Author´s message: Just as a wee reminder; I speak Scottish English, also known as Scots.. It means, that I sometimes get the spelling wrong. So forgive me, if I do that and I hope you enjoy my little fanfic.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters. The characters are mainly the real life actors and my interpretation of who they are. If I do not hit them spot on, it´s because I don´t know these people personally. (The only character, I know personally, is the one, I loosely based on myself and a friend of mine. Her name is Tori, I hope you like her, she was needed for my story to develop properly.)

And to you SQ´ers from facebook, who have been ever so patient with this story coming along, I thank you from my heart, that you guys included me in your group. That being said, I don´t resent any of the other ships - as a matter of fact, I´m a bit of of ship-slut.. I love them all and wouldn´t dare to choose one over the other. This story formed as an SQ fic in my mind first (as a dream) and I always go with my first intention for a story. Sorry for this long talk, you just go read the fic now.

It´s mid-febuary, the year 2022. The cast of hit-series Once Upon A Time and their main-writers, Adam Horowitz and Edward 'Eddy' Kitsis, are at their first round-table since the 7th season began. It´s 14:07 o´clock and the actors has to be on stage at 14:30 o´clock. Interviewers are seeing this as an opportunity, to catch some of the cast before starting the round-table.

~x~

"This is done especially fer the audience tonight!"

Viktoria caresses a strand of her hair, which has been flattened and dyed white, for the occasion. Her dress is a plain blue one from H&M. The interviewer asks about her clothing choice this evening.

"Well, Am normally a trousers kind of girl, so when Ah was told to pick a dress, Ah immediately thought; Simple! Plus, Ah have a wee surprise fer the audience later on..."

She smirks at the interviewer, who quickly thanks her for the chat and moves on to attack Ginnifer and Josh, who has dressed up royally for the evening. Ginnifer is in a snow-white ball gown, with matching Cinderella high heels and fairytale-tiara on top of her deliciously teased ebony hair. Josh is dressed in a pair of beige corduroys and a baby blue silk vest on top of his princely poof-y white shirt. The silk band across his chest adds to the feeling of royalty.

Viktoria´s arm is suddenly grabbed, in the middle of her astonishment of her friends and their fantastic costumes. She is dragged by Lana´s fierce grip all the way to a hidden sofa in the lounge.

"We haven´t spoken all night and the paparazzi´s are bombing me from everywhere, with how it was to kiss your girlfriend and how you feel about it and everything! I didn´t know this would happen, when SwanQueen became a reality!"

Lana is dressed in a wine-red cocktail dress and with her latina looks, it makes her look like a Martini, stirred, not shaken. A delicious drink for the audience. And of course, the Bordeaux colour compliments her, being Regina, the troubled woman, who once was the Evil Queen. It´s hard to imagine Lana being evil, when she smiles that big toothpaste smile of hers. But right now, her facial expression is worried and exhausted.

"Ye look creamcrackered, love. Let´s go to the dressing-room, to get some peace, shall we?"

The Scottish accent rests in Viktoria´s mouth, as a steady reminder of where home used to be. Lana nods at the younger actress and follow her to the girl´s dressing-room, where Jennifer and Emilie is sitting, taking a break from all the chaos in the hall.

"Hello, lassies! Mind if we join yer wee tea party? Ah think Lana could use some honey in hers, right chicitina?"

The latina laughs at the Spanish reference.

"Even though, I´m older than y´all and would´ve protested on the nurturing, I really could use a good old English cup o´tea.."

She laughs. Viktoria puts her hands on Jennifer´s shoulders and lets the weight in her arms rest there for a bit. The blonde woman is dressed up in the same genre, as her on-screen family. A very regal-looking princess poof-dress, in a beautiful blue-ish colour, matching Viktoria´s plain summer dress. The small braids in her golden locks gives a youthful feeling to the already young-looking woman. Her jewelry is very simple, consisting of only the silver pendant, she wears on the show. The finishing touch is the red leather jacket, hanging over the chair.

