A/N: Hey there OUAT gang. I'm a huuuuge fan of the show but this is my first crack at a fic in this arena, so ummm, yeah I hope you welcome me with open arms and hopefully this story won't suck. I'm a Regina stan for life, a proud Evil Regal, and I just clamored aboard the Swan Queen ship less than a week ago. It's like I woke up and suddenly everything was magical lesbians. So naturally I'm working out some feelings via fic. I'm not sure where I'm going with it, and who knows what may happen in the final episodes coming up here, but I hope you like what I write and I hope you enjoy the ride as much as me. Here we goooo (off to Neverland? No I'm joking. OR AM I?)
The perfectly manicured lawn looked pristine in the morning sunshine. There wasn't a shrub out of place, and the town was so still that not a single leaf moved in the trees. The backyard was quiet as well, the apple tree returned to its former glory, the apples still wet with what was left of the morning dew. Yes, the former mayor's estate was quiet...too quiet. It was an eerie sort of calm, and one that Regina didn't particularly welcome.
The house was silent, and in the kitchen she held a cup of warm coffee close to her face. Her home had been quiet for a while now, ever since Henry had left. No thudding footfalls up and down the stairs, the sound of him at play in his bedroom, clanging in the kitchen as he helped his mother to prepare dinner. It was just Regina, in a house that truly was too large for just one person. She didn't watch television really, and she hadn't had the urge to listen to music lately. Everything was quiet, and it was beginning to irritate the hell out of the former queen.
Silence left Regina with merely her thoughts, and that was often a place she never wanted to spend time. Especially since she was still reeling from the death of her mother. She might have been a truly horrifying one, but she was her only one. To have known that all she had needed was her heart, that she would have loved her all along if it weren't for that essential organ...and then to have it all ripped from her. It was too much. Regina vowed she'd get revenge on Snow, but now that she knew Snow was destroying herself, slowly but surely, Regina had decided she'd lay low for the time being. Still, her life was too quiet, and entirely too empty.
In the late morning quiet Regina could easily hear the sound of a vehicle coming to a halt in front of the house. That was strange, it wasn't as if anyone dropped by the evil queen's home these days. She'd already been confronted by Snow, so Regina couldn't imagine anyone else would come to bother her solitude. But her ears had not deceived her, and there came a quick succession of knocks on the heavy front door. Regina set down her coffee mug and made her way into the foyer, her eyebrows knitting together in confusion. If it wasn't Snow coming to snivel on her front porch again then...
"Ah," Regina sighed as she swung open the heavy door and took in her visitor. "Miss Swan."
"Um, hey," Emma said, shifting her weight uncomfortably. "I know this seems really strange and sort of out of the blue here but..."
Regina waited politely for Emma to finish her question. The woman looked incredibly uncomfortable, fidgeting in her skinny jeans and playing with the zipper of her blue leather jacket. "Do you have a point Miss Swan?"
"Can I come in?" Emma managed to blurt out. "We need to talk."
Regina merely quirked an eyebrow at the blonde. What could they possibly have to talk about?
"And why would we need to talk?"
"About Henry," Emma said, giving the mayor an awkward smile.
"Please, come in," Regina replied, stepping back and waving her hand to permit entrance to her home. She attempted to sound calm and cordial but it still escaped from her lips with a bit of a sneer. Some things never change.
Emma followed the brunette woman into her parlor. She took a seat as she watched her pour two glasses of scotch, taking one with a smile as Regina sat across from her. "I like your style. Wake up and start in on the good stuff," Emma chuckled. Regina took a large pull from her drink, ignoring the comment, and smoothed her charcoal grey skirt as she arranged herself on the sofa. Somehow, even though Emma knew the woman's life was falling to pieces, she managed to keep that regal grace that could only belong to a queen, albeit an evil one. The pair were quiet for a moment before Regina spoke up.
"You wanted to talk about Henry Miss Swan?" she prompted.
"Right," Emma said with a sigh. "First of all, let me just say, I'm sorry for your loss." Her voice was quiet and soft, and Regina's eyes snapped up from her tumbler to look at the green eyes sitting across from her.
"What do you care?" she spat. Regina's eyes flashed and her nostrils flared.
"What Mary Margaret...Snow...did, it wasn't right. Regardless of the fact that your terrifying mother would have slain us all. And regardless of the fact that you were following along."
Regina took another long pull of scotch. She really didn't want to be having this conversation with Emma Swan of all people, and especially not right now. "You wanted to speak about Henry?" she prompted, steering the conversation to safer waters.
"Right," Emma practically grunted, taking the hint. She had to say it though, had to express some form of sympathy. She'd only just discovered her own family, and she couldn't imagine losing any of them now. Especially Henry. "Listen, Henry, I think he misses you."
