A/N: Hello again! I've been working on an original writing project since I finished my last Swanqueen story. It's been going great and maybe one day I'll share it with you guys. But while I was writing that one, the idea for this Emma and Regina story popped into my head. So I started this and I thought it was going to be just a one shot, but as I started to write it just keeps going! So here's the deal, I have an ending for this story however I don't know if I will get to it quickly or will I keep adding stuff. There might be longer breaks in between chapters because my other project will be taking priority over this one. But I will update regularly, you guys know me, it won't be my usual one or two days but it will at the very least be weekly. (Probably more frequently than weekly though.) In the meantime I hope you enjoy this! Tell me what you think!
Emma Swan cried to her mommy over her ruined sand castle. "She knocked over my castle Mommy!" Mary Margaret wrapped her little four year old girl in her arms and pulled her onto the bench and in her lap.
"I'm sure it was an accident Emma." Mary Margaret stroked her daughter's long blonde hair as she tried to calm the little girl.
"It wasn't! She is a mean girl!" Emma pointed across the playground to the taller brunette girl standing with a scowl and her arms crossed. Emma's face mirrored the scowl on the other girl's face and her green eyes blazed.
Mary Margaret watched as a woman that she assumed was the other little girl's mother, stride over to the brunette child. The woman grabbed her daughter's arm, rather roughly in Mary Margaret's opinion, and dragged her over to the bench where she was seated. The woman was angrily whispering to her daughter when she stopped in front of Mary Margaret. The older woman straightened her clothes and adopted an almost regal posture.
"Hello, my name is Cora Mills and this is my daughter Regina." The woman said as she extended her hand to Mary Margaret. The younger woman stood and took Cora's hand and smiled, but while Mary Margaret's was genuine she could tell the older woman's was not.
"Hi. I'm Mary Margaret Nolan and this little girl is my daughter, Emma Swan Nolan." Mary Margaret put Emma down so she could stand on her own. Mary Margaret's face scrunched up. "Wait, are you the Cora Mills? Mayor Henry's wife?"
Cora's face softened slightly. "Why yes dear, I am. But at the moment I seem to be the Cora Mills that is the mother of a very rude child." She gave Regina an angry frown. Mary Margaret noticed that the little brown haired girl looked positively frightened from her mother's glare. The younger mother frowned, not approving of the interaction. "Regina. Apologize to this little girl for being so rude and disrespectful. I did not raise you to behave like that."
The little girl turned her eyes to the ground and started to twist slowly. "I'm sorry." Her voice was almost a whisper and Mary Margaret had to strain to hear it over the background noise of the playground.
Cora continued to scowl at her daughter. "Say I'm sorry Emma." She corrected Regina sternly.
Regina raised her head and stared into Emma's eyes and there seemed to be a fire inside the mayor's daughter's brown orbs. "I'm sorry Em-ma." She drew out the syllables of Emma's name slowly.
Regina's mother seemed satisfied and took a deep breath and placed a practiced smile on her face as she returned her attention to Mary Margaret's face. "Well, once again please accept my apology for this embarrassment. Good day."
Before Mary Margaret could say anything in response Cora spun on her heels and marched away with Regina in tow. Emma watched them go while placing her thumb in her mouth for comfort. She watched as the little brown haired girl turned around and looked at her. Emma's young mind could recognize the sadness in the little girl's face and she broke free from her mother's hand and ran to her.
"Emma! Come back here!" Mary Margaret called after her but the little girl sped away with her short legs and quickly caught up to Regina. Cora stopped walking and turned with a curious look at Emma. Emma wrapped her arms around Regina and hugged her tightly, just like she did with her stuffed swan at home. Regina was startled and stiffened at first but then relaxed as she patted the little blonde on the back.
"I'm sorry. You'll be okay Regina." Emma said it so quietly that Regina was the only one that heard the small girl's words. She felt safe and comforted for the first time in her seven years of life and had to hold back her tears.
Before Regina could respond the little girl was pulled away by her mother and Regina felt a loss inside. "Sorry about that." Mary Margaret smiled at Cora as she picked Emma up. Cora simply nodded and continued on her way, dragging Regina by the arm. As they left the park, Regina thought about the little blonde girl and what she said.
Regina would remember those words as long as she lived.
Nine years later
Storybrooke High School was even larger to the new freshman Emma Swan Nolan than she had imagined. She gulped as she entered her new school with her friend Ruby Lucas and a few hundred other students.
"Oh my God Emma!" Her exuberant best friend was brimming with excitement. "We're in high school girl! Can you believe it?".
