Prompt: Regina is about to get married to Robin; but is it the right decision? Maybe she just needs a sign from someone else.
A/N: Came up with this one overnight; it's been stuck in my head and I had to get it out. Fuel me with reviews and/or prompts! Enjoy this one. And; a big thank you to all of my readers. I love you guys.
Regina Mills stood in a large room, staring into a mirror taller than she was. Her eyes were locked with her reflection's dark pools, lost in thought. She was wearing a long, white wedding dress. It was strapless, fitting tight in all the right places and ended at her calves. She had opted for simplicity, as Robin Hood – the man she was marrying – was wearing a simple black suit, white buttoned shirt and black tie. She sighed softly.
She never wanted a grand wedding; but somehow she felt regretful for agreeing to keep it small. Perhaps she would've caught that one person's attention if she had flaunted the fact that she soon would be taken as Robin's wife forever.
She had wanted Emma Swan's attention so badly. Once she was engaged, having given in to Robin's wishes at last, she had told everyone. That evening, she sat at her phone, glancing at it ever so often for a message she surely would be getting any second. A message of the blonde, pleading her to break off the engagement and run off with her instead. But only silence had come. And the next day, she had seen the yellow bug speeding out of town. The Saviour had not returned to this day.
Looking around the large room, within the church – its main purpose for brides or grooms to change and freak out in privacy until the ceremony -, she took deep breaths to remain her cool. She sat herself down carefully into a rocking chair, avoiding to wrinkle her dress in any way. She bit her lip, lost in her thoughts. Thinking of the absent blonde; and a better time.
"Emma?" Regina Mills opened the door to an exasperated-looking blonde. She had not expected to see her here, she was supposed to be living her perfect little life somewhere in the non-magical world. But yet there she was standing, at her door, barely one day after they had returned from the Enchanted Forest, their memories stolen from them. Her heart pounded in her chest loudly, and her dark eyes searched the empty space behind the younger woman for a head of untidy, black hair. She pressed her full, red lips into a thin line when she saw no one.
"Where is Henry?" She continued as the blonde had opened and closed her mouth a few time in the silence.
"He.. doesn't remember." She saw the other woman wince as she said it, and Regina felt her face scrunch up involuntary at the pain she was feeling. She felt a great loss, right there, and knew that the void would not be filled. Henry had been filling the void for a long time…
"Then how is it possible that you remember?" She asked haughtily, taking on the composure of the queen she was quite easily. It was now Emma's turn to flinch.
"Hook provided me with a potion."
The laugh that came from the former Evil Queen's lips was cold, and obviously fake. Emma Swan flinched once more under the older woman's gaze, and her shoulders slumped.
"I'm sorry." The blonde mouthed, and Regina Mills shrugged it off.
A knock on the door startled the brunette. She squinted her eyes at it, unsure of whom it could be. Everyone else hadn't arrived yet, but Regina had fled away from the crowded Mayoral Mansion, where the 'after-party' would be held after the ceremony.
"Regina?" A muffled voice asked; and Regina let go of the hope she had been feeling immediately. She recognized that voice, and it was not the Saviour's.
"Yes, Snow. You may come in." She replied. The pixie-haired woman had kept her company for almost every day now since the blunt departure of the blonde. They both missed her so much, though not in the same way.
"Are you alright?" Snow asked as soon as she had entered the room and closed the door behind her. "We missed you for breakfast this morning and you took off so quickly…"
The ex-Mayor offered her a small smile, getting up from the rocking chair she had been sitting in.
"Yes, I am perfectly fine, thank you." She replied matter-of-factly. She did not wish to elaborate on her state of wellbeing right now. The only thing she could think about is that she was to be wedded to a man of the forest in only a few hours. She would be looking up at a brunette man, taking her hands in his – and not the blonde she had been wanting. Her heart started to ache at that thought and her tears threatened to spill over so she swallowed hard and turned away her face from Snow White, who was looking at her with compassion and perhaps even pity. Regina Mills didn't want it. She didn't want any of it. She just wanted Emma Swan.
"I'll.. check in on you later." Regina barely registered the words as she took her place by the window, looking at the town.
"My, my, Ms. Swan." Regina Mills grinned as she opened the door to blonde wild curls and green eyes peering up at her excitedly.
"Second visit in just barely two days. At what do I owe this pleasure?" She continued, her tones playful, sweet smile plastered on her lips. She opened the door further in an invitation. This time she allowed the Saviour to come in. Yesterday she hadn't bothered.
