Too hot to handle
Emma sat at the Genius desk. Her head down, it was a really slow patch of the day at the bar, and she really did not want to be there at that moment. Too much was going on. "I'm losing my mind. I'm losing my mind. I'm losing my mind." She chanted softly to herself.
"Hey," She heard over her head. Emma moaned, covering her face. "Ruby, not now," she grumbled finally looking up and seeing Regina standing there. Emma stood up straight embarrassed and shocked. "Hi! Hi... phone trouble again?"
Regina tilted her head and noted the nervousness of the woman in front of her. "Yeah. I'm not sure I'm able to receive calls," She stated mimicking the other woman to make her feel more comfortable. "because I never got one from you."
Ruby looked up from what she was doing and her eyes opened wide. As did her mouth. "Oh, man! She... " She stopped, seeing Emma send a glare her way. She raised both her hands and turned back to her customer.
"I'm sorry I left so quickly yesterday," Regina stated, "I had an appointment with a realtor. I just moved here."
Emma nodded in understanding. "Welcome."
Regina smiled, "Thanks. And, uh... I don't really know anyone here. I was wondering if you would show me around?" She asked changing her posture to a shyer one. ." That is if you're free?"
"Oh, she's free," Ruby said from across the room on the sales floor. Emma glares in her direction, but Ruby was not about to let the blonde throw this opportunity away. "She's got nothing but time on her hands. She is very available. You guys are going to have a great time." Then she finally registers how angry Emma looks. She looked up and around saying, "What's that, sir? Ipad Pro? Yeah, I'm on it." She stated and walked away.
A Red-faced Emma turned back to Regina and smiled. "Apparently, my schedule is wide open."
Regina smiled, "Great."
After work, Emma and Ruby come home super excited. Ruby even more because she thinks Maybe Emma will be more chill if she can get laid now. So she hops up on Emma's back and rides piggyback into Emma and Kathryn's apartment.
Once they open the door they spot Kathryn and Fred snuggled on the couch watching TV. Kathryn looks up from the screen to smile at her sister, "Hey, Emma."
Emma smirked she couldn't keep the news from her sister if she wanted to so she started. "Kath, Captain. Don't freak out" She said and let Ruby down off her back.."Remain calm. I have some news."
Kathryn perked at this information, concern beginning to edge her features. Nothing that started like that was a good thing.
"Emma's got a date!" Ruby shouted.
Kathryn's eyes widened, "What? Who?"
Fred allowed a lazy smile to come to his lips. "Way to go, Emma. That's awesome."
Kathryn is beside herself. Apparently, when Emma said that she would get over Lilly that day, she meant it. Then she came to a realization, this was Emma. "Oh, God, what are you going to wear?"
In contrast, Regina knew exactly what she should wear on her date with Emma. She pulled on some contoured body armor, and a strap for her ankle that held her knives. Her gun in her purse Her hair up in a twist held together by pointy metal rods. And that was just her weaponry.
To keep it simple with the girl, she wore a simple flowy blouse and a pair of black slacks. Over-ankle boot stilettos.
Meanwhile, at Emma's Place, Kathryn was in Emma's room with her.
"Uh... So, Regina... She's nice? Pretty?"Kathryn asked as she looked through Emma's things.
"Yeah. Actually," Emma stated as she pulled on a pair of skinny jeans. "Ruby met her online in this kind of chat room…" Kathryn looked at her Horrified. "I'm totally kidding."
Kathryn rolled her eyes and pulled out a red dress, the one sexy piece of attire Emma had. "Try it on. "
Emma looked down at her jeans. "Honestly, this…"
Kathryn rolled her eyes at her sister. "Honestly, if Regina walked in the door hiding all of her assets, would you enjoy looking as much? Believe me, if you like eye candy, so will she."
Emma took a moment to think about it and reached for the Red dress. "I'll go change."
Emma dressed in stark contrast to Regina, Where she wore her sexiest red dress and her Red leather jacket over it to accentuate her hips and waist because it hit just the right spots on her body. Add a pair of black pumps to the ensemble to add a neutral, she was good to go… until Kathryn sat her down to do her makeup.
