Chapter 19 – The one after winter break.
Ivy helps Emma pic out a good photo of Emma and Ruby to post, adding a little caption that reads, "We always were better as sisters in crime. Love you, RealRubyLucas! #bestfriends"
It's sweet and innocent and though Freyalan fans are disappointed at the subtle breakup news, they're quick to realize that Emma and Ruby still make an adorable—albeit platonic—pair. Their castmates tweet their cheerful support of the newly hashtagged #RedSwanFriendship, and soon after, paparazzi release photos of Ruby and Belle spotted celebrating Christmas together in Melbourne, Australia. Emma is quick to shower them both with love and congratulations, not wanting their rabid fans to make any grossly incorrect comments, and Ruby and Belle are equally as affectionate in their responding tweets, making it clear that there are no hard feelings or jealousy.
Gold finds out mid-holiday and barely has time to rage and spew threats before Neal slams him with some well placed threats of his own, swearing to cut him from his life if Gold so much as tries anything. Immediately cowed by his son's protective anger, he relents and promises to continue producing the show, though he no longer cares to visit the set or check in on filming... which is, honestly, a relief to the entire crew to no longer have a producer breathing down their necks.
Ivy really does spend her entire Christmas hiatus with the Swan family, happy to have some bonding time with two of her favourite people in the world. Emma is thankful for the company and, besides, Henry's shy and awkward floundering makes everything worth it in the end, especially when they all go to Brooklyn to visit Mal and Lily, and all four women take immense delight in teasing the poor young man.
Ivy also takes offense on Emma's behalf over the entire Regina debacle, and she goes to great lengths to make their holiday look as fun as possible on social media to spite the older brunette.
MissIvyBelfrey: Just some last minute Christmas shopping with my favourite medieval warrior ever! EmmaSwan76 (kiss emoji) - The photo Ivy posts on her Instagram is a selfie of herself and Emma, smiling faces squished together and snowflakes in their hair, both proudly holding up armfuls of gift bags as they walk the streets.
EmmaSwan76: Christmas isn't complete without hot cocoa with this wicked queen! MissIvyBelfrey (heart emoji) - Emma's post is a picture of Ivy curled up on a couch in a cozy cashmere sweater, cradling a mug of cocoa and smirking at the camera. Emma's own bare feet are visible at the bottom of the photo, sitting on the other end of the couch with her toes poking at Ivy's thigh. The little electric fireplace is visible in the background and a light Instagram filter makes the photo extra warm and dreamily lit.
Their pictures, together and with Henry, start off a whole other round of gleeful rumors amongst the fans. Emma's somehow become a player without ever having actually dated any of her co-stars, and Ivy and Ruby think it's all hilarious, teasing and joking and playfully groping at each other once they're back on set after the winter break. Belle and Mary Margaret delight in posting behind-the-scenes photos on their Instagrams and Twitter feeds, and soon social media is treated to their shenanigans on set. There's plenty of pics of Emma, Ruby, and Ivy always tangled together, sometimes with their arms slung around each other for posed photos, and other times caught during moments of goofing around when one jumps into another's arms or sits on their coworker's lap in a teasing effort to squash them. David's always grinning in amusement somewhere in the background, or Graham's got a hand over his mouth to stifle his amusement, or Henry's purposefully photobombing the photos with a goofy bug-eyed grin.
The world watches the behind-the-scenes moments of Kingdom Come and don't bother asking where Regina is anymore. Not unless you count snide tweets or muttered comments as asking.
"One more week!" Ruby hollers, jumping onto Emma's back and laughing maniacally as the blonde squawks and fights to catch her balance. "Are you gonna miss me, bitch?"
"Not if you keep trying to kill me," Emma complains, but she's grinning when Ruby finally lands on her feet and plods towards set with her. "You and Belle have any plans for after we're wrapped?"
"Belle wants to check out Amsterdam, get some writing done and get a plan ready if we're renewed for another season."
"And the cons?" Emma asks, more hesitant as they step up onto set. They're in the throne room today, the crumbling fake stone returned to its former glory by the set builders. Queen Reina's kingdom is back in full force now that Kavalan has returned as her Guardian and consort, the castle strong and thriving under their rule. "You're still coming to them, right?"
"Of course! I'd never ditch you at one of our cons."
"Do I have all of first team?" Neal asks over the walkie, nodding his hello to Ruby and Emma. Tina comes scurrying in a moment later with Regina.
"First team's on set," Tina says, dashing away again for her next responsibility while Regina gingerly steps up onto the stage. She glances at her co-stars, looking like she wants to say something, but bites her lip and remains silent when Emma and Ruby barely acknowledge her presence. Their last couple months of filming after the winter break has been as awkward as usual, maybe more so because the cast has grown numb to her presence and Regina has been less of an ice queen and just... alone. Zelena's words at Christmas continue to haunt her and as much as her heart aches for what it wants, she remains unsure, teetering on the edge and struggling to find the courage to jump.
