Whelp! Didn't realize it was Swan Queen Week until this morning-OOPS! So, this is where I'll be posting all of the stories my brain creates for the next 7 days :)
"MISS SWAN!" Regina screams as soon as Emma picks up her phone.
Emma rubs sleep from her eyes and glances at her clock. She groans and lets her head drop back on her pillow before responding, "Good morning, Regina. How are you doing on this glorious morning? If it can even be considered morning," she mumbles at the end, hoping Regina wouldn't catch that.
Oops. "Miss Swan, " she growls. Guess she heard that, Emma thinks as she sits up.
"What, Regina?" she asks with a sigh.
"Do not play games, Swan. What the hell is going on?" Regina asks as she peers out her window through the closed curtains.
"Regina, I have no idea what you're talking about," Emma says explicitly, since her boss seems to be in rare form this morning.
"Miss Swan, I am not amused by your games. However, I would like to know why the hell there are people outside my house with cameras at this ungodly hour."
"What? Regina, there are always cameras outside your house. Are they on the lawn?"
There's a pause as Regina looks out the window and says, "No."
"Alright. They're not breaking any laws, Regina. You know this. I need to get some sleep before I'm coming over to pick you and Henry up for school and work." Emma says as she rearranges her blankets so she can try to get some more sleep.
"I think I can make it to work on my own, Miss Swan," Regina sasses.
Emma's eyes pop open, "What are you talking about Regina? You haven't driven anywhere in the 5 years I've known you. Do you even know how to drive?"
"What the hell are you talking about, Swan, of course I know how to drive!" Regina says angrily.
"And what's with the Swan and Miss Swan crap? I thought we gave those formalities up years ago." Emma's sitting up now, confused about what's going on.
It's silent on the other end of the line until, "I…am…..feeling a bit confused right now," Regina whispers.
Emma's feet are already on the ground and she's fumbling to throw on the clothes closest to her, "Regina. Do you know what day it is?"
"No," Regina whispers again, so quiet that Emma has to strain to hear it.
"Alright, Regina. I'm leaving now and I'm going to meet you at your house, are you okay right now? What's going on?"
"Of course I'm not feeling okay, I have no idea what's going on!" Regina yells into the phone.
"Alright. When's the last time you ate or drank anything? Do you remember? Where are you? Are you sitting or standing?"
"Miss Swan," Regina grits through her teeth.
"Right, right. Confused. Got it. I need you to stay on the phone with me, I'm in the car and I'll be to your house in ten minutes." She pauses as she looks at her speedometer, "five minutes," she corrects as she pushes the gas pedal down further. "What's the last thing you remember?" she asks as she turns a corner and squeals her tires.
"I...you better be driving safe right now," Regina warns. Immediately, she wonders where the burst of protectiveness comes from.
"I always drive safe, Regina," Emma replies, "what do you remember? Have you had anything to eat or drink?"
"I….don't….think so?" Regina replies.
"Well, that's reassuring," Emma says with an eye roll. "Go into the fridge and drink that green juice in the door."
Regina walks into her kitchen, when did it change, she wonders as she opens the fridge. She spots the green juice in question and responds, "Not a chance, Swan. It looks like pond scum."
"Why are you being weird and questioning this all of a sudden?" Emma fires back as she takes another turn, driving far over the speed limit.
Regina scoffs, "I always question you."
"Not about this. Drink it, Regina. I'm almost there. If you've been drugged, I need to know."
"I have not been drugged, Miss Swan," Regina says with an eye roll that Emma can practically hear through the phone.
"Well, alright, Princess. Drink up and we won't have to worry about it."
"Princess?" Regina says with another scoff, "I hardly think that title is appropriate."
"Okay, Regina. What the hell is going on? You know what? Forget it, I'm outside, I'll be in as soon as I get through the piranhas out here." Emma doesn't hang up and Regina can hear the car shut off and when the door opens, the voices get louder.
"Emma! Emma! Can we get a comment? What are you doing outside Regina Mills house at this hour? Is this a booty call? Again? Are you two in a relationship?" Regina hears many voices yelling and becomes overwhelmed. She quickly reaches for the couch and sinks into it, wondering when her chaise was replaced with a leather couch.
The front door is opened and Emma stands in the doorway for hardly a second before the door is shut again and silence befalls the house once more.
