Okay! Let's go for this.
It was a rainy day in Portland...
Just Romance
Summary: During the curse, before adopting Henry, Regina decides to see the world outside of her town. She meets Emma, and feels sympathy for her hard life. Meanwhile Emma grows fond of Regina insisting that when Regina leaves she will find her one day and marry her.
Prompted by: kashi333
Warning/Notes: Emma and Regina's sharing of their miseries in the past. Also if Portland, Maine isn't actually so rainy, I do apologize. Internet research seems to say yes, but it can be wrong.
Emma remembered the first time she had met Regina Mills. She was 16 years old and running away from what she had promised herself was her last home. She hated feeling like she wasn't enough, like she was broken or unwanted. So she had saved up her meagre allowance and found a decent apartment, she even had a job working at a coffee shop in Portland to help make ends meet. She refused to look back. She was determined to make it out in the world.
It was a rainy day - to no one's surprise - and the door banged open as a woman soaked to the bone burst inside. Emma rushed around the counter to help her, taking her arm and leading her to an empty table.
"I'll get you a towel. Can I get you anything else meanwhile?" Emma asked, still not having let go of the new customer's arm.
"Just a towel is fine, thank you." Her voice sounded husky and honeyed, and Emma found herself enticed with just that.
But she couldn't dawdle, she went to the back where they kept fresh towels for just these occasions, innocent customers who weren't aware of the weather and got caught in a storm, needing shelter.
Grabbing a fluffy deep red one, she rushed back out and draped it over the woman. It was a slow day today, since it was a Wednesday morning, and everyone was either at work or school, so her only other customers were an old man who showed up at 9am like clockwork and didn't leave until 7 in the evening, watching others come and go, and a middle-aged man who was apparently a writer, writing on a notebook furiously.
"Here you go, is one towel okay, or would you need another?" Emma asked, plopping down on the seat beside her.
The woman was using two edges of the towel to rub over her hair and dry it out. "No, one is just fine."
"Great, would you like to order something?"
Looking over the menu, she thought for a moment before settling with, "Double espresso, I need the caffeine."
Emma grinned. "Coming right up."
Leaving the woman to her devices, she headed back to the counter, getting the ground coffee beans onto the machine before readying a porcelain cup underneath the spout, and hitting some buttons. While she waited for the coffee to be made, she heard the lady sneeze. Once the coffee was done, she removed it from the machine's pad and placed it on a saucer, adding a complimentary biscotti to the side, beside a small teaspoon. Heading once more to the back, she grabbed yet another towel, this one a royal purple, and took it back out. Making a quick stop to gather the saucer and cup, she made her way to the still soaked woman. Setting the coffee down, she extended the new towel and draped it over her front, creating a strange two-part poncho.
She gave a smile. "Thank you. It's really pouring out there. Does it happen often?"
Emma nodded, taking her chair once more. "Yeah, basically every other day."
"That sounds awful. Who would want to live here?"
She shrugged, "It's not that bad. Anyways, I didn't catch your name."
"I didn't offer it," the woman quipped in return with a smile.
Emma found that the woman was pretty. Like super pretty. Enough that she could safely say she had a crush on. But she herself was underage and this woman was probably at least 10 years older than her. Shaking her thoughts out of her head, she responded, "Well you can't keep up the mystery too long, you're going to have to pay."
"I'll just pay with cash," she countered, and had Emma cornered.
"Fine, I'll just give you a name," Emma petulantly said. "How do you feel about Adelaide?"
The face of disgust clearly answered that.
"Barbara?" Once more a negative reaction.
"Carrie? Denise? Oh Eloise! Or maybe Francine?"
The woman had a face of pure boredom. "Now you're just rambling off names in alphabetical order."
Emma smirked. "Well if you give me your name, I won't have to guess, Georgia."
"Fine, Regina, better?" she huffed.
With a grin, Emma nodded. "Much. It suits you."
"As does yours, Emma," Regina responded, glancing at the name tag.
