Fic: Furry Little Thing Called Love Pt. 1 (Regina/Emma)
Title: Furry Little Thing Called Love
Author: raug_moss
Pairing: Regina/Emma
Rating: T
Spoilers: a few minor ones for S1 and a major one for its finale
Summary: After a series of completely unpredictable and unexpected events, Regina and Emma are forced to re-evalute their feelings for each other. Oh, and there's a cat somewhere in the story too.
Furry Little Thing Called Love
„Emma you have to find Love!“
Mary-Margaret burst into the station, breathing as if she had just run a marathon.
The sheriff slowly lowered her boots from atop her desk to the floor while setting down the newspaper she’d been holding.
“Uhh…alright? But Storybrooke is not exactly filled with potential candidates you know…”
Emma spoke slowly, considering how she was going to calm her roommate down without actually crushing her girlish notion of true love.
“What? No. I mean you have to find my kitty, his name is Love. I think he must have escaped through a window, I can’t find him anywhere.”
Emma stared disbelievingly at her roommate.
“Since when do you have a kitty? And why in all the world did you give him that name? Poor thing.”
“I’ll have you know that Love is a beautiful name and also suits him quite well. You’d know that had you seen him. Oh and David gave him to me yesterday when I went to visit him at the animal shelter.”
Emma raised an eyebrow inquiringly but Mary-Margaret only blushed and gestured with her hands for the sheriff to get up.
“Not what you think.”
“Is it? Then what am I thinking?”
“Emma! Please, find Love. He might be in danger, he’s too small to be on his own.”
“And how do you propose I go about finding a cat in this town? He could literally be anywhere.”
“At least try? Please?”
Mary-Margaret looked at her pleadingly, her lower lip almost trembling.
“Alright fine.”
The sheriff huffed quietly and got up. She stretched her arms above her head contemplatively before grabbing her blue leather jacket.
“Since there isn’t really anything else going on I could drive around and look for him. Just describe him to me first.”
-#-#-#-
Of course Emma didn’t manage to find the cat. That would have been a small miracle all in and of itself. So naturally her roommate was crushed. The first animal she’d had in years and it ran away from her the very next day.
Emma attempted to cheer her up, saying that she could always get another one, but that made it only worse and from then on the sheriff tried to avoid the touchy subject.
She felt sort of bad, but then again it wasn’t her fault that she couldn’t locate a tiny animal in a comparatively large town. Maybe it had found a new owner already, if it was really as cute as Mary-Margaret had claimed.
It had been yet another uneventful day when Emma left the sheriff’s station with a bottle of soda in one hand and her phone in the other. She was about to inquire whether Mary-Margaret had decided to cook or if she should pick up their usual from Granny’s for them, when something small and dark dashed across the street in front of her.
She looked up and saw a darkish-golden backside along with a tail disappear into the next bush.
“You can’t be serious…”
She stopped and stared at the bush. Suddenly a small head poked out through the thick green leaves, large yellow eyes regarding her curiously. One ear black and one in that weird golden color, which then mixed - just as Mary-Margaret had said.
Emma snapped her phone shut and put the soda bottle down on a bench nearby before she started creeping toward the bush.
“Kitty, kitty… here kitty,” she cooed but the cat only looked slightly more alarmed.
She crouched down and rubbed her thumb across the pads of her other fingers.
“Come here kitty. I won’t hurt you.”
Suddenly interested the little animal took a hesitant step forward. Sniffing the air the cat made several more steps toward Emma.
“That’s a good kitty, so good.”
Slowly shuffling closer she raised her hands and got ready to make her move.
But in the last second the cat decided that he didn’t like Emma as much as she apparently seemed to like him and turned around to race back toward the bush.
“Shit! Damn!”
The sheriff scrambled back to her feet and ran after the cat. Of course it was much faster than her but Love stopped every now and then to check whether the crazy human was still chasing him.
That is how it came about that the Sheriff of Storybrooke chased a cat through almost half the town.
The hunter in her had come to life and the only thing she still wanted was to catch that kitty once and for all.
