A/N: This is based on the series 'Scandal.' It was just a little idea I had so I asked my friend parrillayoung - on twitter - and together we came up with this. I really hope you all enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please leave a review so I know if I should write more. Thank you and most of all enjoy! Xo
CHAPTER ONE
"Madam First Lady, I have your schedule for the day, at one o'clock sharp, you have to pick out china patterns for the annual White House State dinner, which you also have to attend tomorrow but I'll give you the information for that in the morning." First Lady of the United States of America, Regina Mill's chief of staff said. Ruby was Regina's first and best choice as a chief of staff as she covered for Regina without any questions asked or any hesitation what so ever. Regina couldn't be more grateful for her until Ruby told her she had to pick out china patterns, if there was one thing the First Lady hated doing it was picking out china patterns. "Also you have a charity event to attend later this evening at seven o'clock, do you want to pick your own dresses or shall I have a stylist choose them for you?" Ruby continued as Regina took a swift swig of her hooch.
"Ugh, china patterns!" Regina groaned causing a slight laugh from Ruby.
"I'm sorry, I know how much you hate them," Ruby said as Regina nodded with her eyes shut tight.
"Ruby, what is Emma Swan doing today?" Regina asked looking up from her glass, she looked straight ahead at Ruby and waited impatiently on the information she desperately desired.
"I think she's working with the president today, ma'am, that's what I heard but I can find out for definite and let you know." Ruby said, causing Regina to take an even bigger drink of her drink as always Ruby didn't question Regina's motives or her need to drink at eight o'clock in the morning but she knew Regina hated the fact her husband got to work with Emma almost every day.
"So, she'll be in the building?" Regina said with a beautiful sparkle forming in her chocolate brown eye.
Ruby smiled and proudly said, "Yes, ma'am." She knew this information would bring a smile to the First Ladies face.
"Good." Regina said smiling away to herself – just as Ruby had predicted. Regina couldn't wait to see Emma; the blonde was always Regina's highlight of the day yet she'd never admit it to anyone although Ruby was knew without having to be told Emma was special to Regina but she just assumed it was because they were friends and Regina didn't have many of them. "That'll be all, dear. Thank you." Regina said, smiling at Ruby as she watched her nod her head and leave the room.
After finishing her drink, Regina sighed and decided she better start getting ready for her daily duties and paint on her famous perfect smile.
Regina was finally out of hair and make-up after an hour and a half, she had her hair in a half-down half-up do, she looked a million and six dollars, everyone noticed apart from the person she wanted to notice the most - well that's what she thought. Her make-up was heavy but not too over the top; her eyes were smoky and her lipstick was blood red, it was perfect for Regina although sometimes she did resemble the Evil Queen from Snow White as the newspapers willingly pointed out on a daily basis which Regina secretly loved.
She made her way to pay her husband a visit; a task she found even duller than the china patterns. "Hey," She said as she walked in to the Oval office and found her husband sitting behind his desk doing some sort of boring paperwork, being president wasn't all it was cracked up to be.
President Robin Hood looked up from his paperwork, "Hey, beautiful," he said, he was happy to see his wife but she was the opposite of happy to see him, she would gladly never see him again if it was possible, she felt like she lived her whole life to please him and never got any gratitude back, she transformed her life and lived in sadness and despair so he could achieve everything he wanted to but nope, that still felt like she wasn't good enough; she was tired of him and tired of her life.
Regina headed straight for the hooch bottle sitting on the table next to the sofas in his office; she grabbed the glass bottle and began pouring the alcohol a quarter of the way up in her glass. "Where's Miss Swan?" Regina asked as she picked up her glass.
"I don't know, she should be here soon. Why are you drinking so early, now?" He sighed; another drama and argument seemed to be heading his way.
Regina scoffed loudly before she spoke, "Who do you think you are – my father?" She then took a sip of her hooch; she desperately needed it if she had to deal with him for another second. "I don't need a lecture on when I drink or how much I drink, I'm very aware of the time and how many glasses I have every day." Regina took a deep breath before continuing. "I don't need you to tell me, thank you very much." Regina said as she rolled her eyes and poured herself another glass.
"I'm just concerned about you; you've been drinking a lot lately." Robin said as he stood up from his desk and walked over towards Regina and headed straight for her glass, he was going to take it off of her and remove the remaining alcohol out of her reach.
Regina glared at Robin like a bulldog that had just had its favorite bone taken of it. "What are you trying to say?" Regina said as she raised a perfectly arched eyebrow. Her tone was dark and dangerous, it was the kind of tone if you heard you'd run a mile and not look back.
