Hi everyone! So it's been about 84 years since my last update? Yeah? Sorry about that. I won't lather you with excuses, because I don't really have any that will suffice a reason for such a long absence. Life, school and a heavy work week - that's basically it. It's boring, but it's true. And so the creativity with this just sort of fell by the wayside. But I hope this is me back now, at least until it's done. I hope that you haven't given up hope on this little story. And my heart goes out to all the people that have been messaging me to keep it going. I'm so sorry. An update, and I'm working on the next right now.
Emma couldn't really say that she'd ever really liked Regina. She'd tolerated her, and couldn't say from time to time that she hadn't been amused by her. Most of the time she just made her sad, the way she'd drown herself in a bottle after every gig, or sniff questionable powders off the already dirty coffee table in her dingy dressing room. She didn't know a lot about Regina's history, but from the way David treated her like she was made of glass and from the little she did know, Emma had a fairly strong idea that Regina's demons weren't a figment of her imagination.
The woman had been broken, time and again, by people who had professed they loved her. She and David had divorced, though Emma didn't really know why, considering how he doted on her. And her marriage to Leo had been toxic, to say the least. Emma could really only remember Regina truly happy when she'd been with Daniel. She'd laughed, a laugh that wasn't touched with a demented sort of sarcasm. She had smiled sweetly and blushed at gentle compliments. Since his death, Emma had only watched Regina's decline from her place behind the bar, further and further into a pit she wasn't sure she was still strong enough to crawl out of.
Having spent so much time with her over the last few months, seeing her change and grow and learn that she could be brave without the alcohol and the drugs, Emma had been growing to be proud of the woman. Seeing in her a strength of will she hadn't been able to see before. She could admit that maybe she'd judged Regina too harshly, she'd always wondered if maybe she'd let Mary-Margaret and Regina's issues cloud her judgement of Regina, having been friends with Mary-Margaret much longer and found herself unwittingly on her side of their feud. That was partly why she'd agreed when Robin had asked her to be Regina's sponsor. She didn't know what Regina was going through, she wasn't an alcoholic - but Robin had been right. Regina needed someone that wasn't going to let her get her way when the going got tough, somehow this man she'd only met once, knew Regina better than she did; he'd known her a few weeks and Emma had been watching her waste away for years. A guilt had gnawed at her, a guilt of having judged Regina before she really understood her.
Over their few months working together and watching the way Regina was with Robin and especially, with Roland, Emma could see her changing. She could see her coming back to the Regina she was when Daniel was alive - the Regina that smiled and laughed and didn't throw insults in her face over the bar, or break vodka bottles against the door frame when Emma refused to give her yet another, for the night. She was being clear-headed and kind and Emma was more often than not, happy to see her.
Which is why, when Regina stumbled over the draw-string hanging loose from the backstage curtain, and fumbled her way to the bar, the alarm bells in Emma's head started to go off. Regina's dark, short curly hair was a mess, dishevelled by her dark painted nails brushing through it as she lent against the bar and grinned in the blonde's direction.
The woman set her tall glass on the counter, watching with overt fascination as her straw twirled around the rim before coming to a stop. It was a soda glass; Emma was perplexed.
"Are you alright, Regina?
Regina frowned at her. "Why wouldn't I be?"
Emma shrugged. "No reason." She cleared her throat and continued polishing a glass, smirking over her shoulder as Neal brushed by behind her, touching her rear with a chuckle as he went. The look Regina threw them caused Emma to roll her eyes, but she laughed.
"Another club soda?" Neal asked and Emma watched as Regina nodded, slipping her glass across the counter with a flourish. Emma's brow creased even further, watching as Neal disappeared around the other side of the bar and Regina turned her head out to the stage, watching the rest of the band fussing with their equipment as David argued with Leroy about the lighting.
"You sure you're alright? Have you been drinking?"
"What? No," Regina took her offered glass from Neal with a fresh straw and shook it at Emma. "Shut up, Miss Swan." She spat and strutted towards the stage.
Emma blinked in shock, her mouth hanging open.
"What's wrong, babe?" Neal questioned, dropping a kiss to Emma's bare shoulder.
"She called me 'Miss Swan'."
"What's wrong with that? She always calls you that."
Emma shook her head, pulling her phone from her back pocket and quickly dialling the number at the top of her list, the number she'd been calling almost twice a day for months. "No she doesn't," Emma frowned, listening to the call ringing. "She hasn't called me that since she's been sober."
Emma felt Neal tense behind her and it sent a shiver through her as she continued to listen to the line buzz, waiting for him to answer. "I'm sure it's nothing, babe, don't stress."
