Title: Your Love Is My Drug
Rating: K+
Summary: This is how Regina finally gets invited to a party and then the chaos that ensues afterwards. Based on the new promotional photos/videos for 2x10 "The Cricket Game". One Shot. SwanQueen.
Disclaimer: I don't own Regina Mills, Henry Mills, Emma Swan, Snow White, Prince Charming, Red Riding Hood or anything related to Once Upon a Time; they are property of Edward Kitsis, Adam Horowitz and ABC.
A/N: This is dedicated to Jason who is an awesome reviewer! He wanted to read a fic about what would happen based on the new promotional photos…and this is what I came up with. It took a little longer to write than I wanted and it turned into a longer fic than anticipated but I regret nothing. I'm not too happy with the ending (I couldn't quite get it the way I wanted it but I still think it turned out alright.) I hope everyone likes my interpretation of the photos (I also threw in a little bit of the promotional videos). All mistakes are mine. Enjoy!
Regina was angry as she approached the door. When she looked through the window and saw who was on the other side she became furious. She waited a moment to collect herself she had just recently absorbed a massive amount of magic and she needed to keep it under control. When she opened the door and Emma, Snow, and Charming were waiting on the other side. Regina thought back to the night when Henry left her behind and went with his biological mother. The thought made her lose her composure for a split second and she slammed the front door before she regally marched towards Emma.
"You will not keep my son from me," Regina spat as she flung the now re-instated Sherriff across her lawn. It seemed as if Emma was expecting her attack with the way she threw her body into Regina's magic. Regina found that odd but as soon as she realized that she had let her magic take control she went to help Emma up. Charming had to hold Snow back, "Let Emma take care of this."
Emma knew coming to talk to Regina would be risky that's why she brought Mary Margret and David. She had hoped bringing them would show that she wanted to talk and not fight but apparently no such luck. As Emma was getting up to calm Regina down the Blue Fairy, or as she liked to be called Blue, came out of nowhere and fired a bolt of magic at Regina, who then deflected it like it was nothing.
"I knew she couldn't be trusted!" yelled Blue.
Emma couldn't understand why Blue was there but when she saw Regina about to go on the offensive she jumped up and yelled, "Enough! Stop this! It was just a misunderstanding!"
Emma hesitantly walked towards Regina, like one would walk towards a wild animal, and tried to explain why they were there, "Regina I didn't mean to take Henry away from you-"
"But you did!" Regina's eyes started to glow violet and her skin began to take on a greenish hue.
"What I really came here for is to tell you that there's a party tonight and I really want you to come. Henry really wants you to come," Emma knew playing the Henry card was low but it would always work plus it was true Henry really did want her there.
"Really?" Regina's eyes and skin started to go back to their original color.
"Yes, he feels really bad about how he ditched you the last time. So…will you come?" Emma began to relax as Regina began to calm down.
"Of course I will," Regina smiled and Emma returned it with her signature grin.
Snow and Charming could only stand back and watch as Emma and Regina interacted. Charming leaned in to whisper to Snow, "Should we tell her that the party is for your birthday?"
Snow gave him the 'You-did-not-just-say-that' look.
"Yeah, I didn't think so either," replied Charming with a chuckle, "Let's hope everything goes smoothly."
Snow's birthday party was supposed to be a surprise but Charming couldn't keep anything from Snow and not even a day after he was told he ended up slipping and telling Snow about the 'surprise' party. Emma knew he had told Snow. Henry was the only one who didn't know that Snow knew. So when they all arrived at the diner Snow would have to act surprised.
While everyone else was distracted Blue took this chance and slipped away unnoticed…
After everyone left Regina was worried about the magic she still had bottle up in her so she called Archie to see if he could talk.
"Of course Ms. Mills!" He agreed immediately but Regina didn't want to meet in the stuffy office anymore so she said to meet down by the docks for a nice walk.
When Archie showed up he was walking Pongo and he stopped to talk with Regina, "What's wrong?"
Regina was hesitant on telling Archie what was wrong even if she believed he wanted to help her it was still hard to accept.
"You know that I had to absorb a lot of magic in order to bring Emma and Snow back," Archie nodded his head at this. "Well, it was fairy magic and my body is not reacting well to magic that is not my own. Emma, Snow, and Charming invited me to a party but I'm afraid I might accidently do magic," she didn't want to sound weak so she added; "I don't want to disappoint Henry."
