Updated
Regina Mills never found winter breaks amusing; in fact she found the whole thing utterly pointless. It could be for the fact that everyone that she found remotely interesting was busy with holiday preparations or away to celebrate. She couldn't spend the break with Kathryn for her family always left to escape the cold and her mother was very strict about her not leaving Storybrooke unless it was for school or she was with her. With the temperature's dropping steadily it was too cold to spend all day at the stables. Winter break left her with nothing to do but to sit around at home, mostly alone since her mother was still supervising the grading and distribution of winter report cards and supervised the preparations for the next semester.
On Sunday Graham came over like he usually does, though she never really understood why, because it was always the same incomplete dance. She would welcome him with a kiss on his rough cheek, quickly closing the door behind him to stop the cold air from hitting her bare legs. He would sit on the leather couch, always on the right side with the bottle of root beer that she would keep hidden in the back of the fridge. After drinking about half of the bottle he would unlace his boots and toe off his socks, even though they both knew that he had a bad habit of leaving them underneath the couch when he does. He would then scooch over to where she was curled up at the other end and start kissing up and down neck. She lets him press into her, effectively trapping her legs under their combined weight. His hands would start to roam her body, always with the left on top and the right underneath. Once he touches the crease under her bare breast she would push him away and would use the excuse of throwing away the empty bottle or going to the bathroom to get up. She would hide for a minute or two in the bathroom or against the island kitchen to let the sickly feeling that lingered on her skin to fade away. When she left the bathroom he would be standing in the middle of the foyer, shoes and coat back on, and he would kiss her one more time before he showed himself out. No words were ever spoken between them.
She would spend the rest of the day just keeping busy in a combination of sulking and hard thinking. She would find the socks that Graham left behind and would throw them in with her dark color laundry, taking her anger out on the poor household appliance by slamming the door to the top load washing machine with more force than necessary.
"Oh dear what has that poor washing machine done to earn such anger?" The anger that she was keeping in check burst.
"What are you doing here?" She was met with deep chuckling that always made her blood boil for some reason.
"Is that anyway to treat your big sister?" With a hand over that ridicules green pendant she always wore, her sister with her copper hair in a tight French bun feign hurt. "I'm wounded."
"Good." Regina picked up the basket that held her freshly clean whites.
"Come now Regina don't be like that, come here and give your sister a hug." The older girl held out her arms and extended her full bottom lip. The darker hair brunette halved scoffed halved sighed and went over to give her sister a one arm hug.
"There happy?" She turned and went upstairs, setting the basket on the queen bed.
"Well look who's in a bad mood. Come now tell big sister Zelena what has frazzled your delicate teenage nerves. Which one did it this time, horse boy or the one that was leaving here like a whipped puppy?"
"My personal life is none of your business."
"True, but it makes great drama. Where's Mother?"
"At the school, she won't be back till tomorrow afternoon when the report cards have been official mailed out. However, that still does not answer the question as to why you are here."
"I'm on break just like you. That and I have to take a class at the local college that is not offered at my university. And last time I checked it wasn't a crime to want to spend the holidays with your sister and mother."
"Whatever, just stay out of my way and out of my personal life."
"No guarantees little sister." She said with a wink as she left Regina's bedroom. The class president slammed the drawer that she was putting some of the clothing from the laundry basket in; making the dull ache that was starting to settle in her temple pulse. God could this week get any worse?
Damn him damn him to hell! What the hell was Graham thinking? Hiring Ms. Swan of all people to protect the citizens of Storybrooke, even if the duties of a Junior Deputy were limited. She was crass, did what she pleased, and had absolutely no respect for authority. But on the other hand the curly blonde had gone out of her way to be nice to her, even when Regina was nothing but nasty.
She still remembers the fire vividly, how the blonde did not back down when she was throwing accusations of flirting her way, and even tried to explain herself to her, but at the moment she was too caught up in her own self-righteousness to listen. Ms. Swan had no reason at all to save her, to let her burn or save herself she had plenty, but to save someone you hated took a lot of strength.
According to Katheryn, when she called to retrieve information regarding her homework assignments, she let it slip that the new student was slowly losing her cool. She rolled her eyes as her friend went on and on about how the blonde teen just yelled at Ms. D out of the blue, for no apparent reason. She clearly doubted that her presence, or lack of it, had any effect on the blonde's strange behavior, but that was the only factor that had changed. She told Kathryn to let it go for it was probably nothing, and it was none of their business, but it was still in the back of her mind.
