A/N –Sorry I haven't updated for a while. Just needed a bit of a break and then I took too long of a break. Anyway, on we go.
We made our way downstairs. Henry grabbed his overnight bag. I donned on my jacket and shoes, and Regina stood by my side as we walked to the car. Tonight was going to go well. Everything just felt better when Regina was with me. Everything just worked.
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We pulled up to the gallery, and the valet took the car from me. I told Regina we were going in my car, whether she felt comfortable in it or not. Driving my own car always seemed to calm me down. It sounded strange, but it gave me a sense of control when everything was completely out of my control. I moved round the car and saw Regina waiting for me at the bottom of the steps. With her purse in one hand, she held her hand out for me to take. Without even a second thought I took her hand in mine and we made our way inside. Once we stepped inside, I saw the chaos that was my Gallery. People were running all over the place, and the more I looked, the more I realised that we had less than 30 minutes till the doors opened, and the building was in ruins. Drapes were half hung up. Food and drink bowls were spread out over all the tables, when they should have been grouped together. People were running everywhere holding anything. I started squeezing Regina's hand noticeably tighter.
"Regina…I am officially freaking out a little right now." She turned and brushed my arm with the back of her hand that was holding her purse. My hand relaxed against her own, and I heard her soothing voice breaking through the fog that had clouded my mind.
"Relax. That is why I am here. The only thing I want you to do right now, is go back through to your office, practice your speech, and come back and find me in about 20 minutes. I promise everything will be fine." I turned to her to try and argue. To say that I should stay and help, but when I saw the look in her eyes, I figured trying to argue would be useless. I probably should have known that by now, but I never really learn. I took a deep breath to try and calm myself down. Being ridiculously worried at the moment will do me no good.
"Fine. I'll be back in a little bit. Thank you." I leant down and placed a gentle kiss to her lips. At this point I didn't really care who knew about Regina and myself. I loved her, and I knew I did. She was amazing and wonderful. And honestly, I have never met anyone that could actually cause me to become speechless. But Regina somehow managed to do just that to me every time I laid eyes on her. She didn't even need to say a word and she could take all mine away.
I started heading towards my office, and I could hear Regina yelling at everyone straight away. Everything was rushing through my head. From the issues with the event, to everything happening with Regina. I was so distracted I wasn't even watching where I was going. I ended up walking right into Graham.
"Graham!" I had never been so happy to see him. I needed someone I could rant to for the next 20 minutes. Screw the speech. That was what the damn que cards were for. I grabbed him by the wrist and spun him round as we went back to my office.
"What the hell are you doing? I need to go and help to set everything up. In case you missed it, the place is complete chaos out there." One of these days that snarky mouth of his was going to get him into trouble. But not today. I was already having enough trouble of my own, I didn't need to worry about his.
"Don't worry about the event. Regina's out there sorting it all." He scrunched his eyebrows together, but why I didn't quite understand.
"What's Regina doing here? She's the event organiser. She didn't need to be here tonight." He sounded almost jealous of her. I couldn't help but laugh slightly. Was he worried Regina was going to steel his job or something?
"Would you relax? I invited her. She is my date." When I finished I knew I had a shit eating grin plastered on my face. I couldn't help myself. When his jaw opened the laughter returned and this time it showed no sign of finishing any time soon. I was practically doubling over from laughing so much.
"Has the great Emma Swan finally found someone that could tame her?" I knew he was mocking me. But I honestly couldn't care less. I had found the one. I know we had barely known each other more than a month, but every moment I am around her, I feel like I am falling for her all over again.
"What can I say? She just makes me want to smile. And I never want it to stop." His smile dropped and his mouth was open once again. Is he trying to become a fly trap? "What?"
"I was kidding."
"Well I wasn't." He practically sprinted over to me and dragged me over to the sofa. Sitting us down he looked at me with the most serious look I have ever seen on his face.
"Emma. In all the years I have known you, you have not once ever spoken about actually liking another person. Male or female. All you ever look for is a good lay, and then get back to work. What's different about Regina?" I thought about it for a moment. So many things came to mind. She was perfect. Funny. Beautiful. Intelligent. Sassy. I could go on for forever as to why Regina is different from the rest. But there was one thing that stood out to me in particular when it came to why I loved Regina. I looked right into Graham's eyes so he knew I was being serious and answered.
