Disclaimer: I do not own Once, but wish I did, because Disney is da bomb.
Regina wasn't necessarily an alcoholic, but she was known to hit the bottle a little too hard now and again—at least in the past several years. She'd somewhat learned to let things get out of control when they were out of control, and this week was one of those weeks.
She's gone so deep into her bender that she hadn't bothered to return any of Emma's phone calls or messages—yeah, that was why.
"Now let's talk about alcohol, kids." Emma pointedly looked at Regina as she said this. The brunette had always known how to hold her liquor. On a scale of tipsy to plastered she was somewhere in between, but the sheriff was the only person in town who could tell when she was loaded. She was that classy.
Then again, remembering that she'd agreed to help the blonde with this high school assembly an hour before it started wasn't her most shining moment.
"Does anyone want to tell me why it's not a good idea to drink when you're underage?"
The sullen, bored faces of numerous disaffected youth stared back at Emma blankly. In the very back of the gymnasium, practically hidden from view, Henry hung his head in shame. Neither of his mothers understood that they were embarrassing him in front of his peers. Growing up, Emma had been too busy wishing she had parents to embarrass her and Cora never let Regina have any friends to be embarrassed in front of.
"Slide." Emma commanded. Regina hit the space bar on Emma's laptop and the Storybrooke PD's powerpoint presentation flashed with ominous statistics. "As you can see, none of you are mature or responsible enough to drink. In fact, some grown adults," at this she threw Regina another adorably scathing look, "aren't responsible enough to consume it either. So if you find yourself in a situation with your peers that involves alcohol, exercise good judgment and… caution." Her eyes flickered over to Henry, who avoided her gaze.
Like mother, like son, was what she was probably thinking, Regina mused darkly. Typical, self-righteous Charming. As if Regina had ever been drunk in front of her son before now, when you didn't count her first Christmas after the curse broke with Snow and Charming.
"Slide," Emma said again. At Regina's press of a button, the presentation's conclusion flashed across the screen: "Any questions?" in big, white letters.
"Former Mayor Mills, will you read the first question from the inquiry box, please?" Emma asked, gesturing to the wooden box next to her where students had been instructed to leave their questions.
Regina pulled one of few slips of paper out of the box and read it out loud without thinking. "I whack off at least ten times a day. Is this normal?"
At this the entire gymnasium erupted into laughter. Emma sighed. "Not a public safety related question. Go talk to your guidance counselor. Next one, please, Regina."
Chuckling, the brunette pulled the next slip of paper out of the box. "Regina Mills is a MILF."
A group of boys in the far corner whooped and whistled. Henry turned beat red and slumped into his seat. "Come on, guys," Emma groaned. "Next one, Regina."
She pulled another question out of the box. "Does Sheriff Swan ever use her handcuffs to—hmmm, I'd better not read the rest of this one."
More laughter from the students as Emma blushed. "Okay, no more questions. To conclude, stay away from drugs, alcohol, fairy tale creatures and the dark arts or else you might end up like my assistant, Former Mayor Mills."
Regina rolled her eyes. "Imagine that, children. Our sheriff doubles as a comedian."
"You're dismissed," Emma barked to the attendees of Storybrooke High. As the children hauled ass to the exits, so did Regina. She'd been avoiding Emma since their night at the Pixie Grove and saw no reason to stop now. Tinkerbell wasn't letting her hear the end of it, and that was bad enough.
She thought she heard the Sheriff call out to her, but she ignored it and the pang in her chest. She inhaled the fresh air as she stepped outside and swayed for a few minutes as she tried to remember where she'd parker her Benz. Grunting with annoyance, she recalled parking far away so as to avoid speaking to Emma before the assembly. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, but now she cursed her own cowardice as she tried to walk straight in heels. By the time she'd gotten two blocks Emma's bug rolled up next to her and slowed to a crawl that matched her pace.
Regina stared straight ahead as she heard the window roll down. "Need a ride, MILF?"
The former Mayor continued walking, determined to ignore the blonde's presence. She couldn't bear to look at her without imagining her naked and sweaty underneath her, laying on a bed of moss that matched the color of her eyes, creamy skin bathed in moonlight…
"Okay, then. How about a muff dive in the back seat?"
Regina couldn't stop herself from snorting. "I'd prefer to avoid any illicit encounters in that clown wagon you call a vehicle. Not to mention the interior smells like marijuana and taco meat."
