A heartfelt thanks to Mooglemuse for editing this chapter. :-D The mistakes left are my own.

Chapter 16
'Just Another Night Out'

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Emma looked at her car radio. It was nearly time for her appointment with Ms. McGill.

She had spent an hour walking around town after she'd left the Mayoral mansion. The calls from the Mayor had gone unanswered as she walked back into the heart of town. The messages the mayor left varied from being apologetic to hostile and frustrated. Emma had texted the woman back telling her she was fine; the fresh air was good for her. Just to make her stop calling every few seconds. Emma didn't need her apologies. She didn't want them.

When Emma made her way into the room at the Inn she'd taken a nap feeling tired all the way down to her bones. Her exhaustion was physical, emotional, and certainly mental. She hadn't felt this way in a LONG time.

Things weren't going to be easy for her. They never were.

Emma knew she'd have to explain to Ashlynn what was going on, really going on, but she could worry about that tomorrow. Tonight she worried about what type of apartment or living space she was going to be able to afford here in Storybrooke.

She fell asleep worrying over it. The nap only lasted thirty minutes. She woke up to a nightmare she'd had on and off for years. It was one where she'd kept Henry, had refused to give him up. Before when she'd had the nightmare she never had a face for him, not an accurate one at least. Now she could imagine everything about him down to the way his hair smelled and his dimples flexed as he smiled.

In the dream she did what was asked of her, she testified for a lighter sentence and got her record expunged. She started life over again thanks to the US Marshals and was happy with Henry. They were living in a small house with a chain link fence and a small kiddie slide and pool in a barely there back yard. She was cooking something off the grill as Henry slid down the slide into the pool over and over again when shots rang out and a car sped away. When Emma looked up from where she'd crowtched in instinct by the BBQ there was Henry, lying face down in the pool. The water slowly turning pink.

There was no hope of her going back to sleep so she'd spent the next two hours looking over her finances. She even made a few inquiries with Julie, Ashlynn's own personal geek squad and accountant, about her funds and if it came to the breaking point how she could increase said funds. Julie had assured her that so long as she wasn't looking at a house for half a million dollars she could find Emma the money she needed. As reassuring as that was, Emma worried—slightly—about how Julie would allocate that type of money.

It took Emma and Julie almost all her spare time and agonizing number crunching to reassure Emma that Julie was one of the good guys. If she said she'd find Emma the money she needed all the relocating would be done legally. It wouldn't be blood money. Julie was a 'good guy' after all. Just like Ashlynn was.

Emma knew bad people, knew the 'bad guys' that Henry spoke of briefly at lunch. Emma certainly didn't consider herself one of them. Sure, she spent time with the 'bad guys'. Hung with the wrong crowds, the wrong types, but didn't every teenager have that rebellious period? She just didn't have the parental guidance that others did, not that parents were the best repellent to those types of people or situations, either. But she hadn't had anyone telling her the path she was going down was wrong or dangerous. It'd ended up being both and she learned the lesson the hard way.

Emma sighed, feeling a headache coming on. She rubbed at her forehead as she tried to stop her brain from walking down memory lane.

She'd been betrayed by the wrong types of people in her youth, the type she'd do her best to make sure never set foot around Henry. She also, may have, just a little teeny tiny bit, pissed off that same group that had given her up. It was the connections she had with the criminal elite that had made her a catch for Ashlynn and her team at the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was also the past she shared with those same criminals that made her a target.

Granted Emma wasn't an easy target. She had the scars and nightmares to prove it.

Being here in Storybrooke, doing this surgery; would make her weak. It would make her an easier target than ever before. Then there was Henry to consider. Henry was an easier target then she was even at her weakest. The people of Storybrooke weren't much safer either.

Emma needed to treat this whole situation very delicately. In ways that no one could know, including the Mayor. Especially the Mayor.

Emma turned the car off and watched the time display on her radio go dark. She reached into the back seat to get the papers she'd brought with her. The papers proved she had been married and changed her name to Gerard three years ago. Emma Gerard was the same name that her credit cards were under. They were new and hadn't been activated yet when she first arrived. She'd been using cash waiting for the okay to use the new cards, which Julie gave her today. She had a driver's license, passport, and a copy of a marriage certificate to prove herself as Emma Gerard nee Swan.

Emma Gerard was just one of her many aliases. What was the number now? Five? Six? In the last four years? She felt like the number should be counted on both hands now. So maybe it was six.

In this small town Emma having to go by Swan instead of Gerard left her with little options for a cover story. Thankfully Julie came up with one quickly. The computer hacker/genius already had a fake wedding certificate and copies of a filing for divorce that Emma put in over a year ago.

