Dinner that evening was quite pleasant, even with a sulking preteen glaring at the table.
When he was summoned for supper he yelled that he wasn't hungry and Regina, much to Emma's surprise didn't force him to eat the food she had prepared. However she insisted he sit at the table and 'not eat' like a civilized child. She and Emma had a lovely meal and had surprisingly calm, interesting conversations on a wide variety of topics. Both women ignored the teen who sat glaring at an empty plate until their dinner was complete. And as if it were an afterthought Regina excused the boy with a flick of her wrist.
Emma rolled her eyes as he marched, or rather stomped, up the stairs to his room.
"Are you sure you want to keep him?" Emma laughed but felt Regina's nervous energy immediately then added, "because no refunds!" green eyes pinned the queen in her seat expressing her mirth regarding their moody child and Regina visibly relaxed.
"I reserve the right to bring him into protective custody of the sheriff if he pushes too hard."
Emma scoffed, "Why would you do that to me?"
"I am the evil queen dear and he is your son." Regina smiled deliciously.
"So we are going from tug of war to hot potato then are we?" Emma chuckled as a warm feeling that radiated from her chest surrounded her. "Ah tweendom."
Regina shook her head with a smile splitting her face in two. "I'm not ready for this." she admitted.
Emma scoffed. "Please you handle him like a pro. I can't get him to do a damn thing!"
"Intimidation and uncertainty about how long gone my evil ways really are go a long way Miss Swan."
When Regina stood to start clearing the table Emma stopped her and insisted she be allowed to clean up. "The cook never cleans your majesty." Emma said trying out the new title and deciding it was unacceptable. She scrunched up her nose and shook her blonde head. "Nope. I don't care if you don't hold the title, you'll always be my mayor." she said with a chuckle and a wink. Regina raised her eyebrow and smirked as she handed the blonde her dishes. "You were born in my kingdom, under my rule, I am also your Queen."
Emma blushed at the way Regina drawled 'your queen' and swallowed thickly. "Yeah I guess that's true, but" the blonde shrugged her shoulders. "You'll always just be Regina to me."
The former mayor smiled warmly, uncertain as to what to say and was honestly put off by the emotion that simple statement caused, she stood and followed the sheriff into the kitchen carrying what was left of the casserole dish.
Regina grabbed a bottle of wine from her displayed collection and poured them each a glass without asking the blonde if she wanted one or not. Emma finished stacking the dishwasher and Regina wiped down the stove and both women stood holding their respective wine glasses uncertain as to what they should do now.
Emma took a sip of the sweet red wine and hummed her appreciation for the vintage. She didn't know much about wine, but she knew what she liked.
'Clearly she wants you to stay, she poured wine. Compliment her or something!' Emma cleared her throat and said "Dinner was amazing Regina I don't think I've ever had a better meal."
Regina split her red lips into a devilish Cheshire cat smile, "Be sure to mention that to your mother dear."
Emma finished her glass and shoved the queen gently "Be nice!" she demanded as she chuckled.
"Or what?" the Queen dared as she finished pouring her guest another glass of wine.
"Or I'll make you be nice!" Emma teased with another light nudge and a warm chuckle.
Regina held out her wine glass as to not spill a precious drop and rebutted, "In order to force someone to do what you want Miss Swan, you must have leverage." She pointed her index finger that was wrapped around the stem of the glass right toward the blonde and continued, "Since I am currently enjoying a nothing left to lose lifestyle here in sunny Storybrooke, I'm afraid you have little to nothing to persuade me to do as you wish."
The way the queen spoke, the rumble of her baritone voice was like pure undiluted sex and Emma suddenly found herself flushed and completely turned on. Emma shook her head internally at that thought and focused on what the queen had said as opposed to how she said it.
Emma became suddenly serious. "Do you regret it?"
"My rap sheet is extensive Miss Swan you may need to be a tad more specific." Regina said and sat down on one of the two stools in her kitchen.
"The curse." Emma specified with an eye roll.
Regina's eyes snapped to attention, meeting the curious green gaze of the blonde before her.
"Never. If I knew then what I know now, I would do it all over again without hesitation."
Emma's brows pinched together in anger. "Seriously?! Why would you even say that!"
"Other than it is the truth? Don't ask questions you don't want the answers for!" Regina watched the despair in her guest's face and decided to give the woman the whole truth. "It gave us Henry, Emma."
Emma immediately noted that term again. Us .
The brunette was right. Had she not cast the curse Emma never would have had Henry. She may have had other children, perhaps married off to some king in an effort to thwart a war or something. They wouldn't be him. He wouldn't have been raised by this complicated woman standing before her now. She never would have met Neal. Their son wouldn't exist.
"I can't ever feel regret for the decisions that brought him into our life. I can feel sorrow for the people who were harmed. The suffering it caused, the suffering you endured... " the brunette dropped her gaze back to her near empty glass. "but I will never regret it. He was worth it."
