Illusions

Chapter Seven

The thick rubber tires climbing the curb and rattling her precious classic bug is the only sound to be heard this evening. Her mind has been cycling through a vicious tornado of emotions and theories since Henry's psychologist, Dr. Hopper, dropped a bomb on her earlier that afternoon. She has been a discombobulated mess the rest of the entire day and all she wants to do is climb in her bed and ignore her own reality for just a little while.

She glances to her left as she kills the engine, taking note that it's just after eleven at night and Mayor Mills is still not home yet. She rolls her eyes in annoyance because it's so clear her son needs her right now and then she steps out of her vehicle. She softly closes her door and peeks up at the window that usually is illuminating a soft yellow light with an eight-year-old silhouette spying on her, but not tonight. Instead, the lights are off, the window is firmly shut and there's this weird sensation clenching at her heart and she despises the feeling.

Emma shoves away whatever emotions that are so desperately trying to claw their way to the surface and treks up her driveway. She smirks, breathing a laugh through her nose when she spots that old book wedged between the screen and front door.

"Sneaky bastard," she muses to herself as she swoops down and snatches up the leather bound book.

She smiles, unknown to herself and flips through the pages while an engine roars to life and captures her full attention. Green eyes flick out toward the dimly lit street to find the Mayor's black Mercedes Benz flying down the street and roughly bouncing into the driveway. Emma's eyebrows rise to the occasion, amused, as she observes the flustered brunette stumble out of her car. Emma softly closes the book and holds it impossibly close to her chest before she carefully walks next door.

"Hey, Mayor Mills," she calls out to stop the frantic woman from heading inside.

Regina jumps, startled by the sudden voice because she was so obviously lost in her own head to notice her neighbor's presence. "Regina is fine," she mutters halfheartedly and under her breath which does little to convince Emma that she can actually call the woman by her first name. "What do I owe the pleasure of you sneaking up on me in the middle of the night?" She sarcastically quips, fishing for her keys in her leather purse.

One blonde eyebrow skyrockets, because Emma could have sworn they were on decent terms now, after the mayor had apologized earlier that afternoon. She tentatively steals a step forward, her toes not actually touching the mayor's driveway yet and just waits.

Regina shakes out her sleek dark hair and sighs dramatically. "I apologize, Miss Cameron...it's been a day," she exhales again, like she's physically trying to rid her body from life's god forsaken stressors. She finally, turns her attention to Emma and offers the best smile her stern face can muster up and it takes everything in Emma not to laugh at the woman. "What can I do for-oh...is that Henry's book?" Regina questions, her voice noticeably softening, like rich melted chocolates, when her son's name slips passed her lips.

Emma blinks at the sudden change in demeanor and subconsciously, she holds the book closer to her chest. "Uh," her eyes shift down toward the fairytales securely protecting her heart from whatever she may endure. "Yeah, I think he wants me to check them out," she meekly suggests, "it was in my door when I got home."

Regina nods, inhaling sharply and suddenly seeming even more on edge than she did when she first rammed her car into the driveway like she was trying to manhandle the bat-mobile. "Well, I suppose that makes sense, seeing as how you are new around here and have yet to reject the idea," she huffs, and it's not even in annoyance, but to Emma's ears, it sounds like utter defeat and exhaustion.

"Uh, seeing as how he doesn't actually speak to me..." her words slowly die on her tongue as she intently watches Regina's body language quickly stiffening once again, "maybe you can tell me about it?" She timidly inquires, hoping to gain this woman's trust as well, because having the mayor on her side would be so relevant to her case.