Emma kept her face impassive as she said, "That's not my name."
Regina's eyes widened at the answer. "Oh, my apologies, I just assumed since you were wearing the tag-"
She began to burst out laughing, interrupting Regina. "I'm kidding, that's my tag. I just wanted to see your face."
"Oh very funny," Regina said, scrunching her nose up in a mock scowl, before sticking out her tongue. She then sneaked her arms out of the towels and grabbed the cup, bringing it to her lips. After taking a sip, she commented, "It tastes delicious."
Emma felt herself sit that much straighter with the compliment. It wasn't as if she did something extremely complicated with the coffee, just press some buttons, but she still felt proud that she had managed to keep this job for 7 months now, and everyone liked what she made. "So, Regina," Emma began, sitting back on the chair. "What's your story?"
Regina tilted her head slightly in confusion. "My story?"
"Yeah. It's the middle of the week, and you're out in the middle of a rainy morning, clearly in no hurry. So no job to get back to right now. You're well off, noted by your fancy, albeit soggy, clothes, so you could just be a travelling socialite, but I think you do have a job. You seem the type to enjoy being busy. And I notice you're not married either."
"I take it you're a Sherlock Holmes fan?" Regina responded with a smile at Emma's deductive reasoning. "But you are quite correct, I am just visiting, financially stable, holding a job, and not married. But I'm surprised, you have nothing to say about my sleeves or the crumbs on my shirt?"
Emma smiled. "No ma'am, but yeah, I like reading the stories, it helps me."
Regina got an inquisitive look at that. "Help you with what, dear?"
She didn't know what possessed to open up to this stranger, perhaps because Regina had shared facts about her life, but she figured it was harmless, just a random person she'd never see again. "Escape life."
That was a feeling Regina was very well-acquainted with. "I completely understand. Fictional worlds take from the daily stress and undesirable aspects in life."
"Is that what you're doing here?" Emma asked. "Escaping?"
Regina seemed to think about her answer for a bit. "In a way yes. I know that tomorrow I'll return to my life, but the excitement of another town, of being a random nobody has its appeals. Of course it works better when it's not pouring rain."
Emma chuckled at that.
"What has happened in your life to make you want to escape it?" Regina suddenly asked. She had had a long life - although the years didn't physically show - of regrets and bad decisions, but this girl looked young, surely nothing all that terrible had happened?
She shrugged before starting, "I'm an orphan. I was in the foster system my entire life, and let's just say the families I've gone to live with leave lots to be desired. I suppose it was mutual, because none of them kept me for long, so I've bounced around the entire east coast. But finally I'm free, and life's a bit better."
Regina flinched at the insinuations. She felt a small fire build in her belly as she thought about how those foster parents should be punished severely. She had done many things in her life, but harm a child was not one of them...except Snow White, but she hardly counted her as a child, more like a demon spawn. Bringing herself out of her reverie, she allowed for a little smile at the last sentence. "Free huh? You're now a legal adult?"
Emma said nothing, but the biting of her lip and the aversion of her eyes told Regina everything. She had run away.
"So how old are you really?" Regina asked, quirking an eyebrow.
"I turn 17 in 3 months," Emma responded proudly.
Regina was glad that she didn't decide to ogle her companion, the girl was about half her physical age. "Well then, happy early birthday."
Emma smiled, and then said, "What about you then? I've shared my life story, what are the demons you're hiding from?"
"Oh many things, you wouldn't want to hear, it's not exactly pretty," Regina said, shaking her head with a soft smile. Not to mention she didn't even know how to explain half of what had happened to her without mentioning the magical or medieval aspects.
"My life's not exactly rainbows and butterflies, Regina. Come on, it might do you some good to talk, " Emma proposed.
Taking another sip of her coffee, Regina wondered how to begin. "Unlike you, I did have parents, but they weren't parents of the year. My mother was...harsh, and my father did nothing to stop her. I lived under her thumb for 18 years, until my mother decided that she needed more. Things got more chaotic from there. I was forced into...an arranged marriage if you will, with a much older man, tending to his insipid daughter who idolized me."
