Disclaimer: I own none of the characters and make no profit.
Regina abhorred the feeling of happiness. Nothing good had ever befallen her following that feeling. So it came as no shock that something was bound to happen to ruin everything. She just never expected it to hurt so damn much.
"You're shacking up with the Evil Queen; you're doomed."
"It's really not that bad, Rubes."
"You kidding me? The woman is, like, strict as fuck. The sex better be mind blowing."
"You know it is. And I'm practically living there already. It's easier with Henry and he's really happy."
Her head was spinning and she felt suddenly dizzy. This was really happening. She had tried to tell herself that she was being paranoid and that her fears were unwarranted. But she had been right. And, oh God, she was gonna fall apart. But not here. She had to get away from the eyes of the public. She could do this. Just a few minutes more.
With a steeling breath she started walking briskly towards the sheriff and her part time deputy. The way Emma's face lit up when she saw her made everything so much worse. It looked so genuine, but now she knew it was all pretend. Never in the three years she had known her had it ever crossed her mind that Emma Swan might be the worlds greatest actor. And she had let herself be fooled.
For a brief moment the desire to throw the lunch at the sheriff was so strong it was almost overwhelming. But she managed to refrain, barely. It wouldn't do to ruin her image even more than it would be when everyone realized the Savior had played her for a fool. She at least had some dignity left.
"You joining me for lunch?" Emma asked happily as she leaned over to give the Mayor a kiss, looking mildly confused when the woman ducked away and set the bag down on the desk.
"Just here to drop it off since you still can't take care of yourself," she replied coldly, causing the sheriff to frown at what was nowadays considered uncharacteristic behavior.
"Okay, thanks. Hey, do you need me to get anything for-" the blonde started, but Regina had already turned and was walking away. Emma scratched her neck in confusion as she watched the woman disappear, trying to figure out what the hell just happened.
"Weird," she mumbled to herself before plopping down in her chair and staring hard at the lunch bag, hoping it would tell her what was wrong.
"Oh shit," Ruby exclaimed and she looked up to find wide eyes filled with worry. Emma raised her brows in a silent demand for her deputy to explain. "I think she heard us."
"What?"
"Oh, she definitely heard us. We're in so much trouble."
"What are you talking about, Ruby? I'm sure she's just having a bad day or something."
The waitress shook her head in the negative. "No, she definitely heard. And now she thinks we were making fun of her or something."
Emma made a dismissive sound. "I'm sure you're overreacting."
As soon as she closed the door to the mansion, she leaned heavily against it and tried to will oxygen down in her lungs. But no matter how hard she told herself to calm down she was unable to breathe normally. The prickling sensation in her eyes that was starting to make her vision blur made her angry. She was better than this. Stronger.
The sheriff was using her, so what? It's not like she'd be the first - or the last - to do that. It didn't matter, she didn't need the stupid blonde anyway. But if that was true, why did her heart hurt so much?
She clawed at her chest in frustration before pushing away from the door. She had half a mind to just reach inside and remove the stupid thing. It was suffocating her, sending painful shocks through her system with every cursed beat.
She stumbled twice up the staircase before she burst through her bedroom door, a satisfying bang reaching her ringing ears as it impacted with the wall harsly.
The bed still wasn't made, something that had become normal when Emma started spending the night; the sheriff always dragging herself out of it at the last minute, unlike Regina. Looking at the mess of sheets now made her both angry and sad.
Every morning when she had woken up feeling strangely happy and content was ruined now. Because it wasn't real. Just looking at the bed now made her feel sick so she looked around the room instead. Her eyes fell on one of the sheriff's tank tops thrown haphazardly on the chair and a blinding hot anger roared inside her veins.
Fuck Emma Swan.
It took her aproximately three steps from the gate before Emma realized that Ruby might be right. Clothes were lying everywhere on the ground and from the looks of it everything was hers.
She picked up speed, swearing silently to herself and trying to pick it all up frantically before her mind provided her with the fact her clothes wasn't the most important thing right now. If Regina was angry enough to deposit it all on her front lawn she needed to get her ass inside and calm the woman down before she did something really bad.
She dumped the clothes she had gathered on the front porch and quickly procured her keys from her pocket. She fumbled nervously and almost dropped them twice before she finally got the door open and burst through.
"Regina," she called out frantically, rushing from room to room downstairs, ascerting that they were indeed empty, before she took the stairs two at a time. She almost collided with the doorframe to their bedroom in her haste, bracing herself just in time to avoid an accident. "Regina," Emma whispered a little breathlessly as she took in the woman crumbled on the floor, shoulders shaking with silent crying. Dark locks whooshed around at the noise, wet eyes looking at her in shock before growing hard and angry.
Regina scrambled to her feet quickly, far less graceful than usual, and wiped at her cheeks with one hand, the other clutching something tightly. The blonde looked down to the item automatically. It was her perfume.
