Extended Summary: Written for Day 1 Celebrity AU of the 8th bi-annual Swan Queen Week (Winter 2017)
Regina Mills is a young high profile celebrity suffering the backlash of bad press from a recent engagement gone wrong. Emma Swan is a small town Deputy attending Storybrooke's police academy and raising her son. When Regina's sent to the sleepy town of Storybrooke for a week to "lay low" and check on one of her mother's little charities, these two ladies cross paths. The revelation of a few family secrets may very well drive them apart or bring them together.
Regina was not the type of person who would usually sleep in late. From a young age, the importance of rising early was practically hammered into her under the strict tutelage of one, Cora Mills.
But here she was, sprawled across her duvet, nursing a hangover she was sure was going to kill her if her mother didn't do it first. She knew she'd overdone it last night, but she'd had no control over herself after Katheryn and Belle had decided to talk about exes.
Katheryn had stayed over – slept in her bed, if she remembered correctly.
"Time to wake up, sleepyhead!" the blonde in question's voice boomed way too loud against Regina's still too sensitive ears and the brunette grimaced. The woman was always entirely way too perky on mornings for Regina's liking.
She scrunched her face in annoyance and simply pulled the comforter even closer to her body when she felt the woman attempting to tug it off. There was an annoyed huff from the blonde and Regina grumbled to herself, snuggling further into the warmth of the bed.
"Mmm, go away." Regina whispered in a soft gravelly voice, tiredly waving a hand in the other woman's general direction. The law student gave an impatient eye roll as she opted to ignore her best friend's request and instead marched over to the window and tugged those dark curtains aside.
Light spilled into the room, brilliant and overbearing and Regina whimpered pathetically, burying her head further beneath a mass of pillows muttering a slew of curse words that had Katheryn raising an eyebrow.
"Come on Dracula, we're in enough shit as it is without you being a massive pain in the ass this morning."
It earned her an automatic pout.
"It's a gorgeous day! The sun is up, the birds are chirping, your newest blockbuster movie's trending and your Mother's here to see you."
Regina froze at the last few words. She sighed heavily, and with one final yank she allowed Kathryn to pry her blankets away and shove a glass of water and some Advil into her outstretched palms.
"How are you always so perky at," Regina blinked heavily at the clock. "Midday? Shit."
"I did my yoga." Katheryn sat down next to her. "Your mom's waiting."
"To chew me up and spit me out." She mused. "What? No breakfast in bed?" Regina inquired, earning her a glower from her hazel-eyed friend.
"I'm your friend, not your freaking maid."
"I'm not facing her without at least having my morning coffee." Regina grumbled.
"It's midday." Katheryn stated simply, folding her arms.
"It's Sunday." Regina echoed her tone.
Katheryn ignored her, opting instead to browse through her friend's personal DVD collection while the latter finally managed to sit up on the bed.
"Do you actually own any movies that aren't Star Wars or Star Wars related and don't star the late Snow White?" Kathryn rolled her eyes.
"Princess Leia was an iconic role."
"I wouldn't know, never watched the movies."
"I don't even know why I keep you around, that's practically sacrilegious."
"I'm around cause you're secretly in love with my amazing self." The blonde smirks. Regina scoffs.
"And you're so humble too."
Katheryn hums contentedly. "Levántate, por favor." And Regina's back to glaring at her.
"That's incredibly racist Kathryn, I don't even speak Spanish."
Cora Mills, manager and notable hard-ass of Mills Enterprise was sitting, lips pursed, eyes hard, back ramrod straight in her office chair – on the other side of town. Regina turned to glare at Katheryn who gave a feeble shrug and proceeded to raid Regina's pantry.
Coming closer to the laptop perched on her coffee table, Regina enlarged the Skype window and sighed heavily.
"What did I do to deserve this honor?" She intones dryly.
Cora apparently doesn't even deign her disheveled appearance worthy of appraisal. She just picks up her iPad and plays a video as Regina settles herself against the couch in her living room, still dressed in her navy blue silk pajamas with her morning coffee.
It's with a growing sense of trepidation that she finds herself the spectacle of another TMZ video. Katheryn and Belle were holding onto her, shielding her from the worse of the paparazzi assault with as much of their bodies as they could but it was obvious by the way Regina's legs wobbled and her head lolled about that she was drunk out of her mind.
She grimaced, internally berating herself as she recalled the events of last night.
