Author's Notes:
Special Thanks to ale_nena for contributing ideas and helping to enrich this chapter.
Setting: Misthaven non-magical modern AU. The society and political system will be based on a combination of modern countries, with a probable bias toward the American system as I am an American. However, all characters are fictional and resemblance to real people or events is purely coincidence.
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Regina put the finishing touches on her makeup and eased her feet into her white pumps. After picking up her handbag and the wrapped box from Galleria, she rode the elevator down to the ground floor and made her way out the front door where Robin was waiting with her silver mini.
Sliding into the passenger's side, she rested the gift box on her lap, and put on her sunglasses.
She wasn't exactly looking forward to this baby shower. It was for Ashley Herman. The new wife of the Herman family's youngest son Sean and, being long time Mills allies, her attendance at their baby shower was expected.
It was a rather absurd expectation. The new Mrs. Herman was nearly ten years her junior, and, from what she'd heard, not a member of the two families social circles, so it was unlikely she'd have any idea who Regina was.
She smirked ruefully to herself, thinking that at least the young woman was getting a free baby blanket out of her being there.
"So this event today, is there anything in particular I should know about it?" Robin asked as he drove along.
"Nothing in particular," she answered, glancing out the window, "It's just a baby shower at a family friend's house. You can probably even spend the day in their staff quarters. They have security too."
He nodded, but didn't comment, as he continued to drive along.
As he went along, Regina squinted behind her sunglasses. The sun was high on the horizon, and the inside of the car was already getting stuffy.
Balancing the gift on her knee, Regina leaned forward to take her sweater off. Folding up, she sat back, taking a deep breath.
She heard Robin shift in his seat next to her a few times, but they continued the rest of the drive in silence until they turned into the Herman's drive.
He pulled the car around to the parking area to the side where several cars were already stopped. Regina picked up her gift for the young Mrs. Herman, thought for a moment about whether or not to bring her sweater inside, but then decided against it. She could already feel the weather warming, so it was likely to be a very hot day.
She and Robin walked side-by-side through the front garden path. When the arrived at the door, Robin stepped behind her respectfully, allowing her to thump the door knocker a few times.
After a few moments the door opened, revealing an older woman in a simple black dress, obviously the Herman's housekeeper. Regina had never seen her before, but the woman seemed to know her as she immediately said, "Good morning, Ms. Mills. Please come in."
She stepped aside, but as Robin walked in behind her, the housekeeper glanced to Regina questioningly.
"My security," she answered the unspoken question.
"Ah," the older woman nodded understandingly, "The shower is set up in the livingroom."
As they followed the housekeeper, the sounds from the party quickly became obvious. Specifically, giggles and loud conversation from a number women.
Taking a steeling breath, Regina rounded the corner and stepped into the room. Initially no one seemed to notice her presence, but, finally, the conversation died down as eyes went to her. In the middle of the room was a the guest of honor. She was very blond, very pregnant, and almost painfully young.
The woman...girl...woman stared at Regina before the elder Mrs. Herman rose from a settee.
"Regina! So good to see you, Darling," she greeted kissing both of her cheeks.
"Thank you for inviting me," Regina answered, "I'm sorry my sister couldn't make it."
"Oh don't worry," Mrs. Herman dismissed, "I understand. The Federal District is quite a distance."
"Yes," Regina nodded.
"I believe you haven't met my lovely daughter-in-law," she said, leading Regina over to the chair where Ashley was sitting, surrounded of her friends, "Ashley, this is Regina Mills. Cora and Henry's daughter."
The young woman continued to stare uncomprehendingly before blinking in understanding.
"Oh! Yes, of course. It's nice to meet you," she answered, struggling to stand under the weight of her belly.
"Nice to meet you as well. Congratulations," Regina said politely.
"Thank you," Ashley nodded, stroking her bump.
The two women quickly fell into an awkward silence after that as Ashley's young friends watched. Mrs. Herman broke the tension by clearing her throat and leading Regina over a table lined with drinks and fingerfood, "Well please help yourself to glass of lemonade. We're just about to get started opening gifts."
"Thank you," she answered, passing her own gift over.
With that she was left alone to find a seat at the back of the crowd and sip lemonade. At the back of the room where she had been seated were women of varying ages. Some of which might have been the mother's of Ashley's friends, but others, like herself were obviously between those, ages. She vaguely recognized a few as the daughters or sisters of prominent families.
They didn't seem very interested in socializing, though, and the main group of girls and mothers seemed content to leave texting on their phones and munching canapes.
