A/N: Hello! This is the third installment of my A Serendipitious Encounter universe. If you haven't read that fic and its sequel (A Montréal Excursion), you should probably do that first so that this will make sense...each one is 60k-ish, so it shouldn't take too long. I know a few of you have binged one or both in one weekend, so it can be done ;) You might be able to follow along even if you haven't read the first two, but the backstory is important to explain how the two women got to where they are/why they are who they are, and how other people tie in (this story will definitely be focused on SQ, but other characters will pop in and out as needed...per some reader requests, you will see more of Regina's castmates in at least one chapter, since they haven't been seen since the first fic in the series).
This fic will be written as snapshots into the lives of Regina and Emma post-Emma's move for her new job and post-Regina's separation from Robin. Each chapter will likely jump ahead in order to keep things moving, as both of the previous fics took place over a very short period of time, and I want SQ to be able to progress more quickly now that they're in it to win it. For the most part, each chapter will be able to stand on its own as a one shot (with an occasional cliffhanger or two-parter), but there will be threads that tie all the chapters together/things that happen in one chapter may be setting the stage for something a few chapters later. So, it's kind of a hybrid between oneshots and a regular multi-chapter fic. The lengths will probably vary widely, depending on how much needs to happen in each chapter's scenario.
Anyway, let's get started. This first chapter was the original epilogue to AME, but when I decided to do another sequel I wrote a new epilogue to take place at an earlier point in time so this one could be the launching point for the final fic. (I posted this at the same time as the epilogue to AME, so if you received the email notification about my new fic and clicked on it before reading the epilogue, go and read that one first). This takes place three weeks after the AME epilogue. I hope you enjoy!
October 15, 6pm
Emma placed the last of her boxes on the floor of her new apartment — well, technically it was Regina's apartment. Per Regina's suggestion, they had drawn up a formal lease agreement to protect them both just in case, so Emma was officially her tenant for the next twelve months.
She looked around at the boxes scattered around the unit, debating which one to start unpacking first. As promised, Regina had left everything Emma could ever need in the apartment, from extra bed linens to plates and silverware. She had also been adamant, though, that she wanted Emma to feel at home and to make it her own, so she was welcome to add or take down any art on the walls, change out the area rugs, or rearrange the furniture as she wished. The apartment came with a large storage unit that was virtually empty, so anything Emma didn't want could be moved there for safekeeping. But, Emma loved it as it was. Aside from setting up a few necessities for Adagio, namely a cat tree by the large back window, a litterbox, and food dish, and adding a few framed personal photos to display on the shelves around the apartment, she already felt at home.
An hour later, Emma had finished unpacking the boxes of clothing and organizing her closet. She heard a knock on the door and walked over to answer it, smiling when she saw the brunette standing on the landing. "Getting settled?" Regina asked as she stepped into the apartment.
Emma leaned in for a chaste kiss as she closed the door behind her. "I am. And why did you knock? You do have a key," Emma pointed out.
"I do, but this is your home now. I want to respect that. I don't want to barge in unannounced."
Emma rolled her eyes. "I appreciate that, but feel free to come and go as you wish. I would have given you a key to anywhere I was staying anyway, even if you didn't own the place. You're always welcome here."
The brunette smiled as she dropped her weekender bag on the ground and shrugged off her black leather jacket, tossing it on the back of the couch as she walked toward the kitchen. It was then that Emma noticed the plastic bags of takeout in her hand. "I stopped by that Thai place we had last time on the way…I'm starving," she explained as she set it on the counter and took out two plates from a cabinet. "How's the unpacking going?"
"It's going. The bedroom and bathroom are done and all of Adagio's things are unpacked, so there's just a few more random boxes to go," she said, walking over to the fridge. "Beer or wine?"
"A beer would be great," Regina said as she sat down at the island and started devouring the noodles on her plate. "Speaking of Adagio, where is the cute little furball?"
