Hello good people. =)

This is my first ever attempt at a RedQueen. I intend for it to be rather long, starting before the savior shows up. Characters are also somewhat OOC, fair warning.

Would love some reviews on this one, perhaps not straight away but as the chapters are posted would love some feedback.


Regina Mills was sitting in the diner with her just ten year old son Henry, she could feel the cold glares and the sideways glances directed towards her but she had become a master at ignoring them. She had planned on the day being just like all other days except something was different. Something was changing, there was a shift in the air and Regina found herself worried.

"Madame Mayor, can I fill up your coffee?" Ruby Lucas asked as she smiled down at the mayor.

Regina looked up into the smiling face and smiled, Ruby was perhaps the only person other than her son that Regina actually liked. There was simply something about the scantily clad woman that Regina liked, an honesty perhaps, that every other inhabitant of Storybrooke lacked.

"No Thank you Miss Lucas, I am just about to get Henry off to school." Regina explained as she pulled a 20 dollar bill out of her purse and handed it to the red streaked brunette.

"OK sure. I will be right back with your change." Ruby smiled and turned to leave.

Regina reached out and caught Ruby's wrist before she could leave and gave her a little tug so the younger woman would turn back.

"Keep the change Miss Lucas. I cant imagine the locals tip very often." Regina has seen for a fact that most of the locals didn't often tip at all.

"Thanks Madame Mayor, that's very generous of you." Ruby said with a wider smile.

"You are very welcome." Regina hesitated for just a moment before releasing the soft wrist in her hand.

Ruby smiled and walked back over to the counter and Regina turned and grinned at Henry who was smiling at her. The smile made her heart melt every time she saw it and if being kind to Ruby made it show up she would make it a point to be kind more often.

With a gesture towards the door the mother and son left the diner and Regina walked him all the way to school before she turned and started towards the mayors office. She made it before her first appointment and so had time to sit and have a quiet moment to herself.

The truth of the matter is that Regina never intended to play this role in Storybrooke, she enacted the curse not because she wanted power over people, but because she wanted to take away everyone eases happily ever afters. She found the work tedious and boring and far too similar to being a queen when she never really wanted to rule in the first place.

Thinking back to the days when she was young and being a queen was simply her mothers pipe dream she smiled. Daniel she feels may not have been her true love after all, but she had dearly loved him, he was her first love. She missed him, but the ache in her heart when she thought of him slowly faded as the years went by.

Regina was finding herself less and less satisfied with her curse the longer it remained in tact but she did not know how it was to be undone. With a heavy sigh she again thought about the events that lead to her enacting the curse and she found herself immensely disappointed in herself.

"Penny for your thoughts." A masculine voice startled Regina out of her thoughts and she looked up and smiled when she saw Graham.

"Sheriff. I assume you have papers for me?" Regina said not unkindly.

"Always business with you." Graham shook his head in amusement as he approached her desk.

"Always." Regina agreed with a smile that never quite reached her eyes.

"Well, here you are. Everything's been in order. The only problem, as usual, has been Leroy." Graham explained sitting the paperwork on the mayors desk.

"Of course. How many times this week?" Regina asked glancing at the papers.

"Only twice this week." Graham said with a grin.

Regina just rolled her eyes and re-stacked the paperwork before leaning back in her seat a little bit and looking at the Sheriff. She opened her mouth to speak but was cut off when Graham spoke first.

"So, should I lock the door?" Grahams tone was heavily with the implications.

"No, actually Sheriff, I don't think that will be necessary... ever again." Regina said not coldly, but not kindly either.

"What? You are breaking up with me?" Graham asked with a deep frown.

"I'm not breaking up with you, we were never together. We just had an arrangement and i'm breaking it." Regina explained with a frown of her own.

"But what if I don't want that?" Graham was obviously confused and becoming irate.

"I don't really care what you want. We had sex because it was what I wanted and now I don't want it anymore." Regina stated flatly.