She'd simply wanted a girl's night out to get her mind off of the scandal of her failed engagement to Robin from a few weeks ago and the disappointment that followed when she'd been dropped from a few new projects because of it.
And if she allowed herself to let someone take her home, it was just for one night.
Just to forget.
It had become a sort of pattern that she wasn't proud of but it gave her a vague sense of…freedom.
At least, that's what she's been telling herself.
Clearly Regina had developed a self-destructive pattern by the way she was handling the situation and by the looks of things, those scums at TMZ had been keeping close tabs on her, cranking out these weekly videos that suddenly had her mother intervening.
But last night was a bit different. As the night had worn on, Katheryn had accidentally let it slip that Cora was responsible for running her first boyfriend Daniel out of town. That in itself had Regina's mood spiraling into dark places and she'd chugged back way too many shots and found herself slipping into a blissful drunken haze.
In the video, the paparazzi were buzzing around her like flies, taking unflattering pictures and asking questions that Regina's sure would have landed them a fist to the face had she been sober.
"Regina, is this you spiraling into depression because Robin played you?"
"Were you drunk on set last month?"
"Some of your co-stars dished on your extremely hot love life, care to comment?"
"Planning on hooking up with anyone tonight? Are we going to see her, or him?"
"Are you still friends with Robin?"
"Do you still get along with Zelena?"
Cora pauses the TMZ video to glare daggers at her youngest daughter. Regina just raises an eyebrow at the woman before sitting up and folding her arms.
"Care to comment on your latest dalliance into debauchery? Or do you simply have a love for being sleazy trending topics started by TMZ?"
Regina's immediately on the defense, placing her coffee on the table as Katheryn pours herself some fruit juice that smells suspiciously like it was mixed with some whiskey.
"The paparazzi always blow things out of proportion. Belle and I were working, gathering press for our new movie and Katheryn joined us. It was just a girl's night, nothing bad happened."
A tight pull at the corner of her mother's lips let's Regina know that she's not successful in convincing the woman.
"Yes, I'm aware of how hard you work, dear. Whore of the city, is quite a title to maintain." Regina bristles at the comment, jaw tight as she glares daggers back at her mother. Cora sighs then, folding her arms in that imposing manner that has Regina feeling just about five inches tall. "When will this rebellious streak end, Regina?" Cora asks pointedly. "You're no longer a teenager."
"Yes, I'm simply a twenty-three year old who still has her mother's claws stifling every aspect of her goddamn life."
"Language, dear." Cora chastises, quite predictably. Regina rolls her eyes. "Henry gave you too much leeway when you were younger."
"If Daddy was here –"
"I'm tired of being pulled out of my meetings to come running every single time TMZ or another of those trashy magazines spotlights you. I've politely asked you to adhere to an abstinence period which you've neglected to heed. And really now, getting drunk at some low-class bar and pole dancing with strippers? That's a little eccentric even for you."
Regina's face colors and she's about to ask her mother how she even knew about that when Cora simply cuts her off. "Your fans posted videos online." Regina face palms herself.
"You don't know me." She mutters and Cora simply sighs like Regina was this big inconvenience she was being forced to deal with. "Its bad press, especially right before your big movie hits theaters. This is absurd. Robin's working hard to rectify the problem, give it another chance he –"
"No. Not everything I do is about him." Regina cuts in icily. "It was just some harmless drinking, I'm not trying to actively sabotage everything I've worked for."
"Could have fooled me, dear. Are you forgetting who's in control here?" And Regina just glowers. "I'm not saying this to belittle you, darling. Simply to get you to exercise some control yourself."
Regina gives her a condescending smile, turning to Katheryn and stealing her drink. She ignores the paper Katheryn shoves into her hands and the glare the blonde gives her as Regina gulps down the rest of the awful fruity whiskey drink she had concocted before standing up.
"Control myself hmm." She muses. "Like the way you did when you ran Daniel out of town."
If Cora's taken aback by the sudden change in topic, she doesn't let on. Instead, she sighs heavily, not giving an inch.
"You're letting your emotions dictate your actions, Regina."
"Oh am I really? Or he just wasn't part of your plan for me right?!" She practically shouts. But Cora deflects.
"Do have some decorum, dear." Her mother chastises in that grating manner. "Especially regarding things you cannot prove."
Regina's awfully incensed. "I'm not a simpering child, stop trying to control every little thing I do."