She lost sight of him a few times but always managed to catch up again. If she didn’t know any better she would’ve thought that he was toying with her, leading her every which way, back and forth through town.
When Emma had finally cornered him against a hedge she already saw herself successfully carrying the prickly animal back to Mary-Margaret. But Love was way smarter than she had given him credit for.
Instead of trying to outrun her, he simply dashed headfirst into the hedge, forcing Emma to do the same.
Of course the lithe body of a kitten fit through the tiny branches much better than the one of a five foot eight human, and so Emma got unspectacularly stuck in the hedge for a few moments until she managed to wriggle herself through.
She crawled forward on her knees, panting and coughing.
“Look what the cat has dragged in this time.”
The sweet sing-song voice full of malice was so uncomfortably familiar that Emma shivered, already knowing what she would find when looking up. It surprised her however, that when she did, Regina was safely holding on to the little black-golden cat.
“You found Love!”
Two perfectly shaped eyebrows rose to a pale smooth forehead.
“Have you gone completely mad now Sheriff? Is that it? Shall I call Dr. Hopper, or better yet the local mental house?”
Emma scowled. She knew her hair was sticking up crazily with little leaves and branches completing the look. Maybe she looked a little bit insane in that moment, but still, there was absolutely no need to be so acidic about it.
Emma regarded the mayor in her tight gray pencil skirt and blazer standing there in her backyard. She was slowly scratching the little cat’s chest while he rubbed his head on her other hand contentedly. He purred quietly and Emma’s frown only deepened.
Of course the kitten would favor someone like the mayor if it didn’t come to her in the first place. They were polar opposites after all.
Emma finally had a mind to get up from her knees when the silence became too uncomfortable.
“I was merely doing my job.”
She brushed dirt and who knew what else off her knees and straightened her jacket.
“Is that so? Belongs harassing unsuspecting citizens and their pets to the job description now? I don’t think so.”
“I’m not harassing… wait, you think Love belongs to you?”
Regina looked downright insulted as she stared at Emma.
“Excuse me?”
The sheriff made a vague gesture with her hand toward the cat.
“His name is Love, he ran away from his owner a little while back.”
“He appeared in my garden three days ago…”
The mayor narrowed her eyes.
“What infantile mind would give such a name… no, let me guess, it belongs to Miss Blanchard.”
Regina rolled her eyes and pressed her lips together in obvious displeasure.
Emma half-shrugged and smirked.
“She thought it suited him.”
“Yes well, I really have something better to do with my time than discussing pet names with you Sheriff Swan.”
Suddenly even less acquiescing than before she held Love out to Emma, who took a hesitant step closer. The cat hissed hostilely and squirmed in the mayor’s grasp.
“I don’t think he likes me very much.”
Emma snatched her fingers back when tiny claws tried to scratch her.
“Who could blame him?”
Regina sighed and pointedly ignored the sheriff’s glare.
“Well I suppose Miss Blanchard will have to come and get the cat by herself then, if she is so very fond of it.”
There was something in Regina’s expression as well as in her voice that Emma couldn’t place. But when she saw how the mayor cradled the cat against her chest again she realized that Regina must’ve developed some sort of affection for the small animal.
It was almost… cute.
She smiled and cocked her head to the side.
“I could ask her if she doesn’t mind sharing.”
Regina looked at her as if she had just suggested they share the same toothbrush.
“What would be the point in that? I have no interest in this cat, and Henry is more of a dog person than anything else. By all means I’m not interested in feeding another hungry mouth.”
Although Regina was trying to convince Emma of the opposite, she knew that the mayor had a soft spot for the tiny creature. Given Love was really adorable but she would’ve expected the unapproachable woman to keep a snake for a pet, or at least something equally less furry.
“Well I’ll leave him in your hands then until Mary-Margaret can pick him up.”
“Fine. Now if you would be so kind to leave my property I’d be most delighted.”
Emma snorted quietly but nodded.
“Sure. Thanks for keeping an eye on him.”
She walked past the mayor who was still stroking the cat’s head like an evil villain in a Bond movie.
-#-#-#-
“Emma! Emma! Are you there? Emma!”
