I knew it wouldn't take an hour and a half to get there, but I thought it would be fun to get to know Ruby a little bit more before we go over to Mary Margret's. I walked in the diner and Ruby trotted up to me as she has all the other times I had come in. "Hey Emma, what's up?" She asked me. "Oh nothin, just thought I'd come hang around until it was time to go." I said. "Cool! Do you think you could help me out? It will start getting busy in a few minutes and Granny would flip if-" "Ruby, quit your yip yapping and keep working!" Her grandmother yelled, poking her head out of the kitchen. "And that's exactly what I mean." Ruby said with a laugh. I followed her back into the kitchen to grab an apron so I could help Ruby. "Granny, this is Emma, the girl I was telling you about earlier. she's going to help me tonight, or at least until we have to go." Ruby said introducing me to Granny. "You better not be expecting me to pay ya for only working an hour." Granny said pointing her wooden spoon at me. I giggled. "No, I'm not expecting anything, just wanted to help out." I responded. "Well that's a first. Ruby, you need to learn a few things from this girl." She said and Ruby and I both giggled. "Yeah, we'll see about that." Ruby replied. We went back out and Ruby decided that I should take the orders since it was easier and I could get to know everyone in town better. We worked for about an hour, which just happened to be the busiest hour of the night. "You girls have worked hard enough for one night, go have some fun, but Ruby, don't you even think about stepping foot in this place if your drunk. You'll be sleeping outside with the cat if that's what happens." She said. I laughed quietly as Ruby and I both quickly untied our aprons and made a mad dash for the door.

"So you and the mayor huh?" Ruby said with a smile. "What?" I said confused. "Oh come on Emma, don't pretend I don't know. Like I said earlier 'my gaydar is pretty fucking good'." She said with a smirk as we walked towards Mary Margret's where ever that was. "Ruby, I'm just her intern." I said confidently trying to persuade her that nothing was going on. "Right..." Ruby said in a long exaggerated voice. "Why won't you just tell me?" She begged. "Sorry, I promised her I wouldn't." I said but quickly realizing what I had just said. "So there really is something going on between you and Mayor Mills." She said poking my rib gently with her elbow. I stopped and looked at her before I sighed. "Alright Ruby, I'll tell you if you promise not to tell a sole. Not even Granny." I said seriously. "Your secrets are safe with me." she said with a smile. "Good." I responded and we continued to walk. "Where do you want me to start?" I asked her. I looked at her while she thought. "Well, you already told me that she saved you from something so why don't we start with after that." She said. I sighed mentally preparing to almost spill my guts once again to a complete stranger.

Emma, you have to stop doing this!!

I know, I know, but I can trust her right?