"Robin!" Emma exclaimed when the call finally connected and she felt Neal's hands disappear from her shoulders, but she couldn't think about that now. "Hey, yeah, I'm okay. It's Regina," Neal watched her as she hugged herself, listening to Robin on the other end of the line. "Yeah, can you get down to the club, she says she hasn't but I think she's been drinking.
She hung up the call and turned to see Neal looking out over the empty club with a pinched look on his face. "What's wrong with you?" Emma asked, curious and Neal blinked, startled before clearing his throat and smiling, shoving his hands in the pockets of his jeans. "Nothing," He kissed her forehead as he squeezed past her. "All good."
Robin could feel his heart in his throat as soon as he hung up the phone. He stood there, at the kitchen counter, watching Roland building a house with his legos on the living room floor. So much peace and innocence just sitting there, creating stories for his little lego men. His heart beat only faster realising he had to get to Regina as soon as he could.
Grabbing his coat and keys, he dashed for the living room, before picking Roland up and making his way to the door. "Where are we going, Daddy?" Roland asked as Robin gently stuffed the boy's arms into his coat.
"Daddy has to go see Regina really quick, is that okay?"
"'gina! Yay!" Roland bounced on his feet, clapping his hands and making it even hard for Robin to button up his coat.
"Sorry, little man, you can't come this time." The boy's face fell and Robin let out a sigh as Roland's whole posture deflated. "I'm sorry, Roland, but Regina's not well and Daddy has to go make sure she's okay, do you understand?"
"But 'gina said I make her feel better," Roland defended, pointing a finger at his father to drive his point home. "She said my hugs are the best hugs ever."
Robin chuckled, dropping a kiss to the top of his boy's head. "That they are, little man. And I promise I'll bring her to see you, as soon as she's feeling better, okay." Roland continued to frown. "We can even have a picnic, how does that sound?"
"Can I make cakes for 'gina?"
"Sure," Robin smirked, mussing Roland's curls. "You can make her whatever you like. Just, for this time I need you to stay with UncleWill while I go see Regina."
"Uncle Will! Uncle Will! Uncle Will!" Roland shouted, bouncing again in clear approval of the idea. Will, of course, had no clue what was coming, but that didn't mean the man had a choice. Robin needed to get to the club as soon as possible and Will was going to help make that happen.
"What, no!" Will pushed back against Robin, who was holding Roland out to him on his front porch. "Ana's coming over, you cannot leave that here!" Will protested.
"Will," Robin pleaded. "Please, I wouldn't ask if this wasn't an emergency." He shoved a giggling Roland back into Will's arms and let go. He knew his friend wouldn't ever let anything happen to his son and as quickly as he'd handed him over, he was bounding down the front steps. "I'll be back as soon as I can!" He waved over his shoulder and Will huffed, repositioning Roland on his hip, muttering under his breath before slamming the door behind him.
"Alright, sprout." Will shared a look with the boy. "What you wanna play, then?"
"Xbox." Roland answered definitively and Will huffed again.
"Gratuitous violence it is then." He set the bouncing, excited little boy down and set about pulling out the controllers.
Robin made his way into he club, he smiled to Ruby as he passed the coat-check before heading toward the bar. The Royals were in full swing on the stage, Regina halfway through pulling her jacket awkwardly from her shoulders as she didn't miss a beat of the song. Robin stood there, in the space between the bar and the crowd, mesmerised by her.
It was the first time he'd seen her with a crowd of fans - he'd avoided it so far, with months of working on getting her sober and trying his hardest to hide the fact that he'd been steadfastly falling for her since the day they'd met - he hadn't wanted to be taken in by it. He knew, the way she sang gentle songs to Roland before he fell asleep on the couch between them, the way she could put together a rhyme on demand, the way her melodic voice curled around his name like a benediction, she was talented. He just hadn't realised how talented - it floored him.
"They're halfway through the set!" Emma's voice startled him and Robin turned to her, leaning over the bar, trying to get his attention. The way she was already halfway across it with her arm stretched out to him, he sheepishly realised she'd been trying to get his attention for a while. He moved closer so she didn't have to yell so loud.
"How is she doing?"
"Just like normal."
"Okay, that's good, right?" Robin grimaced.
Emma shook her head. "No, it's bad. She hasn't played a set this kind of normal since she stopped drinking."