Subtly sliding her phone out of her handbag, Regina typed out a text to Lily, 'Herman's babyshower, when are you arriving?'
She knew that, as the daughter of Mallory Drago, Lily would have warranted an invitation too.
A few moments later her phone buzzed, 'I'm not. Sent an organic cotton onesie and my deepest apologies that I couldn't make it.'
'Have fun! :p'
Regina sighed, putting her phone away. Just sending a gift would have made more sense, considering she barely knew anyone at this party, but, of course, Cora would never have let her miss it.
At the front of the room conversation picked back up.
"So Ashley have you found out what you're having?" one of the younger women asked.
"No, no," the older Mrs. Herman scolded, "The reveal is later."
The young women tittered with laughter.
"Have you thought about names?" another one asked.
"Hello?" someone immediately snipped, "She just said they aren't revealing the gender until later!"
The first one looked away, sufficiently chastised.
"Forget about names, have you picked your personal trainer yet?"
Ashley blinked, "My what?"
"Your personal trainer!" the girl repeated, "To lose the baby weight!"
"I hadn't really thought about it," Ashley answered.
"You hadn't?" another guest asked, sounding downright scandalized, "You're going to want to. The last thing you want is tubby pictures of you in the tabloids!"
Ashley flushed bright red at the comments.
"Oh shut up!" one of the few girls Regina recognized, Aurora BriarRose, jumped in, "Gods, you are so vain! There's more important things for Ashley to think about."
"Very right, Dear," Mrs. Herman answered, "Such as our nanny. I've reviewed several applicants, but we've yet to find anyone suitable."
"Oh, you should try my daughter's baby nanny," one of the other older women in the group jumped in, "She was with them until little George turned three…"
As the older women talked around them, the young mother to be still looked rather unhappy. However, her she quickly brightened when one of her friends announce it was time to open gifts.
Ashley and her closest friends, as well as their mothers, immersed themselves in cooing over the baby gifts which ranged from a top of the line stroller to a patent leather diaper bag made by the most popular handbag company in Misthaven.
During the gift opening, the second tier guests such as herself, were largely ignored. Left to watch from a distance, and contribute very little to the conversation even when their own gifts were opened.
When her glass of lemonade ran out, Regina made her way back to the refreshment table. As she refilled her glass, she glanced over the snack offerings. They certainly hadn't spared any expense for the party. The table was lined with artisan toast rounds with hummus, deviled eggs with caviar, some small cakes, and even a tray of pink macarons.
Her stomach growled, reminding her that she was staring to get hungry. She picked up one of the deviled eggs and tried it. The salty flavor danced across her tongue as she swallowed it. Licking a small amount off her thumb she washed it down with a sip of lemonade, and moved along the table. The hummus was fairly bland, but the macarons were delicious. They were strawberry flavored and perfectly crunchy. She ended up standing by the table, eating far more than she usually would, but, she pushed away any guilt she felt over that. Her mother wasn't here to criticize her for it, and clearly no one at this party cared about her presence.
Finally managing to tear herself away, she slid back into her seat as Ashley opened her last gift.
"Alright everyone!" Mrs. Herman called the crowd's attention, "Time for the big moment. Our gender reveal."
On cue, a man in a tan cap herded a large white bird into the room causing gaps to echo around the room.
The stork looked surprisingly docile for having been released into a crowd of gasping, laughing women.
Mrs. Herman looked delighted with the reaction, saying, "Yes, thanks to our friends at the Misthaven Zoological Society."
Applause broke out as the man from the zoo, looking about as happy as she would have suspected the bird felt, carefully guided it over to Ashley's chair where she noticed it had a white scarf tied around its neck.
The zookeeper watched nervously as Ashley leaned forward and untied the scarf. She looked it over in her hands, gasping as she turned it over. Hold it up, she showed the room that on the other side was the silhouette of a baby in pale pink.
"It's a girl!" she exclaimed, "We're having a little girl!"
As her friends mobbed her in excitement, prompting the zookeeper to quickly usher the stork out of the room, Regina noted that Ashley seemed genuinely happy for the first time all day. It couldn't help but lead her to wonder what sort of circumstances had lead her to his moment. How was it that someone so young had ended up married into such a wealthy family and expecting so quickly?
After the gender reveal, they moved on to shower games. Regina watched as Ashley and her friends giggled over melted candy bars in diapers, and had a baby changing contest with dolls. Regina, as well as many of the other guests who weren't part of her inner circle, weren't invited to take part, though none of them seemed particularly broken up about it.
