Tuesday, June 12th, 8:30a.m.

"Hey, Emma!" Regina called out the next morning.

The blonde immediately came back into the guest bedroom, her toothbrush dangling from her mouth. "What is it?" she mumbled.

Regina chuckled. "You look like you have rabies. Go finish brushing your teeth and then come back here."

"Okay, one second," she slurred as she left the room. When she returned a few minutes later, she sat next to Regina on the bed. The brunette was huddled around her laptop, looking at something on the screen.

"Check it out," she said, turning the computer toward Emma.

The blonde's eyes widened as a smile broke across her face. "Killian!" she immediately yelled, causing him to barge into the room.

"What's going on?"

"We're semi-finalists, baby!" she beamed.

"Seriously?" he asked, approaching the bed so he could see the screen. The production team for Celine Dion's tour had just tweeted out links to the top eight videos from the contest, and the film Regina and Lily had made featuring Emma and Killian was on the list.

"This is amazing," Emma sighed, the smile never leaving her face.

"You're amazing. You both are," Regina commented.

"Thanks to you and Lily," Killian added. "Seriously, Regina, the video shots and editing are incredible. That's all you."

The brunette smiled demurely, thanking him for his words.

"Now it's up to the fans, right?" Killian asked.

"Sort of. They vote for their favorites from these to get the top four. Then Celine will pick the winner from those," Emma clarified.

"Whoa," Regina interjected, looking down at her phone.

"What?" Emma asked.

"I haven't even had a chance to retweet the list and the link to vote yet, but I have 500 notifications. A fan account already tweeted it out and started a campaign to get people to vote for us. It's been retweeted like 300 times already, and the list has only been up for less than10 minutes."

"Sweet! So we're pretty much guaranteed to be one of the four in the finals then," Emma commented.

Regina raised her eyebrows and nodded. "I'd be very surprised if we weren't."

"Excellent. Well, I'll leave you to your morning. I'm going to go run and pick up some breakfast pastries from Granny's," Killian said.

"Thanks, Killian," Emma smiled, her stomach growling at the thought of the elderly woman's bearclaws.

"Anyway," Regina continued, turning to Emma. "What are your plans for today?"

"I'm going to go with Killian to rehearsal for EmKi and see how they're progressing with the piece I choreographed for them," she said. Not only did Emma want to see how her former company was doing, especially since she still was co-artistic director with Killian, but she also wanted to avoid the convention, at least for the opening day chaos. She knew fans would be expecting her to make an appearance, given that it was the same convention where she and Regina met the year before. "I'll hang out at the studio all day, and then head to your hotel and try to sneak into your room before dinner, when everyone is busy at the evening panels."

"Perfect," Regina smiled.

*.*.*

Regina was nervous as she sat backstage in the show's assigned green room, her leg bouncing up and down as she sipped the shitty decaf coffee supplied by the convention. I should have stopped by Starbucks, she thought to herself, smiling as she remembered that her distaste for the bad convention coffee led to her impromptu Starbucks trip last year and ultimately her run-in with Emma. She couldn't help but wonder how her life would be different had she not insisted on going to Starbucks that afternoon between her scheduled appearances at the convention. It was something she didn't want to think about, because she couldn't imagine her life without the blonde.

The temporary reprieve from her anxiety quickly dissipated, and her nerves came rushing back to her as Robert Gold entered the room. He began to bark orders at his cast, but she ignored him. Despite everything he had done, she refused to let him ruin one of her last convention appearances. She looked over at Graham and Daniel, who were on their phones and holding back laughter as they occasionally glanced at each other. She realized they were probably texting each other, likely about Gold. They were both pissed, as neither of the men were offered contracts for the upcoming year. Mary-Margaret and David had both agreed to stay on with Ingrid and Hyde, but the rest of the cast would no longer be on the show in the upcoming ninth season. Tensions in the room were uncomfortably high, especially as Regina noticed that the room was divided in half. The returning cast had seated themselves on one side of the room, while Regina and the other cast-offs were on the other.

