intoxicated//OUAT (COMPLETED)

Chapter Three

Regina walked down the sidewalk on her way to Mr. Gold's shop. She watched as a cat, which she guessed was a stray, scurried around the corner and behind a trash bin. She had never really thought there were any strays in Storybrooke. But stray cats were beside the point right now. The real issue right now was what she would tell Gold. She couldn't sell out Emma but she knew he would find out somehow. She decided to just try to stall for now and see how things turned out. She looked over her shoulder and could see Emma's yellow bug in the distance, not that a vehicle like that is hard to miss. She turned around and she was almost at the shop.

"Hello, Madame Mayor," Belle greeted Regina.

"Yeah, hi," Regina tried not to sound pissy or nervous but failed miserably. "So, you had a break in?" she asked in attempt to cover up her blunt greeting.

"Well, the alarm went off," Mr. Gold explained. Regina nodded. "So we came down here and the front window was smashed, glass was scattered everywhere, and there was a large stone inside on the floor."

"I see," she said. "So, do you, uh, have any security cameras?" Regina tried to hide her anxiety. She couldn't let them find out it was Emma, or that she was there when it happened.

"Well, yes, we do," Belle said.

"How long will it take to get the footage?" Regina asked.

"An hour or so, maybe a bit longer," said Gold. That was a statement that made Regina relieved that the town was a bit behind the times.

"Okay," Regina said, furrowing her brow. "How about you call me when you get the footage. But wait until I get there so we can all watch it together."

"Alright," Gold said suspiciously.

"Well," said Regina, "I have to get going now. See you later."

"Goodbye," Belle and Gold said in unison.

Regina turned away and walked down the sidewalk for what felt like the hundredth time in the past hour. But no matter how many times she walked or drove down the streets of Storybrooke, she'd always love it. It wasn't too big and it wasn't too small, not overwhelming but not boring. Storybrooke was the kind of town where it was small enough that everyone knew each other but there was still always something exciting going on and Regina loved excitement. It was peaceful, it was beautiful, it was serene. It was her place.

When Regina reached Emma's boldly coloured car she noticed a foggy spot on the window next to the passenger's seat. She took a few steps closer and realized that Emma had fogged up the window and drawn a little winking face with its tongue sticking out on it- damn, was she ever drunk. She looked past the Miley-esque face on the window and saw Emma, her arm sticking from the bottom of her white t-shirt, the bottom of the v-neck hiked up so her black bra was visible. Her red leather jacket was strewn across the driver's seat. Shit, Regina thought, shit! What did I get myself into now? She opened the door and Emma tumbled out onto the pavement scratching her hip and elbows the process, along with a nearly empty beer can. Emma swore, rubbing her head. Oh, so she's been drinking again...

"Emma," Regina said, as if she was speaking to a small child. "What is that?" She poked the beer can with the toe of her boot.

"Uhh... nothing." Emma hit the can under her car. "What's what? What beer can?"

"Okay, time to get you home," Regina said, tapping her foot on the ground with her arms crossed over her front. "For real this time. Now let's get you back in the car." She reached down and took a firm hold of Emma's arm. Emma shook her off.

"I can do this by myself," she said in the most serious, confident way possible.

"If you say so..." said Regina, letting Emma do her own thing.

"I do say so, Madame Mayor," Emma said matter-of-factly. She grabbed the door which was only half way open and it swung fully open causing Emma to fall back onto the pavement. "Shit!" she yelled, then muttered some other curse words under her breath. She raised her hands to examine her burning palms and forearms only to see that there was a thick red liquid spilling from the many rock filled cuts on them.

Regina took hold of her arm again and got her positioned in the seat. "Are you okay?" She was genuinely concerned for Emma, if she brought her back home to her parents like this, wasted and all scratched up, they'd kill her.

"Yeah, nothing a few band aids and alcohol can't fix," Emma chuckled, wiping her hands on her lap. There were now streaks of blood on the thighs of her jeans. "Speaking of alcohol," Emma said, turning to the back seat she reached her bloody hands to the floor of the car and returned with two beers in them. "What do ya say, 'Gina?"

"I am not drinking and neither are you," she reached over and snatched the beers from Emma. "And fix your shirt." Regina shut Emma's door and walked around the car to the driver's side. She opened the bright yellow door and slipped into the small car, throwing Emma's jacket at her. Pushing the key into the ignition she started the car. "Also, do not ever call me 'Gina." Regina pulled onto the street and started to drive in what she thought was the direction of Charming and Snow's apartment. They sat in silence for a moment or so.

"Where are we going?" Emma asked, breaking the peaceful silence of the car.

"You, Miss Swan, are going home," Regina told her. "And I... I don't know where the hell I'm going." Regina hadn't quite been paying attention to where she was going until Emma had pointed it out. She was heading into the forest that bordered Storybrooke but was not quite passed the town limits. She glanced at Emma who was grinning. "What the hell did you do?" she demanded.

"Nothing," Emma said, trying to contain a giggle. She grabbed another beer and popped it open, taking large, audible gulps. Regina was too focused on turning the car around to care about Emma's drinking at the moment.

"Emma Swan, did you use magic?" she asked between attempts to turn the car around. Every time she tried to turn the wheel nothing happened, they just kept rolling down the road. She pressed her foot onto the break, nothing happened. Either the car was broken and they were probably going to crash or Emma had done something with magic to cause this and they were also probably going to crash. The latter was probably the more dangerous of the two as drunk-magicing was extremely risky, and if anyone would know that, it would be Regina Mills. "Emma, you're going to get us killed!" she yelled. "I don't think you thought this through very well, this is highly dangerous so if you can stop, please do that!"

"Chillax, 'Gina," Emma said. "Everything is fine."

"Emma, I'm serious!" hollered Regina, ignoring the name Emma had just used.

Suddenly the car started to sputter. Regina seemed to be gaining control of it again, she sighed in relief but tried not to be overly confident. She glanced into the rear view mirror and noticed a small plume of smoke trailing from somewhere in the back of the car. She looked at Emma who was still loudly slurping her beer. Regina's hands tightened on the steering wheel, bracing for any sudden impact. She squeezed her eyes shut. What happened next was not quite what she had expected.  

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this LONG chapter. Thanks for reading it. The next chapter should be pretty exciting so stay tuned. I've been having a bit of a writers block lately so, yeah, that's why I haven't updated recently.