The walkie crackled with noise as Emma rolled onto the stomach and groaned quietly. She squinted at the digital clock beside her bed and, seeing that it was three in the morning, groaned again.
She groped for the walkie and pressed the little button on its side in order for Henry to be able to hear her.
“Henry? What’s going on…? Do you know what time it is?”
“Emma! I think there is someone in our house!”
Suddenly she was wide awake, rolling onto her back and sitting up.
“What?!”
“I don’t know… but I think someone might have broken into our house.”
Henry was trying to speak as quietly as he could and Emma clearly detected the fear in his voice.
“Alright kid, lock the door to your room and I’ll be there in ten.”
The sheriff jumped out of bed and grabbed her jeans.
“I haven’t got a key.”
She was struggling with pulling the tight denim over her legs and, because it took too much time, eventually abandoned the pants and opted for tiny black shorts that were way too small to be called that.
“Then hide in the closet. Try to be quiet okay?”
“Okay.”
She heard some rustling and then there was only the static crackling of the walkie again.
It was fairly warm outside so Emma forwent the jacket and dashed to her car in only her tank top and shorts, gun in hand.
She sped through deserted streets until she came to a halt in front of the mayoral mansion with screeching tires.
She jumped out of the car and ran across the footpath up to the front door, her gun securely clasped in both hands and held off to the side.
The door was locked and it didn’t look like anyone had tried to break in.
So she quickly and as silently as possible rounded the house to find the patio doors standing ajar.
Emma sucked in a breath and slipped inside the house, ready to defend the mayor and her son from any malevolent criminal who dared to try harm them.
There was a movement to her right and Emma raised her gun.
“Stop right where you are! Hands where I can see them!”
Suddenly the light was switched on and Emma needed a moment to adjust her eyes to the brightness.
“Sheriff Swan! What the hell are you doing?!”
Emma turned to see Regina standing in the entrance to her living room. She was wearing a blueish white silken knee-length sleeveless nightgown and her hair was slightly disheveled from sleep. That however did nothing to detract from the menacing glare directed at Emma.
Love meowed loudly, his pupils only tiny black slits in the bright light of the room. He sat on the living room table and watched Emma how she pointed her gun at him.
“I thought… Henry said someone broke into the house… I…”
Regina immediately turned on her heel and disappeared toward the stairs that led up to the upper level of the house.
“There is no unwanted person here except you Sheriff Swan, that much I can assure you,” she called over her shoulder angrily.
Emma watched her go and took a few deep breaths, all the adrenaline leaving her body in one swoop.
She put her gun down on the table, where Love sniffed on it distastefully, and dropped onto the couch with a long-suffering sigh.
Closing her eyes she willed the beating of her heart back to a normal rate, finally enjoying the way relief flooded her system.
She sat there in silence for quite a while and was only jostled out of her little nap when Regina spoke.
“That is hardly appropriate attire for catching burglars, now is it?”
Emma blinked her eyes open and saw the mayor sitting in an armchair across from her. The nightgown had moved up to her thighs because she had crossed her legs elegantly, balancing a hand on her naked knee.
The sheriff swallowed thickly before speaking.
“I came here as quickly as I could. Sorry I forgot my shining armor. Is Henry alright?”
Regina nodded, simply ignoring Emma’s little jab.
“The cat threw one of my vases off the shelf and he must have assumed that someone was in the house, trying to rob us. He is asleep now.”
“Alright, good.”
Emma tried really hard not to stare.
Although Regina was wearing nothing but a nightgown she still looked breathtakingly stunning. Maybe it was even because of wearing so little, but still.
The amount of skin on display made the sheriff’s fingers twitch nervously.
Of course she wasn’t blind and had noticed that the mayor could not possibly be described with such a word as attractive, but she had always managed to keep those thoughts so deeply buried that they had barely bothered her anymore.
Only every now and then deep into the night had she allowed herself to indulge in some fantasies, but that was so incredibly private that it wasn’t even funny anymore should anyone ever find out about her attraction to her son’s adoptive mother.
Emma cringed at her train of thought and realized that, despite her efforts, she had been staring.
