Both women kept staring at one another, neither one breaking the silence that had settled around them. Regina frowned, feeling the weight of the situation upon her shoulders. It was not because Regina had to look down to see Emma or that she was expecting the bell to ring any time now, which would put her face to face with the smitten fool. No, it was that both women had shared a lot of personal information while lulled by the security provided in her half square feet house upstairs, and now, without the comfort of being hidden from reality, it felt hard to even start a conversation. Regina's tongue felt heavy in her mouth but when she saw Emma smile hesitantly, she decided to speak up, putting the first thing that came to her mind out in the open.
"You know your mother is a -"
"I know."
"But she really is a -"
"I know."
"Truly and truly a -"
"I know Regina!" Emma huffed as she jumped, creating a loud but pleasant sound.
"Gently", Regina said sharply as she rubbed her hands together, trying to keep from picking up Emma from ruining her priced possession, "These keys are real ivory."
Emma continued to stare at her with an expression saying that means squat to me till Regina broke off their eye contact, thinking that she had only brought it upon herself by choosing this particular place to wait. Emma took it as a small victory and beamed internally, her previous nervousness fading away.
"Ok. See this one, this I learnt when I was about five or six."
Emma jumped again on the precious ivory key and then stepped dramatically on the next white key. Regina nodded, her eyes mechanically following every key which were very slowly starting to amalgamate into a known melody.
Regina closed her eyes, as Emma continued to prance around, "Happy Birthday?" she smiled as her hands skimmed the untouched portion of the keyboard tingling with the need to dip those keys.
Emma jumped from a white key to the one preceding it with a twirl carried out with the grace of a ballerina and finally curtsied as the final chord lingered through the room. She laughed as she bent double on her knees catching her breath. Tom Hanks made it look so easy. She walked towards the ledge leaving behind a symphony of footsteps and pulled herself up to sit on the ledge, "Yea. It's not fancy or anything but it's the only thing I know how to play by heart."
Regina shook her head, "Every song is a work of art." she dusted off the keys that Emma's boots may have sullied, "You don't judge a song solely based on complexity. Happy birthday has brought people more joy than Bach or Schumann."
Emma smiled as she kicked her feet back and forth, her face red on being complimented on a tune even Henry could have mastered in less than a day. She stopped the kicking instantly as she realised the grand piano on which she sat probably cost more than her bug.
"So uh", desperate for a change of topic, "Play something for me."
"Will you never cease making requests? I highly doubt any hotel patron does as much." Regina chided lightly but she still picked up the book from the side, gingerly flipping through the pages.
"So", Regina asked softly, not removing her eyes from the book, "what were you going to say before David called earlier?"
Emma lowered her head, "Nothing."
Regina paused her hands and after a moment and then two Emma rolled her eyes, "It's just, that you, you look… uh sort of pretty when you cry."
Regina's eyes darted from the book in hand to the tiny figure on her piano, her face making Emma thankful that the woman had never played poker against her, "Well, at least you were right, it was a stupid thought."
"Well, tell that to your cheeks." Emma accused, raising her chin. Maybe not poker, but she would definitely be able to read Madam Mills' face during strip poker.
Regina narrowed her eyes as she placed the book back in front of Emma, covering her entirely.
"God, learn to take a compliment. Atleast till the time I'm little." Emma said as she slithered from behind the book to sit beside it.
Regina had her eyes trained on the open book ahead but they never moved from the clef symbol on the top of the left page.
"Emma, about... about today-"
"Don't worry. What happens at Casa De Mills stays at Casa De Mills." Emma winked at her as a silly yet sweet grin formed on her face.
"I never agreed to that name." Regina retorted as she relaxed, appreciating Emma's underlying sentiment.
Regina's eyebrows furrowed in concentration as her eyes now moved along the staff. Emma brought her both feet up and plopped her chin on her palms to look at Regina. She saw as Regina took a deep breath and flexed her fingers slightly; Emma smiled thinking, this was going to be really good. Before Regina could descend those fingers, the doorbell rang. Emma groaned out loud as Regina exhaled sharply.
"That will be the idiots."
Regina ignored the offended Hey and got up, methodically closing the cover on the keys and tucking in the piano stool. She straightened her clothes, ready to meet the guests.
David's eyes swept the room he had once shared a meal with Regina in, when he had tasted the best lasagna in his life, an era seemed to have passed since that day. His eyes caught Regina's and he lowered them instantly as Regina looked up in exasperation.
Emma watched the exchange with repugnance and cleared her throat, "David, care to share with the room?" she pointed not so subtly to the person sitting next to him.