"You do realize, you´ve made an entire nation go crazy, don´t you, Soldier?"

She looks up at Viktoria, who nods and gives her cheek a peck. Jennifer smiles and gives a ticklish schriek, while receiving the kiss. Viktoria slips into a chair, next to the American beauty.

"Ah had a vague sense, that somethin' down that road would happen... Especially after you, coming out publicly, only last year... Can ye make it a big spoon, las?"

She turns to Emilie, who is making another four cups of tea for the new party of them. The Australian woman is dressed in a dress, that looks like taken from a Greek myth. Her chestnut-brown waves is teased up in a fresh ponytail. Jennifer and Viktoria locks tongues for a second, passionately entertwined in each other.

"All the paparazzi´s are just waiting for ye three to go out there, let yer gay show and then they´ll settle down.."

A Scottish accent, as thick as Viktoria´s, sounds from across the room. All the women turns around at the male voice. Robert comes walking through, like he owns the place, as always in great spirits.

"And why are we so happy today, Rumple?"

Emilie knows just how to play her tv-husband. The grey-haired man just raise his shoulders in an How should I know? kind of manner, when the young woman questions his good mood. The two of them have become pretty close over the past 6-7 years, they has been working together. Their eyes meet and apparently the same thought comes to mind. They laugh at each other, without explaining to the rest of the party. After settling down on a large pile of clothes, Robert gets serious.

"You guys should go oot there, before they kill Gosh and the three of darkness with cameras and questions."

Lana nods at the order from the old friend. She knows when to listen to him.

"Bobby is right... As always.. Let´s show 'em, girls!"

She puts her cup down, a little too hard, on the table. Some of the tea in her cup, defies gravity and lands onto the wooden surface. She then proceeds to stand up from her chair, but doing so, a sea of pain washes over her face. She sits down again, surprised as ever and looks at her friends.

" Lana, is there something, you´re not telling us?"

After months of filming together, Viktoria has become like a mother to the rest of the cast. Always thinking of them, before she thought of herself. The young Scotsman looks anxiously at Lana, as she tries to figure out, where the pain had come from.

"I don´t know, what just happened... What did happen?"

The brunette looks confused at her friends, with a helpless look in her hazel eyes.

"You should go home, Panda.. If that is serious, then maybe you should let Fred know.. Shall I call Lover-boy?"

Robert is fast with a phone and has, in no time, called Lana´s husband, Fred, and asks him to come to the centre. After the quick conversation between the two men, Robert helps Lana rise from her chair.

"Thank you, guys.. I´ll write to you in the morning, Tori..."

She manages to pull of a smile and walks towards the back door, with a tight grip on Roberts' arm.

"Get well soon, Lanita!"

Viktoria yells after her. She hears the response as a vague whisper from far away.

"Gracias, Amiga!"

~x~

"Now what?"

Jennifer turns to her younger girlfriend, who is clearly thinking really hard. Viktoria looks down, rather focused on the caramel brown liquor in her cup.

"A penny for your thoughts, Scottie?"

The blonde actress wraps her soft arms around the white haired woman´s waist and kissed her on the neck. Viktoria squirms by the subtle peck, placed beneath her hair roots, and puts her tea down on the table, where Lana, just before, had settled her cup, spilling a little tea in the fast motion. She caressed the heat rings in the wooden surface and turned around in Jennifer´s embrace.

"We have to go oot there, Duckie."

Viktoria suddenly realizes something. Jennifer stops kissing her and instead looks very confused at her, trying to decode the younger woman´s facial expression. Her demeanour is locked in one position, like a seriously pissed mother.

"What do you mean, babe?"

"Ah mean, that we have to rescue the others from being grilled toast and cover for Lana if necessary... Our cast needs us to go on stage now and our friend needs time to actually rest."

She looks at the blonde, who immediately nods and picks up her red leather jacket. Viktoria holds out her arm and Jennifer takes it, tucking her girlfriend closer in. Emilie and Robert follows them out in the lounge, where they meet Ginnifer and Josh, who has just escaped the last interviewer.

