A/N I have slept! Thanks for following and reviewing! Hope I'm keeping your attention. Please forgive any mistakes. I will make corrections as I find them.
Whilst she raced around the apartment getting dressed, Regina suddenly had a moment of clarity. "What the hell am I doing?" She said to herself. She never met clients this early. She thought about her motives as she buttoned her shirt. Clearly she must still be feeling some remorse for being late to their first meeting. It definately had nothing to do with the dream. That was purely incidental. She brushed her teeth and applied foundation, mascara and a coat of plum lipstick, ran a brush through her hair and spritzed some Christian Dior perfume on her neck. Regina was high maintenance but could pull herself together in 10 minutes when necessary. She looked in on Henry who was still asleep and decided not to wake him. She left a note on the refrigerator just in case and left the apartment.
Emma sat out front of Gio's on one of the table's in the street. It was a little chilly but they wouldn't let Pongo inside despite her pity pleas. One of the staff did however bring him a bowl of water and give him a bit of fuss so Emma was happy enough. She was just about to flick through a newspaper when she spotted her lawyer crossing the street. She hadn't been joking about 15 minutes. Emma analysed the woman. Make up, done. Hair, perfect, Clothing, professional. And all in 11 minutes and 26 seconds. Emma nodded and widened her eyes in appreciation, impressed with her lawyer's feat.
"Good morning Ms. Swan." Regina said and extended her hand for her client to shake. Emma looked at the hand, short nails, no ring. Maybe she mused as she took it and accepted the firm handshake.
"Good morning Ms. Mills. Thank you for meeting me so early. Let me introduce you to the man in my life." She said and tilted her head to the side to indicate where she should look. Regina looked left and just as she did, a customer in a business suit came out of the cafe.
"A pleasure to meet you, Mr.." She waited for Emma or the man to supply the missing name but the man just looked at her in bewilderment and pushed past her murmuring something about being too early for small talk. Regina stood silently with an equally bewildered look on her face until Emma belly laughed beside her. She looked at her client feeling slightly annoyed that she was being made to look such a fool and felt something cold and wet pressing into her calf. She looked down and saw the Dalmatian sniffing her leg. She rolled her eyes and gave a small, almost ironic laugh as she made the realization.
"This, is the man in your life!" And she bent down to give Pongo a pat on the head.
"Yup! The one and only! Ms. Mills, I'm beginning to wonder whether you are the right choice as my lawyer," Emma was pushing her buttons jovially. "I mean, I clearly stated in our last meeting that I am a lesbian. But that was hilarious!" She laughed fully now unable to control herself.
Regina smirked with embarrassment but quickly remembered herself.
"Ms. Swan I can assure you that my lawyering skills are the best in the city, possibly the state. My denseness this morning has nothing to do with my profession and more to do with being woken at such an ungodly hour." Regina was feisty when she needed to be and any insult to her career or personal image was always met with a quip.
Emma straightened her face and gave her those puppy dog eyes to show her remorse. She motioned for Regina to take a seat, which she did and picked up the menu to avoid further embarrassment or confrontation. Regina clearly needed coffee before she said anything further.
Emma, being the investigator she was picked up the menu but continued to analyse the woman across from her. She was highly strung, anal about her career and appearance and way too cocky about her achievements.
"Coffee, black please and a croissant." Regina said to the waiter.
Emma looked up and smiled at the guy at their table. "Grilled cheese and a caramel latte please."
Regina fiddled with her phone, unwilling to meet Emma's gaze or say anything more until she was sure she had her wits about her. The coffees came and she took a huge gulp.
Emma couldn't stop staring. What was this woman's story? Her pupils were dilated, she had a flush in her cheeks and her lips, wow, those lips were just begging to be kissed. Emma realised she had been caught staring and grabbed a napkin and shoved it in her lawyer's face when she saw Regina raise her questioning eyebrow at her.
"You had a little, aah, cream on your.." She trailed off hoping Regina had bought it.
