This is definitely not Canon and would be approximately a few months after their return from the Enchanted Forest. No one is after them and no monsters invade the town and definitely no Robin, and no Hook. Things are back to the way they once were, a normal little town with magic and Rumple as the Dark One. A curse is still in effect as only Emma, Regina and Henry can cross the town line.
This one is for Jokersmile as it was her suggestion to listen to a song and make it a SwanQueen story. The song is, 'You Are the Reason', but I only took one line from it for inspiration. I hope you enjoy it, please leave comments as they're always appreciated. Thank you!
To Fix What I've Broken
Emma couldn't stop laughing, she even snorted, "Oh Regina that's a good one." Emma choked out as she wiped the tears from her eyes. "Who put you up to this? Ruby? Oh wait, Granny right?"
Regina stiffened at the reaction the blonde had of her asking her out on a date. She knew she shouldn't have listened to the people of this town nor to, dare she think it, her heart.
They'd been growing closer the past couple of months with the daily lunches and dinners at both the mansion and Emma's new home; she thought things were progressing to more than just friendship. The almost kiss last week was what prompted her to listen to everyone and put herself into this position she now finds herself in. Was it even an almost kiss? Seeing the way the Sheriff is behaving, Regina can see how wrong she really was.
"I see things never change with you Miss Swan, everything is a joke." Regina said with bite to her words. She was upset and she didn't want anyone to see her cry, "I'll take that as a no, Miss Swan, goodbye." And with that, she turned and walked away.
Emma looked up and saw Regina walking away. "Ah c'mon Regina, don't go! Regina! Regina?"
Seeing a puff of purple smoke, she realized Regina was long gone now, feeling badly she went back into the Diner.
"Emma! What did you say? When's the date?" Ruby called out as Emma came through the door.
"Um what? She...Regina? What?" Emma stuttered out to the waitress," Y'mean she was serious?"
"What do you mean was she serious? What did you do?" Ruby asked with shock. "Please don't tell me you screwed that up."
"I...I...kind of laughed at her." Emma said solemnly now realizing she had probably hurt Regina with her actions.
"YOU WHAT?" a chorus was heard from the Diner's patrons and Granny who came out from the kitchen.
"I...I thought she was joking I thought you guys put her up to it. I... oh fuck me..."
"How could you laugh at her?" Granny asked hitting the blonde in the arm. "Do you know how hard it was to convince her it would be a good thing to ask you out? What the hell is wrong with you, girl?"
Emma quietly looked around the Diner, wondering how many were in on it and how long had Regina been thinking about it? "Oh fuck."
Regina transported herself back to her office where Kathryn was sitting at the desk. "Hey how did it... What happened?" Kathryn asked worried for her friend as she took in her appearance.
Regina only shook her head as she went over to the mini bar and poured out a drink but she didn't pick up the glass.
"Regina, what happened? Are you all right?"
Regina wiped away the stray tear that managed to escape and roll half way down her cheek. "I shouldn't have listened to you, any of you! She laughed; she just stood there and laughed at me. Was this a joke that everyone was in on? Kathryn, did they do this to get back at me or to...to..."
"What? No Regina, no, we all want you two to be together. We didn't do this to hurt or embarrass you." Kathryn said as she put her arms around her friend. "I guess when you call her an idiot you aren't wrong."
Breaking away from the hug, Regina wiped away another stray tear, she didn't want to cry over this, over Emma, but here she was doing just that. "Th...thank you Kathryn, would it be all right if I went home? We can go over the budget tomorrow. I know you wanted to get the day to day mayoral duties but I just need to go home."
"Of course Regina, that's fine. I'll stay and go over the things you've shown me earlier, and I'll see you tomorrow." Kathryn replied as she patted her friend's shoulder. "Go home, have a glass of wine and a nice long soak in the tub. You'll feel better and then you and Emma can talk when she pulls her head out of her ass."
Smiling at her friend and soon to be replacement until the next election, Regina grabbed a folder off the desk. "Thank you Kathryn, I'll see you tomorrow." Regina said then grabbed her purse and left the office for home. Getting into her car, she started for the mansion but changed her mind and decided she needed a change of scenery and went over to Michael Stillman's mechanic shop to check on an old faithful friend.
Emma made her way back to the Sheriff's station feeling sick to her stomach. How could she have thought Regina was joking and then laughed at her? "Why the hell did I do that?" She said to no one. Plopping down into her chair, she cradled her head in her hands, "what have I done?"
David and Snow walked in at lunch time to visit their daughter and to find out about the upcoming date with Regina. As they walk into the office, they see Emma scribbling on a pad of paper then ripping it off the pad, balling it up and throwing it towards the waste paper basket. Looking at the floor it seemed she'd been doing this for a while now.
"Emma honey, what are you doing?" Snow asked as she sat down next to her daughter. David moved around the desk and started picking up the paper balls all over the floor.
Emma looked up at her mom and then over to her dad, "I screwed up and I'm trying to make it right." She said then started writing again only to stop mid-sentence to tear the page from the pad, ball it up and throw it towards the trash this time hitting her father. She sighed and put pen to paper again.
"Emma," Snow said then reached out to stop her from writing. "Honey, what have you screwed up, what are you trying to write?"
"I need to fix what I did, I...I laughed at Regina. I...I thought she was joking. She's never gonna talk to me again!"
"You laughed at Regina when she asked you out?" Snow shrieked. "Oh, my God! What did she do? What did she say?"
