A/N: fair warning to you all - I've just got back from the dentist and the anaesthetic is making me a little dopey. I am not responsible for where this chapter goes. And no I couldn't wait until it wore off to write, I'm too addicted to posting for all you lovely readers!
Emma crossed off the day on her calendar and climbed into her bunk. With her head on her pillow, she looked at the seven boxes, neatly marked with a red X. She had survived her first week inside. Only 327 more days to go and she would be free again. Despite the daunting length of time, Emma smiled at the thought of her far off freedom.
Rolling onto her side, and pulling the thin duvet more closely around her, Emma closed her eyes and replayed the events of the previous week. Her work detail was going well. Boyd had turned out to be hilarious, and she and Emma shared jokes throughout their laundry shifts. The blonde had told Emma all about her boyfriend, Sean, and how the two of them were going to get married and have lots of babies as soon as she got out. Boyd had another thirteen months left of her fraud sentence and Emma had had to stop herself rolling her eyes at the young woman's insistence that Sean would remain faithful to her until them. Emma didn't trust men any more. She didn't trust anyone.
Emma and Red were growing closer too and the brunette had even spoken to Emma about how she got busted with her ex girlfriend's cocaine. Despite feeling sorry for Red, Emma had always been adamantly anti-drug and was unable to feel too sympathetic for the former addict. However, it seemed Red had turned her life around inside, got clean, and was developing excellent green fingers. Emma hadn't been able to stop laughing earlier in the week when the brunette went into a passionate speech about the ambitions she had for her vegetable patch come summertime.
Emma ate lunch every day with Red, Blanchard (whom Emma had now been invited to call Snow), and Boyd. The four women enjoyed each other's company and often hung out in their bunks in the evenings when the television room was too crowded or they didn't want to watch the current show. They made Emma feel like perhaps her time here could be endured amongst friends.
Emma had not seen Mills, Feinberg or the other two women, whom Red had told her were called Faery and Trident, since they were escorted from the dining hall six days prior. West had returned, a butterfly bandage on her lip and purple bruises visible on her arms. Emma suspected the rest of her body looked much the same after the beating she had endured. She hadn't approached the redhead to ask how she was doing and West hadn't made any attempt to speak to Emma either. In Faery's absence, commissary had been manned by Rose, a blonde friend of Red's who was often dozing in her seat when Emma went to purchase something.
Despite the vicious attack Mills had ordered on her own sister, Emma struggled to keep her mind off the intriguing brunette. She knew she should be repulsed by the actions of the older woman but there was something about her Emma was drawn to. She didn't know what and she was almost afraid to find out but the blonde couldn't stop herself scanning the dining hall hopefully every meal time.
Rolling onto her other side, Emma tried to quiet her brain and slowly slipped off to sleep.
The following morning was a Saturday. To most of the inmates, that meant a visitation day. Excited chatter echoed around the bunks as the girls got ready to greet family and friends. Emma sat quietly on her mattress, watching as Red braided Boyd's hair, the two of them talking animatedly about Sean's visit. Red herself was looking forward to seeing her ex boyfriend, Peter. The two had broken up years ago but still remained good friends and he made the trip out to FCI once a month to visit Red.
Emma watched sadly as her two new friends left with cheery waves to see their loved ones. Emma pulled her calendar towards her and flicked through it, counting weeks. 46 more lonely Saturdays to endure. She sighed and flopped back down onto the bed, listening to the uncharacteristically quiet bunk area.
Immersed in one of Red's trashy magazine, Emma didn't hear the other inmate walking down the corridor outside her bunk, nor did she notice when the footsteps slowed as they passed the archway to her room. If she had, she would have noted how the footsteps continued for a few yards before stopping completely. A squeak of rubber on the tiles indicated to anyone who was listening that the inmate had swivelled on their toes and then the footsteps recommenced, stopping when they reached the doorless doorway.
"Good morning Miss Swan."
The deep, sultry tones caused Emma to jump, sitting up in her bed and dropping the magazine to the floor. Regina laughed at the blonde's startled actions, a rich sound Emma wanted to hear again and again.
"H-Hello," Emma stammered, unsure quite what to do.
"How are you settling in?" the brunette asked, stepping uninvited inside Emma's bunk.
"Fine, thanks," Emma all but whispered, watching as Regina walked towards her cabinet, absentmindedly picking up a couple of Emma's possessions before placing them back down.
"Counting down the days I see," the brunette smiled, indicating the calendar.
"Yep, helps me stay positive," Emma said. She felt incredibly awkward, unsure how to sit, what to do with her hands. Should she stand up? Emma heart raced as she waited for the brunette to say something else.
"No visitation for you today?" the brunette asked casually.
Emma almost laughed. It was clear the older woman knew the answer to the question and was merely fishing for information. The blonde decided not to give it to her.
"Nope," Emma shook her head, reaching down to retrieve the magazine and placing it on the bed once more.
"Family is overrated," Regina said, darkly.
"Agreed," Emma said, memories of various foster parents flashing uninvited through her mind. The blonde shivered involuntarily.
"It appears you have equal reason as I do to dislike family members," Regina commented, noticing Emma's reaction.
"Perhaps. But I've never ordered my cronies to beat the shit out of my sister before."
