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“Swan, Humbert’s asking for you”
Oh God, here we go again.
“What does he want this time?” Agent Swan asks annoyed. The other agent sighs, clearly feeling annoyed as well. “I don’t know, why don’t you find out?”
Emma drops the file she was looking at, and grabs her red leather jacket. She huffs as she stomps out of her room, leaving the other agent to roll his eyes. She quickly makes her way to Agent Humbert’s office, wanting to get things done as soon as possible.
“Ah, Swan.” Agent Humbert smirks, making Emma roll her eyes. “Straight to the point please, Humbert.” He raises his brows and goes to take a file from his table. “Please? You’re being nice today; you should do it more often.” Emma simply stares, and he finally hands her the file.
“You’re one of my best agents, Swan. I need you to go on this case, it’s regarding a well-known criminal boss.” She furrows her brows, “any important information?”
“Name’s Roni. Owns some kind of gay bar, and is popular among the criminal world. Very typical.”
“That’s all?” Emma asks and he nods in response. Emma raises her voice, “seriously?”
He simply nods again, and Emma groans. “Can’t you ask someone else to do this?” she asks. Graham merely rolls his eyes and sighs. “You’re fitting for the job, and you’re one of our best agents. Come on, Swan!” Emma frustratedly runs her hand through her hair and whines, “fine!”
A proud smirk is planted on Graham’s face, and all Emma wants to do is punch his face and wipe it away. After a moment of silence, he speaks up again. “Well then, you’re dismissed. The team will give you more information as they find it along the way.” Emma quickly stands up and nods, leaving the room while mumbling something that sounds awfully similar to “you stupid graham cracker”, but Graham decides to just ignore her.
“So, what did the cracker want this time?”
Emma whips her head towards the direction of her desk, where Ruby is sat with 2 cups of coffee and a paper bag, which Emma assumes is filled with bear claws. She groans and walks towards her desk, before dropping down onto her chair. She snatches a bear claw and aggressively bites it.
Ruby raises her brows, “that bad?”
“He wants me to find some criminal boss. And I quote, ‘Name’s Roni, owns some kind of gay bar’.”
At that, Ruby breaks into laughter, nearly choking on her coffee. Emma huffs and rolls her eyes; she rips a piece of her bear claw and throws it at Ruby. Ruby laughs even harder, holding onto her chair for dear life. “We can visit the bar then, huh?”
“Fuck off, Ruby!” She wipes her tears as Emma curses her, and the room falls into a comfortable silence. The only sounds that can be heard are munching and the drumming of Emma’s fingers against the table. Ruby sips the last of her coffee, and proceeds to stand up.
“I’m back on shift soon. Good luck on that case, by the way.” She pats Emma on the shoulder, before walking out of the room. Emma hums and takes a sip of her own coffee, before choking.
“RUBY LUCAS, WHY THE FUCK IS MY COFFEE SALTY?!”
“Alright, Swan. You will pretend to be a woman named Leia Adams. Age 33, a lesbian, and just started visiting New Westminster. You’ll pretend to be a former doctor who recently resigned to enjoy… life.” Agent Humbert furrows his brows as his voice trails off. Emma looks at him annoyed, and takes the papers from his hand, before she reads them.
“And how am I supposed to get close to her? It’s quite obvious that I can’t exactly fling myself at her and expect her to fall for me, blah blah.” Agent Humbert remains unimpressed, and he clears his throat. “Look, just make sure nobody sees you coming out of here, and it goes the same for when you come back here.”
“I have been at this for years, Humbert. I’m pretty sure I know the basics of these missions.”
“It’s just a simple reminder. Now go, no more time to waste.”
Emma looks at the mirror, makes sure she looks intact and takes a deep breath. She looks back at Agent Humbert, and as he nods, she exhales and walks out. She quickly runs far away from the base, while making sure that nobody is around, and the sound of leaves rustling is kept at the minimum. Emma gets into the yellow bug, turns the engine on, and drives off to the bar.
Emma can hear the loud music even from inside of her car. She hops out, slams the door, and locks her card. Pulling out her fake ID from the pocket of her jeans, Emma sighs and mumbles a “here we go again…”
Emma walks to the entrance and hands the guard her ID. She keeps a straight face, even though she’s slightly panicked on the inside. Emma has used fake IDs quite a few times, even before her job as an agent. But of course, she still gets a little nervous, because even a professional can get caught.
