They were up bright and early Saturday morning feeling refreshed and buzzing with excitement for the pending party. They headed out straight after their showers to make their breakfast date at Grannies, it felt so odd to Emma as she remembered breakfast here all those months ago with Granny and Ruby wishing her good luck, never in her wildest dream would she have imagined coming full circle and returning here all this time later with Regina by her side.
Just like the day that Emma moved into her trailer the sign on the diner's door was still turned to closed and Ruby had locked the door behind them so that they wouldn't be disturbed once Emma and Regina had arrived.
"We're over here" Ruby grinned excitedly leading them over to one of the larger tables in the diner, one that was big enough to allow them all to sit together "Granny is cooking up a storm back there, it shouldn't be much longer" Ruby informed them as they all sat down and judging by the mouth-watering smells wafting from the kitchen Ruby wasn't wrong, in fact Ruby's backside had barely touched her seat when Grannies voice bellowed for her from the kitchen,
"Ruby Lucas, don't you dare plant your behind on that chair, I need you out here" she yelled,
"How does she even know" Ruby groaned rolling her eyes as she reluctantly rose from her seat again "she can't even see us out here"
"And you can quit rolling your eyes at me too" Granny shouted,
"She's a demon" Ruby said eyes growing wide and serious "She has to be that's the only explanation"
"Or she just knows you really, really well" Emma laughed, and Ruby flounced off towards the kitchen returning seconds later with a tray laden with mugs of coffee, Emma and Regina gratefully took theirs, almost groaning into their first sips having not paused for one before they left the trailer that morning.
Emma hadn't thought that a breakfast could possibly get any better than the one that she had shared with her family the morning that she had moved into her trailer but this morning she was happily proven wrong about that as she chowed down on her bacon with the added company of Dorothy and Regina.
After insisting on helping Granny with the dishes the party of four left Granny and the on-duty waitress that morning to open the diner leaving on foot heading for the town hall. Once they had left with their chosen outfits the events planner would be arriving to get the main hall ready for the party but for now rail after rail holding the most extravagant gowns that Emma had ever seen dominated the floor space.
"Welcome. Welcome" a jovial rang out from the attractive curvy woman that met them at the door, she wore a warm welcoming smile on her full red lips, her dark hair was twisted up into a haphazard bun secured with looked like a pair of chop sticks and the pocket of the apron she wore was stuffed with various sewing items for on the spot alterations "I am Madame de la Grande Bouche and I'm here to help you find the perfect gowns for this evening's ball" she gushed pulling a black gown with an extravagant cobwebby skirt out and thrusting it at Emma
"Umm it's a bit dark for an end of series party, isn't it?" Emma asked helplessly looking down at the gown pressed against her,
"Why of course not Mademoiselle" Madame de la Grande Bouche replied waving her arms in an extravagant fashion "For zis is a Halloween ball where all ze little beasties will come out to play" she laughed shook her head and took the gown away then began to rummage for another,
"Did you know the party was Halloween themed" Emma asked Regina puzzled as to why she hadn't mentioned anything,
"This is the first I've heard about it" Regina shrugged "makes sense though I guess given that it's that time of year and" she said pulling out a dark purple gown with a fitted corset style bodice, a very high collar and intricate black detail throughout, holding it in front of her "It could be fun, this would be perfect for the Evil Queen don't you think" she smirked with a mischievous glint in her eye,
"Ooo yes" Emma replied getting into the spirit "and maybe I could be your helpless little servant girl" she grinned and began to root around to see If she could find something suitable,
It took her a while, but she eventually found something that worked, the gown looked like something that a medieval lady in waiting would wear which was in perfect keeping with the amazing gown that Regina had chosen, Madame de la Grande Bouche took them off to try them on while a still undecided Ruby and Dorothy continued their search's through the rails.
The dresses turned out to be a pretty good fit with neither had needing much altering, the seamstress stuck a few pins into the bosom part of Regina's dress and the sleeves of Emma's then helped them back out of them telling them that she would deliver them later when they were ready.
