In the same universe as 'Better Option,' 'Wickedly Evil Fire Starter,' 'Rumors and Mutual Self Destruction,' 'She has Her Cake,' 'A Touch of Blackmail,' 'Keep Score,' 'Familial Embarrassments,' and 'Red Truth.'
Characters aren't mine. They belong to ABC, Disney, and other assorted entities of importance. I gain nothing from writing these stories but the fun of doing it. Please don't sue me.
The sneeze echoed through the large house, ringing in the ears of both Regina and Henry as they looked at each other from across the kitchen island. The older brunette let out a long, drawn out, heavy sigh while the younger rolled his eyes.
"How bad do you think it'll be this time," Henry asked between spoonfuls of his cereal.
"I suspect, given the fact she's already managed to turn my hair blonde and back again just this morning, it will be worse than usual but not as bad as the last time," Regina casually remarked, wincing a touch as another sneeze echoed through the house. "I don't relish finding out, honestly."
"Blonde hair?" Her son quirked an eyebrow. "I can't believe I missed that."
Regina rolled her eyes at her son's amusement. "Be thankful. Blonde isn't really my color."
"Could be worse," he said with a shrug. "Last time she had a cold, you wound up with white hair."
"The dye wouldn't take no matter what I did. I thought I was going to look like Storm for the rest of my life," she grumbled. "I don't understand why this happens to your mother. She's been in control of her magic for a few years now, yet, whenever she gets a cold or the flu, it's as though she's never been trained."
Her now 14 year old son snorted, smirking as a vast array of memories flashed through his mind of the various magical incidents his other mother had caused whenever she was sick. "At least it's never boring."
"Given our history, I would prefer boring for a change." Another sneeze sounded from upstairs, and her son burst into a fit of laughter. Slowly, she turned to look down at herself to find she was wearing what she could only guess was a panda costume. "I'm going to kill her."
"Oh, come on, Mom," Henry said between bouts of laughter, "you look kind of cute."
"She just put me in a panda costume!" Regina stood, holding her hands out and looking down at the fuzzy, black and white costume. She could feel the warm hoodie that covered her hair, and, as she reached up, she felt ears standing out atop her head.
Henry's laughter reverberated through the kitchen. With tears starting to leak from his eyes, he quickly reached into his pocket, pulled out his phone, and snapped a picture. "That is SO going on the town website."
"You do, and I'll ground you for the rest of your life," the older Mills threatened. Waving her hand over herself, she grunted when the magic she was attempting to use to counter whatever Emma had done to make her look so ridiculous didn't work. "She just had to have stronger magic than me," she growled, clearly beyond annoyed at this turn of events. "I have a meeting with the town council today. I cannot show up dressed as a panda."
"I don't know. I mean, you're always talking about how you like to keep them off guard. Walking in dressed as a panda would definitely do that," Henry helpfully offered, grin still firmly in place.
"I sense that you've inherited Emma's proclivity toward self-destruction through being a smart ass," his mother retorted dryly before adding with a grunt of frustration, "and I have clearly started picking up her habits of using questionable language."
"You know," Henry made a grand gesture of looking at the clock, "I should probably get going or I'll be late for school." He quickly pushed off his stool and stashed his dishes in the dishwasher.
Regina leaned over for a kiss on the cheek as he passed by, but he opted to scratch her behind the panda ear as he made a hasty retreat. "Bye, Mom! Try not to eat too much bamboo today," he called out before closing the backdoor and making a run for it.
For a few moments, Regina sat in the kitchen and stewed over her current predicament. She looked over the absurd costume she'd been forced into, trying to find a zipper, a clasp, anything that would let her get out of the thing, but her efforts were in vain.
With another long, drawn out sigh, she finally gave up and made her way up to the master bedroom. She found Emma laying in the middle of their bed, tissues piled in the waste basket on one side, and a plethora of various items to help soothe the blonde's symptoms sitting on Emma's nightstand.
She stood in the doorway and waited for the other woman to open her eyes, which took longer than Regina would have liked. Once Emma focused her eyes on the older woman, she started to laugh, which quickly rolled into a fit of coughing, and ended with Emma rolled over on her side gasping for air.
"Serves you right," Regina angrily declared as she made her way over to the bed. "Fix this."
Emma snorted. "You look cute."
