its hard to run from your problems, when you're lying on your back.
Monday came, and Regina was walking into the diner, spotting Kathryn at their booth. As the mayor approached, she pulled out the expense report for the police department, and placed it in front of the blonde.
Ruby came by to take their order, despondent as usual, Cobb salad for Kathryn as usual, black coffee for Regina.
"You're skinny enough." The sheriff's wife said with a smirk, never looking up from the paper in front of her.
"Have you heard of woman called 'M'?" Regina asked suddenly, causing the other woman to pause in her financial scrutiny, finally looking up to the brunette.
It was only because the situation on Friday was so odd, so…out of the ordinary. Regina liked her routine, and that encounter wasn't a part of it. That was the only reason why she couldn't get it out of her mind, why she would take an extra moment or two in her car, replaying the whole thing in her head. Obsessing over every expression made to every word she said to M. Regina hoped she wasn't rude, though not too friendly either. Surely nothing inappropriate on her end.
Re-election was coming up, after all.
Kathryn was looking at her baffled, bringing up such an odd question.
"Wasn't that a character from James Bond?"
"No…" Regina's eyebrows knitted together in a bit of a frustration, trying to think of a way to talk about what happened. A way that she wouldn't be judged for, and maybe she shouldn't talk about it at all, it was safer that way, but as it stood the mayor felt like she would burst without telling someone. "Well, it's just that—Friday, my car broke down on the way back from your house, and—"
"Your car?" Kathryn interrupted, at least attempting to be interested in her story, even if it was at the wrong parts. "You just got a tune up."
A dry chuckle came from the other woman.
"I know, it was the oddest thing."
"Well, what ended up being wrong with it?"
"Well…Nothing." Regina gave, sounding a bit defeated, and feeling frustrated. But all the blonde did was smile in relief.
"Good thing for that then. Those repairs can cost and arm and a leg."
Just then Ruby came and dropped off their orders, to which Kathryn fidgeted with, looking at Regina with a face cleared of any previous confusion.
"So, how did David seem?"
The older woman sighed and resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
It was Wednesday when Regina saw M again.
She was walking home from work, shortly after dawn. It wasn't too far of a walk, and she enjoyed trying to manage the exercise at least once a week, though usually it was on a day she didn't work so late at the office. Not that she felt unsafe. There were still people about, couples out on dates, a few families coming out of the movie theater. Not crowded in the least either though, so every person was easy to point out for the mayor.
That must have been why her eyes landed so quickly on her. A block away, standing next to someone she didn't care too much to recognize. A part of Regina did notice that her steps were getting a little faster, a part of her noticing a bit of anxiousness at seeing her again, even if she hadn't noticed the mayor yet. The other part of Regina was too busy rehearsing the words she would say. Keep it casual, simple. Maybe just a nod while passing. It was still dangerous to talk to a girl like her, and who's to say she even cared to talk to the mayor either way.
Then there was the remaining part of Regina that told her how absolutely ridiculous and idiotic she was being.
The closer she got, she wondered if M was always wandering these streets, always passing the mayor unnoticed. Though, Regina noticed her, right away like some kind of beacon. Or more of a wound. Something bleeding out and impossible to ignore. You always feel it, the pain of infliction could never not be noticed. It was such a coincidence though, for her to see the woman twice in only a few days' time. She was wearing jeans that were tighter than the skirt Regina saw her in last, frayed and ripped from heel to hip, black boots and a red halter top. And again, Regina wondered how this woman wasn't freezing. She didn't even look cold.
She looked angry.
As the mayor approached, she saw that the person she was talking to was Dr. Whale, the main ER doctor and general physician at the hospital. Regina's eyes narrowed in suspicion as she started to pick up their conversation.
"I don't take IOU's." She snapped, crossing her arms and attempting to turn away from him, but Whale took her wrist from under her arm, the trademark smile on his face.
"Come on…" He urged, his voice sickly sweet, but the grip on her wrist was firm, as M tried once to pull away—to no avail.
"If you don't let go of me," She hissed, her anger becoming furious. "I'm going to rip off your arm."
