In The Depths Of Her Soul

Chapter Thirteen

"So, I told him, I don't think it would be ideal for my career to accept a date from the D.A..." Belle's continuing to speak, but Regina's mind is flooded with fear that just maybe Emma might call again tonight.

Monday and Tuesday night of this week, Emma called at the most unrealistic times. When Regina finally spoke to her on Wednesday about the incident, Emma was quick to dismiss the conversation. She begged, pleaded but the woman was a closed book...more like a closed diary with a lock and a key somewhere at the bottom of Lake Michigan.

Since their confrontation, Emma has yet to call her again in the middle of the night, but every night she lays in bed, wide awake, waiting for that phone call once more.

"I'll tell you, he's a persistent son of a gun..."

She glances to her right and taps her screen once again. No messages. No calls. She sighs from her frustrations and turns her attention back to Belle, who is still rambling about the man she so clearly wants to date, but refuses for the simple fact that society has yet to mature. She can only imagine the slander and rumors of a woman detective sleeping her way to the top.

"And then I was like, you realize you are old enough to be my father..."

Regina taps her phone once again, but this time she's checking on the time. It's a Saturday night and she had left work a little over an hour ago. It's after one in the morning and her heart races a little bit faster with each tick closer into the night.

"Regina."

She knows Emma's been avoiding her.

"Regina."

If it weren't for Henry, Emma would have indefinitely disappeared by now.

"Regina."

What the hell is she going to have to do to finally break down those damn walls?

"Regina!"

"Hmm?" She absentmindedly hums, flicking her eyes back to meet her friend's cold gaze. The intensity in those blue eyes is enough to make Regina squirm in her seat like a small child being scolded.

"Were you even listening to me?"

"The old D.A. wants to take you out," she mutters, holding her friend's gaze to appear confident, but she's not exactly sure what Belle has said most recently.

Belle sighs before bringing her martini glass to her mouth, pulling the alcohol between her lips all while her eyes never leave Regina's. She hums softly to herself as she places the glass back down on the table, her index finger and thumb twirling the stem of the glass while she assesses Regina's odd behavior.

"What's going on? Why are you so distracted?"

"I'm not..." she mumbles, but her eyes are darting back to her phone and she catches herself in the lie, so she shakes her head and sighs. "I'm just...it's well..." her eyes flick rapidly between her best friend and the phone that could potentially be a crisis at any moment. "I'm very worried about Emma. She's been acting very strange lately."

"Strange? Like how?"

"I don't know how to explain it. She was different when I first met her. Now, she's distancing herself and acting all jittery and avoiding questions. I just have a really horrible feeling about her relationship," she tries her very best to explain, but she realizes that she is the one that sounds crazy.

Maybe she's just paranoid and over thinking things.

"Do you think he's not allowing her to see you? Is he jealous?"