"You certainly do act the part."
And you're a high strung bitch who doesn't give a damn beyond expanding your company. You never pay much attention to your daughters and I'm constantly amazed we're related when you treat us like chest pieces and brush us aside like specs of dust beneath your pitch fork is what she really wants to say.
But what comes out is an almost tearful. "You'd think that no matter what I did." She bristles, scolding herself as her chest tightens when Cora gives her that condescending look.
Cora tsks, "Oh darling, this again? Maybe I should remove you from Doctor Hopper's care since he seems to not be having any breakthrough with those…multiple issues of yours."
Regina grinds her teeth. "I don't have issues."
"Your publicist and I have decided that you need a break from the spotlight. You need some good publicity, a charity perhaps. I've faxed the list to you." She finally looks at the paper Katheryn had shoved into her hands. "Pick one or I will."
Regina crushes the paper against her palm. Cora glares. "I don't care about what you or that poor excuse for a publicist think of me, I'm fine."
"Well you should care, your career is on the line. The tabloids are having a field day with you, some of the movie deals Aurora had secured are starting to pull back. It's a shame really."
Regina scoffs. "They weren't what I wanted any way."
"Don't test me, Regina. I am your mother, you will listen to me."
Regina just smiles widely into the camera.
"Goodbye, mother." She croons sweetly before slamming the laptop shut.
Regina's still simmering with rage when she's being escorted to a private helicopter a few days later. Cora apparently being very serious about the charity work thing.
She was informed that over the course of the night some of her things had been shipped to a little police academy in Maine that her mother was looking to start funding.
Zelena had been the one to deliver the news with such an innocent smile and calm demeanor that it had Regina tense.
Somebody save me … god… She had tweeted with an accompanying selfie that made her look like a sad puppy.
"Regina, we need to get past this." Zelena had finally found the courage to implore just when they'd entered the helicopter. But Regina had paid her no mind, jamming her headphones into her ears and shuffling the songs on her phone. "We're doing this for your own good."
Regina promptly ignores her.
"I know I can't change what happened but I –"
"Don't." Regina snarls. "Don't act like everything is okay between us because it's not."
"We should talk though, get everything out in the open."
"You slept with my fiancé." Regina folds her arms. "That's as open as I'm getting about it. I don't want details."
"Regina." Zelena huffs. "Let me tell you what happened."
"You know, I actually kind of expected this from him but not from you."
"Kitty, I'm so –"
"Just go back to your little Broadway plays Zee." Regina bites out testily and they both spend the rest of the plane ride with hurt expression and awkwardly avoiding the other's eyes.
Cora calls just when they're exiting the plane with some last minute reminders and information that Regina's too angry to pay attention to.
"Do try to enjoy yourself, sweetheart." Are her mother's departing words. "Maybe this trip might help you to grow up a little."
Regina's jaw is so tight and that vein in her forehead is pulsing and Zelena's sure she's just about ready to burst a blood vessel.
She hugs her sister any way, well aware of how tense she had become and watched her step out of the helicopter with sad eyes.
Storybrooke looked…quaint…for lack of a better word.
The only B&B in town was booked solid, some weird two day festival over the weekend dedicated to miners that actually attracted a sizable crowd being the reason to blame.
It left Regina miffed and she cursed her mother's stupid decision to send her to check up on one of her little side projects at a most inopportune time.
But then salvation came in the form of Sheriff David Nolan, who she'd realized had humbly offered the room she could stay in at the police academy.
David had been apologizing profusely for the lack of space since she'd exited the private helicopter and the actress had all but forgiven the issue.
Regina was grateful – until she realized that she would be sharing said room. Dressed in way too much leather for the suffocating warmth of Maine air, Regina had sighed heavily, way too stressed to even contemplate changing. She had felt too exhausted to grumble and demand that she get the room herself.
"Take me to this roommate." She'd instructed the graying man, who'd promptly lead her out of the room, down some stairs and into a few big rooms and corridors that she was sure she'd get lost in quite a few times.
They're passing another of those big halls with workout equipment when Regina spots a blonde woman doing some seriously impressive somersaults.
She's wearing a tank top and sweat pants with the academy logo which, not that impressive, but what does impress Regina is when she grabs hold of the gymnastic rings and tugs herself up making those lightly muscled arms stand out.