"Get out," her lover growled, the low, angry, threatening tone drawing green eyes up to focus on the brunette again.
"Regina-" Emma tried, but before she could say another word she had to duck as the perfume bottle was hurtled at her head. The sound of shattering glass rang in her ears, followed by the strong, overwhelming smell of too much perfume.
"I said leave." The blonde righted herself quickly, ignoring the sickening odor as she tried to get her lover to listen.
"This is just a misunderstanding, if you just let me explain-"
"Shut up," Regina snapped and the profanity was enough to stupify Emma temporarily. "Did you not understand the words coming out of my mouth?"
"Don't speak to me," the brunette hissed when the woman opened her mouth to respond. "I want my key back and I want you to leave."
"Wh-what?" Emma asked dumbly, her slow reaction only causing Regina to grow angrier as she took a step closer.
"Give me the key to my house.
"No," the blonde cried desperately as she fumbled in her pocket for the key and clutched it tightly to her chest as if it was a treasure needing protection. She knew, in the back of her mind, that if she gave up the key, it would be the equivalent of losing Regina. It would be like an admission of guilt. It would ruin any chance she had of getting the woman to listen to her.
"Give it to me," the brunette nearly shouted as she lunged at Emma's hand and tried to pry it open.
"Stop it, Regina listen to me," Emma yelled as she tried to fend off the woman's grasping hands and keep her from taking the key. Then her eyes widened in surprise as she felt herself being lifted from the ground. For a moment time froze before she felt herself get blasted backwards, her back colliding heavily with the wall outisde the bedroom as the wind got knocked right out of her.
"Reg-Regina," she gasped, trying to force breath into her lungs at the same time as communicating with the shocked woman staring at her crumbled form.
The brunette jerked at her name, a look of worry running over her features before they grew hard and indifferent.
Emma tried to reach out for her as she bent down to retrieve the key lost on impact, but the blonde was still struggling for breath.
"You should really learn to listen," Regina offered haughtily. "Don't ever come here again." Emma cried out in protest as purple mist surrounded her, but it was already too late.
"I really think you should listen to her, Mom," Henry offered, eyeing the brunette hopefully.
"Henry," Regina said warningly, shooting him a stern look that told him to drop it.
"It was just a misunderstanding, if you just let her explain-"
"Henry, stop!" she exclaimed angrily, her fork clinking loudly as it dropped down on the plate. His eyes grew wide and fearful and Regina pinched the bridge of her nose as she forced herself to take a calm breath before looking over at him much more gently. "I know that you wanted us to act like a real family, Henry, but sometimes it just doesn't work out okay?"
"But, Mom-"
"That is enough! Finish your dinner," the brunette said sternly, ignoring her son's hurt and sour look as he pointedly did the exact opposite of what she asked him to. Regina sighed and tried to will the headache away.
"I'll be in my study, I'll clean away dinner later," she offered him before standing promptly and disappearing.
She poured herself a large tumbler of apple cider and pressed it against her forehead as she sat down in the home office chair. Ever since she kicked Emma out they'd gone back to Henry resenting her, being angry at her and deliberately going against her wishes.
Every day, he tried to convince her she had to let Emma give her side of the story, and when she refused, he disappeared or threw a tantrum or shut himself inside his room and refused to talk to her for hours. She knew he was just trying to help, that he was hurting, but his behavior only made her resent Emma Swan even more.
Apparently the blonde hadn't been the only one decieving her. The only reason Henry had stayed with her was because of Emma. The knowledge that her son didn't really want to be with her unless his birth mother was around was...probably the most painful thing she'd ever experienced. And she'd been through a lot over the years.
Regina shut her eyes tightly and willed the tears away as she forced down all of the emotions that made her want to claw at her chest. She downed the whole glass in one go as she steeled herself. Regina Mills would not let herself be broken by a stupid infatuation. And if her son really hated her that much, he could leave.
She felt her coming long before the door to her office burst open and a pissed off Emma Swan strode through, her distressed assistant close behind, pleading to deaf ears for her to wait.
"It's okay," Regina offered the distraught woman as she plastered on a smile and gestured for the blonde to take a seat.
The sheriff offered her assistant a proud look that screamed 'I told you so', before she promptly slammed the door shut.
"Miss Swan, what can I do for you today?" Regina asked politely, trying to ignore the slight feeling of concern that arose in her chest when she heard the lock on the door being turned. She forced herself to remain impassive as Emma spun around and stomped over to her desk, her whole body screaming barely restrained anger.
"This is bullshit," the blonde seethed as she leaned her hands on the desk and stared down at the woman in the chair.
"Oh yes, that makes me understand exactly what you're talking about," Regina snarked, enjoying how the sheriff's jaw flexed as she grinded her teeth together.
"I've stayed away like you asked, tried to give you time. But you do not drag Henry into this."