Oddly enough Regina hadn’t called her out on it and only sat there in contemplative silence while she regarded the sheriff in return.
“I’m surprised you made it here that quickly. Henry told me he only contacted you ten minutes ago.”
“Yeah well speed limits only make sense when there is a sheriff who makes sure everyone sticks to them.”
“You realize that you possibly could have gotten yourself killed.”
Regina crinkled her brow at Emma’s carelessness.
“The streets are empty at night anyway, and if I had come too late I could have gotten you and Henry killed instead. I’d rather take the risk.”
Emma hid a jaw-breaking yawn behind her hand, completely missing the perplexed look on the mayor’s face.
“I better get going, it’s late and I won’t keep you up any longer.”
Although she was loathe to bring the only halfway civil conversation they’d ever had to an end, she was so incredibly tired that she would probably only do something that she’d eventually regret if she didn’t leave.
Regina looked so crazily gorgeous without her make-up and perfect hair that Emma grudgingly had to accept that she would probably even look fantastic when she’d crawled through a hedge, with branches and leaves all over her.
“Suck it up Swan,” she mumbled under her breath and got up from the couch.
She stretched her arms above her head, her back muscles realigning themselves with quiet protest.
“I’ll just be on my way then…”
She looked down at Regina to give her a friendly smile upon parting but found chocolate brown eyes undeniably glued to her exposed legs.
She cleared her throat and watched Regina’s eyes snap up to her face with amusement. If the mayor was flustered she didn’t show it.
“Sheriff.”
She nodded curtly and got up as well.
Emma raised her eyebrows but decided not to push any further. There would be a time and place for that eventually.
She couldn’t help the smile that stayed firmly in place when she walked back to her car. The door was still open and she simply plopped down behind the steering wheel before driving off.
Halfway back to Mary-Margaret’s apartment she suddenly remembered that she’d left her gun on the table of the mayor’s living room.
“Ah shit!”
She turned the car in the middle of the street with a sigh. There was absolutely no way she would risk Henry finding the damn thing in the morning. Regina would have her head for that. Literally.
She parked in front of the house yet again, got out and walked around to the back, hoping that the patio doors would still be unlocked.
It was nonsense really, that she had assumed someone could have broken into the mayor’s house. Aside from a few drunkards and lost animals there was close to no crime happening in Storybrooke. Most of the people didn’t even lock their doors - that is how boring the job of the sheriff was.
Emma smirked in silent triumph when the patio door opened noiselessly.
She found the gun right where she had left it and, after picking it up, turned to leave the house. But a quiet voice stopped her mid-movement.
It was clearly Regina’s but she couldn’t make out any words.
Despite better judgement Emma tip-toed through the living room and toward the study from where the voice seemed to come.
“I think I’ll do miss you.”
Emma poked her head around the corner and found Regina sitting on the leather couch, Love spread across her lap in a contented sprawl.
“There really is no one in this town who feels comfortable in my presence, so it’s nice for a change I suppose,” Regina continued, completely oblivious that she was being watched.
“But I can appreciate the irony that it is she who will take you away from me.”
A tiny sad smile graced the mayor’s lips.
“Same old, same old.”
Emma’s eyebrows furrowed with confusion. What was Regina talking about?
Was she referring to Henry and her?
Despite having thought about it, she had decided that she didn’t want to take Henry away from Regina. She was strict yes, and a bitch to everyone else, but she truly and honestly loved Henry, that much Emma could tell for certain.
Somehow she felt something akin to compassion welling up within her for the other woman. Although Regina would never admit it, she was simply lonely, and Emma could most certainly emphasize with that.
She watched how Regina lovingly stroked Love’s fur with gentle fingers, imagining those hands to be incredibly soft.
That thought actually made her realize how absurd the entire situation was. Regina only needed to raise her head to see widened blueish-gray eyes gazing at her.
Quickly Emma turned on her heel and tried to sneak back to the living room to slip out of the house unnoticed.
Luckily enough no one saw her as she left the mayoral mansion and returned to her car.
