A/N: To celebrate my 200 followers, I'm taking prompts from my lovelies and fyeahjacindarella requested something between Regina and Ella. These two were challenging and yet very fun to write together, and I hope you like what I made!
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Talk Tales Over Cocktails
"What can I get for you?"
Ella looked up at the voice that interrupted the Billy Joel song playing through the bar's speakers - the only other present sound in the nearly empty bar - and was immediately trapped in the almost impossible spot between bursting out into laughter and flat out confusion.
She came back to Roni's so she could have some time to reflect. What she hadn't expected to find was Roni herself. Or rather, Regina. It had been a few months since all manner of curses and dual names had been abandoned, but seeing her mother-in-law in this setting brought back all kinds of memories.
And who could blame her? As if none of that curse breaking had happened, Regina was standing before her on the other side of the counter with a martini glass in one hand and a rag in the other.
Hell, she was even wearing an AC/DC shirt and jeans! Ella nearly forced herself to do a double take just so she'd know where - and when - she actually was.
"What are you doing here?" Ella asked, still caught between being amused and befuddled, but settling on a light chuckle behind her voice to bridge the gap between the two sets of emotions. "Doesn't the Good Queen have enough to do already without cleaning countertops?"
Regina smirked at the inquiry. "Even the Good Queen needs to unwind sometimes and cleaning a few dishes is a surprisingly good way to clear the mind - though don't tell Henry - either of them." Ella - realling her own occasional nag to her husband to wash the dishes after dinner - got a snort out of that. "So every once in a while, I give Remy the night off, serve up a couple of beers to some vikings and dwarves, polish a couple dozen glasses, and abdicate the throne for a bit."
"Makes sense to me," Ella said. "Besides, no one makes cocktails like you, anyways." She looked up at the menu behind the counter and upon spying a drink she hadn't had in a while, felt a pang of nostalgia. "Speaking of which, how about a Weed Killer for your favorite daughter-in-law?" Ella had joked occasionally with Regina, but whether it was due to her current mood or the silliness of seeing her mother-in-law wearing rocker clothes again, she felt compelled to do it now, as if doing so scratched some profound itch within her.
"Favorite daughter-in-law, you say?" Regina asked, mock scandalized. "Well, that is a tough competition, but I suppose you come up on top. Very well, one Weed Killer coming right up!"
"Thanks, Mom," Ella teased as Regina turned to go make the drink.
"So, you okay?" Regina inquired. "You've never been one to drink your sorrows, or drink all that much to begin with."
"Yeah, I'm okay," Ella responded, licking her lips as Regina took a green bottle from the counter. "I just…sometimes this whole doubles of everyone is just so weird."
"Tell me about it," Regina said, waving the bottle in her hand casually. "There are at least three of me running around. As if running upwards twenty realms wasn't stressful enough. And one of them is married to Rogers' former first mate, Smee!" Ella giggled and Regina brought her the now completed drink.
"Given that he's captain now, I guess that makes her his first mate in more ways than one."
That quip earned Ella another smirk. "There's that Mills family sass."
Ella gave her one right back. "Got it from the best."
"I'll drink to that," Regina said, grabbing a glass on the counter with something amber that inside. Ella clinked her glass up against Regina's and the two women took a sip of their drinks contently.
"So, what happened with you? To my knowledge, there's no wish version of your realm."
"That's true," Ella said. "However, there is another Ella."
It took her a second, but Regina's eyes soon lit with what Ella had to assume was realization.
"Right," she said, her finger tapping against her glass.
"I met her today," Ella explained. "Henry introduced us, saying I had to meet my other self. And it just got me thinking. Our stories are so similar: a woman forced to be a servant to her step family, going to a dance and meeting a handsome prince who she falls in love with, all the while wearing a blue dress and a glass slipper. But we're so different. And there's nothing wrong with that. It's just-"
"Weird," Regina finished. A quiet smile was exchanged between the two of them. Regina shrugged. "I told you. I have more experience in this than most."
"And not just in dealing with doubles," Ella said, pointing to her drink. "This is so good." Right after saying that, she took another sip.
Regina leaned into Ella and placed a hand on one side of her mouth. "The secret is just a bit of lemon juice. Helps bring all the flavor out." From her side, there was a faint clattering of glass as she put down her glass and picked up one from the sink to clean. "So, are you really okay with all the doubles stuff?"
