Hello, friends! I know! It has been forever! But life happened I was dealing with a lot of personal stuff, and I graduated from school, I moved states, and have been working quite a bit but I finished chapter 5 and have even gotten a jump start on chapter 6! Now, this chapter visually will look a little rough because I've been really busy and haven't gotten to make edits but you've waited long enough and I wanted to give you an update! That being said, I really need a beta reader. Someone who can help me out with editing. Send me a message if you would be interested! Okay, okay, enough rambling! Onto the story!
Emma took the long way back to her dorm room. She needed time to wrap her head around what had just happened. She pretty much just came out to her teacher.
The teacher she was crushing on.
The teacher she was now going to be spending 6 hours in a car with.
Emma thought she might be sick. The thought of spending that kind of time alone with her teacher made her nervous. Not because of her crush, simply because she was worried her teacher would learn more about her and hate her. She wouldn't be able to handle that.
Pushing the worry to the back of her mind she thought about how eager her teacher seemed to want to go with her and help her. It made Emma feel kind of wanted, almost. For once. Emma unlocked her dorm door and found Ariel sitting on her bed brushing her hair.
"So, did she punish you?" Ariel asked with a huge smirk on her face.
"Oh, fuck off!" Emma replied flinging a pillow at her.
She threw her bag down near her desk and hopped up onto Ariel's bed just staring at the girl. She wanted to tell her about Ms. Mills coming with her but at the same time she didn't. Is it weird what she's doing? Is it even legal? Another set of worrisome thoughts made their way into Emma's head.
"Helllooooo, earth to Emma! You in there!?"
Ariel pulled Emma from her thoughts by tapping on her forehead.
"Come on now. Spill! You look like you're going to burst with information!" Ariel said, excitedly.
"I-uh, well, it's about tomorrow.." Emma began but Ariel cut her off.
"Oh..Em..I'm sorry..I wish I could go with you. I'm so sorry, everything will be okay. I wish you didn't have to go alone. But I can't miss swim try-outs.."
"Well, that's the thing. I'm not going alone. M-someone else offered to go with me.." Emma trailed off.
"Oh, was it that sweet girl, Belle? The one that TA's in our English class?" Ariel asked.
"No, it's not her..uh..M-Ms. Mills..offered to go with me..well actually..she insisted.." Emma said quietly.
A giant grin spread across Ariel's face. "Yeah? You're spending the weekend with Mills?" She winked.
"Knock it off. I'm just a student whose well being she's looking after!" Emma said as she smacked Ariel's arm before hopping off her bed to get started on some homework since she'd be gone for the weekend.
Meanwhile, at the Mills mansion Regina had just gotten home. "Kathryn? Where are you, dear?" she called out.
"In here!" She heard Kathryn reply from the study. Dropping her bag and keys on the front entry table she headed in that direction. She figured Kathryn was grading some work from her classes this week however, when she reached the entryway to the study she noticed that wasn't the case. Kathryn was on the floor with all kinds of books spread around her.
"Doing some lite reading, are we?" Regina joked.
"Ha. Ha. Very funny. No. Mother called today. My coven needs me to come home this weekend for a ritual that needs to be performed that I know NOTHING about." Kathryn huffed out, annoyed.
"Ah, well, then I guess neither of us will be home this weekend. Now I don't have to feel bad about leaving you home alone." Regina replied.
"Really now? And where might you be going?" Kathryn asked.
"Redding, California." Regina responded as she walked out of the room. Not wanting to have this full conversation with Kathryn. However, the blonde woman popped up and followed after her.
"Uhh, and why are you going there!?" Kathryn asked as she chased her down the hallway.
"Someone needs to go talk to family and I offered to go so they wouldn't be making the drive alone." Regina was trying to tiptoe around the real topic.
Kathryn stood there for a moment just staring at Regina, not understanding why the vampire was being so secretive and vague but then it hit her.
"Ohhh. It wouldn't happen to be for a small blonde, would it?" Kathryn asked innocently with a knowing smile.
Regina whipped around to glare at her best friend.