“Right this way, miss.” Emma subtly breathes out a sigh of relief, and walks past the bodyguard and finds an empty seat. Sitting down, she scans the room for the suspect, pretending to look and soak in the atmosphere of the bar. It didn’t take her that long to realize that the suspect is making drinks behind the bar. Emma huffs and walks towards the woman in question.
“Hey, may I order a club soda?” The woman looks at her weirdly, before turning to the fridge and taking out a bottle out and setting it on the counter. “You come to a bar alone, and you order a club soda?” Emma nods, and the woman raises an eyebrow. She scoops some ice into a glass and pours the club soda. “So, how did you end up here? I don’t think I’ve seen you before.”
Emma sips on the liquid and remembers the lines she had memorized the day before, she smiles charmingly, grimacing inside. “Well, I recently moved here. New Westminster, I mean. I felt tired and wanted to find a good pub, but then decided against it because I want the loud music and crazy vibes. So here I am, talking to you.”
The woman tilts her head, and smirks at Emma. “Well, that’s a good thing, isn’t it, Miss…?”
Emma almost said her real name, because of how captivating the woman in front of her is. “Adams. Leia Adams” she winks, and internally cringes. “Well then, it would only be fair if I introduced myself too, Miss Adams” Emma lets out a giggle, and all she wanted to do was slap herself and cringe. “Leia is fine, I think Miss Adams is too formal, especially when we’re in a bar.” Roni chuckles, “well then, my name is Roni. I’m the owner of this bar, and your drink is on the house.”
Emma gets taken aback by how bold Roni is, but also by how quick the conversation just turned. She suspects that Roni is avoiding giving more information about herself.
But why would she when she was the one who offered to introduce herself?
“Oh, you really don’t have to, Roni.” Emma pretends to hide her face, and all she can think about is how will she kill Humber when she gets back to the base. Roni leans on the counter, “oh please, it’s nothing. You literally just ordered a club soda.” At that, Emma actually blushes, finally realizing how stupid she sounds, but she knows that she has to stay sober.
The rest of Emma’s visit feels like a blur. It’s just Emma talking to Roni and watching the bartender—or owner, making drinks for the visitors. Without realizing, it’s been 2 hours since she first arrived at the bar.
Roni’s bar.
Emma snaps back into reality, and puts down the glass she was holding. She stands up, and Roni looks at her curiously. “I should go, it’s already late. I promise I’ll come back, though.” Roni takes her glass and smirks again. Emma lost count on how many times Roni smirks in the time span of two hours. “I’ll be waiting, then. Safe drive, Leia.”
Emma almost stared, but quickly blinks and mentally scolds herself. She smiles at Roni, waves a goodbye, and quickly walks out of the bar. She doesn’t know what the hell is wrong with her, or why she had said that to Roni. She could have said bye and left, but no. Instead, she had to promise Roni that she’d be back, as if Roni is expecting her to be.
Dumbass, she thought.
“Humbert, I swear-“ Emma gets cut off as another one of her teammates—Ruby’s girlfriend, slams the door open, while her hand is gripping the sleeve of a pink dress. Emma stares wide-eyed, and glared both Humbert and Belle dead in the eye. “No.” Emma says in a cautious but low voice. When both of them stay silent, she found her answer.
“I am not wearing that, especially to a bar! It’s a flashy pink, are you crazy?!” Emma whisper-screamed exasperatedly. Humbert sighs, “we need you to wear it and attract Roni.” Emma was about to dig a hole and jump in right then and there.
“Fine.” Emma grunts, knowing she has no choice. She takes the dress from Belle and goes to her room to change.
“I thought Swan would have exploded right then and there” Humbert shivers. Belle chuckles, “she is quite the character.”
“I HEARD THAT!” A scream can be heard from the distance, and both agents quickly retreat to their room in a hustle. When the clacking of heels can finally be heard, and Emma comes to view, both agents have already hidden in their respective rooms and locked the doors.