"That was one time, Regina," Emma retorted, referring to the incident last year when she'd found Emma smoking a joint in the bug while listening to Night Ranger. In her defense Neal had left that morning. "And that's pretty rich, coming from the woman who just showed up shit-bricked to a public safety presentation for teenagers. Is this why you've been avoiding me? You're on a bender? Or did you just have too much fun frolicking in the forest with me last week?"
Regina stopped walking and spun around to face Emma, who was hanging out of her car window with a lewd smirk on her face. It made her feel dirty, in a good way. Dammit. "On the contrary, Sheriff Swan. I've been spending the week trying to scrub you off of me." Blast, even that sounded dirty. "Our sordid encounter was simply yet another traumatizing memory I will spend the rest of my life trying to forget."
"Liar," Emma's eyes twinkled. "I know when you're lying, remember?"
Regina decided to ignore her and continue walking, glaring straight ahead. "You know I could arrest you for public intoxication?" Emma continued to taunt. "At the very least you must be crazy if you think I'm gonna let you drive."
"I'm fine!" Regina huffed. "This idiotic conversation has sobered me completely!"
"Is that so? You know, after blowing up my parents' house for the umpteenth time, the least you could do is talk to me. I know you want to fuck again as much as I do, if not more. When's the last time you got laid, anyway? Before I rocked your world last week, that is?"
Regina inhaled sharply, trying to quell the urge to turn Emma's bug into a donkey.
"I'll make a deal with you," Emma continued cheekily. "I want what happened in the Pixie Grove to happen again, and so do you. But first, you have to be nice to my mother for at least… three days."
Regina felt her knees go week while at the same time scoffing at the notion of being civil to Snow White. "Better get yourself some crude sex toy then, Savior. A cucumber, perhaps?"
"Mmmm, I don't think that's going to be necessary. Those are the terms, Regina. You want a piece of this sweet ass? You're going to have to be nice to M&M for three days." With that, she fired up the bug and sped off down the street.
Regina exhaled the breath she'd been holding slowly. All she'd ever wanted was to curse an entire kingdom and ruin everyone's lives. Was that so much to ask for? She remembered her conversation with Tnkerbell from a week before and wished she didn't have to go home to yet another problem.
ONE WEEK EARLIER
They weren't far from where the Savior and the Evil Queen had fornicated, but Tinkerbell was still pestering her with questions.
"Come on, Queenie! I know you actually did it this time because you got Henry back! You're really gonna hold out on me right now?"
Regina irritably batted away a tree branch. She was exhausted, having not slept a wink since rescuing Henry from the pixies. She just wanted to gather up her horses and go take a nap. "You can't blame this whole thing on me, you know," Tink went on. "I don't tell the pixie dust what to do. It has a mind of it's own."
The brunette clenched her thighs together as the air began to vibrate with powerful magic. Memories of the previous night made her breath catch in her throat. "We're close, Tink," she observed, hoping the fairy hadn't noticed. "The horses should be somewhere around here."
The fairy giggled again. "That good, huh?" Her blue eyes sparkled, even after Regina gave her a look that could have peeled paint off of walls. "I know you're embarrassed, Queenie. You can give me the silent treatment all you like, it won't change how thrilled I am. Emma is good for you. She really—
She stopped and her eyes widened with awe. They had reached the clearing, and Regina saw for the first time that she and Emma had indeed performed magic during their liaison mere hours ago. She felt a knot in her chest loosen at the sight of brightly colored flowers vibrating with what seemed to be sexual anticipation, if that was at all possible. There was not a dead leaf or twig in sight. The clearing seemed to occupy its own dazzling, sunlit space in the middle of gloomy, misty woods.
What had that moment been between them, when their fingertips brushed? It was passion by another name. More than erotic, it was… transcendent. Regina shivered and felt even more embarrassed as her center moistened without her consent.
"By the Gods. Did the two of you do this?" Tinkerbell asked disbelievingly. "How romantic."
Regina felt her face flush. "I'd rather not talk about it. Let's just get my horses and leave." She went over to where Cloud and Paranoia were still tethered to their tree, waiting patiently for her as they munched on dandelions. "Easy, girl," she said, slowly approaching Paranoia. To her surprise, the more skittish mare didn't flinch away from her and let her pat her nose. "You'll have to ride Cloud, Tinkerbell."
"Right!" the Green fairy agreed. "So this is what a Pixie Grove looks like! It's absolutely beautiful. I've never seen one up close."
