Chapter Fifteen

'Out with it,' Emma said the moment that she arrived at the sheriff station to find August lounging back in a chair waiting for her. 'Why are you looking so smug?'

'What? I'm not smug,' August said. 'This is just my face.'

'Then you have an obnoxious face and you need to do something about it,' Emma replied, perching herself on the edge of her desk and reaching out to snatch the take-out bag from between his fingers. 'What did you get me?'

'Grilled cheese,' he said. 'And fries.'

'Trying to fatten me up?'

'Definitely,' he said with complete sincerity. She rolled her eyes, but said nothing.

Scooting herself further back onto the desk, she unwrapped the now lukewarm sandwich and took a bite out of it. Like most things, it still tasted like cardboard in her mouth. But she was slowly convincing herself that she could eat more, that she should eat more, and so she forced herself to finish most of it. August watched her the whole while, his blue eyes unwavering.

'It's really hard to enjoy this with you staring at me, you know,' she said after a few minutes, balling up the wrapper with the remnants of the sandwich still inside.

He laughed. 'You weren't enjoying it anyway. But I'm glad you ate it.'

'Thanks for getting it for me,' she said, pulling her legs up onto the desk and crossing them. 'Now. Are you going to tell me what that irritating expression on your face is all about or not?'

'I don't know what you're talking about,' he said, that smirk on his lips only growing wider. Emma rolled her eyes.

'August, come on,' she moaned. 'Enough games. Why are you looking so pleased with yourself?'

August leaned back in his chair, pulling a handful of fries out of the bag in his lap but not bringing them to his lips. 'You and Regina.'

'...what about us?'

'You're friends now.'

Emma's racing heart slowed down ever so slightly. 'Well... I suppose you could say that.'

'I'm just happy for you,' he said, putting the fries into his mouth and starting to chew. 'This is good. For both of you. You could do with another friend, and Regina could do with one to begin with. And Henry… Henry could do with his mothers not hating each other. I'm just happy that things are starting to work out.'

Emma was watching him closely as he spoke, taking in that sharp glint of excitement in his eyes along with the way that the rest of his face was remaining suspiciously expressionless in comparison. She frowned.

'No,' she said slowly, leaning forwards. 'That's not it. You're up to something.'

But August only smiled, his eyes creasing at the corners. 'What could I possibly have to gain from you and the mayor becoming friends, Emma?'

'I have no idea. Why don't you tell me?'

'I really hate to break it to you,' he said, still smiling, 'but you're reading way too much into this. I just want you to be happy – and I want Henry to be happy too. He's a good kid and he deserves it, and so do you. That's all there is to it.'

A faint alarm was ringing inside Emma's head. He was lying to her; that much was clear. But about what… she had absolutely no idea.

'Right,' she said after a few more moments of examining him, her eyes narrowing. 'If you say so.'

He raised his eyebrows, and then he put the bag with the remainder of the fries on the desk beside Emma.

'I should go,' he said, getting up and stretching out his arms. 'Things to do.'

'What things?' Emma asked with a hint of derision.

'Writerly things,' he replied. 'Inspiration has suddenly struck. Hard to say why.'

Emma glowered at him, leaving the fries untouched as she watched him walk towards the doorway of the office. Just as she knew he would, he turned around just as he reached the threshold.

'You looked good together, by the way.'

Emma jumped in her seat. 'What?'

'You and Regina,' August said, his voice easy and calm. 'When I saw you today – you suit one another. Like the blonde and the brunette who were always told off for giggling at the back of class.'

When Emma didn't respond, her eyebrows knitted fiercely together, he just shrugged.

'I'm not implying anything,' he said, watching the flicker of uncertainty in her eyes. 'I just mean that you look like you could be good friends. That's all.'

'You could tell that just from looking at us?' Emma asked, her voice still humming with distrust.

August laughed. 'I'm a writer – it's my job to be observant.'

And then there was a beat where he just looked at her; where in half a second the air went from pulsating to still and Emma felt her chest restrict like an elastic band had forced its way around it. August still smiled, but it was different: just for a second, he was smiling because he knew something. And before Emma could leap across the room to slam him against the wall, demanding that he tell her exactly what it was, he had disappeared down the hallway.

She remained cross-legged on top of her desk; a bag of cold fries sat by her hip as her heart beat out a furious, screaming rhythm against the inside of her ribcage.

As Emma forced down her dinner that night, she could feel her roommate's eyes on her. Mary Margaret was eating less than even she was, her plate of food mostly untouched before her, and the only thing that Emma could do to stop herself from meeting her suspicious eye and being forced to engage in a conversation that she did not want to have was to keep shovelling tasteless food between her own lips, her gaze planted firmly on the table between them.

