Updated
Mary Margaret's anxiety over her date, if it even was that, with Storybrooke Academy's most influential woman, grew to a point that she almost had a heart attack when her clock woke her up at 8: 30 Saturday morning. Her stomach rolled when she rose to a sitting position, and she felt lightheaded, an unpleasant side effect to her uneasy stomach. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply through her nose as she waited for her vision to clear. When she opened them her small wooden room became clear, the dark knots that once danced before her eyes were now still and the lines in the wood stopped moving. Free from her dizzy spell she got ready for the day.
Once she was showered and dressed, today she wore a pair of light blue jeans and a white sweater; she headed to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for the day. Besides grilled cheese Friday, as the girls called it ever since she started doing it, she also made them pancakes on the weekend, she thought it was pleasant to receive a nice hot breakfast after five days of nothing but cold cereal or lukewarm toast, or in Ruby's case toaster waffles. It was a nice little reward for the girls for dealing with the wake up calls and all of the work they have been given over the week. The girls enjoyed it, they got to sleep in and start their day with an almost unlimited supply of warm fluffy golden circles.
As she mixed up the pancake batter in a large glass bowl, she heard something that could be described as a muffled grunt. It was probably Mulan out on the terrace as she normally practice her t'ai chi out on the outside deck weekend mornings. So hearing the soft grunts didn't concern her, but the hand that held the wooden spoon mixing the batter jerked, puffing up a small cloud of flour at the nail biting sound of scraping glass.
Mary Margaret stepped out of the kitchen and looked down the hallway between the open kitchen and the stairs, which led to a sliding glass door to the back porch. With slow steps, the teacher headed for the glass door, her only weapon was the flour coated wooden spoon. In hindsight it probably wasn't a good idea since she was covering not only herself, but leaving behind a trail of fine white powder and droops of batter on the floor, all of which she would have to clean herself. However, the safety of her girls took president over whatever possible mess she was leaving for herself. She stopped just a few feet from the door to determine if there was any danger at a safe distance, her heart pumping pure adrenaline in her veins. But when she actually looked at the door she felt ridicules. Sitting there behind the glass was a dog.
The dog was the poster child, or dog in this case, for the Dalmatian breed. Black spots sprinkled across short white fur, leaving only a few patches of white spot free. The dog just sat there with his tail hitting the wooden boards of the outdoor porch, thick breath fogging up the glass. Mary Margaret just stood there, staring at the dog, not quite sure on what to do with the k-9 out on her porch. The dog started to wine and placed one paw on the glass, looking at her with his big brown soulful eyes. Hunching her shoulders in defeat, Mary Margaret unlocked the door to let the dog in. The dog let out a happy yip and a shake once he was inside. The dog looked up at his rescuer, tongue hanging out on one side of his open mouth.
"Hi boy." Mary Margaret scratched one of the dog's ears and was rewarded with a lick to her palm and fingers. "Where did you come from?" The dog just wagged his tail and went for the spoon that was in the teachers grasp. "No, bad dog that is not for you, let go, please." Mary Margaret pulled back her arm to try to get the spoon out of the dog's mouth. The dog just growled and tightened his hold on the spoon, resulting in a small tug-a-war between Dalmatian and human. The dog won, and he sprinted off, taking his prize, the poor wooden spoon, upstairs with him. "No you are not supposed to go up there." Mary Margaret chased after the spotted dog, bare feet sliding on the wood floors. She found the dog siting in the middle of the floor, spoon clasped in between sharp teeth. The short hair woman hesitated at the top of the stairs, her bottom lip between her own teeth. On either side of her were two peacefully asleep girls, something that she wanted to keep the way it was. The dog lowered his front legs and the spoon, only to pick it up again, chewing the poor kitchen utensil to his heart's desire. Mary Margaret crouched down, the edge of the step was pressing into her lower calf. "Here boy, come here." She whispered and waved her hand at the dog. The dog looked at her and gave her a low 'woof', making the teacher cringe. "No you have to be quite now. Please come here?" As if he was out to spite her, the dog gave out a loud bark, jolting not just her but the girls as well. Four sets of sleep blur eyes trained onto their black spotted intruder.
"Please tell me I am not the only one seeing this?" The other girls shook their heads and Emma, with blonde messy curls, nodded her head once. "Excellent." And with that, she landed back onto her bed with a hard thud. Mulan out right ignored the dog and got up to go to the bathroom, closing the door behind her. The Dalmatian went over to Ruby's corner of the room and picked up one of the pillows that the young brunette had kicked off during the night, running off with the soft rectangle.