When it finally became obvious that the party was winding down and a few of the older women started to leave, Regina wasted no time in picking up her handbag and discreetly making her way around the room. She managed to slip out into the hallway, but was stopped by Mrs. Herman's voice.
"Regina, leaving so soon?"
"Oh," she said with a smile, "Yes, I'm sorry. I have some work I need to do at home. The foundation recently got a new investor for a project we thought was dead so we're really having to scramble to get everything arranged in time."
"Ah," the older woman nodded, "Yes, of course, I understand. Wait here for a moment, though, will you?"
She didn't have much choice but to do so. Standing awkwardly outside the door, she felt a little guilty. There had been others making moves to leave as well, but she hoped she hadn't been too rude.
The Herman matriarch returned a few moments later and said goodbye to her with a hug and a wide smile that didn't quite reach her eyes, "Thank you so much for coming, Dear, and for the….charming, blanket you brought for my granddaughter."
Regina held down a wince at the obviously disapproving assessment of her gift. The blanket was cashmere knit with a simple, elegant pattern. It was practical and from a high-end merchant, but obviously it wasn't to Mrs. Herman's taste.
Keeping a smile on her lips, Regina answered graciously, "Thank you so much for inviting me."
"Oh and here" the older woman handed her a white paper bag, "Some of the macarons. We could never eat them all, and I saw that you liked them from the way you were gobbling them down."
She didn't laugh with the older woman, but managed to hold down a glare, so she counted it as win anyway.
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As the car out of the Herman's drive, Regina pointed the air vents at herself and turned up the air conditioning. It had indeed warmed up during the shower, into scorchingly hot and muggy day so she was already starting to perspire just waiting for Robin to bring the car around.
She leaned back into her seat trying to cool down.
Beside her, Robin glanced over, trying, and failing, not to her legs exposed in the short dress she was wearing.
He quickly looked away when she glanced over at him, covering by asking, "So did you have fun at this party?"
She laughed, "It wasn't a party. It was a shower."
"Oh. What's the difference?"
"I guess there isn't much of one," she acknowledged.
"I don't really get what this one was about. I checked in on you a few times, but…"
She laughed again as he trailed off, "Well, really it's just to celebrate a new mother. You give gifts, swap stories about babies, play games."
"Is that what the bird was for?" he asked.
"Bird?"
"Yeah, I saw some guy carry a giant bird through the front door," he explained.
"Oh!" she remembered, "That was a stork, it was for the gender reveal."
He looked at her questioningly.
"Where you find out in front of your guests if you're having a boy or a girl," Regina clarified, "The stork had a scarf with the baby's gender around its neck."
Robin glanced at her again, looking just as bewildered as before her explanation.
"It's just fun!" she said, helplessly.
"I see," he answered, "Well, I'm glad you had fun."
"Well…" she hesitated, "...I don't really know Ashley Herman. My invitation was just a formality."
"Oh," he said, feeling a little sad for her.
She did not fail to notice the look on his face, and it made her feel very uncomfortable. Clearing her throat, she leaned forward to retrieve the bag of macarons from where she'd set them next to her feet. In spite of Mrs. Herman's catty remark when she gave them to her, they were very good and there was no point in letting them go to waste.
As she bit down on one, she noticed Robin glancing at her out the corner of his eye.
Swallowing, she asked, "Sorry, would you care for one?"
"What are they?" he asked.
"Macarons."
"Oh," he looked more closely at the cookie in her hand, "I've never seen those before."
"Never?" she asked.
He shook his head.
"Oh you have to try one!" she scoffed, and, before she could even think about what she was doing, leaned over to put the cookie to his lips. Instinctively, he opened his mouth to accept it. As it crunched with the first bite, though, they both realized the intimacy of the action.
Their eyes met for a moment before, he swallowed, breaking eye contact to look back at the road and muttered, "It's good."
"Yeah," she nodded, quietly turning back into her seat.
They rode along in silence for a few moments before suddenly hitting what felt like a bump in the road. The car skidded, however, rocking up and down as they drove along.
Regina braced herself against the window as Robin swore, gripping the wheel and steering the car over to the side of the road. When they came to a stop she demanded, "What happened?"
"I think we got a flat," he answered, undoing his seatbelt.
She stared incredulously, "Are you kidding me?"
Setting aside her bag of cookies, she also undid her seatbelt and walked around to the driver's side of the car where he was crouched next to a very flat tire.
"Oh, by the Gods!" she swore, "How?"
"I don't know. We must have hit something," he stood, saying that he'd get the spare from the trunk.
