Regina was sitting behind her desk catching up on paperwork from the previous day. Emma was sitting on Regina's office couch with an old textbook and some paper drawing pictures. Regina could hear the pen against paper and the scratchy sound of Emma coloring in her masterpiece with a pencil.
They worked quietly like this all morning. About 30 minutes before Regina was going to take a break and take Emma out to lunch Jack phones her office. "Mayor Mills. I have here, he says he wants to speak with you. Now."
Regina sighs, "Let him in Jack. After this hold all my calls I am going to lunch."
Jack nods his head even though Regina can't see him through her closed door, "yes madam mayor"
Regina can hear Jack tell to enter Regina's office, just before Gold entered Regina called to Emma, "Emma. There is going to be a man coming in a second. I need you to promise to not speak to him ok?"
Emma looks up from her drawing and can see that Regina is nervous but serious, Emma nods her head and looks back down and continues coloring.
Regina gives a breath of relief knowing that Emma isn't going to say anything to Gold. Hopefully he just needs something trivial and will be on his way. Its never that easy with Gold.
Gold knocks on the door with the tip of his cane and pushes the door open, without waiting for Regina to tell him to enter.
Gold limps in, sits down in the chair across from Regina's desk, and smirks.
Not wanting this to be dragged out for more than necessary Regina gets straight to the point, "What is it that you need ?"
Gold chuckles, "Oh nothing dearie. I just wanted to stop by and see how everything was going. You can imagine my surprise when the sheriff informed me that he needed papers allowing you to be a foster parent."
Regina narrows her gaze and says, "Yes. There was a situation which required me to have proper documentation. So I appreciate you helping and being quick about it but is there something else that you needed?"
Gold looked behind him and watched Emma. Regina was was becoming annoyed with Gold ignoring her. Regina cleared her throat which got the attention of Emma. Emma looked at Regina and smiled, Regina smiled back. Regina could see Gold go rigid. Regina was confused but didn't think much of Gold's reaction, such an odd little man.
Regina called to Gold again, " . As you can see Emma is just fine, we greatly appreciate all that you have done, but I promised someone lunch at Granny's and I never break a promise."
Emma's eyes and smile grew with excitement. Gold was still looking at Emma but quickly stood up and said his goodbyes, "Well I am certainly glad everything is well. I will be seeing you around madam mayor. Emma." Gold exited the office and closed the door behind him.
Regina sat back down in her chair, closed her eyes, and ran a hand through her shoulder length black hair. Emma walked over to Regina and stood quietly waiting for Regina to open her eyes again. When Regina opened her eyes she was met with a smiling Emma. Regina couldn't help but smile along. Regina bent over and picked Emma up and sat her on her lap.
Regina held Emma close and asked, "So.. You hungry?"
Before Emma could even answer her stomach growled loudly. Emma blushed a little and nodded her head. Regina just laughed, "Well if that rumble was anything to go by we should head to Granny's." Emma nodded excitedly and hopped off of Regina's lap and held out her hand for Regina to take. Emma's little hand practically disappeared in Regina's larger one; Regina and Emma looked at each other and smiled. Once Regina was out of her chair Emma basically ran to the door pulling Regina along with her.
Regina called out to Jack that her and Emma were going to lunch and to only call her if there was an emergency. Jack nodded and watched Regina and Emma leave. Jack watched as Regina smiled and giggled along with Emma as they jogged to Regina's car.
Jack watched them until the car lights were out of sight. Jack knows rumors about Regina, she is just as cruel and evil as her mother Cora, she can't love anyone that isn't Henry, her 'true love' was a loser who got her pregnant at 16 and left her. That Regina has affairs with men and when they fall for her she breaks their hearts. Jack has heard it all but seeing her today with Emma he realizes that most of those rumors are complete crap, Regina is a kind and loving person who was dealt a difficult hand in life. But she isn't evil, she isn't cruel, she isn't her mother, she is just… Regina.
Regina and Emma park outside the diner and both Emma and Regina are giggling, seemingly at nothing but their own excitement.
Regina opens the door and lets Emma walk in first, Emma is giggling and then she isn't. Before the door even closes Emma has her hands wrapped around Regina's leg and is hiding behind her. Regina looks down at Emma and is wondering what could possibly have changed Emma's attitude in a few seconds. Regina then looks back up towards the diner and understands. All conversations in the diner have stopped, everyone has stopped eating, and all eyes are on Emma. Regina looks back down to Emma and can still feel the diners intense stares on the two of them, she also feels Emma shaking increased breaths. Regina growls like she is a lioness protecting her cub.