It's like a beacon to the actress, who hones in on the tight way that those supposed sweats cling to a firm ass and she's almost swooning when those contrasting long tresses of blonde hair is being whipped aside and tied into a high ponytail.
Regina gets stuck on the woman – long blonde princess curls, mysterious emerald eyes, nice ass and strength to boot.
She's downright intrigued.
It's this that has her actively walking into the big hall, not paying a single attention to David Nolan's chattering. The blonde swoops down from the rings and jumps back, startled when she suddenly bounces into another person.
"I-I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking and I –"
"Honestly, does everyone in Maine tend to be overtly apologetic?" Regina drawls idly and pleasantly smiles to herself at the shock on the woman's face. There's the moment of dawning recognition in the blonde's eyes and Regina knows the exact moment when she realizes just who she had ran into.
Her lips move to form words but nothing coherent comes out and she's left floundering. It's entirely comedic to Regina, who simply reaches up the few inches between their faces to place a finger beneath the woman's chin.
"You'll catch flies if you keep doing that, dear." Regina arches an eyebrow at the flustered woman and the blonde politely takes a step back, handing Regina the purse that she hadn't realized had been knocked out from her hands.
David chuckles. "Maybe it's just genetic." He flings an arm around the young blonde's shoulder. "Miss Mills, this is my Deputy and daughter Emma."
"Deputy." She muses, Emma blushes. "And David for the love of God, don't call me that, I'm just Regina." She raises an eyebrow as she allows her eyes to drift back to Emma. She raises a hand. "Regina Mills."
David and Emma exchange a look as Emma shakily accepts the outstretched hand. "Hi." Emma breathes and Regina finds herself intrigued at the depth of emerald eyes as they blatantly drift down her leather jacket and equally form fitting leather pants.
"Since this was planned rather last minute we haven't had the time to prepare a single room so you'll be bunking with Emma for the time being." David interjects.
"Sorry, when, uh you, I." Emma stutters out, finally dropping her hand and gesturing to their bodies.
"And she speaks!" Regina muses aloud. Emma feels the rush of heat that covers her cheeks all the way down to her neck and immediately ducks her head.
"She's a big fan of yours." David interjects with an awkward little wink and Regina smiles then as Emma groans.
"Dad." She mutters with a roll of her eyes, shrugging off the man's arm from around her shoulders.
"Is she always like this?" Regina teased.
"I-I didn't mean to um that but I um, I, yeah. Sorry. Bye." Emma manages to string an incoherent sentence together and she's cursing herself as she turns on her heels, face burning and palms sweating.
Regina smiled idly to herself, thinking the blonde Deputy would probably need some serious coaxing to get over this little speech impediment if they were going to actively be roommates for the week she was staying there.
She's shown the rest of the place, which, not as interesting when her eyes keep scanning every room for a flash of blonde hair, something about the blonde woman making her want to search for her in every inch of this enormous compound.
After a few hours of pleasantries, meeting the other heads in charge and signing some autographs and taking pictures with some of the academy students practically tripping over themselves to get to her, she's then escorted back to her room by David where she sees her sister waiting for her and her mood does a complete one-eighty.
"Thank you, David." She says cordially, or as cordially as she can while she's furiously texting Katheryn and Belle all of the details of her mother and sister's betrayal.
Emma was still embarrassed at her initial meeting with the famous actress.
As soon as she had managed to get her bumbling self out of Regina's sight and out the room, she'd slumped against the wall where Ruby had found her.
"God, she's beautiful Rubes." Emma groans and Ruby arches an eyebrow, noting the reverent way Emma clutched her chest. She was practically swooning and Ruby chuckled.
"You've got it bad for Mills."
"Hey not many can boast that they were a major part of the Harry Potter franchise."
"I don't blame you, she's totally hot as the bad girl Slytherin turned good." Ruby teases, Emma swats at her. "You're a lucky bastard."
"She's just…" Emma sighs breathlessly. "and I barely said anything coherent. She probably thinks I'm weird."
"Man up or at least girl up and talk to her!" Ruby shoves her lightly and Emma shifts a bit uncomfortably.
"I said like three sentences to her."
"Which were?"
"Incomplete and too embarrassing to ever repeat."
Ruby's resounding laughter echoes off the walls of their corridor then and Emma shrinks even more into the wall in her embarrassment. The brunette amusingly declares that Emma has no game whatsoever and Emma pointedly slapped her upside the head and declared that Ruby was no help at all.