"Yes, well, I told Snow about the situation Emma is in, and… well she told me something that had transpired in the past week that I wasn't aware of."
David looked positively mortified on behalf of his wife as he gestured to the lady sitting next to her. The Blue Fairy, or as Emma had come to know her, Mother Superior had the look of constant discomfort welded with defiance, like sitting in the evil queen's dining room would soil her aura's purity but the sky could fall before she'd let her in on the secret. She kept stealing glances at the Saviour trying to be respectful of the Princess but curious as to her stature.
"Well, yes. The Queen requested me to protect the royal family against any harm that could be thrown their way by the… the Mayor."
"Ex-Mayor dear", Regina smiled, a little too politely, at the nun who nodded stiffly, wary of the direct attention.
"Yes, distraught as the Queen was, she was also scared that the", her eyes flitted over to Regina's side for a second before they went back to David, "difficult events that had taken place may cause her to behave rashly."
"The difficult events", Regina started to get up but Emma kicked the hand next to which she was sitting. Regina shot her a glare but placated herself nevertheless.
The Blue Fairy turned to David, her tone tinged with reverence, "She had your best interest at heart and so in order to protect all of you I provided her majesty with a simple solution that would make sure any attempts to harm the royal family remained futile."
"So, what happened was", David took the lead and started to explain, making both the ladies in front of him to scoff internally, "Snow gave us all a potion to make sure your magic won't work against us."
Emma hissed from her spot, "Without telling us. She basically roofied us."
David gave her a 'behave yourself' look that could only come naturally to a parent. Emma rolled her eyes but remained silent, even she didn't want to express any criticism towards Snow in front of Mother Superior. Her expression soon turned into one of confusion as she looked from her dad to Regina, "But then..." Emma trailed off.
"Then how would you explain, well this", Regina enquired on the saviour's behalf.
The Blue Fairy observed the Saviour sitting next to Regina with apprehension, "When the Queen called me today I wasn't able to advice without assessing the situation. But seeing our Princess, I'm afraid the only thing I can be sure of is that this is not the May-Regina's doing."
"What exactly happened that day?" David asked his eyes on his daughter. He had been told that Regina had accidentally caused this to happen in her drunken haze. Emma gulped under her father's gaze and looked around to see the other two women's eyes also focussed on her.
"I-I-", Emma turned to Regina, "I don't know", she whispered out so only she could hear.
Regina took in her expression and unconsciously moved her little finger towards her hand.
"Princess Emma may have come across some fairy du-", Regina held up her hand, instantly making Blue quiet, cutting off what Regina feared was only the first of many inane hypotheses the fairy was going to throw at them, "Do you have the ability to make a counter potion or is that too much to ask?"
"Of course I do."
"Then you will let us know when you have it ready", Regina said, her tone crisp to the point. She got up, making her dismissal clear, causing David and Blue get up in succession.
"I don't understand, you want me to remove the protection", Blue turned confoundedly to David, asking, "You believe that would be wise? I thought I was called to help. If we bring her back to the church we can surely work to return her to her normal self."
David looked from Blue to his daughter who was tracing patters on the table-cloth with one hand, other holding onto Regina's finger. Regina was looking at Emma through her lashes, her own free hand just holding the hem of the table-cloth.
"I think it would be best if you could just lift the original one. Emma is already upset on being given this protection in the first place." When Blue still looked unsure he added, "And you will be helping us, with your discretion. You know how it is, this will only cause unnecessary gossip." He gave her a re-assuring smile and Blue finally nodded. David sighed internally before looking at the other two women, "I'll drop Mother Superior and return shortly."
Regina nodded, thankful for his support as well as his departure, and followed him to the door.
Regina returned alone shortly and sat down, her eyes zeroing in on the blonde, "Now, explain."
"What?" Emma squeaked out, "I don't know! Are you sure it wasn't you? I mean do you really think blue violet fairy can block your magic, you're pretty powerful you know."
"Emma", Regina sighed, "doesn't this explain why I'm not able to do trivial spells like drying your clothes or the more intricate ones like returning you to your previous size. Everytime I try to focus my magic on you, it fails. So as much as I hate to admit it, Mother Superior did something right, accidentally perhaps. I think I have a theory."
Emma brought up her knees to rest her forehead, gesturing her to carry on.
"Well, you mentioned you have used it twice and both times it was linked to your emotions. So, in theory, if you had been feeling very strongly about something, intensely so, that would have successfully triggered your magic. I need you to think carefully about what could have been going through your mind that day."