Regina caught Ingrid's eye across from her, and the tall blonde sent her a sympathetic smile. She looked miserable, even though Regina's departure and the newfound fandom obsession over Ingrid and Hyde's characters meant that she would be the undisputed star of the show. It was also the only reason the blonde was at the convention. Gold and the studio had intentionally kept Regina and Ingrid from attending the same conventions, or at least split up the days they would be in attendance, due to the fandom loving the "IceQueen" non-canon ship. But, Regina already had an existing contract with Comic-Con in place to attend, and Gold needed Ingrid there as one of the few returning cast members to promote what promised to be a shaky ninth season. He knew he couldn't control Regina's actions at the con as much as he'd like to, but he reminded Ingrid of her contractual requirements to only promote the canon "IceDoc" ship in her panels.

"Alright everyone, time to go for the full cast panel," Gold announced, capturing Regina's attention. "And I expect you all to behave like the professionals you are. I know not everyone is happy with the way things are playing out for next season, but if you know what's good for you, you will play nice. Do not fuck this up."

Regina rolled her eyes and stood up as she glanced over at Daniel and Graham, who seemed to be as equally annoyed as she was. She took a deep breath to steady herself as she followed the rest of her former cast out toward the stage. Let's get this over with.

*.*.*

"My question is for Regina Mills," a woman in the audience said near the end of the panel. Regina could feel herself tense up, anticipating whatever fresh hell was coming her way. Gold had failed to mention to the cast that the panels were going to be different that year, and the full cast panel Q&A session that afternoon would primarily be featuring questions from the press, not fans. As such, it was less of the boring, but safe questions about working with one another and their favorite thing about playing their characters, and instead, the questions went straight to the core of the chaos. Nearly every question she and others had been asked were about the changing of the cast and the lack of LGBT representation on the show. One online reporter had even asked Regina if her relationship with Emma and the show's blatant homophobia was the real reason she decided not to renew her contract. It took every bit of self-control Regina had to give her canned, politically correct (and inaccurate) response, instead of the resounding "fuck yes it was the reason" reply she really wanted to give.

"Go ahead," the moderator said, pulling Regina's focus back to the present.

As the journalist prepared to ask her question, Regina squinted to read the woman's shirt. Of course, she thought to herself. The woman was wearing a t-shirt with the logo of the online blog that posted the leaked video. She braced herself for what she knew was coming.

"You recently announced that you're in a relationship with a woman, and a recent video appearing on our website confirms that your relationship with Emma Swan goes back farther than you have otherwise led fans to believe. It sure makes it seem that your marriage wasn't what it appeared to be publicly, which aligns with what our anonymous source has said. So, are you a lesbian? Was your ex-husband just a beard because you were afraid to come out of the closet? You have a lot of LGBT fans, so what do you say to those who feel betrayed because you've been lying all these years about who you really are?" the woman asked, a smirk on her face.

Regina didn't bother to hide her scoff or school her features, as she found the question entirely disrespectful and wanted everyone in the audience to recognize it as such. But, she had predicted someone would ask her a question touching on that, especially after the video, so she was prepared. Emma had helped her practice her possible responses that morning during breakfast. The fact that it was a journalist from the gossip blog who had been the one to ask didn't surprise her.

The brunette glanced over at Gold before she started to speak. He stared back at her expectantly, a sly grin crossing his lips. In that moment, there was no doubt in her mind that he had definitely been the one to encourage her mother to release the video. "Okay, I hope you guys in the audience are filming this and will upload it on YouTube for everyone else to see, because I am going to say this once, and only once, because it has nothing to do with the part I've been playing on TV for the past eight years, or whatever roles I may play in the future, and I am entitled to my privacy in my personal life."

She took a deep breath before continuing. "Robin and I had a great relationship until we realized that we would be happier apart," she explained, which wasn't a lie. "It's that simple. And we are still great friends. He and Emma get along well, as do his girlfriend and I. Our main focus now is maintaining our friendship for the sake of our sons, who will always be our biggest priority."

Regina paused to allow the other journalists in the audience to take notes, while also hoping that by reminding them that there were kids involved, it might make them move on from gossiping about her personal life and her relationship with their father. As far as she and Robin were concerned, they never intended to tell the boys the truth about their marriage, and she didn't want the media making accusations that might make Roland and Henry start to question it. She loved them more than anything, and the last thing she ever wanted was for them to feel like she was only in their lives because she had to be for the sake of her career.