"I've got a plan." The blonde said as soon as she had stomped into the Mayoral Mansion's hallway. Regina closed the door softly, clicking it into its lock.
"You do?" The older woman's demeanor left her momentarily as she was taken by surprise, but soon she gathered her composure and led the younger to the study, where she waved her hand at the couch to tell the blonde to, 'by all means, take a seat and enlighten me'.
She listened carefully to Emma's plan as she pulled two glasses from the cabinet and filled them with her homemade apple cider. She had to admit that the Saviour's plan to recreate the memory potion she had drank two days ago was clever; but Regina was unsure if she could make it from scratch. She voiced her concern, and that's when the younger woman's face lighted up.
"I still have a drop in the vail."
It was now Regina Mills' turn to grin. Her heart pounded excitedly.
She handed a glass to the woman on the couch and lifted hers in the air.
"To a surprisingly good plan." She winked.
"Surprisingly?" Emma feigned hurt; they both took a healthy sip. The younger woman was staring at her openly, and it made Regina queasy.
"My plans are always good." Emma muttered after another sip; her green eyes had still not left Regina.
"Sure." Regina winked once more.
They had been spending so much time together, trying to find the ingredients to the memory potion. But nothing had happened so far. Regina had drank so many vile liquids, but she still had no memories of the past year that was lost to them all.
"I can't do it." She sighed in defeat. She had drank another, and gagged at the disgusting taste once she had swallowed. She leaned against the table that held her potion making set, and pouted at herself for her failures.
"You can." Emma Swan was sitting in a futon, and had been helping and encouraging Regina for the past few days that she had been working on their little project. Regina simply shook her head. The reassurance wasn't helping anymore. She closed her eyes and sighed once more, this time more deeply. Tears were stinging in her eyes, but she refused to let her guard down and cry before the Saviour. She missed her son, her Henry, so badly that it just didn't ache anymore. It burned, it stabbed, it jabbed. It took her breath away and tackled her each morning she woke up to an empty house. Emma had tried to introduce them to each other, but his distance, his cold 'nice to meet you' had stung at her; she hadn't seen him ever since, even though the blonde had pressed on. It just was too much.
She heard shuffling as Emma got up from her seat and walked over to the former Evil Queen. She felt warm, small hands take hers and she opened her eyes to a genuine smile on Emma's thin lips; she offered a smile back, while a sad and lone tear escaped from her right eye. The blonde reached her hand up to wipe it dry, and momentarily the older woman leaned into the simple touch. She needed the support, though she would never, ever admit it. Or say it out loud.
But then Emma Swan was pulling her closer and wrapping her arms around Regina Mills in comfort, and she sank away in the warmth. Once, she promised herself. She would allow this once. She closed her eyes and smiled as she felt a soft peck on top of her head; and she hid her face in the crook of Emma's neck. Once.
Regina Mills cried. She cried at the loss of her son. She cried at the loss of the trust. She cried at the loss of Emma Swan.
She hadn't truly lost Emma Swan, she knew this, and the trust of the townspeople would be restored in due time, but she still felt the loneliness overwhelm her as she sat in her study, nursing a glass of apple cider. It wasn't her first. It surely wasn't her last.
Her right hand was supporting the crystal and in her left lay her cellphone. She wanted to call Emma. She wanted to hear her voice.
The blonde hadn't shown up today. She had left her with a simple text-message that she couldn't make it. She had been preoccupied elsewhere and Regina perfectly knew that she was with Hook. The ex-Mayor scowled. They had been spending every day together, and now she had been stood up for that man? It enraged her.
Slightly intoxicated with the amount of cider she had already consumed, she turned on her phone and dialed the Saviour's number.
"Hello?" A faint voice said. It was Henry.
"Hello, dear." It pained Regina to take on her business-tone, but she had to. She couldn't have Henry suspect anything; Emma had been rather clear about that: her son – that stung Regina even more – had to be completely in the dark about everything magical happening in Storybrooke.
"It's Regina. Regina Mills. Can you hand me your mother?" She went on politely as Henry kept silent, not recognizing the voice as he would have, if he had had his memories.
"Oh. Sure. I'm sorry, Madame Mills. I'll hand her right away." His apologies were polite and again distant, and the brunette closed her eyes, telling herself to shrug it off.
"Regina?" The blonde sounded a little out of breath, and mostly surprised.