"That's because it's not often that a stick-in-the-mud fairy such as yourself dares venture to one of our sacred sites!" a squeaky voice responded. Regina spotted a bush with black and white roses near the patch of moss she'd had sex with Emma on. It rustled and Queen Mab flew out. Unlike in the Pixie realm, she was only about five or six inches tall, but other than that looked exactly the same.
Tinkerbell's eyes widened in horror at the sight of her. She screamed and ran away as fast as her legs could carry her. "Tink!" Regina called after her as she disappeared through the trees. Furious, she rounded on the little Pixie, who was now fluttering among a neat line of purple daffodils. "You! I haven't forgotten what you tried to do to my son!"Her hands burst into flames.
"Great Idea," Mab said lazily. "Emma and Henry will surely overlook you burning down Storybrooke's forest after all the other terrible things you've done."
Seething, Regina let the flames die in her palms. "I'll have to catch you and cook you in the microwave then, you lecherous, larvae spawning termite!" she snarled and made to grab the tiny creature. Mab howled with laughter and flew out of Regina's reach.
"Pixies are not so easily caught, Queenie!" she sang. Regina tried in vain to perform a summoning spell. When that failed, she tried to turn Mab's wings into stone to no avail.
"Only Tinkerbell calls me that!" Regina raged. "As if you'd know what it is to be a Queen, your majesty!"
"Know what I like about you, Queenie?" Mab asked, buzzing around her head like an annoying bumblebee.
Regina swatted at her angrily. "Hold still!" she shouted as Mab continued to dart around her erratically. "I'm trying to crush you!"
"I like your style. We pixies are suckers for unfortunate souls such as yours. Your life has been a disaster from the beginning—one self-induced crisis after another and yet here you are, as arrogant and short-tempered as ever. Legend says you were once a sweet, innocent little dove. I wonder if that girl still exists somewhere in your black heart?"
"She doesn't!" the dark witch bellowed, fuming with frustration as Mab flew up to a high tree branch and reclined on it as though it was a chaise. "So don't fool yourself into thinking I shall feel any remorse when I send you back where you belong—to Hell!"
Mab yawned. "You're hopeless, Queenie. I'll tell you what. Since you're one of my favorites, I'll help you get your Forest Princess."
Regina willed herself to calm down. Since she was no longer Mayor, there was no mask to hide behind, but the cricket had taught her breathing techniques to keep her temper and by extension her dangerous magic under control. Remember what Dr. Hopper said Emma's voice floated into her head. Deep breathes. It's going to be all right, Regina.
Regina gulped in air through her nose and slowly exhaled. "You will do no such thing, you cross-eyed, dim-witted disco centipede. I've ruined Emma's life and countless others. I will not hurt her or Henry again. Those I love always end up hurt, because I am unworthy of it. You will return to the Fae Forest and leave my family alone or so help me I will chain you to a pole in the harbor and let the gulls feed on you."
"Sounds kinky." Mab shivered with delight.
Regina's nose wrinkled with disgust. "You're wasting my time, moth." She clicked her tongue and turned on her heel, prepared to saddle up the horses and retrieve her fairy.
Mab was knee deep in Regina's cider by the time the brunette returned to her manor. Another annoying Pixie tendency—they loved cider. And by extension, the Gods hated Regina Mills. Unfortunately Mab was no easier to catch when she was inebriated.
She sat on top of the kitchen stove, flying away just in time when the brunette turned it on in an attempt to fry her. She flew idly on top of the refrigerator. "How'd the high school dance with the Savior go?" she hiccupped.
"It wasn't a dance." Regina went immediately to the liquor cabinet, opened it, decided against another drink, and closed it again.
Mab snickered similarly to the way Rumple used to giggle at her when he'd have a vision about something she was going to do one day that was particularly reprehensible. "But she hit on you, I bet. And speaking of, you're all pent up and frustrated, Queenie. Why not go to the Savior and oblige her? You're a woman of many needs."
"That I am but there is no way in hell I'm going to be nice to Snow White for three whole days. Those were Emma's terms. No sex is that good, Pixie Queen."
Mab swayed and smirked down at her. "You sure about that, Queenie? The trees told me you two made quite a racket on the night you opened the portal. Sounds like it was that good."
"Perhaps I haven't made myself clear, your majesty," Regina hissed. "I would sooner join a raw ogre orgy and subsequently get a golden shower from a chimera than be kind to Snow White for two minutes, let alone three days. I am not and never will be that horny."