"What do you mean, Lana got ill and went home? Was it bad? Is she okay?"

Ginnifer whispers with Viktoria in a corner of the lounge, as the younger actress tell her what happened in the dressing-room earlier.

"Look, we have to go up there withoot Regina tonight. She needs to rest for real and we´ll cover for her, the best that we can.."

The determination in Viktoria´s eyes is not misleading at all. She means to keep her friend out of social media, as long as possible. Her knowledge of privacy in the spotlight has become bigger, as she has entered the spotlight for nearly 2 years, with the privacy on the side. She knows, that if it slips out, that Lana is not doing well, the media will be all over her and not give her time to rest and recover.

"You´re a real sweetheart, Tori, does Jen ever tell you that?"

Ginnifer asks with a smile, now talking in a normal voice. Her eyes are glistening with love and a certain glimpse of pride. She is proud, that her friends stands up for each other and has the guts to come out in public. Viktoria nods and blushes hard, avoiding her friend´s glance.

"Shouldn´t we heed on stage, Ginny? Ah think it´s about time, we get a proper sit down now"

She laughs and walks towards the stage, her long legs making her steps bigger, thus allowing a little wind to carry her chalk-white hair a little bit into the air. The flowing waterfall of white hair behind her, makes it look like snow falling around her head and all the way down to her waist. All interviewers and photographers stops whatever they are doing and just stares at her, mesmerized by her grey eyes and white hair. Her fair skin and hourglass figure helps along to the natural beauty, this woman possesses.

"Hello. Me name is Viktoria, Am Kitsis/Horowitz´s new co-writer and the newest member of the cast of Once Upon A Time. These are some of me co-stars! They´ve come tonight to answer some of yer questions about the show and its cast! Welcome!"

She takes the light weight microphone to her deep red chair, between Colin and Jennifer. She looks around at the audience and comments on all the cosplaying fans, that has come for the round table. The first interviewer stands up in the crowd. It is woman, well in her 30´ies. Her thick glasses and the tall purple hat makes her look like a miss-match between the mad hatter and Gepetto with long hair. Everybody smiles at her and gives her a 'hello' into their microphones.

"Um.. Hi! I´m a little nervous... This is my first round-table and I´m such a big fan of y'all. First of all, I would like to say a masive thank you, to y´all for making this amazing series, that we all adore and for continuing it into it´s 7th season. Seeing as both Jennifer and Viktoria has been included in the writing process, we´ve gotten to see the ship, we all waited for and saw from the beginning, as THE once ship. SwanQueen. So, the question is for the latter; How did you visualize SwanQueen, in the series, as an actual couple and how do you like the way it has turned out? Did you guys collaborate with Kitsis/Horowitz or is this episode just your doing?"

The fan hands over the microphone to a guy on the sideline and sits down again. Jennifer blushes hard and covers her cheeks with her hands. Viktoria goes on to answering the question with genuine enthusiasm.

"To me, really, it´s a dream come true.. Ah was a fan of the series, before Ah even met Jen, and back then, me favourite ship was SwanQueen. Ah think, Ah forgot the series a wee bit, seeing as Ah was stationed in Syria for 2 years and didn´t have a TV. But, to be honest, Ah really just loved the idea of the very first modern faerytale. The heroine gets the girl at the end, right? Emma gets Regina."

Jennifer laughs and raises her microphone, in order to answer from her perspective.

"I´m loving every minute of it! Lana is so much fun to work with and she´s a good friend of both me and Tori, so... And it was a ton of fun to get to write together with Adam and Eddy, who are such talented people. I mean, they came up with new ways to twist the fairytales even before I was casted. So, yes, we did collaborate with them, in terms of writing.. We did this brainstorm board thing-y, which almost had me back to my 'House'-days"

She chuckles and gets a laugh from everybody else. Adam takes over and breaks in.

