CHAPTER 18

Henry waited all day for a chance to set his plan in motion. He had to use precise timing or this could all blow up in his face.

He watched Miss Blanchard all day in class just waiting for the perfect opportunity. Then his time came. There were a bunch of students around her desk asking her questions about the assignment they'd been working on.

He grabbed his paper and stood around her with the other kids. He managed to make his way through the kids until he was standing directly behind her. Then using his paper as a shield he reached out.

"Ow!" Mary Margaret cried as she turned with her hand on her head. "Henry!"

"Sorry Miss Blanchard," he flushed. "There was something in your hair." He handed her his paper and quickly made his way back to his desk.

One of the kids snorted. A few of the boys jostled one another while whispering and pointing at him.

At school, he was considered a weirdo. He'd realized too late that trying to convince these people one on one of who they were was a huge mistake. It had only gotten him sent to the counselor's office. Now he had to see Dr. Hopper 3 times a week. And everyone knew. He was an outcast when they should be grateful that he was trying to save him.

Henry smirked as he took his seat. He reached into his backpack and pulled out the Ziploc bag he had brought for his specimen. He put the hairs that he had taken into the bag and zipped it back up.

One down, one to go, he thought as he planned his next move.

RQ

Regina was idly staring out her office window when a vision walking across the lawn caught her attention. When she realized it was none other than Emma Swan herself, she frowned. The fact that she was walking on the lawn instead of the sidewalk made her frown deepen. But she filed it away to speak to the cursed woman about later.

The woman had become a thorn in her side. She had somehow managed to burrow herself underneath Regina's skin and take up way too much real estate in her personal head space. Not only had she made her interest in Regina public to the point that she was forcing her to have conversations with her daughter about her nonexistent lovelife but everywhere Regina turned there she was. She'd even managed to show up in her dreams causing Regina to awaken sweaty with a throbbing ache in her core that demanded satisfying.

Then there was the fact that it was getting harder and harder for her to ignore the pull that was insisting on forcing the two of them together. Emma was spending more and more time at her home and tended to linger even after the kids were in bed. This drove Regina mad to no end.

But Regina had to admit she did have a way of capturing her attention despite how hard she worked to ignore her. She chuckled as she watched Pongo do a fake to the right out her window. And just as Emma stood above him with her arms opened wide to corral him there he athletically managed to turn on a midair leap and head left instead. Gravity had Emma lying flat out on the ground. Regina's chuckles turned into a loud boisterous laugh as Emma glared at Pongo through the hair that had fallen over her face.

She chastised herself for allowing herself to get drawn into Emma Swan's web yet again as the woman stood and composed herself. As she raised her hands to run though her hair and try to fingercomb it into some sort of order her tank top lifted and Regina got a full view of her toned abs. Her body stretching had Regina's mouthwatering. She licked her lips as a throbbing sensation began in her core.

Her hand instinctively rose to smooth the skin between the valley of her breasts just above where the first button of her blouse lay. Then Emma turned and looked toward her office window. Regina immediately drew back from the window with a gasp. She hadn't even noticed that she'd gotten sucked into one of her spells again until it broke. She chastised herself and went back to work while ignoring the longing that had taken a firm root inside of her.

An hour later she had finally managed to lose herself in her work when a knock sounded at her door. "Come in," she called absently. She didn't bother looking up since she figured it was just her secretary asking for more time off. The woman had just gotten married and spent more time on the phone baby talking to her husband than she spent doing actual work. Regina knew she needed to start looking for a replacement soon.

Emma walked in with a cat that swallowed the canary smile on her face. She swaggered up to Regina's desk and had a seat as she waited for her to acknowledge her.

Regina finished reading through the paperwork before her. She reached out for a pen to sign it and raised her head at the same time. Her hand faltered for a second once she saw who it was but she recovered quickly. "May I help you Miss Swan?"

Emma's smile just grew wider, "Actually yes. That's why I'm here," she looked down at the paperwork Regina was in the process of signing. "Are you about done here?"