Emma tried to summon enough enthusiasm to match the leggy brunette, but the smile she attempted looked more like a grimace. "Yeah, it's great." Her words came out flat.
Ruby was dragging her down the hallways in search of their lockers. "Oh come on Emma, stop being such a Debbie Downer! This is high school! Do you know what that means?" She flashed a toothy grin and her eyes darkened while Emma just shook her head. "It means high school guys!". Ruby squealed with delight as Emma rolled her eyes. Ruby had always been boy crazy and puberty had just made it worse. Emma on the other hand had never given any guy a second look, she just wasn't interested. Now that she was getting older and supposedly becoming a woman she was becoming more confused by her feelings.
Emma was deep in thought and not looking where she was going when she suddenly bumped into someone and knocked their books to the floor. "Hey! Watch out freshman!" A female voice exclaimed and Emma began to pick up the dropped books.
"Sorry! Sorry! I wasn't looking." She scooped the books up and held them out in front of her, looking at the person for the first time. As her green eyes looked up through her glasses her mouth hung open.
"Obviously." The other girl replied. Emma looked into cocoa colored eyes that made her heart skip a beat. She was entranced by the thick brown hair that hung beautifully around an absolutely gorgeous jawline and beautifully shaped eyebrows with one raised slightly higher than the other almost haughtily. The nicest set of lips were smirking at her, they were painted red and the upper lip had a small scar on the right side. It was so striking and unique it seemed to accent the other girl's face like an artist's signature. That was fitting because the face that Emma was staring at was a work of art, at least it was in her eyes.
"See something you like? You should take a picture it'll last longer." The other girl said in a low voice that caused Emma's mouth to go dry. Those red lips pulled into a smirk that seemed to burn itself into her brain, allowing Emma to memorize it instantly. The other girl reached out and took her books from Emma's outstretched arms and walked away. Emma just stood rooted to the ground and staring out into space.
"Earth to Emma?" Ruby waved her hand in front of Emma causing the blonde to blink rapidly and snap back to reality. "Did you get a concussion or something?" Ruby stepped into Emma's line of sight making her focus on her grinning best friend.
"Uh yeah Rubes, I'm fine. Just a little nervous that's all." Emma muttered as she slid her glasses up her face.
"Or maybe you're just shaken up from almost killing the mayor's daughter." Ruby chuckled.
Emma's eyes went wide. "The mayor?"
"Yeah Emma, that was Regina Mills."
A few months later
Emma sat in the darkened school auditorium next to Ruby waiting for the school play to begin. Emma's mother sat next to her but her father, David Nolan the town sheriff, was absent due to his job. Ruby was accompanied by her grandmother, and the two were bickering in hushed whispers over something silly as per usual. They always argued about something, from the way Ruby dressed or her grandmother's strict rules. The fights never lasted long or grew too serious, they loved each other despite their disagreements.
Emma Swan Nolan felt nervous. Regina was starring as Juliet in the school production of Shakespeare's play. Regina was the most talented actress in the school and everyone knew it. She was a natural and everyone believed that one day she would be a star. To Emma however she was already a star. Ever since she bumped into her on the first day of school Emma had become infatuated with Regina Mills. She followed the senior around everywhere but could never work up the courage to talk to her. Emma would often find herself staring at Regina either in the halls or across the school lunchroom. Occasionally Emma would get caught staring by the popular brunette. Emma would always turn beet red when Regina's eyes would meet hers. The blonde freshman would always turn away quickly, but sometimes she could swear that Regina would smile at her when she caught her.
At first she was confused by her feelings. Emma had never felt the kind of emotions she did when she thought of Regina. Her breath would catch in her throat whenever she caught a glimpse of the senior beauty. She would get butterflies in her stomach when she heard Regina's deep sultry voice while eavesdropping on her conversations with others. At night she would lie in bed and imagine what it would be like to hold Regina in her arms. She wondered what her thin lips would feel like pressed onto those beautiful red lips. Her crush began to grow in strength over time and Emma came to realize one day that she had started to fall in love with Regina Mills.
The curtain drew back on the stage and the play began. Emma wasn't paying attention to the play, she barely heard the other actors. She was focused only on Regina. Whenever she was onstage Emma was enraptured by her and the rest of the world faded away. The spotlight made Regina look like an angel to her and she felt her heart swelling inside her chest. She found herself wishing that she had the courage to talk to her. Maybe even tell her how she felt. But she knew that she could never be brave enough for that, she hadn't even told Ruby about it yet.
