Chapter 1

The phone in her pocket buzzed as a computerized voice bellowed out the current weather and time in Storybrooke, Maine from within the lining of her clothes. Usually the smart alarm was her cue to start breakfast; not walk into the Town Hall from the second floor of the garage. Normally the businesswoman had no hatred towards Mondays; they're the days she uses to get all her important tasks for the week done so the days following can be lighter. But this Monday, was conjured up and sent straight from hell. She fumbled around her jacket pocket in search of that insipid voice screaming news headlines at her. Shut up, she screamed internally as she stepped into the elevator and punched the button marked 4th floor.

"HOLD THE DOOR!" a deep voice called from the distance, instantly causing the woman to repeatedly slam her palm against the CLOSE DOOR button in a panic. The doors were almost closed when she released a premature sigh of relief. Apparently, just in time for the elevator gods to betray her and send the doors to move in the opposite direction. She let out a harsh breath. You have got to be fucking kidding me. Regina stared ahead at the shiny gold elevator doors opening, her mood souring by each millisecond it took for them to come to their destination. She clicked her tongue in disapproval; she was hoping to spend the 45 seconds it takes to ride up to the floor of her office alone. What is with today? She thought as the bell taunted her announcing the upcoming presence of another person. She lifted her head and flashed a uniformed smile, obviously devoid of true feeling.

"Good Morning Regina." Sidney Glass smiled awkwardly; standing there in a fitted grey suit and tie he cleared his throat and folded the newspaper he had been reading. His hair was beginning to show hints of grey all over. The salt and pepper look would really work for him, but then again I really don't care.

"Good Morning Sidney." She tried to muster enough fake joy for this to hopefully be the end of their conversation. Regina went back to her thoughts for a second before she realized that Sidney was too busy staring at the tanned legs flowing out of her navy skirt. Ugh, Creep. Already at her fill of human interaction the dark beauty sighed heavily and repeatedly pressed the DOOR CLOSE button. "Must you stand so close? There is a lot of elevator space to your left." Regina grumbled before rolling her eyes at the man who was now scrambling to the far side of the enclosure and turning a bright shade of red.

Just as she began to question who she wronged in the past week for karma to be kicking her ass today and why she wasn't in her office yet, the doors opened showing the layout of the desk for the receptionist for her floor. "Thank God," she whispered quietly as a new sense of freedom washed over her. Once the doors parted wide enough for her to fit her small frame through she did everything but sprint away. Taking the left at the end of the hall she could see the thick wooden door with her name and position emblazoned on the front. Exasperated, Regina unlocked the door and tossed her black legal bag in the direction of the small couch in the corner of her office not caring if it actually landed on the intended piece of furniture and kicked the door closed with her heel. Throwing her body into the black leather chair behind her vintage oak desk she silently thanked her best friend for investing in her office furniture. A gift for when she got appointed to the position of County Commissioner under Mayor Spencer when he was elected. It wasn't just ostentatious but surprisingly comfortable. She sighed in contentment and tapped her keyboard, awakening the massive iMac on her desk.

Knock. Knock.

"Damnit!" She cursed quietly.

"Ha! I heard that." The sing-song voice of a young man invaded her office before he pushed at the heavy door and let himself in. "Well someone's cranky this morning. I have some Sambuca in my desk if you need something to make your coffee a little more stringent." He smiled earnestly before setting down a steaming cup of coffee.

The Latina smiled softly; slightly embarrassed for cursing out loud she began to berate her super-ego for the lack of control. He stood statuesque at the base of her desk. Practically able to hear the faint turning of the mechanics working in the brain of the woman in front of him, he placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"Relax, it's just me. What happened this morning? Hurry up and drink that before you make me slap you." All emotion fled from her face. Uncaring, he shrugged his shoulders and walked away from her towards the door. "I'm not afraid to fight a woman twice my age," he called over his shoulder before shutting himself out and skipping over to his station out front. The PA chuckled to himself imagining the look on his bosses face before he escaped and shut the door. The red light flashed on the phone in front of him, he slapped the button on his ear piece. "Am I fired?"

"Indefinitely," Regina stated prior to erupting into laughter. "Thank you Jefferson. How did you know I needed a black coffee?"

"Because you're not supposed to be in for another hour and a half and I don't see Mr. Mayor's gas guzzling monstrosity of a Hummer." He paused for dramatic flair, "this means he called you this morning knowing today was your late day and he didn't do something right, fed you some BS, and needs you to fix it-"

"…Before the council meeting at eleven, of course." She finished her assistant's sentence with a groan.

"What is it this time?"

"He didn't finalize the Cultural Affairs Calendar that is supposed to be presented today, and he has an off-site meeting with god knows who and can't attend the meeting either. He had the entire weekend to tell me, I would have had no problem completing it….if he told me NOT a few hours before it's to be finalized." She could feel a headache forming over her right eye. Taking a healthy swig from the pink mug on her desk, she could hear her assistant slap his palm to his forehead.

"Mayor Spencer is the laziest asshole in this city; you should have run for mayor yourself instead of running his campaign party Regina. But whatever, you're obviously a glutton for punishment. You need to tell him to do his own shit. I'll screen your calls until you're finished and get the numbers you need to call from his secretary. Don't stress." His voice trailed into a worrisome tone.

"I've got it in my email, thanks. Henry should be calling in about 15 minutes to tell me he made it onto the bus. That is the only voice I would like to hear today, send everything else to my voicemail."

"Yes my queen."

[x] [x] [x]

"Oh my God. Ruby get up, my boyfriend is outside!" A female voice whispered from the doorframe.