Emma was appalled. "Wait hold up, you were in an arranged marriage at 18? What the hell?! Why?"
"I...he...well the short story is that it was convenient for my mother. He had been the long-standing mayor of the town, and my mother wanted change, and she figured that with me there, I'd be able to gently coax him to do what I told him, which essentially was my mother's bidding."
Her lie detector was somewhat twitchy, as if Regina was telling part of the truth. But she didn't press. She figured that whatever Regina was omitting was something she didn't want to admit. "But you got out of it?"
Regina nodded. "Yes eventually I did. He died and I ran for mayor myself. My mother went her own way, I am thankfully estranged from his daughter, and now I am in that small town, alone."
"Why don't you just leave?" Emma asked.
"I wish, but there are certain...complications that prevent me from doing so," Regina tersely explained.
In that moment, Emma wanted to take Regina into her arms and give her some comfort. Reassure her that she wasn't so alone. And then she decided to throw caution to the wind because, why not? So she stood up and wrapped her arms around the seated woman's shoulders.
Regina's first instinct was to push the girl off, and exclaim in indignation and how dare she? But then she decided against it. It had been way too long since she had been offered such an innocent physical comfort. Not even her father had hugged her at the height of her reign as the Evil Queen. So she had done the unthinkable, and hugged her back, wrapping her arms around the girl's middle as they had a strange hug, with her sitting and Emma standing.
After they parted, they continued to talk a bit more. When the lunch rush came around, Emma excused herself, but not before asking if Regina wanted anything. She said she would settle for a prepackaged salad she had seen in the small fridge, so Emma went to get it for her before settling behind the counter.
Regina watched as the blonde worked nonstop for nearly 2 hours, getting complicated orders right on the first try, answering everyone with a smile, and even dealing with testier customers with nothing but politeness. Those nastier customers had made her grind her teeth, and when a particularly customer was practically spitting acid at Emma, she decided to do something about it.
Pushing her chair back, she let the scrape sound off, drawing everyone's attention to her as they flinched at the noise before returning to their lunch. As she made her way to the counter, she allowed herself to exude her old persona, mouth set, eyes cold, and stare unforgiving.
"Sir, you don't need to yell," Emma was saying.
"I will yell all that I goddamn want," he huffed. "I clearly asked for something and you're unable to deliver. I want to speak to your manager."
Emma sighed. "She's not in sir. And anyway, like I've already told you, we don't have any smoked salmon, we've never had any."
"Bullshit!" he exclaimed, slamming his fist onto the counter so hard that Emma flinched harshly.
Regina cleared her throat, crossing her arms in front of her.
"The hell do you want lady?" the man had growled, turning to her.
"For you to leave. She has told you at least 5 times she doesn't have the product you're looking for, so being rude and insistent won't garner any results," Regina responded, keeping her gaze straight on his eyes, not even blinking.
"Look lady, why don't you mind your own business alright?" the guy waved her off, turning away.
But Regina wouldn't allow him to be that dismissive. Instead she stepped right up into his personal space and commanded, "Leave, unless you want me to call the authorities for harassment."
A few seconds passed as the man seemed to internally debate whether to keep fighting or fold. He settled on the latter, backing away. "Whatever, this place was never that great anyway."
As the man left, Regina could resist and called out, "A wise choice."
He whipped back around, and raised his arm, fingers close together, palm extended, jerking it as if he was swearing at her.
Regina didn't release her glare until the man left, she even heard a few people clap for her. She turned to Emma, who was gaping at her with a mix of admiration and surprise.
"Holy shit...thank you," Emma murmured. The line had thankfully ended, and she made her way to once more give Regina a hug. "You didn't have to do that," she mumbled onto her shoulder.
"Perhaps, but he was being rude for no discernible reason, and you don't deserve to be so mistreated," Regina responded softly.