Then there was Miner's Day and Thanksgiving, where Ms. Swan offered some sort of concern and companionship, again two things that she did not earn from the other girl. Though she did snap at her when she was founded at the stables and could reject the company for some reason or another at Thanksgiving she didn't. There was something about Ms. Emma Swan that made her want to keep the girl close and not in a possessive way that she felt with Graham and Daniel. It was different for she wanted to be close to Emma and not just in a physical way but an emotional one as well, which was new to her.
She continue to hold her anger at dinner as she stabbed her piece of meatloaf with her fork, the square falling apart in small meat clumps. Her mother looked at her with concern as she took a sip of wine out of her glass, washing away the bite she was working in the left side of her jaw. The smirk that Zelena has been wearing since she came home yesterday grew larger the longer Regina nursed her own scowl.
"What's the matter Regina do you not like the meatloaf?"
"It's fine Mother."
"Oh? You have actually taken time from playing with it to taste it?" Zelena smirked around her fork as the scowl on her sister's turned more deadly.
"Leave Regina alone Zelena. Why don't you tell us about the news that I know your bursting with."
"Gladly." The copper hair woman wiped her mouth with the napkin that was on her lap, placing the stark white material next to her empty plate. "So you know that I started taking that nursing course today? Well as I was heading out I bumped into this woman. My god she couldn't be anymore cuter. She was dressed in these god awful overalls that were splattered in who knows what, but that's beside the point."
"Then what is the point in telling us your new target for your lesbian desires Zelena."
"Regina! That is hardly appropriate!"
"Its fine Mother, let little Regina think what she wants. Anyway, so I accidentally bump into her and before I could apologize to her she quickly gave me her apology with this powdery streak under one eye."
"Could you please get to the point of this story Zelena." Cora sighed and leaned back in her chair, her wine glass in one hand.
"The point is that I have never met a person who's shy as door mouse but has looks that could make any person with simple eye sight stop and run into a wall and I want to get to know her."
"More like corrupt." Regina mumbled as she carried her plate with the half eaten meatloaf into the kitchen.
"Good for you Zelena, now tell me this girls name. That is if your manors were working at the time and you found it best to introduce yourself to each other." Cora watched as her eldest daughter tilted her head back in recognition.
"I believe it was Neráida."
"Oh? I didn't know she was taking extra courses over break."
"You know her Mother?"
"She's a student teacher at the school, music arts I believe it was, we spent Thanksgiving together didn't we Regina." The dark hair girl retook her seat, arms crossed as they always were.
"I guess so, I don't remember. May I please be excused mother?" Cora nodded to her head and Regina rose from her seat disappearing to a different part of the house.
"Now Zelena." The copper hair woman's blue eyes followed the older woman as she went into the kitchen to wash and put away her dinner dishes. "What is it about Ms. Superior that has caught your wanted attention?"
"Do you not approve Mother?" Zelena joined her mother in the kitchen, handing the woman her plate and glass.
"My approval is not the issue at the moment dear, it is your intentions with such a vulnerable girl."
"I would hardly call her vulnerable Mother, it's not like she's one of your students."
"True, Ms. Superior is a grown woman with her own agenda and desires, but I do not want you harassing her."
"Honestly Mother, when have you ever seen me harass anyone?" Her mother smirked at her and cupped her face between her hands.
"You tell yourself that dear." Cora tilted her daughter's face to the left and kissed the apple of the young woman's cheek. "I'm turning in for the night, you know the rules."
"Yes Mother I do. Goodnight."
"Goodnight dear."
Zelena did not see the current focus of her attention until Wednesday when she came to the university for lecture. She guessed where she could find the other woman, starting with the art wing. Her first guess was correct for she found the reddish brunette in one of the art rooms. The room was made out of depressing charcoal grey slabs of concrete but Neráida didn't seem to mind.
The student teacher's focus was on the pottery wheel between her knees, left foot steadily pumping the pedal to make the wheel spin. Her hands were covered in wet brown clay as she molded and shaped the sphere of clay in the center. Her eyebrows scrunch together as the clay did not do what she wanted. She released a held breath with a huff and stopped supplying energy to the wheel, whipping her hands with the rag that stuck out of her pocket.
"Not turning out how you want?" Neráida winced as one of her nails scratched the dry skin of her knuckles. "Sorry didn't mean to frighten you."
"It's all right… Zelena is it?" The copper hair woman nodded and pulled out the handkerchief that was tucked into her sleeve.
