Kailor: Thank you all for the feedback, the follows, the favorites! You guys are awesome! And I quite enjoy writing this Cora. Since she has her heart here, she's the version of herself that she was just before she died in the show.
Emma parked her cruiser in front of 108 Mifflin. The chill had eased somewhat, but she still wore her thick, black, bomber jacket with "SHERIFF" across the back in reflective lettering. Under it was her tan, button-up. Her badge was attached to her hip, her gun tucked into her back holster. She even wore her black slacks, completely in uniform. It felt weird not to be in her red jacket and skinny jeans, but she was representing Storybrooke today. Even though the expert meeting her at the site was an old friend, she felt like she needed to be on top of her game.
She saw the door to the Mills' mansion open and she quickly leapt out of the car, tucking her hands into her back pockets, to greet the new woman in town. It was hard to hide her smile when she saw the outfit Regina had on.
Like a proper businesswoman, she was wrapped in a burberry trenchcoat that reached her mid-thigh. Her black stockings led down into calf-high boots and Emma was certain there was a business-chic dress under the coat.
"Afternoon, Miss Swan," Regina said, letting herself out the front gate.
"Afternoon," Emma replied, just as formal. She quickly rounded the car and pulled the passenger door open. She saw Regina's eyebrow lift in surprise, but the woman just smiled and slid into the seat. Emma jogged around to her side and settled in, pulling her seatbelt on. "You have a camera?"
Regina pulled the device from her pocket, waving it so the driver could see it out the corner of her eye.
"Good, good." For a moment, they sat in silence. "So, what did you do in New York?"
Regina shifted in her seat, crossing her legs at the ankles. "I was a lawyer. A partner in my firm."
Emma whistled appreciately. "Big money."
Regina didn't answer immediately, taking in the woman's pristine uniform and her fingers drumming on the wheel. She realized the sheriff was nervous, but wasn't sure why. But she didn't mind. She felt a little nervous herself for some reason. Maybe because she was about to see a burnt down home in the middle of the woods. "Big enough that I could retire at my age," she said.
Emma flashed her a cursory look. "You barely look old enough to qualify for benefits from a company, much less retire."
Regina laughed. "Thank you, Sheriff. But I assure you I am plenty old enough to qualify for benefits."
The drive seemed to take very little time and when Emma parked the car, Regina glanced around. The trees parted just ahead, surrounding a large mansion, bigger than her parents'. Emma hurred to her side before she could even reach for the door handle and pulled it open. Regina rose, straightening her coat and nodding her thanks. "Jefferson's driveway is full of potholes, so we'll walk from here, if you don't mind."
"That does sound treacherous. Should I be unable to complete the trip, tell my parents my death was not in vain," Regina quipped, setting off towards the house without the blonde. She heard a soft laugh behind her and felt her own lips curl upwards.
At the very beginning of the driveway was a red van sporting large white letters that read, "CFI". They passed it, following the long curving driveway. The potholes were indeed large and Regina was glad Emma had chosen not to drive over them. A man with wild black hair and a scruffy face waited for them on the front porch. He wore a bomber jacket like Emma's, but it read "Certified Fire Investigator" on the back. He grinned as they drew closer. "Swan!"
"Dusty!" Emma called back, laughing as he grabbed her up in a hug. When her feet were back on the ground, she stepped back, hooking one thumb into her back pocket and gesturing to Regina with the other. "Dusty, this is Regina Mills, the mayor's representative. Miss Mills, this is Dusty Crophopper."
"Pleasure's mine," Dusty said, wagging an eyebrow. "They sure know how to make 'em in Storybrooke!"
Regina's eyebrows rose, her lips pursing, and in a very business-like tone, she said, "I was under the impression we were here to evaluate how big of a tragedy this fire was."
Dusty's smile slipped, but he didn't look offended. "Right. Totally right. Put these on." He handed each of them a pair of gloves. "Don't touch anything unless I say so. Let's?" He swept an arm to the house, as if inviting them into his own home.
Emma stepped forward, using the key David had gotten from Jefferson the night before. The second she opened the door, Regina took a step back. The burning stench of smoke made her eyes water and brought a reflexive cough to her throat. Emma narrowed her eyes and scrunched her nose at the smell, but followed Dusty inside without complaint. Regina trailed behind, pulling out her mother's camera and a handkerchief to cover her nose and mouth with.
They passed a swooping staircase and Dusty led them down the hall to the back of the house. "I took a peek around the tarps before you guys got here. Seems like the brunt of the damage was in a kid's room."
