A Thief and a Queen

Rain

A/N: My entry for day #1 of Inspired by OQ 2020 based on a manip of Robin and Regina kissing under an umbrella by Starscythe

It had been raining a lot in Storybrooke. At first, it was dismissed as the change from winter to spring but after it rained for almost a month straight, concerns started to grow. There were small floods every where and the lake in the park was in danger of flooding half the walking trails there. Mary Margaret had resigned as mayor and let Regina return to the role, meaning that particular headache was hers to bear. But she didn't mind it too much – all the work in overseeing sandbagging and other flood prevention tactics kept her busy. And at that moment, being busy was a very good thing.

"Do you think Ingrid's spells messed with our weather systems and that's what caused the rain?" Emma asked, setting her umbrella aside to dry as she entered Regina's office.

"Maybe," Regina replied. She motioned to her computer screen. "It does seem like it's only centered over Storybrooke and not affecting anywhere else."

David leaned forward in his chair. "So if it has a magical cause, does that mean it has a magical solution?"

"Possibly," she agreed, looking at Belle. While she still wasn't the best team player, Regina was working on it and knew that if anyone else would be able to find some helpful information, it was their resident bookworm. "Maybe we should coordinate researching that?"

Belle looked reluctant to work with Regina, which was understandable. Regina knew she had hurt the younger woman and hadn't yet given her much reason to trust her. She hoped to fix that and get to a place where they were at least friendly even if it was unlikely that they would ever become friends.

After a noticeably long pause, Belle nodded slowly. "I think that would be a good idea."

"Thank you, Belle," Emma said, looking relieved. "We need to find an answer before Storybrooke gets washed away."

"I don't think it'll get that far," Regina replied. "We'll figure this out and stop the rain."

Everyone nodded and Hook smirked. "I always have room on my ship for whoever needs it."

Regina rolled her eyes. "Well, let's hope it doesn't come to that."

"Just throwing it out there," he replied, nonplussed by her as he shrugged.

"Okay, we at least have a theory and a way to prove or disprove it," she replied. "But we should probably prepare for if the flooding gets worse – we can't fit all of Storybrooke on the Jolly Roger after all."

Emma leaned back in her chair. "Does Storybrooke have hurricane evacuation shelters?"

"We do," Regina said, believing she was getting the same idea as Emma. "We haven't had to use them but I'm sure I can activate them. We have one here in Town Hall, another in the rec center and a third in the school gym."

David stood. "We should ask Blue and the Fairies to help us staff the centers and then start moving people in flood zones to them."

She nodded, opening a drawer where she kept all the emergency plans for the town. "I'll start getting supplies gathered and delivered to the centers."

Everyone agreed and they stood, ready to execute their roles in the plan. Regina pulled out the hurricane preparation plan she had and opened it to the part about the evacuation centers, amazed she actually had to use them – though not for a hurricane. But it would do until they could figure out what was messing with their weather and stop it.

"Regina? I think we should also ask the Merry Men for help," David suggested, his voice soft. "There's a lot of them and they already work well together to help people. It would be a natural fit."