DISCLAIMER:: do not own. just borrowing for purpose of creative expression. no profit obtained.
A/N:: another update, forgot to post last night as promised, but better late than never. by now i'm sure everyone's heard about the maturity rating controversy on here and how is finally deciding to crack down on all stories with unacceptable content. in other words, some reader or, more likely, reader's parent got their knickers in a twist and complained and now we ALL have to suffer. such is the way of the world. i highly doubt my other stories will be at risk, but this one might considering the sexual content in chapter 6 and a few already written but not yet posted future chapters (especially chapters 23 and 53 because they're pretty detailed for me). i am considering getting a live journal or posting on my tumblr if this should happen and i will keep you updated as to if this becomes necessary. hopefully will stop being such a prude and just put a filter in that keeps young people from reading those stories that contain sexual content. enjoy and review.
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-Chapter 17: It'd Be Nice To Start Over Again-
Henry stalked down the stairs, not happy with how the morning, how the entire last week actually, had been going. He had expected Emma Swan to be a little more proactive in breaking the curse. She seemed to take him seriously after all. He could tell she believed what he said about fairytales being real, though truth be told, he had expected slightly more resistance. But she wasn't doing anything about it. The only changes he'd seen were with the clock on the tower finally moving again, time finally moving forward. And then of course the changes he'd seen in his mom. They were subtle, not something the outside observer would notice. But he had to live with her every single day, and the differences did not go unnoticed.
She would get these faraway looks in her eyes now, as if she were thinking about times long passed. She seemed a little more sad and slightly less composed than usual. Nothing broke through his mother's perfect composure, nothing. Well nothing except Emma, it seemed.
"Henry?"
He froze and slowly turned on the bottom stair and looked back up at the second floor landing where his mother was looking down at him with a smile on her face. "Yea?"
Regina came down the stairs slowly until she was standing next to her son. She crouched down to his level. "How would you like to spend some time with Miss Swan this evening?"
Henry narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously, unable to decide if this was a trick. Knowing who she was, who the book told him she was, it very well could be. "Why?"
Regina frowned slightly. She obviously hadn't been expecting him to question her offer. Finally she shrugged. "I know I haven't let you spend much time with her since she came into town. And since she seems content to make herself comfortable here and is showing no signs of vacating town anytime soon, I feel like it might be nice for us to have dinner together."
Henry raised a disbelieving eyebrow. "Dinner? Here? As in her, me, and you?"
Regina nodded, her frown growing more prominent. "Of course here. I can't very well allow you to go over and have dinner at that woman's apartment. Miss Swan is one thing, that teacher of yours is quite another. I already have to tolerate her influencing you in an intellectual capacity; I don't need her having any social influence over you."
"Will you be nice to Emma if she comes over?" He was still wary of the offer. He knew his mom wasn't the biggest fan of Emma being in town. How would she act if she was forced to spend the evening with her?
Regina nodded. "For tonight, I promise to be civil as long as Miss Swan is."
Finally, Henry let himself smile. He threw his arms around the mayor's neck. "Thanks mom."
She smiled genuinely and hugged him back. "I'll call her and invite her as soon as I get to the office. Now, go get in the car. I'll be right there."
He jumped off the last step and ran through the front door.
She stared after him for a moment. Phase one complete.
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"You are a saviour." Emma lifted her head from her desk as Graham set the steaming cup of coffee in front of her. Mary Margaret had woken her on accident this morning and the memory of what she'd missed out on was still a fresh wound in her mind.
"I wouldn't say that just yet." He ran a hand through his hair.
Emma narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Why?"
"Because I ran into Mayor Mills at Granny's. She told me that as soon as she got into work, she was going to give you a ring." He went into his office.
Emma got up and followed, cradling the warm coffee cup between her hands. "Do you know what she wants?"
He shrugged. "She didn't say, but she didn't seem in a foul mood."
Emma rolled her eyes. "She's never in a foul mood. That's because she enjoys maiming into submission." She sighed. She shouldn't be complaining. The only way she was going to be happy in this world, with her son, was if she found some sort of common ground with this Regina and there was no way to do that without indulging the prickly woman.
Just as she reached her desk, the phone rang. "I'll get it. Might as well since it's for me anyway." She picked up the line. "Sheriff's office, Deputy Swan speaking."
"Just who I was hoping to speak with. I trust you're having a pleasant morning Deputy?" Regina's voice was smooth as silk, but Emma was determined to not underestimate the deadliness that lurked beneath the sweet surface.
"So far. What can I do for you Madam Mayor?"