"We would each come with our own ideas for this season and take turns to write it on the board.. During the shooting of the last episodes of season 6, we wouldn´t go through the day without scribbling something on it... We called it 'project 7', cause we wheren´t sure, if there was going to be another season.. At the end of the very last shooting, the four of us and a few other writers sat down in front of the board and put together what we had so far... The ideas on the board became the 5 first episodes of season 7. The ideas where so ingenious thoughts, that we felt, we could not pass by this opportunity for a greater ending to the series... That being said, these two ladies has come up with such a fantastic storyline for SwanQueen and the others, that we´d like to see where this goes.. So, we´re not closing with the 7th season, as it looks right now.."

He receives an applause from the audience and some even yell in excitement. A guy stands up in the crowd, his t-shirt says it all.

"Are you an Evil Regal?"

Sean asks in amusement. The guy nods and shows off the beautiful picture of Queen Regina from season 1. She´s wearing her red and black gown and her smile is as slick as ever. The young looks around the panel, but cannot find his favourite evil majesty.

"Where is Lana? I thought, I saw her in the lounge?"

A few people in the audience concurs and agreeing sound. Viktoria thinks fast and comes to the fact, that they have to tell the truth, just not the whole truth. The audience does not need to know, that she could not even walk by herself, because she was out of balance.

"Well, Lana didn´t feel so well, so she went home. Am sure, she´ll be fine tomorrow, though – so don´t you worry"

She compromise as much, as she can with her accent, to make her message clear enough. She did not want any misunderstandings, when exclaiming things like this. Sometimes being Scottish can be a curse. Especially if you are in Vancouver. She looks out to see if everyone got it and lightens up, when she sees, that she got through to everyone.

The next interviewer, who stands up, shines a little in the crowd of traditionally dressed Americans and Canadians. His ponytail is red as fire and so is his fully grown beard. His wide smile is bright white, with only one silver tooth. His t-shirt is a very bright blue with a white cross on and his pants displays amazing purple and blue galaxies. His cap says 'Scots Unite' in white on the dark blue front. His accent is without doubt the crown on this abstract work of art.

"Hello, Tori! Am a really big fan of you, keeping yer beautiful accent throughout the episodes.. As you can hear, Ah have it too, but you speak it with another grace, that only you can give to the Scottish accent... How do you do that? And how did you get to know Jenny?"

After he finishes, Viktoria laughs her lovable laughter. There is a glimpse of recognition in her blue-grey eyes. The green bands around her pupils widens, as she starts to speak, her voice a little flustered.

"You truly are a sweetheart, John. Yes, Ah remember you, from the West End Fest in London. Well, how do Ah make Scottish sound graceful? Jen, can you answer that?"

She looks at the older blonde with a love in her eyes, that says more than words would have done. Jennifer looks at her hands, as her face grows bright red. The audience burst in Aww´s, as the two shares a look for second.

"I guess, it´s because you look so damn good and foreign accents are considered sexy here in the U.S. You´re used to getting hundreds of thousands of people turned on just by saying 'hello', I guess that´s why"

She laughs, her cheeks going rosy again, and looks up at Viktoria, who has similar rosy cheeks. Her soft smile gets Viktoria´s knees soft and she thanks herself, for thinking of comfortable deep chairs for the round table, as opposed to standing up. She looks out with a quirky smile, that could make anyone want to do everything for her.

"As for how we met..."

"Oh god! Why didye have to ask her that question, John?!"

Robert laughs nervously, ducking under the slap coming quickly from Viktoria, behind Colin´s wheelchair. Viktoria fakes a hurt look and puts a hand on Jennifer´s left knee.

"It´s actually a rather dramatic story, Bobby!"

She lashes out and Robert puts his arms over his head, in a defensive manner, still in the ducking-position.

"As ye wish, my dear! Tell the fans yer romantic story"

She is going to protest on the romantic part, but then just nods and sits up, still resting her right hand on Jennifer´s knee, to begin telling the story of how she met her happy ending