A/N: Sorry for the slower updates recently. Law school is terrible. Fortunately, SwanQueen is not. Enjoy!
Chapter 12
Two weeks had passed since the party. Since the event, Storybrooke had become, simply, a brighter place.
The tension that had previously existed between the local government and the town's residents had been replaced by a personal and cooperative relationship which had instilled trust and respect in the town's constituents for Mayor Mills.
Regina still sent a shiver up many a spine, because she was still Regina Mills, but her growing humanity had not gone unnoticed, and, in fact, it had become quite the talk of the town. Only a few residents knew the impetus behind the woman's transformation, and they had guarded the secret well, because no matter how friendly Regina may have become, no one dared test her amiability by publicizing her private life against her wishes. Even a friendly Regina could be dangerous.
And as Storybrooke and its Mayor had become brighter, so had its deputy. Emma had performed her civil responsibilities with unprecedented vigor and enthusiasm, and had made it a point to get to know the town's residents and become more involved as a community member. In the past few weeks, many a citizen had even discussed her running for Sheriff in the next election – talk which made Emma chuckle. She would never compete with Graham for his position.
Besides, a promotion would put her directly under Regina's control. And Emma liked being on top.
"Madam Mayor, you wanted to see me?" Emma asked as she stepped into Regina's monochromatic office at Town Hall. She closed the door behind her and approached the brunette's desk, placing a cup of coffee down in front of her.
This little game they played had become so exciting. Every so often, when Regina's daydreams became too vivid, she would call Emma and have her come chase away fiction with reality. The brunette had decided no matter how perfect a story or fairytale could be, her reality would always be preferable.
"The coffee is for later, but first…" said the blonde, walking around the desk and stopping in front of the brunette. She placed her left hand down on the dark wood to steady herself and leaned down, brushing her lips against Regina's. The soft kiss drew a faint moan of approval from the Mayor, who brought her hands up to either side of Emma's face. She stood quickly and turned, pressing Emma against the desk. Dark red lips pressed against the Deputy's and Regina brought her right hand down to Emma's jean-clad upper thigh, gripping it strongly.
The ringing phone interrupted their exchange.
"Ahh, if only I carried a gun," said a sighing Emma, as Regina pulled away.
"Mayor Mills," Regina said with a smirk as she picked up the phone. "No, I'm not available to talk with him right now. In fact, will you hold my calls until 3? Thanks," she said, hanging up the receiver.
"Well I certainly don't need the caffeine now… You did quite a job of waking me up, deputy," said Regina. The woman dragged her eyes down Emma's body and back up before folding her arms across her chest. "But believe it or not, I called you here to discuss something professional."
Emma raised her eyebrows. "Oh," she said, standing tall now and taking a step away from the desk. "Should I sit down? Is everything okay?"
"Well I guess that depends on how you feel about having a little extra responsibility," said Regina. "The State is setting up a Forest and Wildlife Agency outpost here and they inquired about any potential candidates for filling what will be the local office. Graham came to me and expressed an interest… he's always been into that, you know… and, well, before I recommend him, I need to know if you're up for me calling you something other than Deputy in public," she said.
Emma narrowed her eyes in thought. "Wait. You're asking me to take the Sheriff's position?"
"Well you are the most qualified, and I take the safety of this town seriously, you know that. Yes, I'm asking you if you want it," said Regina.
"Would that mean I have to work later nights?" Emma asked, concerned about losing quality early morning-hours with Storybrooke's Mayor.
Regina laughed and closed the distance between them. "Tell you what. If you have to stay out later, I'll keep you up longer…" She ran her fingertip down Emma's shirt to her belt and dragged it back and forth over the buckle.
Emma's eyes fluttered. "This is blackmail…" she said with a smirk.
"You of all people know that I get what I want. I'll call Sydney and Graham and let them know," said the Mayor, reaching for her coffee.
"I'm sure Graham will be elated. I swear sometimes I think he was raised in the woods," Emma replied while heading toward the door.
Regina's hand hovered over the phone at Emma's statement. She paused and her mind began reeling over the same questions that had tattooed themselves there ever since she became cognizant of her feelings for the blonde. "How am I going to tell her?" she thought silently.