On her way out, Emma reached for the keys to her very own Bug, leaving the more reliable company car behind. Before she was gone, Kathryn stopped her with a bouquet of flowers. "Emma? Hey, so, these are left over from the party. Take those. And, um, don't forget about the old girlfriend rule."
Emma smiled, "Right, got it. No mention of Lilly."
Kathryn smiled hugging her sister, looking at the taller woman with adoration. "Aces, Emma Evangeline, You're aces."
Emma smiled brightly, reminded of the only man she ever truly loved. "A dad quote. I'm impressed. Love you, sis".
"I love you." She said, giving Emma another hug. "Have fun."
"I will. I'll try" Emma said and headed for her trusty Yellow Bug. Ruby watched as Emma left and turned to Kathryn a little emotional.
"Just... they grow up so fast, you know, and... " She starts blinking a tear away.
Kathryn pats Ruby on the shoulder."Go home, Ruby. Just go home. Go home."
Regina, while waiting for Emma at her hotel, is talking to Graham. "She's picking me up for a date."
"You're on your own on this one, Regina. I can't help you if something goes wrong." He stated not liking this one bit.
"I don't know about this girl, Graham," Regina stated finishing off her outfit. "She is super sweet and nurturing, not like a criminal at all."
"Nice people aren't sent government secrets." Came the grumble from the other side of the phone line.
There was a knock on her door, and she made her way to open it. "What should I do if she runs?" She asked as she opened the door to reveal the breathtaking woman in front of her holding a bouquet of flowers.
"kill her…"
The best Mexican food in the United States is made in the southwest. Emma thought that She should take Regina to experience what Mexican food was really like, at least the American kind. So she pulled up to El Patron restaurant and as they walked in they could hear the Mariachis playing in the background. They were playing live and roamed around the establishment. When they stopped at their table singing Cielito Lindo, Regina stopped and listened with a smile.
Emma looked at her date and wondered if this was offensive somehow. She was not sure what ethnicity she was now that she thought of it, and she was starting to feel embarrassed. "I love Mexican Food," Regina said with a smile. "It was my favorite part when I went to Cabo last year. I have to say I never looked at Mexican food the same again."
Emma breathed a little sigh of relief. "Well I mean, You've had the real thing."
They continued to ease into this date. Emma felt more and more comfortable with Regina, She was genuinely enjoying herself. "So, yeah, I live with my sister and her boyfriend, captain awesome." Regina laughed her eyebrows nearly hitting her hairline. "No! It's true, though."
"So, so, wait," Regina said, still laughing. "You call him'' Captain awesome"?"
Emma smirked and shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah, wait till you meet him. Everything he does is awesome: Climbing mountains, jumping out of planes, flossing."
Regina laughed some more, and Emma made it a goal to cause that laughter as often as she could while she could. "That's funny."
"I'm... I'm a funny girl." Emma said a bit mystified to be in the presence of someone so perfect.
"Clearly, Which is good because I am not funny," Regina stated.
"Is that your big secret, by the way?" Emma asked smiling softly, "'Cause I've been sitting here trying to figure out what's wrong with you."
Regina rolled her eyes. "Oh, plenty, believe me."
"And I was thinking either she's a cannibal or she's really not that funny, and I was pulling for cannibal 'cause I never met one before. " Emma joked.
Regina smirked, "Uh, not a cannibal but I did just come out of a long relationship, so I may come with baggage."
Emma smirked flirtatiously, "I could be your very own baggage handler." Once she realized what she had said she straightened in her seat and cleared her throat. Regina on the other side of the table looked down at her food blushing."Uh, so the guy, the ex,... the guy, the ex is the reason you moved here from... "
"Uh, D.C." Regina supplied.
"Right." She watched Regina intensely, something was pinging her bullshit-o-meter but Regina hadn't lied, at least it didn't look like it yet. But her brain had been playing tricks on her lately and maybe it was broken.
"Yeah, after I realized that all of my friends were his friends and that everything about Washington reminded me of... Bruce," Ding! Emma's bullshit-o-meter clanged. She knew something was wrong. "I needed a change, a big one."