"WHAT?!" Ruby jumped up, knocking the stack of folders she was unashamedly using as a pillow.

"You should have seen your face!" The young waitress laughed and pointed at a less than amused Ruby.

"Very funny," the leggy brunette said through clenched teeth rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Losing her balance and grabbing onto the side of the desk, Ruby looked over at the various papers and file folders lining the floor with a sigh. "You suck," she yawned.

"What the hell is going on in here?" Eugenia Lucas barged into the staff office with her hands perched ever so angrily on her hips. "Why were you shouting? Why is there a mess in here?" Bright grey curls bounced against the old woman's face.

"It's nothing Granny," She said with an eye roll "Tara was just being funny." Ruby sighed as she dropped to her knees and began retrieving the invoices that had taken all morning to organize. Celebrating the completion with a nap, before actually placing them in the marked file cabinet drawer was currently proving to have been a bad idea.

"Sorry Rubes." The high schooler muttered, slightly ashamed and sunk down to the floor and began to help.

"It's okay, it probably was really funny," the older brunette flashed the teen a toothy smile and bumped their shoulders together. "That's like my worst nightmare," she said with a chuckle.

"Well I really don't know what is going on but I'm going to need one of you in the front it's time for the afternoon rush." The older woman didn't wait for a response before turning on a heel and leaving to go back to the front of the restaurant.

"I can do it Ruby, it's my fault anyway." Tara attempted to find the folder to put the invoices from March into their appropriate folder.

"Ok kid, but if there's anything you find that you can't figure out where it goes just place it on the desk and I'll do it later." Ruby called out over her shoulder as she walked out of the door. She turned the corner and spotted Granny in the far corner taking orders. She looks like she has it under control, I wonder if I can go back to sleep? The bell over the front door jingled annoyingly, pulling her from her thoughts. Looking in its path, she noticed her favorite piece of eye candy walking through the threshold. "Well if it isn't my favorite County Commissioner. You're early." She looked at her watch, noting it was only four in the afternoon when she usually strolls in at 5:30 after she gets off.

Red lips smirked at the admission, "Favorite? How'd I get so lucky? You probably say that to all the cabinet members." Her chest heaved forward slightly more than required, putting a delicious amount of cleavage on display as she sat down at the counter. An obnoxious pink tongue snaked out over her bottom lip flirtatiously; this had become their coquettish routine. Once a week, like clockwork, the cultivated brunette would stroll into the diner devoid of her adorable 9 year old son Henry. Originally used as a meal incentive for her son to start studying for his spelling tests early, after it became his normal habit she couldn't bring herself to stop coming in and being kept under the watchful eye of the young neighborhood hottie. "I had no idea you paid attention to my schedule Miss Lucas, I was sure you had more pressing matters that crossed your mind…Not little old me. What other things do you think you know about me?" Regina said with a wink.

Ruby always considered herself a natural flirt, but there was something different about her normal libido when the well established woman waltzed in unaided. A current of venereal energy ran through her core. "I wasn't aware that you considered what material crossed my mind. Wha-"

"Hey can I get prime rib with fries, mashed potatoes and gravy to go?" An older man, brandishing a dark tan suit and an attitude, abruptly interrupted their conversation before pulling out his wallet and dropping a bill on the counter and tapping on his watch.

"Why of course Mr. Mayor, I'll have it coming right up." Ruby shot Regina an apologetic look before disappearing into the kitchen. Fucking Dick. Ruby thought as she slammed the refrigerator door and tossing the red piece of beef into the oven pan.

"I think it's already dead." Tara snickered taking the pan from Ruby and placing it gently into the center rack of the oven. "I'll cover the front if you want to go back out there and try a little harder to get into Ms. Mills' pants.

"Thanks T, but I don't think that's gonna happen. The mayor just basically called out my peasant status, there is no way I'm going to come back from that. She comes from money! If she even looked twice at me before, she just got reminded that I work in public service while she works in public office. I thought he was gonna ask me to shine his shoes or toss me a quarter and thank me for being a good little girl." She folded her arms angrily and looked in the younger woman's direction.

"I know, I heard." Tara gave a sympathetic smile, "but don't freak out she totally ripped him a new one for being rude. He totally shut the fuck up and sat down." She looked around nervously making sure granny didn't hear her curse. With the coast clear, she laughed as she placed fries and mashed potatoes into their own separate containers.

Ruby smiled to herself at hearing that her crush stood up for her but that quickly branched into panic. "I'm not going back out there! T you gotta cover me until she leaves!"

"Omg! Man up." Tara said as she grabbed onto Ruby's arms and shook. "I'm leaving you, get your act together you're worst than a teenager…..and I'm 16 so that's really saying something."

Ruby huffed and pulled the piece of meat out of the oven and tossing it into a to-go box. She floated around the kitchen with precision and prepared another order before walking out of the kitchen to deliver Sir Crabby Pants his steak. "Here you go!" She put forth the fakest smile she could muster and he just grunted in return and left with his order. She marched over to the cash register and stared at his back until she saw him officially leave. "And for you madam commissioner," She placed a plastic to-go bag in front of her former flirting partner.

"But I didn't order yet." Regina said looking into the bag.

"So what, you asked me what else I knew about you. I know what you like." Ruby turned around and grabbed the Styrofoam cup from behind her. "Now a hard decision, do you want this strawberry cheesecake milkshake or an actual piece of strawberry cheesecake?"

The woman in front of her sat there for a beat speechless, "surprise me?"

"In more ways than one…"