Regina quirked an eyebrow at her before glancing at the clock. She took her gold feather pen out of its holder and signed her name to the work order in front of her, "I was planning on leaving here soon. Why?"

"It's a surprise," Emma gushed. One that she had gotten the whole family to help her with so it had better work.

Regina put her pen back into the holder before glaring at the confounded woman in front of her. "I hate surprises."

"You'll love this one," Emma nodded in assurance. She sat back and waited patiently for Regina to finish for the day.

Regina snorted and rolled her eyes. She straightened out her desk and made sure there were no pressing concerns. For a town that had been frozen for 28 years there was still plenty of maintenance items that had to be taken care of and could get out of hand fast if they weren't kept on top of.

She checked her schedule and was surprised to see that she actually had no appointments lined up. She frowned as she realized she'd have to find a replacement for her incompetent assistant sooner than she thought she would. After putting it off for as long as she could, she finally had to admit she was done for the day.

"Well Miss Swan, you've got me," she said as she shrugged into her coat. Emma jumped up with her usual lopsided grin. She stood and held her hand out for Regina to walk in front of her.

Regina strode out of the office and glared around the room. Her damned secretary had obviously given herself permission to leave without a word. She dropped the signed work orders on the ninny's desk for her to get to in the morning and got into the elevator. Emma followed close behind humming happily to herself.

When they exited the building Regina turned to Emma waiting for this big surprise she had going on. Emma ran ahead of her and stopped at Regina's prized Mercedes. "Tada!" she sang.

Regina looked and saw nothing but her trusted reliable car. "Thank you for showing me my car but I assure you I have seen it before," she began to walk around Emma.

But Emma jumped in front of her to cut her off. "You haven't seen it this way before though," she opened the passenger door for Regina.

"You're not touching my car!" Regina cried out. "No one drives my baby but me," she began to fish around in her purse for her keys.

Emma fished her keys out of her pocket. She held them up and dangled them in Regina's face, "Looking for these?" She was a good thief and Regina had been a easy mark. She'd left her keys right on the top of her purse with it unzipped and hanging from the coat rack just inside her office. She'd never even noticed a thing as Emma used her trying to ignore her to her personal advantage. They'd been in Emma's pocket within the first 3 minutes of her entering the office. She laughed as Regina glared at her.

Regina made a grab for them but Emma – who was a bit taller than her and obviously athletically gifted – held them out of her reach. She began tapping her foot on the pavement. She folded one arm under the other and held her hand out as she waited for her keys to be set in her hand.

Emma merely stuck her nose in the air and walked around to the driver's side leaving the passenger door open. She got inside and started up the car.

Regina began to seethe. The woman was going too far. And to bring her car into this! "Emma Swan! I swear if you don't get out of my car right this minute then you can kiss your job as Deputy away forever. You will be the first person in law enforcement to put themselves under arrest."

Emma chuckled and began to fiddle with the controls on the radio. She turned on the heat and began to adjust the seat.

Regina stared daggers at the woman. If looks could kill Emma would be 10 feet under right now. Regina was starting to see red from her nonchalant attitude. She took a deep breath to control herself. She already had a hard enough time when it came to the blonde as it was. She debated her options before finally with a loud huff she got into her passenger seat. "You so much as get one scratch on her and I swear you're going to rue the day you ever messed with me," she gritted out between her teeth.

Her answer was another chuckle, "Seat belts please. Safety first ya know," she said then waited for Regina to comply. Emma backed up the car and turned the radio up louder. She began to sing off key to a classic rock song as they drove down the main street.

Regina sat in her seat seething. It was a few minutes before she realized they were heading in the wrong direction to get home. She looked over at Emma, "Where in the hell are you going?" she asked as they raced toward the town line.

Emma's face practically split in two. "Road trip!" she cried out happily. "Surprise!"

Regina's eyes widened as she stared at the woman. Surely she had lost her mind. As they crossed the Welcome to Storybrooke sign and drove past it, for the first time in a long time, Regina actually missed her ability to create fireballs.