Do You Believe in Magic?

Chapter Two

"Thank you, Regina…" Quinn said peacefully.

There was silence between them before Regina asked, "So what's your last name?"

"Fabray," Quinn answered.

"How old are you?"

"21…you?"

"38…but age is just a number to me," Regina said.

"I agree," Quinn said with a smile that settled Regina's anxiousness.

Why am I so anxious around her? Do I have feelings for Quinn already?

As Regina thought about those two important questions, she crossed her legs. Quinn watched as Regina went through the motion.

Get a grip, Fabray. You don't even know…

"Do you miss home?"

"There's a loaded question…Parts of it, yes…other parts, no," Quinn said.

"I see," Regina said warmly.

"I'm here because I wasn't the one chosen…" Quinn confessed.

"Chosen? For what, dear?"

"To be loved," Quinn said painstakingly.

"Oh," Regina put her hand over mouth, "I'm so sorry about that."

Unbeknownst to Quinn, she had begun to cry. Regina got up from her chair, walked over to Quinn, and knelt in front of her. She grabbed Quinn's hands, which were sitting on her lap and gave them a good squeeze. "Look at me!"

Quinn's teary, hazel eyes quickly found Regina's brown ones.

"Just because they," Regina started, but Quinn interrupted her.

"She," she said sadly.

Wow! Regina let that piece of wonderful information sink into her mind and heart.

"Ok, just because she didn't choose you doesn't mean you're not worthy of love. Just because she can't see how amazing you are, doesn't mean that someone else won't. How long have you known her," Regina said as she caressed Quinn's hands with her palms.

"Since junior high. We became best friends…well, it was me, Santana, and Brittany. We were called, 'the Unholy Trinity'! Then San and Britt began to spend more time together," Quinn continued.

"Santana, that's an unusual name…oh I see…"

"Well, she's an unusual girl…anyway Santana came out of the closet in high school and eventually, after Santana got over all her crap, they fell in love. During senior year, Santana found out that Britt needed to stay back a year. She's not too book smart, but she's beyond people smart."

Regina nodded her head in understanding.

"Santana went off to college and came back as much as she could to visit Brittany. I guess she got tired of it and they broke up. During that time, our GLEE teacher…"

"Wait, what's GLEE?"

"GLEE was a group of our friends who entered singing contests and performed modern pop songs….It was an actual school activity which wasn't too popular with the rest of the school, especially our cheerleading coach. For me, it's so much more than that. It's the place where I, we all, grew up. We were a family even though at times we argued, competed against for solos, and just were 'teenagers' to one another." Quinn sniffled and Regina continued to caress Quinn's hands.

"Oh, okay. It's cool that you sing and did cheerleading. I'd love to see that sometime," Regina said genuinely as she looked up into Quinn's eyes.

Quinn smiled and continued, "Our teacher had an 'almost' wedding. Even though the ceremony didn't happen that day, the reception sure did…"

"Lemme guess there was alcohol," Regina said knowingly.

Quinn nodded her head. "And fake ID's…" After she said that, Quinn's eyes bulged out of their sockets. She was talking to a mayor, after all.

"It's out of my jurisdiction," Regina said with a wink and a smile. Quinn calmed down.

"We had sex, my first time with a girl," Quinn admitted, "Even though it was just something that I wanted to try with her, my brain knew nothing would come from it. Ya know?"

"I do, but your heart… "

"Yes, my heart wanted something more from her. We didn't speak of that night. We had other nights when I came to New York City to visit. When I heard that Santana and Brittany got back together I chastised myself with, 'They were meant to be.' When I found out that they were getting married, I broke down. I couldn't confide in any of my friends since I didn't want them to tell anyone especially Britt, if Santana hadn't. The wedding was yesterday. I didn't attend. And today I'm here," Quinn finished her heartbreaking story.

Regina who was still kneeling in front of Quinn began to get up. Once she was on her feet, she pulled Quinn from the chair and into a warm embrace. Quinn hugged her tightly. In fact Quinn hugged Regina the tightest she had ever hugged any one in her life. Quinn's arms wrapped themselves around Regina's upper body while Regina's arms wrapped tightly around Quinn's waist.

Quinn doesn't remember when she started crying again. She knew she was when she felt Regina's hand stroking her back up and down. Her other arm was still wrapped around Quinn's waist.

They stayed like this for a few more minutes.

"Thank you, Regina. This means a lot," Quinn whispered into her ear.

"It is my privilege," Regina whispered back. "I'm enjoying the hug, Quinn. I honestly don't want it to stop."