"You were missed today." The former Evil Queen said, and then blinked at her words. "Not like that—I mean that you didn't show up for our daily appointment."
"Sure that's what you meant." She heard the grin in Emma's voice, and she rolled her eyes, not caring if she looked ridiculous.
"Ms. Swan, I would highly appreciate if you could not stand me up for your boyfriend in the future." She ignored the teasing joke the blonde had offered. She heard another chuckle; not a reaction she had anticipated, for she had meant her comment to be snide. Not wanting to bother with the Saviour any further, she hung up.
Twenty minutes later, there was a knock on the door.
Swaying her hips lightly, Regina Mills made her way to the door, crystal filled with apple cider still in hand. She had emptied another glass or two in the meanwhile, and her head started to feel pleasantly light. Perhaps she did make her apple cider a little too strong.
"Took you long." Regina commented as she opened the door to a frowning blonde. She smiled at the other woman, and let her in.
"Are you jealous of Hook, Regina?" Emma asked her bluntly, once they were sitting on the couch in the study, glass in hand. Regina muffled a laugh with her hand, but grew serious as soon she saw the blonde's troubled look.
"No." She said softly, offering a smile. "I'm just.. I want my son back."
"Our son." Swan corrected her, and Regina dipped her head in acknowledgement.
"We'll figure it out soon, Regina. I promise." Emma Swan was once more reassuring her, and once more Regina found herself listening to the blonde's words, drinking them all up and trusting in them. Trusting in the Saviour. The younger woman scooted closer and laid her hand on the older woman's thigh. Dark eyes glanced down nervously, but she didn't shy away. The hand was warm and pleasantly comfortable there. Finally she looked up again, and met green eyes in a silent, warm gaze. She smiled back at the Saviour.
They retreated to small talk, and Regina didn't feel as alone anymore. She had forgotten it was the real reason she had called Emma Swan, who had been reinstated Sheriff, and was glad she hadn't sounded lonely or anything. She clenched her teeth when she remembered that she had sounded jealous instead. She snorted at the thought. Her dark eyes glanced down again, Emma's left hand still lying on her thigh. The younger one hadn't removed it yet, but Regina hadn't made her remove it yet either. She let it slide. Once.
"It's late. I should get going." The blonde said after a while. Regina offered up the palm of her hand to take Emma's glass away from her, and stood up as the blonde did. She put aside the two glasses and followed the Saviour to the door.
"Thank you for stopping by." Regina Mills said softly, a smile that she found herself having on her face more often whenever being in the Saviour's presence.
"Sorry for standing you up today." Emma Swan offered back, same smile on thin lips.
"So you admit you stood me up?" Regina teased, lips now slipping into a grin.
"Ahh—" Emma's hand now connected with her forehead in a slap. "No. I didn't. I promise. There was this emergency and—"
A hand on red leather stopped the blonde from talking. Regina smiled at her reassuringly, telling her it was okay. Hesitance was clear in her eyes as she stepped closer to the blonde and wrapped her arms around her in a careful hug. Immediately, she felt strong arms wrap around her and tugging her closer. She inhaled the scent, mainly cinnamon and conditioner, lingering around Emma.
Regina Mills pulled away carefully, but firm and sure hands kept her from breaking away entirely. Dark eyes peered up at green one's curiously, and suddenly thin lips were crashing down on red full ones. The older woman's eyes fluttered close at the touch almost immediately, sighing into the fierce yet tender kiss. It seemed like minutes rather than seconds before the kiss was ended.
"Good night, Madame Mills." Tender voice bid her. Regina closed the door with a fluttering heart.
The days following that kiss were spent with dreamy stares, thoughts pinned on a certain blonde that had somehow sneaked her way into her heart and seemingly her soul. They spent their encounters with shy smiles, brief touches and breathless 'hello's.
Everyone noticed Regina Mills' mood change, and everyone thought it was because of Robin Hood, whom she had started to spend a little more time with because of their hunt on the Wicked Witch. But they were wrong, obviously, and she found herself thinking of the Saviour all the time. But the rumour mill churned and churned and everyone was commenting on how the former Evil Queen had finally found a man she was falling for; only fuelled with Tinkerbell bragging about how she brought them together and how fairy dust had chosen Robin Hood as Regina's soulmate.
Regina Mills was oblivious to the rumours, her mind focused solely on Emma and their son; well, just Emma's son because Henry still couldn't remember.
