A/N: Hello dearies! Firstly, I know I have the last chapter of Would You Change Your Fate? to upload, and I promise you it will get finished, (hopefully this week), but I've been swamped with work, and then this wormed its way into my brain and absolutely refused to budge. Completely and utterly AU, multi-chapter, OutlawQueen. Truly hope you enjoy!
Chapter One.
She probably registers the rain before the ringing.
It comes down in sheets, battering her windows, hammering her rooftop, and she thinks it's odd, that such weather should even be possible in August. But it's been hot, and sticky and humid these past few weeks, the kind of heat that makes her lethargic and cranky, and she reasons in her tired haze that maybe they were due a storm. Something to break up the closeness in the air that never seems to let up in the city during the summer months. The idea of actually leaving her bed to face such a day makes her mentally grimace. Her bed is cozy, and it's only when she buries her face deep into her pillow, tugging the thin bed throw tighter around her shoulders - it's been far too hot for an actual duvet - does she become more aware of the loud, intrusive noise blaring from the cell phone lying on her bedside table that woke her to begin with.
She cracks open one eye, the lid heavy and thick with sleep; it protests to being forced open after so little sleep, and the frown that forms between her brows does so easily. She lifts her head slightly from its home on the pillow before letting her eyes adjust to the green digits that glow from her alarm clock.
4:08am; and then she panics, because, who on earth would be calling at this time if not for an emergency? Thoughts of Henry flash through her mind quickly, and she scrambles ungracefully to detangle her limbs from the throw, swinging her legs from the bed and reaching to switch on the lamp that resides on her bedside table. She yanks the charger from her cell and stares at the screen.
Number withheld, it reads, and she swears her heart actually stops as she breathes out a hello when her thumb presses to accept the strange call.
"It's me."
The relief that floods through her is quickly followed by rage; at him, at what he did to her, at his audacity to dare get in touch, but mainly, at his inappropriate timing. Honestly, does he not even register it's still dark out?! The tiniest hint of curiosity meets the anger, and she falls back on the bed with a heavy thud, her feet leaving the thick, plush carpet of her bedroom because her legs are too little without heels to reach. The movement makes the springs in her mattress creak - because when the hell were they last given a good work out? - and goosebumps prickle her skin at the loss of warmth from her throw. Even if the air is warm outside, she's only sporting silk black negligee for sleepwear (god knows why, she's the only one who sees it), and the loss of material covering her skin makes the hairs on her body stand on end ... though maybe that's just because he has called.
"What the hell do you want?" She spits, skipping any niceties she might usually reserve for old acquaintances, feeling nothing but pissed that he has dared to call her just when she is finally, finally getting her life back on track. In all the ramblings of her mind, she fleetingly wonders if it's too early to phone Dr Hopper after she's dealt with the nuisance on the end of her phone, and lifts her head slightly to double check that it actually is four in the morning and not four in the evening. She drops her head back down on the mattress in a rather dramatic fashion; yes, it is the AM, and while she's sure her sickeningly sweet therapist wouldn't hesitate to listen to her vent, she won't call on Archie in the middle of the night. She, unlike the manipulative son-of-a-bitch currently breathing down her ear, isn't in the business of bothering people at ungodly hours of the day.
"Oh, well it's just lovely to hear from you too," he replies sarcastically, notably ignoring her question. She sighs audibly, making it known that his presence on her phone, in her midst of sleep, in her life, is an utter inconvenience.
Her eyes close once more, but the heaviness in her lids from sleep has gone. She brings a hand up to her forehead, pressing a cool palm to the skin and raking her nails through her dark locks. "It's 4AM, Gold. Why are you calling me?"
He chuckles, and the sound makes her blood boil as her eyes shoot open to glare at nothing in particular. "My apologises, I forgot about the time difference."
"Time difference?" That throws her, and she frowns once more. "Where are you?"