"Are you for real," Quinn asked still in the hug, "You seem too good to be true."

"There's a lot about me you don't know," Regina said sadly.

Quinn looked at Regina while still in the embrace. "I want to know…I want to know everything!" Regina felt Quinn's lips brush against her lightly accentuated cheek.

Regina gave Quinn one more quick hug and then broke the embrace.

"I will tell you," Regina said as she kissed Quinn's forehead, "But I don't want to do it here. It's my office and not personal. How about you cancel your stay at Granny's and stay at my mansion?"

"I'll have to settle up my bill," Quinn said shyly, "Do you really want me to stay with you?"

"I wouldn't have offered if I didn't, dear," Regina said with a smile.

"I accept, kindly," Quinn said as she grandly bowed in front of Regina, who laughed at the sight.

"Go take care of your business with Granny and then come to my house at 108 Mifflin Streett, okay?" Regina wrote the address down on paper and handed it to Quinn.

Quinn nodded and turned around to pick up her purse. She started to walk away, so Regina ran to her to pull her into another warm hug.

"I am so very grateful that I met you, Regina," Quinn said lovingly.

"I feel the same way," Regina said in return, "I'll see you later."

Regina kissed Quinn's cheek gently. After the kiss ended, Quinn rubbed her cheek happily. She walked to the door, unlocked it and left. Regina stood there for a few seconds. She then yelled, "Stop hiding! I know you saw all of that!"

Regina walked over to a mirror, which hung on a wall. Instead of seeing her reflection staring back at her, she saw that of a man. "Yes, Regina, I did. I applaud you for everything you offered that young lady."

"Magic Mirror," Regina asked timidly, "What do I do?"

"Well, well, look at what we have here. Is the 'Evil Queen' afraid," The man in the mirror mocked.

Regina forcibly picked up the mirror from the wall and held it over her head. "Don't mock me!"

"No, your Majesty, I would never. Please forgive my poor judgement," the man pleaded.

"That's better," Regina said with an intimating tone of voice. "What do I do?"

"Honestly?"

"Yes!" she meanly yelled.

"Tell her the truth…the whole truth. Tell the whole story. Tell her that you're a different person now."

"What if she rejects me?"

"Wow!" the mirror said shocked.

"Shut up," Regina spat at him.

"Regina, she sees something in you. Something that we all are trying to see. I'd just be honest and whatever happens, happens."

The man in the mirror vanished after his last statement.

"Just be honest." Regina repeated to herself.

She made one more phone call and then she left the office.

"I'm leaving now. Won't be here till sometime tomorrow," she warned her receptionist.

At the same time…

Quinn walked to her room to collect her suitcase. When she got into her room, she pulled out her phone and noticed all the missed calls.

"Gotta bite the bullet," she mumbled to herself and hit Santana's number.

On the first ring she was greeted with, "Why the fuck were you MIA to Britt and my wedding?!"

"Personal reasons," Quinn tried.

"Elaborate now," Santana demanded meanly.

"Look, Santana, I don't have to. This is a courtesy call…"

"Oh, a courtesy call…huh…well, don't I feel special."

"Forget it. Have a happy marriage. I'll see you when I see you," Quinn said flatly.

"Where are you? You're not at home…"

"Oh, so you're checking up on me, are you?"

"Well, it's a pet peeve...when one of my best friends doesn't show up for the most important day of my life, I tend to wanna know where they are…"

"Storybrooke, Maine," Quinn said matter of fact.

"Where the fuck is that?"

"Storybrooke, Maine," Quinn repeated.

"Um, why?"

"Um, I needed to get away…from everything and everyone," Quinn said honestly.

"Are you coming back," Santana asked with a pissed off tone of voice.

"Who would want to come back to a place where she knows that as soon as she does she's going to be attacked," Quinn said honestly.

"Fuck you," Santana said and ended the call.

"Bitch!" Quinn said into the phone, but to no one.

She threw her phone into her purse and grabbed her suitcase. She marched downstairs and up to the front desk.

"I'm checking out," Quinn seethed.

Granny looked at her confused. "You just checked in…"

Quinn calmed down and said politely, "I'm sorry. Please excuse my rudeness. I was just having an unpleasant conversation with the reason why I am here. It didn't go very well as I knew it wouldn't."

"I totally get it," Granny said warmly. "Where you headin'?"

"Not far. Actually I'm hoping you can help me. I need to find 108 Mifflin Street. And is there a liquor store on the way?"

"Yes, there is. May I ask why you're going to the Mayor's mansion?"