So what if she had to fake a marriage and a pending divorce? Being in a small town made things a little easier; word would travel fast. People already knew her as Emma Swan. She would just have to explain she was going by her maiden name again but hadn't changed the name on her credit cards or license since the divorce wasn't final. The change in name would explain where the extra money was coming from if the Mayor and her lackeys tried to hack into her accounts again. Their ability to hack Julie worried the computer hacker and made her extra careful now. Julie assured her that now that she knew they'd already been inside she could back hack them if they tried again. Julie was almost hoping they would so she could understand how they'd gotten past her security measures.

Julie had exhaled in frustration about how their hack was like magic because she couldn't find it the first three times she swept for it, almost like they'd never really been inside. Truthfully Emma didn't really understand a lot of what Julie had been telling her. What she did get out of it was that since the Mayor's own set of computer hackers had been looking into Emma Swan's sole accounts, they wouldn't be too surprised to see all her extra funds in the joint account Emma shared with her none existent ex.

Shit was getting tricky. But this was what she had to deal with right now, so she'd deal with it. For the kid. Besides tricky was second nature to her now.

*Tap*Tap*

Emma jerked her head to her window and saw a woman bend down.

"Ms. Swan?" Regina asked as she looked into the car through Emma's window.

Emma didn't bother answering the woman. Instead she opened her door, forcing Regina to step back so she could get out of her car.

"Madame Mayor." Emma greeted. She put the files under her arm and slipped her bare hands into her pockets. The sun had set hours ago and the chill in the air had intensified. She really should have brought gloves.

Regina shuffled back to allow Emma room to step out of her car. She was frustrated. She felt the need to apologize for her mistake, for her silence earlier that evening but Ms. Swan hadn't allowed her the opportunity. Regina left several voice mails and instead of a phone call back she had received a single text message.

Regina did not…text…people.

She did not expect people to text her. It felt like a slap to the face when she read the woman's text. She'd had to ask Kathryn how to even open the blasted message! No matter her embarrassment she could not bring herself to get angry at the blonde. She wanted to be angry. Anger was her easiest emotion. She understood anger. She could control her anger—most of the time. Anger suited her. Confusion, uncertainty, regret? They were not emotions she did well. Ever.

"I wished to express my…"

"Save the apology. I don't need one." Emma quickly instructed.

Regina's eyes widened at Emma's tone. Odd. Regina had only known the woman for a handful of days but she had yet to see Emma so…indifferent.

That anger Regina felt more comfortable feeling slowly bubbled beneath the surface, licking at her skin like a flame.

If Miss Swan wanted to play games so could she. "I had no apology to give."

"Good." Emma looked uninterested. She was antsy, anxious and maybe just a little bitter. She was already anxious now that Ashlynn and Julie knew where she was. Then there was her faux pas with Regina. She had opened herself up, tried to share her inner most gratitude with the woman in front of her and she'd been shot down.

No.

It was even worse than being shot down or cut down or hell even shut down. She'd been ignored.

It was humiliating. It didn't help her mood.

Neither did the late hour, her exhaustion, the impending disaster with the realtor, or Ashlynn. Oh! And the nightmare she'd suffered through. It all added up to her being uptight. Very uptight.

This afternoon she'd felt like the world would crash down around her if she'd said the wrong thing. And she had. She'd said a lot of the wrong thing and had been ignored.

Now Emma was just waiting for the second shoe to drop. Her fight or flight instinct reared its ugly head. She was itching for a good fight. Craved it. And knowing the woman in front of her—for the three days she did—Emma knew she could find one if she pressed hard enough. They had already gotten into witty brawls that made Emma's skin crawl with delight, displeasure, and aggravation. All wonderful mixes; for the most part.

She needed something to take the edge off. A good lay would be perfect or a stiff drink. Both preferably. Sadly Emma knew she'd have to wait for both, if either.

Or…

Emma looked the Mayor up and down from the tip of her black heeled boots—the same ones Emma wanted the designer of—up to Regina's shoulders covered by the black trench coat where the swell of her breasts held the material up just a bit.

No! She was not going there. That was a line she could not cross.

Emma shook her head, turning to look up at the realtor's office. She could and would find someone else. Regina was off limits. No matter how attractive and feisty Emma imagined the woman could be in bed. It wasn't a smart idea. It was probably one of the stupidest things she'd do if she went through with it and she'd done a lot of stupid things in the past.

Emma cleared her throat. "Shall we?" She asked, not bothering to look at Regina as she walked into the office.