Yes. I finally concluded that I could trust her. "Well my birthday was two days after she saved me, she knew about it so the day before we flew to California, went on a shopping spree, and the next day, my birthday, she surprised me by taking me to Disneyland. We had so much fun and it was very nice. She even made reservations at a fancy French restaurant. The next day we flew here, and I've been staying with her ever sense... Well, I guess ever sense she first rescued me." I said with a smile as I could feel my face beginning to burn. By now we had gotten to Mary Margret's apartment and Ruby was knocking on the door which was opened almost immediately. "Hey girls!" The pixie haired brunette said in an almost too chipper voice as hugged us. "Hey." I said feeling a bit awkward. Ruby and I walked in as Mary Margret shut the door behind us. There were three wine glasses set out at the table in the kitchen. I wasn't expecting we would be drinking. I've never really cared for wine, I'm more of a hard liquor girl, but a little bit wouldn't bother me. Ruby and I sat down next to each other while Mary Margret poured us all a glass of red wine. "So Emma, how are you liking Storybrooke so far?" Mary Margret asked with a smile on her face. "It's great so far, I mean I've only been here two days, but I really like it." I responded. "So you're staying at Granny's I'm guessing?" The shorter brunette asked. I gave Ruby a nervous look, but she gave me a reassuring smile, telling me that Mary Margret could be trusted too. "Um, no actually, I'm staying with Regina." I said after taking a sip of wine. Mary Margret choked on the wine she had just poured into her mouth and Ruby looked at me shocked. "She lets you call her Regina?" Ruby asked surprised. "Uh... Yeah?" I answered. "That's interesting and all, but what's even crazier is that Ms. Mills actually invited you to stay with her. That never, and I mean never happens." Mary Margret said once she was able to stop coughing on her wine. "Well...I... Uh..." I said trying to come up with something to say but Ruby just had to take one look at me before coming up with something and speaking for me. "She is Mayor Mills' niece." Ruby said. "Oh okay, that makes much more sense." Mary Margret took another sip of wine. I gave Ruby a quick look of thanks before we continued talking. "So Emma, where'd you grow up?" Ruby asked. "Oh, here and there, but my childhood isn't exactly something I'd like to discuss." I said sadly. I saw Ruby and Mary Margret exchange quick looks at each other. "Besides, I want to get to know you guys too." I added and they both smiled. "Well, I'm a teacher at the local elementary school, I volunteer at the hospital in my free time, I love animals, and like I said earlier, if I ever had a daughter, I would have named her Emma." Mary Margret smiled "speaking of which, this appeared in my closet the other day." Mary Margret said walking over to her couch and grabbing a white crocheted blanket with purple ribbon. It looked exactly like mine except it had my name on it. She handed it to me and my eyes went wide as I saw the name Emma sewed into it. "I... This..." I couldn't get my words out. "This is exactly like the one I had when I was little, it even has the same stain mine did." I held it up to my nose and smelled it, which was oddly, yes you guessed it, it smelled exactly like mine. "It even smells the same." I added "Well what happened to it?" Mary Margret asked. "One night when I was about eight, I went to bed with it and the next morning it was gone. I just thought that maybe one of the foster kids or my foster parents took it. I haven't seen it sense." I said folding it back up and handing it back to Mary Margret. "Wait, do you think it could be yours?" Ruby asked and I shrugged. "I've only ever seen one made like this. It has the same exact stitching, stain, smell, everything. Do you even remember where you got it?" I asked the short haired brunette. "No, I don't even remember seeing it before the other day, but if you think it's yours, then you can have it." Mary Margret said. "Thank you." I said with a smile and say the blanket on the table next to me. "As for me, you've probably already know everything about me. I work at Granny's, Granny is my Granny, my favorite color is red, and I sort of have an obsession with dogs... More specifically wolves." Ruby said. "Yeah, I pretty much already knew that, but the wolf thing is pretty cool." I said with a smile. We talked and laughed and had a few more glasses of wine... Well they did, I didn't. It was all fun until The alcohol started kicking in and she started teasing me about Regina. "She's evil you know. Everyone's scared of her because she's such a bitch. I hope she won't hurt you Emma, she's hurt more people than you know." Ruby said slurring her words. "Ruby, Regina is not evil. She may be a little harsh at times, yes, but we all are." I said trying to stand up for my girlfriend. "Her more than others in afraid." Mary Margret said under her breath. "Hm hm. That couldn't be more true Mary Margret. My advice to you Emma, stay as far away from her as possible and come stay at Granny's with me. That woman is not to be trusted." Ruby said. "Well unfortunately I do trust her. I know her better than anyone else I this town. I know her well enough to know that she's just misunderstood!" I stood up beginning to yell. "Huh, misunderstood my ass. She's just trying to pull you in only to dump you out again." Ruby said with a chuckle. Her words made me angrier. I stood up and walked over to the door. "Don't you ever talk that way about Regina again. You can't judge a person when you hardly know them!" I yelled walking out the door and slamming it behind me forgetting all about the blanket that was sitting next to me. I felt hot tears beginning to fall on my cheeks. I didn't know what to do, so I took off and ran, to where I wasn't sure. After a while, I ended up at Regina's once I realized I had no where else to go. I looked under the Matt where she said she would place a key for me, but it wasn't there. I yelled out in frustration and kicked the door with my boot before resting my back up against the door and sliding down until I was sitting with my knees tucked to my chest. I wrapped my arms around my knees and rested my head down on my arms as I continued to sob.

No, Emma, it will be okay. She promised she wouldn't do that to you.

