Regina woke up again after what felt like days. Slowly removing the covers, she got up into a sitting position in the bright sun-lit room. Her hands absent-mindedly roamed around her body taking in that she still had on the clothes from yesterday. They finally settled in her pockets as Regina blinked her eyes to drive the lingering sleep away. Contemplating her next step, she slowly pulled out her jacket and folded it to keep it on the end of her bed. Regina got up, unbuttoning her shirt as she made her way to the washroom. A shower was in order. When she entered the room, she slipped out of her shirt and then discarded the rest of her clothes. Regina smiled sadly at her reflection. She may feel like, well, shit but dare someone say that just by looking at her.
She slinked into the shower trying to find distraction from the ache she constantly felt but everything was still so fresh: Cora, Henry, Snow. She had told herself that she would make an effort to get herself together but how does one start. Her normal goto response for such intense pain was destruction but for the first time she was wary of the consequences. Henry getting caught in the crossfire was too high a price for vengeance, not that either way her boy would be coming back. But she couldn't just let Snow do what she deemed right when it was always Regina who had to pay. She closed her eyes and groaned; her head felt like a war zone, every thought fighting with the previous one. Forcing herself to stop thinking all-together, she instead revelled in the feeling of water splashing over her, welcoming the warmth. Closing the tap, she wrapped a towel around her lithe frame and made her way towards her bed. Her head was still throbbing and Regina was glad she'd decided to sleep in this morning. She sat down on the bed with her head in her hands.
'Advil', she mused to herself. She raised her head to search the night-stand but Emma was already leaning on the bottle of medicine.
"Here", she held out one tablet struggling to keep her hand outstretched under the weight of the pill. Regina rolled her eyes at the theatrics before grumbling thanks and taking the pill. Emma then pushed a glass of water towards Regina, which she accepted without question.
Emma shook her head and started counting to see how long would Regina take to notice her shrunken persona, "1… 2… 3… Oh Jesus - Regina what the hell!"
Regina blinked once, twice, her brain supplied that it was not natural for Emma to be standing only slightly taller than the white bottle on her night-stand.
"Regina, that's...disgusting... yuck!"
The tiny figure tried to shake off the excess water from the impromptu shower she had been subjected to, that too from the former mayor's mouth. Well atleast Emma had her attention now.
"What in God's-"
"No, you don't get to speak", Emma interrupted, wringing her hair out as she looked at Regina, pent-up anger ready to spill out.
"You know the literal hell I've been through ever since you decided to make me pocket-sized. Jesus Regina, I come to your house to check up on you. And what do I get in return? I am as tall as a freaking phone. You know the amount of things that could have gone wrong. What if there were mice down there, you know how scared I was with you passed out on the floor. Which brings me to the next thing, why were you passed out? You almost squished me in your comatose state. I wait for you to get up, which you do after god knows how many hours and then poof, you disappear. You freaking disappeared on me. Fun advice your majesty, live in a smaller house, with fewer stairs. And – hell, will it kill you to pay attention to me?"
Regina's eyes flew from her wrist to the figure in front.
"Stop squawking Miss Swan", Regina spat before looking down at her hand, "why isn't it working?"
"What, what isn't working?" What the hell now?
"Well whatever enchantment you're under, doesn't seem to come off."
"Oh, you were trying to- don't you have to, you know prepare for it... beakers and shit." Or so I've heard.
Regina rolled her eyes but she kept flicking her wrist.
"Well, it's not working so stop with the damn wrist."
"If I were in your position Miss Swan, I'd try to be nicer."
"If I were in your position Miss Mills, I wouldn't drink so much that my magic short circuited." Emma parroted with a fake smile plastered on her face.
Regina huffed and looked up to her, "Maybe you should consider keeping that damn tongue in check if you know what's best for you. As for my magic, let's see."
She made a show of whirling her hand and a bright red fly swatter appeared out of thin air.
