Chapter 4 – The one with the slap.

Their scenes together are intense. Way more intense than Emma had thought it would be, especially on the first day of shooting, but apparently they really wanted to start things off with a bang because the second half of the day is dialogue-heavy and Emma is sweating and her mouth feels numb and tired by the end of it. She's not trained for this and she's pretty sure her words started slurring together by the end of it, if Mary Margaret's barely-contained giggles and Belle's sympathetic smiles are anything to go by.

"Just a few more hours," Regina promises quietly in her ear when they're returning to their places for the next shot, squeezing Emma's forearm briefly before sliding away.

"First marks, please," Neal calls, arms crossed with his walkie talkie in hand, watching as everyone settles in their spots as he slowly maneuvers himself around the edge of the set. Belle whispers something to Regina before scampering back to video village, disappearing behind the black curtains and hopping into her chair in front of the monitors, sliding her headphones back on.

"Lock it up, please," Neal says into his walkie. "This is the money shot, guys. This is the one. Let's keep it dead silent."

There are echoes around the large studio, voices shouting out "stand by!" and "picture's up!" Neal glances around, watches the makeup artists finish up and scurry back to their hiding spot around the corner, and meets the eye of the boom operator with a nod.

"Everyone set? Roll sound please."

"Speed," the boom op says, settling into place, his arms extended along the pole he carries as he positions the microphone a few short feet above Regina's head.

"Frame," the camera operator says, at the same time the PAs scattered around the studio shout out, "Rolling!" Every person in the studio goes still and silent, waiting patiently in place as to not make a sound.

In the dark box of video village, Belle leans forward in her seat, eyes glued to the monitors. "Action!" she shouts. Emma holds her breath, standing rigid and tense. The sharp click of heels make her shoulders jump in genuine startlement.

"Kavalan," Reina snarls, storming into the empty throne room with all the fury of a raging thunderstorm and bearing down on her warrior with murderous eyes. Kavalan's face twitches, a flicker of rebellion, before Reina shoves her hard. She stumbles back, bumping against the side of the throne, and has no time to recover when Reina is suddenly clutching the front of her fur vest and shoving her against the unyielding piece of furniture. "How dare you!"

"Your Majesty," Kavalan says hoarsely, eyes dropping in deference— except with how close they're standing together, Reina pinning her against the throne, she has no choice but to stare down at the decidedly evil cleavage nearly thrust against her. God damn it.

"What have you done?!" Reina shouts, all composure gone, her face twisted with rage. It may be the first day of filming, but the scene they're shooting now is the last scene of the pilot, and Queen Reina has gone from cold and composed to wild fury in the span of a single episode. When Kavalan's eyes flutter and no answer is forthcoming, Reina shouts again, "Answer me!"

"I did my duty," Kavalan husks, finally raising her eyes to meet stone-cold brown ones. "I had no choice."

"No choice! No choice but to betray your queen?" Reina is shaking her now, her trembling fists gripping Kavalan's vest so tightly that her knuckles are white. "I should have your head—"

"I saved you!" Kavalan snarls, helpless and angry. "They would have killed you if not for what I did!"

"You disobeyed me!"

"I don't care!"

Reina's eyes go wide, shock flickering across her features for all of a second before she quickly regains her cold mask, but it's too late. Kavalan has seen it and forges onward.

"I don't care," Kavalan repeats, breathless. "I did it to protect you. I will always protect you."

She reaches for her hip, tugging on something there, and Reina stumbles back from her when she lifts the dagger into view. In one swift motion she's holding it by the blade, handle held out towards Reina.

"If I must die for that, then do it by your own hand," she says hoarsely, pushing off of the throne and taking a step forward, even as Reina takes a step back.

"Stop this foolishness," Reina hisses, wide eyes on the dagger. Kavalan persists.

"You want me dead, so do it." Reina shakes her head, lip curling in disgust at the mere thought. Kavalan pushes forward, nearly shoving the dagger's handle at her.

"Stop it," Reina warns, angry and trapped. Kavalan is in her personal space, pushing her, forcing her, breath hot on her face, and Reina's eyes are wild. "Stop!"

"I said do it!"

SLAP!

Emma's head snaps to one side, green eyes wide with shock at the full force of Regina's slap. The sound echoes so loudly across the set that every crew member watching from the shadows winces in surprise.

"Enough," Reina croaks out, remorse and guilt on her face, the first time the Queen has ever shown such an emotion, and with a sharp intake of breath she turns and flees the throne room, her heels clicking away and stopping short just around the corner where Regina has no doubt come to a halt, safely out of sight. Emma stares after her, breathing hard, her hand trembling as she grips the dagger's blade. Blinking back the telltale glaze of tears, she lets the dagger drop, hearing the solid handle clatter to the stone floor.

The silence is deafening.

"Cut!" Belle shouts, bursting out from behind the curtain of video village, nearly tripping on her way onto set. Neal stares in surprise and just barely remembers to announce "cut!" on the radio, his walkie clutched tight in one hand.

