Time Can Change Things

chapter six

  It has been 10 months since Emma and I had officially begun our relationship. All in all, we were absolutely amazing, but Regina and I had never been more awkward.

  Anytime she would see me, she would awkwardly smile and quickly walk past me.

  Her awkwardness would have to wait because Henry invited Emma and I to dinner. I will say I am surprised she agreed to it and I miss Henry so this is going to be fun!

As I was getting ready, Emma called me.

"Hey gorgeous!" She said on the other end of the phone.

"Hey, blondie." I said with a smile.

Emma laughed at my remark, "I just wanted to tell you that I will meet you outside in 15 minutes to leave, okay?"

I smirked, "what else did you want to talk about? You usually just honk the horn when you get here." I asked.

Emma let out a sigh, "I will not tolerate Regina's cocky attitude towards you tonight. She has one chance, my love." Emma said.

I rolled my eyes, "She won't be like that, at least not around Henry. Besides, I can stand up for myself." I said

"I'm here." Emma said as she honked the horn.

I quickly hung up and walked outside. Emma had been waiting for me and gave me a kiss.

"You look beautiful!" She said as she helped me in.

"So do you!" I added with a wink before shutting the door.

  The car ride was peaceful, for the most part. About halfway down the road, Emma got a call from a number I didn't recognize, and I asked her about it. At first, she played it off, but me being the sheriff and detective , I saw her pupils dilating, which can mean a person is lying.

I chuckled in disbelief, "Emma, who is it?"

She scoffed, "it's nobody. Can you please drop it y/n?" She said with an annoyed voice.

  At this point, I got the same nagging feeling I got when Ruby told me my first boyfriend had been cheating. So I did what anyone would do, I lied to myself and said it was nothing, I mean, after all, that's what Emma said.

  After that, we didn't speak to each other for the rest of the drive, and I was happy when we pulled into Regina's drive and saw Henry running towards us.
 

He plowed into me, "Y/N IM SO HAPPY YOU'RE HERE!" he said while smiling

I giggled, "I'm happy to see you, buddy!"

"Henry, tell them dinner is getting cold and have them come inside, please!"  Regina said from the door.

After Regina said that, Henry grabbed my arm, "C'mon, let's go!" He said excitedly

I turned around expecting Emma to be behind me as Henry led me inside, she wasn't.  When I noticed she was in the car, I excused myself and went over to her.

"What are you doing? Dinner is inside?" I asked.

Emma gave me an apologetic look, "Hey, I actually can't go I have work I forgot I needed to do before tomorrow. It's on the missing persons case."

My heart broke, "How is that possible, you know I finished that last month?"

Emma bluffed, "Listen I am really sorry, please go inside and enjoy yourself." She said.

After she said that her phone rang again. It was the same unknown number.

"Babe I really have to take this!" She said while pleading for me to go inside.

I agreed and watched her drive off, in the opposite direction of the sheriff station.

  I rolled my eyes and decided to enjoy my dinner with Henry and his mother. I walked inside to Regina, leaning over the counter and talking to Henry.

"Hey!" I said awkwardly.

Regina gave me a confused look, "where's Emma?"

I lied, "she had to get some unexpected work done, so she just dropped me off." I said, trying to hide my quivering lip.

Regina, noticing, excused Henry from the kitchen and told him to go play some video games upstairs. Once he was gone, Regina asked me what was wrong.

"Nothing, I'm fine." I said the first time.

Regina didn't buy it, "I can't have a distracted sheriff in my town, now what's wrong?" She asked with a more demanding tone

I caved and allowed tears to spill, "I think, well no, I know that Emma is cheating on me with someone.

Regina gasped, "what? How do you know?"

"Well, you can piece it together. She gets home late every night, she barely touches me, she bailed on dinner, and she keeps getting calls and lying to me about her phone." I sighed and rested my head in my hands.

When I finally looked up at Regina I couldn't place the look on her face. That was until she spoke.

"I will kill her!" She said.

I looked at her shocked, "what!?" I asked.

She looked at me, "You deserve much more than what she can give you, and you know and knew that, didn't you?"

"I -"

"Why do you think you called me ten months ago to ask me out? It was because you feel something for me, and I have felt it too."

"Regina, what?" I asked as I stood up.

She walked towards me, "answer me this one question, does it feel forced with Emma?"

I answered quickly, "yes."

Regina nodded, "I know it does."

I shook my head, "Regina, I know where you are going with this, and I'm not ready!" I said

Regina nodded, "I know, and I am going to wait on you. If you need me I will be here for you, I promise. Just at some point, give me a chance, okay."

 
   We had now cleared the space between us and Regina's rose perfume was filling my nose with a sweet aroma. I didn't entirely know what to do, but I knew where to start and her house was not the place.

I smiled, "I thought you didn't like me in that way, madam mayor." I said with a smirk

Regina returned the smirk and looked me up and down, "Well, it seems that time may have changed my perspective." She said with a wink. Regina and I stared at each other until we heard a voice.

"Hey Regina, I need a bottle of win-"

Regina and I turned to see where the voice was coming from. When we looked, a shocked Emma was staring at us. All of my questions and concerns were answered in that very moment when a man followed her in.

"So you are cheating." I said in a numb voice

This is where everything took a turn for the worst, or better?