A/N: Surprise! Here's a very early update, as I had initially said I would update in two weeks, but it's only been a few days since my last update :). I got hit with a horrid cold, and so I laid around on my couch and wrote like mad now that I'm [almost] on break between spring and summer phd classes. I got everything finished much earlier than expected, so I thought I would post it early. Also, this chapter ended up being 3x as long as I expected (like, nearly 10k words compared to my usual 3-4k), because it turns out there's a lot to unpack here. So, instead of posting it all at once two weeks from now, I figured I'd post it in four shorter, more manageable sections throughout the next two weeks, as the original uberchapter spans five days anyway. (And actually, thinking about it now, the uberchapter takes place over the exact length of time as the original fic in this series did lol). After I post the fourth chapter in this grouping, this fic will officially be longer than the first two in the series, which is hard to believe.

Monday, June 11th, 7:30p.m.

"I cannot believe this…" Regina said as she paced back and forth on the hardwood plank flooring.

"Regina, love, I know you're upset, but you're literally rocking the boat," Killian said as he sent a concerned look to Emma, silently pleading with the blonde to do something.

"Regina," Emma implored, stepping in front of her girlfriend and blocking her path. "Let's go downstairs and talk, okay? I love you, but you're making us all a little seasick."

Regina stopped and looked up into the green eyes before her, finally nodding in recognition. "Yeah, okay. Sorry."

"It's alright," Emma smiled, placing her hand softly on Regina's lower back and guiding her toward the stairs. They were in Maine for New England Comic-Con, which was scheduled to start the next day. They had come up a day early to visit Killian in Storybrooke and stay on his new houseboat that he had recently purchased. He had decided he wanted to try something new, and when a local fisherman retired and was selling off all his possessions so he could move out of state, Killian bought the gentleman's home and his docking rights at the harbor for a steal of a deal. Despite the house being an actual boat, it was quite comfortable inside.

Killian walked over to the fridge and pulled out three beers, bringing them over to Regina and Emma, who had just taken a seat on his leather couch. He sat down across from them in his captain's chair and kicked up his feet. "Now, can you explain to me exactly what the big deal is? I'm a little lost. People already know about you two, so why is this an issue?"

"We are open and out, so that's not the problem…" Regina started before diving into the story.

An hour earlier, Regina had noticed that her number of social media notifications was unusually high. At first she assumed it was in relation to the upcoming con, knowing that fans would tag her in photographs from previous appearances and mention how excited they were to see her in-person. But, she seemed to have too many notifications, even for a large upcoming event. After scrolling through her page, she saw it: a link to a well-known celebrity gossip blog with the headline: "Frozen Mirror star caught in secret lesbian affair." She silently prayed that maybe it was a story about Ingrid and that she had just been tagged by fans so she would see it, but she knew that wasn't that case. After clicking on the link, she was redirected to the blog site with a screenshot of her laying on top of Emma in a passionate embrace on the floor of the yoga studio in Robin's apartment building. She didn't bother reading the text of the story at first, and instead she continued to scroll down the page knowing what she would find. And there it was: the video. It had been edited for brevity, as the original was nearly 45 minutes long, but the two-and-a-half-minute clip highlighted the most damning parts. Swallowing the bile she felt rising in her throat, she had forced herself to read through the article, which claimed that Robin had been Regina's beard the entire time, and an "anonymous source close to the actress" stated that the marriage was to help bolster her image amidst the lesbian rumors and in turn promote Robin's restaurants. It also featured pull-quotes, highlighting some of the bits of conversation heard in the clip, including Emma's: "You need to make the announcement explaining who I am, and we need some pictures or videos or something to make this look real," and Regina confessing: "I'm married to a guy I don't sleep with. I'm plenty connected to my body," when Emma had told her she needed to be more connected to herself to make her movements more fluid.

Regina was furious. There was no doubt in her mind about who was behind the video and who the "anonymous source" was — her mother. She would bet that Robert Gold may have had something to do with it, too, given the timing of the release. It would be just like him to release incriminating footage of her before one of her last major fan appearances. Gold was scheduled to attend the Comic-Con as well, and fans were angry that Regina was leaving the show. Between her announcement that she was bisexual and in a relationship with Emma and her departure from the show, fans were rallying behind her in droves on social media. Although Regina had taken the high road, publicly stating that she decided to leave the show to pursue other artistic opportunities and never suggesting that it was due to the network's reaction to her coming out, her fans weren't stupid. They were speculating the real reason behind it, and their hypotheses were extremely accurate, even though Regina would never confirm it. Gold was scared and worried that her fans might not continue watching the next season without her on it. But, a little bad press for her might make him look better. She could practically hear him say, "Look at this hot mess of a woman. Good thing we got rid of her before she took down the whole show with her outlandish behavior."

But ultimately, her mother was the one who had physically stolen the footage from her phone. And the woman had been too much of a coward to release the footage herself, so instead she had undoubtedly sold it to the gossip website. Once again, Cora was exploiting her daughter for her own personal gains. Really, Regina shouldn't be that surprised…it was Cora's M.O.

"I'm going to kill her. And Gold. They're dead," Regina declared after she finished telling Killian the story.

