AN: Hi! So basically this is a post season 3B story, but some stuff has still happened, such as Emma telling Regina she'll help her find her happy ending. More like post season 4A, but no Frozen stuff. (Also, there's no "Marian is Zelena" plot twist, because that was ridiculous, and both Zelena and Marian make an appearance... So I (obviously) changed some canon stuff.)

(If you like Hook, you probably won't like this story. I only use him for plot purposes and just don't care about his character, and he makes no appearance.)

Many thanks to Ari (swanedmills on tumblr) and Mari (y'all know who she is) for helping me out and keeping me from making some terrible mistakes characterization-wise (I really hope I did okay) & thanks to Ari for beta reading this chapter!

Regina wasn't sure how she'd ended up sitting in an overheated cab in Las Vegas between Snow White and Emma Swan. Snow was on her right side, buzzing with excitement because her daughter was getting married, and Emma, who was on her left, seemed rather distant like she had the entirety of the trip or every time someone mentioned her approaching nuptials.

Actually, Regina knew how she had ended up in her current situation, but she just found it hard to believe Emma was getting married – to that loathsome pirate of all people. This whole trip was some ridiculous idea that included twelve women from Storybrooke taking a trip to the other side of the country for two days. She turned to glimpse at Emma who was looking out the window and not responding to her mother's excited chatter. Why were they even here?

She blamed Snow for the whole thing. After Ruby had told her best friend she had always wanted to go to Vegas, Snow had jumped at the chance, wanting to make Emma's bachelorette party weekend an adventure. According to Emma, Snow and Ruby had planned the whole thing and asked for Emma's approval only just before getting the plane tickets and making room reservations. Emma had told Regina how she hadn't had the heart to tell either of them that she didn't want any big celebrations. Emma had stressed she wouldn't want Snow finding out this wasn't what she wanted, so Regina begrudgingly kept her mouth shut through the endless chatter. She knew Snow was just trying to be supportive, but the woman was failing miserably.

Regina closed her eyes and desperately tried to zone out to her happy place. She wondered what Henry was doing. It hadn't been easy for her to leave him behind, but Emma had pointed out Henry was fifteen already and more than capable of surviving a weekend without his mothers when he had his grandfather looking after him.

"So, I thought about doves for the ceremony after you've said 'I do' and are walking out. How does that sound?"

Snow's question pulled Regina out of her thoughts. Doves? Seriously, sometimes she felt like Snow was trying too hard to make up for the years she didn't have with Emma that she failed to realize who Emma actually was. Besides, she was Emma's maid of honor, yet Snow kept acting like she was in charge of everything.

"Yeah, doves sound great," Emma responded with little enthusiasm as she kept looking out the window. It made her sad Emma had completely given up on making this her wedding, which made Regina fight the urge to ask why Emma was even doing this.

Unfortunately, it wasn't really her place to ask that question. She had been the one to say there couldn't be anything between them on a drunken night that had included some fervent kissing until realization had hit them and Emma had left Regina's mansion faster than ever before. Neither of them had spoken about that night since.

Sometimes she wished Emma would admit she felt something for her, but mostly she thought it would just make everything harder. There couldn't be anything between them, no matter what they felt.

Regina knew she was much better for Emma as her friend. Co-parent. Drinking buddy. Her maid of honor, apparently, although it seemed that Snow was the one planning everything because Regina wanted to do things a simpler way, a more Emma way. Regina knew she could get her way if she really wanted to, but her heart wasn't in it.

She still didn't think Hook was the right person for Emma. Emma Swan deserved the best and all the happiness in the world, yet she seemed anything but happy about both her bachelorette party and her upcoming wedding. It wasn't right.

Regina wanted Emma to find her happy ending, like Emma had helped her to find hers. It had taken her a while to realize that her happy ending had been in front of her all along: Henry made her happy like no one else. Who said her happy ending had to be a soulmate that pixie dust had led her to three decades ago? She made her own destiny.

She just wished Emma would make hers, too, but it wasn't really her place to say anything since her curse had mapped out Emma's destiny. And then there was the pang of anger and envy whenever she saw Emma together with her fiancé, which made her biased. She still couldn't believe Hook had somehow managed to "pull down Emma's walls," as he had once put it. Why was that pirate any better than she was? Why had he gained the trust of Emma's family instantly after leaving Regina to be tortured and sailing away when it had taken Regina years to come even close to redeeming herself?

Regina sighed loudly, which seemed to have more of an effect on Emma than Snow's chatter.

"You okay?" Emma asked, which finally caused Snow to stop talking.

"Yes, I…" Regina started, but knew it was useless to claim she was alright since Emma could tell when she was lying. "Just thinking about Henry." Well, that wasn't a complete lie. She missed their son so much already.

Emma turned on her seat to look at Regina. "Look," Emma started. "Henry will be okay. We'll call him after he gets off from school, okay?"

Regina eventually raised her gaze to Emma. She was looking at her so with so much encouragement in her eyes that it was actually killing her. Why couldn't things be different? She could've just told Emma what a ridiculous idea her marrying Hook was. Emma seemed to be more interested in Regina's well-being than her own wedding.

"Alright, yes, let's do that," Regina replied, trying to manage a smile as she spoke.

Emma kept looking at her, not entirely convinced, but smiling anyway. She shifted back to her original sitting position, but grabbed Regina's hand in hers in the process. It came so naturally Regina almost didn't notice it at first, but then Emma started drawing soothing circles on her palm with her thumb, which made Regina wonder just how well Emma knew and understood her.

She was glad Emma didn't seem to read her like an open book all the time, though, or otherwise Emma would've realized she wanted to tell her not to marry Hook and just… marry her instead. The situation was so ridiculous Regina had a hard time admitting it to herself, but being around Emma made a warm feeling that had been spared for only a scarce amount of people in her life spread through her chest.

She was pulled back from her thoughts once again by Snow clearing her throat. She could feel Emma's hold on her hand tighten, even though she didn't otherwise show her mother's effect on her.

"It's almost 1PM, so I think we should get lunch first. How does that sound?" Snow asked a bit tentatively.

"Yeah, let's do that," Emma replied. Her voice momentarily had some of its old excitement back at the mention of food, and she gave Regina a small smile.