Robin sighed, completely ignoring Regina's tone. "I'm not trying to say anything, just give me the damn drink," Robin said as he grabbed her glass, which was already secured tightly in her hand, he wrapped his fingers just as tight as she had and he pulled gently assuming he'd pull it straight out of her hand but her grip was locked around it, she pulled just as hard back, it was like a tug of war over the glass.
Just as the door opened quietly, Regina quickly let go of the marble glass, which ended in Robin accidentally throwing the drink straight over Regina's five thousand dollar Stella McCartney dress. "Now, look what you did." Regina exclaimed as she looked down at her dress and examined the damage.
"Regina-" Robin said but Regina was having none off it, until Emma interrupted, even then she was too angry to have any type of conversation.
Emma gasped before she spoke, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt anything." Emma said, almost sounding angry – she was glad she had interrupted if she was honest, Regina had been her friend since they were both at Law school, she hated seeing how Robin treated her, or how she thought Robin treated her.
"You didn't interrupt anything, dear. Just a slight spillage, I'm so clumsy, it's unreal, First Ladies are supposed to be elegant then you get me who can't even hold a drink." Regina fake-laughed, which Emma seen right through; Emma had known Regina for way too long to believe the brunettes fake laugh; she knew the difference because Regina's real laugh was her all-time favorite sound. Regina didn't realize Emma had actually seen everything. "I'm just going to change my dress and clean up; I'll see you soon, darling." Regina said through gritted teeth as she smiled at her husband and kissed him on the cheek.
"Okay, babe." Robin retaliated as Regina as elegantly as possible walked out the room.
Emma was already standing halfway in the office but Robin decided to be polite. "Miss Swan, please come in." Robin said as he motioned for Emma to step further inside, she desperately wanted to follow Regina and make sure she was okay, but no one ever disobeyed the president.
Regina went to her room attempting to avoid as many people as she could, some people she passed looked in horror as they saw their First Lady walking with a huge alcohol stain on herself, but most of the women gasped because a five thousand dollar Stella McCartney dress was now ruined and the rest of them she passed didn't even notice.
The brunette sat on her bed in her underwear as she sat and began to think, but all she could think about was one person and one person only. She hated her life and prayed multiple times to a God she didn't even believe in that her life would change. She wanted to be openly gay and be happy instead of having to live a lie and sleep with a man who made her feel sick to her stomach every time she saw his man part.
At sixteen Regina came out to her father as gay. As soon as she did this he told her the shame she would bring upon their family and instantly he arranged a marriage and demanded she married Robin or he would disown her and leave her with no money and no house, he would kick her out on the streets alone and scared, back in that day she literally had no choice and her father knew that, he knew that there was only one option and Regina would have to take it no matter how she felt. She had never forgiven him for that and she never will.
The hardest part of it was the person she wanted to be with most was the person she saw almost every day. It was slowly killing her and she didn't even realize, she turned to alcohol to numb the pain and she was aware she was drinking more and more but it was genuinely the only thing that would get her through the day. She thought about ending everything all day, every day yet she couldn't tell anyone, no one knew she was gay at all, not one person.
So instead, Regina smiled and acted happy, yet all while dying inside.
Emma was so angry at what she had just witnessed, she then had to sit and speak to the president without saying anything, she simply smiled and nodded agreeing to help fix the latest White House scandal, but all she could think about was Regina.
After she had finished talking with Robin she headed to her office, still one thought on her mind, she didn't want to go find Regina in case Regina thought she might be stalking her or something so she just waited on Regina coming to her which never happened.
Emma had been completely in love with Regina since she could possibly remember probably since the first day they met. Regina constantly had her flabbergasted by how perfect she looked every day, Emma was in such awe of her, and it broke her heart to see the love of her life so damaged and broken.
She longed every day for the courage to tell Regina how she felt but deep down she knew she never would for their friendship meant more to Emma than anyone could ever imagine and she would rather just have Regina as a friend than a nothing, she didn't want to even think about life without seeing Regina daily, which was secretly one of the main reasons Emma took the job in the White House. Emma could have any job in the world as she was the world's greatest at what she did, she could be earning billions a year but she settled to work for one person, just to see Regina.
Emma sighed when she reached her desk before noticing a little green post it note that reminded her the Annual dinner was coming up tomorrow, "Shit," She said grabbing her phone and phoning someone to go find her a dress for it, she desperately wanted to impress Regina but she knew it was a complete waste of time, Regina was straight for goodness sake.
The next day it was the White House Annual dinner, one of the events Regina despised most of all. She had to smile, be the best host possible and pretend everything was great whilst holding Robin's hand and watching Emma at the other side of the room with men pawing all over her, the night sent her head into frenzy.
