Chapter 9 – The one with all the conventions.
The convention in New Jersey is a whopping success.
Regina is featured front and center for the entire weekend, while the rest of the cast come and go on different days to join in the Kingdom Come panels. There are autograph tables and photograph booths and special viewings of their series' teaser trailer, drumming up interest and excitement in the upcoming series. Emma watches it all with a critical eye, not least because her own face is featured in the trailers on multiple occasions, garnering her curious stares from fans when she's standing just behind Regina's autograph table or keeping watch over the stage from a back corner. Regina respects her desire to remain out of the spotlight and merely smiles and gives a dismissive "Oh, she was a guest star for a few episodes," whenever fans ask about the lurking blonde, smoothly changing topics and promoting her other castmates.
"You could be sitting here signing autographs and getting selfies," Ruby says when she attends the convention on Saturday, grinning over her shoulder at Emma after she's signed one of her old Werewolf Huntress posters for a grinning fanboy.
"And distract the fanboys from you? I wouldn't dream of it," Emma jokes, tipping her head to let Ruby know that her next fan has stepped up to the table.
Today's Kingdom Come autograph table features Regina, Ruby, and Graham, signing personal headshots as well as selling promo photos from their show. There's one promo photo of Queen Reina on her throne with Kavalan standing dutifully by her side, and Regina signs those ones the most, looking amused every time a fan's eyes bounce between the photo and Emma, nearly in the exact same position, standing behind Regina with her hands loosely clasped behind her back and her eyes as sharp as a hawk's.
"Any regrets?" Regina asks her once they've finished a panel on Sunday, heading back to the autographs table to find a full lineup of people waiting for them.
"You can't guilt me back into the show," Emma says, smirking, and Regina just shrugs as if to say, at least I tried, and returns to her seat and plucks up a sharpie with gusto.
Her fans are excited, happy to ask innocent questions that Regina smiles at and refuses to spoil. Some only want her autograph on a Fourth of July poster, while others are ready to jump into Kingdom Come on faith alone. Some, however, have the courage to openly ask about Emma's prominent appearance in the teaser trailer. Or rather, about the obvious eye-sex between two of the leading ladies.
"Is there going to be a gay couple?" one girl asks bluntly, causing Emma's eyes to bulge and Regina's lips to quirk. "The Queen and that knight woman are, like, always standing in each other's personal space."
"That's not—" Emma says, at the same time Regina says, "You'll have to watch to find out."
The girl takes it as some form of coy affirmation, because she grins and runs off with her autographed Reina/Kavalan poster clutched to her chest, and Emma's gaping like a fish.
"She's going to be pissed when she gets to the season finale," Emma says, turning an accusing eye on Regina. Regina just smiles and shrugs, focusing on her next autograph.
They tour to a few major cities and attend multiple conventions, promoting the show everywhere they go. Social media is aflutter with theories about the show's storyline based on the promo trailers alone, and LGBTQ fans are tentatively hopeful online, tweeting screencaps of Reina and Kavalan and the ever-miniscule amount of personal space between them. Gold and the network grumble, but they already know Kavalan has been killed off (or so Belle tells them,) so they say nothing at all and let the fans believe what they will. It only means more viewers for them when the show finally premieres.
"Isn't that kind of queer-baity?" Ruby asks one day, when she and Emma and Regina have gone out together for lunch. It's a small hole-in-the-wall type of restaurant and they're mostly left alone, though Emma has fielded a few stray fans that spied them through the windows.
"It is," Emma agrees, frowning. "I'm not looking forward to the social media backlash."
"I'm sure Belle has a plan," Regina says, giving Ruby a significant look. The younger brunette's eyebrows lift before she seems to realize something and nods, grinning. Emma only looks on between them, boggled.
Promo season ends and Kingdom Come premieres on television to raving reviews. They're the fresh faces of TV entertainment, fantastical and enchanting and gritty and epic in equal doses, leading the charge in the industry's latest shift to the fantasy genre. Ratings skyrocket and their social media explodes every week with each episode aired, their characters quickly gaining footing as new fan favourites. Reina and Kavalan are immediately shipped, as Regina had hoped and Emma had feared, and #KavaReina makes its way onto Twitter's most popular hashtags list, beating out Mary Margaret and David's ship by leagues.
"KavaReina is such a cute ship name," Mary Margaret gushes when asked about ships during their panel, her jealousy lasting only briefly before she turns all her focus onto shipping her co-star's characters. (Her and David's characters, Artemis and Atticus, have a ship name of their own as well, A2—squared, that is—and with their real-life romance following their on-screen romance, they've garnered a pretty dedicated fanbase for themselves, but it's nowhere near the amount KavaReina has.)
"Yeah, and I mean, they look great together on screen," Ruby adds, motioning graciously to Regina as the cast sit on a couch on stage. The fans cheer their approval and Regina smirks, lifting her microphone up to speak once they've quieted down a little.
"Kavalan's actress is backstage today. If you cheer loudly enough, she might pop her head out to say hello."
The fans go wild, of course, screaming and chanting for Kavalan, and Emma is only mildly annoyed at Regina before giving in and peering out from behind the backstage curtain, smiling and waving shyly as the fans applaud. Later, after the panel, she grumbles and scowls petulantly at Regina for putting her on the spot, but the brunette elbows her playfully in the side and all misgivings are forgiven, especially when Regina grins at her like that.
Emma joins in a few autograph sessions after a lot of begging from her castmates, figuring the extra paycheck for being an official "guest" at the convention won't hurt, and she and Regina end up signing a lot of posters featuring Reina and Kavalan, even writing out "#KavaReina" on some to appease their fans.