"Regina, are we still on for dinner tonight?" asked Emma from the doorway.
Regina was shaken from her thoughts and looked up in the direction of the voice. Emma was the best kind of beautiful. The effortless kind, the unknowing kind, and the irresistible kind. In a second she would walk out and leave. The only thing that made her departure bearable for Regina was the certainty that it was only temporary. In a few hours, Emma would be over for dinner with her and Henry and everything would feel comfortable and warm. But were those feelings ephemeral? Would the comfort and warmth of Emma Swan be but a memory if Regina shared her past with her?
"Yes, Emma. We'll both be expecting you. Don't be late," she said with a feigned grin.
The deputy departed and Regina sat down. She rubbed her hand absentmindedly over her heart. Her secrets were becoming painful.
Dinner had gone off without a hitch, or a fire.
Regina, Emma, and Henry had sat at the table for well over an hour talking about nothing and everything, and around 8:45pm, a little boy's yawn brought an end to the evening.
"Are you tired already? You're 10. Aren't you supposed to be addicted to caffeine by now? asked a chuckling Emma as she shut the dishwasher and started its cycle.
"We had a longer practice today. And no, you know Mom doesn't let me have that stuff," he replied.
Emma's ears perked upon hearing Henry sincerely reference Regina as "mom." Things had certainly changed in the past month. "Yeah, for good reason. It stunts your growth. You don't wanna end up being a 35 year old dwarf do ya?" teased Emma in the woman's defense.
"That reminds me…" said Henry. He grabbed Emma's hand and pulled her out of the kitchen and up the stairs. "There's something I have to show you," he said.
Emma's eyebrows furrowed in deep confusion.
Regina was in the shower, prepping for her later interactions with Storybrooke's new Sheriff, and Emma sensed that she was about to be chained with the burden of secrecy. Henry had obviously waited for Regina to be occupied elsewhere so that he could have his little "show and tell" session. Emma only hoped he'd show her something benign and only mildly dangerous. That way, she wouldn't be in an awkward position of keeping something from Regina. She wasn't sure she could handle dishonesty in their relationship, not after all the shit she had been through in her life.
"Look," said Henry, pulling a large book from his backpack.
"Thank God," thought Emma, relieved. It was just the book. Though she was surprised he was still clinging on to his fantastical conspiracy theory, now that things had gotten better with his mother.
"It's time I showed you the rest," he said, flipping through large, illustrated pages.
"Say what?" said Emma, her brows continuing to furrow. She walked over to the bed and sat next to Henry, leaning over to get a better view of the tome in his hands.
"Okay. Look. There's something I didn't tell you before. Ever since you brought me back here, more pages have shown up in the book. At first they were blank. But yesterday, I opened it and saw this."
He placed the worn volume on Emma's lap. "A Queen Will Fall," Emma said aloud, reading the subtitle on the page in front of her.
"She hath crushed a pulse within her hand, and brought in death for pleasure,
Consumed in smoke, a kingdom fell, its misery her treasure,
She hath orphaned child and widowed wife, and parted lovers, too.
No human heart or bones could lie within her onyx tomb.
The years shall pass and one shall scream out for redemption's grace,
And she, like night, will never feel the sunlight on her face.
But she may find her blindfold torn away by fingers strong,
And veil discarded, may come to see it has been morning all along.
Before forgiveness first must come revival and release,
And to her knees the Queen will fall and therein will find peace.
Emma finished reading the words before her and looked to the boy beside her. "Henry this is some dark stuff. I'm not sure I want you reading it," she said, closing the book.
"Emma, I'm serious. It's talking about my mom. And it sounds like something bad could happen to her," he said with eyes pleading for Emma's credulity. "Things are different now. I don't want her to get hurt," he said. "You have to do something."
"Okay, okay," said Emma softly, pulling in Henry for a hug. "I'll watch out for her, okay? Nothing is going to happen, I promise," said Emma, willing to say anything to assuage her son's fears.
"Do you think you can try to sleep right now? It's getting late and I want to go talk to your mom," said the Sheriff. She felt Henry nod against her and she gave him one more squeeze before walking to the door.