"She's locked in the master bathroom for now. She needs to adjust to the new place gradually," Emma said as she quickly joined Regina at the island, handing her the beer. "How was your flight?"
"It was good. I have to admit I'm glad it only takes 90 minutes to come see you rather than five hours by boat, especially when I can only stay for a few days at a time."
"I imagine it does make the commute much less taxing on you," she replied. "Have you seen Robin yet?"
Regina shook her head. "No, not yet. I texted him when I landed, but I took an Uber here straight from the airport. I told him I would stop by tomorrow to pack up the rest of my things," Regina explained. Now that their impending divorce was public knowledge, Regina wanted to clear out most of her things from the apartment she had shared with Robin. During the last few days of August before she had to head back to film and after Emma had returned to Maine, she had tried to start packing up her belongings to help make the process easier. She hadn't been back to Montreal since, though, so she hadn't made much progress.
Emma had been able to help a bit, as she had spent the last two weeks staying with Robin in Regina's room while she waited for her apartment to be ready, mainly helping to clear out Regina's closet and pack her clothing into boxes. She had brought some of Regina's things with her when she moved her own boxes over earlier that day. "A handful of your boxes are stacked in the guest room for now, until you decide where you want to put them," Emma said. "I didn't know if you wanted to take them to Halifax or leave them here. There's plenty of closet space if you want to keep them here for when you're in town."
Regina smiled. "Thanks. That would make things easier."
"Of course. Do you want me to go with you tomorrow to Robin's?" Emma asked. She wanted to be there for her, but she didn't want to impose — she wasn't sure if this was something Regina felt she needed to do alone.
"If you're free, sure. I know you must be exhausted from moving today, though, so I don't want to force you to come help me move my crap around."
"It's not a problem. If nothing else, I can keep Henry and Roland occupied while you pack. As I learned, they aren't the best helpers. They spent most of their time trying to unpack the things I had already packed," she laughed.
"That would be great, actually. Robin said they're still confused by our sudden split, so I imagine it'll be an emotionally draining day for everyone tomorrow."
Emma nodded. "Do they know about Gwen yet? I wanted to ask Robin after he got back from visiting her last week, but I didn't want to pry."
"No, not yet. The boys have seen her a bit more and now that she's past the first trimester she told them that she's pregnant, but they don't know that he's the father yet. I think he wants to wait a little longer to help them get used to all the changes before dropping that bombshell on them."
"Makes sense," Emma said, taking the last bite of her pad thai and taking the empty plates to the sink, chuckling to herself.
"What?" Regina asked.
"I still can't believe that people thought Robin and I were having an affair," Emma answered, thinking back to the social media speculation that had cropped up over the past three weeks. They had been spotted together in public a few times after she moved to Montréal, which was inevitable considering she was staying with him while waiting for the last Airbnb renters to leave Regina's apartment. He had also offered her a job as a bartender at Locksley Bistro when he learned she was looking for a part-time job to help her supplement her rehearsal and teaching paychecks, so they had been seen leaving his restaurant together in the early hours of the morning a few times. One of Regina's fans, who declared herself the next Perez Hilton, had even seen Emma walking into Robin's apartment building and using her own key to enter. The girl had posted a photo online saying 'Regina's dance coach is now living with her soon-to-be ex-husband! Ouch.'
"Honestly, I don't know how we didn't see that coming," Regina said with a laugh, sliding off the stool and taking her beer into the living room, where she promptly sat down on the couch and propped her feet up. "We were so worried about how it would look when you and I were seen together that we didn't even think that they would tie you to him once I was gone."
Emma quickly joined her on the couch, curling into her side. "I just can't believe how quickly the fans flipped from 'Oh my God she's having a lesbian affair' to 'holy shit her husband is cheating on her with the woman we thought was her secret mistress'…they seem very fickle."
Regina chuckled. "Pretty much. Everyone loves a good scandal. I'm just surprised they never thought we were all in some polyamorous thruple situation. It probably won't take long until they flip their speculation back to us again, though, especially since I'm staying with you while I'm in town."