Robin looked out to the stage again, licking his lips as Regina held a particularly long note, pulling at her shirt, exposing her black, lace bra and ribs as if she was pulling the note clean out of her chest with her fist. It was then that Robin noticed the man standing off to the side of the stage, short statured and firm featured. He wore an expensive pressed suit with a silk handkerchief in his breast pocket. A smirk was growing on his lips as the man watched Regina perform, a sinister, spine-chilling smirk that made Robin's blood boil.
"Who's that?" He gestured and Emma's expression darkened.
"Gold, he owns the place."
"So you could say Regina's part of the merchandise?"
"Yeah," Emma winced at the analogy. "I suppose."
"And in what state is she of most benefit to him?" Robin knew he was jumping to conclusions, anyone else and he'd be thinking it was just any other normal slip-up. But he didn't want to believe it of Regina, she'd come too far, worked too hard, and he was too invested.
Emma frowned, chewing on her lip. "You don't think?"
"If she swears she's not drinking, maybe she thinks she isn't." Emma blinked, confused. "Where's Regina's dressing room?"
"But how? How could she be drinking without us knowing? Without her knowing?"
Robin gave her a look that she could feel radiated with desperation. She'd seen it from the moment he'd asked her to support Regina, to be her buddy. He desperately wanted for Regina to succeed.
She gestured behind the heavy velvet curtain at the end of the bar. "Through the curtain, last door at the end of the corridor." Robin nodded, heading that direction. "What do you think you're going to find?"
"If she's more valuable to him like this, I don't trust him as far as I can throw him."
"That Regina's guy?" Neal questioned as Robin disappeared behind the curtain and Emma jumped, looking up at him and frowning when she saw the look of suspicion on Neal's face.
"You know Robin." She narrowed her eyes. "What's up with you today?"
"Nothing," Neal shrugged, shuffling past her to serve someone as Emma continued to study him, confused.
Robin burst into the dressing room, he up-turned clothes and her bag, draped over a chair. There were glasses everywhere, a bottle of water on her vanity and candy wrappers strewn across the floor. He untwisted the lid of the bottle, sniffing at the water, before placing it back and heading for the bunch of near-empty glasses on the coffee table.
"And who might you be?" A thick, Scottish brogue startled him and Robin looked up with the glass half-way to his nose.
"You're Mr Gold, right?"
The man raised an eyebrow, unsurprised that Robin knew him, but he slowly inclined his head. "I am, and yet alas, my question has gone unanswered."
"Robin Locksley," He lowered the glass back down, but didn't let it go. "Regina's friend."
"Ah," the smaller man circled the room slowly, like a vulture. "The sobriety coach, was it?"
"I guess you could call it that."
"And you would be here, in my club," He eyed him. "Why? It's not really your kind of venue."
"Emma called me," Robin stood up straighter, feeling the need to be on edge around this man. "She was worried about Regina."
"She's fine."
Robin narrowed his eyes at the dismissive tone of the man. That with a simple two words, he was telling Robin to drop it. Robin could feel the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.
"Really?"
"Of course," He nodded, clasping his hands in front of him. "Regina's a valuable asset, there's no one at the Carlyle that would do anything to endanger her."
"Right, an asset." Robin was less and less convinced, the more the man spoke. The glass was still in his hand, dangling uselessly between them where he'd almost raised it to his nose. Regina had been so adamant that she wanted to get better, she'd been so steadfast and she and Emma had made great strides in her attitude and her coping. He couldn't imagine Regina would fall back off the wagon like this, not without a reason. It wasn't like the night with Leo - nothing profound had caused a shift. He made brunch with toast soldiers and bacon for her and Roland out on his back patio, wrapped in woollen sweaters beneath copper fall leaves. It was a picturesque morning and Regina had been glowing and happy. He couldn't imagine anything that could have driven her to drink in the short hours since he'd seen her last.
He raised the glass the rest of the way to his nose, seeing how Mr Gold's shoulders tensed ever so slightly. Unnoticeable, if not for Robin having already been suspicious.
"And so, Mr Locksley, what have you found?"
"Club soda," Robin shrugged, looking down into the glass with a frown.
"You see, there's no reason to assume that…"
Robin touching the glass to his lips silenced the other man as he took a short sip then suddenly spat the liquid back in the glass. Robin's stone blue eyes turned back up to the man. "…and Vodka."
"I'm sure, Mr Locksley, that you're mistaken."
Robin slammed the glass down on the table and went about gathering up Regina's things. He shoved her scarf into her bag, tightened the lid on her water bottle and stuffed that in as well. There was a small stuffed animal Roland had given her to keep her company, sitting on her vanity, so he grabbed that too before storming past Mr Gold.
