Updated

Winter break brought a very interesting dilemma for Mary Margaret, where was she going to live? It wasn't just winter break where she was left without a place to live but summer as well since students and teachers were not allowed to live on campus during the major school breaks. The rule always gave Cora a heavy sort of feeling in her stomach since she knew that a good portion of her students did not have a place to return to when they left school. So that left the English teacher in her current state of being on the real estate market.

She was never very picky about where she lived so long as there was a roof over her head, but she knew that her standards where set a little higher than they were before as she was not just accommodating herself but at least three of her girls as well. Ruby already had a solid home base and Mrs. Lucas more than offered to take in all of Nerverland's members but Mary Margaret declined. Though living with the Lucas' was not unpleasant it was cramp and she still cringes when she remembers the several small fights that the girls got into over the limited available bathrooms, it was a disaster that she would like to avoid.

With such a small town the open spaces were limited extensively. Most of the properties were way out of the teacher's limited financial means so most houses and town houses were off the list. She remembered seeing an apartment building that was close to the main part of town but was also not too far off from the school. The land lord called her back the Friday exams ended to come and see the available unit he had.

It wasn't much, but the moment Mary Margaret saw it she was sold. The white paint was slowly rotting but that was an easy fix. The walls were exposed brick; it gave the apartment a rough and classical look. While the other walls were painted white one was left bare, minus the painting of a crow along with the words 'Original Liquid & Past Grate Polish Black Bird'. Frosted windows created a cubical of sorts for the bathroom with one door that led to the small kitchenette and another to an open space, a living room of sorts. Slender wooden beams were evenly spaced from one end to the other. A metal staircase led to a small bedroom area, much like the one in Neverland just smaller, which was next to the door. The apartment came with a white fridge, oven, a complete dining table, and selected glass and table ware. It was perfect; it matched Neverland but had a personality that separated it from the wood cabin back at the Academy. She signed the annual lease with confidence, looping her Y and G big and bold.

The girls shared about a fraction of her enthusiasm but they looked at each other and started to put their heads together, they only had the one space to decorate and they needed to formulate a plan where as a whole it would match but still hold the separate individuality of each girl. Beds were no problem; they had bunk beds and would just transfer the bedding that they had at school to the apartment. Mulan and Emma were on the right side while Tink and Ruby, she had the choice of staying there when she wanted to, were on the left. Tink and Mulan took the top bunks while Ruby and Emma took the bottom, Mary Margaret was very persistent about the brunette teen taking the bottom as she feared that Ruby would hurt herself not knowing what was left and right when being under a sea of red.

Though they had limited financial means to decorate with, Mary Margaret gave the girl's free reign to decorate as they please. With such limited space the major furniture was a group decision. They were not allowed to paint the walls but they could string lights and hang up posters. Mulan hung up small red paper Chinese lanterns that were strung with black string; the lanterns stretched the whole length of the room dipping twice at the window. Tink found these tree stencils that she placed all alongside on the wall that was on her and Ruby's side of the room. Ruby brought a rug that she said was a gift to her grandmother years before she was born that looked like it was made out of a wolf that had seen better days, even though the salt and pepper pelt was shaggy it was soft and covered the open area between the two bunk beds perfectly. Emma didn't have much to contribute except for the white linen curtains but it worked for when the sun hit the window ever so the lanterns would create this red huge against the stark white material. It wasn't Martha Stewart chic but they loved it and that was what mattered.

The furniture arrived about a day after Mary Margaret signed the lease, Marco and a few of his men carried the wooden pieces for the girls bunk beds and the few metal pieces that belonged to her metal frame bed. A few days after the fire Marco, along with a scowling August, came to Neverland and made the adolescent boy apologize to Emma for putting her in harm's way. The carpenter was less than pleased with his sons actions and begged Mary Margaret to let him do something to make up for what his son had placed Emma through. The teacher was skeptical as she did not believe that Marco owed her anything but the man was persistent about it, so when the issue of obtaining beds for the girls came to be she approached him and the semi elder man was more than happy to help. So that was how they got two brand new Marco made bunk beds made entirely out of dark rich mahogany wood free of charge.

