Please send feedback, stay safe, stay inside, and I hope you enjoy! And no, to the person who thinks so, this ship is not rape. They are two consenting adults, one just doesn't have any memory of a past life. She is perfectly capable of making her own decisions, it doesn't matter if she doesn't remember her past life, because her past life has no influence on whether Mary Margaret would say yes or no in that situation, and because Regina did not drug her, it's not rape. It's a bit like David and Mary Margaret in the first season, where David doesn't remember anything in his "curse life," but that doesn't mean he's incapable of consenting to Mary Margaret's advances, and vice versa. Also, Regina was sixteen when Snow was ten, so it isn't gross or incest, it's completely normal, and if you forgot, I already reminded you about how their relationship isn't rape in Would It Be So Bad? Nothing dubious is coming up (yet, possibly), but this is just a Public Service Announcement. Sorry for rambling.
Mary Margaret was five minutes late to the office to pick up Leo, and the little baby didn't have a problem with voicing his dissatisfaction. He was fussing more and more throughout the day, and the ball dropped when he started fussing, then gave it his all when he cried and wailed, filling my office with frustrated screeches.
Mary Margaret didn't bother knocking on my door when she undoubtedly heard his crying from the hall. She rushed to my side and offered to take him. I willingly gave him over and tried to pry his hands off a handful of my hair.
"I'm so sorry, Madame Mayor, he's always really grumpy when he knows I should be home," Mary Margaret said quickly.
"That's quite alright," I said, while watching her slowly calm him down. His tiny face, his reaching little hands, those piercing green eyes of his, he had me absolutely mesmerized. In a blink of an eye, he was no longer wailing and screeching, but giggling joyfully and making small gurgly sounds. Mary Margaret laughed and looked up at me.
"Would you like to get dinner with Leo and me tonight?" She asked me hopefully.
"I can't. I have some…unfinished business to attend to."
"Oh no, was Leo okay for you? I hope you didn't get-"
"That's not it," I assured her. "I just have lots of…stuff to do." She swallowed and nodded bashfully.
"Okay then. Thanks for watching him today," she said.
"If you need any help a different time, I'm always available," I offered.
"I'll keep that in mind, but I've already got Leo registered for daycare, starting tomorrow," she answered. I was the one to bow my head and nod shyly. "But I'll see you around."
"Yes." Mary Margaret turned Leo to me and took his arm in her hand to wave at me. "Bye Leo," I said tenderly. He giggled and screeched happily. I smiled at him one last time before Mary Margaret slung his bag over her shoulder and left.
I huffed to myself and dug out the bottle of cider hidden away in my desk, along with a tumbler. I sat down on the leather armchair near the fireplace and poured myself a drink, which turned into two, three, four, I lost count by the time my receptionist called through the door to check on me.
"Regina, are you alright?" she called.
"Yes, I'll just be finishing up," I said, voice hoarse and slow, but not yet slurred. I was surprised, I sounded much more sober than I was. I heard shuffling on the other side of the door, then a click, then silence. I relocated to the couch so I could lay down fully. My head was swirling and I nearly dropped my glass, but I told myself I was fine. I was, wasn't I? I couldn't tell anymore.
If I hadn't had more than two drinks of cider, I would've called Mary Margaret and said I would like to go to dinner with her and Leo, but I was already half past drunk, and if I called now, I would undoubtedly confess to every single crime I've ever committed or tell her I was lonely or something.
I should've called before I started drinking, because now I'm too drunk to stand and lonely. That's never a good combination with someone of my history, but I couldn't care less, because I was currently immobile, on the brink of tears, and longing for a human being of some sort. No, more like Daniel. Yeah, he's the only human I want now. And Leo. Possibly Mary Margaret, if she couldn't talk. No, maybe she would be able to talk.
Her voice is so calming sometimes. And her hands. I remember a night in the Enchanted Forest when she snuck into my room after Leopold's horrible 'nightly visits,' and she didn't know what I was crying about, only that she wanted to do something about it. She rubbed my shoulders, then hugged me and told me that I was pretty, how she appreciated me, how much she loved me, and even kissed my temple. I always wondered why she didn't tell me that everything was okay, that I'd be okay, that I shouldn't be sad. Then I always wondered why she said she loved me. I knew she had some sort of infatuation with me; I was miserable, but I wasn't blind. I asked myself why. What did I do to make her love me, and how she could possibly fall in love with a blossoming monster.
