A/N: Sort of a filler chapter I suppose, but I felt like writing some easy banter for fun today, so I hope you'll indulge me :)
Rolling over onto her back, Emma frowns up at the ceiling, half-asleep, before understanding what had roused her in the first place. Reaching over for her phone, she answers it without checking the caller-ID, rubbing her eyes and hoping she's not about to regret this decision.
"...Hello?"
"Get up. We have a meeting this morning."
Regina greets her, and she stifles a yawn as she holds the phone away from her face and checks the time and date.
"We do?"
"We do."
The Mayor agrees, and Emma sighs as she can hear the darker woman's smirk through her tone.
"Did you tell me about it, or is this one of those things you've decided is happening and I'm just somehow supposed to be psychic?"
"I'm telling you now."
Regina points out, and the blonde groans as she argues
"It's not even eight in the morning!"
"I know, that's why I'm calling now, so that you have time to get dressed. I'll meet you at Granny's in forty minutes."
"Why so early?"
"Because I have things I need to do today! I do have a job you know, Sheriff."
"Oh quit it, you're just trying to wind me up."
"No, that just seems to be collateral damage of calling you before you've drowned yourself in coffee. I really do have a few bits I need to sort out today, and I really do think we should discuss our thoughts on Hyde and the ship in the woods before talking it over with your parents this evening. Come on, I'll buy you coffee."
"You'll buy me breakfast."
Emma corrects, before asking hesitantly
"Are you sure you want to meet at Granny's and not at yours or here?"
"Why? We meet for breakfast regularly, it doesn't have to be weird unless you do something to make it so."
"I'm not going to 'do' anything!"
"Well, then... Unless you'd rather not?"
"No, it's fine. You're right."
"Am I?... Or do you just not want to walk the extra ten minutes to mine?"
Regina teases, and the blonde chuckles huskily as she pushes herself up and considers the dark slice of grey sky visible through the curtains.
"Something like that."
She jokes, hanging up with a sigh and a promise that she won't be late.
Well... Not too late.
Pushing her hair back, she furrows her brow as her gaze falls upon the handcuffs still trailing over her headboard, and she pulls them down with a shake of her head. Climbing out of bed with a shiver, she rolls her eyes when her phone rings again and snatches it from the nightstand irritably.
"I'm coming! Unless you want me to show up naked, give me a second!"
"... No thank you."
Comes a bemused reply, and Emma freezes with the phone to her ear, before replying awkwardly
"Hi, mom."
"Hi. I was going to leave a message, I didn't think you'd be up."
Mary Margaret greets her properly, and the younger woman sighs and resumes her perch on the bed, rubbing her palm over several purple bruises dappling her thigh that span the exact width of the Mayor's handprint.
"It's not by choice, I have a meeting. Apparently."
She tags on with a roll of her eyes, before asking curiously
"Did you need me?"
"No, I just..."
The schoolteacher trails off uncertainly, and Emma frowns as she catches David muttering something in the background, and she unhooks her phone from the charger in order to pace the floor of her room.
"Mom?"
She pushes for an answer, and Snow sighs audibly, accompanied by the soft clink of her spoon circling through her tea, and explains delicately
"David went down to Granny's this morning to buy some of those cinnamon buns I like."
"Okay?"
"He ran into Killian and mentioned dinner tonight and whether he would be coming with you, and... Well..."
"... Hook told him."
Emma concludes from the silence that follows.
"Are you alright?"
Snow asks cautiously, and the blonde nibbles her lip and replies tersely
"It was my decision."
"That doesn't answer my question."
"I'm fine... Slightly annoyed that he told you, but fine."
"Well, I'm not sure he's fine... Your dad says he wasn't in an especially friendly mood."
"I mean, David asked him if he was coming over for a cosy dinner with you guys and Regina, I'm not surprised."
Emma points out, and Snow muses that she might have a point, before checking gently
"Are you sure you want to do dinner tonight? We don't have to."
"I'm fine."
The blonde reiterates, glancing over at the glasses of dried-up rum and resolving to do a sweep of the house to clean up any physical evidence of the mess of the last few days.
The last few months of confusion...
"Well... Alright."
Snow interrupts her train of thought, not sounding especially convinced.
"Seriously, I'm okay. Things have been heading this way for a while now. I'm sorry you got caught off guard by it, just know that I was too. But this has been building up for a while now."
"You don't need to worry about me! I don't mind what you do so long as you're okay."
"I meant more the Regina part."
"What Regina part?"