An hour later, Regina knocked on the Charmings' front door with gritted teeth. It opened to reveal a small, dark haired toddler. "Hello Leo," Regina smiled down at him. It wasn't difficult to be kind to Emma's little brother, even though he was named after her loathed late husband. He reminded her of Henry. "Is your mother home?"
Leo beamed at her and nodded. "Mommy!" he called. "Grandma is here!"
Regina squeezed the cake tin she was holding in her arms until it threatened to shatter in her grip. Of course that imbecile always told Leo to call her "Grandma." Why was she doing this again?
A brief memory of the tips of Emma's golden hair tickling her stomach while she was busying herself in between her legs flashed through her mind. Right. That was why.
Mary Margaret appeared at the front door a moment later and upon seeing her former step-mother immediately shooed Leo away. She narrowed her eyes warily. "Regina?"
She smiled at her former nemesis, the effort of it hurting her cheeks. "Snow. I was just… thinking about you."
"Oh? Trying to come up with another way to kill me?"
"No, no. I actually wanted to…" Regina gulped with effort as she tried to form her next words, her tongue thick with resistance. "I wanted to… a-a… apologize. Yes. For my, that is to say, ah, my… behavior last week."
Snow stared blankly at her. "Huh? Behavior?"
"Well, you know… dear. I drove my Mercedes through your front door and, um, blew a hole through your kitchen wall. I also emptied my horses' manure on your front lawn, as I'm sure you noticed, and shrunk your mailbox, and hexed Charming so he could only walk backwards on Wednesday and… anyway. I baked you a cake."
Snow gaped at her, dumbstruck. She leaned out of the front door and looked around as though she expected to find camera crews filming a prank. Slowly, she took the cake tin and sniffed at it suspiciously. "How about you take the first bite?"
Regina bit her tongue to prevent the reflexive snarky retort. She cleared her throat. "That won't be necessary. I suppose I ought to be going. You…" She cleared her throat again, the words stuck in it. "You look…" her face purpled with effort. "You look…" She clenched her jaw and swallowed bile, the effort of what she was trying to say literally destroying her insides. "You look very n-n-n…." She closed her eyes and opened them again. "You look very nice today," she finally ground out. With that, she turned to leave.
"Wait a minute!" Snow said. "This is about Emma isn't it?" Regina sighed and turned back around. Three days? Really? She was The Queen! Knights were supposed to endure excruciating trials to get into her pants, not the other way around.
"As if you haven't taken enough from me!" Snow ranted. "Now you want my daughter! You're unbelievable! You know what this is? This is classic Regina. Every time we go left, you have to go right. You have to pervert even the most cherished, simple bonds between people and you don't even regret it. You relish in it. I don't know if it's because you have a personality disorder or you just don't care…"
Snow's voice faded to a background buzz for a few moments as Regina tried to think of a nice thing to say to her. It was because of her big mouth that she'd forgotten how to be nice in the first place. What would Henry do? She imagined her son's smiling face and felt something as close to peace of mind as she probably would ever get in her life.
"… and now on top of everything else you have to get your jollies by luring Emma into your sick, inappropriate web!" Snow rambled.
"That's something you'll have to talk to Emma about. And as for me taking everything from you, I happen to believe you've done well for yourself. You've got Charming, Leo, the house on Mifflin St, a Honda. I'm sure your mother would be proud."
She managed to make her exit then, leaving a speechless Snow White at her front door.
David almost bulldozed Regina's trashcans over as he screeched his truck into her driveway. He was really going to kill the Evil Queen this time. After Snow blurted out what happened while he was in California, he hadn't stopped seeing red since.
Regina caught sight of him barreling towards her as she was brushing Cloud in the barn. Sighing, she hopped off the stool she'd been standing on. Her ever-gentle stallion wiggled nervously, his ears flattening against his mane. "If you spook my horse, Charming, I won't save you like I saved your wife."
"I'm really gonna kill you this time!" he roared, his face crimson with rage. It was possibly the angriest she'd ever seen him and also hilarious.
She waved her hand as he lunged towards her. The force of her magic sent him flying back into a pile of feed buckets. They clattered as he tried to get to his feet again a moment later. Regina cackled with glee as he came at her again. This time when she raised both ands he went soaring through the air again and smashed through the barn door.
"Arrrrrgggghhhh!" he yelled as he rolled through splintered wood onto the grass outside. Cloud reared back and screeched loudly, swinging his hooves out wildly. Regina cackled again and walked through the barn towards the Prince. Electricity sizzled around her ominously.