I never made her life easy but she kissed my forehead that night and said she was lucky to have me. I think I was twenty one at the time, so she must've been fifteen. Everything before the King's death blurred into one horrible instance, including the years I spent there, and how old I was when it happened. I only remember the first time Leopold defiled me, on the first night of our marriage. That was the worst night of my entire life. It stuck with me to this day.
I never should've gotten drunk. I don't have many regrets, but I can say this is one of them. I didn't ask for a trip down memory lane, but that's exactly what I got myself into. Instead, I took an even longer journey through my life, and closed my eyes as I saw an image of Daniel flood the space behind my eyelids. I felt the memory of his big but soft hands wrapping around me as I drifted off against him.
I woke up the next morning hugging what I thought was Daniel, but it happened to be a throw pillow from the couch. I quickly threw it to the other side of the couch, but it didn't travel far. My arms were far too sore, for some reason. The rest of me was sore and rusted as well, and I had trouble getting my legs off the couch and onto the floor. I sat up slowly, with help from the back of my couch. I haven't drunken this much since I celebrated Snow White's sleeping curse.
I heard whispered voices outside my office and saw the shadow of someone, a woman. I grumbled and again, used the couch to help me onto my feet. Something from outside shuffled, and the voices continued.
I forced myself to my desk chair and crossed my aching legs under the desk. The door opened and Mary Margaret and Leo came in. I mustered up a smile, but my muscles didn't work and I kept scowling. Mary chuckled.
"I'm going to assume you aren't in the right state of mind to talk, so I'll just reschedule our meeting." I couldn't make my eyebrows twitch confusedly, so I just tipped my head to the right. "Ah yes, you're to hungover to remember the meeting I scheduled a few days ago, to discuss the school's budget. I can come back tomorrow," Mary Margaret muttered with finality and adjusted the baby on her hip before turning to leave.
"Wait," I called out. She turned back around, and I could clearly see the annoyance etched onto her fair face.
"You stood me-us-up for a bottle of cider?"
"A bottle and a little bit," I corrected, "and I didn't feel up for socializing."
"You know I wouldn't have made you talk, I just didn't want you to be alone, and I'm sure Leo wanted to stay with you. He was fussy all night, and I tried everything to soothe him." I felt a sting of pride when she said that, but being Leo's favourite person at the moment wasn't important for right now.
"I just wanted to be alone," I half-confessed. I didn't tell her how horrible a mistake it was after the drinks. She nodded and looked down at her scuffing feet. "You can sit down," I told her sarcastically. She chuckled and sat down, balancing Leo on her knee.
"Are you sure you can do a budget meeting today?" she asked me softly.
"Of course I am, now what were you wanting to discuss?"
My hangover lasted until early afternoon, then I started to feel a bit better. Mary Margaret texted me during the kids' recess to ask how I was doing, and see if I wanted to join her and Leo on an 'adventure' in the park. I willing agreed and felt my disdain for her lessen. I blamed it on Leo, and I absolutely hated it. Just to make myself hate her more, I thought about Daniel and Leopold, and it worked, but not as much as I hoped it would. In a perfect world, I wouldn't need convincing that I hated her with a passion hotter than the sun. Now, Leo has softened me. Maybe even Mary Margaret herself, but I couldn't think like that. If I did, it could do despicable things to me, things I can't afford.
I let my receptionist lock up the building after five o'clock rolled around, and I'm pretty sure she stayed longer than me to make sure I wouldn't drink again. I didn't dream of it upon remembering how the apple cider hit me in the head harder than a few dozen airplanes.
I met Mary Margaret and Leo at the parking lot of her apartment. By the time I got there, Mary Margaret and Leo were waiting outside near the doors. Mary was pacing with the stroller, and I heard Leo babbling nonsense. Once she could hear my footsteps, she turned around and smiled at me. I smirked back and immediately knelt in front of Leo's stroller to greet him. Once I repeated his nonsensical mumbling back to him and made him laugh excitedly, I stood up and smiled at the woman in front of me before turning around and leading the two out of the parking lot.