Regina was dressed immaculately as per usual, she was wearing a floor length ball gown which was gold with sequences the whole way down, not tacky at all, just simply stunning. She had gold eye shadow to match the dress, with amazing but simple false eyelashes to set of her eyes more. She had nude lips which was extremely different from her usual red lipstick she wore with pride and boldness. Her hair was down and curled perfectly to sit on top of her shoulders, she loved it when her hair was like this; it was bouncy and playful, just like she used to be before she turned sixteen.
"Madam First Lady would you like a glass of champagne?" The waiter asked Regina as he nervously approached her, his nerves were visible and Regina found it adorable, she wasn't all that bad.
Regina smiled politely at the boy who was no older than twenty-five before reaching her hand out and removing one of the glasses from the tray. "Thank you, dear." She said as he smiled at her and slowly slithered away.
Regina drank the drink elegantly but as fast as she possibly could. She was on top form and very alert, the brunette knew press would be there, and she could just imagine the headlines if she was caught downing it, she cringed at the thought, she shook her head, she couldn't dare to think about it anymore.
After, the actual dinner and a few more glasses of champagne Regina was tipsy, she wasn't drunk but she was getting there. She stepped outside to attempt to sober herself up; she was the First Lady of the United States of America for crying out loud, she of all people weren't supposed to get drunk at these sorts of events.
"Hey, I've been meaning to catch up with you all night, how are you?" Emma asked as she approached Regina who almost took her breath away; Regina was wrong, the one person who she wanted to notice, always noticed how beautiful she look. Emma was dressed in a simple floor length black dress that hugged her figure to perfection, it had a split up the side and showed of her perfectly toned legs which Regina almost couldn't take her eyes off. Emma had teamed her dress with a huge statement diamond necklace which set of the outfit perfectly. Her blonde hair which was usually down and curly was put into a messy bun, which looked effortless but it couldn't be that perfect without at least an hours' worth of work put into it. Her make-up was simple and elegant, pretty perfect.
"Hey, dear." Regina said leaning into give Emma a kiss on each cheek like she had to do with everyone else in the room but this person she actually wanted to give a kiss on the cheek too. "I'm good thank you, how are you?" Regina asked with such elegance just in case anyone was listening.
"I'm good but I need to talk to you." Emma said seriously.
Regina looked around and made sure no one was in the garden downstairs, when she noticed it was just her and Emma on the Truman balcony she quickly closed the giant white doors. She took a seat on one of the many chairs and Emma sat across from her.
"What's up?" Regina said completely dropping the First Lady of the United States act.
"You, you deserve better than Robin, Regina, when will you realize that?" Emma said quickly, she was nervous about this conversation but it had been a long time coming, she was trying to find ways to bring the subject up for a long time now but after yesterday's shenanigans she had had enough and just decided to say what she had to say, no sugar-coating.
"What?" Regina asked raising an eyebrow.
"I saw what happened yesterday and I saw what happens every other day, you drinking and him complaining," Emma said as she released the breath she didn't even realize she had been holding.
Regina looked at Emma almost flabbergasted. "I don't know what you're talking about." Regina said with a smile painted on with perfection.
"Regina, I'm your oldest friend, you can talk to me." Emma said almost pleading with Regina to open up and tell her what's really going on behind the doors of the famous White House.
Little did Regina and Emma know Robin had made his way on the balcony. Neither women had noticed him standing there watching them, he couldn't hear anything as they were speaking at a mere whisper but he could see the look in their faces and that was enough.
Regina was completely captivated by Emma's words and voice and long lost in Emma's eyes and Emma was completely lost in Regina's, yet neither women realized the other was lost in theirs, they were that captivated by each other they didn't even notice what one another was actually doing. No one spoke, it felt like they were transported into another world where it was just the two of them and no-one else, it felt good.
Suddenly, the silence was broken by Robin coughing, he had seen enough; he couldn't remember the last time Regina had looked at him with so much love in her eyes, in fact she had never looked at him like that and that almost broke his heart. It was payback time.
"Oh, hey honey, I didn't see you standing there." Regina said, now flustered as she jumped up quickly from her chair and walked over to Robin, "I was just talking to Emma about the latest scandals in this house." She blatantly lied straight to his face and didn't even think twice about it.
Regina, Emma and Robin made their way back into the main event where everyone was mingling together, talking and laughing. The senator of California shouted on Robin to come and join them which he did, leaving Regina and Emma to talk by themselves, once the waiter had given them another glass of champagne they began to talk to one another.
Neither women mentioned the previous conversation due to walls having eyes and ears. Instead they acted like the old friends they were, Emma had Regina laughing within five minutes of starting the conversation. Robin watched the women interacting with each other, he hadn't seen Regina smile in a long time never mind laughing beautifully the way she was – It was real.
That's when he realized, Regina loved Emma.