Emma smiled at the response, squeezing Regina just a bit tighter to show her appreciation.
By the time Regina had to leave, she was actually regretting having to do so, but she could hardly strike up a friendship with a young girl, she was a cursed fairy tale character. Not to mention that Emma would probably balk once she found out who Regina truly was.
"It was nice to meet you Emma," Regina said, offering her a smile.
Emma wasn't much happier at having to part ways. But she decided to ask, hope creeping into her voice, "Any chance we might see each other again?"
Regina didn't want to be negative, so she nodded and said, "I would hope so."
Before leaving, she decided to leave a kiss on Emma's cheek, and give her a wink.
As Emma watched Regina leave, growing increasingly smaller, she felt smitten. Age difference or not, she would find Regina again one day, and get to know her more. Hell, she could even see herself falling for her, maybe making a life together.
Nearly 12 years later, Emma did see Regina again, but it was with her long-lost son thrown into the mix. And talks of curses, true love, fairy tales, cursed towns, even long-lost parents as well.
This time, Regina wasn't so friendly. Emma wasn't sure what could have happened in a decade, but she was doing the impossible to get rid of Emma. She wasn't even sure what she had done wrong, she had thought their first night had gone over well.
"You-you're Henry's birth mother?" Regina choked out.
Emma didn't answer her at first, gaping as she finally took a good look at the woman in front of her. "Regina?"
It was incredible, she looked identical to how she remembered, hadn't aged a day, as bizarre as it sounded.
Regina finally seemed to recognize her. "Emma?"
She nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah," after chuckling, she added, good-humoredly, "Small world huh?"
"Yes, well... can I invite you for a drink? It has been a long time."
Emma had accepted, and they talked about Henry, Regina asked about what Emma had been up to, and tersely explained that her life was much the same as before.
By the time Emma was about to leave, she gave Regina a warm smile and received a small one in return.
Much to her surprise, that smile would be the nicest thing Regina would do. She was acting like Emma was a plague to get rid of, playing dirty tricks and throwing underhanded comments at her.
What was worse was that Emma still had a crush on Regina, it hadn't diminished even though the woman hated her guts.
Where was the woman that had defended her against a rude customer? What had happened to the broken woman she had made a connection with? Sure she could understand that Regina wasn't particularly keen to have Henry's birth mother show up, but that was hardly cause for metaphorically shoving her in front of a bus.
It had gotten to the point where Emma had had enough, and began to fight back. She was no longer the meek teenager Regina had met, and it was time she knew that she herself was a force to be reckoned with.
But the brunette mayor hadn't balked when Emma cut down a branch of her beloved apple tree, or ran for Sheriff. Rather, she had gotten this twisted smirk in place, as if this had been her game plan all along. As if she was salivating and enjoying this twisted rivalry they had going.
And they kept it going, fighting as if they were the characters in Henry's story, the Evil Queen and the Saviour.
Except it hadn't been a story. And they weren't just fictional characters. When Henry had fallen into a deep sleep due to the apple turnover, she had been forced to realize that it was all very real. She had actually been dealing with the Evil Queen.
"It's all true, isn't it?" she had demanded, pinning Regina onto a supply shelf in the hospital's broom closet. She had dragged her in here because she needed answers, and overpowering Regina physically had proven easy; she was amped up on adrenaline.
Regina didn't answer vocally, she just nodded, keeping her tears at bay.
"Is that why you were a huge bitch to me for the past few months?" Emma asked disbelievingly. "Because of this whole curse thing?"
Letting out a hollow laugh, Regina answered, "You call me a bitch, Ms. Swan, but you forget I'm the Evil Queen. I'm not exactly a friendly figure, as you can imagine."
And Emma wanted to yell that no, she had met the friendly Regina all those years ago, and she was sure that it wasn't an act. But Henry needed them to put aside their differences and solve this. "We're not finished talking by far, but right now, we've got to save Henry."