Wow, Regina why the lie… she thought continuing to listen.
Emma straightened out in her seat. "Bruce... yeah. You give me crap for being Emma and you went out with a Bruce? That's nice. That's really good" Emma decided that lying about her ex's name wasn't really that big of a red flag. Maybe it just brings up bad memories. So she looked up at the brunette and smirked.
"So, so what about you?" Regina states in the break of the conversation, sensing that Emma had caught the lie after all. "What skeletons do you have in your closet? Any secrets? Any women? Men?"
"Uh, yeah, yeah," Emma said and decided she was also gonna leave her Ex out of this. "Uh, actually, well, back in college there was someone... actually, that's all over with now and her restraining orders are very specific. so... " The blonde shrugged her shoulders.
Regina smiled. "I like you, Emma," she said and she meant it, and noticed the NSA creeping into their restaurant. She couldn't let her get hurt and tried to formulate a plan to get them out without alerting the oblivious woman in front of her.
Emma smiled, "I like you too… Wanna get out of here?"
Regina nodded as they paid their bill and they went out for a stroll. "So, where are we going?"
Emma moved her head from side to side. "Well, do you like music?"
Regina lifted her eyebrows. Music was never at the forefront of her mind. It was good but it wasn't an all-consuming love for it like most people had. "I guess?"
"You guess?" Emma stated in shock. "What's your favorite band?" When the brunette shrugged. "Oh, my Gosh! Oh, my Gosh!" the blonde said vowing to get Regina to her favorite music fast.
"God, I'm not funny, I don't listen to music. This must be your worst date ever, right?"
As Regina talked, the sound of the ambulance in the background triggered a flash in her vision. She stopped short trying to discern what she was learning about her environment.
Regina noticed the pause and decided she should point it out. "I was waiting for you to say no."
Emma blinked hard, "Sorry, sorry, I kind of zoned out there for a second." Then she took Regina's hand and continued their walk. "No. No, no, no. God, no, I, uh, I've had... I've had much, much worse, uh, much worse dates... experiences overall with women. In 11th grade, actually."
Regina laughed at that. "11th grade? You have to go back that far?"
As the brunette laughed, Emma's face transformed into one of pure happiness. They had arrived at their destination and Emma couldn't wait to introduce Regina to good music. "Come on."
Outside, Mal Blaize watched as Regina and Emma walked into the bar. She raised her radio to her lips saying, "Emma Swan's your mark... NSA director wants her with a pulse. Till we find out who she's working with and what she knows, she lives. CIA skirt... you can kill.
As She and Emma sat together at the bar, Regina was fully aware that Emma had no idea what was happening around her. Her attitude is not consistent with someone who works with a rogue agent. She doesn't understand why Emma swan was the one to receive the last communication from Daniel and not someone that could defend the information.
Regina looked around, aware of the agents coming in to disrupt their date. While Emma looks at her date waiting to see her reaction to the band playing on the stage. "They're good," Regina stated.
"Good! Good!" Emma said excitedly hoping her enthusiasm would rub off on the brunette.
Regina smiled at the sweet blonde and watched as an agent walked along the crowd. She needed to hide Emma in plain sight, so she said "Let's dance!"
Emma paused and shook her head, "I'm not really a dancer."
Regina rolled her eyes and pulled the blonde to the dance floor. She danced around the awkward blonde as the agents came at them with discreet weapons. She fought every one of them off by the time the song ended.
She smiled at the mesmerized blonde who hadn't noticed the fight at all and pulled her toward the door, and she runs.: "Hey, hey, hey, where's the fire?" Emma asked trying to keep up in her heels.
"Emma, give me your keys," Regina says reaching for the blonde's purse.
"I don't mean to be old-fashioned, but I really don't want you in my purse, I mean, it's kinda, you know...
"get in the car." Regina orders opening the passenger side for her. Then hurrying to the driver's side.
Emma looked inside the car. "How did you get into my car?"
"Get in the car right now!" Regina growled.
"Regina…"
"Just get in!" The brunette yelled.