"She isn't like the other girls. Regina doesn't look at me like I'm a broken, divorced, single Mother. Regina looks at me, and she makes me feel like I am the only other person in the world. And I never want to be without that feeling." As I was telling Graham this I was trying to figure out why I wasn't saying any of this to Regina. There was so much I wanted to say to her. But there was still so much uncertainty between us. We have only just kissed each other. We have never really spoken about our feelings. But I just know that whatever I do in the future, I want to be doing it with her.
"So when exactly did you say all this to her?" I looked back to Graham and bit my lip in shame.
"I haven't."
"Emma! You are practically head over heels for this girl and you haven't told her anything yet. What the hell are you playing at?"
"I don't want to rush anything with her. I don't want to mess anything up. And for the first time in a while, I'm nervous." Graham just looked at me like I was an idiot. "Seriously. Regina makes me nervous. And I don't want to make a complete idiot of myself."
"Honey, if she has kept with you this long, I doubt there is much more you can do that would scare her off." I gasped at his comment at slapped him on the arm.
"Don't go forgetting who signs your pay checks at the end of the month." We both started laughing at how ridiculous this situation was. "Who would have thought I would be the first one of us two to find someone? I mean I know nothing between Regina and I is dead certain at the moment but still…"
"I know what you mean. But you know what?" He looked down at the floor and back to me. "I am so happy for you. I am so happy that you have found someone that can make you this happy. And I hope you never let her go because if you do, I will kill you. Because you will never find someone like her in another million years." As I smiled I looked down at the floor and realised that what he said was true. Regina was the kind of person you wouldn't find in a million years. I just got lucky. He gave me a small shove to the shoulder and looked up at the clock. "Come on. The doors are going to be opening in 5 minutes. You might want to think about actually making an appearance." I took one last deep breath and moved from the sofa. Graham opened the door for me and the noise of everything happening in the main section hit me. I was so nervous for tonight. For so many different reasons. But after talking to Graham I feel a bit more at ease.
As we turned the final corner to the main reception area, I felt the air leaving my lungs. Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined how this would have looked. Everything was perfect. Everything was where it should be, and you still had access to all the art work. I scanned the room still looking for something to be wrong, like there always was. But there was nothing. Not even a flower was out of place. Everything was perfect. I was looking for Regina to thank her. To wrap her in my arms and never let her go. I finally spotted her full brown hair, and almost ploughed down 3 people to get to her. But the only thing on my mind was showing Regina how happy I was to have ever met her. As I came up behind her, I spun her round by the shoulder. I dipped her down and took her in a firm kiss. Her hands came up to my shoulders to help hold herself up. I pulled back from the kiss but held our position.
"What was that for?" Her face was slightly scrunched together and her nose was doing that adorable crinkling that I absolutely loved.
"Making sure you know how much I care for you. And how much you mean to me. And…" Should I really say it now? Would now be the best time? Now is probably as good a time as any. "And how much I love you." Her eyes widened. Not much. But enough for me to notice. I pulled us both back up so we were standing straight. She didn't remove her hands from my shoulders which I guess was a good sign. She wasn't completely rejecting me. But she also wasn't saying anything. Which is never a good sign. Her mouth opened and closed a few times, but nothing was coming out. Okay, time to panic. "Regina…I'm so…"
"I love you too." I almost didn't believe she had said it. Like I was dreaming and that this moment wasn't real.
"Really?" I know it was stupid, but I needed to make sure. I couldn't risk having my heart broken. Not by Regina.
"Yes." She laughed. "I love you, you big idiot." She wrapped her hands around my neck and pulled me back into her for another kiss. I didn't notice at first, but everyone around us was now whistling and cheering at us. I pulled back from the kiss and could feel the blush on my cheeks. Regina had the same look. But the smiles on our faces never wavered.
"Okay everyone. Get back to work. We only have one minute before doors open." Graham yelled from the other side of the room. My eyes never left Regina's. I gave her one last kiss on the lips before saying.
"Maybe we should continue this discussion later. Something tells me we are going to have plenty of time to talk."
"Among other things I hope." Only Regina.
"Damn. You don't quit do you?"
"Not when I see something I like. And you my dear Swan…are something I love. So you have no chance of getting rid of me."
"I wouldn't have it any other way." We stayed there for a moment more, before Regina jutted her chin out towards the door behind me.