"What?" she asked, following him slowly, having to walk carefully along the grassy shoulder in her heels, "You're going to change it yourself? That's ridiculous!"
Opening the trunk, he asked, "Why is it ridiculous?"
"Because I have roadside assistance," she said, "We can just call them."
"It won't take long," he said, carrying over the jack.
She looked at him doubtfully, but he tried to ignore it, instead setting to work removing the lug nuts. Unfortunately, several of them were stripped, so they took a while to get off. By the time he finally managed to get them all of, she could practically feel her staring at his back.
"How's it going there?" she asked skeptically.
"Fine," he answered irritably as he tossed aside the hubcap. He could hear her sigh behind him.
Very suddenly, a crack of thunder sounded overhead. Glancing up, they both noticed that the sky was quickly darkening. Apparently the heat had brought on a pop up storm.
"Oh no," she said as the first drops or rain fell, "Hurry!"
"I'm going as fast as I can," he pulled on the tire but it was rusted in place. Groaning in frustration, he hit it with the wrench to try to knock it loose.
"Robin!"
Ripping the tire off he tossed it aside, lifting the spare on. More than just a few droplets, the rain had quickly accelerated to a full downpour that was soaking both of them.
"Robin!"
"Hand me the hubcap if you want me to go faster!" he snapped back at her.
Tossing her quickly dampening hair out of her face, she stepped over and lifted the hubcap from the ground. He took it from her.
"Just stop!" she yelled to him over the rain, "For Gods' sake is pouring! We can call someone to finish."
Without glancing up, he reached into his pocked to shove the keys into her hand, "Get back in the car if it bothers you!"
Glaring at him, she grabbed the keys and made her way around to the passenger's side. Slamming the door shut behind her, she smoothed her now ruined hair out of her face. As she looked out the window, the rain was coming down so heavily she could barely even see Robin where he was still working on the tire.
Shaking head, she grumbled. What was he thinking? Insisting on changing a tire by himself in a storm?
A few minutes into her rant to herself, the driver's door flung open and he slid inside. He was predictably completely soaked, droplets of water falling off his hair as he sat down.
"Are you finished?" she asked.
"I got the tire on, but we should probably wait until the rain eases up to make sure it's safe to drive on," he answered.
"So you changing the tire rather than calling roadside assistance didn't save us any time because we're going to have to wait here anyway?" she pointed out.
He, predictably, didn't answer.
"You're also getting my upholstery wet," she went on.
"I was trying to help!" he shot back, undoing the buttons on his shirt and tossing the sopping wet wad of fabric into the footwell, "How was I supposed to know it'd start raining."
With that he lifted the hem of his undershirt, and used it to wipe the water from his face.
Momentarily distracted, she swallowed before answering, "Yeah, well...why do things like this always happen with you? I'm starting to think we're cursed together or something!"
He was quiet for a moment before finally saying, "Sorry."
Regina didn't answer, sitting silently beside him as the rain continued to plet their car in sheets.
"Could you turn the air conditioning down please?" she asked.
The air conditioning was still on full blast from earlier, so he quickly turned it off.
She sighed, "Thank you."
Glancing over, he saw her shiver slightly, The rain had quickly dropped the outside temperature several degrees, and the rapid downpour had soaked through her dress, so that he could see goosebumps breaking out along her arms and her nipples tightening through the now translucent fabric.
Shifting his seat, he tried not to stare at her...tried not to remember having seen her in even less than she was wearing now.
She was, however, staring at him, her dark eyes drawing him in.
They held eye contact for what felt like forever.
"Regina…" he wasn't sure what he'd been going to say as he trailed off
Her lips opened as she looked up at him, but before either of them could say something else they were startled by a sharp rap on the window.
Jumping, they glanced out the driver's side, to see the foggy silhouette of a police officer through the glass.
He couldn't roll down the window with the engine off, so instead Robin cracked up then door.
Glancing inside at them, the officer asked, "You folks alright?"
"Yes, Sir," he answered, "We just got a flat and are waiting for the rain to clear."
Looking over he took in the flat tire still leaning up against the front of the car, "Need me to call you a tow truck?"
"No," Regina answered, "It's alright. I have roadside assistance."
"Okay," the officer nodded, "Be careful on the road!"
They watched as the officer made his way back to his car through the rain, and drove off. Looking at each other briefly, they seemed to have a silent conversation.
"I'll put in a call. Just to be safe," she said, taking her cell phone out of her handbag.
"Yeah," he nodded, "Okay."
TBC...