Allison watched Serena and Chris dance. And she watched Eva dance with Tuck. She watched a guy come between them and she watched Eva happily wrap her arms around his neck, Tuck stand and make sure she was okay before he smirked and went to find another dance partner.
"Is she always so popular?" Allison asked Proctor.
"Eva? Yes." Proctor took a gulp of his beer.
Allison nodded before doing the same.
"Do you… Are you…?" He stared at the new doctor as she watched Eva, "Are you gay?"
"Sometimes." Allison sighed.
"Sometimes… How does that work?"
"I've always been attracted to the person not the gender. Sometimes the guys I chose were a little too pretty though." She shook her head as her ex-husband came to mind, but that thought vanished as soon as she looked up and saw the guy whisper in Eva's ear, Eva nod and the two make their way off the dance floor.
Proctor watched, "I'm afraid she's not gay." He took another sip of his beer.
"Who's not gay?" Serena asked as she came and sat down.
"Eva." The oldest doctor provided.
Serena looked from him to the other blonde surgeon, over to Eva then at the blonde surgeon again to see that she was staring. She tried to mask her surprised face and took a drink from her own bottle and looked back to Proctor, mouthing, "Is she…?"
"Sometimes." Proctor said aloud.
"Sometimes?!" Serena looked to Allison, "You're bisexual?"
"If you want to put a label to it." Allison nodded, glancing to the other girl.
Serena shrugged, "Let freedom ring." She clinked her bottle against Allison's and moved the neck to take another drink but stopped short, "I wouldn't let Chris in on that little bit of knowledge. He'll be all over you for weeks…"
Allison smirked, "I see."
"He's harmless."
"So you've said." Allison grinned before taking a sip.
"Can I ask you something in complete, blatant confidence?" Serena asked.
"Of course."
Serena glanced to Proctor, "You're not allowed to say anything either."
"Wouldn't if I wanted to." He put three fingers up declaring his scout's honor.
Serena gave him a look before turning back to Allison, "What is it about Eva? I mean… is it because she's brunette? Tan? Can speak Spanish—Latina for crying out loud? Is she a better doctor than me? I mean, yeah, she's more experienced, but who's to say that once the years even out that she and I won't be the same or I'll be better?"
Allison knit her brows, "What in the hell are you talking about?"
"You like Eva and not me. And Chris likes Eva and not me—Proctor, shut up!" Serena didn't even look at the older man, she kept her stare on the other blonde girl.
Allison looked into her bottle, "I don't even know you…"
"And you know Eva?"
Allison rolled that one around in her head a bit. Did she really want to tell this person she just met that she had been dreaming of 'Eva' her entire life? "No… Here's… Okay. For the first, initial, physical attraction… It's always different. I don't have a preference of hair color or knowledge… I don't even have a gender preference, okay?" She tried to make light on the matter. "It's just innate, natural."
She paused, "Look, I look at you and I see your sunshiny face and I have a conversation with you and I think, 'she could be the sister I never had.'" She saw the disgusted look on Serena's face, "It's not an insult so don't take it like one. It's a compliment. I deal with the same problem. We have sweet, sunshiny faces; that's just how it is." She took a breath before, "But if Chris doesn't see how beautiful you are soon, it's gonna be his loss when he does and you're taken."
She looked for Eva in vain hope that she would be out there once more, but the brunette was long gone. "I look at Eva and I see…" She trailed off. She downed the rest of her bottle, "I'm gonna go. I'll see you guys bright and early for the next shift."
Serena knit her brows as Allison walked away, "What do you think she sees in Eva?"
Proctor gave the youngest doctor a look, "I don't think she sees a sister-like figure."
~0~0~0~0~0~
Genie appeared in the mirror, "What is that gracing your face? A small smile? My Queen are you feeling again?"
"No." Regina stood and moved about her room, "It's just nice to know that at least a part of me is catching people's attention. It's nice to know that a part of me can attract someone as…stunning as that woman and that that stunning woman is in the beginnings of falling in love."
"How can you tell?"
"She's got that look in her eyes. That look that only a person falling in love has. And she's directing that look at Eva." Regina shrugged. She then started thinking, "The curse really has been working… It's just more time consuming and intricate than I gave it credit for."
~0~0~0~0~0~
Eva was working as swiftly as possible, but she just couldn't fix all of her patient's bleeders on her own. She looked up to call for Tuck to get someone, but saw Allison walking by, probably avoiding her gaze, which she TOTALLY noticed had been happening since the blonde admitted to watching on her first day.