"How did you know what she asked me? Did you guys know? What the hell?" Emma yelled as she stood up slamming her chair back against the wall.
"To be honest, we all thought you two were already dating but one day at the Diner, Henry told us that you weren't and Regina overheard and well we thought she should ask you out. So we sort of convinced her. No one can convince Regina of anything, but we steered her in the direction. I think Henry helped more with that at home." Snow rambled on making Emma feel worse than before.
"I figured she would ask you over your daily lunch dates." David stated as he put the last rolled up bit of paper in the trash can.
"Lunch...dates." Emma repeated then shook her head, "I need to get out of here. I'm going out on patrol. I can't be here right now."
"Emma, just wait…" Snow called to her daughter. After hearing the outer door slam closed, Snow walked over to the trash can and picked out a paper ball and unravels it and reads,
'Regina, I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry.'
"Poor Regina, she must be crushed." Snow said to David as she handed him the paper.
"Crushed or extremely angry," David said to his wife. "This may not be a good thing for Emma or the town."
Henry rushed into the house and slammed the door shut behind him, "Mom! Mom, are you here?" Hearing nothing, he went into the kitchen, then to the study, then upstairs to his Mother's bedroom. "Mom, are you in there?"
"Henry? Yes I'm in the bath; I'll be out in a minute, is everything all right?"
"Uh yeah everything is okay; take your time I'll be in the kitchen."
A short while later, Regina dressed in dark grey yoga pants and a blue t-shirt walked into the kitchen finding Henry waiting on the kitchen stool, eating a snack. "Good afternoon My Prince, how was your last day of school?"
"Fine, Mom. But how was your day? I...I stopped at the Diner and Ruby said things didn't go well this morning with Ma." Henry asked sheepishly, knowing his Mom wouldn't like that people were talking about her.
With a huff, she walked over to the refrigerator and started to pull things out to make dinner. "As you already know, Emma thought I was joking about going on a date. Which makes me correct that she does not have feelings towards me except for friendship. I knew I shouldn't have listened to all of you. It won't happen again, that I can assure you."
"C'mon Mom, you know what she's like." Henry said as he got up and started rinsing the lettuce for the salad.
"Please Henry; I don't want to talk about it."
"Did she at least call or try to talk to you?" He asked looking at his Mom.
"Henry, no more please. I came home early and I have dealt with it in my own way. I don't need Emma to call or try and talk to me I don't really want to hear what she has to say."
"Okay Mom, I'm sorry. I'll talk to h..." He started to say but his mom cut him off.
"No, No Henry I mean it. Let this go. I don't want any operations, talks, or anything. Do you understand? Please respect my wishes; can you do that for me?"
"Yeah, I can do that." He said quietly.
"Promise me, Henry. Promise me that you or any of the fools at that Diner, your grandparents, anyone will not interfere or drag out this ridiculous idea that your mother and I should date. It's over. Will you promise me?" Regina asked her son.
Henry really looked at his mom for the first time since she came downstairs, he could see that she had been crying before. He felt bad because he was the main instigator for her to ask Emma out. And now she was asking him to promise something he didn't want to do. But seeing her look so sad and down in the dumps, he couldn't say no to her.
"I promise, Mom. I just wanted you to be happy, Emma seemed to do that, and you made her happy too. I'm sorry it didn't work out today and I still believe that you two should be together but I won't try or say anything to Emma."
Regina reached over and pulled her son into a hug. "Thank you Sweetheart, I know you were trying to help but maybe leave my love life or lack thereof to me. Okay?"
"Okay Mom, I love you, y'know that right? I just feel bad that you're alone."
"That's just it, Henry. I'm not. I have you, you are my life, and I love you so very, very much." Regina replied then kissed his forehead. "Okay we need to get this dinner going or we'll have to order out."
Seeing the gleam in his eyes, "No we are not ordering out young man, you can do that with Emma." Regina retorted and started chopping the vegetables while the chicken was cooking. "Speaking of, when you are at Emma's next week, I may go away for a couple of days."
"Go away? Where are you going and for how long?"
Chuckling at her son, she went back to the refrigerator and pulled out the fresh garlic and ginger. "I am planning on going to the cabin, the one I used to take you to when you were younger."
"Oh, wow I totally forgot about that place. It's been a long time..." Henry recalled and then remembered he had learned he was adopted and didn't like his Mother and they stopped going to the cabin, they stopped doing a lot of things. "I'm sorry, we stopped going because of me. I was really terrible towards you back then." Henry said looking down.
Reaching out she lifted his chin for him to look at her. "Hey it's okay, I'm going to see how bad it may be from lack of use. I went over to Michael's this afternoon to check on the jeep. He's kept it in working order and it's ready to go." Regina explained as she stirred the vegetables into the chicken.
"He's going to accompany me the first day to see if the 4-wheeler is working. He may have to bring it back to fix it up because I'm sure after sitting that long it won't run. Once I get things cleared up and inhabitable you and I can go up for a weekend or longer if you would like that?"
"I would love that and I bet..." Henry stopped himself as he was going to say Emma would love it too. "I bet we'll have a great time. And I'm sure now that I'm older I can maybe go on the 4-wheeler by myself?"
Knowing what he was going to say, Regina was glad for the back pedal and quick switch to maneuvering his way into driving alone. "We'll see young man. Now can you start the rice for me?"