Clutching it tightly, Regina looked at Emma with a wicked smile, "My my, it seems to be working. Should we try it out?"
Emma crossed her arms, "Go ahead. I just wish I could see you trying to explain to Henry how you accidentally swatted his mother."
Regina looked away, lips pursing at the hardly unexpected response. A small voice kept telling her to just do it. Henry probably doesn't even know Emma was at their-her house. And even if he did, how much worse could things get from here. She looked at the blonde from the corner of her eye and she could see that Emma was also plagued by similar thoughts judging by how her hands were trembling. But Emma, ever the brave idiot, held her chin up defiantly. There was something rather pathetic about the situation, the feeling of helplessness that the sheriff radiated. And Regina couldn't pretend to be a stranger to the feeling.
"Oh, no need to worry your small heart now." A cloud of smoke enveloped Regina's hand which upon disappearance took the weapon away with it.
"Would you be interested in calling Snow and have her fetch a rat cage for you?"
"First thing first, I'm wet. Can you at least hook me up with a towel, like the one you're wearing..." Emma's voice trailed off when she saw Regina Mills properly for the first time, sitting in front of her, with wet hair dripping down her body which was covered in a barely modest purple towel.
Regina quietly made an attempt to dry her through magic but when that failed, she materialised a hand towel. When she held out her hand for Emma to pick it up, she observed the distant look on the sheriff's flustered face.
"Miss Swan, are you alright?"
Emma looked up in a daze. "Huh? Uhh." Not staring, was definitely not staring.
Regina, bored of waiting, dropped the towel on her head covering her head and making her squeal in surprise before getting up. Regina steadied herself as she swayed a little by the sudden movement. She was definitely sticking to cider from now on.
Emma sat down thanking the cover over her head as she took her face in her hands, 'What the hell is wrong with me?'
A few minutes later, Regina was dressed in a white shirt and dark grey trousers. Formal wear made her feel more in control than the situation provided and with the current addition to the constant horror show that was her life, she grasped every option in reach. When she returned Emma was still sitting with a towel over her head. Regina narrowed her eyes at the mound and gingerly picked up the rag using her index finger and thumb revealing the sheriff sitting with her knees bent, cradling her head in her palms.
"What happened?"
"My clothes are still damp."
Regina made a committal sound before waving her hand.
"Close your eyes."
"Whaa-aagh" Emma shielded her face against the sudden burst of hot air which threatened to burn the skin off her body. Her feet started skidding backwards due to the force, making her shout.
"Too hot. Too strong. Dammit Regina, it's too damn hot!"
Regina set the air flow on the blower in her hand to cold, changing the power to low, always complaining, and placed it directly over her tiny head to make Emma stop sliding all over the table.
"I'm dry Jesus Christ, can you turn this thing off already." Emma shouted hoping that her voice would carry through the loud noise of air that currently filled her ears.
Thankfully Regina did turn it off. She pressed her lips together trying not to smile at the sight of Emma, her face completely covered under frizzy blonde hair. Emma parted her hair in the middle and her face peeped out of the messy mop, an action which made Regina let out a laugh so loud and deep that Emma's frail eardrums almost popped out. Emma bunched up her golden frizz and tried to tie it in a bun, looking daggers at the still laughing brunette.
"I'm s-" Regina started but checked herself, "I shouldn't have laughed, that was impolite." Regina said instead with a smile barely suppressing another laugh, before adding in feigned concern, "Are you dry now Sheriff?"
Emma for her part cursed under her breath and sat down against the bottle away from Regina so she was hidden from her. Emma kept staring at the wooden panel in front of her, with an intensity that wouldn't invoke surprise if a hole suddenly burnt through the board. That was till something nudged her shoulder. Huffing, she looked sideways to find two long fingers standing by her side with the rest of the finger tucked backwards politely.
One finger bent down and nudged her again like a foot and Emma couldn't help laugh, more in surprise that Regina was actually doing this. Is she still drunk? When she got nudged again Emma put in her whole weight and pushed sideways, shoving the fingers away.