"DR. CAMERON!" She yelled and turned quickly back to her patient.
Allison knew that tone, that tone of a doctor possibly losing their patient if they didn't get help. She ran in, gloved up, thanked one of the nurses for tying her mask and whisked over to the brunette, "What do we got?"
The two immediately set work, keeping time with each other anticipating movements and needs. There was hardly any voiced communication.
~0~0~0~0~0~
"If it wasn't so gross, watching them dig in a man's innards, it might be…" Regina caught herself as she watched on.
The Genie appeared in one of his other mirrors, "What might it be?"
"Nothing." Regina was certainly not going to tell the Genie that she thought this perfect stranger and her other part were beautiful. That this perfect stranger that came out of nowhere and seemingly had an intense chemistry with her other part might just be the key to fixing everything.
"My Queen, there's something—"
"Shh! They're talking." Regina would not admit that her impatience was actually anticipation. No, because that would mean that she'd be feeling something and that wouldn't make sense, would it?
~0~0~0~0~0~
Allison and Eva were the last to leave, both deciding to meet up at the bar later for drinks and dancing.
"God, I'm exhausted. I don't think I'll make it to the bar, let alone out of this place tonight." Allison said as she let her upper body fall so she could stretch her legs and arms.
"I know what you mean. Trust me. You'll make it to the bar. And after you have a drink, you might feel inclined to dance."
"Nah, I'm sure you'll dance enough for us both." Allison turned from Eva to grab her clothes.
Eva couldn't help the half-scoff-half-laugh that came out of her. She felt as though she needed to defend herself, "Excuse me?"
The blonde looked over to the brunette, realizing she'd offended her, "No! I just mean that you're a really good dancer… and there's a reason I've never been on the dance floor… I don't like it."
"You don't like dancing?"
"Not in crowds." The blonde stood and changed her shirt, "I'm more a dance in my underwear at home while I drink wine type."
Eva smiled, "I'd like to see that." She mumbled under her breath, but that made her pause in thought. She wanted to see Allison in her underwear?
"What'd you say?" Allison asked, turning to the brunette after having jumped into her skinny jeans.
Eva looked behind her as she pulled on her own pants. "I just don't believe that you don't like dancing. That's practically a sin."
Allison merely shrugged. Then she started scuffing the floor with her boot, "You're mesmerizing. When you dance… That's why I figure you can dance for both of us." She then awkwardly shuffled out, "I'll see you there."
~0~0~0~0~0~
"My Queen, I really, really need to tell you somethi—"
Regina raised her hand shutting the Genie up. She felt someone, something. Something breeched her protection from the outside world.
She stood and moved quickly to the window. What she saw when she got there was the last thing she thought possible.
"Genie!" She hissed.
"Yes, my queen?"
"Is that who I think it is?"
"If you think her the White Princess, then you are right."
"Why is she here—how is she here?" Regina stared a little longer at the girl and a mongrel of a horse, of that she was sure. She knew those blonde locks, but she just couldn't believe it. Not without confirmation, "Genie." Her voice was low, threatening.
"Yes, my queen?" The Genie's voice was filled with regret.
"Show me that dear, sweet Dr. Allison Cameron."
"Yes, my queen." Genie faded out and Allison Cameron faded in.
Regina paced a few minutes before finally deciding to sit down.
She sat back in her chair as she waited for the Genie's face to appear in the mirror. "How is this possible?"
"Well, we always knew there was a chance…"
"But the chance was at least 1 in 300 million!" Regina stood and started pacing, "There was NO chance!"
"They're halves of fairytale characters living human lives in a place where the only magic is fate. I think you know that things are more likely than the literal chances given the circumstances."
"GENIE!" Regina screamed as she turned to look at his face, "I don't need to hear what you think is the strength of fate; I need to figure out a way to fix this."
"Yes, my Queen."
~0~0~0~0~0~
It had been a month and a half since Dr. Cameron started working with them, and most of that time, Allison avoided Eva. Eva could feel her stares, but she didn't talk to her unless entirely necessary.
Eva and Serena were eating lunch on one of the cement picnic tables that sat outside the hospital. Allison came out, stopped, looked to them both, and walked passed them to sit across the street on the sidewalk in the sun.
Eva knit her brows, "Why didn't she come sit with us?"
Serena watched the other blonde surgeon, thinking the whole act humorous, and also reminded her a little of her days in middle school, "She, uh, she's… You know?" She tried.