Regina watched Emma walk away curiously. She had been certain the woman looked about ready to…to what? Regina couldn't decide if the blonde had just stopped herself from physically assaulting her, or sexually assaulting her, if not a mixture of both. It…it worried Regina. And worry was not an emotion she did well either.

The closing of Lucy's office door spurred Regina into action. She followed the blonde into the office.

By the time Regina made it into Lucy's second floor office space the older peppered grey haired woman had already introduced herself to Emma. Lucy was leading Emma to a chair in front of her desk. The sound of the door closing had Lucy turning to greet her as well.

"Mayor Mills, pleasure to see you again. If you would like to take a seat next to Ms. Gerard?"

Regina turned startled eyes to Lucy and Emma. "Gerard?"

Lucy froze at the side of her desk, seeing the startled brown eyes peering between her and the woman sitting between them.

Regina looked at the back of Emma's head as she approached. The blonde had yet to look at her.

"Ms. Swan?" Regina questioned as she took the seat Lucy had directed at her.

"It's Gerard. Legally, for now." Emma cringed as she looked at Ms. McGill appearing distraught and a bit reluctant to admit it which immediately pulled in Lucy's sympathy, "Divorce."

"Oh…." Ms. McGill's mouth opened in an exaggerated 'O' as she nodded her head twice. "Which would you prefer?"

"Swan, if you don't mind."

"Not at all dear. Not at all."

The stapled short and curt answers made Regina's ears itch. But it seemed they were only directed towards her while Ms. McGill was received pleasantly. The word divorce though, perked her ears up. "You never said…" And neither had any of Sidney's research on Emma.

"Yeah well it wasn't your place to know then."

"My place—" Regina's teeth ground together as she allowed Emma to speak to her in such a disrespectful manner.

"But!" Emma continued as if Regina hadn't even spoken, "Since you're going to be signing as collateral with me you might as well know now."

Regina snarled at the blonde when she finally had the good graces to direct her blue eyes in Regina's direction. Regina's grip on the seat tightened as she opened her mouth to fillet the presumptuous arrogant sniveling little…

"Well, now that that's all cleared up!" Lucy quickly interjected, saving them all from witnessing, experiencing, or committing murder.

"So…what exactly are you looking for Ms. Swan? The Mayor here was very vague. Mentions of two bedrooms."

Emma scuffed, "Two bedrooms? For Henry?"

"No!" Regina was quick, too quick, to reject that idea. Whatever hope had sparked in Emma's eyes disappeared instantly. She inwardly cringed at her inadvertent actions. "That is something we can discuss after you both have recovered sufficiently. For now I thought it best for a two bedroom for the nurse I hired to take care of you."

"Being a bit presumptuous that I wouldn't need another for guests aren't you?" Emma glared at the brunette to her right.

"Oh, what guests? By your own accounts you have no one willing to take care of you during your recovery including your newly discovered ex-husband."

"I never said I had no one to take care of me. I said I had no one I'd be willing to ask!" Emma quickly corrected Regina, feeling slighted that Regina thought she had no one who cared. She had people who cared. She did! So what if they also happened to be her co-workers.

"Then they are not worth mentioning if they wouldn't be willing to help you while you are on the mend." It seemed, in Regina's opinion, that Emma did not have a decent history with men either, something they shared in common.

"They have lives! Jobs! Families in some cases!" Emma waved her hands around in front of her. "Not everyone can just drop what they're doing for six months and move here to take care of me! It's expecting too much!" Emma panted; her heart racing against her chest as her indignation coursed through her.

Regina withdrew at the mention of the expectations being too much for someone. Was that someone Emma? Wasn't that what they were really talking about? How Regina was expecting too much from Emma?

"Is that what this is really about Ms. Swan? Lives? And Jobs? Have you decided that this—saving our son—is too much for you?"

Lucy knew she never should have agreed to this. But who could say no? When the Mayor of your home town came to you and asked YOU specifically for a favor? Who could say no? Who would dare? Certainly not her. She could always use new business. Things had been slow lately. So she kept her mouth shut and just allowed herself to become a spectator.

Emma groaned. The noise deep as it reverberated in her chest. She pushed her palm up against her forehead in agitation as she tried to calm down. It took several moments, where she took in a dozen deep breaths before she could even fathom speaking.

"Did it ever even…" Emma's hand fell to the chair. "…cross your mind that what you were asking for, what you are asking for is too much?" Emma wasn't even sure why she was asking the question. Of course Regina hadn't. "No. Of course you didn't. You didn't even think, for one SECOND, what it would be like for me. Not one second!"

