Rock On

"Happy Birthday!" Emma's Mom and Dad exclaimed as her Mother handed her a white envelope. There was no writing on it and it was so light.

"Umm, thanks," Emma said lackluster. She thought her only Birthday gift would be more grandiose.

"Well, aren't you going open it," her father, David, questioned her.

"Oh, yeah sure Dad," Emma said as she quickly tore the seal open. She pulled out the folded white piece of paper.

"Hmm…" Emma said as she unfolded the paper and read it. As she was reading it, her mother and father wrapped an arm around each other.

Suddenly, Emma's head shot up. "No way!"

"Yes, way," her Mom said with a smile. "But wait! There's more!" She put her finger on her ear and pretended to be a game show announcer.

Emma's interest was definitely piqued now. She looked in the envelope and saw the ticket.

"Holy shit," Emma exclaimed, excitedly.

Her Dad smirked. "So, Emma, where is the seat?"

When Emma inspected the ticket, she bolted up from her chair. "Front row?!"

Her parents smiled at her brightly.

Then Emma fell back into the chair and the tears were streaming down her cheeks.

"Oh, honey, I hope those are happy tears!" Her Mom sweetly asked.

"Of course. You got me a front row ticket to a … REGINA MILLS CONCERT! How could I ever be sad after this?"

Emma flew out of the chair and almost knocked her parents over in a huge embrace.

"Thank you," Emma said, genuinely.

"Aww! You're welcome…"

"I gotta go call someone…anyone…"

Emma turned to run up the stairs, but her father said, "Oh, Emma, catch!"

Her father threw a piece of heavy, laminated paper at his daughter. It was attached to some kind of strong string. Emma caught it with one hand and looked down at it. She held it in her hands for a few seconds.

Is this real? She asked herself.

Sure enough Emma was holding in her hand a picture of her Goddess, Regina Mills. Under the photo "VIP Backstage Pass" was written in big, bold red letters.

"No," Emma said disbelieving.

"Yup," her Mom said, excitedly.

"Backstage?!" Emma began jump up and down around the entire first floor of their home. When she returned to the living room, she hugged her parents tightly again. "You truly have no idea what this means to me!"

Her parents hugged their only daughter tightly. "I think we do," her Mom said as she rubbed Emma's back lovingly.

For Emma, finding Regina and her music has truly saved her. She had a person to look up to. She found immense comfort in Regina's songs and the person Emma knew Regina to be. They haven't met yet, unless you count Regina's social media pages. Emma immediately became a friend on Facebook, a follower on Twitter, and has been on her website countless times. Regina doesn't have too many songs, but Emma knows them all and can relate to most of them.

To say that Emma was excited was the understatement of the year.


Regina got settled into her luxurious hotel room the day of the concert. She usually stayed in much less desirable hotels, but the label finally caught on that those, sometimes, weren't safe.

"Ugh, another town," she mumbled to herself, but her manager, Archie, heard.

"Yeah, I'm sorry, Reggie, but you're almost done with these. Then you can take a break for a few weeks…"

"Weeks?"

"Yeah, you made contractual commitments," Archie said.

"Hmm," Regina said while she was in a haze. "Where are we?"

"Storybrooke, Maine," Archie replied, "You're playing the Storybrooke Square Garden!" He tried to get her excited.

"Meh," Regina replied as she shrugged her shoulders.

"Listen, Reggie, I know it's hard and that you've spent a long time away from Ruby, but you're almost done…."

Regina's head raised when she heard, "Ruby".

"Well, there's a solved problem…"

"What? You two broke up?" Archie was shocked.

Regina only nodded her head.

"I'm sorry," Archie replied, solemnly.

"Yeah, she couldn't handle the 'business', I guess," Regina whispered out.

"Oh," he replied.

"Anyway, what time is sound check?"

"Two," Archie replied.

Regina looked at her watch. "It's only 10. What am I supposed to do for four hours?!" She sighed

"Well," Archie thought, but came up with no suggestions.

"I need to get outta this room," Regina said as she stood up from the chair.

"Um, do you think that's a good idea?"

"I don't care if it isn't. I'll wear a disguise," Regina said and walked away.