Regina snaps her attention back to the people in the diner, "Stop staring at Emma like she is some kind of sideshow circus freak. Get back to your meals and keep your attention in your own business."
Regina grabs a hold of Emma's small hand and guides her into a booth towards the back, away from prying eyes.
Regina sits into the booth first and gives Emma the option of where she wants to sit. Emma decides to sit next to Regina opposed to across from her. Regina can't hide the smile on her face. Knowing that out of all the people in the diner right now, it is she that Emma wants to be near. That is something that she has only experienced with Henry.
Ruby Lucas walks up to the booth, places a kids coloring mat and some crayons in front of Emma, and asks if we are ready to order. Regina orders her usual chicken ceasar salad and a iced tea.
Emma doesn't say anything she just points to a item on the menu and looks at Regina. Regina nods her head telling Emma to tell Ruby what she wants to eat. Emma shyly looks over to Ruby and softly says, "Can I have a cheeseburger and fries and a chocolate milkshake please."
Ruby's eyes widen at the small child's order and looks to Regina for confirmation. Regina nods her head and rolls her eyes at how much Emma's eating habits are like Henry's.
Ruby smiles and walks away placing their orders.
Emma leans into Regina while she solves the puzzles on the kids mat. Regina drapes her arm over Emma shoulders and helps her with the crossword puzzles.
Emma is smiling and Regina is laughing a genuine laugh. The people in the diner have always known Regina as either Cora's daughter or the stern mayor. They never saw what she was like when Henry was a baby since Cora kept her locked away in the house. It wasn't until Cora stepped down that the townspeople even saw Regina and Henry together on the street. Everyone assumed that Regina was a heartless person, who wasn't capable of publicly showing love. Everyone had read Sidney Glass's article about Emma being found in the woods and originally being found by Henry. Many were ready to impeach her for her not knowing that there was a child living in the woods. Others assumed Regina knew the child was out there and was too heartless to care. But now seeing Regina laughing and smiling and showing love to this little girl the townspeople are finally seeing her less as just their stern mayor and more as a person, more as a loving and caring mother.
Regina could feel the townspeople watching her and Emma but was choosing to ignore the stares. She was having a good time sitting and spending time with Emma. They had just finished the last crossword puzzle when their food came out.
Ruby placed all of the food on the table and went to go get their drinks. When she put Emma's milkshake on the table she pulled a can of whipped cream from behind her back and smiled at Emma. Ruby looked again to Regina for permission. At seeing Emma face light up at the thought of whipped cream Regina couldn't say no. Ruby decided to go crazy with the whipped cream, she made a tall swirl of whipped cream and plopped a cherry on top. Emma smiled and looked at Ruby, Ruby winked and walked away.
Regina knew that with all that sweet Emma was going to have a stomach ache, but decided to let her have her fun now. She watched as Emma grabbed the shake and dove in. When she pulled back she had whipped cream all over her mouth and nose. Regina couldn't help the laugh. Emma was confused at what Regina was laughing about. "What?"
Regina shook her head, grabbed the napkin off the table, and wiped Emma's face.
When Emma was all clean Emma smiled and dove into her burger and fries. Regina looked on in amazement, How can someone so small and so young eat that much food? She is like a bottomless pit!
Emma and Regina enjoyed the rest of their meals quietly. Just when Regina and Emma were getting up to leave the diner, Leroy the town drunk spoke. "Hey madam mayor. I got a question. How did you not know there was a kid out in the woods? Or did you know and were just too heartless to care until it started affecting your precious Henry?"
The other customers in the diner went silent all wanting to hear the mayors answer.
Regina could feel her anger rising but kept it in check due to Emma sitting right there, "I will have you know that I had no idea Emma was in the woods. I don't care what you think about me as a mayor, but I am a person. And maybe it took Henry changing for me to realize something was wrong, but Henry finding Emma is possibly one of the best things to happen to me since Henry. So no I didn't know she was out there, and neither did the rest of you."
When Regina finished her little speech she felt a little hand grab onto hers. Regina looked down and saw a smiling Emma standing next to her. Regina squeezed Emma's hand and led her out of the diner.
Both were smiling and walking hand in hand, ignoring the obvious chatter from the patrons of the diner. Both just walked out into the afternoon sun feeling loved and special.
Hope you guys are enjoying everything so far. I just want to make sure that everyone understands:
1. this is a A/U
2. there is no magic, no curse
3. Emma's parents may or may not be Snow (MM) or Charming (David)
4. The family tree is going to be messed with and almost anything is possible, just depends on where my mind takes me.
I hope everyone sticks with this story. Updates aren't going to be regular but I am doing my best juggling school and sports. Please review and follow!