Regina snorted at that. How could he possibly? As if having him believe she was the evil queen wasn't bad enough, when magic came back to Storybrooke he finally knew without a doubt that she was. What's worse, he knew she'd been lying all along. Granted, she'd done it all for his own good, but children aren't aware they're being shielded from awful things and told white lies to keep their world safe and pure. Henry was sometimes infuriatingly too much like her. On top of all of that, he'd seen her make even more bad choices as things in the town progressed. After her mother died she decided to give up. She couldn't compete with Emma, she never could. And so she'd given in to the quiet, for now.
"He doesn't miss me Miss Swan," she said softly. "He's got you now. And your parents. Hell, the whole town. Everyone loves that little boy and somehow the only person he doesn't return the feeling for is me. And how could he?"
Emma swallowed, her grip on the tumbler of scotch tightening without her noticing. She didn't realize just how upset Regina was at losing Henry. She had an idea, but the former queen and mayor was so good at hiding her emotions (well, besides anger) and it was difficult to see how much it had affected her. "I think he does. Sure I'm the...savior...whatever, but I'm not the one who raised him for ten years. Just because I broke this stupid curse and everyone knows who they are, it doesn't mean you haven't been his mother for the last ten years. And yeah, you've done some real stupid shit since I showed up, but I can't imagine you did anything particularly horrible before then, right?"
Regina averted her eyes at that last statement. She had no desire to reveal some of her misdeeds upon arriving in this world, or how she had even began her quest to adopt Henry. "I've made plenty of mistakes here as well."
"Yeah, well, we're all human. Er, well you and I are at least," Emma said with a shrug. "I think," she amended, wondering if perhaps the former queen still had some magical secret up her sleeve. Regina rolled her eyes.
"I'm entirely human Miss Swan, but I'm afraid reciting such a platitude will never win over the rest of this town, or more importantly, my son," she replied with a sad smile. "Which I believe you're here to talk about. You still haven't made your point."
"I need your help," Emma admitted softly. Regina eyes got wide and she nearly spit up some of her scotch.
"What?!"
"I need your help Regina. Henry misses you. He maybe won't admit it to your face but I can tell he does. And I...I'm not sure how to be a parent. I'm trying, but the kid needs some normalcy. I don't know how to give him that! Hell, I don't know what normal is anymore. And I think if he spent more time with you he'd get more of that normalcy back. I think he'd be happier."
"You want me to help you be a better parent? To my son?" Regina asked, her eyes throwing daggers at the blonde across from her. Emma watched as the older woman's entire body tensed up.
"No...not that. I just, I want you to be in his life more. I think it's important," Emma pleaded. She knew Regina would do anything for her son, and she hoped the woman could look past the quarrels and problems she'd had with Emma and her family for his sake.
"So what then? You want to share him with me like we're a couple of divorced parents?" Regina asked, calmer than before but still on edge.
"I just want him to be happy."
"I was taking care of that just fine until you showed up," Regina sneered. Somehow she immediately regretted saying it.
"Hey!" Emma yelled, standing up and pointing her finger at the cool brunette. "I didn't ask for Henry to show up at my place in Boston. I didn't ask for you to push my buttons and make me want to stay here. And I certainly didn't ask to be the savior, the daughter of some fairytale characters, or any of this."
Emma was panting slightly after her rant, her body rigid as she stood before Regina. Coolly she replied, "On the contrary, I believe you did. Something about wishing on a cupcake...?"
"That's bullshit," Emma grunted.
"Is it Miss Swan?" Regina asked, a smile creeping into her features. "Or was it simply the first time you tapped into what you now know is inside you?"
"Don't start with me," Emma warned.
"I'm just being honest dear. And regardless of how you feel about the situation, Henry seems to believe you're the better parent. I'm no longer his mother, I'm just the evil queen," she said sadly, turning her attention back to her tumbler of scotch.
"You know that's not true, and you know I'm not a better parent. Just...different. I gave him up for a reason, but now he's in my life again. I always thought of myself as being the 'cool aunt' type anyways. If I ever had siblings that is."
Regina snorted at that. "Ugh, I can't imagine those idiots having another child."
"Me either, quite frankly," Emma sighed. Regina's eyebrow went up at her comment. There was something sad but ultimately delightful about the way Emma Swan regarded her parents.
"There's still time," Regina said with a smile- a smile that was more evil queen than former mayor. She couldn't resist baiting the blonde.
"Oh god," Emma replied, feigning gagging. She made her way over to the bar to refill her glass. As she turned around to come back to her seat, a small grin began to form on her lips. "You know, by all accounts, you're my grandmother."
Again, Regina struggled to contain her scotch and she coughed as the liquid nearly went down the wrong pipe. "Please, I'm your step-grandmother. I don't have any relation to you Miss Swan."