Archie sat there and scratched his head.

Regina left the room and, as promised, wore big, black sunglasses and a big black hat. Honestly, she thought it was pointless seeing that she'd only had a few hits. She really didn't think she was that recognizable. Don't get her wrong she was happy for those hits, but she hadn't truly found "fame".

As she walked around the quaint little town, she liked it. The citizens, for the most part, were friendly. They'd stop momentarily and wave and then keep going. Regina gravitated towards the docks. She enjoyed looking out to the enormous ocean. It made her life and problems seem less huge and troublesome.

As she stood with her arms dangling over the low railing, she thought about Ruby and where she was and what she might be doing.

"Did I fight hard enough to keep her or did I just let her go?" she asked herself aloud. This was always her problem, she found. She'd meet a woman, eventually fall in love with her, and then her life would get in the way. She never seemed to fight for them to stay. She never re-arranged her life. She never made herself available to them, both physically and emotionally. So did she love them at all? Regina will never know.

She was so caught up in her thinking that she didn't hear the voice behind her. That is until it yelled, "Don't jump!"

Regina spun around and looked at the person who screamed. In front of Regina stood a blonde goddess. Regina was speechless and that almost never happens. The stranger approached her cautiously.

"I know that whatever you're dealing with may seem horrible. And this might be a good option, but listen, it's not," the stranger said.

Regina raised her hand in the air. "No, I was-"

The stranger grabbed her hand and pulled Regina to safety.

They collided and fell against each other. They landed so that Regina was lying on top of the beautiful woman who smirked up at her.

Regina fumbled off of the woman and extended her hand out to assist her up. The stranger grabbed her hand and was pulled to her feet.

"Thank you," the stranger said, meekly, "Are you okay, Miss?"

"Oh, yeah, I wasn't gonna jump, just so you know," Regina said.

"Oh…awkward, then…I noticed you standing here for a long time so I thought," the stranger said with a nervous smile. She looked down at her sneakers.

"Thank you," Regina said boldly and the stranger's head shot up.

"You're welcome," she said. She looked at her watch and hurriedly said, "I gotta go!" She ran away.

"Uh, bye," Regina waved at the stranger's fleeting shadow. She looked at her own watch and said, "Wow…1:30…that went fast!"

She walked back to her hotel to get ready and go to the sound check.


Even though she was going alone, Emma didn't mind. Her love of Regina Mills was something solely for her and she holds it very close to her heart. Not even her best friend knew.

She picked up a sandwich and a Coke from the deli and then drove to the venue.

"Storybrooke Square Garden! I am so excited!"

When she was there, she parked her truck and opened the trunk door down so she could eat her sandwich. She finished her Coke and was so excited to see her idol in concert.

"Wonder if she'll take a picture with me?"

Emma ran to the gate and even though it was still early she entered the arena. She took it all in. Sure, she had been there before, but never for a front row, Regina Mills concert. "Nose bleed" seats, yes. Not front row.

She walked over to the tee shirt vendor and asked to see a black tee shirt with Regina's beautiful face on it. Also since Regina's favorite flower was the rose, there were artificial ones to purchase. She pointed to the shirt and a rose.

"How much?"

"Fifteen," replied the salesperson.

She dug into her wallet and pulled out fifteen dollars, handed it in and received a medium sized tee shirt and the rose. She thanked the person and flung the shirt over her shoulder and held the rose proudly. As she was walking away, she thought, "Go put it on!"

She found the nearest bathroom and the nearest stall. She put the rose in her purse and then she took her top off to replace it with the tee shirt. She then stuffed the original shirt in her cross body bag. She felt better because she knew she'd be sweaty later. She threw her VIP backstage pass around her neck.

She started to head to her seat with her head held high. She felt important. This is a feeling that she, most of the time, didn't feel. But for that night she did.

As she approached the front row Emma began to get nervous.

Calm down Swan!

She took some calming breathes and centered herself. She found her seat to be dead center, right in front of the microphone stand.

"Holy shit," she exclaimed as she wildly air punched. She jumped up and down and the people around her smiled.

"I'm just happy," she told the crowd.