"But..." Graham paused and scowled before I got to his feet, "You really are a bitch. Madame Mayor."

"I know. You can leave now." Regina gestured towards the door.

Graham glared for a long moment before he turned and stormed out of her office, slamming the door on the way out. Regina heaved a sigh and glanced through the sheriffs incident reports again. She had been sleeping with Graham for months but had not felt the same rush she had the first time for weeks.

Regina couldn't focus on her job and by lunch time she was pretty fed up so she canceled her later appointments and headed off to the diner for lunch. It was on her way there that she heard a muffled grunt and the sound of someone being hit.

With a frown the Mayor moved towards the sound and quickly came upon Ruby who was standing over a sprawled Dr. Whale. Regina approached the pair and frowned down at the man that was obviously drunk and then looked questioningly at Ruby.

"Everything OK here Miss Lucas?" Regina asked curiously.

"Yes, the good doctor is just getting his sorry drunk ass and getting the hell out of here." Ruby practically snarled at the Whale.

Regina watched as the young woman glared down at the man and couldn't help but think of the wolf that was trapped, forced into dormancy within the young waitress. Had Regina realized what her curse truly entailed, she now thinks she may not have cast it simply because of how much she hated to have the wolf trapped within.

Whale staggered too his feet, spat a mouthful of blood onto the ground at his feet and started off down the street without a word. The two women watched as he walked out of sight and then turned to one another.

"Sorry Madame Mayor." Ruby said sincerely.

"Don't fret, dear. Does he worry you? I have noticed he can be quite lecherous towards you." Regina asked curiously.

"No, not really that worried about him. He is usually very drunk before he starts to get handsy and at that point he is quite easy to lay out." A wide grin graced Ruby's lips as she spoke.

"Of course, I shouldn't doubt that you would be able to handle yourself around men." Regina sounded more snide than she had meant too.

"Huh, I didn't expect you to buy into the rumors." Ruby sounded hurt even though she tried to play it off.

Regina opened her mouth but closed it without speaking, she had intended to say something scathing but found herself realizing she didn't want to. With a sigh and a sad smile she tried again.

"I am sorry Miss Lucas. It was wrong of my to assume anything about you." Regina said sincerely.

Ruby looked at the older woman and narrowed her eyes, she could tell the Mayor was being honest. With a shrug she shook her head and sighed before smiling at the woman.

"It's OK I suppose I don't ever try to give people a reason not to think certain things about me." Ruby gestured her own outfit.

Regina finally looked at what the young waitress was wearing and noticed the tight black jeans that seemed more like a second skin. The red tank that, if it wasn't covered by an apron, would have revealed a rather large amount of skin, both above and below the material.

"You like wearing these clothes?" Regina asked as she reached out and touched the strap of the tank top.

"Sort of I guess... no one has ever asked me that." Ruby was frowning when Regina looked back at her face.

"Well, i'm asking." Regina prompted.

"Well... I don't know, I have always wore these clothes. They help me get better tips I feel." Ruby shifted slightly and her frown deepened.

"That doesn't answer my question Miss Lucas. Do you like wearing these kind of clothes?" Regina asked again.

"No. No I don't I would rather wear loser clothes, this is all so form fitting but I constantly feel trapped and these clothes just reinforce that feeling. But even more so, I would rather not wear clothes at all." Ruby was being honest, Regina could feel it.

Regina smiled and nodded as Ruby's face turned from honest to embarrassed. The Mayor reached out again and patted the young woman's shoulder in a comforting gesture. It was at that time that Granny stepped out of the diner and yelled out to the two.

"Breaks over Ruby. Get in here and get the Mayor her lunch." Granny turned back into the diner before either woman could respond.

"Well, coming?" Ruby asked gesturing towards the diner with what Regina decided was an adorable lop sided grin.

"Indeed." Regina said smiling genuinely.

"Salad?" Ruby's off hand question surprised Regina.

"Salad." Regina said with a laugh.