"Fix. This." The brunette angrily stared down at the sick woman. "Now."
The blonde's brow furrowed in confusion. "How? I don't even know how I did it. Can't you just take it off?"
"Don't you think I would have by now if that were an option?" The older woman held her arms out to her sides and did a turn to display the outfit from darling panda ears to cut little panda tail and back again. "There's no way out of it short of cutting it off of my body."
"Nice tail," Emma said with a snort, which caused her to cough for a second or two.
"Ms. Swan, if you do not get this ridiculous thing off of me right this second, so help me that cold of yours is going to be the least of your troubles. I have a meeting with the town council today, and I refuse to change it simply because you had a momentary fancy of wondering what I would look like dressed as a panda!" Regina was seething now. "A panda? A panda! Why on earth would you even wonder about something like that? Do you have some kind of kink I'm not yet aware of because, I tell you now, I have lines regarding beast…"
"No, Regina." The younger woman rolled her eyes, and flopped onto her back again. "It's nothing like that. I was just thinking that I wish you didn't have to work today because I feel like crap, and I like cuddling with you when I feel like this because you're cuddly," she smirked, "like a big panda bear."
"I highly doubt pandas are actually cuddly," the brunette retorted, crossing her arms over her chest, which just made the other woman snort with amusement at the sight. Narrowing her eyes, Regina pointedly repeated herself. "Fix this."
"Okay, okay," Emma held her hands up in a show of defeat. "Just, let me try to concentrate. It's really hard for me when my head is muzzy up like this." She closed her eyes, furrowing her brow once again as she attempted to undo whatever it is she'd done to dress Regina up as a panda.
It took a few minutes before she was finally successful at removing the panda suit. When she opened her eyes again, Regina was back in the power suit she'd put on that morning. Emma wiped at her watery eyes and blew her nose as she watched the other woman check herself in the full length mirror in the closet. "S'okay?" She called out, a bit anxious that it might not be.
"Yes, it's fine." Regina stepped out of the closet, smoothing her hands down the sides of her skirt to push out the last of the wrinkles. "Do you think you can manage not to accost me for the duration of the day?"
"It's not like I do this on purpose," Emma whined defensively. "I sneeze, and it just happens."
"You sneeze while wondering about some inane thing regarding me and whatever is presently on your mind, and it then it happens." The older woman huffed. "One of these days, you'll be sick and I'll be in an important meeting with someone, and I'll wind up wearing something sordid and questionable."
"Or one of your evil queen outfits," Emma mumbled, a little color coming to her paler than usual cheeks."
"Actually, that might work to my advantage," Regina said with a chuckle.
The blonde shot the other woman a crooked grin. "I've always like the black one with the high collar and plunging neckline."
"Because that narrows down which one, exactly, you're referring to." Regina rolled her eyes again, but she smiled. "In all seriousness, Emma, will you be okay?"
Emma nodded, running her hand through her somewhat greasy hair. "Yeah, I'm going to take some stuff, and it should knock me out for the rest of the day, so I don't think you have to worry about suddenly having purple hair or spouting wings or anything."
"Wings?" Regina seemed to think about that one for a moment. "If they're any color but black, you're sleeping on the sofa."
"I'll keep that in mind," the younger woman dryly replied. "Go scare the crap out of Leroy so you can come back and tell me all about it."
"As an added bonus, I will also make certain to irritate Blue," the brunette said with a delighted gleam in her eye.
After blowing her nose a few times, Emma managed a pouty face. "I'm sorry I'm going to miss that."
"Next time, dear." Regina's smile turned gentle as she leaned over to kiss the blonde on the forehead. "Sleep well, and I'll see you this afternoon. If you need anything, text me."
"Okay," the younger woman said behind a yawn. "Don't kill anyone until I can be there to see it."
Regina chuckled. "I'm rubbing off on you."
"Not right now, you're not," Emma said in disappointment, "unfortunately."
The brunette quirked an eyebrow. "More incentive for you to get better quickly."
"Right, right…" Emma waved a dismissive hand. "I'm on it." She reached over, picked up her medicine, down it, and plopped back down onto the bed. "See you later. Love you."
"Until this afternoon, darling," Regina quietly replied as she made her way to the bedroom door. "Get better soon," she cooed gently before exiting and heading for her first of many meetings for the day.
Thank you for reading. As always, reviews are appreciated.