She felt too safe in the confines of her Bug to realize that the noise of the engine would have most likely given away her presence.
-#-#-#-
Author: raug_moss
Pairing: Regina/Emma
Rating: T
Spoilers: a few minor ones for S1 and a major one for its finale
Summary: After a series of completely unpredictable and unexpected events, Regina and Emma are forced to re-evalute their feelings for each other. Oh, and there's a cat somewhere in the story too.
Furry Little Thing Called Love
„Emma you have to find Love!“
Mary-Margaret burst into the station, breathing as if she had just run a marathon.
The sheriff slowly lowered her boots from atop her desk to the floor while setting down the newspaper she’d been holding.
“Uhh…alright? But Storybrooke is not exactly filled with potential candidates you know…”
Emma spoke slowly, considering how she was going to calm her roommate down without actually crushing her girlish notion of true love.
“What? No. I mean you have to find my kitty, his name is Love. I think he must have escaped through a window, I can’t find him anywhere.”
Emma stared disbelievingly at her roommate.
“Since when do you have a kitty? And why in all the world did you give him that name? Poor thing.”
“I’ll have you know that Love is a beautiful name and also suits him quite well. You’d know that had you seen him. Oh and David gave him to me yesterday when I went to visit him at the animal shelter.”
Emma raised an eyebrow inquiringly but Mary-Margaret only blushed and gestured with her hands for the sheriff to get up.
“Not what you think.”
“Is it? Then what am I thinking?”
“Emma! Please, find Love. He might be in danger, he’s too small to be on his own.”
“And how do you propose I go about finding a cat in this town? He could literally be anywhere.”
“At least try? Please?”
Mary-Margaret looked at her pleadingly, her lower lip almost trembling.
“Alright fine.”
The sheriff huffed quietly and got up. She stretched her arms above her head contemplatively before grabbing her blue leather jacket.
“Since there isn’t really anything else going on I could drive around and look for him. Just describe him to me first.”
-#-#-#-
Of course Emma didn’t manage to find the cat. That would have been a small miracle all in and of itself. So naturally her roommate was crushed. The first animal she’d had in years and it ran away from her the very next day.
Emma attempted to cheer her up, saying that she could always get another one, but that made it only worse and from then on the sheriff tried to avoid the touchy subject.
She felt sort of bad, but then again it wasn’t her fault that she couldn’t locate a tiny animal in a comparatively large town. Maybe it had found a new owner already, if it was really as cute as Mary-Margaret had claimed.
It had been yet another uneventful day when Emma left the sheriff’s station with a bottle of soda in one hand and her phone in the other. She was about to inquire whether Mary-Margaret had decided to cook or if she should pick up their usual from Granny’s for them, when something small and dark dashed across the street in front of her.
She looked up and saw a darkish-golden backside along with a tail disappear into the next bush.
“You can’t be serious…”
She stopped and stared at the bush. Suddenly a small head poked out through the thick green leaves, large yellow eyes regarding her curiously. One ear black and one in that weird golden color, which then mixed - just as Mary-Margaret had said.
Emma snapped her phone shut and put the soda bottle down on a bench nearby before she started creeping toward the bush.
“Kitty, kitty… here kitty,” she cooed but the cat only looked slightly more alarmed.
She crouched down and rubbed her thumb across the pads of her other fingers.
“Come here kitty. I won’t hurt you.”
Suddenly interested the little animal took a hesitant step forward. Sniffing the air the cat made several more steps toward Emma.
“That’s a good kitty, so good.”
Slowly shuffling closer she raised her hands and got ready to make her move.
But in the last second the cat decided that he didn’t like Emma as much as she apparently seemed to like him and turned around to race back toward the bush.
“Shit! Damn!”
The sheriff scrambled back to her feet and ran after the cat. Of course it was much faster than her but Love stopped every now and then to check whether the crazy human was still chasing him.
That is how it came about that the Sheriff of Storybrooke chased a cat through almost half the town.
The hunter in her had come to life and the only thing she still wanted was to catch that kitty once and for all.
She lost sight of him a few times but always managed to catch up again. If she didn’t know any better she would’ve thought that he was toying with her, leading her every which way, back and forth through town.