Charming yelled again as his own arm lifted involuntarily and he smacked himself in the face over and over again. "Stop hitting yourself, Charming!" She laughed as she magically made him smack himself in the face again."Stop hitting yourself, you idiot!"
"Regina!" she heard Emma shriek behind her. "What the hell are you doing?"
The brunette plastered her most innocent smile on as she turned to face the Sheriff, who was running towards her across the padlock. The blonde was wearing some awful dark green leather jacket that reminded her of the ugly red one she used to wear. Not one for sentiment, it made Regina feel particularly fond of her for some reason. "Your father is here to defend your honor, princess."
Emma's eyes narrowed. "What about our deal?"
"You said I had to be nice to Snow White, not this imbecile. Am I supposed to simply let him assault me? I know I've not been a saint, but surely I still have the right to defend myself."
The Savior sighed and rubbed her temples. "Dad, go home and cool off, all right?"
"But Emma!" David protested weakly.
"Da-ad!" Emma whined back, sounding almost like an embarrassed teenager caught making out with her sweetheart in her bedroom. "Please?"
Grumbling, the battered Prince got to his feet and sauntered off. The two of them alone, Emma took a step towards Regina. "For crying out loud! I came here to see you after I ate a piece of that divine carrot cake you made my mom, and what do I find? You laughing like a maniac with fucking lightning striking behind you, Cloud rearing in the background and you looking crazy as hell…"
Regina folded her arms and lifted her nose in the air. "Did you expect anything less, Savior?"
Emma's pretty face twitched, forming a barely concealed grin. "No. I'm glad to see you're enjoying how much this—whatever this is—is driving my parents completely batshit. They keep insisting that's the only reason this is happening. They say you're vengeful again and using me."
Regina scoffed. "Please. Their inflated sense of self-importance is mind-blowing. Not everything revolves around those two idiots, Emma. I tired of tormenting them years ago because frankly they are boring. It gets old after a while. Besides, I wasn't the one Tinkerbell sprinkled that fairy dust on."
"That's what I said. Then they pointed out that Tink is your pal."
"And theirs," Regina added, rolling her eyes. "She runs the pawn shop for me, but it doesn't mean I have a claim on her. Did I also somehow orchestrate the kidnapping of our son? Bomb a nuclear reactor? Perhaps cause global warming?"
The former Queen knew Emma well enough to know that she was trying to keep her expression blank, but some kind of battle was taking place behind moss green eyes. "But they're right to be concerned, dear. I'm not… you shouldn't want to be involved with me. Given your troubling taste in men, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that you find me quite alluring. Bad boys and crazy women, is that your style Princess Charming?"
Emma didn't seem to have anything to say to that, so the brunette turned back to Cloud, who was still snorting in distress. Her fight with David had agitated him. She approached him cautiously as he snorted anxiously through flared nostrils and pawed at the ground. "Steady, boy… it's all right," Regina said softly.
He flapped his head back and forth, his mane rustling. Regina gently stroked his muzzle. "Mama would never let any idiot Charming harm you." The horse seemed to relax slightly. He nuzzled her as Regina's black barn cat, Webster, jumped up on the stall door next to him. "See? Webster isn't frightened," she reassured the beast, scratching her cat behind the ear. She leaned her head against Cloud's neck and both horse and owner felt themselves return to serenity.
"I like this side of you," Emma said quietly. Regina turned to look at her and saw the blonde watching her affectionately. "It always surprised me, how gentle you are with animals."
"I find that in most cases they are superior to humans," Regina replied. Emma smiled again and came closer, until she was only a foot away from the former Mayor. "They have no hidden agendas," the brunette went on, slightly distracted by Emma's close proximity. She could feel the heat coming off of her body. "Or axes to grind. They only want food and sleep and perhaps a little affection now and then."
Emma only seemed to be partly listening. She reached out and touched Regina's shoulder. "You prison took my shit in the Pixie Grove. You weren't very gentle. Not that I'm complaining. But," she moved her hand up to stroke the older woman's cheek with the knuckles of her fingers. Regina's body responded with an involuntary shudder. "It does make me wonder how gentle you can be in… other capacities." Her grin widened to near goofy proportions and the brunette melted.
"Are you suggesting we test that theory?" Regina purred back seductively. "I should have known you wouldn't be able to last three whole days."