"First marks, please," Neal says, ever the brisk professional on set, and Regina takes a seat on the throne, just barely managing the cool frown she is supposed to wear as Queen Reina. Emma crouches next to the throne, gently resting one arm atop Regina's knee, and Regina slides her fingers into the soft fur lining at the neck of Emma's vest, watching as dull green eyes flicker up to meet her pleading stare with a carefully blank one of her own.
"Action," they hear from somewhere in the darkness off set, and Emma's expression shifts into a warm, gentle smile, a loving gaze that hasn't been genuinely directed at her in over a year.
Regina barely stifles a sob.
The wrap party comes and goes with its usual shenanigans, most of the cast attending and none of the crew asking about Regina's whereabouts. Everyone goes their separate ways when season six is officially wrapped and Emma and Henry have a few quiet weeks to relax back home in Boston before they're all called in for a Kingdom Come convention in New York. The paycheck for attending is generous, as always, and Henry has become quite a fanboy of attending cons and leaving them with more nerdy merchandise than he really has room for, so they fly out the day before and have a relaxing night in the hotel before heading down for panels and autographs and photo ops the very next morning.
"Good morning!" Ivy purrs, smiling her coy, lazy smile when Emma shuffles over and drops down at the signing table next to hers, yawning and sucking down a large Starbucks coffee. Her handler starts collecting payment from the first fan in line and Emma takes a moment to squint over at her co-star.
"How are you always so chipper at this hour?"
"It's 10am, babe," Ivy points out, laughing and turning away to greet a fan and sign a poster. "You ready for our two o'clock panel? Fans are gonna be asking you and Ruby all about your breakup, you know."
"Oh. Yeah. That." Emma grimaces, her downturned lips turning into a smile as she greets her first fan. "Hey, how's it going."
She's given a screencap printout of Kavalan and Freya, tangled together in bed, only their heads and bare shoulders peeking out above the furs and dreamy smiles on their faces. It's a tiny bit racey but certainly not the worst she's ever gotten—at least it's a screencap and not their faces photoshopped onto naked bodies, because that had been the most uncomfortable she'd ever been—and she waves off her handler and offers the fangirl a smile as she signs her name and adds "#Freyalan!" to the bottom for good measure.
"She confirmed her attendance for today, by the way," Ivy says conversationally, with nothing but the occasional squeak of sharpies on posters between them.
"Who?"
"Regina."
The next fans in line squeal in excitement and Emma glances over at Ivy with a 'look what you did' kind of face.
"Okay? It's... whatever. We should all be here for the cons. It's a team effort." Her tone suggests that she'd rather not stress out about having to see Regina later, and Ivy gives her a sympathetic smile and says no more.
The panel is about as uncomfortable as everyone had feared it would be, except this time around Emma is the one who looks done with drama and Regina is the one who looks like a kicked puppy. Neither women are really sure of how they feel about the role reversal, but both could probably agree that the fans have soaked up all the drama and are unhelpfully making it worse as the Q&A continues.
"No! Of course not!" Ruby gives a startled laugh when asked if there were any hard feelings between her, Emma, and Belle. "Emma really is more like a sister to me than anything. I love her like a sister. She and Belle are really great friends!"
Emma gets a similar question, of course, as if she'd say something contrary to Ruby's answer. Still, she smiles and bears it and even jokingly jumps out of her seat and moves down the table to hug Ruby, remaining standing behind her co-star with her arms gently looped over her shoulders, Ruby patting her hand sweetly to the 'aww's and cooing of the audience.
"She and Belle are just the sweetest together," Emma says, her chin resting atop Ruby's head briefly before she finally releases her friend and returns to her seat, shooting Ruby a playful smile from down the table. "Those two give me cavities, honestly!"
"It was definitely a bit of a rocky start," Ruby answers when asked about coming out of the closet. "I mean everyone was shipping me with my male co-stars back when I was on Werewolf Huntress, and there was never really a good time to come out, you know? But Emma has always been so genuine about who she is, and having the honor of knowing her and being her friend for the past six years - she gave me the courage to be myself."
When Emma is asked, her answer receives a few more laughs. "Oh, I dunno - I mean I was just a security person before this. I was already out and not hiding it. I didn't have a chance to change my privacy settings before everyone was Googling my name and stalking me on Facebook."
One fan takes them down a path of poorly chosen questions when Ruby makes an unfortunate joke about how Emma had much better chemistry with Regina than her anyway, and when Regina is suddenly in the spotlight and directly asked about her sexuality, the entire cast goes stock-still.