They had all decided to get ready at the complex because they were going there to get their hair and make-up done and owing to the lack of space in the trailers Emma had already given Ruby the keys to hers, so that she and Dorothy could use that one to get ready for the party while Emma and Regina would get ready at Regina's place so Emma instructed Madame de la Grande Bouche to drop their costumes off with the complexes security, and they would take them to the trailers once the foursome were back from their hair and make-up appointments with Will, Belle and Kathryn all of whom were also invited to the party and had offered their services to the four of them that day.
"Just leave them with security, they'll take them through to the help desk and we can get them brought up from there when we're ready" Emma smiled as the other woman nodded and ushered her off back into her changing cubical.
By the time that they had gotten dressed again and left the room Madame de la Grande Bouche was already headed back with Ruby who was holding a long sleek black dress and Dorothy who carried a pin striped suite,
"Morticia and Gomez Adams at your service or at least they will be later" Ruby laughed as they passed one another in the hallway, Emma and Regina laughed with her and headed back to the hall where they waited for the two of them to return from their fitting. It didn't take long; Dorothy's had needed no altering at all while Rubies had just needed pulling in at the waist.
Next Madame de la Grande Bouche took them to choose shoes and clasp bags all of which she took to put with their dresses then finally they were able to go on their way.
After a quick lunch back at Grannies they headed to the shops In search of a few final accessories to go with their outfits, Ruby quickly located a fake red rose for Gomez and a necklace and ring for Morticia, while Regina located a necklace with matching earrings that would set her costume off perfectly, Emma felt that the maid needed no accessories so they moved on stopping by a nail bar where Ruby and Regina went in to get their nails done, while Emma and Dorothy who weren't having theirs done waited outside the tiny parlour.
Finally, with all that done and time moving quickly they took their bags of shopping and headed for the complex where Will, Kathryn and Belle waited for them,
Regina whose hairstyle was set to take the longest and Emma were the first in the make-up seats then Will clipped Regina's temporary hair extensions in and twisted it all up so that it was all piled elegantly on top of her head, by the time he was finished, and Emma was sitting down Ruby and Dorothy were out of the make-up seats waiting in the hair line and Kathryn was applying Belle's make-up,
Emma was wearing her hair loose so hers was much quicker to style than Regina's had been, Will just used curlers and products to make her natural curls more defined, then it was Ruby's turn she like Emma was wearing her hair loose Will just got the straighteners out to complete her Morticia look and for Dorothy copious amounts hair gel was used to slick her hair straight back then Will tucked it up and under at the back clipping in place with well-hidden hair slides to make It appear much shorter than it really was, they didn't see what hair styles Kathryn, Belle and Will left with because they had said good bye and catch you later as soon as Dorothy was done dropping in on the help desk and asking for the dresses to be brought up to the trailers as soon as possible.
The doors were barely closed behind the party of four when knocks announced the arrival of security guards carrying bags containing the shoes and hand bags along with the carefully covered dresses.
Emma held Regina's gown and waited for her to step into it pulling it up and pulling the strings on the corset back as tight as was comfortable just as she had watched Madame de la Grande Bouche do earlier while Regina stood as still as possible not wanting to risk messing up her hair.
Once she had been secured into the dress, she sat on the end of the bed so that Emma could slip on and zip up her heels for her and then she returned the favour for Emma, though Emma had less to worry about regarding messing up her hair, so she had stepped into her own dress and pulled it up to save Regina bending over.
Regina pulled the strings on Emma's own corset together for her and secured them in place, then once Emma had slipped her feet into her own shoes, they turned to face each other properly for the first time.