Emma does what she is told and Regina peels off fast. They were being chased.
Emma hangs on to the side of the bug wishing she had brought the Apple mobile instead, the bug doesn't go too fast... "What is going on? Please tell me what's going on!"
Regina didn't answer, she just kept driving. She wanted to keep them alive. She switched the car to reverse and drove like that.
Emma screamed. "Regina, you're not even looking!" Then she notices the car following them. "Wait, wait, wait. Who are these guys? What do they want? Oh, My God! Oh, My God! Oh! Oh, My God, Oh My God, I'm gonna die!"
Regina, calmly concentrating on her tasks, shouts over to the blonde. "Tell me when to turn."
Emma turned in her seat to look at the direction they were going. "Uh, uh, left in five seconds!"
"Your left or my left?"
"What?" Emma asked
"Too late!" Regina shouted and turned left sending the Bug down a steep and wide set of stairs. Emma screamed and hung on for dear life as the two women careened down.
"Oh, My God!"
When they finally reached the bottom, Regina finally had a little time to explain the situation. "Listen to me, Emma. Those people will hurt you. They're from the NSA and they're after you."
"Me? Why, why? Why me? I'm nobody." She said panicking. "I'm the supervisor of a genius bar at an apple store. Maybe one day I'll be an assistant store manager and I don't even know if I want that job. You know, that's not your problem…" Then her eyes widen as she sees the SUV bearing down at them. "but that is."
The SUV slammed into the side of Emma's defunct little bug. Emma was breathing hard scared of what was happening. Regina shook her to rouse her and got out of the car. She ran over to Emma's side and opened the door. "get out of the car. Let's go, Emma. Move! " Regina ordered and pulled the blonde with her as they ran.
Emma tripped and twisted her ankle on her pumps. " Wait, wait... "
The SUV started up again, Regina knew they weren't going to get away Then she saw it. The automated Barrier wall if she could only make it to the button to activate it in time.
Regina reached down to her ankle to get her throwing knife. And as Blaize bore down on her with her car she heard Emma scream. "Regina, look out!"
Regina looked at the button and thew her knife at it activating the wall just in time to crash the SUV before it hit her. She took a deep breath and helped Emma who had kicked off her pumps and was running towards her. "request emergency air evac. Track location, we're on foot." Regina spoke into her communicator and they began to climb to the roof for Helicopter access. "Let's go!"
They Ran to the rooftop, they had a big lead. Regina knew she needed to get more information out of the blonde so she said. "How well do you know Daniel Colt?
Shocked, Emma looked at Regina. "What? How do you... how do you know Daniel?"
"We worked together at the CIA."
"The what? ! The CIA? Daniel is a spy? ! Daniel Colt from Connecticut is a spy?"
"A rogue spy. Did he try to contact you?"
"I haven't heard from Daniel in…" Emma paused "wait. No, he... he-he sent, he sent me an e-mail."
"Did you open it?"
"Yeah. It was, it was a line from Zork."
"What?"
"Zork, it's a video game that we used to play. It was like a riddle, and I solved it and then there were, uh, pictures. Lots and lots of pictures."
"You saw them?" Regina gasped in realization. As Emma nodded that she had, she knew that the blonde needed to be protected. "Uh, your computer, did you back it up? Is there an external drive?"
Emma furrowed her eyebrows. "It crashed a week ago." Emma finally caught on and looked up at the brunette who seemed to fixate on a point beyond her. "Wait, wait, wait. Hold on. Was I not supposed to look at those pictures?"
"Okay," Regina said calmly, "I may have to aim my gun at you, so just don't freak out."
Emma's eyes widened. "Why?"
Mal Blaize walked up behind Emma. "It's late, I'm tired. Let's cut the crap and give her to me now. she belongs to the NSA."
Regina pulled her gun and aimed it at Emma, which scared the blonde shitless. She looked around for a way to escape the situation and the only way she saw was down. "The CIA gets her first. You come any closer and I shoot."
"Regina…" Emma said her heart was beating hard in her chest. "I'm freaking out."
"You shoot her, I shoot you. I leave both your bodies here, go out for a late snack. I'm thinking maybe pancakes".
