Author note: Chapter 1 & Chapter 2 were the same document for a while last night. I've corrected the error & apologize for confusion!
It's way past closing but I don't have the heart to take the check over to Emma and Regina. I wonder distantly if they've ever really had the chance to sit down like this together. Belle takes my cleaning rag right out of hands to mop the tables at ten thirty. I suspect it's so she can move close enough to the booth for her non-wolf ears to eavesdrop. I am trying my hardest to block out their conversation but pieces keep floating into my ears, no matter how hard I try to focus on washing the coffee pots.
"Henry really misses you." Emma says at one point.
"A fresh start? With me? How is that even possible." Regina says later. When she does its not her words that get my attention, its her heartbeat, as fast as a fox being chased through the woods.
Emma stands up when Regina slides out of the booth and practically walks her to the door. "What do we owe you, Ruby?" Emma says, pulling out her wallet, but Regina makes a gesture.
"Actually, it's on me. You can get next time."
I feel Emma's heart almost trip on its own beat at this, and she nods, playing it off, casual. "Okay. " she says. I am screaming in my head, next time, find another bar! One your mom's best friend doesn't work at, please!
"Walk you to your car?" Sheriff Swan says.
"Miss Swan, I'm probably the single most dangerous creature in Storybrooke." Regina laughs as they walk through the door. "I don't exactly need an escort."
"I believe it." Emma says as the door closes behind them and muffles their laughter. Belle walks towards me with a triumphant little smile.
"I wish I'd made a bet with you about those two. I'd be stacking the bills now!"
"Are you short on cash?" I ask, pulling on my red coat.
"Not exactly…" Belle tilts her head. "I've got this benefactor through the hospital paying for my bills and treatment and apartment. This nice little old man named Mr. Gold."
I practically burst out laughing hearing her describe him this way. "Belle, I feel like you should know that Mr. Gold gets…kind of weird about people owing him things. He can really hold it over their heads." I clear my throat and give her a big smile. "I was going to say if you ever wanted a part time job, we could really use the help. And you seem to know your way around Granny's."
"I'd love to come help you." She says quickly. "When should I start?"
The next night, Regina comes in at 9:05, Emma is waiting at the far corner of the counter, watching the door. They both move to the back booth, the one almost out of sight of the other tables.
Granny stops in the next night to hand me some keys for the delivery guy and looks sharply at their table. "Those two seem to be having quite the tete a tete." She grumbles. "Does Snow know about this? You better tell her. "
"It's not my business." That's what I've been telling myself every time Snow asks, on one of our nightly phone conversations, how things are going at the diner. I'm not lying to Snow. I don't even know what's really going on. All I know is Regina and Emma have spent three nights sharing drinks. Is that so bad? Is that front page news?
"Any way Regina can hurt Snow, she will, and what better way than through her only child?" "Emma's not a child." I snap. This is starting to sound too much like one of our own fights.
The next night, Regina shows up right at 9 even though its storming hard outside. I had almost decided not to open for the evening but Belle called me from the diner and said she had flipped the grill on. We're the only two people in there when Regina walks in. She sits at the counter. And waits, and waits, and waits. She goes through three glasses of wine and picks up her car keys, I put my hand on her arm.
"Let me call you a taxi." I smile.
"Thank you." She says. When it comes, she walks out with her head held high, giving me a brave smile and wave. Belle, filling ketchup bottles across the room, gives me a sad look. I shrug as the bell clangs again, and Emma walks in almost breathless.
"Hey!-" she looks around gives me an expectant look. I force her to acknowledge what she's asking me by crossing my arms and raising my eyebrows.
"Hey Emma." I say slowly. "Table? Booth?"
"Did I miss her?" Emma says, her hair plastered to her face and there's genuine panic in her voice. " Was she here?"
I nod, and she turns and walks right back out of the diner. I watch her break into a run as she hits the sidewalk. Belle walks over and picks a black glove from off the floor. "I think Regina dropped this."
"It's a shame Emma didn't wait a few minutes, she could have taken it to her." I say, and Belle makes a little happy face.
"Can Iiiii take it over to them?" she asks, half-jokingly. "I feel like I'm about to miss a big kiss in the rain."
But he fates are not that kind to me. When I I march the small bag of trash out to the back, I see Regina in the ally behind the diner, in Emma's arms. Did she come back for the glove? Did she come back, hoping against hope that Emma would show? Did they meet halfway? They must have met halfway. And then hidden, out of sight of the streetlights and the Storybrooke locals.
The rain is falling down hard and their faces are pressed against each other. I can smell, even through the rain, Regina's perfume- it smells like white flowers with dark leaves. I can hear Emma's racing heartbeat as she clutches her and Regina's heart keeping up, beating wildly in time. I stand against the wall and cover my mouth with my hand. I can't tear my eyes away. As much as I want to turn around and let this moment be for them, I can't help it. Regina looks…happy. Purely, truly, little kid on Christmas morning happy. Emma looks like she's glowing in the dark, like a form made out of blown glass. Against all my better sense and all my deeper loyalties, I just feel so incredibly happy for them. It makes the world suddenly seem like a better and more beautiful place that two people can make each other this happy- certainly more happy than I ever expect to be. I walk back into Granny's with tears in my own eyes and go into the pantry for a moment until I can pull myself together.
Snow and I have plans to go shooting the next morning. I consider staying in and pleading a stomach bug, but I know I can't lie convincingly. We walk silently side by side under the trees, which send down scattered, ice-cold drops from last night's rainstorm.
"Emma didn't come home until early this morning." Snow shoots her eyebrows up at me and inclines her head, her cheeks going pink. "Did you see if she came into the dinerat all with Neal last night?"
"With Neal? Nope." Not a lie. I fight to change the subject. "Have you told Emma about the beanstalk plan? Do you think there will be a conflict with Neal wanting to stay in New York?"
"It worries me. But… I think there's a good chance he might end up coming with us." Snow smiles at me knowingly. "I see the way he looks at her. In the happy ending I'm hoping for, I think Henry might end up with his family back together."
Except the only mom he's ever known, up until six months ago, I think silently. "What about Belle? She doesn't remember the Enchanted Forest. She can't really make a choice, can she?"
"She'll go wherever Mr. Gold decides." Snow shrugs. "He'll take care of her." for a moment I literally see red. I feel a growl at my throat. That's how intense my anger is. But I've learned to control myself. It takes me a moment, but I get myself under control.
"So Regina isn't allowed to come back but is ?" I stop and put my hands on my hips, looking hard at Snow.
"Well, that will probably depend on where Neal goes. The fact is we need Gold's help to get out of here with Regina following us. He's agreed to cloak beanstalk with magic until everyone who wants to go back has gone up there. Before Regina catches on."
"I see." I imagine Regina waking up in an empty town. Her son gone. Granny's closed. Emma no where to be found. I can't believe Emma would allow that now- not after seeing the way she held Regina last night. "Any ETA on this plan?"
Snow can tell I'm troubled. She just doesn't get why. "Maybe a couple weeks? A month at the most." She looks at me, her beautiful face small and pinched with worry. "You don't like this. You don't like the beanstalk plan."
"I just don't know if I can adjust to…to the lack of technology. And how much stronger the wolf side of me is over there. And being a- a peasant villager in petticoats and a corset again instead of someone with equal rights." I laugh nervously to mask how angry just the thought of most of this makes me. "We weren't all princesses over there, you know?"