Before Emma knew it the audience was clapping and the cast was bowing on the stage. The play was over and Emma couldn't remember anything about it besides Regina. She clapped harder and louder than anyone else in the audience when Regina took her solo bow. Emma even believed that Regina looked directly at her and winked. But Emma pushed it out of her mind thinking she had just imagined it. Everyone was cheering for Regina. Everyone except for one person Emma noticed, Cora Mills.
"Should we get going?" Mary Margaret asked her daughter as the audience began to file out of the auditorium. Emma panicked, she wanted to catch just one more glimpse of Regina before she left. Maybe she would even compliment her performance. The mere thought of talking to her made her mouth go dry and she had to cough before she answered her mother.
"I need to grab something out of my locker. I'll meet you out front." Emma stuttered out and hurried away. She did catch Ruby giving her a smirk as she left and Emma wondered what that was all about.
She made her way quickly backstage without anyone seeing her. Just as she had hoped, Regina was still there, but she was talking with her mother, and by the looks of it the conversation was growing very heated.
"You will not embarrass this family any longer with this nonsense Regina." Cora was saying in a cold and menacing tone. Regina was standing with her arms stiff at her side and her hands curled in a fist.
"It is not nonsense mother! I love acting and I'm very good at it! I don't see why you can't just support me!" Regina snapped back bitterly.
"I will not allow you to ruin your life this way. I am your mother and you will cease this ridiculous notion of yours and concentrate on your studies! One day you will be mayor and follow in the footsteps of your father and I."
Regina's face flushed and Emma could see tears start to build in those lovely brown eyes. "If daddy was still alive he would support me! He would love me no matter what I wanted to be! I wish you had died in that car accident and not him!"
Emma gasped when she heard the sound of the slap Cora had delivered to her daughter's face. Emma's hands curled into fists and she wanted to run over and defend Regina. The object of her affection was now holding her cheek that was rapidly turning red. Tears rolled freely down Regina's cheeks as she glared at her mother. "You will never speak to me with such disrespect again." Cora turned and began to leave, she stopped after a few steps and turned to face her daughter again. "You can walk home." She then walked away from her daughter leaving Regina alone. Emma watched as Regina slowly began to shake and sob. Emma couldn't stand to see her hurting like that and ran over to her and quickly wrapped the other girl in her arms.
"I'm sorry. You'll be okay Regina." Emma said softly into Regina's hair as she softly stroked her back attempting to calm her. At first Regina had stiffened from the contact but then she seemed to melt into Emma's embrace. She held on tight as the tears fell. Emma continued to hold Regina there in the dim light of the backstage area until Regina finished crying. They slowly broke away and Regina's red puffy eyes met Emma's watery green eyes.
"Thank you." Regina said softly and Emma felt her heart breaking over the pain she was sure the other girl was feeling. "I'm sorry you had to see that. I'm so embarrassed." Regina looked away.
"Don't be." Emma took Regina's chin in her hand and gently guided her back until they were looking into each other's eyes again. They stayed that way for a while, silent and still.
"There you are blondie!" Emma and Regina jumped and separated as they heard Ruby's voice. Emma glared at her best friend and Ruby returned the glare with another smirk. Regina was looking down at the floor, moving her hands nervously up and down her legs, missing the wordless conversation the two friends seemed to be having with their eyes. "Your mother asked me to come get you, she's ready to go."
"Thanks Ruby." Emma said through gritted teeth. She then turned back to Regina and her face softened. "Do you want a ride? My mother won't mind."
Regina looked up in confusion for a moment and then she smiled softly. "I would. Thank you… Emma."
Emma's eyes widened in surprise, she couldn't believe that Regina Mills knew her name! Her cheeks reddened as she stuck her hands into her back pockets and rocked on the heels of her Chuck Taylor shoes. "I hope you don't mind my mother though, she's probably going to gush about how great she thought you were tonight." Regina chuckled as she wiped her eyes and the sound filled Emma with warmth and pride. She would love to be the one to make Regina laugh like that all the time.
"I'm sure my ego can take it." Regina assured her with a grin that made Emma's knees weak.
"Let's go already." Ruby whined and started to leave. Emma scowled at her friend's back but she fell into step behind her and Regina walked alongside. Before they reached the outside Emma cleared her throat and Regina turned to her waiting for her to speak.
"You were you know? Great I mean." Emma tried to talk but her tongue seemed to be twisted in knots. "I mean in the play tonight. You were great." She finished with a long and nervous exhale.
Regina's smiled and her eyes seemed to shine. "Thank you Emma."
Without thinking about it Emma opened the back door to her mother's car for Regina and let her climb in first. She was about to go in when she caught Ruby looking at her across the roof of the car. Her best friend was grinning at her and raised her eyebrows suggestively. Emma rolled her eyes in response and got inside.