The rest of the evening passes in a sort of blur for the young Deputy, checking in with her father and her four year old son as she settles in for another night at the academy. It's with some intense concentration that she manages to school her features into some form of feigned nonchalance when Regina entered the dorm room to prepare for bed.
This was Regina freaking Mills, her brain screamed.
The woman who played one of Harry Potter's descendants in that well known TV series that was so popular the tickets to cons always sold out before Emma could even manage to get onto the website without it crashing. Regina was so talented and the recipient of multiple awards and a whole legion of fans that included Emma who was freaking the hell out.
She was also the woman who was now actively undressing right in front of Emma.
Emma's eyes went wide at the sight of smooth olive skin and she turned on her side of the bed to face the wall, unaware that Regina had gone into the bathroom and continued in there.
When they were finally settled that night on opposite sides of the room in their respective beds, the silence had begun to strain on them both.
Their conversations that night turned even more stilted and awkward and Emma was unaware of how much it irked Regina.
It was just so hard for the blonde to remain cool around the woman.
Suddenly Emma had an idea. Booting up her laptop, she bravely decided to cross over to Regina's side of the room, handing over the device to the actress with a slideshow of pictures she had excitedly put together the day before.
There wasn't a lot of pictures, but she showed Regina the entirety of little Storybrooke and some of its inhabitants.
"Nice town." Regina comments idly as Emma points out pictures of people like Mayor Gold and Sheriff David when they blink across the screen.
"It's really nice of you guys to want to consider sponsoring the academy." Emma tells her in her first coherent long sentence since they'd met. Regina turns on her side, allowing Emma to slip in a bit closer on the bed.
"Mm." Regina hums, eyes lightly tracing the features of the blonde outlined by the dim light of the screen. "Giving back is so important." Regina finds herself parroting one of the lines her mother's fed to her and she's momentarily disgusted with herself. "Can I go through these again?"
Emma's still trying hard to be calm, knees bouncing with nervous energy and she just nods, getting up and crossing over to her own bed.
There's silence in the room again as Emma goes through her phone, smiling idly at the pictures David sent her a few hours earlier of her baby boy tucked in bed. Henry was sprawled across the mattress and Emma reverently traced the contours of his tiny face, marveling at that little smile he seemed to have even when unconscious to the world.
A few minutes later she's utterly unprepared for the melodic laughter that falls from Regina's lips.
It soft and husky and all kinds of sexy and immediately has Emma's stomach in absolute knots.
And then Emma's scampering towards the actress's bed and pulling her own laptop away from a grinning Regina when with dawning horror she realizes what her wallpaper was.
"Not a word." Emma grits out and Regina raises a smug eyebrow.
"Ooo, testy or I suppose I should say you like them chesty."
"Shut up." Emma can feel her face burning as she frantically changes her incriminating wallpaper.
"I look damn good as Superwoman, don't you think?" Regina winks and Emma almost swallows her tongue. "Though my breasts aren't actually that size, dear. That was a bit of an exaggeration on your part." and Emma glares.
"I - I didn't draw this." She grumbles out.
"No need to be ashamed." Regina muses. "I enjoy fanart in all forms."
"Whatever." Emma mutters.
"It's true." Regina insists, pulling out her phone and showing Emma the folder she had of saved fanart. Some were beautiful portraits and others veered into modest nudity to quite raunchy. Emma felt herself almost shaking when Regina stopped on a full body nude portrait, actively trying her best to control her breathing when she locked eyes with amused dark ones.
She wanted to joke back or scold the woman for teasing her like this but Emma's mouth wouldn't cooperate.
"Also, just a heads up the next time you lend someone your laptop, you might also want to clear your history first." Regina raises a challenging eyebrow and the horrified expression that crosses Emma's face has her laughing again.
The blonde crosses hurriedly to the other side of the room and switches off the laptop, plunging the room into darkness once more.
Regina's still giggling, little amused chuckles that Emma tries hard not to find endearing. She grumbles and tells the actress to shut up and go to sleep as she buries her head beneath her pillow and pulls out her phone to set an alarm for the next day.
Hi! So this was initially going to be a reallyyyyy long one-shot but I decided to split it up cause i'm still writing the rest.
This story is un-beta'ed. Mostly because I'm continuously making so many changes. It'll probably have 4 chapters for the most.
Always kinda intimidated posting stuff in this fandom but I'm opened to constructive criticism. Thanks for reading!