DISCLAIMER:: do not own ouat or any of its characters. just borrowing for purpose of creative expression. no profit obtained.
A/N:: thinking of bumping this up to M in the a couple updates. does anyone think that'll change the integrity of the bedtime story aspect of this fic? please let me know in a review or PM. i'm really torn on the decision and it's giving me wicked writer's block.
SWAN QUEEN SWAN QUEEN SWAN QUEEN
-Chapter 7: Meeting Boo Radley-
The father sat down to the expectant faces of his two children and jumped into the story without preamble. "Queen Cora's curse had delivered them all into a world without magic, a dreadful place where they were all trapped, not one among them remembering their former home, many not even remembering people they used to love. The town in which they all found themselves trapped, a place by the name of Storybrooke in the land of Maine, was isolated and unlike their former home. The curse kept them from leaving the town's limits, holding them all captive within its boundaries. Some she allowed to keep their friendships and their families; she even allowed the Princess of Winter to have her parents. But from her she removed the Princess of Autumn, erasing all memory of her daughter from the younger Princess' mind. The Princess of Winter did not remember her true love. In this fashion Queen Cora was able to shape the town into everything she'd envisioned for the four kingdoms. Within a month in this new world, she had married the Prince of Winter, now known to the citizens as Edward, off to her daughter, who no longer remembered her marriage to his sister. The laws of the four kingdoms no longer applied in this new world. So ten years passed."
SWAN QUEEN SWAN QUEEN SWAN QUEEN
SWAN QUEEN SWAN QUEEN SWAN QUEEN
Why did the universal stock alarm clock ring have the same effect as nails on a chalk board? That was something twenty eight year old Emma Swan had wondered for as long as she could remember. Nope sorry, no waking up to birds chirping or the sound of a waterfall, instead you're greeted with a loud beep that makes you want to pull your hair out. And yet where would she be without it?
She slammed her hand down on the snooze button before sitting up and stretching. She glanced over to the smaller bed at the far side of the room, with its dragon themed bedding. Green eyes much too like her own stared back at her, shining in greeting.
Emma smiled and pulled the covers off. She walked over to the bed, to small arms held expectantly high, the universal gesture of children that meant simply 'up', and she scooped the small boy up into her arms, planting kisses on his cheeks. He giggled and pushed her face away with his little hands halfheartedly. This was their ritual most mornings.
She tucked him onto one hip and moved around the room, picking out his outfit for the day and grabbing a fresh uniform shirt from her closet. She was lucky her job as deputy didn't require her to give up her signature skinny jeans; she hated the uniform pants, they were too itchy. But Graham had always been rather lax on the dress code. He would have even let her skip the shirt if not for Mayor Mills storming in and demanding there be some restrictions that still be honoured.
She took her son to the upstairs bathroom in the loft flat they shared with her best friend and set Henry on the counter. They brushed their teeth together and then he helped her put her hair up into a ponytail, pulling the band tight for her when she told him to. They returned to the room and got dressed just as the smells of breakfast wafted upstairs.
Emma clipped her pager on her belt between her badge and her empty holster (she refused to bring her sidearm home with Henry in the house, so it stayed locked up in her desk at work). She looked down at her son, sitting on his bed, clutching at Mr. Snuffles, his black plush dragon. "You ready kid?"
He nodded and took the hand she offered him.
Downstairs, Charmaine was cooking what appeared to be french toast for breakfast. Henry skipped over to the breakfast table and crawled up on his high chair. Emma came around and locked the tray down into place, sealing him in. It was a tight squeeze with Mr. Snuffles, but she didn't dare try and take the dragon from him. Charmaine placed a plate with a thick slice of french toast, already cut into bite sized pieces and covered in syrup in front of Henry on the tray. Her son grabbed his fork and began to eat very dantily. Not for the first time, Emma found herself wondering where he got his manners from. It certainly wasn't from her.