"She invited me after we had a heartfelt conversation. She is so easy to talk to…"

Granny was shocked by what Quinn had said. "Oh, okay. May I offer you a piece of advice?"

"Sure," Quinn said intrigued.

"Just be careful. Regina's…well, Regina's different. We all are," Granny said.

"If you mean you're all very nice then yes you all are different. Thanks for the advice," Quinn said as she paid the hotel bill.

Granny then gave Quinn directions to Regina's house.

She put on her sunglasses and then ran to her car and started the engine. She revved it and instantly was off towards Regina's. She spotted a liquor store and used her fake ID there just in case. She didn't care anymore. Her thought process behind the purchase was that it is impolite to show up empty handed.

When Quinn arrived at Regina's home she was in awe of the mansion that stood in front of her.

She parked and grabbed her stuff and the bottles of wine.

When she got to the door, she rang the doorbell. In an instant, the door opened and Regina was there with a warm smile on her face.

"H…" Regina said, but Quinn interrupted her.

"Open this please," Quinn said and thrust one of the bottles at Regina.

"Thirsty, huh," Regina said as she grabbed the bottle and looked at it. She closed the door.

"I don't want to know how you got it, but I'm not surprised. The owner of that store would sell anything to a baby…please make yourself comfortable. I'll be right back."

Quinn looked around the mansion and she liked all of it. After, she sat on the couch and waited for Regina to come back.

In the kitchen, Regina uncorked the bottle and poured the wine into two wine glasses.

"Be yourself. Tell her the truth…"

With that mantra in her head, she walked back to where Quinn was sitting. "Here you go," Regina said and carefully handed Quinn her glass. She waited for Regina to sit next to her.

When Regina was comfortable, Quinn raised her glass up and Regina did the same. "To new friends and new beginnings!"

Quinn and Regina clinked their glasses together. Then Quinn took a big gulp of her wine.

"Pace yourself, dear," Regina said after she swallowed the wine, "Is everything alright?"

"No, not really. I talked to Santana. She blew up my phone with messages. I thought I should call her so she'd stop calling. I didn't say why I didn't attend. Just told her where I was…"

"Oh, I take it that she's not happy?"

"You are correct," Quinn said with the glass right against her lips. She was about to take another gulp when Regina reached for the glass and took it out of her grasp.

"I wasn't done," Quinn pouted.

"For now, you are," Regina said mothering.

Quinn took a few deep calming breathes and apologized, "I'm sorry, Regina. I'm acting like a buffoon…"

"You have every right to be upset, Quinn. You're the cutest buffoon I've ever met."

Quinn smiled for the first time in a long time.

"God, you have a beautiful smile," Regina said and immediately covered her mouth.

"Thank you," Quinn said as she reached for Regina hand. Once they were holding hands, Quinn caressed Regina's with her thumb.

Just then the front door swung open. "Mom, I'm home!"

Regina had a look of horror on her face. Quinn smiled lovingly at Regina, which made her calm down a little bit.

She yelled, "In here!"

Henry walked into the room and immediately knew what was happening. "Hey, Quinn, right?"

"Yup, Henry. How was your day," Quinn said.

"You two met?"

"Yup, at Granny's," Henry said.

"So you're one of his Moms," Quinn said and pointed at Regina.

"Yes, I am," Regina said with a huge smile on her face.

"Is his other Mom going to be home soon," Quinn prodded.

Dammit, she's in a relationship. What did you expect, Fabray?!

"Oh, no, dear, I'm not in a relationship with his other Mom," Regina said to calm Quinn down.

Score! Maybe…

Henry giggled.

"This is what I wanted to talk to you about," Regina said. She turned to look at her son and said, "But Henry do you think you could go to your Mom and grandparents' house, just for tonight?"

"Cool!" Henry said and raced upstairs to pack a bag.

"Well, alright, that's settled, I guess," Regina said and laughed.

Quinn sat down and waited for Regina to join her. When she did, Quinn grabbed Regina's hand like before.

"So…" Quinn encouraged the black haired beauty that she was sharing the couch with.

"So, um, let me try to explain Henry…"

"Take your time…we have all the time in the world."

"Henry is not my biological son. I adopted him at birth. His full name is Henry Daniel Mills. Henry after my deceased father. Daniel after the first love of my life who my mother, Cora killed, a long time ago…"

"Wow…I'm so sorry, Regina…." Quinn said sincerely as she massaged Regina's hand. Looking for some hope, Quinn then asked, "Can I ask? Are you straight? I sometimes mistake kindness for attraction of any kind…"

"I don't know really. The thing I do know is that I like you a lot…but there's a lot you don't know."