Emma leans against the door for just a moment before she's in motion once again. She comes to stand in front of Regina and checks both her eyes before asking, "Did you drink it?"
Regina pulls away from Emma and says, "Of course not. I do not drink pond scum."
"Damn it, Regina. Stop being stubborn and listen to me," she says before she stands up to her full height and heads into the kitchen.
Regina draws her feet up onto the couch and wraps her arms protectively around her knees. She waits for Emma to return and when she does, she takes the scum without question and stares at it until Emma falls onto the couch next to her and whispers, "please just drink it."
Regina decides not to look at it and drinks it all at once, like it was a shot. She swallows and then gags, "Oh my god. That was worse than pond scum. What the hell, Swan?"
"Okay, you're still being weird. What's going on?" Emma asks as she turns fully to watch Regina.
"I have no idea," Regina whispers quietly. "I don't remember any of this." She throws her arms out to show the entire house.
"Okay, well, temporary amnesia is not entirely unusual. You did have that concussion from work; maybe I should call Mary," Emma mutters to herself. "No, she's still on her honeymoon. We can handle this." She turns back to Regina and asks, "What do you remember?"
Regina looks at the coffee table in front of her before she decides to say, "I think it's best that you tell me what I should remember."
"Oh, really?" Emma scoffs. She sees the way Regina is closing in on herself and she says, "Okay, this is really weird, but here it goes. You're name is Regina."
"Yes I know that," Regina says with an eye roll.
"Right. You're still sassy," Emma grumbles, "You're an actress. You have a son named Henry." She watches Regina sigh in relief. Well, that's….good? Emma thinks before continuing, "you are currently on a television show called Happily Never After where you play a heiress who also kind of a hitwoman. Is any of this ringing any bells?"
Regina shakes her head. They sit quietly for a minute before Regina turns to stare at Emma before she asks, "How do I know you here?"
Emma gives her a strange look, "I'm not sure how you think you know me right now, but I know you know who I am since you called me. But I'm a co-worker, a friend. We work together on Happily Never After and our characters are pretty much mortal enemies but the fans are pretty….intense….about us…I mean…our characters."
Regina turns back to face the coffee table with a perplexed look on her face. "Intense?" she asks.
"Yeah….umm…" Emma rubs nervously at her neck before saying, "You've had a few fans get a little too overzealous. Everything's turned out fine, but you're cautious, especially with Henry." When Regina just looks at her with a raised eyebrow she caves, "Alright. We usually don't talk about this, but since you want to remember I guess we can break that promise. A few years ago, right after the show premiered, a fan, Sidney, broke into your home and tried to attack you."
"Sidney?" Regina questions as she tries to remember something that never happened. She has a hard time believing her genie would have the guts to break into her home and try to attack her.
"Yeah, that one freaked you out. That was the last straw for you, so you moved into this house, enrolled Henry into school, and increased my hours."
This conversation is making Emma fidget, Regina notices. "Why do you look so uncomfortable?" she asks.
Emma looks up with wide eyes. Once a Savior, always a Savior, Regina thinks as she realizes this Emma and her Emma are not that different. My Emma? Geez, Regina, get a grip. She pulls herself out of her head and stares at Emma until she caves once again.
"Ummm…well, we just don't talk about it," she says as she looks away from Regina's incessant stare. Regina clears her throat and when Emma looks at her, she raises her eyebrow and waits for an answer. "Okay, fine. We don't talk about it because I should've stayed with you, but I didn't because you were being stubborn and I was crabby. But either way, we were fighting and I didn't stay and he was hiding in the backyard and you didn't check the backdoor when I left. He snuck in because the backdoor was open and…..we just don't talk about it….you almost died….and we never bring it up. I don't have a real reason, Regina, we just don't talk about it."
Regina nods and watches Emma sit further into the couch; she wonders momentarily how many times they've sat like this before. "You blame yourself," Regina identifies.
Emma looks up at her and says, "Of course I do, Regina. I should've stayed. And I didn't. You could have died and Henry would've been alone and it would've been my fault." She can see Regina processing, but before she can protest Emma continues, "We've had this fight countless times, and it really wouldn't be fair because you don't remember. You wouldn't know about the things we don't talk about so you might say something that's off-limits. So, let's just table it okay?"