Emma looked up at her. "Is that going to be a problem with the whole morality and public image clause in your contract?"
Regina shook her head. "No. And if it is, I really couldn't care less at this point. But, I am going to try to keep a low profile when I'm in town, just because I want to be able to have a little privacy and don't want people following us around all the time, especially since you're still getting acclimated to living here. I learned from my relationship with Robin how invasive the media and fans can be, even when they mean well. It put a lot of strain on us, and we were never a real couple. I don't want them doing that to us, at least not until we have a really solid foundation," she said before changing the subject. "How have rehearsals been going?"
"Really well," Emma smiled. "The pieces this season are really great. I'm excited by the work we're doing, and the other dancers have been wonderful so far. Even though they're amazing and the company is well-respected, everyone is so much more chill here than they were in New York, or even in Portland. The attitude is much different…it's refreshing."
"I noticed that too when I first moved here. That's why I love it. It was a really nice change of pace from LA," Regina agreed.
"Oh, and we have an industry audition in two weeks at the studio."
Regina furrowed her brow in confusion. "What does that entail?"
Emma shrugged. "I guess different companies and media studios rent out our studio to hold auditions for their commercials or events or whatever. Lily said that a lot of them like using our company members, so we're always encouraged to attend."
"Are you going to do it?"
Emma shrugged. "Probably. I haven't auditioned for anything like that before so it'll be an interesting experience, if nothing else. They told us to be prepared for the usual contemporary work but also to bring heels."
Regina couldn't hold back a laugh. "Please film this so I can watch it later."
"Rude."
"Sorry," Regina chuckled unapologetically. "You were wonderful at the drag show when you went all Britney on stage, so I'm sure you'll be great. What is this audition for?"
"It's for a few different things since several casting directors will be there, but they won't give us the specifics up front due to contractual rules or something. They said one is a big gala fundraiser, one is for a music video, and one is for some teen drama TV show that is doing a nightmare sequence that requires dancers."
"That's quite a range of options."
"I know. It's kind of random," Emma shrugged, nuzzling into Regina's neck and placing a soft kiss on her pulse point.
"When is your first company performance? I'd love to see it, as long as I'm not filming that night," she asked, pulling Emma in closer.
"Really?"
"Of course. You know I love watching you. I want to see what you've been up to."
"We have a winter engagement the last weekend of January for two nights, and then a larger performance the first week of June."
"Perfect. That should work," she said, shifting to pull Emma on top of her as she tilted her head up to kiss the blonde. Emma knowingly moved her thigh between Regina's, pressing into her slightly and causing the woman beneath her to raise an eyebrow and breathily moan. "Do you want to christen the sofa or shall we relocate?"
Emma sat up, straddling Regina's hip as she slowly dragged fingers down the center of her girlfriend's chest, circling her index finger in the valley of her breasts as she pretended to think it over. She bit her lip seductively before smirking. "It's been three weeks…I don't want to be constrained by the limited space on the couch." She jumped off the sofa before sauntering toward the bedroom, leaving a flushed Regina to quickly follow.
*.*.*
"I've missed this," Regina said later that night when they were curled up in Emma's bed. She was resting her head on Emma's shoulder and absentmindedly running her finger along Emma's bare torso under the covers.
Emma turned her head toward the woman, meeting the rich chocolate eyes that were looking up at her. "What, the sex?" she smirked.
Regina laughed. "Well, yes. But, I mainly meant this…getting to sleep next to you, just being with you and relaxing."
"Me, too," Emma agreed. "But, you'll get sick of me eventually. We haven't been able to spend more than a week at a time together yet."
"I don't think I'll ever get sick of you, Emma," Regina said seriously, rolling over a bit to fully wrap herself around the blonde. "Besides…you're really comfortable. I sleep better when we're together."