Mary Margaret asks, and Emma bites her tongue as she surmises that Hook hadn't gone into detail when discussing things with David, and she offers him a silent nod of thanks.
"Never mind."
She assures Snow, hoping that her mother remembers what she's just said about just wanting her to be happy.
She does, she always has, but she might well forget for a little while...
Emma pulls a face while stifling a giggle, before hastily refuting that she's tearing up when Mary Margaret asks after her with tangible alarm.
"Seriously, I'm fine. But I am going to be late, so let's talk about this later, okay?"
"Alright. Love you, see you later."
"Bye."
"You're late."
Regina sighs as Emma slips into the booth to sit opposite her, and the blonde rolls her eyes and takes off her jacket.
"By about two minutes."
"Seven minutes."
"Well shit, I guess the world's about to end."
"Don't be rude."
"Don't be an ass."
The Sheriff bites back easily, and the Mayor thins her lips as she points out silkily
"I am many things, Miss Swan, but not that."
"Noted."
Emma grins, supposing the term isn't especially fitting as she studies the woman glaring back at her. As always, the brunette looks as though she has spent several hours getting ready; her hair perfectly styled and her clothes ironed and carefully selected. Having known Regina for as long as she has, Emma knows that this isn't actually the case; the darker woman is simply impeccably put together and careful with her belongings.
Still, it's fun to tease her.
It is, but she refrains as one of Granny's newer girls comes over and takes their order, the latter offering the Mayor an uneasy glance when the brunette snaps at her impatiently to spit her gum out before bringing them their food.
"Your royalty is showing."
Emma hisses as she pours herself a glass of water from the jug on the table, and the darker woman shakes her head as she counters
"No, my expectations as a paying customer are showing."
"What difference does it make to you if she has gum?"
"None, but it will affect her tip."
"Mm, well, she might spit in your food now, so I guess that's fair."
"She wouldn't dare!... That's not something people do."
Regina shakes her head, and Emma grins as it sounds to her as though the brunette is trying to convince herself of this more so than anyone else.
"Sure they do."
She stirs the pot.
"What would you know? Have you been a waitress?"
"Many times."
"... Really?"
"Yup."
"Well... That doesn't really prove anything. I have no doubt you'd do something horrible like that."
The darker woman sighs, and Emma smirks as she recalls how uneasy she'd felt when met with the Evil Queen offering her the disgusted scowl Regina wears now, and she raises her jaw confidently.
"Your flattery knows no bounds."
"I assure you, it certainly does."
The Mayor chuckles as the waitress returns- without gum- to hand them their plates.
"Thanks, Emily."
The blonde smiles widely, earning herself a frown from the young woman unaccustomed to finding the Sheriff so cheerful so early, and a withering look from Regina who stirs her coffee.
"You ordered fruit, what's wrong with you?"
The Mayor demands, and Emma considers the colourful medley on her plate and looks back up at the brunette with a sigh.
"You realise I do sometimes try and look after myself, right?"
"No, I didn't realise that."
The darker woman replies bluntly, adding a light coat of butter to her breakfast muffin and offering a bemused flash of her eyes when the blonde suggests
"Who knows, maybe I'm not really me."
"I'd know."
Regina shakes her head.
"Really? It got pretty dicey for a moment there on my couch."
"Not dicey at all, dear, I got what I wanted eventually. And, now that I'm whole, I'd know. Believe me."
"I do."
Emma shrugs, and Regina raises a brow and offers her a small smile.
"Is this really a meeting?"
The blonde asks eventually, stirring several packets of sugar into her coffee while ignoring the darker woman's knowing smirk, and Regina nods as she takes a sip from her own mug.
"It is. I told you yesterday that we'd go and have dinner with your parents to discuss Hyde."
"You did, but I'm not sure what you wanted to talk about. What's he done?"
"Nothing new, but your mother brought up the fact that as a collective we are none the wiser to the man's motives beyond what we have been told, and something isn't adding up. We've decided to keep him incarcerated for this reason, and I'm starting to wonder whether it's worth it."
"Well, you just said you weren't sure what his motives are. We can't exactly just let him out and wait and see what happens when we've just-"
"-That's not where I was going with it, dear... I was leaning the other way."
"What way is that?"
"The way where we wash our hands of a tricky situation for once and move on with our lives as we've each expressed a desire to do."
"Regina, we can't just-"
"-Yes. We can... It's whether we accept that fact or not. It's not the way we tend to do things around here, I know, but I would be so bold as to remind you that there are other things we've not done before that have worked out splendidly."