"Ouch," Regina exclaimed as she pulled back her hand. She was looking at the point where Emma's elbow had dug in when a small blonde head popped out from behind the bottle with a cheeky smile on her face. Regina found herself returning the smile. Both of them realised their actions the next second as throats were cleared and the no-nonsense atmosphere settled in.
'Stop getting distracted', they both seemed to reprimand themselves as Emma walked over to the edge to sit with her legs hanging.
"So, will you call now?"
"I-I don't know." Emma looked down instead of the inquisitive brown eyes ahead.
"Why?"
"Well, they don't know I'm here and they'll freak out if they find out that not only did I come to meet you but this happened." Emma explained as she stood up and jumped on the bed, nearly sinking in the pillow, "Good lord this is soft, no wonder you sleep like a log."
Regina was still thinking over her words, "You should call home."
"I'm not so su-"
"Henry will be wondering where you are."
Emma looked up at the withdrawn tone but Regina had turned already, ready to move, "Let's go downstairs. I'm quite starved."
Regina slipped in her coat and looked at Emma sprawled out on her pillow.
"Well?"
"Are you serious? What, do you expect me to walk down behind you? Do you know how hard it was to come up?"
Regina rolled her eyes and held out her hand, "Here."
Emma groaned but slowly crawled up on the palm.
"You have small hands."
"You have a funny definition of small Miss Swan."
Once sure that Emma was steady, Regina lifted her hand.
"Regina you're moving too fast." Emma's voice matched her face in the level of panic she felt. Her mind kept chanting this is a bad idea again and again.
Regina nodded and brought her hand close to her abdomen to keep it steady.
"Try not to have an aneurysm till we reach downstairs."
Emma would have retorted if she wasn't so terrified of the height she was at. She just closed her eyes and hugged the thumb in front of her tightly, her legs hanging out of both sides of the finger. Regina looked down at the sudden pressure.
A tiny sheriff clinging to her thumb, 'Definitely the most absurd position I've been in.'
Regina kept her thumb stiff to minimise the fear the blonde felt and a few expletives later, they reached the kitchen safely. Regina summoned Emma's phone from her apartment to the counter and made it size appropriate for Emma to use.
It was around 3 in the afternoon but Regina was in the mood of comfort food so she decided to go with something that had worked most cheerless mornings. Busying herself in preparing the meal she tuned out the squeaky conversation taking place in the background.
Emma dialled and cleared David's number about five times before finally letting it go through, wondering what to tell him. She settled on being vague as she heard David's voice on the other side.
"Hey – I'm fine – I'm sorry I couldn't call – Yeah, it was on vibrate – I am fine – I had to go out of town – Nothing serious, I'll tell you once I get back – I am fine – Where's Henry – Tell him not to worry – Don't worry – Don't – Sure – I promise I'm fine – How's Snow doing? She needs to get out of her – Fine – Fine – Let's not talk about Regina now – Promise me you won't do anything till I come back – Promise? – Fine – Talk to you later."
Emma groaned as she ended the call, the whole idea that she needed to check in every time she went out was still new to her. But she figured if Henry went out without telling her she would be worried too. The mere thought that Henry would do it filled her heart with panic. Was that how Regina felt when I first came? Emma looked at her phone with a sigh. Being a parent came with a lot of responsibilities. But this added set that was thrust onto her when she suddenly became a daughter, that too to parents who were the same age as her, now that was a little too much. Shaking her head she turned around to check on Regina.
"There, all taken care o– oh... my... god!"
TBC
Next time: Emma gets to cross some things off her childhood wish list.
...
A/N:
I definitely do not endorse Advil usage for curing hangovers since I'm not licensed to be giving out medical advice.
Welcome new followers, hope you enjoy the ride. If there's something you'd like to see tiny!Emma do just drop in a line, I'll try including it.
Hope you liked this one x