If The Stiletto Fits
When the Sherriff finds the former Evil Queen drunk and crying in the street, what will she do? Why, lock her up of course!
Takes place a few months after Cora's death.
She stumbled along the empty streets of Storybrooke, her handbag in one hand and a single stiletto in the other. Her stockings were in tatters and her bare feet raw.
She tripped... on her own feet? On thin air? She didn't know. The world spun around and she fell to the floor, hissing at the sharp pain she felt when her knees and palms collided with the icy ground. A soft rumble of laughter escaped her throat and she tilted her head, allowing her puffy eyes to meet the night sky.
"Hello?" She screamed. Her voice echoed through the streets. "Can you hear me?" She was met with silence. "Can anyone hear me?" she whispered.
Tears rolled down her cheeks and a small sob escaped her lips.
"You see what you have done to me Mother?" She cried. "Is this what you wanted?"
She didn't notice the lights flickering on and off in surrounding houses. She didn't hear doors open or see curious heads poke out and gasp at the sight before them. She just closed her eyes and let the darkness consume her.
SQ
This isn't the Evil Queen, Emma thought as she loomed over the body in the street. This is just a broken woman.
The Sheriff had been fast asleep when her phone had rung.
"The Evil Queen is on our street! Save us!" Came a panicked voice. Dread ran through the Sheriff and she shot up from her bed. "I'm on my way." She assured before hanging up. Her phone rang again.
"The Queen, she is screaming and threatening us."
No, it can't be. She pulled on her boots and ran out the door.
Emma had been shocked at the state of the Mayor when she arrived. She ignored the 17 missed calls on her phone and clambered out of her bug, sprinting to land beside the mess of a person that lay in the street. A quick once over assured her that, at least physically, Regina was ok. And the smell of alcohol that wafted through the air left no doubt as to how the brunette had ended up in this state.
Emma sighed sadly; she was disappointed once again in the residents of this town. This heap on the floor wasn't a threat, not in the least. She knelt down and placed her hand on the Mayor.
"Regina?" she said softly, receiving a groan as her only response. "It's me, Emma."
"Go away Miss. Swan." Emma almost laughed. Even in such a state Regina still managed to be feisty.
The Sheriff swept Regina up in her arms and hauled her toward the car.
"Put me down this instant. Unhand me Sheriff." She cried, bashing her fists against Emma's chest.
Emma stopped and eyed the woman in her arms. "You think you can walk?"
"Of course I can walk you moron." Regina tried desperately to hide the slur in her voice.
"Ok then." She dropped Regina to her feet roughly and watched, amused, as she fought to maintain her balance. She swayed one way... Then the other…Then stumbled forward, barely managing to stop herself from landing face first in the mud.
"Where's your other shoe Madame mayor?" Emma asked as she bent down to retrieve Regina's belongings.
"Lost it." The brunette replied simply.
"You lost your shoe?" Regina rolled her eyes.
"Yes Miss. Swan. Why do you always find such simple concepts so hard to grasp?"
Emma shrugged, "Probably the same reason you find it impossible to be anything other than a bitch." She smiled sweetly at the brunette before walking ahead to pull open the passenger side door.
"Absolutely not." Regina said with disdain when Emma gestured for her to get in. "I'm perfectly capable of making my own way home. I don't need you being my... My..."
"Savior?" Emma offered.
"I don't need saving." Regina clarified. "And certainly not from you, Princess Charming."
Emma stepped forward, pushing her chest against Regina's and effectively backing the shorter woman against the car.
"I'm not here to 'save' your ungrateful ass Madame mayor." Emma spat "I'm here to arrest you on the grounds of public disturbance. So get in there car before I throw you in there."
That was uncalled for. She clenched her fists, angry as having let this woman get to her once more.
"You think you're so high and mighty Miss. Swan. With your badge and your title of 'savior." Regina tilted her head up and came nose to nose with the sheriff. "But really you're just scared and pathetic." Emma's eyes remained blank but Regina didn't miss the way the blonde swallowed down her emotion. "You're scared to be a mother, scared to be a daughter and most of all you're scared of being alone."
"That may be true Regina. But I'm not alone." Emma said as she twisted Regina around and pinned her to the car. "I have a family. I have a son." she clicked handcuffs on the smaller woman. "You have nothing. You have no one." She pushed Regina into the car and slammed the door shut.
SQ
Regina stared out the window the entire way to the station. She didn't say a word. And if it wasn't for the silent tears that ran down her cheeks, Emma would have thought her words were lost on the Mayor.
"Come on." Emma said softly when they arrived at the station.
The Mayor held her head high as she climbed from the bug and Emma allowed her the satisfaction of making her way into the Sheriff's office unescorted.
"I know you've sobered up, but rules are rules Regina." She explained as she opened the small cell.
Regina stepped forward but Emma grabbed her arm to stop her. She held up a small key at the questioning look she received and Regina nodded softly, allowing Emma access to the cuffs that pinned her hands together. A small click signaled her release but before she could move, she felt Emma's cool fingers run down her arms and brush softly over the red indents on Regina's wrists.
"I might have put them on too tight." She whispered, "I'm sorry." For everything.
Regina's first instinct was to snatch her hands away. But she didn't. She simply nodded, accepting the apology for what it was. She allowed Emma's feather light touches to continue for a few seconds longer before the sheriff released her of her own accord.
SQ
"I think I'm over tired." Emma said. It had been over an hour since she'd locked Regina in her cell, but she knew the other woman would still be still awake.
"You do realize the point of this cell? To lock a person away without having to be here." Regina was laying down in the cell bed.
"You might magic yourself home." Emma leant forward in her chair and eyed Regina with mock suspicion.
"To an empty house? What is the point?"
Emma shrugged and said, "I sleep here most nights anyway."