Emma's head snapped up, "Regina, on the list of stupid things you've said, this one takes the cake. Do you really think I would want to shrink myself? Do you really think that I would be so stupid to-"
Emma froze as her mind went back to the night the magical accident had happened, when she'd barged inside to talk to Regina.
...
"Worried about the pathetic witch, living her sad lonely life... such misery."
Emma closed her eyes feeling the sting of words, mouthing stop it slowly like a mantra.
"The mighty saviour wants to pity the barren hag. Poor motherless evil queen."
Emma felt the steel in Regina's voice towards the end. Her heart broke, knowing how exactly it felt to be motherless. But she couldn't fathom how it must feel to be partially responsible for it.
"Always trying to do the right thing. It doesn't really matter what my say is, if it's good you'll do it, all of you."
Emma tried to say something, anything that would make Regina stop talking and not make Emma wallow in guilt later that night.
"Each and every one of you..."
Her head started spinning.
"Your mother"
Her fists clenched as she thought of Snow and Cora.
"Your father"
Her mind recalled Henry telling her about David 'rescuing' him from Regina.
"Your grandfather!"
That one word caused her mind to spiral out of control. Each and everyone in this god-forsaken town had always told Emma how Regina had been set out to destroy every one around Snow White. But all she had ever seen was how her whole family had a hand in making sure Regina's life would be absolute hell from the very beginning. Emma wanted nothing more than to run away. She wanted to disappear, she wanted to escape; never in her life had she felt so - felt so-
...
"Holy Mother Fucking Shit!" Emma cried out, "No absolute fucking way!"
"What?" Regina pulled back, startled by the sudden outburst.
"No, nuh-uh, how fucking literal can magic be… this is insane, I cannot do this. No! I said No." Emma got up and started pacing around.
"Emma calm down."
"No you fucking calm down, I am packing my bags and leaving this shit hole of a town and you, all of you fairy-tale creatures can kiss my sweet-"
"Emma Swan!" Regina shouted making Emma's hand stop midway of her wild gesticulations "You are going to sit down and you are going to take a deep breath. Now."
Emma's hands dropped making a big sound as they hit the side of her body and she sat back with a big pout. Her expression soon turned disarrayed as apologies started tumbling out of her mouth.
"I didn't want to Regina - I swear. I was just - I didn't know this would happen. And I kept blaming you for it - I'm so sorry. I can't believe it was all my fault, God I'm so stup-"
"Emma", Regina cut her off, "what happened?"
"I - I was sort of feeling… shit, guilty about the stuff you said… that day, about us trying to play God with your life all the time, and, I don't really know how it happened but I was feeling…" Emma looked at her with wide eyes, "Oh My God I think I ruined your mushroom as well. Oh God, I - I shouldn't be allowed to speak or even think for that matter. I'm a living threat, someone should just put me in a straight jacket and-"
Emma's rant got cut mid way as something blocked her lips. Emma looked, blinking rapidly, at Regina's finger that was covering her whole face. Regina had no idea what Emma was rambling about but her expression ensured her that Emma was very sorry about whatever she was saying. She slowly removed her finger, eyeing the jug of water kept in the middle. Emma followed her eyes and shook her head vehemently.
"No no, I'm fine I'm fine, I swear." Emma said taking deep breaths.
Regina masked her dissent, "Ok... I may have understood only half of what you were saying, or trying to say. But, the good thing is if you can shrink yourself that means you also hold the power to return to your normal size. Right?"
Emma's eyes widened as she thought of how she would be able to do that. Seeing her panic Regina continued.
"The fairy is already giving us an alternative. This is just to speed things up, but if you're not comfortable we won't attempt magic."
"I-I don't mind", Emma looked up, "But you'll help me right?"
Regina crinkled her nose, a little peeved at why Emma would ask so, "Well I have to, considering I am obviously the brains in this team."
TBC
Next Time (Interlude): Well, Regina manages to teach someone a lesson.
...
A/N:
I changed the piano from having ivory keys to not about ten times because as much as I want her to have regal things Regina does have a greater kinship with animals than people. Bottom line, curse got her a piano from before the Ivory Ban and Regina appreciates the majestic beauty of the elephant (who died of natural causes).
Speaking of pianos, I have three piano apps on my phone and I didn't know how to play Happy Birthday. Fuck! I learnt it to see if tiny!Em had to make any giant leaps of faith. Now that I have mastered the tune, if any of you want to hire me for events/parties just leave a PM, I'll check my schedule and get back to you. I'll even throw in the half-learnt X-Files theme for you lot.
Stay cool, my musical friends!
...
*Tom Hanks played the big piano in the movie 'Big'.