Emma thought about her childhood and about her brief stay in the enchanted forest and then finally her son. She came to chuckle as she spoke her sentiment. "Now I kinda want to thank you for cursing an entire realm for 28 years!"
Regina stifled a laugh, bit the inside of her lip and tried not to say anything snarky. Their evening had been going so well and Regina didn't want to ruin it with a thoughtless comment.
Sydney Glass wanted to be with Regina, from the moment his brown eyes met hers in the king's garden so many years ago. Her beauty was flawless, timeless, a literal goddess fallen to earth. He wanted to worship her and show her how his love would fill that void she carried in her heart.
However, she betrayed him, she used him, then cast him aside as if he were nothing.
During the curse she continued to use him, but he thought perhaps, just maybe if he could just prove to her the depth of his adoration, she would see him for what he was. Her savior. Her true love.
Once the curse finally broke, Sidney Glass remembered being the genie in the lamp and the betrayal perpetrated by the object of his desires; Sidney's mind focused. It focused upon her. How to get back into the queen's graces. How to show her he could protect her. How he could be a father to her child and perhaps have children of their own. He was ancient and extremely powerful, he could rectify her decision to harm herself in order to make herself barren. He would do that for her. He almost swooned thinking about his picture perfect family with his beloved and their children.
So when he saw that Mr. Gold, other wise known as Rumpelstiltskin, had brought magic to Storybrooke, Sidney practiced his rusty craft. He started by watching his love through the mirrors in her home and around town. He was no longer trapped in that desolate jail cell his love had sentenced him to, but he still had access to it.
He watched her every move, how lovely she was with his future stepson and he admired and appreciated her motherly instinct. He also watched how she interacted with the idiot Charmings and their witless offspring. He watched how close his love had gotten to the Sheriff, he could see the affection his love felt for the annoying blonde. He remembered before the curse was broken, while at the mines when Regina, in her highly emotional state, almost embraced the blonde. Almost kissed her. That memory along with many others enraged him enough to enact a plan. A plan that will ruin the way his love viewed the object of her presumed affection. A plan that will finally allow him to feel his love the way he had only ever dreamt about.
In order for part of the spell to work the subject in question must have a love interest. It didn't matter who, she just needed to desire. So he started to watch the blonde as well as his queen. He found the irritating blonde this night in his queen's home. Holding her hand. Standing silently in his queen's kitchen. Even through the mirror he could feel the emotional connection between the women and his jealousy overtook his thin veil of sanity and he exploded in a violent rage. Throwing and breaking his belongings, upending furniture and shouting expletives. It should be me! My queen is upset and it should be me she turns to in order to care for her! Not that intellectually deficient Charming!
He gathered his senses after some time had passed and he calmed himself. He returned to the mirror and checked in on his queen. She was alone in her bedroom and readying herself for bed. She stood before the mirror he was using to spy on her and slowly disrobed herself. Her brown eyes looking over her own reflection, but to Sidney, she was undressing for him. Looking to him. She unfastened her bra and released her perfect caramel breasts for his viewing pleasure. He pulled himself from the confines of his trousers and began to stroke himself, imagining his hands on those perfect curves. How soft she would be, how wet he would make her. How she would taste and the cinnamon smell of her skin. He licked his lips and dove into his fantasy, pulling himself closer and closer to completion.
Once he was finished, he noticed the mirror that had held the goddess of his desire had gone dark and he surmised she had crawled into bed. He imagined her petite little body curling itself around him in her bed, no their bed, and he smirked to himself.
With a wave of his hand the darkened mirror found the savior as she made her way back to her home. He watched as the blonde readied herself for her shower and he was genuinely disgusted by her body. It was nothing like his queen. Hard and muscular, her breasts would be salvageable, he smirked, but that was all. Her thighs were strong and lanky as was her arms. Her sleek muscles shifted and rippled under her pale flesh and he could barely continue to watch when he heard the woman groan and the tight panting breath caught his attention.
A soft moan and "Regina" was clearly heard echoing off the bathroom walls.
Another groan and he was at full attention slamming his hands against the wall on either side of the mirror. The shower glass had fogged up and he could no longer see what she was doing, but he certainly could imagine. His jealousy exploded into another fit inducing temper tantrum as he stood and listened to that uneducated woman get herself off to images of his queen! His love!
For the second time that evening he ripped apart the room in a fit of jealous rage.
Panting from exertion he began to calm himself once more and he realized the blonde had long ago removed herself from the bathroom and retired for the evening.
He swallowed the bile threatening to make its way up his esophagus and then a satisfied grimace split into a mad smirk.
Well it seemed as though the idiot indeed had a love interest. When my plan comes to pass that love interest will want to kill her and if I know my queen at all. She will.
Then I will be there to pick up the pieces and she will have the child she wants so desperately the child that was stolen from her and she will need me to help her put the pieces of her broken life back together. And I will. I will help her. I will love her and she will finally see me.