With limited space Mary Margaret had to be clever on how she was going to use the area. The girls could only have one dresser upstairs so she made sure that she got one with four drawers, one for each girl eventually. To be perfectly honest the moment the girls saw the only dresser that was in her price range they shrieked in horror because the bedroom furniture was in light green and pink. Though her girls were a very interesting mix, they were more tom boy then they were girly, Ruby's semi feminine ways prevented them as a whole to lean toward tom boy. She thought that she could slide with the dresser for the majority color was green, the preferred color of Tink, so she expected at least the dirty blonde's vote, but apparently she only liked dark shades of green like forest and moss green, not lime or, in the dresser's case, pale green.

Dresser issue aside they moved into the small apartment the weekend after finals ended, with all but Ruby moving in permanently for winter break, she was staying the weekend because Mrs. Lucas had to finish cataloging and filing the winter exams. Unlike with Thanksgiving it wasn't utter chaos, the single location and the fact that most of them were still packed from their last break helped tremendously. Packing aside, the majority of the furniture was already there, built and ready for use.

Saturday was transfer day, which is what they called since they were not completely moving from one location to the other. After a light breakfast which was what they usually had during the weekday, they finish the last minute packing and bringing the suitcases to the cars, they were off to settle into their new home. The girl's job, after all of the suitcases were brought in, was to set up their room. Mrs. Lucas had sent the wolf rug with the furniture so that it was waiting for them all neatly set up between the bunk beds. The four girls worked in a way that wasn't machine factory sync but they were conscious enough of the others. After she set up her bed Mulan started to hang the lanterns, using the raised brick edges to her advantage. Emma caught the lanterns when she started to hang up the curtains, supporting the black string between the folds of the white material. After she was done Emma handed the lanterns to Ruby who followed Mulan's example.

They agreed amongst themselves on who got what drawer, Tink was the rusher, always the one that was running behind the others, so they gave her the top drawer so that she could just open, grab, and run whenever she was faced with a wakeup call that was oh so cleverly named after her. Ruby was given the bottom one since she would rarely be there, but it felt right to give her her own space that was open for her to take. Between them was Mulan and Emma, they didn't care which drawer they got so they operated on a first come first serve bases.

They substituted lunch for an early dinner of cheeseburgers with bacon, even if the idea made Mary Margaret's stomach twist into a double knot. To make her feel a little better she used turkey burger and bacon, which she thought would earn her retaliation but the girls just shrugged, and when Ruby went to go get another can of soda the teacher did not stop the long brunette teen, an extra can of soda for one night wouldn't hurt anyone. The dinner dishes were left to Emma and Tink while Ruby went out with Mulan since it was their first night in a new location, and if anyone knew the layout of the small town it was Ruby. As Mary Margaret was setting up her alarm clock a knock was on the door. She looked through the peep hole and what she saw confused her. Graham stood behind a large middle age man with a scruffy grey streak beard.

"Graham, to what do I owe this visit?"

"Ms. Blanchard is it?" Mary Margaret nodded her confirmation to the older man. "I need to talk to you and Ms. Swan immediately." The teacher nodded and went into the kitchen.

"Whose at the door Mary Margaret?" Tink turned around from where she was putting away the remaining plate.

"Tink I need you to head upstairs and Emma come with me please." The two blonde teens looked at each other for a minute but with shared nods Tink went around Emma to head upstairs. The remaining teen placed the dish rag that was over one shoulder on the counter top and went with her guardian willingly.

"Graham." The two classmates gave each other an acknowledge nod.

"Ms. Swan my name is Mr. Hunter and I want to talk to you about something?"

"What about?"

"Graham here has been talking nonstop about your bravery in the fire and I did bring this to Cora beforehand but I am offering you a job at the station. Normally we wouldn't have minors working at such important building but it is more like internship and observation than an actual job." He reached into an inside pocket of his grey trench coat to pull out a folded paper and handed it out to her. "Take the weekend to think about it, we wouldn't be offended if you turn us down. Have a goodnight Ms. Swan, Ms. Blanchard." With that he left, Graham only a step or two behind him. Not so long after they left Ruby and Mulan came back, unaffected by what just happened as their conversation went on without a missed beat.

That night behind a double locked door, one was the dead bolt above the key hole the other a strange wood sliding bolt while her other roommates were sound asleep, Emma was wide awake, her mind going sixty miles a minute. The offer was good, considering it was the only one she ever had, but by excepting it would place her right in the cross fire. Working alongside Regina's current boyfriend, even if she was cheating on him, had to be some sort of rule in the dating rule book that she knew existed somewhere. Not to mention it might set them back a few steps that they just crossed, resetting Regina back to her closed off bitchy self. Well, rather she liked it or not Mary Margaret was making her go Monday, and that was that.