"Hey!" Ruby scrambled out of her red bed to chase after the dog, leaving a trail of red comforter and sheet behind her. As for Tink, she didn't even move a muscle, just sat there with her lids half open, clenching arms full of green comforter. Mary Margaret got up from her crouched position, angry red marks on her skin, and leaned heavily against stair railing, letting out a deep strain filled breath.
As if this day couldn't get any more stressful.
After breakfast with a Dalmatian that went from girl to girl begging with big brown eyes for a little piece of buttermilk pancake, Mary Margaret got her Ford Country Squire ready for a trip to town. Emma and Ruby stomped down the stairs, the dog following close behind them, tail high in the air. Emma was dressed in a pair of dark blue skinny jeans, tucked into brown boots with a white tank top under a thin light grey sweater, and red leather jacket. Ruby was dressed in a pair of leather pants with matching boots, a long dark purple sweater, the left shoulder exposed to show the black tank top and a red bra strap, she kept her hair down and she wore her red knit cap tilted to the left, several necklaces hung from her neck. Emma went around, opening the trunk to help Ruby to get the dog into the car. The dog jumped into the trunk with ease, and once he was in the two girls got into the back seats of the car, the dogs head between them. Mary Margaret turned the key and the engine purred to life, next stop Storybrooke.
Storybrooke was a small town not even ten minutes off the grounds of the Academy, the two connected by a narrow dirt road that opened into the mouth of the town. Storybrooke consisted of small buildings, very few of them being more than two stories. The largest building was the library, and that was only because it was underneath the clock tower. Mary Margaret pulled her car into the small parking lot that was between the only run down building in town, the faded sign read 'Milah's Bed and Breakfast and Dinner'. The three females got out of the car and Ruby went around to get the dog out of the trunk. Ruby led her supervisor and fellow roommate to the town's animal shelter, the Dalmatian trotting next to the long hair brunette, nose half way to the ground.
The animal shelter, which was also the town's only pet shop and veterinary clinic, was painted in beige tones with the right wall in a striped pattern, the left one was covered in various dog toys and pet beds. A blue love seat and sofa were in front of the light wood desk and matching file cabinet. Behind the desk was a white painted silhouette of trees and animals with the shelters name in the center. A man dressed in a flannel shirt and jeans stepped out from the open doorway next to the painted sign.
"Morning, how can I help you ladies?" He stepped in front of the desk and crossed his arms across his chest.
"We found this dog outside our dorm, and we are wondering if you can help us find his owner." The man looked pass Mary Margaret at the spotted dog who had his black nose pressed to the fish tank by the door. The man smiled and shook his head.
"That is Pongo, and the little troublemaker belongs to Dr. Archie Hopper. It's the weekend so you can find him at his office just a few doors down."
"Oh thank you so very much." Mary Margaret motioned to the girls and they started to bring the dogs attention away from the hypnotic colors of carefree swimming fish.
"Before you go." Mary Margaret turned back to the man who was reaching behind the desk and pulled out a rope with a large inner adjustable loop. "Take this, dogs are supposed to be on leash's, and since Pongo has a bad habit of running off, it be best if you have once handy."
"Well thank you, enjoy the rest of your day." Mary Margaret joined the girls that were just outside the door with Pongo in between them. The short hair woman quickly looped the rope around the dog's neck and they left waving goodbye to reunite a man with his dog.
After reuniting a tearful Dr. Hopper with his run away k-9, the three girls headed to the place to complete their original task; grocery shopping. With list in hand, Mary Margaret rolled her cart down the aisles, crossing off items as she placed them in her basket. Emma trailed behind her, arms crossed, clearly bored with doing something as trivial as grocery shopping. Ruby on the other hand skipped merrily next to her supervisor, talking a mile per second. As Mary Margaret picked out some fruit she let Ruby and Emma pick out their much needed breakfast food. What they picked out didn't surprise her, Ruby at first had two boxes of chocolate chip frozen waffles but Mary Margaret made her put one back in favor of an original. Emma had two large boxes of fruit loops, hopefully that will last her a few weeks and they avoid another shortage disaster again.
On the way back to the car, they passed a little dressed shop with a single slender display window. In the window was a sapphire blue dress with thin, but not quite spaghetti, straps with an elegant design already on the fabric. When she saw the dress Mary Margaret stopped dead in her tracks causing the two teens behind her to crash into each other, almost knocking over the teacher in the process.
"Hey what gives?" Emma rolled one leather clad shoulder, watching her teacher with concern as the young woman all but stared at the display window. Emma looked at her roommate and the energetic girl looked just as baffled as she did.
"Uh Mary Margaret are you okay?" The short haired woman jumped when a finger hesitantly poked her shoulder.
