A little pre Swan Queen piece I wrote just cause. Let me know what you think, please!
Disclaimer: The characters are not mine, but Phantom of the Opera is…. Fine! No it's not, just kidding.
It had been a few weeks after returning from the Enchanted Forest when Emma found herself sitting on the sofa in Regina's living room with both her son and the former queen. For some reason, in school they had assigned Henry to watch a musical, and Emma had suggested her longtime favorite "The Phantom of the Opera." Surprisingly, after Henry had left that day saying he would get the DVD, Regina had showed up at the Sherriff's office with an invitation for her to join them.
Emma showed up that night, complete with popcorn and her favorite candies to share, and Henry ushered her into the living room. She hadn't even had a chance to say hello to Regina when Henry rushed around, turned off the lights, and started the DVD he had rented for the occasion. Throughout the movie, Emma had seen Henry's attention waver, especially at all the singing, but he soldiered on and at the end cheered seeing that the Phantom hadn't been allowed to win.
As the end credits rolled and the song Learn to be Lonely played, Emma thought she saw a hint of a tear in Regina's eye, but then the woman stood up suddenly and turned to Henry. "All-right now Henry, it's your bedtime." He looked at the clock and, realizing it was, in fact, 11 p.m. didn't complain at all. He ran up to Emma and gave her a hug before saying goodbye to each and running up the stairs to bed.
Emma lingered behind as Regina scooped up the dishes they had eaten ice cream in (halfway through the movie, Emma had declared a need for chocolate ice cream), and took them to the kitchen sink. Deliberately not looking at Emma, who had followed her into the kitchen, Regina filled the sink with hot water and began to wash the dishes. Feeling slightly awkward, Emma tried to get her to say something. "It's interesting how movies like that portray the villain. Personally, I always thought the Phantom got the short end of the stick—he's a much better man than Raul."
Regina kept scrubbing but slowly replied, "But that doesn't really matter to the people does it? All he wanted to do was be happy, and the people couldn't understand him. In the end he doomed to be alone forever, and that song…" She collapsed her head onto her chest as her shoulders started shaking and Emma could see the tears falling from her eyes. While uncomfortable, she made a snap decision and stepped up to Regina and gave her a hug.
As this did little to calm Regina down, Emma began to talk her softly. "Regina, you aren't the phantom in this story, I promise you. Both Henry and I know you're one of the good guys now, okay? In fact, I think you're more like Christine. You don't have to be lonely anymore, because we are both going to be here for you whenever you need us." At this, Regina turned around and hugged Emma back, tears no longer falling.
Next morning, instead of waking up to find his mom reading the paper with her coffee, Henry arrived downstairs to see both his mothers laughing at an article Red had slipped into the paper just before printing. Both of them, Regina especially, looked happier than he'd had ever seen them, and Henry thought about this as he ate his breakfast and watched them. Well, he would just have to come up with more reasons for Emma to come over then, wouldn't he.
This was inspired in part because I spent an entire day listening to Phantom music, and because I'm sort of sick with annoying Henry. Hope you liked it! :)