Emma couldn't sit there and wait for her death, If she jumped, she might make it… maybe. decided to make a run for it. "Emma, no!" Regina shouted, giving up her bluff. But Mal never put her gun down, still maintaining it trained on Regina.
Emma spotted the hotel from the news at the distance and her body paused as her vision flashed and the entire thing finally came together. "They're gonna kill him."
Mal narrowed her eyes and looked at the other blonde. "kill who?"
"Stanfield, the general," Emma said and finally turned to face the two gun wilding agents. "General Stanfield, the nato guy." She shook her head and plead with the two other women. "Look, something is wrong with me, okay? I don't know what it is, but something is very, very wrong with me, and I'm remembering things that I shouldn't know."
Regina sighed glancing at Mal only for a moment to see if she understand what is happening. "Okay, Emma, talk to me. Like what?"
"I don't know. I don't know. For example," She thought back to her Large Mart incident. "uh... there was, there was a Serbian demolitions expert at the large mart today. That's kind of odd, wouldn't you say?" She stepped closer to them knowing that the information she had was probably something they wanted. "Look, last week the NSA… " She looked at Mal, "you guys intercepted some blueprints, blueprints of a hotel, that hotel. And then the CIA… "She looked at Regina. "you guys found a file of schematics of a bomb in Prague. The bomb is in that hotel!"
Alarmed, Blaize turned her gun toward Emma. "She was working with Daniel."
Regina rolled her eyes as she shifted her gun toward Mal."No, she opened Daniel's e-mail." the brunette then took pity on the asset and clued her in. "Emma, those pictures that you saw were encoded with secrets, government secrets. If you saw them, then you know them."
"There were thousands of 'em." The younger one gasped.
"Wait a minute," Blaize said looking at Regina. "You're telling me all of our secrets are in her head?"
"Emma is the computer."
Overwhelmed, Emma shook her head. "What did you, what did you say? What does that mean?"
Regina took a deep breath and lowered the gun trusting that Mal wasn't about to shoot their asset. "Emma, you have to listen to me. You have to tell us where…"
But Emma couldn't listen, she was having a panic attack. "What's happening to me?"
Regina came closer to the Blonde and shook her a bit. "You said there was a bomb. Is there time to stop it?"
Emma's eyes were wild "What? What? Are you crazy?"
"No, we're the good guys," Mal stated her gun still trained on the younger blonde. "We get paid to keep bombs from exploding."
Emma shook her head and stepped back. "Look, I can't, I can't help you, okay? I really wish that I could, but I can't. Call Daniel. He's the guy that can save the day."
Regina shook the blonde one good time to get her attention. "Daniel is dead! He died sending those secrets to you."
"Daniel is dead?" Emma whispered
Mal had had it and really needed Emma to snap out of it. So she shot a bullet into the air. Emma jumped and looked at the older blonde. "Yeah, and he's gonna have a lot of company unless you start talking. So, pretty please... Can we defuse the bomb now?"
Emma blinks and looks for the information they need. "According to the schedule, the general's Already on the stage…"
The trio ran into the hotel Regina stopped them. "Wait! Blaize, wait! We can't take her in. She's too valuable."
"Okay, Virginia Hall, you stay here," Blaize said, knocking Emma onto the ground. "But tell us where to go."
Emma looked up at the older Blonde and blinked. "Uh, the easiest way?" She asked
"No, fastest, Emma," Regina said.
Emma nodded and got back to her feet. "The fastest. Got it." Then she took off into the building.
"Emma, stop!" Regina called after her and ran to catch up. "Emma, wait!"
They ran into the Ballroom, as the general spoke. "You know, it takes courage to speak out, to take action... "
Emma enters the ballroom and looks around at the massive amount of people in that room. "This way!"
Emma stopped to scan the room trying to find the bomb. Regina moves up to her and followed the blonde's line of sight. "Emma, where is it?"
The blonde looked around. "I don't, uh... I don't, uh…" She searched and finally, her eyes spotted the cart. "That's it."