"Let me." She dabbed the slightly bleeding wound with the cloth.
"Thank you. May I ask what brings you by?"
"I was just wondering what an inspiring music major is doing in the pottery cellar?"
"How did you know that I was a music major?"
"My mother recognized your name when I told her, she works at the academy."
"I see. Well there is no real interesting reason as to why."
"Try me." With the bleeding stopped Zelena placed the now stained handkerchief into one of the side pockets of her black leather hand bag.
"It's nothing interesting really just a little talent that I have that I wanted to dabble in, that's all."
"Well good for you. I'm sure that when you find clay that is more cooperative with you, you will create something beautiful. Much like yourself." There was always a twig of enjoyment in causing a beautiful woman to blush like Neráida was doing now.
"Thank you Zelena."
"I was wondering," the copper hair woman stepped closer to the other woman until their chests were almost touching. "If there was a possibility of me taking a very stunning woman such as yourself out to dinner say… Saturday night?"
"I don't know I-" she was interrupted by a loud crash. A blonde teen dressed in a green t-shirt and jeans was on her hands and knees picking up the fallen glaze bottles from the floor.
"I-I-I'm s-s-so s-sorry, I… I d-didn't…" the teen quickly turned on her heels, light tan skin stained with tears. Neráida took a half step toward the teen but it was too late the blonde girl was nowhere to be seen.
"Oh dear, what an unfortunate event. Do you know her?"
"I do, she's in the orchestra. I'm sorry, I have to think about it before I can accept your invitation Zelena, even if does sound lovely."
"Very well. Here." She wrote something down on a small pad of paper and tore the top sheet to give to the reddish brunette. "Call me when you come to a decision. It was nice talking to you Neráida."
"Same to you Zelena." To make a lasting impression the copper hair woman leaned forward to graze her cheek with the other woman's, her lips jut touching the other woman's tragus.
"See you around Neráida." With a smile that could be describe as victorious she left, her black heels clicking against the hard stone floor. Thought she did not get an immediate answer, she did ruffle the other woman's delicate feathers, and for now that would have to do. And if the blonde teen's reaction was anything to go by, Neráida that was not the only one riled up, who knows what she just put into motion. Maybe coming to Storybrooke wasn't such a bad idea.
For some reason or another Regina always made dinner Friday nights. She never really questioned it for it helped her in the long run. They didn't have much since the shopping had not been done but she did scrape up the ingredients for lasagna. She knew as soon as she prepared the Italian dish what the outcome would be, for some reason or another people never liked it very much and the leftovers would always sit in the fridge to a point that it was almost hazardous. She would always cut off a portion out of whatever she made and set it aside to bring it to Graham later on that night.
By midnight she knew that her mother would be asleep, Cora always stride to be in bed by no later than 11:30 and be up by six at the latest. The container that she left out would be ready to go in a large paper bag that she knew no one would miss when she threw it away in the nearest waist bin. After disabling the house alarm so that it wouldn't signal when she opened and closed the garage doors, she started her journey, sticking to mostly the more shadowy areas. The station wasn't very far off from where she lived, and even though it was the middle of the night she knew the path like the back of her hand. The combination of security and street light gave the station house a dull blue overcast. When she rounded the corner she heard the distinct clatter of something like a pencil hitting the ground. She raised an eyebrow when she saw that it was a dart.
"You missing a shot? Must be off your game Graham." The smile that was on her face fell when her eyes fell on a female figure instead of a male one. "What are you doing here Ms. Swan?"
"It's Emma, I thought we came to an understanding, and like I said on Monday I work here, for the week at least, by tonight I have to make a decision. What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be doing what I envy and that is sleeping in their own bed?" the blonde placed the darts onto Graham's desk.
"Graham normally takes the Friday graveyard shift and he always complains about having nothing to eat besides those abominations you call doughnuts, so I would normally bring him something real to eat. However since he is not here I guess it's yours."
"Thanks what is it?" For some reason Regina found the blonde's childlike curiosity cute and witty.
"I made lasagna even though he never did like it." The dark hair girl watched with great interest as the blonde took a bit of the pasta dish. Her heart plummeted at the very blank expression on the blonde's face.
"I'm going to have to agree with Graham on this one Regina."
"I could never get a straight answer as to why from him." She made a move to take back the container but Emma turned, almost curling her body over the container, as though protecting it from unknown doom.