Regina had agreed, so they put aside their conflicting feelings and worked to break the curse. Emma fought a dragon and rescued Regina from Gold's devilish trickery. But when they had gotten the call from the hospital, they had shared a single look of pure apprehension before they rushed back.
Then Emma broke the curse, and Regina was sure she was screwed.
She had left after promising Henry that she did love him, and she could see in his eyes that he believed her, despite everything that had happened, he did love her, he was just misguided in how he went about it. Her heart broke at having to leave him but she knew that she wasn't welcome.
Locking herself in her house was her only line of defense. She had a picket line of angry citizens going for her head, but she refused to give them what they wanted. She had spent so long fighting that right now she wasn't too proud to hide if it meant she would leave. Showing up in front of them meant certain death.
When she had gone down to the kitchen to prepare a coffee to allow her to survive the night awake, she heard some rustling come from her backyard and blanched. The front was barricaded with iron gates that were impossible to climb, as well as walls of slippery and brittle vine-covered brick walls. But her backyard was less guarded. She hadn't thought anyone would have actually been smart enough to go this way, but she saw a couple of shadows making their way closer to her house, crouching.
Deciding that she wasn't going down without a fight, she grabbed a rolling pin and the biggest knife from her chopping block. Tucking the knife onto the waist of her trousers, she held the pin with with both hands by the handle, ready to attack her trespassers as if she was holding a baseball bat.
She heard the sliding door open, and someone hushed, "Shh."
Hiding near the corner, she focused on the footsteps, she waited until the perfect moment and struck, swinging around while using her body for momentum.
"Son of a bitch!"
Emma. She had just whacked Emma on the side of the head, making her stumble back.
"Mom it's just us!" Henry said, eyes wide in surprise at seeing his mom swing a rolling pin with so much force, and his other mom swear.
Regina was frozen, dropping the rolling pin onto the ground. The only sounds were the pin clattering and rolling off, and Emma groaning and grunting.
"Holy cow, if mayor-ing doesn't work out for you, I'll personally vouch for you joining a little league," Emma mumbled, holding her right side of the head.
Breaking out of her reverie, Regina said, "Well I wasn't really expecting visitors and the ones I was expecting are currently camping on my sidewalk, ready to kill me. But come in, let me get you something for that."
She ushered them to the kitchen, taking out a bag of frozen peas out of the freezer and holding it to Emma's bruised side. She was certain that was going to hurt for her. In fact, the sharp hiss Emma released when the cold touched her cheek pretty much confirmed it.
"Henry, do you want something?" Regina asked, turning to her son, who now looked ten times healthier than earlier.
"Milk please," he responded with a smile.
"Emma?" she asked, turning to the still groaning saviour. She didn't even know why she didn't just settle for her usual and semi-derisive 'Ms. Swan', but it just didn't feel right at the moment to be so impersonal, especially after just smacking her with a rolling pin.
"Huh?" Emma responded distractedly, massaging the bag over the side of her face.
Regina briefly considered that she gave Emma a concussion, but then thought better. She was probably just dazed from finding out that everything Henry had said was real. "Something to drink?"
"Oh, just water, thanks."
Once she deposited the glasses in front of her guests, she put her hands on her hips an got right down to business. "So may I know what exactly possessed you to come here? Henry should be in bed rest and sneaking into the house through the backyard can be counted as trespassing."
Emma merely pointed to Henry. "His idea."
Henry nodded in confirmation. "Yeah, I wanted to see you."
"And I didn't want him to come alone," Emma added.
Regina obviously assumed the worst, and pursed her lips, the feeling of being adequate and personal vanishing. "Well you don't have to worry Ms. Swan, I won't hurt Henry, despite what my past may say."
"What?" Emma asked, confused.
"No mom! Emma was afraid the people outside would hurt me," Henry explained. "That's why we came in through the back."
Oh. Regina wasn't expecting that.
Emma smiled. "Speaking of, I'll leave you two to talk. If anyone needs me, I'll be wallowing in my misery on the couch."