"You mean to tell me that you leave my son at home with the Charming's whilst you sleep here in this filthy place?" Emma rolled her eyes.
"I'm there when he falls asleep and when he opens his eyes." She explained. "Sometimes I just need to get out of that house. Do you have any idea what it is like to live with Snow White and Prince Charming?"
Regina scoffed. "I can imagine. Everything would be flowers and rainbows."
Emma laughed. "Truer than you know. Snow sees us as this perfect family. But we're so fucked up it is beyond belief."
"There is no such thing as a 'Happy Ending' Miss. Swan. Life goes on, past the first kiss and the wedding. Even without my… Interference… Life would not be some Fairy Tale for your family." Regina's voice was softer than usual, thoughtful and not demanding. They let silence overcome them for a few moments before Emma spoke again.
"It's nothing like the movie."
Regina was surprised by the comment, but she knew the Sheriff wasn't one to talk for long about feelings, so she shrugged her shoulders and replied. "I wouldn't know."
Emma gasped, startling Regina with the outburst.
"What now sheriff?"
"You're a fairy tale character and you haven't even seen your movie." Emma stood from her chair and grabbed her keys.
"What on earth are you doing?" Regina asked, staring wide eyed at the blonde.
"I'll be like 10 minutes. I think we have it on DVD." She was half way out the door when she stopped and turned back.
"Something the matter dear?" Regina's eyebrow rose in question. She faltered slightly when Emma broke out into a grin.
"You have magic!"
"I thought we established that a long time ago. Although I suppose you are your father's daughter. He too is a bit slow at catching on to things."
Emma ignored the dig. She unlocked the cell door; stepped through and pulled it shut it behind her.
"Ok. Go!" She said as she clambered onto the bed beside Regina who furrowed her brows and, not so subtly, edged away from Emma.
"Go where?" She asked.
"Go! Use magic! So we can watch the movie?" Emma waved her hands in front of them. "Come on. Poof a T.V right there." She said, pointing her finger.
"I promised Henry I wouldn't use magic."
Emma didn't miss the insecurity in the other woman's expression. The Sheriff felt guilt rise within her chest. She had stolen Regina's happiness when she had come to Storybrooke. In finding her own family, she had taken Regina's.
"You're not using it for bad." Emma offered, but even as she said it she knew it wouldn't be enough.
"I made a promise, I won't break it. I want my son to see I'm trying." Emma watched the brunette link her fingers together and place her hands in her lap.
"I understand." Emma almost reached out to place her hand on Regina's knee. She wanted more than anything to squeeze the woman's leg as a silent comfort.
"Well, boredom it is then." Emma fist pumped the air and smiled. She thought she saw a trace of a smile on the Mayor's lips but she knew that concept was far fetched. She watched Regina for a few moments before the question she had been longing to ask finally left her lips.
"What were you doing Regina?" She gulped, shocked by her own bluntness but eager for a response non-the less.
"I should think that fairly obvious Sheriff."
"You were drinking and screaming and crying. But why?" Regina made a noise somewhat similar to a snort.
"Obviously something must be terribly wrong. I keep feeling all these strange emotions: Hurt, betrayal, and loneliness. Gosh, one would think I had feelings! Like I'm human or something."
Emma scoffed, "Everyone knows you're human."
"Well no one treats me like it." Regina snapped. "No one ever has."
Emma observed the brunette. She was so small and vulnerable that it was hard to believe the death and destruction she had caused. But Emma always knew she was, without a doubt, human. She lent back against the cool cell wall and pulled the blankets up around her.
"Do you think I'm proud of who I am?" Regina asked when it became evident that Emma was at a loss for words. "Can you imagine how it feels to finally be free of someone who was the driving force behind all of your pain and suffering and feel even more broken because of it?" Emma watched as tears spilled from the Mayor's eyes. Cora, she thought and anger bubbled up in her chest. "Everyone I have ever loved has been killed by me or because of me, and if they're not dead they just hate me."
"Regina ..."
"No, Miss. Swan. Give me one reason as to why I shouldn't be a drunken mess stumbling around the streets if Storybrooke. Give me one reason as to why I should stop being a 'bitch', as you so eloquently put it." She drew in a deep breath. "Nothing will ever change Emma. I will always be the 'Evil Queen'. To my son, to the town, to you."
The Mayor's chest rose and fell as her breath came to her in short gasps. Her jaw was clenched and her face hard but it was obvious she was trying to steel herself from the next onslaught of tears that had already begun to spill from her eyes.
Emma lent forward and cautiously reached out her hand. When Regina didn't flinch she used the pad of her thumb to brush away the salty liquid that stained the brunettes pink cheeks.
"No Regina. Not to me. Never to me." She whispered.
She leant forward to rest her forehead against Regina's.
"I think I'm still drunk Emma." There was a hint of a smile and Emma's heart pounded at the sight.
"I know you're still drunk Regina." She nudged her nose against the brunettes.
"And how do you know?" Regina brought her hand up to rest on Emma's cheek.
"Because you called me Emma." It was said with such awe that Regina couldn't help but laugh softly.
"Oh no, I must be seriously intoxicated to have let that slip." She patted the blonde's cheek softly and pulled away.
"You're also more open about your feelings." Emma's lips turned up at the corners as she spoke.
"Definitely drunk."
Regina pulled off her jacket and threw it in the corner of the room. She watched it land beside her handbag and her lone stiletto.
"Those were expensive shoes." She pouted.
"Maybe the other one will turn up."
"I'm not Cinderella Miss. Swan. Prince charming will not come knocking on my door with my stiletto in hand."
"I don't think Mary Margaret would approve of David doing such a thing."
They shared a laugh.
"I like you drunk." Emma said with a friendly smile.
"I'm sure you do Miss. Swan. I'm sure you do."