"Henry," Emma said, staring at the floor while holding the door open. "Is there something new about me in the book?"
"No. At least, not yet," he said.
Emma nodded. "Don't worry. I'll keep your mom safe. You get to sleep," she said, before smiling reassuringly and closing the door.
She stopped in the hallway and wondered why she had asked Henry about her mention in his book. It's not like she believed his story. She exhaled and grew tired of thinking. The distant sound of a curtain being pulled along a shower rod saved her from the shackles of her mind and she walked into Regina's room quickly, realizing she needed contact comfort from the brunette for some reason.
The Mayor emerged from the bathroom in her black robe, hair slightly mussed and skin glowing. Emma closed the distance between them and pulled the brunette in tightly, closing her eyes and resting her chin on the older woman's shoulder.
"Emma, is everything okay?" asked a confused but receptive Regina.
"Yes Ma'am," said Emma, trying to tease her way out of her mental fog.
Regina chuckled. "You're not on duty, Sheriff. We can drop the titles." Emma pulled away, smirking, and threw her jacket on the back of a chair.
"Henry went to bed. I made sure he was settled." She drummed her fingers on her thigh and turned to Regina, who was setting out her work clothes for tomorrow.
"You know, that book he's got…. I'm not sure I like him reading it," said Emma in a slightly distant tone.
"Oh, come on. Henry loves it. Besides, it's a good escape for reality from him," said Regina from her closet.
"Well it's not all sugar and spice, Regina. Some of that stuff is dark. I read something tonight about some character who apparently got a laugh out of killing parents and watching homes burn. I mean, he spends more time with the characters in that book than he does real people, and I'm not thrilled about him spending quality time with a murdering lunatic," she said sarcastically.
Regina stared at her dull-colored dress shirts and held her breath.
Suddenly, Emma's arms snaked around her waist. "I'd rather him be spending time with you," she whispered before kissing Regina's ear.
For the second time that day, the Mayor found herself feigning a smile while trying to manage the painful, rapid pounding in her chest.
"Regina," said Emma softly, still holding onto her from behind. "Before we go to sleep tonight, will you tell me a few stories?"
"Stories?" asked Regina, her thumb tracing circles on the top of Emma's hand.
"Yeah. About you. I hardly know anything about your past, and I want to know everything," she said sincerely.
Regina swallowed hard. Over the past 2 weeks, Emma had asked her repeatedly about high school, college, past loves, accomplishments, pets, family, and other things people usually share with their significant others. She always avoided the topic easily, as directing conversations was one of her fortes. But tonight was different. There was a quiet urgency to Emma's request, and she knew she couldn't continue to hide from the tenacious blonde.
"Emma, sweetheart," said Regina, turning around now to face the blonde.
"I can't." she paused, thinking hard about what she was about to say. "In fact, I won't." She stared up at an obviously hurt Emma. "You'll just have to accept it," she said curtly, now in defense mode.
"Are you serious?" Emma asked incredulously. "You can't be serious. Because if you were, you would be telling me that you're completely unwilling to open up to me and be honest with me. And if you were doing that, then you'd know we had a serious problem," she said with a faltering voice.
Regina walked out to her bedroom to escape the building tension in the closed space of her closet. The last time she saw Emma this angry, she was mutilating her beloved apple tree. She thought suddenly of how vile an act that had been. It would take years for her tree to recover.
"Are you going to say anything or just walk away?" yelled Emma from the closet doorway.
"What do you want from me, Emma, hm?" her voice now rising in volume and strength. " I could spin a beautiful web of lies for you and tell you how I was first in my class at Boston, and that my parents were hard-working, middle-class people, and that when I was a child I had a fucking dog named Spot! But I care too much about you to lie. I just can't, Emma… I can't tell you the things I've done. I can't." she said, the last bit trailing off in a whisper.
Tears welled up in Emma's green eyes. She grabbed her jacket and threw it on. "Then I can't, either," she said, failing to hide the upset in her voice. She rushed out of the room and left the house, the slamming door echoing through Regina's ears.
She sat on her bed and put her head in her hands, still warm from the shower. They were instantly wet, tears spilling out and down her palms. For a moment, she had forgotten which world she was living in.