"It is not my place to think about YOU or your feelings on the matter. I was thinking of my son." Regina's face flushed, "Ourson! And his needs. I will not apologize for that. Ever."

The muscle at Regina's jaw flexed as she did her best to remain calm.

"Damn it Regina."

"Mayor…" Regina growled

"Stop!" Emma ordered pointing a shaking finger at the Mayor. "Don't. Mayor." Emma stressed the title with venom dripping from her lips. "You don't get it!" Emma stood from her chair, nearly knocking it over in her haste to retreat from the brunette. Our son. Our son…she'd called Henry their's.

"No. Because you have yet to explain it to me Ms. Swan. So please…explain it. Enlighten me."

Emma glared at the superior tone the woman took as she slowly, gracefully rose from her chair as well. Both at this point having completely forgotten about Lucy, who was sitting as still as possible in her chair, hoping she wasn't noticed.

"You're giving me this connection. You're…you're putting this pressure on me. Everyone is. I am too. I'm included in that. I know I am because I'm putting the pressure on myself too. But, damn it!" Emma stamped her foot, her hands threading into her hair to pull at it. She had her back to the Mayor, her body tense, rigid. Her eyes scanned the floor and then up the length of the wall until she stared at the image of Storybrooke's clock tower in an advertisement portrait.

Regina tapped her foot impatiently. She did not want to admit to her fear, her nervousness. She was depending on Emma. Henry was depending on Emma. They all were. And maybe…maybe she hadn't considered Emma in all of this. Maybe she had only focused on the outcome for Henry. She'd never thought about Emma's consequences. The same consequences that Emma tried to force her to recognize that night in the blonde's apartment in Boston, but she couldn't. She was a selfish person. All she could see was what she needed, what Henry needed. And what they needed was Ms. Swan's liver, they needed her here. Anything else could fall as it would.

So long as this transplant was successful Regina would deal with the consequences. Regina would take them all on her own shoulders if she could. She would find Ms. Swan another job. She would pay Emma so the blonde could live comfortably for the rest of her lifetime, two lifetimes if she needed to. There wasn't anything she wouldn't do for her son. That included becoming vulnerable, relying on someone else, something that made her incredibly uncomfortable and frightened.

"Our son…" Emma whispered breaking Regina from her thoughts. "You called him our son. As if we share him." Emma turned around her movements slow, calculated. She stuffed her hands into her jacket pockets, eyes downcast.

"Yes, Ms. Swan, I am aware of what I said. What I meant was that we…are both responsible for him."

"No. No, you just wanted me to feel more responsible for him. You want me to feel as attached to him as possible so that I won't even consider not going through with this transplant. Admit it."

"I do not see why I need to when you seem so convinced already."

"Ugh, I'm not crazy. You're doing this on purpose."

"Yes. I am."

Emma sighed, at least she admitted to it in a roundabout way. "But we don't share him. You don't want to share him with me."

"No." Regina flexed her jaw. "No I do not."

Emma knew this already so she wasn't surprised by the blunt honesty. She was thankful for it. At least in this instance. "So, after all of this. After the transplant, and the recovery what happens?" Emma's eyes were misty as they found Regina's. "If I'm here for a year, what happens then?"

Regina swallowed. "I…I don't know."

Emma nodded sadly, "Time can't just tell on this issue Reh…" Emma caught herself. "Mayor. I need to know that you won't force me away."

"You only just met him today." Regina reminded hoping it would give her the upper hand here but she couldn't seem to make her way up the incline that Emma stood atop no matter how hard she tried.

"I know that!" Emma tugged at her hair again. "God, this is all so crazy. It's insane. But it hurt. It hurt physically to leave your house today." Emma rolled her eyes at herself, her gaze staring up at the ceiling. "I'm not looking to take him from you."

"You would die trying." Regina stiffened, one of her greater fears being spoken aloud by the presumptuous woman. Regina's shoulders began to ache with how she held them so stiffly apart.

Emma dropped her chin, a smile forming as she looked at how battle ready the brunette was. "I wouldn't dream of taking him from you. I'm not his mother. You are."

"There was never any doubt of that." Regina mumbled under her breath.

"But then you say things like, 'our son' and you confuse the hell out of me because I don't know where I'm at. I'm everywhere at the same time with my emotions and what I want and what I don't want." What she couldn't have and what she could, "I just know…"

"Yes, tell me Ms. Swan what is it that you know?" Especially after how she had just made it very clear that she didn't know much of anything in regards to this situation. Not that Regina did either, but she wasn't about to admit inferiority.