"I'll take that as a 'yes'" Kathryn continued with a smirk.
Regina let out an annoyed sigh. "If you MUST know, it is. She needs to go have a discussion with her father and I didn't want her making the trip alone. Especially after how distracted she's been all week. I'm her teacher and am just looking after her well being."
"Oh, yes, of course, professor. Go drive 6 hours and spend the weekend with your student to make sure her well being at her own home is fine." Kathryn said sarcastically before adding "Maybe you should sleep in the same bed to really keep an eye on her." Kathryn could no longer control herself and was full on laughing.
Regina just shook her head. "We're leaving first thing tomorrow morning. Perhaps you should get back to your books." Regina just gave her a look daring her to continue her ridiculous banter. When she got no response she quickly turned on her heel and headed off towards her room to get her things ready for this weekends trip. It was only two days so she threw a few things into a backpack and got ready for bed.
To say Emma was nervous was an understatement. She had woken up extra early knowing her teacher did not like tardiness. She still had some things at her house back in California so Emma just had a small bag for her tooth brush and hair things in it.
Ariel had already left about 30 minutes ago to go to her try-outs so Emma had the room to herself while she got ready. She looked up the address when she got home to see how far from the college their professor lived. Conveniently enough she only lived 10 minutes from the college. Emma gathered her belongings together and left the dorms quickly ensuring she left time in case she got lost.
Emma found the road with very little trouble. It was a dirt road with nothing but farmland at first so she thought she had turned down the wrong road. She was just about to turn back when she spotted a sign reading "Mills Manor" 1mi a head. Millls Manor? Emma wondered to herself. Obviously she was on the right road so she continued on. Just as the sign said a mile up the road she spotted a huge house with a sign out front that read 'Mills Manor est. 1845'. It was definitely old but still grand and beautiful. Very well taken care of. She pulled up the long driveway and parked her yellow bug off to the side of the other cars in the driveway. Grabbing her small bag and throwing it over her shoulder she got out of the car and went up to the front door. She lightly knocked twice and stepped back. Not even a second later she heard shouting from inside the house.
She heard a voice yell "Don't worry, I've got it!" followed by what sounded like Ms. Mills yelling "Don't you dare, so help me God Kathryn!" Emma giggled. Ms. Mills must have been yelling at Ms. Nolan. Very quickly after that the front door opened and there stood Ms. Nolan. "Emma! So good to see you! Please, come in." Kathryn stepped aside allowing Emma to step into the entry way. "Gina! Emma is here! She's down here with just me waiting on you!" Kathryn yelled as she winked at Emma. "I do enjoy teasing her." She said more quietly to just Emma. The smaller girl just shook her head and laughed at her history teacher before jumping at the voice behind her. "I'm going to kill you." The voice was calm and steady.
Emma turned around startled to see Ms. Mills standing behind her. She hadn't even heard her come down stairs. "I'm sorry dear, I didn't mean to startle you. And I apologize for this ones behaviour." Regina said, referring to Kathryn. Emma just smiled and laughed again. Before Kathryn could speak again Regina beat her to it. "Well, we must get going. Do have fun this weekend, dear. Hope you don't mess it all up." Regina said with a big grin. Kahtryn just rolled her eyes letting out a huff. "Thank you, Gina. Please be safe. Be very, extra safe." She replied with a smirk.
Regina had her hand on Emma's back ushering her outside to her car. "Bye, Ms. Nolan" Emma said with a wave as she walked out the door. "Yes, good bye, dear. I love you" Regina said as she flipped Kathryn off behind Emma's back. When they got in the car Regina set up her GPS to find Emma's house and they were off.
The first 20 minutes were pretty quiet. They stopped at gas station to fill up the tank and get something to drink. Emma was the first one to initiate conversation. "You two make a cute couple. How long have you been together?'' Emma asked.
"Excuse me?" Regina was confused.
"H-How long have you and Ms. Nolan been together?" Emma clarified.
Regina sat silent for moment before she began to laugh hysterically. It was now Emma's turn to be confused. She didn't understand why her teacher was laughing. It was a simple question. Maybe it was a stupid one. Emma was now regretting even opening her mouth.
