"Put on that blue one from your days of reign." Gold nodded to one of the dresses.
The Queen walked between the rows of hangers in the dressing room, slowly sorting through the outfits.
"Are you kidding me?" She turned to her husband. "Where did you get the idea it would fasten on me?"
"I detected it by touch." He smiled at her. "You can be certain it will fasten."
"And how will it look even if it does fasten?" She went to the mirror, meticulously examining her figure.
"If you don't try it, you won't know." Gold shrugged. "Put it on, I'll fasten it." He handed the dress over to her.
"Let's see it." Regina grinned.
"Do you?" He methodically fastened the barely noticeable hooks on the back of the dress.
"I see it." She rolled her shoulder blades so he could finish up. "But if I make at least one abrupt movement, then one of those hooks will knock someone's eye out."
"Well then, don't make sudden movements." He ran his hands along her ribs, down the waist, on her hips and slightly pulled them, bringing his wife close to him, looking at the mirror.
"Is this the dress you had said before the neckline could have been more modest?" Regina smiled at his reflection.
"Apparently, yes." He slowly kissed her shoulder.
"And what do you say now?" She tilted her head to the side, placing her neck for a kiss.
"I say that you were right: this dress doesn't fit after all." Kissing the Queen on the neck, he buried his nose in her hair. "Maybe try another blue, the one with the cut on the back?"
"No, the cut is too big.", his wife sighed. "Remind me why we agreed to this at all?"
"Because people will be pleased and it'll be good for us." He kissed her again.
"Oh, there you are," Madame Mayor looked in the room. "That won't do.", she said from the threshold. "It's too long."
"You think I should rather wear a mini skirt?", the Queen asked ironically.
"Who said anything about a mini skirt? This dress is just not safe. Imagine you going down the stairs with Charlotte in your arms." She nodded to the hem touching the floor. "You will step on it."
"Well, you talk reasonably like a mother.", the Queen smiled. "But I have two hands. I can hold the hem with one, don't worry. Why were you looking for us?"
"I want to hide with you." Regina smiled. "In fact, Jessica asked me to tell you her makeup artist will be here in twenty minutes."
"Where is Jessica?", her sister asked.
"She is busy decorating your dining room, along with the florists, who she gives a lot of valuable advice at."
"Good Lord. And that's not counting the flocks of waiters in my kitchen. Are you sure we really have to go through all this?" The Queen laid her head on Gold's shoulder.
"I'm sure." He stroked her hair. "There will be a few people here that Trenton really needs if he wants to become Mayor next year. And Regina will have a chance to meet everyone in an informal setting. And Jessica really does want to help. You know her; she sincerely wants to do the best. So just relax, distract yourself from everything that's happening in the house. This is just for one day. Tomorrow everything will be as usual."
"Tomorrow you will leave for Storybrooke." Regina sighed.
"See, you'll also get enough sleep in silence." He kissed her temple lightly. "And I could have left yesterday, as Nolan requested, thus avoiding today's reception. But I didn't do that, I didn't leave you alone to get tortured by Jessica." he smiled at his wife.
"You couldn't. The Trentons would never forgive you for that. So don't say that!" The Queen was indignant. "But you could leave in a week, as you intended."
"Well, stop it." He pressed her to him. "What, in fact, is the difference: tomorrow or in a week? In the end, the sooner I do this, the sooner Nolan will stop nagging everyone. At least for a while."
"That's true.", she said softly.
Gold's phone rang.
"This is Stanley." he looked at the screen. "I had to send him some documents this morning and forgot about it. I'll be quick." He nodded to the Queen, slipping out the door.
"Who is this?" Madame Mayor asked the Queen.
"What?" She looked at her sister, bewildered. "Ah ... His lawyer."
"What's the matter?" Regina put a hand on her shoulder.
"I don't know.", the Queen cringed, "I don't want him to leave."
"It's just a couple of days." the Mayor smiled. "I will be here all this time, I will help you with the children. And Mrs. Savage is ready to stay here."
"No, I feel good about the children." Regina waved it off. "That's not the issue. It's just ... Ever since we left Storybrooke, we have never parted. I feel uneasy about this."
"Regina, you're scaring me." The Mayor hugged his sister. "Why is it so bad that you won't see each other for a couple of days? You cannot live your whole lives in a locked embrace, like lovebirds."