"Grace," Emma whispered, her voice hoarse with the thought of seeing the little girl's room burnt. She knew Grace well. Henry was only a year older than her. She forcefully shoved down the image of Henry's room filled with smoke.
At the end of the hall, Dusty stopped, sniffing a bit. Then he turned and pushed open the door to his left. The smell was even stronger and even Dusty turned away from it this time, blinking rapidly. Emma pressed her jacket sleeve to her face.
The investigator moved into the room, signalling for them to stay back. He pulled a small video camera from his jacket and slowly rounded the room, getting everything on tape with a methodic sweep of his camera. In certain areas he paused, zooming in or toggling out.
Regina stepped into the doorway, taking pictures. Emma stood at her back, staring at the destroyed room before her.
Only the wall to her left was untouched by the fire, though the soot and smoke had settled into the shelves filled with stuffed toys and books. Emma's eyes fell on a white bear, stained black almost everywhere. Her heart clenched at the sight, and she was silently thankful that no one had been home during the fire.
Dusty paused beside the only window in the room. He bent to get better footage of the power outlet beneath it. "Looks like the point of origin here." His finger traced in the air over the "V" of burn marks climbing the walls. "Fire climbed up from here. But it looks like it started on the floor. Maybe a short circuit that threw sparks on the carpet." He continued to stare, frowning.
Regina zoomed in to get a better picture of the area he had indicated. Dusty suddenly stood, holding something between his thumb and forefinger.
"What is it?" Emma asked.
Dusty pointed to the window. "When a fire happens, glass breaks as a result of temperature differences between the glass that you can see and glass that's protected by the framing material." His finger trailed back to the black "V" around the window. "As you can see by the scorch marks, the fire climbed around the window and spread through the room. But the window heated enough that cracks developed at the edges of the window panes and moved inwards."
Emma eyed the cracks in each pane. Then she noticed what Dusty had. The bottom pane on the right wasn't cracked, it was gone.
Dusty held up what he'd picked off the floor. It was a small shard of glass, blackened around the edges. "Tempered glass breaks into small chunks like this when it cracks. However, this isn't tempered glass. It shouldn't have broken like this..." He turned to Emma. "Take the camera outside. See if there's any glass outside the window."
"Why?" Regina asked, unable to stop herself.
"This fire didn't burn hot enough to blow the window out. Why is this one pane broken?" Dusty flicked the tarp outside the window with his finger.
"Are you suggesting it wasn't the fire that broke it?" Regina threw a glance at Emma, but the blonde's face was stoic, only her furrowed brow showing her concern.
Dusty shrugged. "Maybe. But we'll have to interview the girl and her father and the people that came to put the fire out. It's possible they threw cold water on this part of the room and shattered the window that way. When glass changes temperature very quickly, it shatters. Like if you put a glass in the freezer over night then dropped it in a sink of hot water." He puffed his cheeks out, making an explosion sound. "I won't know for sure until I get the samples back to the lab and review this tape. If this window had been broken by the fire or by the extinguishing, there should be glass on both sides of the wall, because it would have blown quickly. So...I can tentatively say that, if there's no glass outside, then this might not have been an accident."
Emma and Regina shared a solemn look, then moved away from the burnt room. Emma cast one last look over her shoulder at the soot-stained animals on the shelves.
She opened the back door for Regina, letting the mayor's daughter out first. Then she followed the brunette around to Grace's window. As Regina took a picture, Emma crouched and ran a gloved hand through the grass.
After a few moments, she looked up at Regina and shook her head.
XXXXXXX
Emma dropped Regina off at 108, rushing around to open her door. She waited until she saw the brunette wave good night, then disappear into the house before hopping back into the cruiser.
She drove to the Sheriff's station, planning on dropping off the cruiser and switching into her normal clothes. She entered her office, shrugging off the bomber jacket and sighing.
"Long day?"
Emma jumped, dropping her keys. The tan woman sitting in the deputy area smiled at her, her slanted eyes dancing with mirth.
"Damn, Mulan! I'm putting a bell on you!" Emma tried to calm her racing heart, resuming her stripping by unbuttoning her Sheriff shirt.
Mulan pulled her long, dark hair out of the bun she'd had it in all day, propping her feet on her desk. "How was the fire investigation?"