Before the exchange could elevate anymore, Regina was standing in front of them.
"Is there a problem here?" Was the cool and professional tone given that caused both of them to look at her, Whale growing wide eyed.
"Mayor Mills." He flashed a nervous smile, and immediately let go of M's wrist, which the mayor watched the action, the other woman absently rubbing the place he touched. "No, we were just talking."
"About what, exactly?" Her voice was starting to verge on angry. She was verging on angry, and it wasn't like her, not to have the tightest of reigns on her emotions. To show careless care, but there was something about it—something about M that was dangerous, and Regina really should know better.
"I was seeing if she needed a ride." He offered, posing it as more of a question than anything.
"I don't." M snapped, now two sets of angry eyes on him, causing him to cower a bit and take a step back.
"It seems she doesn't."
A few more steps back and Whale had his cocky grin back on his face. Regina always knew there was something she didn't like about him. A sneakiness that she could never pinpoint until today.
"Right." He said, before his depart. "Well, just doing my duty as a concerned citizen."
Everybody just seemed so concerned lately, Regina thought, sighing once Whale had scurried across the street. She brought her attention back to M, just to see a playfulness in her eyes and the corners of her lips inching upwards.
"My hero." That lazy sort of drawl was back in her voice and it sent a heat to Regina's face without her permission, forcing her to break eye contact almost as soon as it started. It was a surprisingly quick change from the fierce way she spoke to the doctor, eyes full of fire, brave and unyielding. Everything about this woman just seemed to make Regina a bit lightheaded, and she couldn't pinpoint why.
"Well, it's only fair. You did fix my car the other day."
While the mayor was getting a comfortable enough to look at her directly, she smoothed out the wrinkles in her wool coat, and adjusted the shoulder strap of her briefcase. The fact that she looked so uptight next to the natural sexuality of M did not go lost on her, their differences glaringly obvious, making Regina glance around to make sure no one near was taking any kind of interest in their conversation. Not that the mayor was doing anything wrong, they were just talking, but still.
"Something has to be broken before you can fix it." M responded, as if Regina had made up the whole ordeal the other day, and she felt a bit of offense at it. While looking over to the other woman she saw her reach into her back pocket of those completely impractical jeans, pulling out a half crushed pack of cigarettes and a lighter.
"I hope I didn't…" Regina paused, unsure how to finish her sentence, so she thought it over for a moment while she watched red lips part and form around the end of a cigarette. "Ruin any plans you had tonight."
"Plans ruin themselves." Was the flippant response, followed by two flicks of her lighter before a flame sparked between the two of them, while M sucked the smoke into her lungs. It was a disgusting habit, disgusting and distracting to Regina, feeling green eyes on her the whole time. The call girl tilted her head back, blowing the smoke out into the sky, contributing in the destruction of our environment, while the mayor watched her newly exposed neck, long and pale. "Besides," Green eyes back on her, and the older woman shook herself from her thoughts. "I'm sure I can find another, more satisfying source of income."
An absent flick of her finger caused ash to break from her cigarette and float around her.
Dimples in her cheeks as she smiled, while Regina blushed.
"You feeling up for a talk?"
She was like a wound, Regina reminded herself.
Picking at it wouldn't do any good.
"Not tonight, dear." She offered a small smile to M, but something about what she said caused the short haired woman's smirk to falter, something serious flashing across her face for a split second. Perhaps it was the slight rejection, or maybe it was the term of endearment.
She covered for it nicely though, with another drag of nicotine and toxins.
"I'll wear you down, Mayor Mills." The smirk was back like it never left, leaning in towards her, almost invading her personal space. "I'm nothing if not persistent."
Regina wasn't sure what made her smirk back, a sudden confidence filling her, mimicking the other woman's cocky tone and arching an eyebrow.
"Well, I am nothing if not stubborn."
And that did cause pause between the two of them, M actually looking impressed before flashing her teeth in a smile.
"Should be fun then."
The mayor didn't really mean for it to be a challenge of any kind, because there was nothing to challenge. Even if she happened upon M again, if this became a regular occurrence, there was no way she would get herself in the kind of trouble that the younger woman made a career out of. There was no way she would ever want to.
