Emma busted through the heavy wooden doors with an urgency that made her wonder for a moment if the multi colored glass would break.
When she stepped inside, it was not what she expected. It was a bar. But not the kind of bar Emma would have ever associated with Regina Mills.
The chairs and tables were mismatched and the floor needed a good scrub, Rock music was playing loud enough to tell it was good, but not blaring over the conversation and the lights were dimmed. The pooltable in the corner was well beyond its good years and the signage all over the wall looked as if collected from someone's travels.
But the thing that Emma noticed first, and the thing that made her forget to breathe, was the large rainbow flag over the counter. And the women, there were so many women. Black women with hoops in their ears, Latinas with short cropped hair, Asian women wearing leather. All different kinds of women, having conversations and laughing with heart and dancing with each other and kissing. Kissing other women. Another take in around the room lead Emma to the only reasonable explanation. This was one of those bars. For...For the lesbians™.
This was not something little Lucy had mentioned on the phone. Not that she would know. Emma felt entirely caught off guard. And that's when she heard it… That rich deep laughter that made the hairs in the back of her neck stand at attention and her stomach do a summersault. That laugh she hadn't heard for 5 years.
Her legs were in motion before she even knew what was happening. Across the room towards the bar.
Behind it, moving fast like a whirlwind, was a woman whose only resemblance with Regina Mills was her face. Those big brown eyes, the full lips and the scar above them. Everything else was different. Her hair was curly and bounced around when she moved. And how she moved. She was...dancing? While pouring drinks, she paused as if to feel the music and swayed her hips perfectly to the rhythm. Emmas mouth was dry, but she pried it open nonetheless.
"Regina!? What the fuck? A...a gay bar? Since when…?" She yelled over the music.
Regina stopped mid twirl and stepped closer to Emma, her eyebrows furrowed with a grin on her face, leaning her elbows on the bar.
"My name is Roni, honey and I'm as bi as they come. Since always." Several women hooted and one knocked on the wood of the bar in approval.
Emma glared at them for a moment, only to focus back on Regina..Roni?
"What happened?" she asked confused. Regina looked her up and down, studied her almost.
"Listen, sweetheart, why don't you go over there," She pointed to a corner with a group of anxious looking women sitting in a circle of chairs, "sit with the other baby dykes and I'll have one of my girls bring you a nice drink. You're among friends here."
"I- I don't know-" A strong looking redhead in a jeans vest interrupted her taking her wrist gently.
"Roni, looks like we got a first timer here!" She laughed. Emma heard several whistles throughout the bar
Regina's smile widened.
"Don't worry honey you've come to the right place! Don't let anybody scare you, and if they try, you come to me, okay?"
Emmas mouth had fallen open before she had even finished her sentence. What kind of fucked up curse was this? Why wasn't Regina... Regina?! At least at heart? Or is this the real Regina? Since when did courses change sexuality?! Was that not one of the rules? Like the genie?
She did the only thing she could think of to get out of this situation.
"Lucy sent me!" She screamed because Regina was already tending the next patron while her mind was trying to organize itself.
There was a sudden silence and even the music seemed to dull down. Regina turned back to her so fast Emma swore there was magic involved. There was a quick movement that Emma couldn't quite catch and suddenly Regina was on her side of the bar.
She nearly growled, "Carol take over" to the wide eyed Blond who had stopped polishing the glass in her hand.
She grabbed Emma by the lapels of her red leather jacket and pulled her towards the back of the bar.
It had taken her nearly 2 hours to find the damned thing in a box of all her old things. Her before-Killian things. Now she had after-Killian things too. She had been surprised how well intact it was.
Something that was becoming less likely with the force with which Regina was pulling her. Her arms were flexed and Emma could see the tense muscles because she was wearing a cut off t-shirt.
Finally through the back door, Regina grabbed her with both hands and slammed her into the wall of the alley.
"How do you know the kid!?" She demanded.
"Who Lucy?" Emma asked trying not to focus on how close Regina was.
"Of course Lucy! What did you tell her and how do you know her!?"
"Nothing! I didn't tell her anything Reg- Roni. I swear. She told me things."
"I swear to God, if you think you can get a quick laugh out at her expense-" Regina's fists clenched around the leather.
"No! I would never! She asked me to come talk to you." Emma had no plan. She realized now she should have questioned Lucy more, but the sheer idea of Henry and Regina cursed had burned through her circuits and she had rushed onto the first flight she could catch. She needed to think.
"She did?" Regina said, her face doing that thing, when she didn't believe a word you said. Emma had missed it.
"She told me about the curse."
"Hmmm, and where did she tell you this? I don't know you, you're not from here." Roni said, taking a closer look at Emmas face now. She said it as if she was trying to convince herself more than this stranger.
"No, I'm not from here. But neither are you." Emma tried a different approach. Regina always saw through her lies. Even when she didn't see them herself, so she tried the truth.
"I'm not from here? Oh really? I got a bar full of fight ready lesbians who would disagree!"
"Then tell me when when you got here? Where were you born? How long have you lived here?" Emma rambled. This is what Henry had done. So many years ago, he had said it was like a haze. Ask them about anything.
"I.." Regina stumbled back a bit.
"You can't tell me, can you? Because your memories aren't real!" Emma said. Her voice was hoarse from the exertion that was trying to convince the literal Queen of curses of a curse.
"You're talking about the curse?" She said it with air quotes, which broke Emma's heart a little.
"You believe Lucy?" Her eyes scanned Emma in a sceptical manner.
"You dont?" Emma asked plainly. Obviously that was the wrong answer. Regina's face hardened, and she was back just as close as before in Emma's face.
"Hey! That kid means the world to me!" She barked.
"Okay… I can see that...and why." Emma said raising her hands in surrender.
Regina backed off a bit and Emma was sad to see her go. She rubbed her forehead and closed her eyes tightly as if she was getting a headache.
"Allright. Let's say I believe." She said looking back and forth in the alley as if making sure no one heard them. Emma could see the doubt in her eyes. She looked so lost.
This was definitely not the first time she had let herself believe, if only for a second. Good job Lucy.
"Let's say I believe. Who the hell are you supposed to be? Before the curse? Who were you?"
Emma smiled at her, almost in tears. She would have liked to ask which one? But the answer was always the same.
"Just an idiot. A complete idiot."