Regina smiled at her.

"Oh okay," Quinn said and calmed down.

"Henry's biological mother is Emma Swan, who is now a sheriff for Storybrooke," Regina said, "At first, we butted heads because Henry went looking for her without my knowledge or consent. Emma thought that he'd never find her because of the way the adoption took place. He brought her back and through him she found her biological parents here."

"Did they give her up for adoption too?" Quinn asked.

"Sort of…"

"Okay, is there more?"

"Um, yes. Okay here we go…How much do you know about fairy tales?"

"Not a lot. I know some of them like 'Snow White", 'Beauty and the Beast', 'Pinocchio'…"

"Okay, that's a start…Well, did you know that they actually aren't just characters? The people you have met today, except for Henry, were characters from the fairytales you've heard as a child…"

Quinn was trying so hard to follow along.

"Okay, Regina, I'm kinda confused. I understand Henry's part. How did they get here? Who sent them here?"

"Well, um, I did. Uh…I'm the 'Evil Queen'," Regina said and looked down at her fingernails.

"Excuse me? Did you say you're the Evil Queen or that you feel like one from time to time?"

"I am the Evil Queen. I cursed them to the 'real world'," Regina said as she raised her head up.

"Okay, why would you do that," Quinn asked as she sighed.

"Back when I was queen, all I wanted was my happy ending. I wanted what came easily to everyone else. I thought I had a plan. So I sought out Rumplestiltskin for help."

"Who's he?"

"He's a wizard, of sorts, he gave me the knowledge that I needed to put the curse over these people. The catch was that I had to kill the thing I loved the most in life."

"What was it," Quinn asked still unbelieving.

"My father," Regina said, sighed, and looked at her hand, which was still in Quinn's. She thought Quinn would release it, but after a few seconds she didn't.

"Y-you don't believe me," she asked.

"It's a hell of a story! Do they know here who they were back then? How did the curse end," Quinn asked.

"Before the curse was broken they didn't know who they were, but now they do. The curse was broken by Emma. She kissed Henry when he was unconscious from some poisonous piece of apple pie intended for Emma that I made. I never thought Henry would eat it. He wanted to prove to Emma that it wasn't poisonous because my son believed in me. Emma was able to end the curse because it was 'true love's kiss'. Prior to coming here, Emma was a foster kid all throughout her life. Her biological parents are Snow White and Prince Charming When she and Henry returned to Storybrooke, I knew who she was and the power she possessed before she knew. You see, because Emma's father sent her away in a magical closet when she was born, she was unaffected from the curse and was the only person who could break it."

Regina took a deep breath and watched as Quinn listened to the story.

Does she believe me? Is this too much?

"Wow!"

"Quinn, do you believe me? I need you to," Regina pleaded with the blonde.

"I'm sorry, Regina. I really don't. I come from a cynical world where things like this don't happen."

"That's actually why I put the curse over these people. I thought that they'd never have that happy ending in the 'real world'. What can I do to prove it?"

"I don't know," Quinn said sadly.

Regina took her hand out of Quinn's and got up from the couch. She stood in front of Quinn and magically made a fireball appear. Quinn was taken aback, but had a large grin on her face.

"Do you have a lighter in your other hand?"

Regina extinguished the fire and shook her head, no. "No, dear."

She sat back down on the couch, facing Quinn. Without warning, she quickly shoved her hand through Quinn's chest. Quinn made a noise and was shocked. Regina pulled out Quinn's heart. Regina held it up for her to see.

"You have a beautiful heart!" Regina complimented as she looked at Quinn's heart in her hand. She did not squeeze it because Regina what could happen if she did.

Quinn's was shocked as she looked down at her own heart.

"Put it back in," Quinn whispered as she tried to breathe normally.

Regina immediately shoved her hand and Quinn's heart back into Quinn's chest. As soon as Regina removed her hand, Quinn quickly jumped up, grabbed her purse, and ran as fast as she could out of Regina's mansion.

"QUINN!" Regina yelled after the fleeting blonde.

Quinn dismissed the calls from Regina. She ran as fast as she could to her car and when she got into it, she locked the door and just sat there, shocked.

"What the hell just happened," Quinn said aloud.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Regina running out of the house and to her car. Quinn started the car and sped off.

~~ The only possible error in this chapter might be Regina's age in "real life". Does anyone know how old she is?

~~ Also I hope I explained the curse in a way that was understandable. If not please let me know. I'm still trying to understand it myself after all these seasons.