Her gaze grew hard at Emma's words, her voice falling to a much darker register. "What exactly are you implying, Sheriff?"
"I'm saying," the blonde growled back, "that you can't just throw him away and make him feel like you don't want him."
"Excuse me?" Regina exclaimed angrily as she rose from her seat and leaned on the desk as well. "He's the one who doesn't want to stay with me. He just wants you because apparently it doesn't matter that I raised him his whole life since you're his real mother."
Emma's brows scrunched together in confusion as some of the anger left her. "He said that?" The brunette huffed as she straightened and crossed her arms.
"His behavior tells me all I need to know," she offered, unable to fully mask her hurt as she tried to act unaffected.
Emma finally allowed herself to relax enough to fall down in one of the visitor chairs. "I doubt that's true, Regina. The kid came to me and was damn near hysterical, saying you were gonna kick him out."
The brunette bristled at the information. "I would never-he did?" she asked a little timidly as she sat down in her own chair now that their stand-off was apparently over.
Emma sighed loudly, like their intertaction had exhausted her, before she leaned forward in her seat and gave the other woman a pleading look. "I think...Regina, will you please just let me explain what you think you heard?"
The brunette's face grew indifferent at the words, even as the lines around her eyes hardened. "I don't see the point. I'm not interested in whatever lie or excuse you've surely thought up by now."
"You're not even gonna give me a chance?"
"Why should I? I know what I heard."
"Yeah, but you clearly don't know the context. Context is everything. Jumping to conclusions doesn't help anyone," Emma exclaimed frustrated.
"That's rich, coming from you," the brunette spit back as she felt her anger brewing again. She stood quickly when Emma jumped up from her seat, preparing for another shouting match. Instead the woman seemed to slump with resignation.
"You know what, you're right," she offered tiredly before starting a slow trek towards the door. Regina watched her go surprised, not knowing what to make of the blonde's behavior.
"That's it?" she heard herself ask to Emma's back, not believing that the woman could fold so easily. The sheriff turned her head to look at Regina briefly before lifting her hand to unlock the door.
"What's the point? I can't force you to listen and give me a chance."
"Don't you dare blame this on me. You're the one who used me and laughed about it behind my back," Regina yelled. The silence following her outburst was absolute and when Emma turned around to regard the woman, she found wide eyes and a shocked face, like Regina couldn't believe she'd actually said it out loud.
"That's not what it was," the blonde offered softly. "I haven't used you and Ruby was having a laugh on my account, not yours." Regina's brows furrowed in confusion. "She was teasing me for being whipped." Emma continued quickly when the other woman just continued to look at her, knowing this was her chance to try to explain.
"I dont-I-" the brunette tried, looking so very conflicted that the sheriff wanted to wrap her in her arms. "I heard what you said."
Emma started making her way closer to the woman carefully, not wanting to risk startling her and starting another argument or get her ass thrown out the door. "I swear on our son, Regina, I'm telling the truth." She stopped on the oppsite side of the desk when the brunette jumped slightly and eyed her sceptically. Emma knew the expression 'like a cornered cat' was the perfect way to describe her lover at the moment.
"Stay away from me," Regina demanded, a tinge of panic in her voice, as the blonde slowly started making her way around the table.
"I've always cared about you, don't you know that?" Emma offered gently, raising her eyes in an act of surrender even as she continued forwards. "Even when we were fighting."
Regina swallowed thickly when the sheriff stopped in front of her, no more than a breath apart, as she searched green eyes for any dishonesty. "Why should I believe you?" she husked, heart beating a little faster in her chest.
"Because even when we were driving each other insane and trying to screw each other over, I didn't lie to you. Neither one of us have ever been afraid to speak our minds."
The brunette released a snort of amused agreement and Emma grinned. "I'm still mad at you," Regina informed, trying to sound stern. The blonde let out a grunt of acknowledgement before she wrapped her arms tightly around her lover. For a moment, Regina just stood there, rigid, before she let her hands clutch tightly, almost desperately, at Emma's back.
They closed their eyes and breathed in the other's scent. "God, I've missed you," the sheriff whispered against a smooth neck, her lips ghosting against tan skin. "Even though you drive me crazy." Regina hummed her agreement. And then Emma chuckled against her throat.
"I can't believe you threw out my clothes."
The brunette released a haughty sniff as she pulled back and eyed the other woman. "You should be happy that's all I did. I had half a mind to set them all on fire."
Emma gave her a knowing smirk. "Oh, I don't doubt that for a second. And I'm very grateful you didn't." She leaned in and kissed each corner of Regina's pursed lips.
"I'm still mad," the mayor reminded her a little breathlessly as she peppered kisses along a strong jaw.
"Mm, let me try to make it up to you," Emma offered with a michieveous grin before latching onto Regina's neck as her fingers danced along the brunette's abdomen.
Her answer came in the form of a hitched breath and the tilt of a head to give her lips better access.