"England. I moved back here a few months ago," he tells her, as though they're having a casual catch up, just two old friends bringing each other up to speed on the newest details of their lives. She hates that he still thinks it's okay to call and demand anything from her, hates that when he does so he acts like it's the most natural thing in the world, but mostly, she hates that she's still curious, hates that she hasn't yet yelled down the receiver and hung up at the immediate sound of his voice. The familiar feeling of self-loathing crawls through her body and she mentally winces at its arrival, the why does he always make me feel so weak? Settles in her stomach so heavily she feels physically sick.
She ignores the personal information he's offered on his whereabouts, and asks again, "why are you calling me?" His pause is obvious, and bile rises in her throat. Nothing good can come from a phone call from this man.
"I need your help, Regina."
The silence she offers in response is heavy, loaded, and the rage she initially felt from his phone call magnifies ten fold. She grits her teeth, jaw clenched, and when she speaks again, her tone is low and, dare she think it, threatening. "I don't do that anymore."
He snorts out a sarcastic laugh on the other end of the receiver, the slight time delay in their call from opposite ends of the planet gives her time to take a deep breath and reign in her hot temper - because no matter how much she would love to threaten this man, she wouldn't ever dare, not even with three thousand miles between them. "You will always do this, dearie. No running away from it now."
"I'm not running away from anything; I've changed. People can change," she says, a tiny hint of whining in her voice, and she thinks as she says it she may be trying to convince herself more than Gold. She can't deny it, the fact he's personally called her in the middle of the night has peaked her interest - because he definitely does know it's the middle of the night for her, she won't buy this 'forgetting the time difference' bull shit for a second, this man never forgets anything. She swallows thickly, waiting for his response, and braces herself for his inevitable coercion.
"You, my dear, will never change. I've got a big case over here, one that I will only win if you're on my legal team."
She sneaks in a snarky comment. "Such kind words; I don't think I've ever heard you pay me a compliment before."
"Please, it was I who taught you ... complimenting you is really only stroking my own ego, now, isn't it? I'm not unintelligent. I'm fully aware the influence someone of your ... character ... can have over a judge. I need that."
She can't help the smirk that snakes across her face. She knows he's right, her personality is the reason she's never lost a case. Her boldness, her audacity, her sharp tongue and fearless approach have always been winners in the court room, even she can't deny that. Her reputation is one to proceed her; people don't call her the Queen of a courtroom for nothing. Didn't, she reminds herself. They didn't call her that. Past tense, Regina, you don't do that anymore. "Yeah, well, I can't help you. Can't you ask Lennie to do it?" She asks, already knowing the answer, but she'll try it anyway. Zelena - aka Lennie - was in her class at Harvard. They were both mentored by Gold in criminal law, and even though Regina finished top of the class, her red haired frenemy - and she uses frenemy, because still to this day they drive each other crazy with all the competitiveness - was close second.
She knows for a fact Zelena is still in touch with Gold; the woman had only last month asked Regina if she had heard the news of their old mentor - perhaps she meant the move to England - after bumping into her outside the public library on Boylston Street. Regina had forced a smile as she was pulled into a fake, awkward embrace. Lennie hadn't wasted time in telling her the number of cases she'd won since Gold had liquidated his company, the company they both used to work for - only the most complex ones, of course - and Regina had to actually dig her nails into her palms to stop from slapping the smug smile straight off her face. I here you're out of the game, she had said, obviously fishing for details, read all about your last case in the paper, what awful business! It was okay, Regina had assured, not rising to the bait, she was doing just fine teaching. Zelena had replied with some back handed compliment, something about how she couldn't possibly imagine giving up her workload in order to teach, and how she would never get the buzz she gets from a courtroom out of a classroom.