Archie took all this in and suggested, "Have you tried to talk with Henry? It's possible he would understand. If you were to bring him in on a session with you he would see you were making pro-"
Just then Pongo started to pull Archie away from Regina and towards a person who was jogging towards them. The person ended up being Ruby who was out for a jog. Ruby saw that Regina and Archie were talking and that Pongo pulled Archie away.
"Hey Archie! Hey Pongo! Are you a good boy? Yes you are!" Ruby started petting Pongo. When she looked up she looked at Regina, "Hey Regina! I'm sorry I interrupted your conversation."
Regina's eyes flashed violet but quickly turned back to normal. She pushed the magic down and figured there was no reason to lose control. She would control this and talk with Henry.
"It's okay Ruby we were just finishing up," She turned to leave but then turned back to Archie, "I'll try and talk with him."
Regina then turned and walked away. Ruby was stunned Regina had never been that nice to her before but she had recently begun to see the changes in the former Evil Queen.
Meanwhile, Blue didn't like that Regina was beginning to be accepted. She figured that Regina couldn't be trusted. She was the Evil Queen and the caster of the curse! So Blue went to Gold's shop. Luckily Gold wasn't there at the moment and he didn't leave spells on the shop so it was easy enough to break in. She had heard that Regina had made a sleeping spell to 'help' Charming talk to Snow so she was going to use the rest to 'help' Regina…
Regina did not usually feel this way. She could usually hide behind her impenetrable mask but ever since the curse was broken it was becoming harder and harder to keep the mask up. She was really nervous about the party and she was starting to show it. Plus she still hasn't had time to talk with Henry about her magical problem. Tonight was going to be an interesting night. She got to Granny's diner fairly early - if you considered thirty minutes before the party early. She brought an apple pie (a little jab at Snow - she couldn't help herself plus it was Henry's favorite) and then she noticed the decorations going up in the diner.
There was a 'Happy Birthday' sign being hung up by Ruby - who was standing on a chair and looked like she was about to fall off. As soon as Ruby noticed Regina she started to turn around and said, "Oh hey Regi-"
That's when Ruby started to fall and everyone in the diner gasped. Regina knew the fall would be nasty and she didn't know if it was her natural reaction or if it was because Ruby was nice to her earlier but she used magic to save Ruby. As Ruby fell she expected pain but all she felt was like she was floating on clouds. When she opened her eyes she was floating above the ground just above the fallen chair. Regina stood off a little ways away her eyes and skin glowing - a little duller than before. Regina then put Ruby down and asked, "Are you okay?"
Before Ruby could answer Granny and Grumpy ran up beside her and helped her up. Granny looked at Regina, "I don't want any trouble here. Why don't you leave?"
Regina didn't understand what she did wrong. Sure she did magic but she saved Ruby's life. It didn't make sense. Ruby could see the look in Regina's eyes - the look of confusion, abandonment, devastation, and many other emotions - before Regina forced her mask on. Ruby understood what it was like to not be liked and she wanted to have Regina understand that she understood her so she decided to speak up, "No, she needs to stay. She saved me from falling and didn't do anything wrong so why would she go?"
Granny and Leroy didn't have anything to say so Ruby got up and walked over to Regina, "Thanks for saving me back there. I owe you one."
Regina wasn't used to being shown kindness (especially from people she cursed) so all she could manage was a, "You're welcome."
They stood in awkward silence for a few minutes then Regina finally remembered she brought an apple pie. She picked it up and held it out to Ruby, "I guess it may be a bad time to tell you I brought apple pie?"
Ruby laughed but took the apple pie anyway, "As long as it isn't poisoned I think it'll be okay."
Regina liked this banter she had with Ruby and not the usual bitterness she got from most everyone else, "It's not poisoned but if you don't believe me I'll take the first bite."
Grumpy grumbled, "Good idea."
Red glared at Grumpy then explained, "That may be a good idea to do in front of everyone. A show of good faith, ya know?"
Archie then walked into the diner and looked around at everyone. Noticing their expressions and the fact Regina was there he asked, "Did I miss something?"
Granny went over and took the apple pie from Ruby and set it on the dessert table, "Not at all Jiminy. Now let's all finish decorating."
With that everyone started finish getting the place ready for the guests of honors arrival.
"Are you sure she'll be there?" Henry whispered to Emma as they walked to the diner with Snow and Charming trailing behind them.
"I'm sure she will kid," Emma put an arm around his shoulder for reassurance, "she was really excited to hear that you wanted her there."
"Really?" Henry looked up at her and in that moment he looked more like Regina than ever. She smiled at this and answered, "Really."