She took her own plate that Charmaine offered her and took the seat next to Henry. As she ate, she watched her friend move about the kitchen, cleaning up before she would allow herself to eat her own plate. Charmaine was fickle like that. If one were to step into her bedroom, they'd see clothes strewn across every available surface, her sheet music scattered here and there. But all communal space was kept utterly spotless. Maybe Henry picked up on it from her. Charmaine was pretty, petite but with a swimmer's build, broad shouldered and long armed countered by thin frog legs. Her long curly black hair reached partway down her back and framed a round face with a sprinkling of freckles on her pale skin. Her eyes were big and an even brighter green than Emma's own. If her eyes had been blue she would be the spitting image of her father, who ran boat rentals down at the harbour. And she had a voice as high and lovely as her mother's.
"Do I have something on my face?"
Emma snapped out of her thoughts and focused on her friend's concerned face. "What?"
"You're staring." Charmaine was already wiping at her face without a confirmation.
The blonde shook her head. "No, you're good." She collected her and Henry's finished plates and took them to the sink. Then she unlocked his tray and helped Henry down. "Thanks for breakfast." She took Henry's hand and headed for the door.
"Wait! Don't forget you promised to take my two o'clock today Emma Swan. I have that doctor's appointment to go to."
Emma nodded even as she opened the door. "Just text me the address and I'll be there. Your client has the sheet music, right?"
Charmaine nodded. "Yep, everything's all ready. You just need to show up."
"I'll be there." Emma shut the door behind them. She was already late.
SWAN QUEEN SWAN QUEEN SWAN QUEEN
The morning passed slowly at work with only the usual upsets, nothing more. Nothing bad ever really happened in Storybrooke. Just the occasional drunk and disorderly here, small time vandalism there. Nothing truly substantial. She'd been deputy for six years now and there'd never been any crime with a fatality in all that time. In fact, with the exception of old Mrs. Fern, who had to have been at least 105 at the time, no one had ever even died in Storybrooke, accident or otherwise.
The phone rang. Emma glanced at the clock. 1:30. She picked up the receiver. "Sheriff's office, Deputy Swan speaking. Oh yes, hello Mrs. Gulbrandsen. Oh, he did? Well yes, he's been fine at home. Did you try and take away his dragon? No, I'm not accusing you of anything; he just likes to keep it near him. Yes, I know you teach the kids to share, but…No, his father is not in the picture. I don't see what bearing that has on his development. No, I'm not married yet. Nope, not even dating. I'm focusing all my energy on Henry right now. No, I am not a lesbian. Yes, I'm sure. Okay, I'll be right there. Yes, thank you, you too. See you in ten. Bye." Emma set down the phone with a sigh. She stood, locking up her firearm and grabbing her car keys. "I have to go pick up Henry."
"Everything okay?" Graham leaned out the doorway of his office.
"Yea, the vile woman tried to take away Mr. Snuffles again and you know how protective Henry is of that damn dragon. He slapped her and started yelling in baby gibberish, which got the other kids involved and now she's claiming he's uncontrollable. Now I have to search for a new babysitter, just what I need."
"Well she should have left his dragon alone."
Emma grinned, grabbing her jacket from the back of her chair. "I know right?" Her cell phone pinged with a new text and she picked it up. On the screen was a message from Charmaine, an address. Oh shit, she had completely forgotten about her promise to take over Charmaine's two o'clock. Crap! She didn't have time to pick Henry up and drop him off with her parents before she had to be there. Henry would just have to come with her. She hoped the client understood.
SWAN QUEEN SWAN QUEEN SWAN QUEEN
The address didn't register until she pulled up in front of the large white mansion. The mayor's house. Her brother's house. The same brother that had shed their last name in favour of his mother in-law's, who'd privately shunned his family though he still maintained the image of happy families in public to ensure he still kept the poorer citizens of Storybrooke in his court come election day. Edward Mills and her hadn't had a decent conversation since his marriage to Regina Mills, wealthy daughter of the town's wealthiest socialite, Cora Mills. Her financial support had ensured his ascension to mayor, despite the fact he was only twenty two at the time. Cora had been quick to whisper in his ear and convince him that his working class family was now below his station and it would be in his best interests to distance himself from them. He hadn't even been there for Henry's birth, just had the local florist deliver a bouquet of roses with a generic card of congratulations. She'd decided to stop trying after that.
