A Night We'll Never Remember

Chapter 24

I wake up in the morning and I'm alone in bed. I look over at the alarm clock on the nightstand and it reads 10:07am.  I stretch and get out of bed and go into the bathroom to do my morning routine. When I'm done I went downstairs to see where Regina is. I find her in the kitchen sitting at the island with her laptop and she was talking on her cellphone.  She smiles as I walk in. I walk over to kiss her then I get a glass out of the cabinet. I put some ice in it then fill it with orange juice. I sit next to Regina and listen to her side of the conversation. "Oh that's great. Thank you. I'll talk to Emma and I'll give you a call later.... Ok thanks again. Talk to you soon. Bye".   She ends her call and puts her phone down. "Good morning my love. Did you sleep well?"   "It was ok I guess. How long have you been up?"   She looks at the clock in the kitchen and says. "I've been up for a few hours".   "Did you have some work that needed to get done?"   "No I was awake so I came down here and started to look for possible apartments for you".   "So what do you need to talk to me about?"   "I was just talking to a friend of mine. She's a realtor and has a few nice apartments. We can go look at them later this afternoon if you'd like. They are in good neighborhoods and 2 of them are close to my house".   "Wow you work fast". I say with a smile but I feel like I'm slowly dying inside. "Well you said you wanted to start looking for an apartment so when I got up I gave my friend Ivy a call. She said she would look at what she had available and get back to me. A few hours later she called and said she had about 4 places that you should look at".   "Oh ok. Thanks. I appreciate you doing all this for me and our baby".   She gives me a kiss. "Not a problem my love. Last night you said that you wanted to start looking so I thought I'd get started since I couldn't sleep".  I just smile and nod. "So should I call  Ivy and ask when she can meet with us?"   "Sure why not?"  "Wonderful my love I'll call her now".   What the fuck. She seems  way too happy about me getting an apartment. Does she really not want me here?  I thought everything was going so great between us. She calls her friend and I just feel like shit. Why does she want me out so fast?  With all these thoughts going through my head I didn't notice she was talking to me. She shakes my shoulder and I quickly come back to the moment. "Emma did you hear anything I said?"   "I'm sorry babe no I didn't. What's up?"   "We have an appointment with Ivy at noon so I'm going up to take a shower and get ready. Have some breakfast and then get ready Ok my love?"    "Ok sure Regina. Thanks for all the help".  She gives me a kiss and goes upstairs. I hear the water start running upstairs and I go open the refrigerator. I look around then I slam the door shut. I sit back in my chair at the kitchen island. I have so many emotions running through me right now that I'm not sure if I'm pissed off or hurt that she wants to get me out of here as soon as possible. Before I know it Regina comes walking back into the kitchen. "Did you eat my love?"   "No I don't want anything right now. I just had my orange juice".   "Would you like me to make you something?"   "No I'm not hungry. Thanks anyway".   I speak just slightly different from my usual loving way to her.   "Are you alright Emma?"  My voice still has a little bite to it.  "I'm fine Regina. Why would I not be?  You got up early to help me get an apartment. Thanks. I'll go get ready. I'll be back in a few minutes". I stand up and quickly leave the kitchen and go wash up and get dressed.
   We meet her friend Ivy at the first apartment and I hate it. The rooms are small. The kitchen sucks and bedrooms are to small. I hate this place. I feel the same with the others that we see. When we stand outside the last place we talk a bit. "So my love what do you think?"   "They are all great. Thanks for showing us Ivy. Can I have a little time to think about this?"   "Yes of course". She takes a file out of her bag and hands it to me.  "Here take this and read these over. It's all the information on all the places we just saw. If you have any questions just give me a call and I'll try to answer them".  I take the file but all I want to do is burn it.  "Thanks for all your help. I'm sure Regina wants her house back to herself and is sick of me by now".   Ivy laughs but Regina just gives a small smile. I kinda feel bad but I'm still pissed. We hold each other every night but it seems like she can't wait to get me out of her house. Ivy gets in her car and Regina and I get into mine and I drive us home. We walk inside and I go into the kitchen and grab a beer and sit at the table with the file. Regina walks in and sits next to me. "You were quiet on the ride home, is everything ok?"   "Yeah fine".  I take a sip of my beer then open the file. I'm not really reading anything just flipping the pages. "So what did you think about the apartments we saw?  I personally liked the last one best. The rooms were big. The playground is right around the corner and it's closer to my house. What did you think?"    "I don't know. They all seem ok I guess".   "What about the last one?"  I shrug and say. "I don't know, do you really want me living that close?"   "What do you mean by that?"   "I'm just saying that after me living here for 3 months your probably sick of me by now and can't wait to get me out of here".   "Why would you say that?"   "I'm just assuming. Isn't that why you found these so quickly?"  "Well I'm sorry Emma. I was just trying to help. Last night you said that you wanted to find your own apartment. Maybe I just should have stayed out of it. So from now on I will. Good luck with the apartment search".  She stands and leaves the room. "That went well Swan. Good job".  I just sit looking at the papers again. A few minutes later she comes back in the kitchen and says she's going out.  "Your leaving, where are you going?"   "I'm going out Emma. I'll see you later".  That's all she says and she walks out the door.  I hear her car start and she drives away. 