"No, that's why I asked." Eva deadpanned.
"She likes you." Serena looked to her friend. Then she had to roll her eyes at the surprised look, "Oh don't do that, don't act like you don't know. Girls know. We always know…" She looked back to Allison again before once more giving her attention to Eva, "That girl has had big, doe, gooey eyes for you ever since she saw you! And you want to know what else?"
Eva looked from Allison to Serena, "What?"
"I think you like her too."
"I do no—"
"No." Serena shook her head, "Because then you're just lying and that's no good." She stood and picked up her trash, "I'm just saying that there are worse things you could do than go on a date with her." Serena laughed, "I mean, you've already gone with a boy or two since she's been here… And when we go to the bar, you tend to flirt with all the guys, you know, smile at them and bat your eyes. And when they get you on the dance floor you do tend to press against them—"
"Okay, okay. You can stop now." Eva shook her head at the other girl's "Grease" filled antics.
"I'm just saying, Rizzo, there are worst things you could do… and have done…"
Eva watched her friend walk away before looking at the embodiment of Emma Swan.
~0~0~0~0~0~
"Your Majesty?" Genie followed Regina down the hallway. She was strutting as if on a mission. He hadn't seen that walk in a good 20 years, "My Queen, I feel I must remind you that whatever it is you're wanting to do… You can't."
Regina stopped. She didn't look over to the wall to the mirror the Genie was currently in, she simply raised her chin a little higher, "Yes, I know." She now gave a hard glance to the mirror, "But there are no rules about Genie's trapped in mirrors. Are there?"
The Genie gave his own hard look at the woman as he faded from sight. Regina strutted on. She made her way down the stairs to the foyer. She didn't bother on waiting for a couple guards to open the door for her, no. She simply, magically yanked them open.
~0~0~0~0~0~
Serena noticed the beginnings of a pattern after their next two shifts. They would all go to the bar, Eva would inevitably get asked to dance because she is Eva. Chris and Tuck would find their own partners, Chris always first asking Serena and Allison. Tonight, Serena turned him down as she wanted to observe and confirm her suspicions.
Just as Eva's hips started moving, Allison's eyes were glued. Serena understood that maybe Allison didn't like dancing, but there was no way that she couldn't dance like the people out on the floor. All she had to do was move side to side, and she'd seen Allison keep a beat with her foot and her fingers while listening to her ipod while eating lunch. She just didn't understand why she wasn't dancing too.
"Why don't you go ask Eva to dance? Cut in, be nice. She'll let you."
"Nah." Allison didn't turn around to the other blonde, "I don't dance."
"So you've said, but I have a hard time believing it. I've seen you listen to music, I've seen you move just a little to the music. I'll bet you can dance."
"I didn't say I couldn't dance, I said I don't dance. And Eva would never say 'yes' to me." Allison gulped down the rest of her drink, "I'm gonna go get refills, you want one?"
~0~0~0~0~0~
"You're her!" Emma breathed out, "The queen…"
"The Evil Queen." Regina's hands crackled with magic for effect.
"That's what people like to say, yes."
The effect of her magic seemed lost on the White Princess as she watched while the blonde try to walk inside with her hairy horse. She quickly stood in front of her, preventing her from entering.
Emma tried to push passed her, "Listen, the storm's coming, and you're alive, and Zambrano's scared of storms. Can we come in?"
"Zambrano?" Something lit in Regina's eyes; a familiarity at the name. She knew why, but she wondered how Emma could possibly have known her alternate's name.
"Yeah, my horse—"
Emma made to speak more, but Regina cut her off, "What kind of a name is Zambrano?"
"Well, when the gypsies gave him to me, my father said I could name him. I didn't have a name right away, so they started calling him Chestnut because of his coat color. Then one day, I just said, 'That's not his name. His name is Zambrano!' and they accepted it. I don't know where it came from; it just popped into my head."
Regina narrowed her eyes in suspicion, "So you took him out on a dark, cloudy day like today?"
"Yes."
"Even though he's scared of storms."
"Yeah…" Emma paused knowing she was digging herself a hole. Finally, she decided to comment further, "He's a wimp. Aren't you Zambrano?"
The horse snorted and shook his head then, in all essence, puffed out his chest and stood straight to look manly.
Emma pursed her lips, "Okay… I'm scared of storms."
"That's impossible." Regina spoke without thinking.
Emma knit her brows, "Excuse me?"
AN: Hope you enjoyed. Thoughts and feels?