“I work with children” Emma mumbles. She walks out from the base, and again, walks as fast as she can to the yellow bug. She starts the engine, turns on the music this time, and drives off.
When Emma arrives, she quickly gets out, resulting in her almost forgetting to lock the damned car. She also forgot to question Humbert’s taste in cars, which is itching her right now. Locking the car, she pulls out her fake ID from her purse and grumbles. She sets a fake smile on her face and approaches the guards. She shows the ID, but she’s surprised when the bodyguards block the entrance.
“I’m sorry miss, but today, only VIP customers are allowed in the bar” he says in a cold voice. “What? I was never informed, I-“
“Who is it, Daniel?” Roni’s voice booms through the bar, and as she approaches, Emma can feel herself smiling.
Hold on, smiling?
Emma mentally slaps herself for even doing so. She doesn’t know what’s wrong with her today, it’s probably her frustration. When Roni looks at Emma, she stared for a second, before blinking and clearing her throat. “Let her in, Daniel.” Both Emma and Daniel are taken aback, not expecting said response from her. “Reg- Roni, are you sure…?”
Emma thinks her heart stopped for a second. ‘Reg’, of course Roni is not her real name, she’s a well-known criminal boss. Emma makes a mental note to report that to Humbert.
“I’m sure, Daniel. Now, come along, Leia.” Regina leads Leia inside of the bar, and ushers Leia to sit. When a comfortable silence sets between them, she starts the conversation.
“So, it seems like you kept your promise” Regina chuckles. Leia laughs, and Regina finds herself smiling because of it. “I keep my promises, your majesty” Leia says sarcastically, and Regina rolls her eyes, still smiling. “What would you like today? Club soda?” she mocks, and a groan escapes from Leia’s lips.
“Lemonade.”
Regina stops dead in her tracks and looks at Leia, who has a confused face. “You go to a bar two times, the first you order club soda, and the second you order a lemonade?” Leia’s cheeks turn red, and she huffs, “don’t judge!” Regina rolls her eyes again and goes to make her a lemonade. As she does, she can see Leia looking at her in awe from the corner of her eyes. She can feel the heat rising up her cheeks, so she focuses on the drink she’s making.
What am I doing dear Christ? Emma thinks, clenching her fists. She turns around and chooses to observe the bar. It does look amazing, with all the modern lamps and paintings. The brick walls prove to be aesthetically pleasing, and Emma finds herself admiring the interior design of the bar.
The sound of a glass hitting the table made Emma turn around. “Thanks” she takes the glass and sips it, but scrunching her face right after. Roni smirks devilishly, “whoops, I must have forgotten to add the syrup.” Emma glares at Roni, and she simply laughs as she goes to get the bottle of syrup. When Roni comes back, Emma huffs. “That was not funny” Roni chuckled, “sure it wasn’t.” Emma carefully sips her lemonade, and when she’s sure that it’s not sour, she takes a big gulp. Roni sits down on the other side and sighs. “Long day?” Roni nods. Emma smiles sympathetically and sips her lemonade again.
Wait, no. I have to stop trying to understand her dear Lord. More information! Emma coughs, “so, Roni. Any hobbies?” Roni quirks a brow at her, and she was fairly certain she’d say that it is none of Emma’s business, but she’s proved wrong when Roni speaks up. “Other than making drinks? Probably learning about drinks then.” Both of them chuckle, “come on, Roni. There must be more” Emma internally begs for Roni to answer, because she needs it.
To tell Humbert and the team, of course.
Roni hums and thinks for a while, before finally speaking up. “I used to love riding horses; I think I still do. Though, I can’t do it often now. Hell, when was the last time I did?” Roni chuckled to herself, and Emma smiles. “How about you, Leia? Any hobbies in particular?” Roni inches closer, and Emma can feel her heartbeat increasing.
It’s because she’s the enemy. God, what if she kills me, right?
“Well, I for one, love eating” she pauses and Roni snorts. “Uh, I like travelling. I miss it, especially from the old days when I was still a doctor.” Roni raises her eyebrows, “you were a doctor? I’m impressed, Doctor Adams” she winks and tilts her head. Emma blushes and flips her off, and Roni chuckles. Emma subconsciously stares, smiling at the sound of the other woman’s laughs.