Yeah but what if she doesn't? What if she just throws me out just like everyone else has?

"Emma?" I heard a voice coming from the other side of the door. It opened behind me, but I didn't move. Regina sat down next to me and wrapped her arms around me pulling me close to her. I cried louder, but didn't dare to look up at her. "Oh, Emma." Regina sighed as she tangled her fingers in my blonde hair. I cried for a few more minutes, Regina not saying anything more. "Come on Emma, let's get you inside, I'll make you some hot chocolate to warm you up, then we can talk." She said pulling me up with her. I held onto her hand as we walked inside, the tears now barely trickling down my cheeks. Regina say me on the couch and grabbed the throw blanket that was resting on the back of the couch and wrapped it around me. She smiled at me before she ran into the kitchen to make me some hot chocolate.
-------------------------------------------------------
I walked into the kitchen to make Emma some hot chocolate to warm her up. Out of all the scenarios I played in my head earlier about how their girls night would go, Emma coming home crying certainly was not one of them. I sighed as I stirred in the cocoa powder in with the hot water. I grabbed a can of whipped cream out of the fridge and grabbed cinnamon to sprinkle on the top as well as a cinnamon stick to add extra flavor. I finished with the hot chocolate, and slowly walked back to Emma with the warm mug. I sat down next to her and handed her the warm cup. "Thank you." She said quietly and gave me a weak smile as she took the cup from my hands. She took a sip and closed her eyes, relaxing just a little bit more. Then put the mug down on the coffee table in front of us then curled her legs up on the couch and leaned her head on my shoulder. I slid my arm between her and the couch and gently wrapped my arm around her, bringing her closer to me. "Emma, what happened?" I asked quietly as I rested my head on top of the girls. I heard her take a deep breath before she spoke, trying to gather her thoughts and emotions. "You wouldn't want to know." She said sadly. "Emma, of course I want to know. What happened to make you so upset?" I asked kindly. She sighed and wrapped her arms around me as she buried her face in my chest. "They were drunk and...well Ruby, said you were evil, that you were a bitch who couldn't be trusted. I told them that you were just misunderstood by everyone and that they can't judge you of of what little they know about you. She said that I should move into Granny's with her because you were just taking me in and pretend to care about me before you tossed me away, just like everyone else in my life has." She said trying to remain calm. A few tears trickled down her cheeks and I sighed. I grabbed Emma by the arms, and pushed her off of me so she could look at me in the eyes. I gently brushed away her tears and smiled at her. "Emma, I promised you that I would never do that and I won't. That promise still remains. As for you standing up for me dear, thank you, but it's okay. I don't need them happy for me to be happy. I just need you to be happy. As long as you're happy, I am too. If your sad, I'm sad too. You mean so much to me Emma, and I don't want to lose you over what a drunk teenager says." I said. Emma sighed. "I know, you mean so much to me too. I'm sorry, I just don't know what's gotten into me lately, I've just been much more emotional lately is all." She said. "I hugged her. "Oh dear, we all get like that sometimes. Now why don't you drink up your hot chocolate, then you and I can go to bed. You can sleep in as late as you'd like since tomorrow is Saturday so we don't have work." I said soothingly. She grabbed her hot chocolate off the coffee table and chugged it all down. She began to look tired and warn out from the nights events. I grabbed her hand and we walked up stairs together. We put on our pajamas and crawled into bed. Emma rested her head on my chest, one of her hands on my torso, the other wrapped around my back. "Thank you for everything Regina. I couldn't have ever imagined being where I am today." She said gratefully. She say up and placed her soft gentle lips on mine for a brief kiss, before laying back down on my chest and closing her eyes. I stroked her blonde curls gently. "No problem dear, thank you for being the brightness in my dark days." I said quietly once she had fallen asleep. I looked over at the clock on my nightstand. 3am.

Well it looks like we will both be sleeping in tomorrow.

I thought and I too closed my eyes and drifted off into a deep sleep.

A/N: hope your enjoying it so far! The next chapter is when the story will start picking up more and should be updated today. I hope your enjoying it so far! ❤️