They smiled.

A little while later, the arena was packed with screaming, hollering and overly excited Regina Mills fans. Emma was pleased to find that she wasn't the only "over twenty" fan there. Regina's music resonated with everyone, no matter what age.

Pretty soon the lights flickered and some lyric less music began to play.

Emma's adrenaline was pumping so fast. She felt like she would have a heart attack. Again she took some calming breathes. That seemed to work until the house lights went off and the crowd erupted in applause.

In a matter of seconds, Regina Mills herself appeared on stage.


Regina walked, confidently, up to the microphone and said, "How's everyone feelin' tonight?" Regina stood and smiled out at the crowding of her adoring fans.

"You know, I totally appreciate everything you guys are doing for me to shine," Regina started to say. She removed the microphone from its stand and began to walk back and forth on the stage, in front of her band. "You guys allow me to make the music that I want to make and not what the label wants me to make."

The crowd applauded wildly. "Hey, Regina! You're sexy," one man beamed loudly. Regina blushed and said, "Thank you…Anyway, I wanted to say thanks for sticking by me. I know there's so many other places you could be right now. I also know that you've spent your hard earned money on the tickets. Just know how grateful I am."

Again the crowd erupted in thunderous applause. While the clapping went on she and her band began the first song. When the chorus hit, Regina swayed her one arm back and forth. Pretty soon the entire arena was swaying their arms back in forth like she was.

When the song ended, she put the microphone back on the stand and tried to control her breathing. "You guys rock!" Regina said out of breath to thunderous applause.

When the crowd quieted down, Regina pulled a stool into the spotlight. She sat down and took another big gulp of air. She said, "So this next song is pretty new. In fact, the band doesn't know it. Ha-ha! It's something I've started to work on. Hope you enjoy it."

Emma was shocked that the sold-out crowd who had been so loud could be so quiet. This, to her, proved Regina's influence not only on her, but on her other fans.

"This is called, 'Don't Even Know'," Regina said. She then took a big breath and began to hum. Everyone was anxiously awaiting the first line.

You came into my life and then ran away

Oh how I wish you could have stayed.

Talked wit me for a while.

How I'd love to see one of your smiles.

But you ran away

Without tellin' me your name.

So I'm sittin' here and I … and I …

Don't even know.

The crowd was really into the song.

Behind the scene, Archie held his tape recorder out so that he'd get the whole song so that they could properly record it. "I smell new single," he said, excitedly.

Back on stage, Regina was joined by her guitarist who strummed some chords.

You're an angel in disguise

Savin' me from myself.

Why do I get the feeling that we'd pass every test

That Life could throw at us.

Goosebumps is what I felt

When I first heard your voice yellin' at me.

U don't even know

That you've intrigued me.

Don't even know if you'd care.

Just know that you scare

My insides are all in knots.

Heart is jumpin' outta its spot.

Brain is on overdrive

Mouth is waterin'

All cuz …

You came into my life and then ran away

Oh how I wish you could have stayed.

Talked wit me for a while.

How I'd love to see one of your smiles.

But you ran away

Without tellin' me your name.

So I'm sittin' here and I … and I …

Don't even know.

Regina pulled her head from the microphone. The guitarist knew that meant that she was finished singing. He played them out. The entire room was eerily quiet. When the guitar stopped playing the crowd again erupted in applause. Regina couldn't truly make it out, but she believed that some people who had sat down to take a rest were on their feet applauding her wildly. Emma chose that moment to toss the rose onto the stage and hoped it landed close to her. Emma's luck was with her as the rose landed in front of Regina while she was looking at the floor. She bent down and picked it up. Unfortunately, she couldn't see who threw it because of the lighting, but Emma was happy it landed close to her.

"Thank you," Regina said sincerely, "It's almost the end of our time together…"

"Boo," the crowd playfully answered.

"I know, right…who wants one more song?"

Obviously her fans applauded wildly and Regina gave them one more song.

After it was over, Regina and her band took their final bow and quickly exited the stage. The crowd chanted, "Regina! Regina! Regina!" she ran out back out there and waved at her adoring fans. Then she exited stage.