The sounds of chattering between teammates can be heard in the main room. Emma walks in and yawns. “Good sleep, Agent Swan?” Graham says, before looking back at the screen in front of him. “Ugh, my sleep schedule has turned really bad because of this mission.”
Agent Humbert simply smiles and observes the information on the screen again. Emma walks up to him and joins him too. She sees a blurry picture of Roni, alongside a few details about her. The sudden sound of Ruby slamming the door open and barging in has the team going silent.
Like girlfriend, like girlfriend.
“REGINA MILLS!” Ruby screams, and pants from exhaustion. “What do you mean, Ruby?” Emma asks, but immediately gets interrupted by Agent Humbert. “So, her name isn’t Roni, but Regina Mills. Of course she had a fake name!” And that is when Emma put two and two together, ‘Reg’ as Daniel said is a part of ‘Regina’. Emma doesn’t know why, but she does feel a little sting at the fact that ‘Roni’ lied, but she’s a criminal boss, of course she did.
“Well then, Swan. Looks like you’re going back to the bar today. Get as much information as you can, and tomorrow we will burst in.” Emma is taken aback and she’s internally panicking, but she remains calm on the outside and nods. Emma excuses herself, and heads to her room.
What is going on…?
Emma walks out of her room wearing jeans, a white tank top and her favorite red leather jacket. She walks into the main room and sees Agent Humbert and Belle French there. “Remember to try and get all the information you can, but make sure to not sound forceful or suspicious.” Agent Humbert warns her, but he looks even serious than he ever has, this mission is important. Belle looks concerned, so Emma smiles at her and nods. Both of them nod back, with Belle giving back a warm smile.
She walks out of the base, clutching her jacket onto her chest. She stares at the yellow bug in front of her, before taking a deep breath and getting on the car she’s slowly getting attached to.
Arriving in Roni’s bar, who belongs to Regina, she gets out of the car and gets out. Today, Emma is uncharacteristically nervous. She’s not sure if it’s the pressure of getting as much information as she can, or the constant worrying of accidentally calling ‘Roni’ by her real name.
Or maybe, it’s the fact that Regina lied.
Emma rolls her eyes and huffs at her brain’s antics. She smiles at Daniel—who pats her shoulder as she walks in. He doesn’t ask for her ID anymore, seeing as Regina trusted Emma. She looks around, before finally setting her eyes at Regina, who is dressed in a white shirt with a black tie surrounding her neck, is making drinks behind the bar again. Emma internally cringes at the possibilities of Regina choking herself, but maybe it’d make her job easier.
Emma approaches her, taking deep breaths and trying to stay calm. “Hey, Roni” Emma greets her as she sits down on a vacant seat. Regina turns to her and smiles “hello Miss Adams. What would you like?” Emma blushes, but she covers it with a roll of her eyes. “Uh, club soda mixed with… lemonade…?”
Roni purses her lips, “this is probably the weirdest order from you.” Emma laughs and watches as Regina made her drinks. It’s mesmerizing watching the colors get mixed, especially when Emma watches Regina mixing drinks of multiple colors. Emma clears her throat, “syrup, Roni.”
“Quick learner from your mistakes, hm?” Regina smirks and adds the syrup. Emma bites her lip and tries not to smile, but Regina can see the little curve at the ends of her lips. “One lemonade mixed with club soda, with syrup. Order of Miss Leia Adams.” Emma gives her the finger, but takes the glass and gulps it.
Regina pours herself a drink, and gulps it in one go. Emma visibly frowns and purses her lips, not liking it when she tried to do that once. Regina looks at her with an eyebrow raised, as if to challenge her. Emma knows better, and raises both her hands as if to surrender.
Again, her visit feels like it’s simply a blur. She watches Regina make the drinks, talk to her when there are no orders, and observe—or rather, admire the bar. When she zones back in and sees Regina walking towards her, she sits up straighter.
“What inspired this interior design?” Regina stops and blinks, clearly not expecting Emma to suddenly ask the question at such a random time.
Emma panics, and she quickly speaks up again. “Sorry, I didn’t me-“ “It’s fine, Leia. I just wasn't expecting that.”