"Oh, I... that's not... um..." It's the first time anyone has seen Regina Mills stutter. Her castmates look to her with wide eyes and Regina stares out into the crowd in alarm, refusing to look sideways at her co-workers, fearing the judgement she's sure she'll see in green eyes. The stagelights feel hot, too hot, and she nervously tugs at the neck scarf she's wearing, blinking blurry eyes out at the audience, barely able to make out the silhouettes of everyone staring up at them.
"Can we get the houselights on, please?" she says instead, pretending to shield her eyes with a laugh, but her hand is shaking and she quickly shoves it back under the table when the room lights up and reveals just how big the audience is. "Wow, there you all are. I was having a hard time seeing you guys. Where were we?"
She stares meaningfully to the other side of the room, focusing on the next person standing in line for questions—there are two lines, one on each side of the room, and she's avoiding the fan in the other line who'd asked for confirmation on her sexuality—and the audience is split between annoyed at her for the avoidance or sympathetic for her uncomfortable predicament.
"You didn't answer my question," the other fan insists into the microphone, wheedling, and Emma fights past the lump in her throat to lean forward and glare down at the girl.
"Well your question was rude and intrusive," she says, feeling Ruby's hand land on her elbow in a warning gesture. Mary Margaret takes one look at them and jumps in to diffuse the situation with her sugary sweet demeanor instead.
"It's not very polite to ask personal questions like that," she offers, smiling apologetically. "Let's be more careful about keeping our Q&A's respectful, okay? Hi there, sweetie, what's your question?"
And just like that, the panel continues on, Emma sitting stiffly with her jaw set and Regina staring down despondently into her lap.
"Alright, who's the dumbass asking inappropriate questions at NY con? When did fans start to think they were entitled to knowing personal information about celebrities? They don't know you. They don't owe you shit. #rude"
"I feel soooo bad for Emma. She was clearly uncomfortable at the panel. Regina looks like she hates the entire cast. Why is she still on the show?"
"ReginaMills went full on gay-panic mode at NY con after Emma and Ruby talked about being out of the closet. Talk about awkward. #lesbihonest"
Fraud. Queerbaiter. Coward.
It all blurs together at some point and Regina avoids social media like the plague now, mentally and emotionally drained and too exhausted to deal with it anymore. The world is gearing up for the long-awaited premiere of season six and she dreads the reaction, afraid of more backlash when audiences praise the KavaReina romance but hate her in real life. She's done plenty enough self-sabotaging to deserve it.
There are at least two people who don't believe that, at least. Two people who show up on her doorstep with candy and alcohol and refuse to let her wallow in self pity. Zelena shoves her way into the penthouse and Marian carries all the goods, and neither say a word about what she's done the past year, merely setting themselves up in the living room and dragging her down onto the couch for a movie marathon. Zelena finds a classic film her late father had starred in and Marian produces a pack of licorice wands from her pocket, and it's many hours and multiple movies later that Regina finally breaks down into her glass of wine with wet, messy tears.
"They hate me," she cries, already drunk and bawling and more of a hot mess than she has ever allowed anyone to see before. "She hates me. I was stupid enough to listen to Mother and now everything is ruined!"
"Hush now, poppet," Zelena cooes, petting at her sister's hair while Regina leans heavily into Marian's side. "Everything will be fine. Nothing a bit of grovelling won't fix. Emma loves you, she'll forgive you if you just apologize."
"But I— I hurt her so badly. And Henry—"
"Will be thrilled to have you back in his life, I'm sure," Marian says soothingly. "Come now, Regina. After all these years, it's clear how much you love them and miss them. You just need to show them that you're still the same person they love back, that you just made a mistake and you're willing to own up to it."
"Really?" Regina sniffs, eyes shimmering with tears as her friend and her sister both put their arms comfortingly around her.
"Really. But you have to mean it, Regina," Marian says, firm. "They deserve your best effort."
"Which means telling Mother off," Zelena adds gleefully. "It's time to stop letting her control your life, Reggie. You need to go after what you want!"
"She'll be mad," Regina whispers, wincing at the memory of Cora's dark, angry eyes, the way her thin lips would purse tightly with thinly veiled contempt and disapproval. Zelena says Cora's threats of disownment are just a bluff, but the threats still feel very real to a girl who remembers the hot sting of a belt to her back end, who remembers the hollow ache of an empty stomach when she was pronounced too "pudgy" to have any dinner, or the cruel remarks from a sneering mouth when she had been passed over for a role because she wasn't "white enough." She remembers every insult and every hit with painful clarity, and getting disowned no longer seems so far off.
"Would you rather live the rest of your life without Emma or Henry ever again?" Marian asks softly, garnering a pained look from Regina.
"I couldn't... I need them," she breathes out, the first honest thing she's admitted in a long while. Marian grins while Zelena throws her hands up in the air in victory.
"Well then, what are you waiting for?"