"Wow" Emma breathed as she took in Regina's appearance, from her elegant hair and flawless make-up to her pulled in waist and heaving bosom "you look amazing Regina, a little imposing maybe but still absolutely incredible"
"You don't look so bad yourself, you know for a servant girl" Regina replied, eyes scanning over Emma appreciatively,
They weren't sharing a car with Ruby and Dorothy so they wouldn't all get to see each other in all their glory until they all arrived at the party, so they had all agreed to take selfies and send them to each other, Emma and Regina were still replying to Ruby and Dorothy photo's when Sidney knocked the door.
"Time to go" Regina smiled grabbing her bag and heading out the door with Emma hot on her heels.
Getting into the car proved to be a bit of a challenge thanks to the voluminous skirts on their dresses which made Emma feel grateful that she didn't have to wear this get up every day but soon enough they were settled into their seats reasonably comfortably and the car had begun to move off.
Emma stared at the empty front passenger seat it was strange seeing Bert without Ernie, they were always together but for this evening Jefferson was driving Ruby and Dorothy to the ball. As she stared at the strangely vacant seat, all of Emma's previous worries suddenly began to resurface, they had the party tonight but then what, what of tomorrow? Emma still didn't know what Regina's plans and the uncertainty of what was abouts happen was eating her alive, she was so distracted by her thoughts that she didn't even notice that they had taken a wrong turn to begin with,
"You took a wrong turning" Emma informed Sidney when she finally realised, "this is Mifflin street, you needed to keep going a bit longer before turning to get the town hall" she felt a pang of sadness in her heart as she thought again about how this party would mark the end of filming for the longest time yet and how much she would miss Regina if she went away.
"I know I just need to make a stop on the way" Regina replied mysteriously as they slowed to a crawl so that Sidney could read the house numbers before turning into number 108, Emma looked in awe as they pulled up in front of what she could only describe as being a small mansion, with its vast drive, sleek white walls and front door adorned by pillars,
She wracked her brain to try and remember who lived here, maybe that would help her to work out why Regina wanted to stop by and visit them on the way to their end of season party, but she drew a blank which was a new and weird sensation for her because she knew most people in time just not at the posh end she supposed as she sat quietly and watched Regina get out of the car her curiosity burning.
She watched from her seat in the car as Regina headed up the drive towards the front door of the house pausing just before she reached it seeming to have realised that Emma hadn't followed her,
"Are you not coming in with me Emma?" she called back, Emma realising that Regina was talking to her wound her window and Regina realising that she hadn't been heard repeated her question a second time.
Emma who not wanting to assume and intrude had been exercising all of the self-control that she possessed to keep her ass in her seat and not run up the drive after the Regina, hadn't needed to be asked twice, well maybe she had but only because she hadn't been able to hear the first time, now that she had she eagerly exited the car as quickly as was possible in her cumbersome gown, wanting to get into the house before Regina could change her mind and tell her to stay in the car after all.
By the time she had caught up to Regina she was already walking through the now open front door, Emma scurried in after her eager to see whose house they had just stepped into, but much to her confusion she didn't see any sign of their host as the front door swung shut behind her and Regina began to walk further into the house, heels echoing off the wooden floors of the oddly empty hall,
"What's going on?" Emma finally asked "Who's house is this"
"Ours" Regina replied simply, turning on her heel to face Emma, lips spread into a radiant smile that lit up her whole face as she jangled a small bunch of keys in front of her "or at least it is if you want it to be" Regina continued suddenly seeming a little unsure of herself,
"No way!" Emma exclaimed excitedly "but how and does this mean that you'll be staying in town for the break?"