When Emma had finally cornered him against a hedge she already saw herself successfully carrying the prickly animal back to Mary-Margaret. But Love was way smarter than she had given him credit for.
Instead of trying to outrun her, he simply dashed headfirst into the hedge, forcing Emma to do the same.
Of course the lithe body of a kitten fit through the tiny branches much better than the one of a five foot eight human, and so Emma got unspectacularly stuck in the hedge for a few moments until she managed to wriggle herself through.
She crawled forward on her knees, panting and coughing.
“Look what the cat has dragged in this time.”
The sweet sing-song voice full of malice was so uncomfortably familiar that Emma shivered, already knowing what she would find when looking up. It surprised her however, that when she did, Regina was safely holding on to the little black-golden cat.
“You found Love!”
Two perfectly shaped eyebrows rose to a pale smooth forehead.
“Have you gone completely mad now Sheriff? Is that it? Shall I call Dr. Hopper, or better yet the local mental house?”
Emma scowled. She knew her hair was sticking up crazily with little leaves and branches completing the look. Maybe she looked a little bit insane in that moment, but still, there was absolutely no need to be so acidic about it.
Emma regarded the mayor in her tight gray pencil skirt and blazer standing there in her backyard. She was slowly scratching the little cat’s chest while he rubbed his head on her other hand contentedly. He purred quietly and Emma’s frown only deepened.
Of course the kitten would favor someone like the mayor if it didn’t come to her in the first place. They were polar opposites after all.
Emma finally had a mind to get up from her knees when the silence became too uncomfortable.
“I was merely doing my job.”
She brushed dirt and who knew what else off her knees and straightened her jacket.
“Is that so? Belongs harassing unsuspecting citizens and their pets to the job description now? I don’t think so.”
“I’m not harassing… wait, you think Love belongs to you?”
Regina looked downright insulted as she stared at Emma.
“Excuse me?”
The sheriff made a vague gesture with her hand toward the cat.
“His name is Love, he ran away from his owner a little while back.”
“He appeared in my garden three days ago…”
The mayor narrowed her eyes.
“What infantile mind would give such a name… no, let me guess, it belongs to Miss Blanchard.”
Regina rolled her eyes and pressed her lips together in obvious displeasure.
Emma half-shrugged and smirked.
“She thought it suited him.”
“Yes well, I really have something better to do with my time than discussing pet names with you Sheriff Swan.”
Suddenly even less acquiescing than before she held Love out to Emma, who took a hesitant step closer. The cat hissed hostilely and squirmed in the mayor’s grasp.
“I don’t think he likes me very much.”
Emma snatched her fingers back when tiny claws tried to scratch her.
“Who could blame him?”
Regina sighed and pointedly ignored the sheriff’s glare.
“Well I suppose Miss Blanchard will have to come and get the cat by herself then, if she is so very fond of it.”
There was something in Regina’s expression as well as in her voice that Emma couldn’t place. But when she saw how the mayor cradled the cat against her chest again she realized that Regina must’ve developed some sort of affection for the small animal.
It was almost… cute.
She smiled and cocked her head to the side.
“I could ask her if she doesn’t mind sharing.”
Regina looked at her as if she had just suggested they share the same toothbrush.
“What would be the point in that? I have no interest in this cat, and Henry is more of a dog person than anything else. By all means I’m not interested in feeding another hungry mouth.”
Although Regina was trying to convince Emma of the opposite, she knew that the mayor had a soft spot for the tiny creature. Given Love was really adorable but she would’ve expected the unapproachable woman to keep a snake for a pet, or at least something equally less furry.
“Well I’ll leave him in your hands then until Mary-Margaret can pick him up.”
“Fine. Now if you would be so kind to leave my property I’d be most delighted.”
Emma snorted quietly but nodded.
“Sure. Thanks for keeping an eye on him.”
She walked past the mayor who was still stroking the cat’s head like an evil villain in a Bond movie.
-#-#-#-
“Emma! Emma! Are you there? Emma!”