Emma shrugged. "Dusty has a lot to go over in his lab before he can say for certain what happened. We don't exactly have the supplies he needs in Storybrooke." She pulled off her slacks, not caring about her deputy and friend seeing her in her boy shorts. As she put on her skinny jeans, she said, "But he said it looks like someone may have set the fire." She explained what Dusty had said about the window and the path of the fire.
Her deputy was frowning by the time she finished. "Who would do that?"
"No idea," the sheriff replied. "Jefferson isn't exactly Storybrooke's Most Eligible Bachelor, but I don't know anyone that hates him enough to do this. And Grace, she's just an angel. Sweetest kid."
"Then I assume we start looking into the father?"
"Yeah. I'll interview him tomorrow. Maybe you should stop by Town Hall and question Cora's assistant." Emma mentally rubbed her hands together at the blush that flared on her friend's cheeks.
"W-why would I question her?"
Emma slipped into her red leather jacket, pursing her lip like she was thinking seriously about it. "Well, she lives fairly close to Jefferson's neck of the woods." Almost true. The young woman lived at the edge of the forest. "If someone really did target Jefferson, it may be for her own safety to be put on alert."
Mulan, taking the bait hook, line, and sinker, sat up straighter. "You're right. Maybe...maybe I should stop by to check on her. Should I tell her what Mr. Crophopper said?"
"Maybe not all of it. But warn her that there was something suspicious about the fire and you're worried about her being all alone in her apartment." The blonde dove into her desk, pretending to dig around for something so Mulan wouldn't see her grinning.
But Mulan wasn't even looking at her. She was nodding and staring into her palms. "Perhaps. I admit that I don't like the idea of h-uh-of anyone living all alone that close to the woods."
"Oh!" Emma said, standing and turning wide eyes to her friend. "Maybe if you invited her out for dinner a few times, it would help cut down on how often she's at home alone!"
And like the big puppy she was, Mulan pounced on the suggestion, literally shooting to her feet. "Yes! Should I ask her tomorrow?"
Emma hissed through her teeth, closing one eye and rocking back on her heels. Then she grinned. "Yeah, that should work."
Mulan nodded curtly, one hand on her hip, the other rubbing her chin. "Then I'll do that. Yes. Goodnight to you too, Emma." And she was gone, not even realizing Emma hadn't told her goodbye.
The blonde grinned after her friend for a moment before following her out, a new bounce in her step.
XXXXXXX
Henry looked up from his homework as his mother entered. She had a huge grin on her face and was nearly skipping on every other step as she crossed the kitchen, popping open the fridge. He was just about to ask how her day with Regina had gone, but Ruby came out of the bathroom, rubbing a towel through her long brown hair, the freshly dyed red streaks still dark with water. "Emma! Welcome home. Why are you so peppy?"
Emma closed the fridge with her hip, holding a bottle of root beer. "I helped push a friend towards the person they liked." She used the bottle opener on her keys to pop the top off her drink, then fixed her gaze on her roommate. "So I guess that means there's only you to pester about romance now."
Henry dropped his pen, ready to watch this.
Ruby's ears turned red first. "I don't know what you're talking about, Swan."
"Come on, Rubes. Who is it? Just give me a hint."
Ruby rolled her eyes. "No way. In a town this small, a single hint could lead you straight to their social security number."
The blonde waved her friend's comment off. "Not even true. I'm sure you could give me a tiny hint that wouldn't tell me who he-" she raised an eyebrow, continuing innocently. "She? Them? Is."
"I'm not telling you anything."
"You don't have to! I'm sure I'll run into them eventually, maybe at Granny's-or the store-the docks? The Sheriff's station? Town Ha-"
"You're not getting a hint out of me, woman."
The brunette flounced out of the room, ignoring Emma's string of questions.
When they were alone again, Emma leaned towards Henry. The trip to Jefferson's house still weighed heavily on her mind and she knew it would be a few days before Dusty returned with all the test results. So she figured now was the time to have a little fun. "Hey, Hen. You work tomorrow morning, right?"
"Yes," he said slowly, narrowing his eyes at her.
She grinned. "Well, it seems Aunt Ruby is keeping a secret from us, kid."
Henry leaned in conspiratorially. "That is quite unacceptable. And what should we do about that?"
Emma's grin grew, matching his. "Bring your stealth gear to work, kid. I'll pick you up at four."
As she headed off to shower, Henry grabbed his phone and sent out a quick text: My mom is picking me up tomorrow at four. I think your daughter should bring you lunch around that time, yeah?
A few moments passed before his phone dinged.
I like the way you think.
Kailor: Reviews appreciated! Please let me know what you think folks!