was making and her joyfulness died down, clearly David didn't speak for everyone.
The sound of the telephone ringing startled Regina, who was once again fantasizing about the Savior. She held the phone to her ear and spoke.
"Hello Madame Mayor, I was wondering if yo-" Regina raised an eye brow at the Sheriff on the end of the line.
"Emma, I hope this isn't a request for another extension, I needed you to have finished that yesterday. The tax payers aren't here to fund your trips to Granny's for a chat and hot chocolate."
"With cinnamon on top," Emma joked and heard a scowl, "they're finished. In fact I was going to stop by and drop them off now, and was asking if you would like me to bring you something to eat?"
Regina felt her cheeks heat up out of embarrassment. "No apple pies or apple anything. Surprise me."
The Mayor hung up swiftly and precisely 13 minutes later Emma Swan entered her door, once again without knocking. The first thing Regina noticed was the wide grin upon Emma's gorgeous face.
Regina ogled her suspiciously and half expected the blonde to kiss her upon entry, due to her relaxed nature as she walked right towards Regina. Setting down the bag with food on the table, Emma grabbed the nearest seat and dragged it right next to the Mayor, which earned her a raised eyebrow.
"Are we sharing or something?" Regina looked at Emma sternly and the blonde thought about kissing her, as an attempt to brighten her up.
They shared in an intense gaze and blushed, both suddenly embarrassed at their clearly inappropriate thoughts. However Emma still sat closely to Regina using her arm rest. Their arms pressed against each other as Emma unwrapped their food and the brunette quickly realised they were sharing.
Emma smiled sheepishly, "I forgot my money but Ruby let me off with this." the blonde pulled out a wrapped grilled cheese sandwich cut in half and Regina almost laughed.
Emma was being adorable. Clearly she had wanted to do something nice for her. Once the blonde unwrapped the sandwich, she gave her the bigger looking piece on a napkin.
Regina ate quietly, and it wasn't half bad, but she noticed Emma had scoffed down her part in less than 10 seconds.
"What were you actually going to buy?" Emma looked down at her lap.
"Pizza..." Regina cringed at the choice of food Emma lived by and thought of Henry.
"So, have you ever eaten anything healthy?" Emma frowned at Regina before answering.
"Well it's not my fault Storybrooke's good food is also unhealthy," Emma grumbled and Regina laughed.
"That's because it's the only place you know," the brunette allowed herself to hold the Sheriff's hand, "I guess I'll have to take you out to dinner then." Emma blushed and looked at the woman beside her.
"Madame Mayor are you asking me out on a date?" Regina looked away nodding shyly.
Emma was still holding Regina's hand when she remembered why she'd actually come to see the Mayor.
The Sheriff had blended into Regina's work, as the brunette had started writing away again with her free hand. Every once in a while she felt Emma draw lazy circles with her thumb against her hand, and Regina couldn't be happier. She really had thought Emma had gotten over her or not liked their kiss.
"Regina..." the brunette looked up at the blonde who had been staring at her for a while, "I wanted to ask, in the meeting when David said about finding a way back- you don't want to go do you?"
Regina smiled sadly, she could see Emma didn't want her to go and neither did she want to go, as she recalled the blonde's reaction at the meeting.
"No I don't, but I know for sure if Henry gets wind of this he'll want to, and in the Enchanted Forest... It's not the same as this realm Emma, they can kill me and be called heroes. I'm not going back." Emma squeezed Regina's hand reassuringly and scooted closer.
"Don't worry, I'm not going either, and Henry wouldn't go anywhere without us." Emma kissed Regina's cheek.
It wasn't like the Charming's were going to kidnap their grandson.