"I bought it dear" Regina chuckled "I've become quite endeared to this quaint little town, not to mention one of its residents in particular" she glanced over Emma drinking her in and edging a little closer to her as if pulled by magnets "I'm talking of course about Granny" Regina teased making Emma giggle "So I've decided to put down roots here, besides I realised some time ago that if I ever wanted you to move in with me I'd have to move to Storybrooke, this is your home and I could never and would never want to ask you to leave, so yes I will be staying for the break, apart from when we go to my apartment in LA, to pick up the things that I want to bring back here, Oh don't worry" she added seeing Emma's face fall "I'm still keeping it I just thought it could be more of a holiday home for us than my main residence because that would be this house here, so what do you say sweetheart, will you move in with me?" she asked
"Hell yes" Emma all but yelled closing the distance between them and planting a firm kiss on the brunette's lips that Regina returned with a fiery passion,
"Ahh just look at this place" Emma squealed turning slowly on the spot taking as much as she could in "I can't wait to show Ruby" even as the words left her lips Emma's face fell "shit" she said
"What is it my love" Regina asked alarmed by the sudden change of mood that had befallen Emma
"Ruby" the blonde sighed "I promised that I'd moved back in with her now we're on a break, the trailer was only ever temporary, I've still been paying my share of the rent there and now someone might be buying the loft and we might have to move, Ruby won't be able to keep up with the bills in a new place without a roomie, I mean I guess that I could pay my share of the deposit and keep paying my share of the bills until she either decides to move Dorothy in permanently or she finds someone else to room with but who knows how long that will take, I don't want to rush Ruby and Dorothy into taking a step that they aren't ready for yet and people our age looking for a flat share aren't exactly in abundance in this town" she sighed, brows creasing into a frown as she met Regina's smiling face what was she so happy about?
"I know" Regina replied "which is why" she rummaged in her handbag for a few seconds before pulling out a much bigger bunch of keys and shaking them at Emma in the same manner as she had shaken the first much smaller bunch, "I took the liberty of purchasing your old apartment block too" she finished her smile if possible, stretching even further across her face,
"Really" Emma exclaimed excitedly grabbing the keys,
"Yep, there are four apartments in that building and only two are currently occupied, the one you've been sharing with Ruby and the one across the hall that Mary-Margret shares with David and their little boy" she continued "so I thought we could make a project of It, it's more than a little shabby so what do you say we gut and remodel the whole place? I've always fancied taking on a project like that" Regina smiled "We can put Mary-Margret and her family up in a room at grannies while we do and arrange for her things to be put into storage along with Ruby's and Ruby well you can invite her to stay here with us if you like, of course if she'd rather we can put her up a Grannies too"
"That would be awesome" Emma squealed excitedly knowing full well that there was no way in hell that Ruby was going to turn down living in an actual mansion in favour of staying in her Grannies B "you've really thought this through haven't you" Emma was impressed,
"I have" Regina confirmed a glimmer of excitement in her eye, "when it's complete Ruby can move back in rent free and Mary-Margret can return to her apartment at her current rent rate, with any luck It won't take us to long to rent out the other two once they are that much more desirable"
"You truly are the best Regina" Emma beamed tears welling in her eyes,
"I love you more than anything Emma and I just want you to be happy and with me, if that means taking care of your friend and ensuring her happiness too, then that's a small price that I'm more than willing and able to pay"
"I love you to" Regina, Emma replied rushing into her lovers' arms tears beginning to spill from her eyes and I can't wait to start our lives here together.
"Good" Regina sniffed trying and failing to hold back her own tears "Now we should really stop all this blubbering before we ruin our make up and get to this party" Regina said offering Emma a watery smile whilst dabbing gently at her face to halt her tears progress.
"Yep we should totally do that" Emma beamed wiping her own eyes dry and taking Regina by the hand as they headed for the front door Emma feeling a whole lot lighter than she had before they had entered this beautiful house, their house Regina had said, her new home, Emma's last thought as Regina locked the door behind them was that she really needed to get to bank and check her balance because if it was going to be their home then she wanted to pay her share of purchase price to.
Fin
A/N *Madame de la Grande Bouche is the name of the wardrobe from Beauty and the Beast.
So we've reached the end of this first instalment, thank-you for reading and for the feed back, I've already made a start on the next part of this story but as yet am unsure as to when i will be ready to start posting it.
Thanks again and I'm so happy that there are people who have found enjoyment from this story, I've had so much fun with it so far :)