"Apparently, I'm still not very emotionally stable after giving birth." She hugged the Mayor in response. "And extremelly not used to sleeping alone."
"Do you want me to sleep with you?" Regina grinned.
"God no!", the Queen laughed. "You know, let's get back to the dress better. Maybe the burgundy one?" She stepped towards the hanger.
"Are you sure you even need an evening gown?" Miss Mills looked around the dressing room. "Maybe try putting on something simpler. What would be more convenient to feed Charlotte?"
"I'm sure.", her sister nodded. "When you have money and connections, you must follow certain rules."
"Okay, yes, this is a little complicated.", the Mayor frowned.
"Nothing complicated." She put on her brocade dress and grimacing, hung it back. "As the Mayor of Storybrooke, you wouldn't go to the city hall in shorts and slippers, right? It's similar here: Mrs. Gold cannot appear at the reception in honor of the birth of her daughter without an evening dress and a diamond necklace."
"I thought it was kind of an evening for friends.", Regina said uncertainly.
"Yes, that's why you just saw two florists in my dining room at once.", the Queen smiled. "It's kind of like an evening for friends, but with a dress code and a certain official part."
"I hope at least you won't raise Charlotte up with outstretched arms, like Simba, standing at the top of the stairs.", the Mayor said with irony.
"I won't." her sister assured her. "Although that's an interesting idea. Cora for example, as far as I know, did just that."
"At the royal castle, in the Enchanted Forest." the Mayor laughed.
"Life in this city is not so different from our kingdom." the Queen shrugged. "You will notice it yourself soon. We were very lucky that we got married before we got a certain social status here. I'm afraid to even imagine what Mr. Gold's wedding would look like now."
"You said he was doing the same thing here as in Storybrooke. Where does all this turmoil around you come from?" Regina was surprised. "Are there so few land lords in New York?"
"Well", she said, "in fact, not only that. Investments, stock speculation, political consultations ... And guess who finances Trenton's campaign. And since we're talking about it, meeting the right people with the other right people at a dinner for friends is also a kind of business."
"And why would he need all this?", Regina asked in confusion. "Would you get enough money from rent?"
"Because he is bored without magic and needs to keep busy with something and besides magic, the other thing he likes is to make deals.", the Queen removed a red dress from her coat hanger with bare shoulders. "This one?"
"Try it on." Regina nodded.
"Well, just look at them." Gold nodded to the side, holding his wife by the elbow. "Does he even move away from her?"
"So it's going well.", she smiled.
"Probably.", he shrugged. "But it starts to get a little annoying."
"Why?" Regina was surprised.
"Every time I see Stern next to your half, I can't help thinking that all this time he has been looking at my wife like that." He pressed her close to him.
"Is that so?" She raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
"Well, you are twins.", Gold answered. "You are exactly the same."
"Really?" The Queen looked at her husband slyly. "So, are you admiring Miss Mills right now?"
"What?" He was confused. "Of course not! What are you talking about?"
"Well, we're twins." Regina grinned. "We are exactly the same."
"Regina, you are completely different.", her husband protested. "I love you. You are my wife. Why on earth should I admire Miss Mills?"
"That's what I mean." the Queen smiled.
"Okay, I admit what I said was stupid." Gold smiled. "I hope you're not going to remember this for another hundred years, the way you usually like to…"
"I'll think about it." She reached over and kissed him.
"Aren't you bored here?" Dr. Stern went to the Mayor of Storybrooke who was sitting with a glass of whiskey at the corner of the living room, away from all the companies.
"I'm having a short break from all of these: Yes? Are you Regina too? And where is Storybrooke? How long had you been the Mayor? Probably, it's not easy at all, to start all over again in such a big city as New York, after being so many years in such a secluded town."
"And what bothers you more?" He leaned next to her. "Questions or answers?"
"What do you think?" Miss Mills smiled sourly.
"I think I know the answer." Stern nodded. "It's always scary to change something. But you came here for some reason."
"This reason has nothing to do with what is happening now," Madame Mayor shook her head. "When I came here, I was not planning on staying for long. The decision to stay here was rather sudden for me."
"And yet you still keep this decision." Stern smiled. "So there must be a good reason for it."
