Disclaimer: I don't own Once upon a time or its characters, if I did the queens of darkness would be redeemed and have their happy endings.
Basic summary: Cruella is distraught after Ursula goes back to the ocean feeling betrayed and thinking Ursula loved her. She begins to wonder if anything she does will ever make her happy and decides to back out of the plan for finding the author at the same time she begins to realize she's in love with Regina. EvilDarlings/DeVilQueen pairing.
Regina left Cruella sleeping peacefully on the couch and covered her with a plush throw blanket before she grabbed her Blackberry and tip-toed into the kitchen as she dialed Emma's number.
Emma picked up on the second ring,"Hey Regina, what's up?" she asked,"Listen, I'll explain later but I need you to meet me at my place and please come alone. Don't bring your parents or Cruella will bolt." Regina explained.
"Whoa, Cruella's at your place?!" Emma practically screeched and Regina yanked the phone away from her before she rolled her eyes and held the phone back to her ear.
"Swan, I said I'll explain later but yes she's here and she's sleeping. She knows I'm under cover and she dosen't seem to mind or at least not that I can tell but I don't think she trusts me not that I blame her. The point is, I need you to help me convince her that we're on her side if she wants us there so meet me at home. On second thought, don't come alone bring Henry with you. He gets out of school in 25 minutes so wait until he gets out and then meet me here." Regina explained.
"Okay, I'll see you in a bit then." Emma replied,"Emma?" Regina asked.
"Yes Regina?" Emma asked,"Thank you." Regina replied.
"Yeah, no problem Regina. See you soon." Emma said before she hung up.
Regina hung up and put her phone in her pocket before she went back into the living room to find Cruella looking at her questioningly. She sat down on the couch beside Cruella but before she could even try to explain Cruella spoke up.
"Who were you talking to?" Cruella asked and Regina sighed,"Emma, she and our son are coming over. Don't worry, it'll just be the two of them and us that's it. I know you probably don't trust me and I don't blame you but I want to help you if you'll let me." Regina explained and Cruella brought her hand up to cup Regina's cheek.
"If I didn't trust you dahling", Cruella closed the distance between them and captured Regina's lips with her own and Regina kissed her back for a moment before Cruella broke it,"Would I have done that?" Cruella asked and Regina just stared into her blue eyes.
"No I wouldn't have. How can you think I don't trust you when all you've done is trust me when it would have been easier not to? I trust you Regina, really I do. I think I trust you more than I've ever trusted anyone except maybe..." Cruella trailed off when her voice started to shake.
"Ursula. I know but I will never hurt you like that, I promise." Regina vowed and Cruella raised a perfect eyebrow,"Don't make promises you can't keep Dahling, I know you might not intend to hurt me but that dosen't mean you'll never do it." she told Regina sadly.
"So this... son of yours, how old is he?" Cruella asked and Regina snickered,"Henry and he's thirteen, I think you'll like him. I know he'll love you, he thinks its so cool that while other kids in this world believe that we're simply a story from a book he knows that we're real." she told Cruella.
"Just the other day he was asking me if Mal could really turn into a dragon and if you really had the classic panther de vil like in the animated disney movie. I told him yes Maleficent can really turn into a dragon and that your car was even better in real life than how disney portrayed it." Regina told her with a laugh and Cruella smirked.
"Oh so he likes my car does he? But not me." Cruella asked and Regina smiled,"Oh he likes your car but I think you'll be surprised because like I said he'll love you. You'll see for yourself in three, two... one." Regina counted down and like clockwork she and Cruella heard.
"Mom?" Henry called out and Regina giggled,"In the living room and I have a surprise for you, come see." Regina called back as Henry appeared and as he saw Cruella his jaw dropped.
"Oh my god, Mom is that... the one and only Cruella De Vil?" Henry asked and Regina nodded as Cruella waved hello.
"This is so awesome!" Henry said excitedly before he cleared his throat nervously and introduced himself formally.
"Its nice to meet you Miss De Vil. I'm Henry, Henry Mills." Henry said maybe a little too formally but Cruella didn't seem to mind at all.