She then continued: "Yes, I had been involved with one woman — one— before Robin and I started dating, and he knew that — I never lied to him about that. I never specifically mentioned my sexuality publicly previously because my only other relationship with a woman was back in college, and it ended several years before I entered the industry. I never felt the need to label it or myself, honestly. I didn't really give it much thought other than I enjoyed the time I spent with her back then. I never spoke about her publicly, just like I never talked about any of my ex-boyfriends, either, because frankly, it's nobody's damn business who I may or may not have briefly dated 15 years ago. And after that relationship ended, I found myself more interested in men than women, so all of my relationships had been with men from that point on…until I met Emma. But back in April, I felt it was time, given my relationship with Emma and not wanting to keep her hidden away for the rest of my life, to come out as bisexual."

She took a breath, glancing around the room to look into the faces of her fans before she added, "I love our fans, and I know many of them identify with the LGBT community, so I truly hope that they don't feel 'betrayed,' because that was never my intention. As those who have gone through the coming out process know, for some people it takes time to figure out who they are. Sexuality is a continuum, at least that's how I think of it, and it can sometimes take time, or the right person or people, to realize where you lie. That's how it was in my case, anyway, though I imagine it's probably different for everybody. And I hope that this gives other people out there, regardless of their gender or whether they identify as gay, bisexual, pansexual, or something else, the strength to find and live their truth as well. But, I do ask that you respect my privacy, and Emma's privacy, and not exploit us, either. At the end of the day, we're just two people in a relationship, and honestly, it really isn't anyone's business but ours. But, we both felt it would be better to officially announce that we were together, rather than subject ourselves to speculation from fans and the media, so we wanted to put it out in the open. But, my sexuality is seriously the least interesting thing about me, so I'd much rather people focus on the work that I do, rather than the gender of the person I sleep with."

She paused momentarily, clearly shocked when several fans in the audience stood up and started applauding. They were quickly joined by the rest of the auditorium, including several of her castmates on stage — Mary-Margaret, David, Graham and Daniel were nodding and clapping their hands, and even Ingrid joined in, much to Gold's chagrin. She smiled shyly and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as she leaned forward toward the microphone once more, debating her next statement. She didn't want to give more weight to the video, but the journalist had brought it up, so she felt backed into a corner. "And just to quickly address that video that I'm sure you have all seen: that was taken over the summer after Robin and I had already separated. We were both seeing other people by that point, but weren't ready to formally announce our separation to the world yet. We were still working through some logistical things for the sake of our kids, so we were still trying to keep up appearances to the public while we made arrangements for our next steps personally. As such, yes, Emma and I needed to have a story in place as to why she was in town visiting me, since people kept following us and photographing us together, which is how the dance coach story came about. But, as I'm sure you guys have seen by now, she's a phenomenal dancer," Regina said. She couldn't help but smile as she talked about Emma, despite the otherwise annoying situation that prompted the topic. "And so she did actually work with me to help prep me for the musical episode. As for the video itself, we had filmed our rehearsal on my phone so I could watch it back and see what I needed to work on to improve. And yes, there were a few moments where we got carried away. We had just started seeing each other at that point, so it was all new to both of us. The video was stolen off my phone by my mother, who has always been vindictive, when she and I went to lunch and she had a few moments alone to swipe it. What was on that video was a private moment not intended to be seen by anyone except for us, and even though it's not particularly scandalous in the grand scheme of things, I do hope that if you respect me, you will respect the fact that I wouldn't want people to see it because it was never intended to be shared, and therefore, I'd ask that you please not circulate the video further."

Once again the audience clapped as she finished her statement, leaning back into her chair and crossing her arms protectively over her chest. She pursed her lips in anger as she looked over at Gold, glaring at him. His sly grin was gone, but she could tell that he still thought he had the upper hand. She just hoped there wouldn't be more surprises awaiting her during the rest of the convention week.

A/N: Well, that was part II of the four-part "uberchapter." A lot of folks have been asking about the contest, but enough time hadn't passed (until now) for them to find out the results. I love that so many people are invested in that outcome! And so, they're in the semi-finals! We will have to wait to see if they'll be finalists, and if so, if they ultimately win (and what would that mean for the little artistic four-some?)

Part III will be up in a few days (definitely not before Sunday night, but more realistically Monday or Tuesday), as the OUATChi con is going to be exhausting...and it's only day one. Plus I still have to grade student essays and do all my teaching stuff during what little free time I have. But, there's still much more to come, and I wanted to get this up for you before the weekend starts.

As always, I love to hear your feedback, and thanks for reading!