Emma froze as soon as the words had left her mouth. Regina placed the calendar she was still holding back on the cabinet and moved to sit opposite Emma on Red's bed. The temperature in the room dropped several degrees as Regina caught Emma's fearful green gaze with her own steely brown eyes.
"Please don't make assumptions about my life before you know me, Miss Swan. You know nothing about my relationship with my half-sister. Nor my friends for that matter."
Emma wanted to look away from the chocolate eyes. She wanted to curl up into a ball. She wanted the brunette to leave her bunk and never come back. But before she could stop them, more words tumbled from her lips.
"I don't know what's happened in your past but nothing gives you the right to use your witchy powers over three stupefied inmates to attack anyone."
Emma clapped her hand to her mouth. Her current situation was literally the worst time possible to have verbal diarrhoea! Emma's heart thudded against her rib cage as she waited for the older woman to react.
A perfectly sculpted eyebrow raised at the blonde's words. There was a pregnant pause as Regina surveyed the petrified woman before her.
"Witchy powers?"
A bark of laughter escaped Emma. Of all the things for the brunette to focus on, it had to be that.
"Well, yeah," Emma said, grinning shyly at Mills, hoping the older woman would see the humour in Emma's statement.
Regina couldn't help the slight curve in her lip at the blonde's reaction. There was something endearing about the young woman. She seemed relatively innocent and naive in some ways and yet there was a spark, a fire, inside of her Regina found herself wanting to learn more about. There was something different about the blonde, something enticing and it wasn't just her stunning eyes nor the mass of blonde curls. Regina couldn't help but imagine that hair fanned out on a pillow or with her own hands fisted tightly in it.
Emma waited as the brunette observed her, a slight upward twitch in her lip the only indication she had heard the blonde. As the younger woman watched, Mills shifted slightly on the bed, pressing her thighs together. Emma's cheeks flushed as she watched the movement, although she wasn't entirely sure why.
"Well, Miss Swan. This has been a most interesting discussion but I'm afraid I must be off now. I shall see you around, dear."
With that, Regina stood and swept gracefully from the bunk, Emma watching her go dumbfounded before cradling her head in her hands and groaning loudly.
"How was your morning?" Red asked as she bounced back into their room.
"Odd," Emma declared. "How was Peter?"
"It was great to see him. We had a catch up about all our mutual friends so I'm all up to date on the gossip again," Red grinned. "What was odd about your morning?"
"Mills came to see me."
"What?" Red asked, jaw agape.
"Yeah," Emma nodded. "My reaction exactly."
"What did she say? What did you say?"
"She asked if I had a visitor today. Then she said family was overrated. Then I called her a witch for using her cronies to beat up West."
"You did what?" Red screeched. "And she left without doing anything to you?"
Emma nodded slowly.
"Shit," Red said, sitting down on her bed heavily. "She'll be gunning for you now Swan."
"You think," Emma asked, fear bubbling inside her at her bunk mate's reaction.
"You don't insult the queen and get away with it," Red declared. "Did you apologise?"
"Didn't get the chance," Emma shrugged. "She walked out pretty soon after I blurted out what is apparently a death sentence."
"Shit," Red repeated.
"What should I do?" Emma asked, desperate for help.
"Well, Mills isn't one to get her hands dirty and from what I've heard, Feinberg, Trident, and Faery are in SHU for another week. Which means you've got seven days to get into her highness' good books or you should probably expect trouble."
Emma nodded. She could do that. She could be charming when she wanted to be. It was one of the reasons shop keepers never suspected she and Neal were about to rob their store.
"Hey girls," came a voice from the doorway.
"Hi Snow," Red greeted, Emma absentmindedly nodded her head in acknowledgement, still lost in thought.
"What's up with you, Swan?"
When Emma didn't reply, Red spoke. "She angered the queen."
"Oh dear," Snow said, moving to sit beside Emma and put a comforting arm around the blonde. "I'm sure you'll find a way to fix it."
"I called her a witch," Emma mumbled, staring at her knees.
"Oh," Snow replied, eyebrows raised. "Well, good luck with that dilemma and let us know if you need a hand." A reassuring squeeze to Emma's shoulders made the blonde almost want to burst into tears at the kindness her two friends were showing her. If the blonde was in Mills' bad books, being associated with Emma was dangerous. She was grateful Red and Snow didn't seem to mind.
"Anyway," said Snow's cheery voice, "I came to see if you two ladies are ready for lunch. Nolan told me they're serving lasagne today and that's one of the best meals here."
"Ooh Nolan told you eh," Red teased, laughing as Snow's face blushed.
"Shut it Luccas," Snow said before turning to Emma. "You coming Swan?"
Nodding, Emma pushed herself off her bed and followed her two friends from the bunk. As she reached the end of the sleeping area, something made her glance into the last bunk. She gasped as rich brown eyes met her own. Stumbling slightly, Emma righted herself and kept walking, forcing herself to keep looking forward.
Regina laughed quietly as she continued to unpack her things. The bunk reassignment had been a condition of her only enduring one week in SCU. After she locked her cabinet and smoothed the sheets on her bed, the brunette applied a little more lip gloss in her compact mirror (plastic of course) and followed the blonde down the corridor towards the dining room.
If you're very nice to me, I may even spend my Saturday writing the next chapter for you…