The next couple of days passed much like that first one, Emma worked, ate, slept and worked some more, She saw Regina a few more times and she always had some words of wisdom for Emma who really enjoyed her company but disappointingly she still hadn't started to work with her yet, on the fourth day however that was about to change and Emma was beyond excited and nervous when she got up and headed over to the warehouse studios that morning.
She arrived ahead of Regina and was already sitting having her make-up applied when Regina stormed in,
"What the hell do you call this" she demanded furiously slamming a magazine on the counter in front of Emma,
"Umm" Emma stammered nervously unsure of what was going one,
"To think that I actually thought that you might be different, but no your just like all the others, out for your five minutes of fame, well it looks like you got it" Regina spat flipping the magazine open "If an evil queen what you want then an evil queen is what you'll get" she seethed slamming her hand down onto the open page.
Emma leaned forwards eyes wide in horror as she saw an image of herself looking shellshocked in Grannies printed on the page casting her eyes lower her jaw dropped and her face blanched as she read the short accompanying article,
Emma Swan star of the up-and-coming new show Words Unspoken confirms that all the rumours about co-star Regina Mills are true,
Your reporter caught up with the lovely new star over a spot of lunch in Grannies the diner that will also feature in the show, during a short but candid interview between shoots Emma told us all about her co-star A-lister Regina Mills, "the Evil queen is definitely a justified nickname" Emma said as she tucked into her salad, "she doesn't even speak to me, apparently I'm too far beneath her for her to even notice me, she walks around like she owns the place demanding triple filtered water every hour because she won't drink it if its more than hour old, honestly Evil is probably an understatement the woman is impossible"
"No" Emma stammered acid rising in her throat "I didn't say any of this, I didn't even eat salad, please Regina you have to believe me" Emma implored voice breaking and eyes stinging as she held back tears,
"But you did say something" Regina growled through gritted teeth
"Yes, I mean No, it wasn't like that" Emma's pleaded shoulders drooping, and her head hanging under the scrutiny of Regina's glare and the misplaced shame that was beginning to overwhelm her,
"Well, which is it Miss Swan, did you or did you not speak to this reporter the other day"
"I did" Emma admitted "But it's not what you think" she tried to explain but Regina wasn't listening anymore, leaving the magazine open in front of Emma she turned on her heel and breezed out of the room mind made up and no longer interested in anything that Emma had to say, with her went the excitement that Emma had felt at the prospect of finally getting to work with her that day.
At first Emma was just sad as she sat in front of the mirror silently waiting for Belle and Will to finish her hair and make-up, sad because she had been so looking forward to working with Regina and she had been enjoying their budding friendship and now it seemed that both of those things had been robbed from her by a paragraph in a magazine a paragraph that wasn't even close to true, she hadn't said any of those horrible things and Regina hadn't hung around to let her explain and she couldn't even blame her not really, her sadness was quickly joined by anger towards the reporter,
The more she thought about it the angrier she felt, how dare he post those lies and cause such turmoil in her work place and so early on too, maybe if they had been further through filming and she had already earned Regina's trust then Regina might have been more willing to hear her out, or maybe Emma sighed that just would have made it worse for Regina, perhaps she would have felt more betrayed and hurt if she had grown to trust Emma before this nonsense was published, Emma knew that she had to find a way to get her co-star to listen to her she just didn't know how, the first step she thought as she rose from her chair and headed out of the door was probably to give Regina time to calm down but how much time she would need Emma had no idea.
As she neared the set that they would be filming on that morning Emma began to feel sick and her head spun a little as sadness and anger gave way to anxiety and dread, how was she going to act across from Regina now? Or even be in the same room as her for that matter, what was supposed to be an amazingly nerve-wracking day acting across from one of her favourite actress's had become nerve-wracking for entirely different and not such nice feeling reasons, so it was with trepid anticipation that Emma eventually joined Regina on set a few minutes later.
Regina for her part showed no outward signs of anything being wrong between them as they began filming together, she even showed warmth towards Emma which she knew on some level was probably just because that was how her character was supposed to be in this scene but still Emma found it strange when Regina smiled at her a smile that looked so genuine that it even met her eyes.
The ability to portray emotions on screen through her eyes was one of the many things that Emma usually admired about Regina's work, but today as she fought to keep her composure and remember all of her cues and lines it just left Emma feeling confused and conflicted, there was no sign what so ever of the anger that Regina had thrown Emma's way just a short while ago in the woman smiling warmly at her now and it was like she had turned a complete one eighty which was more than just a little disconcerting,
"CUT!" the exasperated director called for the fifth time in close succession and Emma sighed in frustration, since filming had begun it had never taken her so long to get a scene right and she knew that she was the problem even before Regina confronted her because Regina's performance was consistently flawlessly on point.
"What is your problem" Regina demanded turning on her "Pull yourself together Miss Swan or we'll be here all day and quite frankly I don't want to be in your company any longer than is absolutely necessary!"