She took off in the direction of the cart. They uncovered the silver dish and see a laptop with One minute and twenty-two seconds remaining. "right here." Emma said.
"Oh, god." Regina breathed out
"No time to evacuate," Mal stated uncovering a ton of C4 underneath the drapings of the cart. "Ideas?"
"Disconnect the laptop," Regina stated.
Mall shook her head, "There's no trigger" She continues to scan the device... "The cables".
Regina shook her head. "No, definitely a trap."
Secret service finally found the three of them hovering over the cart. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
The general up on the stage took notice of what was happening and opted to get as many people out of the ballroom as he could. "Uh... ladies and gentlemen, we-we may have a cautionary situation here, so we'll take a short break".
The general himself was escorted off the stage by his security detail and the trio continued to look over the bomb after showing their credentials to the secret service.
Regina looked at the blonde. She had helped them this far, maybe she could remember schematics for the bomb itself. "Emma, is there anything else you remember about the bomb?"
Emma began to think, but her phone rang. The two agents looked at the girl's phone and then at her. Then they turned away from her. Emma had to answer her phone so as to not alert her family of her danger. The young blonde took a breath fighting to keep calm. "Hi, Ruby."
"Hey, how's it going?" Ruby asked her voice betraying a knowing smile.
What did she Know?
"Little busy right now, Rubes," Emma stated.
Ruby took on a teasing tone. "In a good way? Details."
Emma sighed, exasperated. "Why are you calling?"
"I don't know, just... laying on your bed," Ruby answered. "Kath's with the captain. My computer's got a case of the Demovas. So, I figured I'd check-in. You old.."
The Demovas… Emma got a brilliant idea and looked at the MacBook attached to the bomb. She dropped her phone and moved to the agents. "okay, okay, I have an idea."
Emma got close to the Mac, she had less than a minute to make this happen. The pressure was on. "That's not an Xbox. And you're not an X-Man." Mal stated.
X-man? Damn Blaize how old are you?
She rolled her eyes and put her fingers to work. "I understand that. This is a MacBook Air, Okay. We sell this at our store. It has a little encryption issue this week."
"I think I can do this. I can do this, please." Emma begged Blaise to do what she knew might work.
Regina shrugged and said. "She's our best shot. Go".
Emma prayed that it still wasn't fixed. And she typed the website using Chrome instead of Safari just in case safari had been worked on.
The two agents look on dubiously, they were ready to pull the girl out and as far away from the blast as they could if it got to the last few seconds.
"Okay, " Emma breathed. "Mr. bomb, meet Mr. Internet."
"She's searching for porn?" Mal questioned.
Emma shushes her and goes to the Demova site, the virus took hold of the Macbook and the site crashed the device totally shutting it down. She breathed a sigh of relief and laughed hysterically because there was nothing else she could do to release these emotions.
"You did it," Regina said with a smile.
" I did it. I did it. I... I defused a real bomb" then the reality of the issue actually hit her. The danger she had been in. She had never been in that much danger before. ."This was a real... What if I was wrong?"
Mal rolled her eyes and patted the younger blonde's shoulder. "Don't puke on the c-4, huh?" She said and walked away to call all of it in.
Emma was spooked and as they all walked out of the Hotel the two Agents had a power struggle. The two older women faced each other and said at the same time, "She's coming with me."
"What if this was a fluke?" Mal asked.
"And what if it wasn't?" Regina asked, and looked toward Emma for a moment. "What if she can stop something bigger?"
Blaize rolled her eyes "Fine, we drop her in a psych tank, and let her stare at four rubber walls for a decade. She'll tell us what we want to know."
"Blaize," Regina reprimanded. "we don't know how this works and what triggers the memories. She'll crack wide open."
Mal Shrugged, "Not my job. I break things, I don't fix them."
"What about her job? And her friends? What do we do about her sister?"
Upon hearing the word Sister, Emma reacted. "What about my sister?"
Regina was startled and looked back at Emma. "Nothing. We were just discussing…"
Emma shook her head not entertaining any of that. "No, no, no, hold on a second. You have to leave my family and my friends out of this."
Baize looked at the younger blonde with a cocky expression. Not one for being told what to do "We'll see."