But as time passed, Regina saw Emma less and less; it was as if the Saviour was retreating from her life ever so slightly, until her calls were ignored and excuses were made. The older woman shrugged it off; they were all so busy with trying to find the Wicked Witch. Trying to save Storybrooke from yet another curse, another danger. Regina kept researching on how to get the youngest Mills', though he didn't know he was, memory back. She occupied herself while Emma was off doing her heroic things. And Regina hoped that one day she could stand by Emma, not as her friend but as so much more, and do those things with her.
But now, as she once more got Emma's voicemail, she simply left a message, telling that yet another idea had failed.
Regina started missing the lively blonde. She had never noticed just how much life and joy the younger woman had brought to her life until it disappeared altogether. Looking back, she should've seen the signs; how they grew closer with each day and how their looks and touches became gentler. How her heart starting beating faster, fluttering even, whenever the Saviour was in one room with her.
She hoped she could catch Emma Swan at Granny's the next morning.
She got up in time and spent extra care on her looks and clothing; she wanted to look good, great even, for the woman she was desperate to see. Perhaps she could ask the other on a date, or maybe she would be asked on a date – should the blonde have the guts to do it. Regina snorted at that; there was no way the clumsy, utterly adorable Emma Swan would ask her, Regina Mills and former Evil Queen, on a date. No, she would have to make that first step; well, second. The kiss had been the first. Made by Emma.
Regina's dreamy, content smile seemed cemented on her face, even when she had to concentrate on the drive to the diner.
She parked neatly, eager to get inside and to talk to the blonde. She was curious about what the other woman had been doing; being so occupied and everything. Surely she could've had a minute to leave a message or call. But once more, Regina shrugged it off. Once.
"Regina!" The brunette shut her eyes at the squeal. She should've kept in mind that there were probably others than just Emma at the diner as well. And a confrontation with the mother of the girl she was falling in love with was not welcome. She wanted a confrontation with Emma first, so to speak.
"Hi, Snow." Her greeting was curt. "Have you seen Emma? I need to talk to her."
Snow squealed happily at that, which made Regina frown. What in hell was going on?
"She's with Hook! They're finally starting to date." The pixie-haired woman was gushing, providing her with details that she never in a million years wanted to hear. Regina cut her off short by holding up a hand. She closed her eyes for a minute, exhaling, and turned on her heel. She needed to get out of there, before her heart spilled.
"Regina, wait!" Snow ran after her, and starting preaching about how she should open up her heart too, and pursue her happiness, like her daughter had. With the wrong person, Regina thought. But she nodded firmly, once more turning on her heel. Storming off dramatically, to find her happy ending. She expected it to be with the blonde. Instead, she found herself heading off to the forest.
After all, Robin Hood had that lion tattoo.
It was getting close. The wedding. Regina swallowed nervously and peeked into the mirror again as she turned away from the window. She wished she was still the Evil Queen and that Syndey Glass was still there to aid her very need. She could order him to fix this then. She could simply demand the mirror to go find the Saviour and to force… She sighed. Love had to be given willingly, that much she knew.
She had loved Robin Hood willingly, had kissed him willingly – but only because the one she wanted to love and wanted to kiss was unavailable, avoiding her and being with Captain Hook.
Every day she had watched, and every day her heart had hurt when Emma Swan turned to the lecherous man for a kiss. Every time that man had touched the woman she loved.
Regina Mills thought she was going to have a panic attack at first; but then she had learned to ignore it. To turn to her own man instead and to lean into him for a kiss, for support. To forget. But she didn't really forget, no matter how much she tried. She still thought about Emma, and when Robin Hood had knelt down on one knee – right after her first fight with Zelena, her sister – she had accepted that it was always going to be Robin. She had given him her real heart for protection, and now she would give him everything else, by saying 'I do' in a few hours. She shut her feelings for the blonde away and they only showed on one more occasion: when Emma Swan had fled Storybrooke.
Another knock startled her.
"Everyone's setting things up in the church. Two hours left." David stuck his head around the door, smiling genuinely at the woman about to get married.
"You look wonderful, Regina." He praised her, and she accepted it with a weak comment. She jerked her head as per invitation, and he came into the room, shutting the door carefully.
"Thank you, David." She said, sounding a little breathless. "Who would have thought? Zelena is still out there and I'm here getting married… My son doesn't know who I am, yet he'll be sitting in church, watching me getting married."
She waved it off as soon as she saw compassion on his face and turned away.
"Honestly," David starting, not meeting her eyes, hesitating to continue his thought.