"Such manners for such a handsome young man, you raised him well Regina. Its very nice to meet you as well Henry dahling but please call me Cruella, none of this Miss De Vil nonsense." Cruella replied in approval as she introduced herself.
"Of course Cruella." Henry said nervously with a smile.
"Well I'm just going to go upstairs and watch a movie in my room, call me if you need me Mom." Henry said and Regina nodded.
"It was nice meeting you Cruella." Henry said and Cruella smiled,"you too." she replied before Henry went up to his room.
Emma walked in a few minutes later,"Hey, sorry I was on the phone with Hook otherwise I would have came in sooner. So this is the one and only Cruella De Vil, huh?" Emma asked and Regina smiled.
"Yes, yes it is. Cruella, this is Emma Swan. Emma, this is Cruella De Vil." Regina introduced and Emma rolled her eyes with a smile.
"Nice to meet you Cruella." Emma said and Cruella smiled sweetly,"Likewise." Cruella tried to be nice but she couldn't help feeling a little on edge being around the daughter of Snow White.
The three women talked for a little over two hours about a variety of things before Henry came downstairs asking Emma if they could go to Granny's for a grilled cheese and hot chocolate to which Emma said yes of course as she loved Granny's grilled cheese.
"See you later Mom, love you." Henry told Regina and gave her a kiss on the cheek before he turned to Cruella,"Goodbye Cruella, it really was so nice to meet you." Henry said and shook her hand.
"Goodbye Dahling and it was nice to meet you as well." Cruella told him with a smile which Henry returned before he turned and left with Emma.
"See Cruella, he loves you." Regina told her with a grin and Cruella smiled,"You really think so? He looked like he was scared of me." she questioned and Regina giggled.
"Not at all. Henry has practically idolized you ever since he seen 101 dalmations for the first time so he was just nervous but he loved you, trust me." Regina explained.
"I do trust you but he seemed so timid, I mean it Regina. You heard what he called me did you not? Miss De Vil. Honestly, what was all that about?" Cruella asked.
"Oh Cruella, he was only trying to be polite like I raised him to. He likes you a lot, I promise." Regina assured her.
"If you say so but I still say he didn't seem to like me however if you say he liked me then I believe you." Cruella replied still sounding unsure.
"Trust me, he did. I know it." Regina said.
"So what happens now? Tell Snow white I'm a hero? Like she'll believe that." Cruella muttered and Regina shook her head.
"No, not yet anyways but you're right she won't believe it not if you don't at least try to be nice. You have to make her believe you've changed, make her see that you're trying to redeem yourself. It won't be easy and I'm not going to lie, it could take a while but if I could do it then so can you." Regina explained and Cruella nodded.
"How?" Cruella asked simply.
"Well for one thing, you start building trust and when you make a mistake or threaten someone in times of frustration you apologize for it and if they don't accept your apology then that sucks but at least you tried. The point is, they may accept you at first but the more you show that you're at least trying to change then eventually they'll start to trust you and if you keep trying to show that you've changed then that trust will grow. I mean if you'd told me two and half years ago that I'd be friends with Snow white I would have told you that you were crazy but I am friends with the woman who was once my worst enemy. It took Snow a long, long, long time to really trust me. A year ago she still had trouble trusting me and then three weeks ago she asked me to go under cover as my former evil self so I could tell them what you girls were up to. Now if she didn't trust me, she wouldn't have asked me to do that because if she didn't trust me then how would she know I was telling her truth and not covering for you because you and Mal are my friends. Well I think you and I are a little more than friends now but you know what I mean." Regina explained.
Cruella listened carefully to everything Regina was saying and nodded in understanding,"So basically, if I want people to trust me I have to be all sugar and spice and everything nice?" she questioned with sass and Regina snickered.
"Yeah, pretty much." Regina replied with a laugh.
"Well that figures. You say we're more than friends now so what am I? Henry's evil step-mother?" Cruella asked teasingly.
"Do I look like Cinderella to you? No Cruella, you are still my friend but now you're also my girlfriend if you'd like to be and yes one day if you'd like, you could be Henry's step-mother. Not his evil step-mother, just his his step-mother but let's take it one day at a time, shall we?" Regina replied catching Cruella's joke but she was being completely serious.
