Chapter 5 – The one where they finish the pilot.

Filming becomes a whirlwind of long overtime days after that first day. They clock anywhere from twelve to sixteen hours a day on set, with too much to film and not nearly enough time. The production currently rents stages four and five, along with half of stage seven, which means a lot of studio time. The familiarity is nice, at least, and the fact that the entire studio is enclosed in a fenced-in private property with around the clock security means she doesn't need to worry about fans showing up to see the cast. Regina is her only responsibility, of course, but she's pretty stunned at how popular the other actors are.

Mary Margaret is quite the veteran, much to her surprise. The bubbly woman can be overly sweet and insanely irritating at times, but she's been around the block and has a number of big roles under her belt. David Nolan is a fresher face but immensely popular for his good looks and pretty eyes, even appearing in People Magazine's "Top 10 Hottest Men" article for the year. Ruby has a disturbingly large geek-fanbase from her Werewolf Huntress days, and Graham is surprisingly well known for a multitude of supporting roles on at least a half dozen TV shows. Most of the time, Emma can wait for the more outgoing cast to distract gathered fans at the studio gates with a few quick autographs and selfies before whisking Regina off in their cast vehicle.

Things get more interesting on the days they film on location, which are, thankfully, not often. As it's a medieval fantasy, most of their exterior scenes take place out on a piece of private woodland an hour's drive from the city. It makes their commutes a bit more annoying, but since the production provides a transport driver to and from sets, Emma and Regina are able to nap or rest their eyes in the back seat every morning and night.

Despite the land being private property, dedicated fans have still managed to track down their location and make the hike out to watch them film from a distance. On those days, Emma watches Regina like a hawk and never lets her out of her sight, which frustrates Neal often and forces the directing team to change their filming schedules daily so that Emma and Regina are always on set together, never apart or at different times.

"Your first acting gig and you're already the biggest pain in the ass actor I've ever worked with," Neal teases her over lunch one day, to which Emma rolls her eyes and flips him off when no one else is looking. Regina scoffs at the both of them (not without a hint of fond affection, because Emma and Neal have become fast friends and Regina thinks they're both idiots) and leaves the lunch tent to spend the rest of lunch hour in her trailer, and when Emma scampers after her like a puppy, no one says anything but they're all grinning in amusement.

Three weeks come and go in what feels like mere moments, jam packed with everything they could fit into a single pilot episode, and Belle looks incredibly optimistic on the last day of filming.

"Ladies and gents, that is a show wrap on Regina and Emma," Neal announces over the walkie talkie, followed by the friendly applause of the entire cast and crew they've worked closely with for the past three weeks. Their remaining scenes were shot first thing that day, which means Emma and Regina are the first of the cast to be officially "show wrapped," just in case the show isn't picked up for a full season. Belle has a happy glint in her eye when she goes to hug them goodbye, though.

"You look smug," Regina notes with amusement, giving Belle a genuine smile after they embrace. She and the young director had hit it off pretty early on when Regina brought a whole new side to the character of Queen Reina that Belle trusted her to run with.

"Let's just say that Neal and I are pretty sure we'll be seeing you again in a couple of weeks," Belle says, winking at them both. Ever since realizing that Neal was in fact the son of millionaire Hollywood producer Robert Gold, the lot of them had been less worried about not getting picked up. Old boy's club aside, Gold would surely push for the show to get a full season, if not for his beloved son, then for the lovely Belle who has absolutely no qualms about being extra sweet to him to encourage his crush. ("I'm a gay woman in an industry dominated by straight white men," she'd once said when she, Emma, and Regina were having a private lunch together in their trailer. "If I have to flirt and play along to get ahead in my career so that I can make a difference, of course I bloody will." Regina had adored her since.)

"I can't wait," Regina offers, she and Belle kissing each other on both cheeks before Regina slips off to bid her goodbyes to the few cast and crew she'd befriended. Emma tries to follow, only for Ruby and Mary Margaret to latch onto her.

"Hah! You're fired, Swan!" Ruby teases, hugging her tightly from the side. Emma snorts and elbows her as Mary Margaret laughs at them both.

"Yeah, and thank god for that! I'm not cut out to be an actor. You're all insane." She grins to soften the blow and easily accepts a hug from Mary Margaret, who she generally gets along with in small doses.

"Celebratory drinks tonight after we're all wrapped?" Mary Margaret suggests, and Emma barely has time to open her mouth before Ruby mimics her with, "I'll ask Regina."