"I'm not sure about that." Regina sighed. "That I made the right decision. Everything was fine in Storybrooke, everything was very simple and sorted out there. But here, everything is different. Indeed, Storybrooke is like one small area of New York. I'm scared; I can't manage ruling such a huge city. You see, here I need to re-learn everything, start almost from scratch. And here there is a completely different social structure. There I was a Mayor, an indisputable authority. Here I will be the assistant to the Mayor, if our friend becomes the Mayor, of course ..."
"Oh, he will, don't worry.", Stern interjected.
"And I need to maintain good relations with hundreds of different of necessary people in order to be able to actualize my ideas.", Regina continued. "Studying all these social rituals and conventions, compromising all the time, providing a favor for a favor. I'm not used to it. This is difficult for me. Never in my life did I have to integrate into this mutually beneficial system: not when I was the Mayor of Storybrooke, nor when I was ...", she stopped short. "Generally, never. I'm not at all sure that I like it. And my son hates me ..."
"It's normal, he's a teenager." Stern shrugged. "My daughter didn't talk to me for three months after my wife and I divorced. And to her mother even longer. She fled to her grandmother and refused to see us. We were terrified; we didn't know what to do with her. But time passed, she calmed down and everything was somehow sorted out. Now she lives part time with her mother and her new husband, part time with me and we all are fine. And divorced parents is a harder test for a child than moving. Henry, too, will calm down gradually."
"No, it's not about moving." She took a few sips from her glass. "Let's just say that he hates my sister and Gold and it is painful for him that I took their side."
"Their side on what issue?", Stern said.
"Nevermind." She drank some more whiskey. "The bottom line is that I'm not sure everything will be fine with us over time either. Perhaps he will never forgive me."
"No, that's impossible." He took her hand. "You are his mother, he can't be mad at you forever."
"You don't know my son." She wanted to take her hand away but stopped. "But we'll see. He is now in England, at a boarding school that Gold pays for. And that brings us back to how helpless I feel here. Not only because Gold pays for Henry's school but because it turned out the savings of the Mayor of Storybrooke are enough only for the cheapest apartment in New York. I have such a beautiful home in Storybrooke. And here I can't get decent housing without Gold's help."
"Knowing him, I don't think he's refusing." Stern shrugged. "So the problem is ...?"
"There was nothing worse in our world than being obligated to Gold.", Regina answered. "And I'm not sure that anything is different here."
"You somehow demonize him too much.", Stern grinned.
"And you just know him too little.", Regina retorted.
"I know enough of them, him with Regina." He also drank from his glass. "And I think that you worry in vain."
"And speaking of him with Regina", she nodded toward Gold and the Queen who were chatting with one of the guests, "I'm a little shocked. I was sure that she was just like me. That she would be by herself, that she would want to rule New York. And look at her. She is smiling dazzlingly at the guests, standing behind her husband's shoulder. And I'm not talking about what I see every day at home, living with them."
"Do you want me to tell you what I see on Fridays when Gold and I play poker and then his wife suddenly rings him up?" Stern laughed. "That's okay, Regina. None of us should be by ourselves. This isn't shameful or humiliating."
"Well now, you're just like Regina and Gold put together." Regina grimaced.
"Listen, why don't we run away from here?", Stern suggested. "I will reserve a table on the roof of the Empire State building, we'll take a look at your new possessions. They have a spyglass, you can see your new city in detail."
"No." Regina recoiled from him. "That wouldn't be very polite!"
"See? You have already mastered all the local social norms." He got up and pulled her along. "But it's all right, they will survive. Come on!"
"I'll never take another step in these shoes anymore." The Queen put her head on her husband's shoulder when the door closed for the last guest.
"Get in my arms." Gold smiled. He carried his wife to the sofa in the living room and after taking off her shoes, he began to slowly massage her feet. "You were dazzling today." He kissed her ankle.
"We need to call Regina.", she yawned. "Where did she go?"
"She's fine.", her husband assured her. "She left with Stern so you have nothing to worry about."
"Is that so?" The Queen was enthused. "And it doesn't annoy you?" She asked with irony.
"Regina.", Gold said reproachfully.
"It's hard to resist.", his wife laughed. "Come on, let Mrs. Savage go to bed. And we should go too."