As they approached the diner Charming brought Snow closer to him. He looked at her and said, "Make sure to act surprised."
Snow had to hold back from rolling her eyes but she reassured him, "I will."
When they walked into the diner they were met with a loud 'Happy Birthday Snow!' and Henry and Emma immediately sought out Regina from the doorway. When they saw her their smiles grew as big as their faces. Snow really acted surprised and Charming hung back to observe all of their reactions. He stood back and smiled.
As soon as he could Henry ran up to Regina and gave her a hug. Regina held back tears but she was truly happy in that moment. As Granny and Archie passed out alcohol (and ginger ale for Henry) he grabbed Regina's hand to include her in the festivities.
As people were singing happy birthday to Snow Blue snuck back towards the dessert table and dropped a few drops of the sleeping potion on Regina's apple pie. After she saw that it glowed green for a quick second she was satisfied that the potion worked. Blue looked around to see if she was caught when she saw she was in the clear she snuck away.
When it was time to cut the cake Emma went up to Regina and asked if she wanted any cake.
"No thank you I brought my own dessert," replied Regina.
"What? Ours isn't good enough for you?" Emma sassed back.
"If you baked it then no," Regina sneered.
"Just eat the damn cake Regina!" Emma finally had enough and yelled.
"I don't want any Miss Swan!" Regina got in Emma's personal space.
"What are you going to have? Something with apples?" Emma stepped even closer to Regina invading.
Regina backed up as if she was offended by Emma's comment and said, "As a matter of fact I am." She went over to the dessert table and got a piece of apple pie, "Apple pie anyone?"
Snow began, "I don't think that's a good id-"
"Oh, I'll take the first bite so you can see it's not poisoned!" Regina took a forkful of the delicious concoction and ate it slowly. Regina looked from the pie to Emma then Henry. She looked back to Emma and said, "Take care of Henry" before she fell to the floor - asleep.
Emma rushed to Regina and tried to wake her up, "What happened?"
"Told you it was poisoned…" Grumpy said from his barstool.
"It doesn't make any sense though," Henry was now at his both his moms' side, "Why would she do that?"
He tried to wake her by shaking her shoulder, hugging her then finally by apologizing for everything he's done but nothing worked. When Regina continued to sleep Henry started to cry, "It wasn't supposed to be like this. This wasn't supposed to be her happy ending!"
Ruby went up to Regina's piece of pie and sniffed it, "Hey, you guys…this pie smells kinda funny…"
"What do you mean?" asked Snow.
"I mean…what if she was put under a spell or curse or something?" Ruby looked around. She wondered if she could sniff out the extra ingredient, if it was still here. She took another whiff of the apple pit and immediately knew whatever was in the pie was still there. Her nose lead her to Blue, "What did you do?"
Blue looked at all of them in shock, "She cursed all of us here and you act as if I'm the evil one!"
Henry clutched Regina tighter. This broke Emma's heart she jumped up, "She was trying to redeem herself. We should have given her a chance! Especially you! You never saved her from her mother!"
Blue looked away, "I put her under a sleeping potion."
Henry popped up, "Emma! You can break it with True Love's Kiss!"
Emma looked down at Henry then at Regina's sleeping form, "Kid, I don't…."
"Please, just try!" Henry used his patented Puppy Dog Pout.
Emma sat down next to Regina. She looked at Regina - really looked at her - she looked so peaceful. Emma finally bent down and touched her lips to Regina's. A blast of magic could be seen and felt as soon as they kissed. Regina slowly opened her eyes and looked up at Emma.
"What happened?" Regina looked around.
Henry jumped in, "Emma woke you up with True Love's Kiss!"
Everyone stood around them speechless. Snow and Charming could see the happiness in Emma's eyes. They could even see the happiness in Regina's. Snow grabbed Charming's hand and squeezed it; it was a signal that everything was going to be okay.
Regina sat up and stared at Emma, "You saved me?"
Emma shyly looked at her, "Yeah, I have a tendency to do that, huh?"
Regina chuckled at Emma's sudden shyness, "I suppose you do."
Regina then took Emma's hand, "Thank you. Really, thank you"
Emma squeezed Regina's hand, "You're welcome. Like I've said I would do the same thing next time and the time after that. Every time."
Regina leaned in and kissed Emma. Henry smiled at his mother's new found happiness but being a ten year old buy he still wanted some cake so he jumped up and asked, "Can I have some cake now?"
Everyone laughed and partied the night away.