And there it was the venom was back at full force, Emma knew she needed to get a handle on her emotions, get over it so to speak so that she would be able to do her job and she would do just that she told herself just as soon as she could breathe…
"I can't breathe" she gasped clutching at her chest, tears streaming down her cheeks,
"Yes, you can" Regina placed a gentle hand on Emma's arm her tone losing its hard edge, Emma even thought that she detected concern and maybe even a little regret in Regina's eyes as she continued to gasp for breath her head beginning to spin, but maybe that was just wishful thinking.
Regina guided her to a chair and helped her into it crouching beside her hand still resting on her arm,
"Come on Emma" she said kindly "deep breaths, you can do this" and Emma suddenly found that she could, her chest seemed to loosen, and her breaths came easier,
"Thank-you" she whispered to Regina as the woman moved away making space for the first aiders who had just arrived on set to swoop in and check Emma over, Belle and Will who had also been summoned arrived with them and were currently standing in the background equipment in hand waiting patiently for Emma to receive the all clear so that they could rush in to touch up her hair and make-up up ready for filming to resume.
After that Regina was altogether much more pleasant towards Emma both during and between shooting so that by the end of the day Emma was feeling confident that she might be receptive to hearing her explanation about the article,
"Regina" Emma ventured cautiously after the director had called it a wrap for the night
"Don't push it Emma" Regina replied
"But I..." Emma tried
"But nothing, I don't want to hear it, I'm not even angry anymore, I just don't want to hear your excuses, I can work with you but outside of that I want you to leave me alone, we are not friends Emma, we never have been, and we never will be"
"But I thought that maybe..." Emma tried again
"Well you thought wrong" Regina cut her off "Neither of us can do our jobs if you keep having panic attacks every five minutes" she said "On set we are good but off set I'm the Evil Queen and you're much too far beneath me for me to even notice that you're there and you'd do well to remember that" Regina concluded hurt flashing in her eyes and she truly didn't sound angry anymore she just sounded very sad and that Emma realised as she made her way back to her trailer was somehow even worse.
Regina thought that Emma ad betrayed her in such a horrible way and Emma still didn't know how she could get her to hear her out and even if she managed to, she had no idea how she would be able to convince her of the truth, but one thing she did know was that she would never believe anything that she read in a magazine ever again.
A long hot shower and phone call with Ruby didn't make Emma feel any better at all and it was with a heavy heart that she went to bed earlier than usual that night unable to settle in front of the TV or eat she had skipped dinner and climbed into bed while she was talking to Ruby, she set her alarms and placed her phone on charge on her bedside table as soon as she hung up then led down and closed her eyes waiting for sleep to claim her.
In spite of or maybe it was because of all of the events that had taken place that day an exhausted Emma fell asleep very quickly her dreams plagued by the voices of bodiless journalists echoing around her asking her more and more ridiculous questions while Regina's equally bodiless voice shouted above them all calling her a liar over and over again until all the voices seemed to merge into one and she couldn't pick any of them out or understand what anyone was saying anymore, she tried to cover her ears but the voices still shouted just as loudly and mixed up as ever, by the time her alarm woke her up in the morning Emma was both relieved to have escaped that horrible dream world and exhausted from her fitful night sleep.
Though her appetite still hadn't returned Emma forced herself to eat a bowl of cereal, after all she reasoned as she chewed through what tasted like cardboard to her that morning, she couldn't afford to be passing out on set especially after yesterday's panic attack so appetite or no appetite she couldn't afford to keep skipping meals especially with her work schedule being as it was she needed to keep her strength up if she was going to keep up the stamina that she needed to work all the hours that were expected of her and keep her performance at its highest standard, however hard knowing that Regina might always hate her was she couldn't afford another day like yesterday, if she carried on like that she would face a sacking and then she would lose any hope of ever making things right with Regina and that was something she wanted to happen more than she cared to admit.
Today she got to hair and makeup just as Regina was leaving, Emma's heart hammered as she went to speak but Regina breezed passed without even acknowledging her and Emma was left heartbroken all over again, she wished so badly that she could put this right, but how could she when Regina would no longer give her the time of day.
As the day wore on Emma locked her own feelings in a box and put all of her focus into being Leah, who Regina or rather Isabella didn't hate, Emma got the cold shoulder from Regina while Isabella offered Leah timid smiles and looked at her like she was something special as she wrote on post it notes and passed them across one of the diners tables causing Emma's own heart to flutter in ways that she wished it wouldn't, she was absolutely mesmerised by Regina as she performed flawlessly over and over again in front of her never letting any of the animosity between them creep in even for a second when the camera was on them.
That night Emma managed to force some dinner down before she fell into bed heart aching and tears falling fast as she sobbed into her pillow until she fell into restless sleep full of strange dreams.
The rest of the week passed very much the same, day after day Emma was mesmerised by Regina, forced down tasteless food, never felt like she'd slept but still pressed on and night after night she cried herself to sleep and dreamed confusing dreams that had her waking up in a cold sweat every morning.