"Have a good night, M." Regina gave as she turned and walked away, feeling a bit proud that she had gotten the last word in this exchange for once. Though M certainly wasn't going to have that.
"Could've been better." The playfulness in her voice, and now a blush on the other woman's cheeks.
Later that night, when Regina was working in her home office, she was finishing up a few details and a glass of wine, while a late dinner cooked. The mayor couldn't help but get drawn back to the interaction that happened today. Even if M was a wound, wounds could heal when treated properly. Perhaps the girl had just had some bad luck, and it put her on this path.
The mayor assumed that M didn't enjoy that constant risk, being manhandled, and used, despite how eager she seemed to be to engage Regina. Maybe the younger woman thought it some great pay day, or maybe something else attracted M to her. Regardless, it wouldn't happen, but there was no reason why she had to stop talking to her. Perhaps she could make an example out of her, get her back on her feet, for sure buy her some new cloths. Regina could get her a job, maybe as a teacher's aid, or a volunteer at the hospital. She imagined visiting the younger woman at her job, seeing M wearing the outfit Regina picked out for her that morning—maybe a white dress that complemented her more than torn clothing. Something flowing at the bottom but tight around the woman's full hips, hugging the curve of her breasts—
Regina jerked out of her thoughts at the sound of her oven timer buzzing, indicating that dinner was finished cooking. She took a generous drink of her wine before taking the glass with her to get dinner.
Once she had eaten and changed for bed, her thoughts drifted back to her scenario, nothing left to distract her. As she climbed under the covers, her insecurities started to take hold, sure that a woman like M would just laugh at her attempts to better her life.
'I'm not your newest charity case, Madame Mayor.'
With that lazy smirk and glossed over eyes, green trying to escape the darkness around it. Trying to find its way out.
'I like my feet firmly planted in the air.'
Some snide remark just to watch Regina blush, as if she got off on it.
'Do you want a demonstration…?'
She would be inappropriate. Sexual. Because she wouldn't know any other way. Trying to tempt her, and make an easy buck doing it. But Regina, she could bring out the good in M, she just knew it. And the younger woman would laugh and smirk and deny it…but she would want it.
She would want her…
Regina breathed in deeply, her hand shifting between her legs, moving past the waist band of her underwear. Closing her eyes, in some kind of denial of this heavy feeling in the pit of her stomach all night. She knew what it was though, her fingers feeling the prominent wetness just inside her folds. She couldn't even remember the last time she did this, but it felt like forever, what with how sensitive she felt. Her hand took it's predestined course though, pushing against what made her hips squirm, rubbing what made her bite her lip to keep from whimpering.
'Don't even act like this doesn't feel good.'
She moaned, imagining those eyes, those lips—driving her crazy. Haunting her.
'You won't change me, but I'll change you…'
Regina's breathing became more labored, the circles she was rubbing grew tighter and faster.
'I'll make you regret ever getting out of your car.'
Her knees rose, heels digging into the mattress, and sweat collecting along the back her neck.
'I'll make you regret everything.'
Her brain got clouded at that, her eyes opening and staring at the ceiling. The fantasy slipping away, everything getting confusing and hard to grasp. She tried for a few moments to get it back, but Regina couldn't picture anything anymore.
With a sigh of frustration, she was more awake than ever.
The grass was damp against her stocking covered knees, dress bunched at her hips as she kneeled down on the grass. Hands gripping the cold green that looked vibrant, yet unforgiving. Soon though, just before she gave up all hope, she felt warm and soft hands take hold of her arms.
Lifting her up and up, until she was face to face with a dark haired angel. Dressed in blue and her smile looked blinding against her dark skin and brown eyes.
She felt the woman's arms around her waist, not too close, or too tight—not constricting, but just perfect. Her arms felt like comfort and safety.
"You saved me." She whispered to the woman, unable to look away from those deep brown eyes, ones that filled her with such warmth.
"This time." The woman responded, with a smirk and a quick wink.
Regina Mills woke with a start, from a nightmare she couldn't remember.