Regina lowered her gaze and gave Emma what she would later describe as a sultry smile, somewhere between either wanting to kill her for invading her personal space or wanting to jump her bones. She took the napkin roughly and set it on the table, took another swig of coffee and without breaking eye contact said, "Ms Swan, I drink my coffee black." And watched her client squirm under scrutiny.
Emma held up her hands in defeat. She had been caught in her own lie and she knew she when to back down.
Regina enjoyed the moment although for the life of her, she couldn't work out why she was pushing this woman or why it was so much fun. She broke her gaze and took a bite of her croissant, dabbing the napkin daintily around her mouth to assure she had no crumbs and licked her lips just to be sure. If Emma didn't know any better, she would have taken it as a power play. Damn, this woman oozed sex.
"So tell me Ms. Swan, why am I here?"
Emma smiled remembering that she hadn't actually invited her and thought to herself, Good question Ms. Mills.
Emma explained in more detail everything that had happened the previous night and what had happened down at the station. She showed Regina the phone the cop had given her and they both had a laugh about the size of the thing.
"That's why the messages kept cutting off. I had a 32 character limit. I mean how did we survive back in the day!" Emma joked. Regina remembered those days pretty well. She herself had owned the same model but texting really wasn't used as much back then. It had been a novelty to receive one, not like nowadays.
"On the plus side, you won't need to charge it once before you get your iPhone back." Regina added.
Regina made more notes and explained that Emma's was becoming an open and shut case.
"The only thing I would be worried about at this point Ms. Swan is that if Lily is sectioned, she won't be able to sign those divorce papers in sound mind. We need to assure that she does, so that you can move on with your life as quickly and painlessly as possible." Regina was more than a little worried actually. It wouldn't be the first time a situation like this has come up in divorce proceedings. She had dealt with a client a few years ago whose partner was sectioned and the divorce was dragged out deliberately by the opposing council. It had caused her nothing but stress and there had been a public smear campaign damning her client for leaving his wife at such a delicate time in her life. If she wasn't careful, this case could be a repeat of the past.
Emma knew that Regina was more worried than she was letting on. It was her job to read people. Yes, her lawyer was being honest but she felt it really was serious for those divorce papers to get signed asap.
"Okay so can we serve her again while she's in jail?" Emma asked.
"Yes, you can but she could contest it and use that as an excuse to get out of jail for the day. Anyway, she's already been served so that's not an issue. I think the best thing would be to re-file for no fault proceedings and hope that we get a good judge. That way she wouldn't need to sign anything. It would take a little longer to be official, but if she doesn't sign, it will likely default."
Emma looked relieved. "Then let's do it."
The pair finished up their impromptu meeting, paid the bill and began dating their goodbyes. Awkwardly that both crossed the street together and stood out front of the Storybrook apartment complex.
"Well, goodbye Ms. Swan. I will get those papers ready for you by the end of the day."
"Thanks Ms. Mills, and sorry again for disturbing you so early." Emma replied.
The women stood there waiting for someone to walk away. Emma looked at Regina wondering why she wasn't moving. Did she want something else? She saw Regina's eyes settle on her lips. Oh, okay! She was flirting! She thought and leant in to kiss the startled lawyer on the lips.
"Ms. Swan! What on earth do you think you are doing?" Regina snapped.
Emma stood back and gathered her thoughts. Had she really read the situation wrong?
"Sorry, I thought you wanted me to.." She started.
"I most certainly did Not! Now please, let's forget this, this, inappropriateness. I must be getting in before my son wonders where I am." Regina began walking into the building.
Emma smacked herself in the face as she realised what had happened. "Ms. Mills, wait, wait." And she began following her lawyer up the stairs into the building.
Regina stood at the top of the stairs aghast that this woman had the audacity to follow her into her own apartment.
"Look, I think I read the situation wrong. You see, I was waiting for you to leave but you didn't and, well, I live here and, it seems you do too."