But, as it always did, the conversation that she didn't want to have happened anyway.

'Why did Regina really come round this morning?'

The question was quiet and flat, like the air slowly being released from a sinking balloon. It hit Emma like a train even so.

'You know why,' she responded, still not looking up. 'She wanted to make sure that I was going to the meeting.'

There was a pause, and Emma could feel two hazel eyes burning holes through her thin green shirt.

'Regina's not as good a liar as she thinks she is, you know,' Mary Margaret said quietly, almost conversationally. 'But you're even worse.'

Finally, Emma forced herself to meet her roommate's gaze. 'What?'

'There are two reasons why Regina would not have come round to force you to go to that meeting,' Mary Margaret said, leaning back in her chair and folding her arms across her chest. 'One: if she really has that little faith in you, then that means that she hasn't changed. If she hasn't changed then there is no way that she'd come to your apartment to make sure that she was right. She'd go to the meeting herself, wait for you to not appear, then she'd belittle you, undermine you and mock you for the foreseeable future because you're just as inept as she always thought you were.'

Emma blinked. 'I don't—'

'And two,' the brunette interrupted her, tilting her head to one side. 'Because she has changed. Because she does have faith in you. And because when I opened that door her face was concerned, not angry, and even she couldn't hide that quick enough behind her usual veil of absolute contempt.'

Emma shook her head slightly. 'I don't know what you're talking about.'

'I'm not an idiot, Emma,' Mary Margaret said softly. 'I know I've been distracted with the whole David thing, but… even I can see that things have changed here. She doesn't hate you. She's looking out for you. I'm still unsure as to why she is… but this is good. It's great, really. I just want to know why you're trying to hide it from me.'

'I'm not hiding anything,' Emma said, shrugging. But her roommate only raised an eyebrow at her, saying nothing in response.

Emma heard herself sigh. She hadn't planned to say what she said next, and yet she heard the words escaping from her lips nonetheless.

'…I think we might be friends.'

'Really?' Mary Margaret's eyebrows shot upwards. 'You and Regina Mills?'

'I know,' Emma said, smiling slightly. Her heart was hammering a bassline against the inside of her ribcage but she forced herself to ignore it – if she could keep a straight face through this conversation then she could do absolutely anything. 'It seems unlikely.'

'That's one way of putting it,' Mary Margaret folded her arms across the edge of the table and leaned forwards. 'How did… how did that come about?'

That was one question that Emma genuinely did not know how to answer.

'I'm not really sure,' she said, picking up her fork and dangling it between her thumb and forefinger. 'She felt guilty, initially. But since then… I don't know. It just turns out that we're not actually as different as I always thought we were. And she... she makes me laugh.'

At this, Mary Margaret jumped in her seat. 'She does?'

'Yeah,' Emma replied, wrinkling her nose. 'Weird, isn't it?'

'That's definitely one word for it,' her roommate replied. 'I mean, don't get me wrong: I'm glad that things are looking up. And I have to say that I of all people appreciate this new side to her – since she stopped hating you she hasn't stormed into my class to interrupt my lesson even once. She's definitely become less… tempestuous.'

Emma suppressed a tiny smile of pride at this admission. But then she heard her roommate sigh.

'But, Emma… I just want to make sure that you're being careful.'

Emma frowned. 'Careful? What do you mean?'

'Regina is tricky,' Mary Margaret said, not blinking. 'We both know that. She has issues and she gets angry and she can give glare that would scare anybody senseless. It's definitely better to have her as a friend than as an enemy.'

'Right,' Emma said slowly. 'I don't see your point.'

'My point is that I want you to be a little bit wary,' Mary Margaret said. 'It's great that you two are getting along. But… if things were to go wrong, and if you fell out… it could get messy. No one takes rejection worse than Regina does. I mean, look at what happened when Graham chose you over her – she completely lost it. I just don't want you to get hurt again, Emma, that's all. You've been hurt more than enough recently. I just… I want you to be careful. Try not to let Regina get under your skin.'

Emma felt her face freeze. '…Alright. I won't.'

Her roommate smiled, but she still looked worried. 'Okay. Good.'

Finally Mary Margaret went back to her food. All of a sudden it was Emma's turn to sit and watch her eat, her fork still dangling from her fingers, with her jaw set in a tight line of anxiety. She knew that Mary Margaret was right – getting close to Regina would always be dangerous, regardless of the circumstances. Regina was a hurricane, and Emma was deliberately placing herself in her path. If anything went wrong, even what Moe did to her wouldn't be able to compare to the hurt that she would feel as a result.