"Yes?" She inquired.
"I didn't think you'd end up with.. Robin." He smiled sheepishly and shrugged.
"Neither did I." Regina sighed. David got the hint, being dismissed, and exited the room to leave her with her thoughts.
Time passed far too quickly and soon her 'two hours left' turned into 'one hour left' and now Regina really felt that panic attack coming up. She waved her hands in the air, pacing around the changing room, muttering to herself lowly. Why did she say yes? Why did she agree to this? This was far too dangerous! And wrong. It wasn't the right person. She closed her eyes, coming to a still stand.
"What am I doing?" She grumbled to herself.
"I was thinking the same thing."
Regina shrieked, alarmed, and whirled around at once. She had been facing away from the door and over her muttering, she hadn't heard it open and slip closed again. But she had recognized that voice right away. Emma.
She gasped, her hand pressed to her heart, as if to calm it down. But it wouldn't, it was hammering away; she was breathless at the sight before her. Emma had never cleaned up so well; wearing skinny jeans, a buttoned up shirt and a vest. Her hair was all wild blonde curls.
"What are you doing here?" The ex-Mayor asked at last, after they had simply stared.
Loud thuds announced that Emma Swan made her way over, look on her face fierce and angry at the same time. Regina staggered back involuntary.
"What are you doing here?" Emma shot back, her voice low yet loud in the older woman's ears. "Why are you in a wedding dress, about to say 'I do' to that.. man.. instead of being with me?"
The former Evil Queen could not believe her ears, and instantly she became angry too. Her face was flustered as she glared at the other woman.
"Excuse me?" She shrieked, unable to control herself nor her anger. "You were the one distancing yourself! You started hooking up with that lecherous man!"
She didn't know what to expect; but she certainly didn't expect the defeated look on the face of the woman she loved so dearly, so passionately.
"I.." Regina rolled her eyes when Emma didn't continue.
"You know what, don't bother." She cut her off harshly. "It could've been you, downstairs, the one I would walk to and promise my whole life to. But you chose. And it wasn't me."
She turned away, hoping that Emma Swan would be as clever as her father and take the hint to leave. She wanted to be alone as her tears finally spilled, leaving traces all over her face, ruining her carefully applied make-up. Great, she would have to re-do that.
But she heard no steps heading for the door. They were heading closer.
She closed her eyes, wishing she could just be alone. That she could just disappear.
"You started dating Robin first." It was a simple comment, and it wasn't even true. Regina blinked in confusion.
"What?" She asked, turning around. She leaned back on the window sill when she realized that Emma had walked up very close.
"The town was buzzing with the news for days. Everyone was telling me that the cold, stiff Regina Mills was falling in love with the hobo. That she was finding her happy ending." Emma's face was scrunched up in a grimace, and finally the dark-haired woman understood.
She shook her head aggressively.
"It was you." She simply said.
"Don't marry him, 'Gina." Emma Swan told her, her beautiful, green eyes pleading at her. Suddenly the younger woman's hands were tugging at her dress, pulling her into her arms for a hug they both had missed for so long.
It was all that Regina Mills needed to hear; the blonde's request to not marry Robin Hood, to leave him and be with her instead; where she belonged. And she just nodded, burying her face into the crook of Emma's neck. She wanted to love her. She wanted her. She whispered it onto fair skin, her lips nipping at every inch she could reach.
And then they were kissing, biting, nipping at each other's lips, their hands tugging. Their hands nestling where they fitted perfectly. Their hearts fluttering as the love flowed through them, out of them and into the world; where it broke the curse they were under.
They kept kissing, desperately, trying to make up for lost time and only broke apart when the door burst open.
"MOM!" It was Henry's voice. Regina recognized it immediately. And she knew at once; the memories were back. She knew it because her mind was filling with images of the lost year. She shuddered as she realized that she and Robin had been well on their way to really falling in love, and thanked God that Emma Swan found her first.
She held up her arm for Henry, her other arm still wrapped around the blonde's waist, and she saw her love mimic the action. Henry ducked into their embrace, his smile dazzling.
"Also." He mumbled after a while. "I'm glad you finally found each other."
Regina Mills laughed, her heart's void filled with the two people she loved the most: the two people holding onto her for dear life in that moment. She leaned her head on Emma's shoulder and smiled down at their son.
"You look lovely in that dress," Emma Swan whispered into her ear. "You should wear it for me. Soon."