Regina Mills was somewhat a topic of gossip in town. Rarely seen out of the house, everyone at Granny's just loved to speculate why she never showed her face in public. She was Storybrooke's very own Boo Radley. Emma herself had never even seen a picture of her and Cora had made a point to ensure Emma hadn't been invited to the wedding. Some people claimed she was deformed, others claimed she was terrified of people, an agoraphobic or something like that. Charmaine saw her once a week for their music lesson, but she had been forced to sign a contract stopping her from discussing the goings on of the mayor's household by Cora Mills herself, despite the fact that Cora lived in her own mansion on the outskirts of town and not in the mayor's household with him and his wife.
Emma hadn't been aware this was the client she'd agreed to mentor today. This was a whole different story. She glanced at Henry in his car seat. It would be one thing when the door opened and the maid turned her away, but Henry didn't deserve to know about this rift in her family before he was old enough to comprehend what it all meant. Stuff like that had the makings to fuck up a child. She considered driving off, and just dealing with the consequences. But the thought of breaking the promise she'd made to Charmaine and risking her best friend's job in the process turned her stomach and reluctantly, she got out.
She stared at the white door for a long moment before she knocked. The maid who answered the door was small, short, and stern.
"Miss Swan I presume? Miss Ocean called and told me you'd be here for her today. I'm Marie, the housekeeper."
Emma just nodded, grateful she'd thought to remove her deputy uniform in favour of a plain white long sleeved shirt. She'd always looked good in white and it was slightly less 'look at me' than the tan uniform shirt.
"Right this way." Marie looked disapprovingly at Henry, but didn't comment on his presence. She led Emma into the foyer and then through an open door to the left. The piano dominated most of the room, two couches on a large area rug at the far side. The room was surprisingly open and sunny, with three floor to ceiling windows that looked out to a lush green backyard, with a large apple tree at its heart.
"Mrs. Mills will be down shortly." Marie didn't offer any refreshments or anything else, just departed without a word.
Emma itched to explore the rest of the house, but she knew better than that. As it was, Edward would be pissed when he found out she'd been allowed in at all. She left Henry sitting contentedly next to the piano bench on the floor, playing with Mr. Snuffles. She walked over to the window, out of view of the door, and gazed out at the beautiful backyard. There was so much open space; with the exception of the apple tree and the hedges around its perimetre, it was all empty, a blanket of perfect grass. Henry would love playing here.
"Well you're not my usual instructor. You're way cuter than she is."
Thinking the person was speaking to her, Emma turned from the window to refute, but the woman who'd just entered had her gaze focused solely on Henry. He regarded her with shy eyes, giving a flirty shrug of his shoulder towards his cheek, a bashful grin on his little face.
Emma, if she were being honest, had to admit the boy had good taste. Regina Mills was more gorgeous than Emma had ever predicted. Her hair was cut short, but perfectly coifed and flared out. Normally not fond of shorter styles on women, Emma had to admit that there was something so flattering about the style on this woman. She was wearing a grey sheath dress, accentuated at her tiny waist by a black leather belt. She looked like the perfect politician's wife, Michelle Obama eat your heart out.
As if realising she was being studied, Regina looked over at Emma. For a moment, as brown eyes met green, the world seemed to freeze around both women. And then the moment broke when Henry said something in baby gibberish, trying to win back Regina's attention.
"Sorry for bringing him along, my babysitter quit just before I was supposed to be here and I didn't have time to drop him off with my father." She stepped back over to the piano, extending her hand. "I'm Emma Swan; I'll be filling in for Miss Ocean today. It's nice to meet you Mrs. Mills."