"I ship it," Henry says one night when she's on the phone with him, sitting out on the balcony of her hotel room since the weather's nice. "The LGBTQ fanbase has gone wild. There are so many gifs on Twitter. You should see Tumblr. You two are cute."
"Cute?" Emma nearly screeches. "She's my employer!"
"Whatever, Ma," and his eye roll is too evident in the sarcastic lilt to his voice. "I just can't wait to be home with you soon."
Warmth spreads in her chest at the reminder that she'll be reunited with her baby boy soon. Convention season is nearly over and Regina won't need her once the brunette returns home and waits for news of renewal. And even if Kingdom Come does get renewed, there's no reason to think Regina will continue keeping her on as a bodyguard. It's been a quiet year, she's had no more threats, and even Cora is starting to lay off.
"Same here. I miss you, Henry." Her eyes shut, a soft sigh escaping her lips as a warm night breeze caresses her face and brushes her hair back from her forehead. "I should get to bed, I have to be up early."
"Okay. Love you, Ma."
"I love you too."
She hangs up, standing to move indoors only to startle when a husky voice says from somewhere in the darkness, "Who was that?"
Whipping to her left, Emma finds Regina standing in the doorway of her own balcony just one room over, dark eyes glittering in the night. Her expression is unreadable, but there's a tightness to her lips.
"Just a friend," Emma says dismissively, shrugging one shoulder. "I'm gonna head to—"
"You should have told me you had a boyfriend back home," Regina says, pushing away from the doorframe to move closer to the little divider between their balconies. She hates that Emma never admitted it to her, but she fights to keep the bitterness from her voice nonetheless. "I wouldn't keep taking you out of Boston for all these long term jobs if I knew you were missing your partner."
"I don't have a partner, I—" Emma pauses, hesitating. Regina clearly overheard the end of her conversation, and she doesn't want to make the woman think she's lying about not having a boyfriend. Talking about Henry is something she just doesn't do,though, not since... "It's not what you think. Honest."
Regina steps forward, hips against the divider, her eyes wide and hopeful. "Then what is it?"
"It's my son," Emma breathes out, eyes widening as the truth slips from her own lips. But Regina stares at her so softly, so full of trust and kindness, and she can't keep lying to her even if she's sure their friendship will not last beyond this job.
"Your son?" Regina's shoulders lose their tension, expression softening as her lips tilt up. Emma doesn't have a partner; she has a child. "You have a son?"
"His name is Henry." Sighing, Emma steps forward to rest her elbows on the divider, smiling wryly across the short space between their balconies. "I had him when I was still a teenager; I was a dumb kid, really, and his dad bailed as soon as he found out I was pregnant, so I did what I could. Struggled as a young single mom for a while until Jecob offered me a job and helped me get my life together, and, well, the rest is history, I guess. I don't usually talk about Henry with my principals."
"I'd like to think we're also friends now," Regina huffs with a little smile, watching as a light blush colors the blonde's pale cheeks. Her own relief and amusement quickly turns to guilt, though, as she thinks back on how long they've known each other. "I kept you away from your own son for almost eight months?"
"What? No, of course not. I willingly took this job, remember? Besides, he's been away from home for the entire time."
The frown in her voice is too evident. Regina watches her knowingly.
"Can I ask why?"
"Same reason I don't mention him to my employers anymore." Emma shrugs, an apologetic look on her face, and Regina gives her a sympathetic smile. "I did some security work for a guy who got a little obsessed with me. Well, I finished the job and moved on to my next gig, and I came home one day and... and Henry wasn't there. He'd found my son while Henry was walking home from school and invited him to the old retro arcade for games and rocky road ice cream, something he knew Henry would love because I'd mentioned it. By the time Henry actually got home, I was scared out of my wits, and he— he was there and acting all friendly and tried to get into my apartment."
She sucks in a breath as Regina reaches across the space and sets a hand over hers, squeezing her fingers supportively.
"At first I thought maybe he was just being really attentive, you know, actually paying attention to everything I'd ever said and trying to treat Henry out, even though he'd done it without asking me or letting me know where Henry was. But then he wouldn't take no for an answer, thought I was just playing hard to get or something, and it got to the point where I didn't feel safe knowing that he knew where we lived and where Henry went to school. We moved to another city, and it was alright for a while, but then he showed up, saying he'd been relocated for work, and when Henry told me he saw him outside his new school one day, I just... It was me. He was after me. And Henry deserved to go through school without having to look over his shoulder and make sure he wasn't being followed home every day, so... I sent him to live with our only other family for the rest of his school year while I figured out what to do."
Turning her hand over, she clasps onto the hand holding hers, smiling appreciatively at the easy comfort Regina manages to provide.
"It took a long time to get a restraining order. Apparently, stalking me across the country and lurking outside my son's schools wasn't enough proof. But I got it, eventually, with some help from Jecob. Henry wanted to finish up his year over there before coming back, though, and it was better not to have him change schools in the middle of the year, so he'll finally be home with me in two weeks."
She smiles then, a warm and genuine smile at the thought of her young teenage son, and Regina wants to stretch across the space dividing them and hug her tightly, but she settles for squeezing her hand instead.
"Thank you for telling me," she says softly, eyes glittering. "You didn't have to."
"With all the time we've spent together, I couldn't hide it forever," Emma jokes, offering a small laugh. Then, more gently, "Besides, we're friends, right?"
"Right," Regina agrees, glancing up shyly towards the sky while Emma ducks her head, yearning in both their eyes that goes unnoticed. "Friends."