Regina, biting her tongue, had secretly agreed. A classroom was most definitely dull in comparison, but she would certainly never have told Zelena that, and instead had given her best smile with a nonchalant laugh. She had lied, and told Lennie she was really happy, then asked how were her wedding plans to Walsh coming along? And that had shut her up, because Regina had heard through the grapevine that Walsh had in fact left Lennie six weeks prior. The air turned icy, and the redhead had hurried off without much of a goodbye, causing an inappropriate smirk to reach Regina's eyes, and when she continued down the sidewalk, there had been a new spring in her step.
"I already have asked Miss West." Gold says, voice on the brink of snapping. "She, unlike you, jumped at the chance. She caught a flight out to Heathrow yesterday."
Ugh, what a suck up. She lets out a heavy sigh, and snaps back, "well you don't need me then, do you?!"
"I'm calling the entire team back."
His words make her protests pause. The entire team? Suddenly she feels sick at the thought; god knows what this case involves if Gold has actually resorted to hiring his old legal team back. She pushes her curiosity to the back of her mind, and continues her argument. She has classes to prep for, she tells him, and surely he can remember the work load that comes with teaching a bunch of first year law students?
"Forget them," he orders, followed quickly by a promise to call in a favour the Dean owes him; he'll make sure her job stays safe, if it really is all that precious to her.
She can feel herself caving, and begins digging around her mind for any possible excuse to get him off the phone and out of her life before she agrees to something she'll regret. But the desire to know why he's called and out right asked for her help, as opposed to his usual cunning manipulation to get what he wants, has her biting her bottom lip with the anticipation of finding out what's got him so worked up. This is an absolute first; him actually coming to her with an honest to god problem and asking, (well, demanding, really), she help him.
"Henry starts fifth grade in two weeks," she says, knowing she sounds defeated, that it's the very last thing she can think of to say that will get her out of this. Only it won't get her out of this at all, because Gold is anything but a family man, and he would never understand the want she has for seeing her nephew off on his first day of a new year of school. She hasn't ever missed one, and her heart tugs slightly at the memory of him, burying his face into her legs on his first ever day of kindergarden as she gripped his hand tightly and walked him up the corridor to the classroom. Her nephew had been such an incredibly nervous boy when he was little, and even though he no longer lives with her, her heart still seems to go into 'mother-mode' whenever anything new happens for him. Deep down she knows she has absolutely nothing to worry about, can hear his voice in her head; I'm ten, aunt Regina. I can walk to the bus by myself. He's becoming as brazen as his mother with every passing day, so she knows Henry will start the new school year completely unfazed now, but the worry still niggles in her tummy, and when he finds out why she wouldn't be there, he'll be so angry. Scratch that, her entire family will be angry.
Her face scrunches into a grimace as she thinks of telling Emma and Mary Margaret that Gold needs her for a case again - her step-sisters have never been okay with what she does for a living - and ever since the whole Glass incident, they've been utterly unforgiving of Mr Gold. Her mother is the only person she can think of that will actually berate her for *not* doing as her old professor demands. Hell, Cora would practically drag her to the airport by her hair if she found out there was even a possibility Regina could 'reclaim her reputation'.
Gold must sense her hesitation, and sighs impatiently into the phone. "Let me at least send you the case files?" He asks, almost making her believe he is giving her the option to turn him down.
Regina feels her teeth clench together, grinding out of frustration, and she huffs dramatically down the receiver. The words leave her mouth before she has chance to stop them. "Fine. But I'm only looking over them." Lies, that is absolutely not the only thing she'll end up doing, and Gold knows it. She can sense his smugness all the way from Boston, and her eyes close in defeat as a horrible realisation settles on her chest; she will most definitely not be there for Henry's first day of fifth grade.
A/N2: So this first chapter just teases the set up. Regina is a criminal defence attorney who used to work for Gold. Emma and Mary-Margaret are her step sisters, (I've chosen to have those two sisters because I couldn't plausibly have them any other way in an AU, and I like the dynamic they have being related), and Cora is married to Leopold, who is Regina's step father. For any of you regal believers, don't fear, in this AU Regina has raised Henry from birth, and though he lives full time with Emma now, they're still as thick as thieves.