Regina took her hand and shook it with a smile. "Regina, please. Mrs. Mills is my mother." She looked to the small boy watching them. "And who is this?" She crouched down by him and tickled his belly, earning her a high pitched giggle.
"This is my son Henry."
"How old is he?"
Emma smiled. "Two and a half."
"I didn't know you'd had a child. Edward never said anything."
So she did know who Emma was. Of course she did; Cora probably had a mug shot of her with Warning: Stay Away From This Woman in a caption under it. But still, if she had known, why allow Emma into her house? Must be curiosity. "Of course he didn't; that would require acknowledging my existence." Realising who she was speaking to, her cheeks grew red. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that."
"Don't apologise, it's the truth. I've never approved of the way my husband turned his back on you; I told him so many times in the beginning, but I'm afraid my mother gets her way far more often than not."
Emma was struck speechless by the candid way Regina was opening up. She had expected a mini-version of Cora Mills. How wrong she'd been.
"Do you have any children?"
Regina shook her head sadly. "I'm afraid Edward thinks that a child might be detrimental to his career for now."
Emma didn't notice she'd been moving slowly closer to the brunette until there was less than a foot of space between them. "I'm sorry."
Brown eyes looked up through their lashes into the green ones.
Emma felt something uncoiling in her stomach. Every instinct in her was urging her arms to pull the brunette closer. But that was ridiculous. This was her brother's wife. Her estranged brother's wife at that. But something in the brunette's eyes told her she'd had no part in this family feud that had been going on for the past decade.
Henry stood, one hand firmly clutching Mr. Snuffles, the other banging on the piano bench. Both women's eyes shifted to the little boy.
"It seems Henry is trying to remind us of why we're here."
Emma pursed her lips. "So it would seem." She moved around the piano and seated herself rather reluctantly. Her suddenly sour mood only lifted when Regina sat down beside her on the bench. The other woman's hip brushed against hers, sending shivers rippling across her skin. "Where did Charmaine leave off with you?" She flipped through the sheet music.
Regina stopped her hand, holding it.
Emma felt the shivers dance across her skin once more, chills shooting up her arm. Did Regina feel them too? She had to, right?
"Let's just start at the beginning." Regina finally released her grip on her hand.
Emma missed the contact immediately. She didn't trust herself to speak, so she just nodded. She flipped to the first page, putting her fingers to the keys. She began to play, for once thankful that she lived with someone who had taught her the piano. She wouldn't have this opportunity had Charmaine not been her teacher first.
SWAN QUEEN SWAN QUEEN SWAN QUEEN
She played through the entire song twice before Regina even dared to try and join in. But once she got the hang of it, they spent an hour just playing together. They could have gone another hour, had Henry allowed them to. But Gruntus Interruptus made his presence known as he grunted meaningfully at his mom, pinched the fingers of his right hand together and tapped them against his lips, baby sign to signal he was hungry.
Regina responded before Emma even got the chance, scooping Henry up into her arms with ease. "Come, you both must be famished." She held Henry close, whispering to him, asking about Mr. Snuffles and leading the way from the room.
Emma followed, her heart lifting at the sight of her sister in-law with her son. Regina looked born to be a mother. She led them across the foyer, through a door directly across and then to the left, walking down a short hallway to the kitchen. She set Henry on the edge of the counter next to the fridge, keeping one hand of stability on his hip and opening the fridge with her free hand. She peeked around the door. "What do you feel in the mood for?"
Emma shrugged. "Something light would be nice. I know Charmaine will have a heavy dinner planned for tonight. She loves to cook."
Regina smiled. "I know just the thing." She reached into the fridge and removed a container, setting it down on the island. She popped off the lid, revealing apple slices. "They're from my tree." She selected one and held it out to Henry. He took the slice with his free hand and munched on it happily. Satisfied with his response, she held out the container to Emma, who plucked a few from it, bringing one to her lips.
The fruit was sweet as it passed her lips. It was the best apple she'd ever tasted, addictive. "These are amazing."