Regina nods and before she can think better of it, she asks, "But how did we meet?"
"Oh," Emma says with a chuckle, "You thought I was your new page and you tried to give me your coffee order. I ignored you but continued to follow you, because Mary…do you remember Mary?" she pauses her story to ask but before Regina can answer she continues, "Mary Margaret is your agent. I think you guys have known each other for a long time but neither of you talk about it. Anyway, Mary had told me to find you because she wanted us to meet before we started filming, but she forgot to tell you. So, when I continued to follow you and didn't go to get your coffee, you thought it would be best to punch me." Regina's eyes grow wide and Emma can't help but laugh, "You didn't, and don't worry, I didn't hit you back…too hard," Emma says in a mock whisper.
Regina rolls her eyes and they sit quietly for a few minutes.
Emma decides she can't handle the silence any longer and continues, "We really don't hate each other though. I know it probably sounds like a lot has happened-at a lot has happened-but we're close now…or we were at least….I'm not sure where we stand right now, actually…" she trails off, no longer sure where she was going with this story.
There's another pause before Regina says, "Well, that would explain the questions about booty calls."
Emma can't help the laughter that bubbles up from her chest, well it's good to know that Regina-no matter what's going on with her memory right now-still has the same dry sense of humor she thinks. She tries to subtly glance at her, but from the way Regina raises an eyebrow, she can tell she hasn't been successful. "Sort of. It's complicated. I don't know. We don't really talk about it, Regina. It probably sounds really hard to understand because you don't remember anything, but we kind of just let things happen and let the cards fall where they may. We don't give anything a name, even if the fans do…."
She knows she's said too much again because Regina raises her eyebrow once more.
Emma sighs and says, "They call us Swan Queen," she scoffs and shakes her head, "and they're very adamant about how they feel. They even made us sweaters last year. Apparently, we were the most popular ship of the year. We won a few awards and made a few appearances together, but production doesn't want us spending more time, publicly, together than necessary."
"The fans want us to be a couple?" Regina asks.
Emma coughs uncomfortably and says, "It's just some fans wanting representation. You know, the ones that just want to see someone who is similar to them."
"No, it's not," Henry says from his spot on the stairs.
"Jesus, kid!" Emma exclaims as she puts a hand to her chest and tries to calm her beating heart.
Henry laughs and says, "It's almost time for school." Both Regina and Emma look up in shock at how much time has passed. He shakes his head again and steps down the rest of the steps, "It's not like that, Mom. Those fans are people who realize that it would be logical for you guys to date on the show. You're a queen not an heiress," he enunciates.
"You were standing there a while, huh?" Emma questions.
Henry smirks and says, "and Emma plays an assassin called Swan-which is ironic because her real last name is Swan." He smiles and continues, "Anyway, it's only logical that your characters get together and get married."
"Is that so?" Regina asks.
Henry nods, "It's the only step left."
She brushes some of his hair out of his face and smiles, "you're very invested in this?"
Henry shrugs, "I just know what I know."
"Oh, really?" Regina says with a chuckle, "Well, I know what I know too, and you need to eat breakfast."
"Going," Henry says with a smile. He stands from the couch and moves toward the kitchen. "I have a meeting this morning. So, can we leave whenever you two are done being weirdly reminiscent."
Emma and Regina share a smile and stay quiet until they hear Henry moving about in the kitchen. Emma can see Regina watching her and when she doesn't say anything, Emma asks, "What are you thinking?"
"Do you think the fans will get their wish?"
"What?" Emma asks.
"Henry says the fans have been wishing about this relationship for a while? Do you think the fans will get their wish?"
Emma shrugs, "The writers are pretty adamant about the show being new and 'not your average fairy tale' but the audience as a whole would probably not be okay with it-with homophobia and all that."
Regina rolls her eyes, what the hell. Might as well screw everything up in this world while I'm here, she thinks before she says, "I may not know much, but I know that the fans have a lot of pull in things like this." She pauses but when Emma says nothing she smirks and says, "I believe I'm going to have to spell this out for you, Em-ma." She leans into Emma's personal space, close enough that Emma can feel her breath against her lips, "Maybe the show imitates life, and perhaps we have to make it happen. If you want to give the fans what they want, I'll be waiting."