"I think so." Regina gave a quizzical hum. Ella looked up, only to see her throwing a pointedly raised eyebrow in her direction. It was so very much a mother's look, and Ella even recalled her own mother giving it to her every once in a while when she tried sneaking extra cookies from the kitchen.
It was the kind of look that made her want to tell the truth.
Ella sighed. "That Ella -"
"Ashley, if it helps," Regina supplied. "You can thank my original curse for the distinctions."
"Thank you," Ella said, smiling again for a brief second. "Ashley - she has her whole life together. Meanwhile, I'm just feeling overwhelmed. I'm not even really sure what I should be doing now, job wise. On one hand, I love working at the Rolling Bayou with Sabine. It's the only time where we can hang out together and I love cooking. But I'm working on one of the new councils too and so much important stuff is going on there. And since I'm driving around to all these places, I'm losing time with Henry and Lucy. It just feels like I can hardly catch a break. The only reason I have free time right now is because Lucy's at a sleepover with Henry…the younger one…at Emma's and Henry's going with the Hooks to go see the new Star Wars. I just want to be like you and Ashley and Emma and do it all." When Ella was done she took a deep breath. She hadn't realized how much all of this was bothering her, but as she talked, the words began to spill out like sand in an unclenched hand. "Anyway, today just reminded me of that, I think."
Ella - who had mostly been staring down at her drink since she started talking - turned up to look at Regina.
Much to her surprise, Regina was giving her an expression most peculiar.
She was smiling and shaking her head like she was watching a child pretending to be a dinosaur from a distance and just taking it in, and as if to hold back a chuckle, let out a hum. Ella knew that it wasn't poorly-intentioned, so she held no resentment to the face, but she didn't mask her confusion.
"What?" she asked.
"Time for a bit of motherly advice. Or bartender advice. Whichever you prefer," Regina said, giving off a shrug. "First, I can promise you that Ashley's life hasn't always been easy. Hell, I designed it that way. Before she had Alexandra, Ashley's life was a mess and no one thought she could handle a job, let alone a baby."
"And she did both," Ella stated.
"Eventually, with some work and compromise," Regina countered. "And you will too. But build your way towards it. Focus on one or two things, and when you feel like you can handle more, the council will be there for you, if you want it, that is."
Ella raised a brow at the decision Regina had already reached without her. "Who said I was giving up my seat on the council?"
"I did because you hate it. Don't forget, I'm at those meetings too, and I see you looking at your phone." The guilty feeling that Ella fully expected to come from that revelation instead ended up being something else entirely
"And you never call me out, even though you do it for everyone else."
Regina shrugged. "Perks of being my favorite daughter-in-law." The two started laughing again and when it finally died down, Regina placed a hand on top of Ella's. "Are you feeling better?" she asked, her tone as warm as a hearth. Ella nodded, her grin restored. "Good. You're doing a wonderful job, Ella. Lucy's growing to be more beautiful every day and you've utterly transformed Henry. Just keep at it, take some time for yourself, and everything else will follow. We'll be able to handle everything on the council and you'll be much happier working with Sabine and being close to the rest of the family"
Ella rubbed her thumb against Regina's. "I never got a lot of motherly advice due to the poisoned heart curse."
"That makes two of us, though mine goes back to a removed heart, not a poisoned one," Regina remarked. Both women just barely starved off another fit of laughter at that.
"Thank you for that bit of it."
"Anytime," Ella locked eyes with Regina and Regina gave her a soft grin before pulling back to start cleaning glasses again. "And, you know," she continued with a shrug, "if you're ever in need of more motherly advice, or just in the mood for another Weed Killer, I think I know someone who can give you both at one hell of a discount." Regina winked as she made her point.
There was a glow in Ella's heart - a special kind that hadn't showed up in such a long time. It was a specific kind of love, one she thought she was lacking, but had ended up always having it.
And now she had more of it in a new form, one she never expected, but had loved all the same, for it meant that while she was supporting everyone, someone - someone who could understand her in a way sometimes even Henry couldn't - was supporting her too.
"Awww, thanks, Mom."
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Thank you for reading! Review if you'd like and have a great day!