"You may want to think about making a move over there to greet your guests. Wouldn't want to be a bad host now would we?" I glared at her, but gave her a kiss anyway, and made my way over to the door. I stood next to Graham. The grin on his face made me almost want to slap him. But I knew he never meant anything by it. And he was happy for me. How could I be angry at him for that? I turned back to the door, and watched as it opened. I took a deep breath, and readied myself for the night to come.
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3 hours in. Almost over. Just 1 more hour to go. I still had my speech to do. That was what was scaring me most of all. The issue was having to speak in front of everyone. My parents. My friends. My colleagues. Regina. It was all just so scary. And I still didn't know if I had seen Regina's special little project yet. She hadn't said anything, but then again, I hadn't asked. I was wondering around and saw it was officially time for my speech. I made my way over to the podium. Before getting up, I took one last breath to try and calm my nerves. I took the last few steps and stood in front of the microphone. Tapping it to get everyone's attention, it must have reverberated or something because it made that horrible screeching noise through the speakers.
"Sorry." I looked down at everyone looking up at me. I was searching for a single person in specific. I just needed a glimpse of those eyes to calm me down. And I found them. At the side of the room standing right next to Graham. She had a smile on her face, which was loving and caring. And with that one look, I knew I would be able to do this. "Okay. Hi, everyone. And thank you for coming this evening. As I am sure many of you are aware there have been some big changes within the Gallery this year. My parents handed the business down to me, and as scary as that was at the time, I never imagined I would be standing here before you today. I thought I would be standing out front looking at the closed sign being stuck on the door." A wave of laughter made its way through the people in the room. A joke is always good, especially when it actually works. "But honestly, I wouldn't have been able to do anything without all the hard work and dedication from all of you guys. Whether you work part time or full time with me, you have all made my life so much easier this year. And I don't think I can thank you enough."
"We love you too Emma!" I turned and saw Graham yelling from the side. At first I was furious at him for heckling me, but when everyone starting cheering for me, I couldn't help but blush. Maybe I was doing something right with this company.
"As you know, the point of this thing is to raise money for the business and to show all the potential buyers what we have to offer. So, make sure you have your check books ready, and feel free to look at what you want. Make sure to spread the word, and keep this place going. It really is an amazing company." I looked to my parents and saw the tears in their eyes. "This company is like family to me. And I would hate to see this family destroyed." I could feel the tears building within my own eyes, and had to take a sharp breath to keep them from falling. "On that note. Enjoy." Everyone started going back to their conversations, but before I could step down from the podium, Regina was at my side and grabbing at the microphone.
"Actually. Everyone. Hello. We have one more treat for you before you go back to your business." Regina gestured to the back of the room, and I looked at her and was desperately trying to work out what she was doing. There wasn't anything else planned for tonight. "If you could all please direct your attention to the wall at the back of the room, we have a small video in honour of Miss Emma Swan." I looked to the back of the room, and saw two guys removing a painting from the wall, leaving the white wall behind it free. Two other guys were carrying a table that looked like it had a laptop and projector on it. Regina stood up and wrapped her arm around my waist. I looked over at her.
"What the hell is this?" I wasn't angry. Just very confused and worried. Whenever I didn't know something I got very worried. I felt Regina's hand lightly squeeze my hip as she spoke.
"Relax. Just watch." A video started playing on the wall. The first thing I saw was a small paragraph that said, Emma Swan. Daughter. Mother. Business Woman. But who is the real Emma Swan? I instantly froze. What the hell had Regina done? The screen went black and then and image of Graham came up. The room irrupted in screams and wolf whistles from the women, and even a few men if I saw rightly. I heard I voice that I knew could only be Regina's, begin to speak.
So who is Emma Swan to you? And then Graham started.
Emma Swan is an amazing person. No matter what the circumstances, she will be the one to have the level head. Emma is such an awesome person, I can't even put it into words. And I know she will probably kill me for saying this, but Emma, if you're watching this, I love you so much, and I wish you have the happiest time in whatever you do. The screen went black again, and I caught Graham's gaze from the side of the room. I mouth a quick thank you to him, and he just nodded his head. Turning back to the wall, I saw Ruby on the screen. And I suddenly felt sick.
As one of Emma Swan's best friends, what is she really like? Regina once again behind the camera.
Well that is a tough question. I guess I would have to say Emma is resilient. She has been through hell and back in the past year, and I have been with her through some of her lowest points. And trust me, that ain't too pretty. Even I had to laugh at that. I would kill Ruby for it later. But I could laugh at it for now. Emma is such a strong person that she sometimes forgets to be weak. She forgets that sometimes other people can look after her. She is always trying to look after everyone else, she forgets to take care of herself. As the screen went black once more I could feel the tears beginning to swell in my eyes. The next person on the screen was Henry. I almost cried full on at just seeing him.
