Title:Teddy
Fandom:Once Upon a Time
Pairings:Swan Queen
Rating:K+
Spoilers:No.
Summary:He gazed the worn, barely-held-together bear with a scrunched face, trying to remember if it had indeed been his at some point. Eventually he slowly shook his head. "No, I don't think so." He then shrugged and started to leave the room, throwing his blonde Mother a quick, "Maybe it's Mom's." before going down the stairs to set up the table.
Author's Note:My birthday is on Tuesday so I figured I'd surprise you all by finishing all my prompts. Prompt from Tumblr: Emma finds out Regina sleeps with a Teddy bear. Angsty if possible.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
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The first time Emma sees the worn out Teddy Bear in the corner of Regina's bed, she chalks it down to being from when Henry was younger and when her son was living with a different household, Regina needed something to remind her of her son. It was something that Emma didn't think too much on, besides, at the time, Regina was throwing her on the bed to ravish her. Anyone would have seen how it could slip past Emma at the time.
The second time, though, Emma eyed the bear with a burning curiosity. Henry had been back to living with Regina for three months, surely the woman wouldn't still need the stuffed creature. Emma stared at the bear, now moved to the chaise, when Henry came in, telling her that dinner was ready. "Hey, kid." She stopped him, calling him back into the room. "Is that yours?"
He gazed the worn, barely-held-together bear with a scrunched face, trying to remember if it had indeed been his at some point. Eventually he slowly shook his head. "No, I don't think so." He then shrugged and started to leave the room, throwing his blonde Mother a quick, "Maybe it's Mom's." before going down the stairs to set up the table.
Emma threw another look at the bear, not understanding why the bear made her feel uneasy, and followed after her son.
That night Emma put Henry to bed, read him three chapters of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, "Maybe Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy are running around Storybrooke."
"Please Emma, like any of that could be real."
And went to the master bedroom that housed the woman with whom she shared a son and many other intimate things, such as kisses, shy hand holding, and mind shattering orgasms. Regina sat with The Vanished Man by Jeffery Deaver on her lap, the Teddy Bear tucked under her arm, mostly hidden under the big fluffy pillows that Regina loved to sleep on.
"You sleep with a stuffed animal?" Emma blurted out at seeing the bear on the bed.
Regina pushed the bear under the pillow as fast as she could. "No I don't."
Emma stepped further into the room. "Yes you do. I saw it."
"You saw wrong." Regina told her stubbornly, arms folded across her chest. A smile appeared on Emma's mouth and Regina knew immediately what the blonde was about to do. The blonde launched herself onto the bed, laying her body over Regina's to hold her down, and shoving her hand under the pillow. Regina fought to push her off, trying to keep the edge of her pillow down.
"Ah-ha!" Emma cried out triumphantly holding the Teddy Bear in the air by the foot.
"Be careful with that, Swan!" Regina reached up to grab it when Emma moved it from her reach.
"I don't think so, Mills." The blonde teasingly shot back, lifting the stuffed bear higher. "I want to know the story behind this bear." Regina opened her mouth when Emma cut her off, "and don't say that its Henry's because I asked him and he didn't know where it came from."
Regina closed her mouth, eying Emma with heavy eyes. Emma couldn't help but feel like she was being assessed, to see if she was worthy of hearing the story of the Teddy Bear that the big bad Evil Queen slept with. Regina eased the air out of her lungs and slumped into the pillows behind her. Her gaze fell to the side.
"He's mine." She mumbled under her breath.
Emma leaned in mockingly. "What was that? I couldn't hear you."
Regina turned a glare on her. "He's mine." She said louder, anger around her words.
"Aw, he? You're Teddy Bear is a boy?" The blonde pouted, a smirk pulling the corners of her lips. "Does he have a name? Mr. Teddy?" Regina's nostrils flared at Emma's mockery of her Teddy Bear. When she said nothing, Emma wiggled him in the air. "Maybe his name is Berry. Or Sir Eviltons."
"His name is Teddy." Regina snarled, throwing her hand up so suddenly that it took Emma off guard enough that Regina tugged the stuffed animal from her careless grasp. Emma sat back on her haunches as she saw how Regina frantically checked over the small bear that was really only just bigger than Regina's two hands. The brunette let out a sigh of relief when she saw that the creature was completely intact. Leaning forward, Regina pressed Teddy to her face.
"Regina?" Emma asked as she saw Regina's shoulders move too quickly.
"My grandfather gave him to me," Regina whispered, "when I was a child."
Emma moved to sit next to Regina instead of on top of her. "Your Dad's Dad or your Mother's…"
"My Mother's Father." Regina pulled the bear away from her face, but not too far. Her fingers lightly scratched the light colored fur on Teddy's belly. "I wasn't allowed toys as a child." The brunette continued softly. "Mother thought they were too childish and would hold me back from learning to become a proper lady." Regina remembered her Father trying to give her toys. Her Mother always found them and they would meet their untimely end at her Mother's magic.
"That sucks." Emma cringed at her own response. "I'm sorry, Regina."
Regina shrugged. "It wasn't like I was missing much. I didn't know there was something to be missed, so it hadn't affected me as much when I was younger." She didn't want Emma to know she was completely baffled on what to do for Henry when he was growing up. "My Grandfather didn't come around often. I think Mother was ashamed of him and where she came from, but he was a kind man, a noble man." Regina nodded to herself as her Grandfather's sweet, aged, smiling face swam into her eyes.
"He brought this on his last visit. He made me promise to hide it from Mother and take good care of it because it was once his and my Mother's and it would only be right to pass it on to me." Emma placed a hand on her knee for comfort as Regina sniffled, trying to hold back tears. "We received word that he died a moon later."
"And you're sure it was my Father?" Cora questioned the man at the door with a soft voice that Regina had never heard in her life. The young man held his hat to his chest and bowed his head solemnly.
"Yes, Ma'am. You are the Miller's daughter, correct?"
Regina's eyes tripled in size, sure she was about to witness the death of a poor young boy who didn't know not to call her Mother that. Regina watched as her Mother's back stiffened before her head nodded. "Yes. The Miller was my Father."
"I'm real sorry, Ma'am."
Regina watched as Cora nodded and shut the door on the boy. The little girl hid herself behind the corner where she stood and watched in horrid fascination as her Mother cried. She had never seen the woman so much as tear up. A cold shiver ran up the child's spine and she ran from her hiding spot to her room.
Making sure the door was shut firmly behind her, Regina crawled under her bed to the back corner where the little bear sat, awaiting her eventual return.
"Grandfather passed, Teddy." The girl whispered into the bear's ear. "It's just you and me now."
Emma pulled Regina's head to her shoulder, rocking them in what Emma hoped was a comforting motion. "I'm so sorry, Regina."
"This is the only toy I've ever…" The brunette stumbled over her words.
"Shhh, I know." Emma kissed the crown of her head. "I'm sorry, Regina. I never meant…I'm sorry." Regina didn't move and Emma didn't stop rocking until she saw that Regina had fallen asleep, Teddy pressed close to her chest. Emma turned off the lamp closest to her and eased both of them into the mattress.