"Oh I'm sorry girls it's just that…" She looked back at the dress with a heavy sigh. Ruby looked at her teacher, than at the dress. It was simple, but for a person like Mary Margaret, it was perfect.
"Wanna try it on?" Mary Margaret looked absolutely baffled that brunet teen would even suggest something like that.
"No, I can't do that, we better start heading home." The short haired woman turned to leave, but a vise grip on her elbow made her stop and turn. Ruby's eyes were hard, and the grip on her supervisor's elbow was firm. "Ruby, please let go of my elbow this instance."
"No can do Mary Margaret, for you are trying on a dress." With a strength that almost didn't seem possible for a girl of Ruby's size and age, the long hair teen all but dragged the protesting woman into the dress shop, the door giving a friendly chime when they entered. Ruby deposited Mary Margaret onto one of the tasteful couches, along with the few brown paper bags they had, before finding a store clerk. She tapped the shoulder of a woman dressed in a form fitting black dress with black stockings and black pumps; a pink measuring tape around her neck was the only color to her outfit. The woman turned to look at Ruby doing nothing to hide her lack of interest for the teen.
"Yes?"
"My supervisor," she briefly pointed to where Mary Margaret was sitting, knees bouncing together. "Would like to try on the dress that you have displayed in the window. Thanks!" The woman raised an eyebrow but shook it away, mumbling a 'whatever' under her breath. Ruby rejoined the teacher at the couch, clearly proud of what she did. The woman came back a few minutes later, dress in hand.
"We only have this dress in a size 4, it was made for a customer of ours a few months back but she changed her mind at the very last minute. Do you want to try it on?" Mary Margaret looked at the dress, her eyes tracing the pattern from skirt to bust. The dress was perfect for what she needed it for.
"No, I don't think that will be necessary." The wide smile that Ruby had been sporting fell. She wanted to protest, this dress was practically made for her somewhat conservative supervisor, but her voice died half way up her throat. For some reason or another she just sat there silently, very un-Ruby like, as she watch Mary Margaret and the clerk walk away to a part of the store that was out of the teen's vision due to a large dress rack. What brought that smile back was the dress bag that was in the short hair woman's grip and the soft sweet smile that was 100 percent Mary Margaret. They left the store, Ruby with a little extra spring in her step, and headed back to the car collecting a zombie like Emma on the way.
The sky was changing from its normal sky blue to a deep orange, bathing the world in a warm orange hue. Mary Margaret sat at her vanity as she finished placing in her small gold studs. Her eyes caught a small glimmer of light and she brought her right hand down onto the wooden face of the vanity. On her right ring finger was a small pear cut peridot set on a thin gold band, the only jewelry she wore besides the few pair of earrings she had, not counting the ones she was wearing. She looked at the ring with sad pale green eyes, for this was the first time she was considering something she never thought she ever would do; taking off her ring. She moved her hand, ready to remove the ring, but some invisible force stopped her short. She felt like she was about to cry, and the urge curl up into a tiny little ball was strong. A heavy knock on her door made the teacher jump almost out of her seat and give out a small 'yelp'.
"Mary Margaret is everything alright? I just wanted to let you know that I am here." The short hair woman went to open the door and she was greeted with Mrs. Lucas' friendly smile.
"Hello Mrs. Lucas, thanks so much for making time to watch the girls this evening."
"It's no problem at all. I jump at the chance to spend time with my grand baby." From the living room they heard Ruby whine 'Granny!' making the other girls snicker. Mrs. Lucas ignored them and looked Mary Margaret over. "You look amazing Mary Margaret."
"Thank you Mrs. Lucas." She tucked an invisible strand of hair behind her hair. Mulan stopped just a few feet of the door way. "Yes, Mulan?"
"Headmistress Mills is here."
"Thank you Mulan." The Chinese girl nodded and went back to join the others. "That's my cue." Mrs. Lucas smiled and gave an encouraging pat to the teachers arm before leaving to join the others in the living room. Mary Margaret turned to take her leave, shrugging on her white cardigan as she did. Just before she walked completely out of her bedroom she took one last look at the ring on her finger, coming to a final decision about it.
For the first time in years the ring spent its night on the vanity behind a closed wooden door.
Tony's was a quiet little Italian bistro on the other side of Storybrooke that merged into its residential areas. The majority of the bistro seemed to be outside on a porch lit solely on the strands of white light bulbs that wrapped around the upper and lower beams of the deck and the single candles that were on every table. Cora and Mary Margaret were seated at a small corner table some distance away from the others, giving the table both a romantic and seductive air. Between the two women was a basket of small loafs of bread and a bottle of red wine, which Cora ordered in perfect Italian. The headmistress watched the nervous teacher with playful eyes, a little amused when the younger woman fumbled with the butter knife.