Finally Regina stopped laughing.
"Forgive me, dear. I just found it amusing you thought Katherine and I were together. Are you saying we look like lesbians?" Regina sounded offended but her smirk said otherwise. It still made Emma panic.
"Oh! N-no I just thought because..no..I-I'm sorry." Emma rambled out.
Regina just laughed, seeing Emma flustered was quite amusing.
"It's quite alright, dear. We get mistaken for lesbians all the time. Even though we aren't." Regina paused "well, she isn't anyway." Her eyes stayed focussed on the road but she smirked slightly. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Emma's face turn bright red. And it took a lot for her to not laugh about it.
Emma felt like she had butterflies in her stomach when Regina admitted she was a lesbian. But that feeling soon passed when she remembered she didn't have a chance with her teacher. Regina was gorgeous and Emma was..well..Emma. A few moments of silence passed when Emma finally spoke up again. "Is that why you're so willing to help?" she asked. "Hmm?" "Well..I I mean did you have a similar experience of..um..well I guess realizing it and c-coming out?" Emma managed to get out. Regina smiled softly as her mind wandered back and remembered to first time she realized she liked Elsa as more than just her friend and the way it made her feel. She was pulled from her thoughts though when she heard her phone go off. "Emma, could you see who that is?"
Emma grabbed Regina's phone from the cup holder and hit the home button lighting up the screen. "Um..it's from Ms. Nolan..she wants to know how it's going..with a lot of smirking emojis..?" It kind of came out as more of a question than a statement. Regina groaned internally and just rolled her eyes. "Ignore her. I'll call her later on. She's just being obnoxious." Emma giggled at Regina's frustration. Regina felt a smile spread across her face at the sound of Emma's laughter she found it adorable. 'Oh dear god' Regina thought to herself 'Adorable? Really? Who are you?' She shook her head at her ridiculousness before answering Emma's question. "Yes, I did have a moment of realization and...coming out." Emma just nodded. Understanding a little better why she was so willing to make this drive with her. They fell into a comfortable silence after a while occasionally humming along to the radio.
Around 1 Regina decided they should probably stop for food. They were about halfway there at this point so it seemed like a good time to stop. Not wanting to drive thru some greasy fast food place Regina asked Emma if she had a preference for sit down places. The younger girl said she didn't have any preference so Regina pulled into the first restaurant she came across off the highway. It didn't take very long for them to get their food and about 45 minutes later Regina was ready to get her check and get back on the road. However, she noticed Emma had hardly touched her salad and as she watched her some more she noticed she was just pushing it around the plate. "Emma?" Regina began. The blonde looked up at her teacher. "Are you okay? You've hardly touched your salad.." Emma nodded. "I uh..I guess I'm not really hungry.." Emma lied. Regina looked at the girl skeptically. "Emma, you haven't eaten anything all day.." Not wanting to get into this Emma tried to quickly change the subject. "H-how old were you when you realized..um well..everything?" She asked. Regina realized what Emma was doing but decided to let it go for now. "Lets see, actually I was probably about your age." She told Emma. Emma looked surprised. "Really? So it must have been recently then..I mean..well..you don't look like you're very much older than me.." Regina laughed. "And how old do I look?" she asked Emma. "I don't think you look older than 25 or so.." Again Regina started to laugh. "Yes, something like that." She replied with a huge grin.
Once Regina got the check settled Emma thanked her and they went back out to her car to finish up the last few hours of the drive. The GPS said they should get there around 5 without traffic. Regina could tell that the closer they got the more nervous Emma was getting so she suggested she try to take a nap assuring her that she could handle the last three hours of the drive fine. Emma was pretty tired after waking up so early and she did feel safe in the car so she let herself drift off to sleep.
It was around 5:30 Regina pulled into Emma's driveway. She put the car in park and sat there a moment watching the younger girl sleep in her passenger seat. She smiled to herself before gently shaking her shoulder and speaking softly. "Emma, wake up, dear. We're here. It's time."