"Holy crap!" Belle says, her grin stretching from ear to ear as Emma stoops down to retrieve her prop dagger, but the blonde only has eyes for Regina who's come running back onto set, eyes wide and apologetic.

"I'm so sorry, Emma, are you okay?" Regina blurts out, breathless, her palm still tingling from slapping Emma at full force. Despite the sting of her cheek, Emma just bursts out laughing.

"Shit, Regina, way to improvise," she chokes out, swiping the wetness from her eyes. "Oh, damn, you've got an arm on you."

"I'm sorry," Regina says again, grimacing even as she touches Emma's reddened cheek with a gentle hand. Guilt claws at her chest, still shocked that she'd winded back and actually hit the other woman in the midst of their fiery argument. "I don't know what happened."

"You two were intense, that's what happened," Belle gushes, Neal nodding enthusiastically behind her. "You injected so much pain and anger and distress in Reina in that last moment, made her so human and flawed, and— Emma! That was so perfect, that glimpse of rebellion, that desperate loyalty. That is how we start a show with a bang, people!"

There's an excited cheer of agreement from the crew, applause spreading quickly among the onlookers at a spectacular performance, and even Blue and Gold look begrudgingly impressed from their seats near the monitors.

"Honest, Regina, it's fine," Emma chuckles, flushing somewhat under the brunette's concerned touches. "You were awesome."

"You're sure?" Regina insists.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Let's keep that slap," Belle says, already bouncing back towards the monitors. "It was perfect! Do it again just like that!"

"Um," Emma says, staring at Regina nervously. The brunette takes pity on her.

"We'll fake it," Regina assures her softly.

"Good," Neal says. "Does that mean you two are ready for another take?"


Their first day feels immensely long and exhausting, and Emma is itchy and ready to shed her fur vest by the end of it all. As it turns out, despite having been wrapped earlier that evening, the rest of the cast had chosen to stay a while to watch Regina's scenes, and Ruby is especially exuberant to congratulate them on an intense performance when Emma and Regina are given a few minutes break during a new angle set up.

"That was so good!" Ruby shrieks, launching an arm around Emma's shoulders and nearly strangling her in her excitement. "Holy shit, Emma, you held your ground against Regina Mills! That's, like, crazy!"

"Volume, Lucas," Regina grouses from right next to them, looking unimpressed as she sips at a bottle of water. Ruby smiles in apology, though she doesn't look all that apologetic.

"You were amazing too, Regina. Is it weird if I say that I'm kind of a huge fan?"

"Thank you, dear," is the quiet response, Regina briefly nodding in acknowledgement before making herself look busy, unfocused eyes staring down at the script in her hand. Emma pokes at Ruby's side in an attempt to distract her from bothering Regina further.

"Aren't you guys wrapped for the day?"

"Oh, yeah! But we wanted to come check out your scene and see how you two were doing. You're all we've been talking about all day, you know?"

"Gee, that's reassuring."

"No, it's a good thing! Do you know how many crappy hallmark movies I've suffered through for the better part of six years before getting cast as part of an ensemble? You've never acted a day in your life and suddenly you're, like, number three on the callsheet! That's insane!"

Number three. Emma smiles tightly at the reminder. Numbers are pretty damned important to those who care about the rank of importance, and Regina is listed as #1 while Mary Margaret is #2. Emma has avoided looking at the revised callsheet simply because she doesn't want to see her own name listed in the #3 spot. It also means she feels awkward as all hell when meeting the eyes of professional actors like David Nolan and Graham Humbert, who are #4 and #5, respectively.

"Yeah, insane," she repeats with an uncomfortable laugh.

"First team on set, please," Tina says, appearing nearby with a bright smile, and Emma and Regina stand with a nod, relieved to escape Ruby's too-excited chattering. No one should be that excited and hyperactive at the thirteen-hour mark.

"You're an actor now," Regina says, somewhat teasing as she glances sideways at Emma. "You can tell her you need to focus on going over your lines or something, you know."

"She's alright," Emma shrugs, grinning as she steps back onto her mark. "A little too extroverted for me, but she seems cool."

Regina just hums in response, her gaze turning cool when she finds where Mary Margaret and David are hanging out near the video village curtains. Mary Margaret shoots her an excited thumbs up and Regina turns away with a roll of her eyes.

"You okay?" Emma mouths to her from a few feet away while Neal calls for the camera to start rolling. They're picking up the scene from where Kavalan is holding out the dagger and Queen Reina is stumbling backwards. Regina just nods, motioning for her to get into position with an impatient wave. Huffing, Emma pretends to stab herself in the gut with the prop dagger, the rubber blade pressing firmly and harmlessly into her stomach as she staggers and gurgles briefly, and the camera operator chuckles at having caught it on camera.

"Action," Belle's voice sounds out, and Emma's smile is replaced by a desperate snarl as they do the scene all over again. They fake every slap after that, and it's nowhere near as great as the real thing, but Belle has a glint in her eye and simply assures them that it's fine.