Emma smirked at Regina's biting tone. "I know that I'm not capable of taking care of Henry. I don't want to take care of him every day. I wouldn't know where to start."

"Of course you wouldn't. You are not his mother." Regina was sure her aim was true with that remark but Emma didn't even flinch. Perhaps she had overused that line.

"I don't want to take him from you." Regina just knew that she would never tire of hearing Emma assure her that she had no intention of taking Henry. Now Emma only needed to follow through on her words to alleviate the last of Regina's doubt. "I mean, I can't stay here. Not to live after I've recovered anyway."

"Is staying here such a burden?" Regina wondered if Emma staying in Storybrooke would solve their problems or make them worse. Having Emma here permanently would mean Regina could keep an eye on her, but if she left it would mean she didn't have to worry about her. In a small sense.

There was the fact that Henry would worry about her and get his hopes up if she said she would call or arrive for the weekend and then she never did. She could not allow Ms. Swan to hurt her son like that.

"It would be. I'm not meant to stay still for very long." And it wouldn't be safe, but Emma wouldn't tell Regina that. "I just want to know that I can come back. Visit." Emma scuffed her shoe against the carpet but held her head high. "You won't keep me from him after this will you?"

It would be better if Regina did keep her from seeing Henry, Emma knew that. It would keep him safe, it would keep Regina safe too. But Emma knew what they didn't. It would break her.

It had devastated her to let Henry go the first time. Today as she'd walked out her eyes trained on Henry's downturned face as she left, it had broken her again. Henry had so easily broken through her shell, her wall of stone. How he did it she couldn't fathom, wouldn't even try. She just knew that he did and that she couldn't bear the thought of not being allowed to see him, talk to him. Even if that meant only on birthdays and holidays, over the phone or on video messengers.

She'd make it safe for her to be a part of his life and once she did maybe then she could consider settling down here. It didn't seem like such a bad place to put her roots down. Not when she already had something, someone very important to her here.

"Will you?" Emma pressed, swallowing thickly, praying that Regina wasn't that cold hearted.

Regina seemed to consider what Emma was saying. It made her uneasy to think about Emma staying here. It was hard to make a promise to the woman that she wouldn't force her out of Henry's life after the surgery. She was a very possessive person and Emma…she already had a connection with Henry. After only two and a half hours there was something between Henry and Emma. Something that had taken Regina days to make with an infant. It scared her. Frightened her that she could still lose her son but not to a disease, an illness or death, but to the woman in front of her.

"We can, work something out." Regina finally stated. It was her only option and she didn't appreciate being cornered with this. She would make that very clear to Ms. Swan later. But for now she would appease the woman. Ease her fears. Come Monday afternoon after the surgery had been completed and all was well with both Emma and Henry, then she would truly allow the blonde to see, to know, she had messed with the wrong person. And she knew just where to start looking too thanks to Emma's little slip of information about a divorce.

"We'll draw up some kind of contract." Regina crossed her arms over her chest as she stood straighter. "Is that to your liking?" Emma nodded her head excitedly. "Is that all you needed to get off your chest?"

Emma chuckled darkly. "Hardly, but it'll do." It was all baby steps with the Mayor it seemed and as annoying as it was, Emma could deal with it. She didn't have a choice in the matter after all.

Regina curtly nodded her head once and indicated the two chairs. "Shall we then?"

Emma cleared her throat as she took her seat in front of Lucy's desk. Her cheeks reddened a bit as she realized that she had inadvertently allowed the realtor to see their little…negotiation.

Regina straightened her shirt before she too sat down. "My sincerest apologies Lucy. I hope that Ms. Swan's outburst will not affect—"

"Pish posh." Lucy waved Regina's apology off as she straightened out her suit jacket and sat a bit straighter in her chair. "Nonsense. Now, where were we?" She looked down at her papers for a moment, "Ah ha, right, two or three bedrooms?"

"Two." Emma and Regina stated in unison. They glanced at each other for but a moment before they both focused on Lucy.

End Chapter Sixteen

Author's Note: Many of you have asked about Ashlynn and said that you believe she might be an agent of some kind. Well she is. She works for the FBI now. She used to work for the US Marshals office. I stole her last name from Tommy Lee Jones character in The Fugitive and US Marshal. In my mind I see Paget Brewster playing her character and Julie is my own mix of computer hacking genius Garcia (from Criminal Minds) and Claudia (from Warehouse 13). So think a mix of their two personalities.

Thanks for reading! All feedback is welcome and appreciated. Keep in mind I'm taking some creative license in this story in regards to how the FBI works with consultants—Emma. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.