Emma opened her mouth to give her a teasing retort, but was interrupted by the sound of squeaky grunting. Both women looked up to see Queen Mab humping Webster furiously. The cat blinked but otherwise didn't seem to care that he was being violated. "Oh, yeah! You guys are so hot together. Do you have a video camera, Queenie? Fire that sucker up!"
Upon seeing her Emma reacted similarly to how Regina had when she'd first spotted her in the Pixie Grove with Tinkerbell. She seized one of the tin feed buckets David had knocked over and lunged at the Pixie Queen with it ineffectively. Mab merely laughed and held onto Webster's fur as he leapt off the stall door. He ran around the barn and she rode him like a miniature pony, cackling like a maniac.
"Don't bother," Regina said to the furious, red-faced Sheriff. "You won't be able to catch her. She's been following me around all week, yammering constantly. I've tried vaporizing her dozens of times but no spells have worked."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Emma exclaimed, waving her arms around erratically.
"Forgive me for not wanting to pester you with every little problem I have like every other twit in this town. There was also the fact that we… there was the incident in the pixie grove."
Emma's eyes widened.
"Regina, listen. I—
She was interrupted by yet another visitor. Emma groaned and covered her face with her hands as Mary Margaret raced towards them. "Emma, stop!" she screamed. "David just came home looking like he got mugged!"
She skidded to a halt in front of her daughter and used her own body to shield her, as though protecting her from getting shived. "You can't trust the Evil Queen, Emma! And you certainly can't love her."
Regina felt her stomach flutter unpleasantly. "Excuse me, Snow. As thrilled as I am that my barn has suddenly become grand central station for Charmings, this is a private matter between me and your daughter."
"There will be nothing private going on between you and Emma!" Snow declared.
"Ma!" Emma groaned.
"Charming and I sent her through that wardrobe so we could keep her away from you, not seduce her with your… your… your twisted sex games!"
Regina couldn't stop the wicked smile from slowly spreading across her face. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Above them, Mab laughed uproariously. "Sure she does!" She began to twerk in midair as she imitated Lady Gaga and R. Kelly. "Do what you want, what you want with my body. Do what you want, don't stop let's party," she sang shrilly.
Mary Margaret stared up at her in horror. "Is that the Mab? Emma, we have to tell Mother Superior!"
The Pixie Queen turned upside down in midair and stuck her tongue out at Snow. "You and that buzz kill can't do a thing about me, Betty Crocker."
"We'll deal with you like we've dealt with all of Regina's other messes," Snow snapped back with uncharacteristic rudeness. "The sooner I clean this one up, the sooner I can get my firstborn away from the Evil Queen. We all know what happens to her lovers when they hang around with her in the stables."
"MA!" Emma shrieked. She barely had time to erect a magical shield in front of her Snow before Regina unleashed a barrage of deadly curses at her in a blind rage. She felt the Evil Queen take over, unable to control the darkness as it engulfed her completely.
"Regina!" Emma's voice tugged her back, but not far enough. Cloud reared again in agitation and Webster hissed. In the padlock, Euphoria and Paranoia fluttered around nervously.
The brunette seized the scattered buckets around her and began furiously pelting them at Emma and Mary Margaret. "Out!" She shrieked. "Out! Get out!"
"Regina…" Emma held her hands out pleadingly, as though trying to reach the gentle woman that had been with her just moments ago.
"OUT!"
The blonde dodged the other bucket, and, swearing, grabbed Mary Margaret by the arm and dragged her off. "This isn't over, Mills!" Regina heard her yell before she was alone again with Queen Mab and her agitated animals. She fell to her knees and burst into tears, hating the pixie dust for making long dormant and dangerous feelings wake up in her again.
"Aw, shit…" Mab muttered, looking down at the weeping woman with chagrin. "Hang on, Queenie. I'm gonna go get help."
She flew off. Webster trotted up to Regina and tried to comfort his inconsolable mistress by bunting her, but it wasn't until Tinkerbell came running into the barn a few minutes later, closely followed by Mab, that Regina finally looked up, her face stained with tears.
"Queenie!" Tinkerbell ran to her friend and knelt down next to her. "You relapsed, huh?"
Regina nodded, unable to speak for the disappointment in herself.
"That's all right. Want me to call Dr. Hopper?"
Regina shook her head.
"Want me to sit with you until you feel better?"
Regina nodded again. "Come to my bossom, then," the green fairy soothed. Regina leaned her head on her best friend's shoulder. "Go easy on yourself, Queenie. You're not the first person love ruined, and you won't be the last."