"Shut up," Emma laughs, shoving the lanky brunette. "I'm back to being full time personal security now, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah. Tell your principal that we're all going out for drinks tonight, and yes you have to come and bring Regina, because if you don't, I'll tweet your username with a shit ton of heart emojis and start a whole new gay scandal."

"You're such a little shit—"

"I'll text you the deets, babe," Ruby says, smacking a wet kiss to Emma's cheek before running off at Tina's wave, Mary Margaret on her heels. Groaning and wiping her face, Emma goes to find Regina, rejoining her near the bay door entrance of the studio.

"Ready to go, social butterfly?" Regina asks with a quirk of her brow. Emma trots next to her as they walk through circus towards the costumes truck.

"I'll pretend you didn't just call me that," Emma says with a wrinkle of her nose.

"You were about as outgoing as Kevin Costner in The Bodyguard when you first started working with me," Regina teases, stepping up into the truck first. Emma follows, and the wardrobe lady pushes them both behind curtains to strip out of their costumes. "About as serious and dramatic, too."

"Gee, sorry for taking your safety so seriously," Emma mocks, stripping down in record time and sighing happily as she slips back into her slacks and a grey-blue blouse. Regina always has the more complicated costumes, so she steps out and sits on a stool in the corner while waiting.

"Please, my mother has to blow everything out of proportion. It was just a few ridiculous messages from an overzealous fan."

"Threats are threats, better safe than sorry," Emma shrugs, hearing the thump of a heavy, jewel-encrusted dress land on the floor. The wardrobe lady clicks her tongue in disapproval and heads into the changing room to assist, getting a squawk of protest out of Regina. "And on that note, Ruby threatened to tag my twitter account on her page and sic all her fans on me if I don't convince you to come out for drinks tonight with the cast."

"Oooh. I guess you'll have to delete your account and start a new one under a different name, then."

"Regina!"

A throaty chuckle floats out from behind the curtain, and when Regina finally emerges, she's in the designer jeans and cashmere sweater from earlier that morning. "Oh, stop pouting at me like that, Swan. Fine, we'll go for drinks."


'Drinks' apparently entails flaming cocktails and way too many shots after Ruby had managed to book them a private VIP room overlooking a popular nightclub, and Emma's starting to feel pretty bad about all the alcohol she's sneakily tossed over her shoulder every time Ruby brings her something to drink. Her acting chops as Kavalan evidently don't carry over to acting drunk, because Ruby is a hundred percent convinced that Emma is just a beast at drinking and won't stop drunkenly telling everyone that Emma can drink an ogre under a table.

"I think it's time for some water, huh?" Emma suggests when Ruby finishes her fifth cosmo that hour, sliding a tall glass of water in front of the brunette instead. Mary Margaret and David are both lightweights and are sleepily slow-dancing over by the window overlooking the club, and Graham had disappeared from the VIP room half an hour ago. Emma's pretty sure she's caught glimpses of him weaving around in the dancefloor down below, apparently a social butterfly when he's drunk.

"Emma," Regina hisses, sloppily whacking her arm against Emma's side.

"What?"

"Emma," the brunette hisses again, tapping her harder until Emma finally turns away from babysitting Ruby to look at the older brunette in amusement. Regina had gladly downed a few shots of her own right after being forcibly hugged by the over exuberant Mary Margaret when they'd first arrived, and she's a few sheets to the wind by now too, lips curled into a sneer and unfocused eyes glaring in their co-star's directions. "They're snogging."

"Snogging," Emma repeats, stifling a laugh at Regina's choice of vocabulary. She's not wrong, though. Mary Margaret and David are most definitely sucking face. "Yeah, yeah they are."

"Are they allowed to do that?" Regina asks, sounding disgusted. "Isn't there a... a..."

"Non-fraternization policy? Yup."

Regina swings her head back around to squint up at Emma from where she's been slowly sliding further and further down in her seat. "Yes. That."

"Technically, we're all fired, so I think they're fine," Emma chuckles. Regina seems to mull that over, glances at Mary Margaret and David again, and then looks away with a sound of revulsion. After a moment, she squints back up at Emma.

"How do you know that?"

"Know what?"

"That's there's a... non-fraternization policy in our contracts."

"I had to sign one too when they casted me, remember?"

Brown eyes narrow before widening in realization. "Oh. Right."

Sitting up a little straighter, Emma watches as Ruby slides from her seat and makes for the door, giggling something about sneaking down to the dance floor to join Graham. With her gone and Mary Margaret and David still swaying drunkenly on the other side of the VIP room, Emma nudges Regina amicably with her shoulder.