As Emma Swan's son, what do you think of her?
My Mom can be a pain my butt at times. But I know she only ever does it because she loves me. I have to admit, I haven't been the best son to her for a while now, but she never gave up on me. Not once. My Mom would believe in anyone if there was any chance of her helping them. She doesn't like to give up, and she definitely doesn't like to fail. Mom, I just want you to know that no matter how much we scream and fight, I will love you with all my heart. And nothing in the world will ever change that. I love you Mom. He screamed as he waved his hands at the camera. I couldn't hold the tears back anymore. They were falling like water falls. I could hear the small sobs escaping me, but I could do nothing to stop them. One final person came up on the screen. But it wasn't someone I was expecting to see.
I, Regina Mills, have had the pleasure of working with Emma Swan for the past 4 weeks. And I can honestly say I have never met anyone more dedicated and passionate about everything she does. Emma gives 100% to all that she does, and she makes sure she does it right. Emma Swan is not someone I would want to be on the wrong side of. But I wouldn't trade the past 4 weeks for anything. I have made some new friends, and met so many wonderful people all because I met Emma Swan. The screen went black and in its place stood one last paragraph.
Emma Swan. A woman who will do whatever it takes to make everyone around her happy. So we made this video to make her happy for once. We Love You Emma. XXX
I was a complete goner. When the video finished everyone started clapping and turning back to look at Regina and myself on the podium. But I was about to fall to the floor from crying so hard. So I turned and tried to bury myself in Regina's hair. I felt her arms wrap around my back, and she rubbed smooth circles over my back. It was soothing, and calming. But nothing was going to stop me from crying. She put her hands on my arms and pushed me back slightly, and looked me dead in the eyes.
"Those had better be tears of happiness." I could do nothing but nod my head. I tried to smile, but I was still crying too hard. I leant back in to her and she started walking us down the steps to the ground floor. I felt Graham as he came up and wrapped his arms around me as well. When the tears finally dropped off my face, I came back up and looked at Regina, and thought for a second.
"That was the special project wasn't it?" Regina smiled from ear to ear as she nodded her head. I was finally able to smile without looking like a complete creep. I didn't say anything as I leant in and claimed her lips for my own. I was so happy I could do that now. And that I would never have to stop doing it. When I pulled back I looked over Regina's shoulder and saw my parents standing behind her. My heart suddenly stopped beating. I looked at them waiting for them to explode or something. But they were smiling. They were smiling at me? They walked over and looked straight at Regina. My Mom stuck her hand out to Regina waiting for her to accept it. Regina looked confused for a second but took it nonetheless.
"So you must be the famous Regina I have heard so much about?" Regina's eyes went so wide I thought they would fall out. Mine weren't far behind.
"Mom, how did you…" She turned back to me and the smile on her face still hadn't left.
"You should know by now that Ruby can't keep a secret to save her life." I didn't say anything. I couldn't. All I could do was think of ways I was going to kill Ruby.
"Am I missing something here?" Regina piped up. The quizzical look on her face would have been hilarious had it not been the exact way I felt 2 seconds ago.
"Regina. Meet my parents. David and Mary-Margret Swan." I could see Regina had now stopped breathing. "Mom. Remind me to kill Ruby in the near future."
"Oh relax." She hushed me. And then Dad came and stood behind her.
"If Ruby hadn't told us, I doubt we would have ever found out you even liked women. Which, by the way, we completely support you for." He gave me a small pat on the shoulder. I felt a little better. That was one of my main worries. That they wouldn't accept me. I still wanted to kill Ruby, but I guess I kinda owe her one now. I looked at both my parents, then to Regina and Graham. And my heart felt like it was going to explode. The only thing I could think to do was to open my arms as wide as they would go. I didn't need to say anything. Everyone understood. Group hug. They piled in and wrapped around me. I was so happy in that one moment. Happy to just be where I was and not worry about anything else.
"I love you guys. So much."
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A/N – Okay. So that all happened. I am so so so so sorry for taking so long to update. I was just not in the mind set to write much, and it took me a while to get back in the swing of this story. There probably won't be many more chapters for this story, depending on where I take it. We shall see. Review. Let me know what you think. Goodbye my lovelies.