Regina sits down on the other side of the counter and thinks. “I’m not really sure. I just thought the brick walls would be a great choice. Daniel and I both think that the paintings would be a nice touch. The lamps are kind of weird but cool at the same time. The glass mosaic window was inspired by… Google.”
“Well, this bar looks amazing. The counter is cool…” Emma drifts off awkwardly. Regina just smiles and refills the glass she had used prior. When Regina quickly gulps it down in one shot, she hears Emma mumble an “oh God”, and starts laughing.
“This is the longest you’ve stayed, Leia. Free time?” Emma nervously chuckles, it’s so weird when Regina calls her by her fake name. “Yeah, I finished moving my things and other stuff, you know” Regina nods and sighs as she sits down.
“God, I should get more people to help me here” Regina groans as she stretches her back, and Emma looks away, blushing. While doing so, Emma also thinks about what information should she try and get from Regina. The past hour, she seemed to have forgotten that she needed it.
“So, what made you open this bar?” Regina eyed Emma skeptically, but she quickly shrugs and smiles. “Not sure, I was quite the rebel and wanted a job I liked. I did work at someone’s bar before, but the owner was a bitch, so I left. That’s when I started the bar with the help of Daniel.”
Emma nods, trying to imagine a young Regina and Daniel opening the bar for the first time. But then, her mind wanders off, and she thinks about how easy it is to talk to Regina. She’s a criminal boss, it shouldn’t be this easy…
“That’s cool. My parents forced me to go to medical school, and before that I was in this Catholic boarding school, so rebelling wasn’t exactly a choice. What about you, though?” Emma chuckles.
Regina smiles at the story, but quickly answers. “Well, poor you. And my school life wasn’t that exciting, I guess that’s a story for another day.”
Of course, she’s avoiding the question.
“Alright. Well, I’m curious. How did you end up picking the bar in this location? Were you born here?”
Regina stands up and makes her way towards the bottles, pouring one of its contents into her glass. “Yes, born and raised here. It’s always been my home” Regina chuckles, and Emma would too if it wasn’t for the fact that she knows that Regina is lying. Emma forces a smile and drinks from her own glass, which has been refilled two times, and Emma wonders if she’s going to get sick from all the sugar.
“What about you, Miss Adams?” Emma sets down her glass and sighs, “I was born in Boston, moved to New York for my job, and finally moved here after resigning, as you know.”
Regina speaks up, “well, it’s great to move, isn’t it? It’s boring staying in the same place sometimes, but it’s great when you have a great job.” Emma smiles and admires the way Regina looks so regal even if she’s sitting down. “It is, though it’s annoying having to sort out everything in order to move. It’s just annoying, I have to do so many thi-“
She gets cut off as a group of people barge in bringing guns. Regina stays calm, but when she sees a dead Daniel laying on the floor, she completely panics.
“W-what?! You said it was tomorrow!” she hears Leia scream from behind her, and it was the last thing she heard before the darkness consumed her.
Regina wakes up in a small room surrounded by glass, which she guesses is the unbreakable ones. She hears commotion, and quickly freshens up to be ready when they come in. When Leia comes in, her heart drops. The man, seeing her reaction, smirked.
“I’m Graham Humbert, Agent of Storybrooke. And that, is Agent Emma Swan. Welcome to the interrogation room.” Emma can’t bear to look at Regina, who she’s been lying to. She looks at the floor, avoiding suspicion.
Emma quickly makes an excuse as to why she needs to go to her room. She flees out of the interrogation room and makes a run to her room. Emma locks the door and falls onto the carpet; she feels all the emotions at once. She’s confused, she’s scared, she’s worried… but none of them are happiness.
Emma drags herself to the bed and crawls under the covers. She finished the mission, which is an important one. Humbert specifically searched for her and chose her for this mission.
Then why do I feel guilty? This is crazy, no. Emma stares up at the ceiling, thinking. But it feels as if she can’t, she’s just mindlessly staring up at the ceiling with no clue on what to feel. She wants to sleep, but she can’t. Emma keeps thinking about the reason she feels guilty, she has never felt a single ounce of guilt for lying to the ‘bad guy’. But today, she did, and she’s scared to think why.