Emma laughed as she tightened the hold she had on her girlfriend, kissing the top of her head as she did so. "I'm glad I can be of use." She reached out and intertwined her fingers with the ones still dancing across her abdomen, pulling the woman closer. As she did, she noticed the lack of a certain jewelry item. "You took off your ring," she commented, running her thumb across the naked finger.
"I did. Now that our separation is public knowledge, there's no use in keeping up that pretense. It's in my bag so I can give it back to Robin tomorrow. I haven't seen him since we made the announcement, so I haven't had the chance to do it yet." Regina snuggled into her even more before looking up at her again. "So, your 30th birthday is coming up in a few weeks, right? Anything you want to do to celebrate it?"
"Ugh, don't remind me. It's so weird to be turning thirty," Emma chuckled.
"Need I remind you that I hit that milestone five years ago? Be careful what you say," Regina playfully warned, draping her forearm across Emma's sternum and resting her chin on the back of her hand as she looked at the emerald eyes staring back at her. "But seriously, do you have plans?"
Emma nodded, realizing that in all the craziness of the past six weeks, she hadn't mentioned it. "Yeah, actually. I'm visiting Ruby in Chicago for five days. She missed my 25th birthday, so I had promised her that we would celebrate my big 3-0 together. I bought plane tickets months ago, but I have no idea what she has planned. She wanted it to be a surprise, so I'm letting her run with it...which is kind of scary, truthfully." She heard Regina suppress a giggle and looked at her with confusion. "What?"
"That's kind of perfect, actually."
"How so?"
"We all have a Frozen Mirror convention in Chicago that weekend. If you were free and wanted to come out for it, I was going to try to reschedule my flight so I could take a long weekend instead of just being there for my one appearance on Saturday. Do you think Ruby will be willing to part with you for one day of your trip so I could borrow you?"
"Of course…but do you want to risk being seen together? It's one thing to be seen where we live, but if people think we're traveling together…even though this actually would be coincidental, I don't think anyone will buy that excuse."
"Fuck it. I don't care…or, we can just stay in the hotel room all day and never see another soul. I'm sure we can keep ourselves occupied," she winked, trailing her fingers across Emma's hipbone, running them dangerously close to where Emma was still feeling tender from their earlier reconnection.
"I wouldn't object to that."
"I'm sure you wouldn't," Regina smiled, placing a kiss on Emma's clavicle. "Have you told Ruby about us yet?"
Emma shook her head. "No, not yet. I wasn't sure if you would care if she knew."
Regina propped herself up on her elbow so she could better look into Emma's eyes. "Emma, even though I don't necessarily want the entire world to know my personal business just yet, I don't want you to feel like you need to hide it from the important people in your life. If you trust her and want to tell her, you should. If you feel like you have to hide us from the people you care about, you'll eventually start to resent me. I don't want that to happen."
"Okay… she probably won't believe me anyway, but maybe I'll tell her when I see her in-person at the end of the month."
"Why wouldn't she believe you?"
"She's been making stupid comments about us since we first met. She's apparently well aware of the rumors about you and Mal, and kept suggesting that there was something going on between us, but I know she was definitely joking. I think she'll just think I'm trying to get back at her."
"Well, if she doesn't believe you we can always prove it to her like we did when we told Killian."
Emma smiled. "That could be fun."
A/N: Thanks again for supporting this universe! ASE was my first foray into writing Swanqueen (or any F/F fics, actually) and you have all been so supportive and motivating that it makes writing it even more fun for me. I hope you're up for the journey and will follow along. I hope to post relatively regularly, but since these mostly stand on their own, updates might not be as frequent as the previous two fics, especially since I have another multi-chapter fic underway — there will definitely be at least one or two updates per month, maybe more if I'm feeling really ambitious and inspired. Also, I'm happy to take prompts for any events in their lives you want to see — I have about 10 already that I've come up with and am plotting out, but I'm open to suggestions, particularly if I can fit them into the existing structure I'm setting up. And rest assured, their relationship will become public/Regina's coming out will happen in this story. Feel free to leave any prompts in the reviews or PM me directly :).