"Well, yeah, but if you're suggesting some kind of ménage à trois type deal with a weird man that flew in on a shiny spaceship, I-"
"-If you finish that sentence, I'm leaving."
The Mayor warns, offering the younger woman a dramatic shudder and pursing her lips. When she trusts Emma to refrain from ruining the remainder of her appetite, she continues
"I wasn't going to suggest anything so vulgar, as you are well aware, I merely wish to step away from tradition and avoid further trouble... We don't owe the man anything, Emma. Snow suggested that I might be indebted to him, but I trust you understand a little better how I feel about that."
"I mean, it might not have been his fault, though? It might have just been how evil the Queen truly was that caused what happened... Sorry."
"Accepted. And thank you."
Regina mutters, rolling her eyes at her own expense as she feels both guilty and flattered.
"Regardless, I do suffer some concern that he may be able to see what the others do not... That he'll be wise to the fact that I'm no longer split entities, but one once more. I don't know if that's possible, nor what he might do with that information, but I don't personally feel obligated to find out when the man gatecrashed our town and has caused nothing but trouble so far as you or I are concerned... Well... I suppose his effect on you was secondary."
"I get it."
"... As I said, he might mean no harm in that respect. He might not even be able to tell, but-"
"-but he might, and you were very clear on how you felt about that. You don't need to explain that part to me, I get it. I just wonder what you plan to do about it."
"Very little, as it happens."
Regina shrugs, offering the younger woman a grateful twitch of her lips as Emma has reacted to her discomfort exactly how she had imagined she would.
"How so?"
"All I plan on doing is sending him home. Sending him back to where he came from, away from Storybrooke. Your mother used the term 'punishment', but I'm not sure it can even be considered that. My suggestion isn't evil, it isn't some grand, convoluted plan, it's just a simple solution to a problem we never asked for. The man seems not to know who he is half of the time, nor exactly what he wants, and I'm simply proposing that we send him home to figure it out. If, incidentally, our method happens to mean that he would be incapable of returning here... Well. That's just the way it is."
"A happy coincidence?"
Emma muses, but when she catches the wary cast to the Mayor's expression, she assures her swiftly
"I'm not challenging you, I'm agreeing. I've had it up to here with the crazy shit that happens around in this place!"
She raises her hand above her head, before shaking her head vehemently when a waitress starts making her way over.
"Idiot."
Regina smirks, before placing her knife and fork together on her plate and offering the younger woman a tired smile.
"I'm glad you agree. Snow seemed surprisingly receptive when I suggested she might like to take a break from feeling obligated to uphold her role as she sees it and instead train her full focus on her son, and I hope Charming might feel similarly once he hears that you're on board. I'm just grateful you were easily swayed."
"No swaying necessary, Your Highness. In the past week, I've been kidnapped, dragged to another realm, almost murdered, thrown back into taking on the darkness, terrified my best friend might be utterly repulsed by the mere sight of me, shoved into a magical prison, watched a woman literally burst into flames, and I've broken off one of the most serious relationships I've had to date because I royally fucked up... I think I'm ready for things to slow down a bit."
"Well, when you put it that way..."
The brunette smirks, debating whether to correct Emma on her wording and remind her that what she has in fact done is fuck royalty, but she decides to leave it a week or two before fully diving into teasing the Sheriff about more delicate matters.
On cue, the younger woman wrinkles her nose as she discloses uncomfortably
"My mom called earlier to check in with me... She said David ran into Hook this morning and that he told her what happened."
"... I see."
"I... I haven't spoken to him, so I'm not sure what was said. From the sounds of things, the reason behind my calling it off wasn't mentioned, but... Yeah. Just so you know before we head over later, they're likely to be on top protective form."
"I can't wait."
The darker woman scoffs, unsure whether she's mocking the blonde or telling her the truth as she can't help but suspect that she might find the situation rather amusing while her name remains out of the mix.
"I'm sure."
Emma growls, offering her a glare that suggests she's fully aware of what's going on in her head, and Regina chuckles and gestures for the bill while the Sheriff checks her phone.
"Speaking of... Mom says the gas has gone out, and she doesn't know if it will be fixed today or tomorrow morning."
"Ah."
"Shall I tell her we'll reschedule?"
"No need. Tell them to come to me instead."
"You're sure? I don't mind inviting everyone to mine if that's easier?"
"I think I'm done with junk food for the foreseeable future, thank you, dear. Invite them to mine, and I'll go shopping this afternoon when I'm done with work."
"Or I could go?"
"Or you could go."
Regina agrees, paying for their food and pushing herself up from her seat before the younger woman can change her mind.