Emma thinks she knows the reason, but she won’t admit it. It’s too overwhelming, Regina is a well-known criminal boss, there’s no way in hell that Emma…
Emma screams into her pillow. She wants to cry, she wants to laugh, she wants to literally do everything but nothing at once. But she couldn’t, all she can do was stare at the wall. I guess it’s nothing instead of everything, then.
It’s only six in the afternoon, and it’s only been 15 minutes of Emma being in her room. To Emma, though, it felt like an eternity. Every single thought that she’s been ignoring has come to the surface, yet her brain can’t seem to do anything. It feels like her thoughts are suffocating her, because her brain won’t process them.
She realizes that the bar has become a comfort place for her, and a weight is lifted up from her shoulders.
She realizes that she’s grown to like Daniel as a friend, and she feels like she can think a little clearly.
But Regina…
Emma isn’t ready to admit to herself that she might have gotten attached to Regina. Emma always does her mission, succeed, and simply go back to the base, not even feeling guilty. But today, she felt as if she betrayed Regina.
Emma Swan couldn’t fathom why the hell the world has to be against her today. Her mind wanders off to how Regina might be doing, and she feels another wave of guilt crashing over her.
Emma feels exhausted, she wants to close her eyes and fall into a deep sleep, where she can forget what happened. But she can’t, her body won’t let her. Emma is exhausted, but all she can do is stay awake, staring at the ceiling.
As the night falls, Emma musters the courage and strength to stand up.
Emma couldn’t sleep. She couldn’t stop thinking about Regina, and she knows it’s wrong. And what she’s about to do… it’s wrong.
She quietly walks to the room where Regina is locked in. Walking in, Emma finds her fast asleep. Emma tries to keep quiet, but the sounds of wood creaking woke Regina up. As she looks at Emma with nothing but disgust in her eyes, Emma’s heart breaks into millions of pieces again. But still, she approaches closer. The closer she gets, the more Regina moves away, and the more her heart breaks. She simply puts her finger on the scanner, and unlocks the glass.
“Go.”
Regina looks at her like she’s crazy. “What do you mean ‘go’?” she hisses. “You know exactly what I mean.” Regina slowly walks away from the ‘room’ she was in, and stands in front of Emma, eyes cold and dull. Emma can’t stand to look at them, so she turns to look at the place Regina was sitting in just a few seconds ago.
“Be safe.” It took everything in her to say those two words. All the strength she had, to swallow the lump in her throat and say those two words without her voice breaking. Regina stays silent, and Emma foolishly hoped that she’d stay. Though, a moment later, she can feel Regina’s presence getting further away from her, and she knew that it’s done. And from the doorway, Regina whispered,
“Come with me.”
Emma’s hung low, as she breathes heavily to avoid crying. Not a second later, the gears in her brain started working, and her head snapped back up. “What?” Regina walks closer to her, “I said, come with me. We can leave… together.” Emma doesn’t know what to say, it’s too much to process. “Regina… I can’t…” Emma chokes on her own words, while clenching her fists. “And why can’t you?”
At that, Emma looks at Regina, and the cold face she saw wasn’t there anymore. Regina’s face was soft, with both hope and desperation. “I know that you love your friends, but is being an agent your biggest dream?” Emma knows it isn’t, and she knows that she’ll pick Regina over everything, even though she’ll mourn the loss of such a close friendship. But everything sounds irrational right now.
“Emma, I promise I will keep you safe. And you’re an agent, you can keep yourself safe, but I will never not be by your side to protect you” without Emma realizing, Regina has stopped in front of her and offered her hand. “I want to hate you, I really do. But I can’t seem to, because I love you, Emma.”
Emma breaks, she takes her hand, and Regina pulls her into a hug. She sobs, while Regina just hugs her tighter.
And when Emma finally moves back, she smiles, “together?” All Regina can answer, is “together.”
And so, they quietly escaped. Jaws clenching while they avoid the CCTVs; smiling while Emma uses her fingerprint to open the doors; happily sobbing as they made it out successfully, all the while always having their fingers intertwined.
Both of them know, that this is not the end of their story. In fact, this is just the beginning, and there’ll be many more obstacles along the way. But as the stars light up the sky this night, they’ll stay in the moment, as they run away to the safe place… where they’ll stay.