    Later on I'm sitting on the couch watching tv when I hear the front door open and close.  It's after 9:30 at night and she's been gone all day. She doesn't come in the living room then I hear a door upstairs close.  I just put my head back against the couch and sigh.  I can hear the water start running upstairs meaning she's probably taking a shower.  I shut the tv off  and go into the kitchen and get a beer. I sit at the table where the apartment file still is. I take a long drink of my beer and reach for the file. I start reading about each place and I hate every one of them.  I close the file and toss it to the other side of the table and say. "What the fuck?  I don't want any of this".   "Then what do you want Emma?"  I didn't hear Regina come in and I'm startled when she speaks.  "Oh Regina I didn't hear you come in. How was your day?"  She comes walking over to me. "I asked you a question Emma. If this isn't what you want then what the hell do you want?"  I don't know what to say and she just stands there staring at me.  "Well Emma?"   She asks and puts her hands on her hips waiting for me to answer her. "I ahh I don't know how to answer that Regina".  She picks up the file and tosses it to me.  "If you don't like any of these then go find something you do like Emma".  She starts stomping away. I stand up quickly and say. "You just can't wait to get rid of me Huh. You should have told me you didn't want me here right from the beginning".  She turns around and yells.  "What the hell are you talking about?"   "I just brought the apartment thing last night and this morning you already had places lined up for me. I'm surprised you haven't started packing up my shit yet".   "Go to hell Emma. This was all your idea. I'm just trying to help. Why are acting like this?"   I walk over to the refrigerator and get a beer. "Emma answer me damn it".   "Fine".  I shout out. I walk back over to the table and pick up the file.  I raise my voice as I give her an answer.  "It's this Regina. I hate this".  I hold the file up to her then I toss it across the room.  "Fine then find your own damn apartment". She yells back and starts to walk away. I grab her by the arm and stop her. She pulls her arm back and says. "Keep your damn hands off me".  "I'm not done. I don't want a damn apartment. I don't want to leave you and our baby. Damn it, I love you Regina. I. Ahh".  I don't know what else to say so I stop talking.  "Then why did you even start any of this ?"  She asks in a softer tone. "I don't know. I was just thinking while we were in bed last night about how I had done everything I started out wanting to do but I never did the apartment thing. I got so comfortable here with you and I never even thought about getting an apartment".  "Then why are you bringing this up now?"   "You know my mind sometimes. I just got to thinking that maybe I was over staying my welcome and I didn't want you to throw me out like my mom did".  She stands closer to me and holds onto my hand. "Emma I love you and I would never kick you out. I don't want you to leave either but when you brought this up I wanted to help you because that's what I thought you wanted".  I shake my head no. "I don't want that Regina. I want to stay right here with you, with the both of you". I say as I caress her belly. Our eyes are filling with tears and I see Regina smile and shake her head. Then she says to me. "So we've basically been angry with each other all day for no good reason".  "Yeah I guess. I'm really sorry".  "It's ok my love. So just to get this over and done with, Emma Swan will you please not get an apartment and stay here with me forever?"  She asks with a smile. "Yes Regina. I would absolutely love to stay and live with you and our baby. Thank you".  I kiss her and suddenly everything feels ok. We hold each other tight and kiss once more. She leans back a bit and says. "I'm exhausted my love. Can we please go to bed and forget this day ever happened?"   "Yes please".  We kiss and hold hands. We make sure everything is locked and all the lights are off then we walk upstairs, change and get into bed. We held each other close and in no time at all we were both asleep.