Miles To Go

Chapter Fifty-Seven

Ruby drove to the nearest town and found a small, quiet coffee shop for them to sit and talk in. After the moment Ruby told them there was something she needed to talk to them about, Regina just knew that it was something horrible. Her first thought was that something might have happened to someone they knew, knowing it couldn't have been Henry because Ruby would've called right away if it had been. When she questioned that, Ruby assured her that it had nothing to do with that, but even from the look on her face and Emma's, it still wasn't anything good either.

"Ruby, what's going on?" Emma asked once they were settled at a cosy table tucked in the corner of the small coffee shop. "Did you and Kathryn break up?"

"No, no we didn't break up," Ruby said with a quick shake of her head. "So, Kathryn was throwing the annual Nolan Labor Day barbecue and you'll never guess who showed up. Jefferson."

"Jefferson?" Regina asked with a raised eyebrow. "What is Jefferson doing back in Storybrooke? Doesn't he live in New Jersey now?"

"I don't know, I didn't ask," Ruby replied, her tone rather blasé. "He was asking about you. Both of you," she continued, pausing only to take a sip of her iced coffee. "He started talking about the last time he'd seen any of us and it was at that...party."

"I don't see why we couldn't talk about this in the car," Emma muttered, her hand lazily running over Regina's thigh, her thumb stroking the inner seam of her jeans just above her knee. "So, Jefferson showed up at the barbecue. Big deal."

"Em, it's kind of a big deal, he—"

"I hardly think him showing up is—"

"He was the one who drugged you, Neal, and countless others that night, Em," Ruby said, stopping Emma from saying another word. Regina felt Emma grip at her thigh for a moment before her thumb continued it's idle stroking. "He admitted it. He even seemed like he was gloating about it."

"Ruby, are you going somewhere with this?" Regina asked carefully. "Because talking about that night is hard for both of us. We'd rather just forget than drudge up that horrid memory."

"He was paid to do it," Ruby said quietly.

"This is ridiculous, why would he drug people at his own party just because someone paid him to do it?" Emma asked. "I thought he was a nice guy!"

"Far from it," Ruby said bitterly. "He's scum."

"Ruby, what aren't you saying?"

"I'm getting there, Em, this is just really hard for me right now."

"My mother," Regina said after a moment, the thought dawning on her because if anything, this as exactly like something her mother was capable of doing.

Ruby nodded slowly. "It was. He said he had an agreement with your mother. He was her eyes and ears, reported back to her about you. That's what he told us, anyway."

"She knew about us," Regina whispered softly. "She knew we were seeing each other and that was her way of pushing you out of my life because she knew I wouldn't tolerate someone cheating on me like that."

"Then why did she—"

"Freak out on New Years Eve when she caught us together? Because my mother is a fucking drama queen."

Regina was breathing heavily, not realizing that she'd swore until she saw that look on Emma's face, the very same one she saw when they were in a far more intimate position. Ruby looked hesitant to talk in that moment and Emma, her sweet darling wife, was torn between what had just been unveiled and being turned on by her saying 'fucking' in her moment of pure anger.