"I'd like to invite you to have dinner with me and my son this evening Miss Swan."
Emma almost dropped the phone, that great was her shock. Graham must have read it on her face, because he stood and came around his desk, concern clouding his features. She held up a hand to stop his progress.
"Miss Swan?"
"Yea, I'm here. Sorry, I just wasn't expecting… that."
She could almost hear the mayor's delight. "Am I to assume you'll be accepting the invitation? Henry is very much looking forward to it."
Damn the woman for using guilt! How could she refuse now? "Are you?"
"Am I what?"
"Are you looking forward to it too?"
There was a long pause on the other end of the line and now it was Emma who was pleased for having caught the other woman off guard.
"It might be pleasant to not be at each other's throats for once, don't you agree?"
Emma sighed, resigning herself to her fate. "What time will you be expecting me?"
"Six o'clock Miss Swan. Please be on time." The line clicked dead.
Emma hung up the receiver and fell into her seat, and grabbed her coffee, taking a huge gulp.
"What did she want?" Graham paused in the door of his office.
"She wants me over for dinner."
Graham raised an eyebrow.
Emma caught the gesture and frowned. "What?"
"In all the time I've known Regina, and it's been quite a few years, she's never invited anyone over to her house for dinner." He looked at her in a new light. "Why the sudden change?"
"I don't know. But if I don't show up to work tomorrow… dig under the apple tree first."
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"You're home early." Mary Margaret looked up from where she was slicing a carrot for dinner. It was only five. Normally Emma didn't come in until after six.
"I have plans tonight."
Emma heard a unique stream of sounds in quick succession, a kind of slice thud gasp combo. She ran over to the counter, sure Mary Margaret had cut herself, but the teacher was staring down at her cuts, all uniform discs except the last in line which was angled and misshapen. The knife was wedged unceremoniously in the wood of the cutting board.
"Ruby mentioned that you and August had something going on," Mary said by way of explanation for her reaction.
Emma rolled her eyes. "Ruby needs to come off it. There is nothing going on between August and I. We have a history, nothing more. And the definition of history is events that occurred in the past."
"Well then… who are you going out with tonight?" Mary grabbed the next carrot and began chopping once more.
"The mayor invited me to dinner at her house and I accepted."
This time there was no mistaking that the blade had found Mary Margaret's finger. She cried out, more from surprise than from actual pain and dropped the knife onto the cutting board, holding the offending finger away from the food as a small trickle of blood made its way down the digit.
Emma came around the counter and turned on the faucet, grabbing Mary Margaret's hand and thrusting it under the stream of water.
The schoolteacher winced at the brief sting and tried to instinctively pull her hand away, but the blonde held firm. She cleaned the wound with water and a little bit of antibacterial hand soap and then handed the brunette a paper towel to dry it with while she disappeared to the medicine cabinet in the first floor bathroom to retrieve a bandage. She appeared just moments later, carrying one victoriously and wrapped it around her roommate's finger. Then she brought the digit to her lips, kissed the bandage and grinned. "All better."
Mary Margaret rolled her eyes, but there was a smile on her lips.
Emma playfully looked offended. "What? That was quality care right there. I should have an MD after my name."
"Go into private practice, healing nicks and scratches?" She raised and eyebrow and shook her head. But as she looked down at the bandage around her finger, the smile slipped from her face, replaced by a sour expression. "So… you accepted the mayor's invitation?"
Emma sighed. "You make it seem like I really had a choice. You know how she gets when she doesn't get her way… oh wait, you don't, because she always gets her way. It's better that I go there knowing I'm walking into a trap than to just stumble into the same trap unsuspectingly sometime down the road. Might as well just get whatever torture she has planned over with now."
Mary Margaret's head tilted and she regarded Emma curiously.
Emma began to fidget under the gaze. "What?"
"Are you happy that she wants to spend time with you?" She managed a small smile. "Because it's okay if you are."
Emma sighed and shrugged. "Honestly, I don't know whether to be scared or thrilled. I want… no, I need to find some common ground with her. For the sake of what we once were. But she makes it so difficult that sometimes I just really don't see the point."
Mary Margaret nodded. "I'm the last person who should be giving you any advice on how to handle Regina. Even on your worst day, you handle her better than I do on my best, but… when you care about someone, truly care, you have to hold onto that, even through the difficult times. Regina and I have never been close, but I have known her for a long time, as long as I can remember, and in all that time, she has never had anyone look at her the way you do. She may be making things difficult, that's just her way, but you are affecting her. Everyone in town sees it."