The walkie crackled with noise as Emma rolled onto the stomach and groaned quietly. She squinted at the digital clock beside her bed and, seeing that it was three in the morning, groaned again.
She groped for the walkie and pressed the little button on its side in order for Henry to be able to hear her.
“Henry? What’s going on…? Do you know what time it is?”
“Emma! I think there is someone in our house!”
Suddenly she was wide awake, rolling onto her back and sitting up.
“What?!”
“I don’t know… but I think someone might have broken into our house.”
Henry was trying to speak as quietly as he could and Emma clearly detected the fear in his voice.
“Alright kid, lock the door to your room and I’ll be there in ten.”
The sheriff jumped out of bed and grabbed her jeans.
“I haven’t got a key.”
She was struggling with pulling the tight denim over her legs and, because it took too much time, eventually abandoned the pants and opted for tiny black shorts that were way too small to be called that.
“Then hide in the closet. Try to be quiet okay?”
“Okay.”
She heard some rustling and then there was only the static crackling of the walkie again.
It was fairly warm outside so Emma forwent the jacket and dashed to her car in only her tank top and shorts, gun in hand.
She sped through deserted streets until she came to a halt in front of the mayoral mansion with screeching tires.
She jumped out of the car and ran across the footpath up to the front door, her gun securely clasped in both hands and held off to the side.
The door was locked and it didn’t look like anyone had tried to break in.
So she quickly and as silently as possible rounded the house to find the patio doors standing ajar.
Emma sucked in a breath and slipped inside the house, ready to defend the mayor and her son from any malevolent criminal who dared to try harm them.
There was a movement to her right and Emma raised her gun.
“Stop right where you are! Hands where I can see them!”
Suddenly the light was switched on and Emma needed a moment to adjust her eyes to the brightness.
“Sheriff Swan! What the hell are you doing?!”
Emma turned to see Regina standing in the entrance to her living room. She was wearing a blueish white silken knee-length sleeveless nightgown and her hair was slightly disheveled from sleep. That however did nothing to detract from the menacing glare directed at Emma.
Love meowed loudly, his pupils only tiny black slits in the bright light of the room. He sat on the living room table and watched Emma how she pointed her gun at him.
“I thought… Henry said someone broke into the house… I…”
Regina immediately turned on her heel and disappeared toward the stairs that led up to the upper level of the house.
“There is no unwanted person here except you Sheriff Swan, that much I can assure you,” she called over her shoulder angrily.
Emma watched her go and took a few deep breaths, all the adrenaline leaving her body in one swoop.
She put her gun down on the table, where Love sniffed on it distastefully, and dropped onto the couch with a long-suffering sigh.
Closing her eyes she willed the beating of her heart back to a normal rate, finally enjoying the way relief flooded her system.
She sat there in silence for quite a while and was only jostled out of her little nap when Regina spoke.
“That is hardly appropriate attire for catching burglars, now is it?”
Emma blinked her eyes open and saw the mayor sitting in an armchair across from her. The nightgown had moved up to her thighs because she had crossed her legs elegantly, balancing a hand on her naked knee.
The sheriff swallowed thickly before speaking.
“I came here as quickly as I could. Sorry I forgot my shining armor. Is Henry alright?”
Regina nodded, simply ignoring Emma’s little jab.
“The cat threw one of my vases off the shelf and he must have assumed that someone was in the house, trying to rob us. He is asleep now.”
“Alright, good.”
Emma tried really hard not to stare.
Although Regina was wearing nothing but a nightgown she still looked breathtakingly stunning. Maybe it was even because of wearing so little, but still.
The amount of skin on display made the sheriff’s fingers twitch nervously.
Of course she wasn’t blind and had noticed that the mayor could not possibly be described with such a word as attractive, but she had always managed to keep those thoughts so deeply buried that they had barely bothered her anymore.
Only every now and then deep into the night had she allowed herself to indulge in some fantasies, but that was so incredibly private that it wasn’t even funny anymore should anyone ever find out about her attraction to her son’s adoptive mother.
Emma cringed at her train of thought and realized that, despite her efforts, she had been staring.