"I'm still confused," Killian said. "I get why you're both pissed at the invasion of privacy, but the date on the footage is from after you and Robin separated, so it's not like you guys did anything wrong. They aren't saying that you were cheating on him…"

"I know, but the speculation that he was covering up my sexuality…" Regina started, but she was quickly interrupted by Emma.

"Killian, will you excuse us for a minute?" Emma asked him quietly. He nodded and Emma took Regina's hand and pulled her into the guest bedroom where they were staying. She closed the door behind her and gently sat down next to Regina on the bed. "You have every right to be fucking furious with Cora and Gold. God knows I am, because this is a huge violation of our privacy. But, it'll be okay."

"You can't know that, Emma," Regina stated, finding her resolve and anger once again. "This could be disastrous. People are gossiping and getting far too close to the truth for it to be okay."

"Regina, listen to me," Emma continued. "The clip they have of us talking about coming up with an excuse to explain my role isn't the end of the world, because you weren't ready to be out yet and you and Robin hadn't announced your separation yet. That's easy to explain."

"But—"

Emma interrupted Regina's rebuttal, continuing her own argument. "And you never actually say anything on that recording that reveals that your entire marriage was a business deal. You only confess to not sleeping with him, and I imagine most separating couples aren't sleeping together at the end of their marriage anyway."

"But that video is from August, Emma…if the authorities find out that we lied about our separation date…"

"No one is going to find that out. You guys had separate bedrooms and you and Robin were barely there at the same time, so you were still technically living apart, enough for it to still count as part of the separation period. Everything still fits with the timeline you gave the judge at your divorce hearing."

"But Emma, my mother and Gold know. They released the video and anonymously made the accusations about the reasons for our marriage, so what's stopping them from revealing the full story? If my mother comes forward herself and says it, not as an anonymous source but as her, that will give the story all the credibility it needs. If they do that…"

"I don't know why they would. They'd gain nothing from exposing you like that. The fact that they said what they did anonymously makes it seem like they just want to create rumors and bad press, not completely destroy you."

"They don't need a reason to do it other than it would destroy me. They'd both take pleasure in that, and they're probably just easing themselves into it to make me sweat before they go for the kill. God, I'm fucked," she groaned, falling back on the mattress.

"Regina, for the sake of argument, let's say your mother does go to the media and gives a tell-all interview. Or, let's say Gwen and Robin break up and she gets pissed and goes and confesses everything you guys told her about your marriage to Robin. It will still ultimately be you and Robin against her, or you and Robin against Cora, or whoever else makes an accusation that it was all fake. As long as you and Robin always maintain that everything unfolded the way you've been saying it has, then you're fine. It will always be your word against theirs, and as long as you both stick to your story, no one else can ever prove otherwise. You guys are best friends and know everything about each other, probably even more than real married couples do. If the Department of Immigration comes after you thinking that you committed some sort of marriage fraud for your residency, you guys would have no problem passing whatever test they threw at you. And even if Robin gets pissed at you, he's not going to incriminate himself by straying from your story. They can't prove anything differently."

"But—"

"But nothing, Regina. You're fine. The fact that you adopted Robin's kids just adds to your credibility. If it was a fake marriage, most guys wouldn't offer up their kids as part of the deal. And if it helps, Killian doesn't see why it's a big deal. He doesn't know the truth about your marriage to Robin, but he knows more about us than your fans do. He doesn't think there are any big secrets being covered up here. He thinks that you and Robin were a happy couple until you split up and that you and I fell for each other. So if he believes your version of the story, even knowing us as well as he does, then I'm sure your fans will always believe you."

Regina sighed. "You know this is going to be a topic of conversation at the con, Emma. What am I supposed to say?"

"I would hope no one would have the gall to directly ask about it in any of your sessions. But if it comes up in a panel, just tell them it's your private life and you're not going to address it. Or, just say that you guys were already separated at the time the video was made. That stays true to the timeline and the story that neither you nor Robin were cheating. You can also say that we were already dating at that time if you want, but it was early and you weren't ready to announce the divorce or us yet. And then turn it around and blame Cora and Gold for releasing the tape."

"I can't blame him…not publicly. That might destroy the show and I still care about the people involved with it…everyone except Gold, anyway."

"Then just blame it on your mother. And for good measure, reiterate that you loved Robin and were very happy with him until you no longer were. You guys sold a happy marriage to your fans for five years…you can do it for a few more conventions, if needed."

Regina looked up at Emma, dumbfounded. "How are you so level-headed about this?"

Emma smiled as she shrugged. "One of us has to be. It's nice not to be the neurotic one for once...are you feeling better?"

"Not really, but I'm not feeling worse."

"I'll take it. Now, Killian mentioned something about some fish he caught earlier, so we should go let him cook for us."

Regina smiled as she used Emma's hand to pull herself up. "Thank you, Emma."

"Anytime."

A/N: A few people had asked what would come of the tape Cora stole from Regina, so now you know! Part II of this con series will be posted later this week (working around the timing of the OUAT convention in Chicago, which I might be going to? Idk what's happening with that yet, honestly). The next chapter will be the next day/the kick off of the con. Thanks for reading, following/favoriting, and/or reviewing! It makes me happy that so many people are still on this journey with me and these two...it's coming up on the one-year anniversary of when I started writing the original fic in the series, and that's kind of crazy to think about.