And yet… she didn't find herself worrying about it. A woman who lives a life without a light switch snatches up whatever light is offered to her. Regina was a match in a darkened room. It could blow out at any second and plummet her back into the shadows once more, but she was already addicted to what little light and warmth it did offer. She couldn't pretend that she wasn't drawn to it.

Emma sucked in a breath through her teeth, looking down at her lap: maybe the match would blow out. But maybe, before it did, its light would help her to find her light switch at last. Maybe Regina was going to be the one to lead her to it after all.

Or maybe she would flicker out, leaving her alone. The same way that everyone else did.

Regina could feel Henry's eyes on her as she worked. They were sat on opposite sides of the dining room table, Henry doing his homework while Regina attempted to reply to her ever-growing list of emails. But her son was distracted, and his pencil hadn't moved in some time. Eventually the mayor dragged her eyes up from the screen of her laptop, looking over the top of her glasses.

'Do you need some help, Henry?' she asked, gesturing towards his half-finished homework.

He ignored her question. He just smiled.

'You're different now, you know.'

Regina frowned. 'Sorry?'

'You've been changing. You're… you're happier.'

'Am I?'

'Yeah. Since you and Emma stopped shouting at each other. You smile more now and you've let me have dessert twice this week, which you never normally do. It's good. I like you better this way.'

Regina felt her lips quirk upwards, even as she felt a part of her heart breaking when she realised exactly what Henry must have thought of living with her prior to this moment.

'I see,' she said, slowly pulling her glasses away from her face. 'So… Miss Swan and I being friends. You do really want this?'

'Of course,' he said. 'And not just because—'

He stopped himself mid-sentence, a worried frown that so reminded Regina of the blonde woman in question settling across his forehead.

'Not just because what?' she prompted.

'Not just because… I want to be able to see you both,' he mumbled. 'But because you two should be friends. You're really similar and you both want the same things.'

'Do we?' she asked with some interest. 'And what are they?'

'Happiness,' he replied with a small shrug. Like it was that simple. 'And family. If you two are friends, then you get both. I don't see how that can be a bad thing.'

Regina only blinked for a moment. Because, she realised, he was, in a way… right. Even if his reasoning was a little bit simplistic.

'So,' she said, glancing down at her laptop for a moment. 'If we were to have her over for dinner again… you'd like that?'

'I'd love that,' he said, grinning at his mother. She smiled in response.

'Okay,' she said, leaning back in her chair. 'Then I'll try and get that sorted for you.'

She watched as her son's face lit up, eyeing her with a kind of gratitude that she hadn't seen from him in months. Maybe even years. Her lips quirked upwards just as a sudden sharpness started to prick at her eyes.

'It's getting late,' she said after a few moments. 'Did you finish your homework?'

'Most of it. But it's not due until Friday.'

'Okay then. Off to bed.'

He scrambled up from his chair, leaving his books in a neat pile at the edge of the table. As he scurried past his mother, he paused. Then, almost tentatively, he turned back and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. She felt a sudden warmth against her cheek as he pressed a kiss there.

'Goodnight, Mom,' he said, turning back to the stairs and thundering up them. Regina was left sitting alone at the table with her old laptop gently whirring away in front of her; her heart beating fiercely against the inside of her chest.

She knew how much her son loved the fact that she and Emma were now, apparently, friends. She knew that this was making him happy – and that should have been enough for her. But if there was one thing that Regina Mills was, it was a realist. She may not have been able to see the future in the same way that Rumple could, but that didn't mean that she wasn't naïve enough to not see just how badly it could potentially go.

Too many thoughts were ricocheting around inside her skull and there was only one person that she wanted to talk to about them. She reached out for her phone.

I need to see you.

The reply from Emma came back only seconds later. Now? Is everything okay?

Regina sucked in a breath, forcing down the nerves that were rising in her throat.

Yes. I just need to speak to you.

Emma didn't hesitate in her response. It was one thing that Regina had always liked about her.

I'll be round in a minute.

Regina dropped the phone back to the table and sighed.

She wasn't even sure what she was going to say to Emma once she got there. The nervous thoughts bouncing around in her brain were a scrambled haze of nonsense and she didn't have the first clue how she was planning on articulating them. All she knew was that she needed Emma. She couldn't believe that she was admitting it to herself, but she needed Emma to help her make sense of them.

This could all go so wrong, she said to herself, resting her head in her hands for a moment. This could break all of us.

She knew what Emma would say to that, even without her being there. She could see her sad frown, her green eyes as they turned misty. Her pale hand reaching out to touch her own.

'Or it could fix us,' she would say, the corners of her mouth spiking downwards even as she smiled. Regina knew all of that. But she still needed to hear her say it.

A/N: Sorry for the short update guys - the next one will be longer with lots more SQ, I promise!