"Nervous are we?" The knife that was in the short hair woman's grip fell with a clatter on white plates.
"Sorry." The older woman smiled and placed a warm hand on the teacher's trembling one.
"Relax Mary Margaret, you are not in any trouble, this is just a friendly dinner between colleagues yes?" The short hair woman nodded and took a small bit of warm bread. "So," Cora leaned back in her chair a hand on her raised arm which held a half full glass of rich red wine. "Tell me what brought you to Storybrooke Academy?" Mary Margaret took a small sip of wine to wash away the bread, the flavor of the wine bursting on her tongue in a rich palate of spice and grapes.
"Nothing special, I just needed a change of scenery. I use to work at a school in my home town, at my old school in fact. Last summer I just had this strange feeling of being stuck and I needed to break free. I applied around to different schools but without much luck. I couldn't tell you how honored I was to get the chance to apply for a job at such a prestigious school."
"Well we are glade you came." Cora positioned her wine glass so that it was hovering above the table. "Cheers." Mary Margaret brought her glass to Cora's and they met with a high pitched 'ding'.
"Cheers." The young woman gave her boss a small smile and took another small sip of wine before putting her glass back down. Cora picked up a roll herself, releasing some steam that was trapped inside when she tore a piece off, her eyes never leaving her dinner companion.
"Have I told you yet how lovely you look tonight Mary Margaret?" The woman in question shifted in her seat, taking just a bit longer to chew the small piece of bread.
"N-no you have not."
"Well you do, stunning might be a better word for you. I just adore that shade of blue on you, it complements your skin tone nicely."
"T-thank you Cora. I think you look lovely as well." The older woman just smiled and Mary Margaret turned her attention down to her plate, her cheeks flushed a bright shade of crimson. The young teacher stayed that way through out her entire meal, speaking very little to the older woman. When desert came, a small square of tiramisu and two small balls of mini zeppoles, Cora had had enough of the thick silence that had fallen between her and the English teacher.
"Have I offended you in some way Mary Margaret?" The teacher looked up at her boss, a mini zeppole between white teeth. Mary Margaret finished taking her bite licking powder sugar off pink lips.
"No, no not at all Cora." She placed the zepploe on the small white plate in front of her wiping the remaining powder sugar on the napkin that was on her lap. "I'm sorry if that is what you feel like what happen it's just that…" The teacher took a deep shaky breath; tears stung the edge of her eyes. "It has been a while since someone has told me I looked pretty."
"Well I find that very hard to believe, and an absolute tragedy, especially for such a lovely woman like yourself Mary Margaret." A single tear manage to escape a pale green eye, which was wiped away a soft dark red painted fingertip.
It was almost midnight when Cora pulled her Benz in front of an all but pitch black Neverland, the only source of light was the single head light above the door.
"Thank you for dinner Cora it was lovely." The light was harsh on their skin as Cora, being the old fashion woman that she was, walked the young teacher to her door.
"It was my pleasure, I had a fantastic night with good food and great company. Which was why I was hoping to do it again?"
"I would love to Cora." The older woman took one large step invading the young teacher's personal space. The teacher watched as the older woman picked up her hand, the one that wasn't full of keys, and brought it up to full lips, grazing the skin in a way that sent a bolt straight down her spine. Cora released the teachers hand, letting her fingers linger on smooth palm and fingers.
"I will call you with the details later on this week. Have a goodnight Mary Margaret."
"Goodnight to you as well Cora." The young woman let herself in and through the window that was next to the door she watch the head lights of the black Benz fade away into the tree lines. When she turned she was surprise to see five bodies sleeping away on the living room sofa. Emma was at one end with an arm hanging of the edge. Ruby was curled up next to her grandmother, head resting on the snoring woman's lap. Tink was resting her head on Mulan's stomach, arms wrapped around the Chinese girls strong legs. Clearly the cuddling had to be made while both girls were fast asleep since Mulan's reserved nature only allowed contact when the situation warranted it. Mary Margaret smiled and shook her head, she would keep everyone the way they were and let them deal with the after math in the morning since it was late.
Closing the door to her room she pressed her back against the cool wood and let the wave of euphoria that was waiting to break wash over her. Besides the awkward moment, that night was absolutely wonderful and it was the first time in a very long time that the young teacher had felt this happy, and as she closed her eyes she let the lingering feeling of Cora's touch and the faint smell of ginger and spice lull her to sleep.