Emma frowned. She couldn't see any change, but then again, she was expecting and comparing Mayor Regina Mills to Queen Regina in the Enchanted Forest, and maybe that much change was too much to ask for.
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"Hey Emma!" Henry threw open the door a second after she knocked.
"Hey kid." She ruffled his hair as he launched himself around her abdomen.
"Miss Swan." Regina came from the dining room and crossed the foyer.
"Madam Mayor." Emma greeted her with an incline of her head.
"Henry, why don't you go finish setting the table while I pour our guest a drink?"
Too excited about the prospect of having dinner together to object, Henry gave Emma's middle one more tight squeeze before running back into the dining room.
"Were you planning on standing on the doorstep all night long?" Regina raised an eyebrow.
Emma took a deep breath and stepped inside. She had to be prepared for the attack no matter which direction Regina decided to spring it from. Her years as a bounty hunter had made her quite adept at being prepared for anything. But by the end of the night she'd realize, those years had done nothing to prepare her for Regina.
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"Can Emma watch a movie with us mom?"
Dinner had gone surprisingly well, much to Emma's delight. Regina had been, dare she say, almost friendly. They'd discussed boring things revolving around their work for the first fifteen minutes or so but after they'd loosened up a little, they had begun to talk about Emma's life in Boston and Henry when he was younger. Henry had contributed with what he'd been learning recently in school. It almost seemed like an, albeit odd, actual family dinner.
"If Miss Swan is amicable, I don't see why not."
Henry grinned from ear to ear. He turned to the blonde who was helping to clear the dishes. "Will you stay for a movie Emma?"
Emma shrugged. Might as well go with the flow while this lasted. "Sure kid. What're we watching?"
He glanced down at the DVD case in his hand. "Well I found this one in mom's room so it must be one of her favourites. Have you ever heard of…"
Regina, with a look of pure horror, snatched the DVD from his hands and held it behind her back. "Not that one dear. Why don't you go pick one off the shelf in the den?"
A look of indignation crossed his little features and he crossed his arms. "But we've seen all those a million times mom!"
Regina bent down to his level. "Did you ever think that maybe Miss Swan hasn't?"
The indignation left his face slowly as the practical nature of her words sunk in. "Have you ever seen Tarzan Emma?"
"Can't say that I have."
Regina raised an eyebrow at him. "See? Why don't you go put it on?"
He nodded and ran off to put the movie on in the den.
Once he was gone, Regina turned to Emma. "Thank you."
"For what?"
"For helping me to distract him."
Emma shrugged. "I was just being honest." She was dying to know what DVD Regina didn't want them to watch. She didn't really seem like the type to be into porn, but that didn't mean there wasn't suggestive content not suitable for their ten year old son. Or quite possibly, it was just a really embarrassing secret obsession. Like Mighty Morphin Power Rangers The Movie (which Emma herself not so proudly owned a copy of).
"I'm just going to put this back upstairs. Then I'll come down and do the dishes while you two watch your movie." Regina turned and started out of the kitchen.
"Tell you what. I'll get started on the dishes and we can do them together when you get back down. That way, we can all watch the movie."
Regina nodded, but kept her back turned so that Emma couldn't see her bare hint of a smile.
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"Henry is down for the night." Emma came down the stairs, meeting the mayor at the bottom. "Thank you, for letting me tuck him in."
Regina waved it off as if it were nothing, but Emma knew this was a struggle for her, though she wouldn't admit it.
"Are you going to tell me what this is going to cost me, or do I have to be surprised later?"
Regina regarded her slowly. "Does there have to be a cost?"
Emma shook her head. "No, there doesn't have to, but with you there somehow always is."
Regina nodded slowly. "I don't want Henry to enter into this feud between us Miss Swan. Whatever problems we may have, they're not his. I'd like to take using Henry as a bargaining chip off the table. You may… take him to school in the mornings if you're here promptly by 7:15 and not a moment later. You may also pick him up after school on Wednesdays and Fridays, but one call from the school saying you are late and you will lose the privilege Miss Swan. Am I understood?"
Emma nodded, smiling. "Why the sudden change of heart?"
"As much as both him and you may refuse to believe it, I do love him. If being with you makes him happy, I'm am not beyond compromising. You will find I can be a fair ally deputy."
"I don't want to be your enemy." Emma took a step towards her.
"I know." Regina backed away and led the way towards the door. "Do drive home safely Miss Swan."
Emma nodded. "Thank you for the lovely evening Madam Mayor; I hope we can do it again sometime."
Regina closed the door behind the deputy, only then letting her smirk surface. "I'm sure we can manage that."