"Are you done for the night? I can get us a cab back to the hotel."

"No," Regina says decisively, standing on briefly unsteady legs before grabbing Emma's hand and dragging her up to her feet as well. "I want to dance."

"Here?" Emma cocks an eyebrow.

"No, not here you idiot," Regina scoffs, but it's said with the same kind of exasperated affection that she's been using with Emma since they met, and Emma just smiles indulgently and follows as Regina leads her down the stairs and out onto the dance floor. At this point in the night, most people are too drunk to recognize faces in the crowd, and no one bothers Regina as they find a space to join in the dancing. Well, no one bothers her for fan-related things, anyway. There are a multitude of eyes on her lithe and curvy form, and Emma bristles protectively. Because she's her bodyguard. Obviously.

"Relax, Emma," Regina laughs, sounding more carefree than she has in weeks, gripping Emma's hands in hers as she tries to get the blonde to sway with her.

"I'm here to keep an eye on you, remember?" Emma says, smiling wryly. Regina moves Emma's hands to her hips and then slings her own arms over Emma's shoulders.

"What better way to keep an eye on me than by dancing with me?"

This is somehow even more intimate than their scenes together, when they had breached each other's personal bubbles so entirely with angry eyes and warm breaths, and Emma isn't sure what to make of a Regina Mills that gets all up in her space without a professional reason or a camera trained on them.

"Um..." Emma trails off, her hands hovering awkwardly on Regina's hips as the brunette leans heavily against her. Regina seems to get her second wind when she pulls away, only to spin around and press herself back against Emma, hips gyrating to the beat. Breathless and stunned, Emma just kind of stands there, uncertain, as Regina dances around her and against her, throaty laughter occasionally reaching her ears despite the pounding music and the busy thrum of voices.

"Oh, come on, don't you dance?" Regina teases after a while, smiling at her with those dark, smouldering eyes, and Emma has to swallow down what feels like the biggest lump lodged in her throat.

"I think it's getting pretty late," Emma says hoarsely, and though Regina pouts, she eventually relents and lets Emma call a cab for them, whisking them back to the familiar safety of the Shangri-La and letting the rest of the cast fend for themselves. At almost three in the morning, the lobby is pretty deserted, save for the desk attendant smiling indulgently at them as Emma all but carries a mumbling Regina into the elevator.

"You should be number two," Regina hums, leaning heavily against Emma as they walk arm in arm down the hall to their suite.

"Kavalan isn't that important." Emma swipes her card and pushes their way inside, toeing off her boots before leading them to the couch where Regina promptly flops down, somehow remaining elegant even as she does so.

"Yes she is," Regina insists, lifting a foot expectantly towards her bodyguard. Emma huffs and gently helps her out of her strappy high heel. "And besides, Artemis is insipid and annoying. She's... the anti-hero to Reina. She doesn't need to be number two. Kavalan should be number two. Kavalan's more important."

"Uh huh," Emma agrees amicably, finishing with Regina's second shoe and setting both heels aside. "Let's get you into bed, okay?"

"Mmm," Regina hums, letting Emma lead her into her bedroom. She starts stripping out of her sleek dress without warning, smirking to herself as Emma makes a little choked sound of surprise, and promptly stretches herself out on top of the silky covers of her bed once she's in nothing but a lacy bra and panties, olive skin glowing in the pale moonlight.

"Well, I'll, uh... goodnight," Emma says, already stumbling backwards towards the door.

"Guardian," Regina purrs in her huskiest tone, and Emma stiffens at the sound of Queen Reina's line. That tone had fried her brain once before, when they'd filmed a scene where Reina ordered Kavalan to bring her one of her playthings. In the original script, Kavalan was the plaything, but in the revised version that they filmed, Emma had returned to the Queen's chambers with a male courtesan and shoved him towards the bed before pulling the doors shut behind her.

"Yes, Your Majesty?" Emma plays along, huffing out a soft, embarrassed laugh even as she averts her eyes from the bed and stands in the doorway to the room. She can hear Regina moving around on the bed, the soft shuffle of silk against skin.

"Bring me one of my playthings," Regina deadpans her line, before promptly bursting out in giggles. It's adorable, and Emma wishes she could capture the moment on video. As is, she settles for chancing one more glance at the drunken grin on Regina's face before grabbing for the door, careful to never ogle the brunette's body.

"Goodnight, Regina," she says, gently pulling the door shut.

"Sweet dreams, Emma," comes the soft response.