Regina seemed truly pleased. "I guess I just have the magic touch."
"I'll bet you do." Emma's eyes widened in horror. Why oh why did she have no filter? She felt like beating her head against the counter in embarrassment.
But Regina didn't seem uncomfortable with the observation. She blushed even as she smirked. "Thank you."
Emma bit her lip. She shouldn't be feeling like this, jealous of what her brother had. She never had before. His success, his wealth, his power… she'd never been envious of any of it. Until this moment. Until her. She wanted Regina.
"So you live with Charmaine?"
Emma nodded, munching on another apple slice.
"Are you and her… she doesn't talk about herself much... I mean, she is pretty…"
Emma realised what she was going for, she shook her head. "Oh god no. No, we're just friends. She has a boyfriend and I have…"
"You have what?"
"Henry."
"And Henry's father?"
Emma tensed. "Is not important."
Regina smiled. Henry had started babbling again and she turned to him. She pointed to Mr. Snuffles. "Can I see your dragon?"
Emma was already holding out a hand to stop the coming tantrum that Henry always gave when someone messed with his dragon, but it fell to her side and her jaw dropped in shock as her son handed over his most prized possession to Regina with a smile. "He's never…" She shook her head in disbelief. Then, a plan emerged. It really was quite brilliant. "I'm not sure if you'd be interested, but I'm actually looking for someone who can watch Henry while I'm at work."
Regina's eyes shot to her, a smile already appearing on her face. "Really?"
Emma nodded. "It would be from 7:45 until 4:00 or so, but he's really well behaved, not any trouble at all."
With the way Regina's eyes lit up, you would think someone had promised her the moon. She nodded. "I'd love that."
Emma felt a rush of pure relief flood through her, though whether it was because she'd dealt with the babysitter problem quickly or because she would have a legitimate excuse to spend more time with Regina, she couldn't be sure.
SWAN QUEEN SWAN QUEEN SWAN QUEEN
Emma didn't want to go, neither did Henry. But they'd been there nearly four hours by the time the blonde paid any attention to the clock. She stood from the couch, reluctantly removing Henry from Regina's lap.
The brunette immediately stood. "You'll be back with Henry in the morning?"
Emma nodded. "Of course. 7:45, I'll be here."
Regina seemed relieved. "I really enjoyed your company today Emma."
"I just wish it hadn't taken ten years for this to happen. I wish…" I had found you first. But she couldn't admit that, not out loud, not to her brother's wife. For all his bad choices, Edward was still her family.
But Regina seemed to hear the unspoken words. "I know. Me too." She led the way to the door, opening it. She let Emma and Henry out into the early evening air. "See you in the morning."
Emma nodded. "Until tomorrow."
Regina closed the door and fell back against it, her thoughts racing at a mile a minute. She didn't move until she heard the sound of an engine coming to life and pulling away. How had her husband's sister had such an effect on her? She couldn't seem to calm her heart whenever she was in close proximity to the blonde. She looked at the clock on the wall of the foyer, almost six thirty. Edward would be home soon. She went back into the great room to collect the glasses when she saw the black dragon sitting on the couch. Henry must have left it by accident.
She sat down, gingerly picking up the plush, smoothing her fingers over its fur as a smile crossed her face. She brought the stuffed animal to her nose. It smelled of a mixture of Henry's baby shampoo and Emma's perfume and Regina found herself wishing she could surround herself with those smells everyday. If only things had been different. If only she hadn't let her mother pressure her into marrying a man she didn't love. If only… if only she had met Emma first.
SWAN QUEEN SWAN QUEEN SWAN QUEEN
SWAN QUEEN SWAN QUEEN SWAN QUEEN
"See, true love always finds one another." His bold child reassured his demure one as if it were law, an indisputable fact.
"Right you are, but our Princesses still have a long struggle ahead. Queen Cora won't be happy when she finds out the two have made contact. And realising your feelings for someone is quite different than acting on that, especially in this new world."
The children knew better than to argue. That was another story for another night.