"Look, Daniel sent that e-mail to me. I'm the one remembering your secrets. Which means you have to listen to me, both of you. And right now... I'm going to go home." Emma said turning to go.
"No, you're not. Uh-uh," Mal stated.
Emma turned and glared at the older woman, too tired to be intimidated by her. "You... you need me. " She walked away.
She couldn't go home. She knew it. She didn't know where she stood, and she didn't know how her being involved in this was going to affect her family. She cursed Daniel under her breath. That asshole really fucked her over. Almost as bad as Neil had.
Emma took a walk to Venice beach and sat staring out at the ocean. She stayed out there all night. The sun rose behind her as she sat thinking contemplating the pacific ocean. Finally, she felt someone's presence behind her. " How long you been here?"
Regina sat next to her, "All night."
Emma looked at her bare feet buried in the sand. "There's nowhere I can run, is there?"
"Not from us," Regina said, She hugged her knees and watch the younger woman's features. "Talk to me, Emma."
Emma took a deep breath and looked back out to the sea. "Yesterday I was making 11 bucks an hour fixing computers. Now I have one in my brain. And I can't figure out why Daniel did this to me. Why he chose me." She looked back at Regina. "What are you going to do with me? What happens now?"
Regina reached out at a blonde curl and tugged it lightly. "For now, you go back to your own life. We'll protect you and you'll work with us."
"And my sister, my friends, are they in danger?"
"You tell them nothing to keep them safe." Regina placed a hand on Emma's knee. "Need you to do one more thing for me."
"Yeah?" Emma said and looked down at her knee where Regina's hand rested. "Trust me, Emma."
Emma finally made it home at around Seven in the morning. Kathryn shouted her name as soon as she walked through the door and began to scold her. "All night…"
Ruby was also there hanging back and had a knowing grin on her face. "All night!" Ruby said in a congratulatory tone.
"Do you know how worried I was?" Kathryn continued. "I even called Ruby."
"I even got to hang out with Kath," Ruby said pleased with herself. "How far did you get?"
Kathryn Glared at the brunette. "Ruby, shut up."
Emma looked at both women and held them both close. She loved them and would do anything for them.
Just then, Fred came out of Their bedroom preparing for work. "Early morning procedure, so…" He paused seeing the huddled women. "group hug, huh? Okay. Awesome." He said joining the three. Emma couldn't be happier to have Captain Awesome here to take care of her sister.
At her hotel, Regina is preparing to settle into her mission in California. She opened her iPhone and opened up her hidden encrypted file. There were pictures of herself and Daniel in Cabo.
Regina sat and smiled at the pictures, her fingers caressing Daniel's face. They were to be married, and he went rogue. How could she have missed his intentions."
She sighed and turned her thoughts toward the Blode she had spent the night with. The one she would have to pretend to be in a relationship with. She sighed and locked Daniel's photos away again.
In the break room at the Apple Store, Emma finished her application for assistant Manager on her iPad. She looked at Ruby and said. "Well, wish me luck."
She pressed the submit button, then headed out of the Break room. As she walked out, Leroy was walking in. as he passed her by he hip-checked her and she frowned at the little man before heading into Gepetto's office.
"Hey Marco," Emma said, "I put in my application for the Assistant manager, I thought I'd let you know."
The older man looked up at the Blonde over his reading glasses. "Didn't think you'd apply."
Emma took a deep breath. "Well, uh... I think I'm ready for this, Marco, and what it means- responsibility, decisive leadership…"
"save it for the interview. Now go train the new guy." The older man dismissed her.
Emma rolled her eyes. "Okey dokey." She walked back out to the floor and looked around for the new "guy"
Immediately she spotted her, in her neat khakis and royal blue Polo, blond hair pulled back out of her face. Mal Blaize smiled at Emma. Emma paused and looked to her right, as Regina was standing at the iPads, looking like she was attempting to purchase a MacBook herself.
Emma's eyes Met the CIA agent's and she smiled, and finally, Emma's brain filled her in on who she was working with. She took a deep breath and whispered to herself. "Don't freak out."