It would be nearly half an hour later when Regina would show up at the doorway of her living room, and find Emma lying on the couch - thankfully far from the window - awake and staring at the ceiling.
"Hey," Regina greeted. "How do you feel?"
Emma turned to face her and gave her a faint smile. "Like I just got the living shit beat out of me by a rolling pin wielding ex- Evil Queen."
Regina smiled a bit at that, and approached the sofa. "My apologies for that. And you're welcome to stay here for the night, since Henry's also staying. But I sent him to sleep in another room, as his room faces the front and I don't want to endanger him."
"Makes sense. So, do you want to talk?" Emma asked, sitting up.
"Perhaps we should leave it for tomorrow, you've just had a long day and-" Regina began to say.
But Emma wouldn't hear it. "No excuses Regina, please."
So Regina sat down where Emma's head had been, picking imaginary lint out of her suit jacket. "Very well, what would you like to talk about?"
"Us, Regina! God, you...12 years ago I felt that we had become friends, and when I got here, I was basically the lowest scum ever. You said it's because you're the Evil Queen, but I won't believe that. If that was the case, you wouldn't have been kind to me then. So what is it?"
She wanted to run. She wanted to deny everything and keep Emma far away. But she couldn't lie, Emma would know if she did. So she took a deep breath and kept her eyes facing forward, not looking at the woman who was probably going to cackle and jeer at her for what she was about to say. "I was afraid."
Emma did nothing that Regina had expected, instead she she brought her fingers to the other woman's chin, gesturing for her to turn and face her. "Why?" she asked softly when their eyes met, releasing Regina's chin.
"Why?" Regina repeated, releasing a mirthless chuckle. "Because you're the saviour and I'm the Evil Queen. When I first met you, I thought you were a random young girl, who was trying to find her place in the world after dealing with so much. But instead you've turned out being the white knight that would destroy me and bring peace and happiness to all who I cursed."
"Well, for your information, I have no intention of destroying you," Emma countered with a smile. "Besides, they'll eventually get over you cursing them, I mean, it was 28 years ago. How long can they hold a grudge?"
Regina chuckled once more, this time genuinely and with a smile. "Well, you are talking to the champion grudge-holder."
"Touche," Emma agreed. "But still, you've got people on your side, we'll fight for you and protect you."
"Oh really?" Regina asked, amused as she raised an inquisitive eyebrow.
"Yep, you've got Henry, me, I can probably wrangle my parents to see that you're no longer homicidal, you can probably get Kathryn and Ruby, and the list will just keep growing," Emma confidently responded.
Regina frowned. "And here I thought the hope gene had skipped a generation."
Emma just grinned wider. "Come on, let us help you."
"And why exactly do you want to help me, Emma? What do you stand to gain, after - as you so rightly pointed out - I treated you so terribly for the past few months and even had a cursed apple turnover with your name on it?"
With a shrug, Emma just said, "Because I know you were scared. I got to meet the real Regina, and I knew she was still there. This armour you had donned was clearly because of something, so I was more trying to get to the bottom of things."
Before Regina could even try to think of something to say, Emma added, "Plus I thought we had become friends, and you might want a friend going forward."
"You thought we were friends?" Regina asked bemused.
"Crazy huh?"
Regina made a so-so gesture. 'I've heard crazier."
"Want to hear something crazier?" Emma asked, feeling that Regina would appreciate the levity.
"Sure, why not?" Regina responded with a smile, looking expectantly.
"That day in Portland, I had gotten such a big crush on you, I had convinced myself I was going to marry you one day."
Regina let out a peal of laughter, but it wasn't mocking, merely of amusement. Once she caught her breath, she said, "That's not entirely crazy dear, I'm sure it could become reality one day."
So how was that? Sorry if I glossed over the curse part, but I felt like that would get way too repetitive.
Anyway, I'll have one more drabble to write, and then I'll get back to updating the longer fics!
If anyone has any requests, you're more than welcome to submit them!