"Not by blood maybe," Emma said, her tone becoming soft once more, "but by marriage. And we have Henry. Whether you like it or not, you're part of my family Regina."
"And what about Neal?" Regina asked, eyeing the sheriff over her glass. "Isn't he part of your family. Why aren't you all running off into the sunset together?"
Damn. Emma had hoped Regina would leave well enough alone, but it figured she'd bring up Henry's father. Emma was still struggling with the fact that he was actually Baelfire, and his father was Rumplestiltskin. She wasn't thrown by the fact that she hadn't seen him since she'd gone to prison for him, but then, she didn't really care about him anymore. Now she wasn't sure how to feel, mostly because she wasn't sure how Henry felt about it. She didn't like that she was now technically related to Mr. Gold. At this point she was practically related to every damn person in town. The thing that irked her most was that it was as if her whole life had been designed by Mr. Gold. Did she make the decisions that led her to the place she was now, or was it all part of his design?
"Miss Swan?" Regina prompted, pulling Emma out of her thoughts.
"I'm...Neal is Henry's father. That's all."
"And Rumple's son," Regina stated pointedly. It was a fact she wasn't likely to forget.
"Yeah...that too," Emma sighed. "He's got a fiance. I haven't felt anything for him for a very long time, and I'm honestly glad he's safe and happy. I'll deal with the fact that he may be back in Henry's life, but I don't think he's interested. And I'm not sure if I want him in it. The fact that he's Gold's son is more...annoying, than anything else really."
Regina was surprised by Emma's admission. She thought for certain that they'd be just like Emma's parents. True love, happy endings, all that ridiculous nonsense. And then to find that she didn't want him in Henry's life, and was upset by his lineage. Her eyebrows knit together in confusion as she asked, "What's so annoying?"
"I'm just starting to feel like nothing in my life up until I broke your curse was my own," Emma admitted quietly. Regina was silent. She was only too aware of what it was like to have every decision made for you, to have your whole life mapped out by someone else, to find that even the decisions you thought you made on your own were orchestrated by someone else. It had been like that her entire life. She never thought that Emma would admit to feeling the same way, and she was probably right. In many ways Rumplestiltskin had planned out much of the young woman's life, as well as her own.
"What do you propose we do about Henry?" Regina asked, her throat sticking. She wasn't sure why she felt so upset by Emma's words, but it had too easily stuck a chord in her. She coughed and set her features into her determined and regal norm.
"How about we start by having a few meals together?" Emma said, glad that the older woman was changing the topic from strange and difficult issues.
"All three of us?" Regina asked, one of her eyebrows going up in question and a hint of disdain.
"Yes, all three of us. I'm not comfortable just leaving him with you at this point."
"Excuse me, but he's still my son, and he was alone with me for ten years," Regina said through gritted teeth. She could feel her magic tingling in her fingertips, an automatic response her body made whenever she got angry.
"Yeah, and just the other day you tried to put a curse on him to force him to love you," Emma replied coolly, one of her eyebrows going up in a challenge.
"I destroyed that curse. You watched me do it," Regina said, her teeth still gritted, but with less venom than before. The tingling in her fingers died away.
"I know you did. You did the right thing. Contrary to popular belief in this town, I think you're trying to do the right thing, and Henry does too. He loves you, and he'll show it in his own way, and not because you forced him. It's going to take time. But you'll just have to deal with the fact that I still don't trust you. Not right now anyways."
"Fine," Regina snarled. She could tolerate Emma's presence if it meant she got to spend time with Henry. She hated that Emma could sway her like this, but then the sheriff had always seemed to know just how to push Regina's buttons.
"How about lunch tomorrow at Granny's? Around noon?"
"Making sure to be in public in case I try something?" Regina asked, standing up and taking Emma's empty tumbler out of her hands. Her fingers brushed the blonde's just barely, and her spine shivered.
"I can't seem to make a cup of cocoa as good as Granny's at home," Emma shrugged. As she stood up and made her way to the study door all Regina could do was blink. "I can see myself out," Emma said as she turned around in the doorway. She gave the former mayor a soft smile, and her eyes crinkled at the edges. "Have a great rest of your day Regina."
Before she could respond, Emma was out into the foyer, and then she heard the front door click shut. Regina stood in her now empty study, holding both tumblers, her breath slow and even. Did...did all of that just happen? She shook her head, and her black heels clicked on the floor as she made her way into the kitchen. She set the tumblers into the sink, and looked once more out on the lawn. The morning was just over, and yet somehow it felt like a brand new day entirely.
A/N: Reviews and messages are always welcome, and if you'ld like to get to know me personally at all you can follow my tumblr if you'd like. Just message me and say hello and I'll link you if you'd like to follow. Can't wait to write more, hope you enjoyed the opener!