Oddly enough Regina hadn’t called her out on it and only sat there in contemplative silence while she regarded the sheriff in return.
“I’m surprised you made it here that quickly. Henry told me he only contacted you ten minutes ago.”
“Yeah well speed limits only make sense when there is a sheriff who makes sure everyone sticks to them.”
“You realize that you possibly could have gotten yourself killed.”
Regina crinkled her brow at Emma’s carelessness.
“The streets are empty at night anyway, and if I had come too late I could have gotten you and Henry killed instead. I’d rather take the risk.”
Emma hid a jaw-breaking yawn behind her hand, completely missing the perplexed look on the mayor’s face.
“I better get going, it’s late and I won’t keep you up any longer.”
Although she was loathe to bring the only halfway civil conversation they’d ever had to an end, she was so incredibly tired that she would probably only do something that she’d eventually regret if she didn’t leave.
Regina looked so crazily gorgeous without her make-up and perfect hair that Emma grudgingly had to accept that she would probably even look fantastic when she’d crawled through a hedge, with branches and leaves all over her.
“Suck it up Swan,” she mumbled under her breath and got up from the couch.
She stretched her arms above her head, her back muscles realigning themselves with quiet protest.
“I’ll just be on my way then…”
She looked down at Regina to give her a friendly smile upon parting but found chocolate brown eyes undeniably glued to her exposed legs.
She cleared her throat and watched Regina’s eyes snap up to her face with amusement. If the mayor was flustered she didn’t show it.
“Sheriff.”
She nodded curtly and got up as well.
Emma raised her eyebrows but decided not to push any further. There would be a time and place for that eventually.
She couldn’t help the smile that stayed firmly in place when she walked back to her car. The door was still open and she simply plopped down behind the steering wheel before driving off.
Halfway back to Mary-Margaret’s apartment she suddenly remembered that she’d left her gun on the table of the mayor’s living room.
“Ah shit!”
She turned the car in the middle of the street with a sigh. There was absolutely no way she would risk Henry finding the damn thing in the morning. Regina would have her head for that. Literally.
She parked in front of the house yet again, got out and walked around to the back, hoping that the patio doors would still be unlocked.
It was nonsense really, that she had assumed someone could have broken into the mayor’s house. Aside from a few drunkards and lost animals there was close to no crime happening in Storybrooke. Most of the people didn’t even lock their doors - that is how boring the job of the sheriff was.
Emma smirked in silent triumph when the patio door opened noiselessly.
She found the gun right where she had left it and, after picking it up, turned to leave the house. But a quiet voice stopped her mid-movement.
It was clearly Regina’s but she couldn’t make out any words.
Despite better judgement Emma tip-toed through the living room and toward the study from where the voice seemed to come.
“I think I’ll do miss you.”
Emma poked her head around the corner and found Regina sitting on the leather couch, Love spread across her lap in a contented sprawl.
“There really is no one in this town who feels comfortable in my presence, so it’s nice for a change I suppose,” Regina continued, completely oblivious that she was being watched.
“But I can appreciate the irony that it is she who will take you away from me.”
A tiny sad smile graced the mayor’s lips.
“Same old, same old.”
Emma’s eyebrows furrowed with confusion. What was Regina talking about?
Was she referring to Henry and her?
Despite having thought about it, she had decided that she didn’t want to take Henry away from Regina. She was strict yes, and a bitch to everyone else, but she truly and honestly loved Henry, that much Emma could tell for certain.
Somehow she felt something akin to compassion welling up within her for the other woman. Although Regina would never admit it, she was simply lonely, and Emma could most certainly emphasize with that.
She watched how Regina lovingly stroked Love’s fur with gentle fingers, imagining those hands to be incredibly soft.
That thought actually made her realize how absurd the entire situation was. Regina only needed to raise her head to see widened blueish-gray eyes gazing at her.
Quickly Emma turned on her heel and tried to sneak back to the living room to slip out of the house unnoticed.
Luckily enough no one saw her as she left the mayoral mansion and returned to her car.
She felt too safe in the confines of her Bug to realize that the noise of the engine would have most likely given away her presence.
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