"It doesn't match." Dark eye brows scrunched together in confusion.
"Excuse me?"
"The lasagna doesn't match you. Its good but it doesn't stand out against the others. The way I see it is that if I were blind folded and you presented me with two different pieces of the same food I should be able to tell the difference between the two because you've added something to make it stand out, reflect you in a way. I would be able to taste the difference between your lasagna and Mrs. Lucas' because she has a different mix of cheeses it's her own touch to make it pop. You have to find something that makes it pop."
"Like what?"
"I don't know anything. Besides apples what do you like?"
"You're asking me about my taste in food?"
"Yeah. Do you like spicy or bland? Sour or sweet? You should cook to please others but if you are not satisfied with it than it doesn't matter what others think because to you you have already failed. You should serve something that you are proud of."
"Very well since you're such an expert." She leaned back in Graham's chair, elbows on the arm rest, fingers laced together, she had seen her mother do it before when she staring someone down. "Give me an example."
"Okay, um, you wouldn't know this since you didn't have any but the pumpkin pie that Dr. Hopper served at Thanksgiving had cinnamon in it, probable more so then it called for, that simple change gave it a whole new flavor. Last weekend Mary Margaret made bacon cheese turkey burgers and added a little bit of spices but kept the natural flavoring of the meat. Your candy apples are a perfect example, you make them one way with one kind of apple and prepare them a certain way that makes them a hit. You just have to find that one thing that defines you and work with it."
"Are you suggesting that I use should apples in everything? Because that is the only thing that I am good at."
"No, but that would defiantly make it interesting. I am sure that there is something else that you like. How about you answer my previous question: spicy or bland?"
"Spicy."
"What's your favorite spicy food?"
"My father use to make this amazing dirty rice with red pepper flakes when I was little. The flavoring was to accommodate my mother's taste more than me for she didn't like heavily spiced foods but I loved it." There was a light, almost ghost like, tingle on her tongue, like as though by just remembering how the red pepper tasted in the dirty rice made her tongue surge in the after burn that the peppers brought.
"See there you go, changing something to give it its own identity. Why don't you use your father's example and maybe try playing with different kinds of spices and flavor combinations. If you want I can be you guinea pig, I'll eat everything you give me but will tell you what I honestly think, even if you poison me. I might not be happy with you after words but I will do it again if you ask," the olive tone girl smiled and took the empty container off the blonde's desk.
"I would never poison you accidentally, deliberately yes if you had done something to enrage me."
"That's a comforting thought. You wanna hang around for a little bit or do you have to go?" A tempting thought, Emma's sole and uninterrupted attention did have a certain appeal to her, but she knew she couldn't, shouldn't give in, she just wasn't ready for it.
"I must be going if, my mother finds out that I sneaked out I can kiss my break goodbye."
"Okay, well let me know when you need me to test something, or if need anything."
"Will do. Have a goodnight Emma." That faint tingling from remembering the red pepper flakes gave Emma's name a more powerful punch, leaving behind a longer after effect.
"Goodnight to you as well Regina. Oh, and stick to the lit path and call if you feel scared or whatever."
"I will heed your warning Emma." The blonde smiled at her and that fueled a small smile out of Regina, a genuine one she might add.
She snuck back into the house the same way she snuck out, rearming the system to cover her tracks.
"Sneaking out in the middle of the night? I do believe that this is the most spontaneous and rebellious thing you have ever done little sister."
"Zelena what are you doing here?" Her sister smiled from where she sat in the arm chair in the corner where she would do some reading in, as though it was her room and not her sisters.
"I was doing some late night studying when I saw you walk out the house bold as brass. My my here and back in less than an hour, don't you know how to pick them."
"I'm not commenting on that."
"Right right I remember. 'My personal life is none of your business'." Zelena mocked her in a high pitched voice.
"Exactly, so if you please leave I would like to go to bed." The copper hair woman sighed and rose from her perch.
"All right all right fine. Geez Regina has any one told you you're a killjoy?" The younger girl sneered and closed the door behind her sister, blocking out her sister's presence, and in a way the outer world as well.
As she laid there in bed that night her mind raced with the conversation that she had with the blonde junior deputy. Again she was nice, she didn't yell at her for calling her Ms. Swan and even offered to be her own private taste tester. It was the mystery behind one Ms. Emma Swan that kept her up that night, but the entire time there was a smile on her face.
For those who do not know, a tragus is the small piece of cartilage that sticks out above you ear lobe, just a little FYI.