"Mr Locksley, you have no right to-"
Robin spun around in the hall, feeling the base of the music beating through the walls. "What right do you have!?" He demanded, suddenly realising how much shorter the man was. "How long have you known her, how long has she performed in your club, and you do this to her?"
"I don't know what you mean. I've done nothing."
"Bullshit," Robin spat. "I'm not an idiot, Mr Gold. I know what it's like to be in her condition, I know how it feels. You'll happily do anything as long as it gets you another drink. You've plied her with vodka because you know it'll make her more agreeable,"
Mr Gold rolled his eyes.
"- Maybe not more submissive, or less aggressive, because I know she can be a volatile drunk, but she's certainly less likely to realise that she can do better than you, and this rot-infested shit hole."
"I honestly, don't know what you mean."
"You know exactly what I mean. You're lacing her drinks to keep her compliant, to keep her the Regina that no one else wants to deal with so that you can keep raking in the money when she performs." Robin watched the older man's eyes narrow as he hit the nail on the head. "I may not have been to a show, Mr Gold, but don't fool yourself by thinking I haven't done my research, I know your club makes ten times more money when she performs." Gold scowled at him. "But she's not alone anymore, and I won't let you do this to her just to fill your pockets."
"And what will you do?" He asked, haughtily, like he'd given up all pretence that what Robin was accusing him of, could be false. "You'll carry her out of here on a white horse?" He scoffed. "Please, you'll throw her right back when you're done, they all do."
Robin could feel his blood boiling. "I'm going to give her the choice you stole from her." He spun on his heel and headed back for the club. He nearly collided with Emma as she squeezed out from behind the bar, seemingly coming to find him, from the surprise in her eyes at his murderous expression.
"What happened?" She looked over his shoulder at Gold brushing through the back of house curtain.
"I need to get Regina out of here," He frowned down at Emma. "How long until they're finished?"
Emma furrowed her brow up at him. "They're done, they've hit the encore," She eyed him, worried. "Regina should be off the stage in a few moments."
Just as she'd said it, Regina came bounding down the steps of the stage with David and Killian pushing the crowd back so that she could squeeze her slight frame through, spotting Robin across the bar and heading straight for him.
"You came to see us play?" She grinned, bumping into Emma as she wrapped her arms around Robin's neck.
"Yeah," He smiled into her neck, loving the smell of Roland's space-man shampoo in her hair, breathing it in. "I've wanted to for a long time." She dropped back in his arms, trusting him to hold her as she looked up at him more adoringly than she had before. He knew not to give it too much weight; her eyes were glassy and her body was pliant and he wondered just how many drinks they'd doused to get her this tipsy.
"How was it?" The world had narrowed to her sweet voice, soft and curious, looking up at him like the world hung on his answer.
"Amazing," Regina giggled at his answer and Robin wasn't the only one surprised. David's eyes widened at the display, Emma was completely dumbfounded by how open Regina was being, Killian looked the world like he wanted to shrivel up and disappear, his face was so pinched with an inexplicable kind of hurt and Mr Gold was doing his best to disappear. "But I think we should get going, Regina, I-"
She groaned. "But I'm having fun." She frowned, like a little kid who was being told she couldn't play with her favourite toy.
"It's getting late though, and remember you promised Roland a picnic tomorrow."
He didn't want to ask her in front of these people, he didn't want to humiliate or scare her by forcing her to face the idea that she'd been drugged, by someone that she'd trusted, again. He could only imagine that the news would be as violating as seeing Leo again, and feeling the man's phantom touch on her skin. Regina's emotions were a delicate, volatile thing and he knew he had to tread carefully.
"I did?" She touched her finger to her full, red lips in thought. She hadn't, but Robin knew she was too tipsy and too in love with Roland to disagree. "Right, okay," She looked into his eyes again, flicking her hair back from her face. "You'll be coming with us, though, right?"
He smirked at her attempt to flirt with him. "Of course."
"Oh," She pressed her palm to his chest with a deep breath that pressed her chest against his. "Goodie."
"Come on," He dropped his arm from around her waist and grabbed her hand. "We've gotta go."
"Mmm," She spun around to be close to him again, pushing herself up on her toes so that their noses were almost touching. "Okay." She pressed her lips to his, kissing him hot and messy and wrapping her arm around his neck again. Robin blinked as she pulled away, licking his lips to gather his wits before grabbing her hand again and pulling her along; not giving her the time to find another reason to protest. He glanced up at the group surrounding them, briefly, to see the looks on Emma and David's faces reading a subtle kind of satisfaction, whilst Mr Gold had disappeared and Killian was doing his best to look anywhere but at them.
TBC.