AN: Hello everyone, alright first of all welcome, secondly this is mostly a swanqueen story, however redbeauty is secondary. There will be mentions of other ships and other characters as well as past relationships and beards. To suit the story I wanted to write I have altered some relationships so if anything doesn't make sense or you need clarification please message me and I'll get back to you as soon as possible. Henry WILL be in this story, just not yet, Neal IS NOT his father, he will appear in later chapters it's complicated and will be explained in chapters to come.

This is intended to be a SLOW BURN that also uses tropes. I love tropes, it's also going to have some plot twists. It might also take me awhile to post new chapters however I will do my best to update as often as possible.

Anything in italics is a flashback.

Currently I have this story rated at T, it may eventually become M. I'm not sure yet my complete intentions with this story but I will inform you all if it will be getting a rating change. Last but not least thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoy!

She sat there, her favorite machine in hand, with each stroke she was closer to finishing the back piece. A large watercolor wolf and it was coming along nicely if she did say so herself. She prided herself in her work, it had taken her years to hone her craft. Much to the displeasure of her mother she had attended art school, a life decision that she'd technically been disowned for. She had moved out to LA, and was accepted to Cal Arts. Managed to last two years before she realized the money issues were too great to continue so she dropped out on her own accord after her second year as an illustration major to become an apprentice to Graham at The Huntsman tattoo parlor.

Kathryn was her closest thing to a friend in college and she had been the one to introduce Regina to Graham. He took a liking to her work and brought her under his wing, teaching her everything he knew and after six years working under and with him, she eventually had enough work and clientele to open her own shop, The Evil Regal. Originally she was planning on opening shop in LA where she had studied. Things didn't go as planned, her father had gotten severely ill as well as other life drama, which lead to her wanting to live as far away from LA and as near to her father as possible because she didn't know how much longer he would live. She ended up opening her shop in Storybrooke Maine of all places.

Storybrooke was where she had grown up. It was a smallish town where everyone knew each other, but they accepted her back home, well everyone except her mother. Her father passed away a year after she opened shop but she stayed put. It was Kathryn's decision to follow Regina to her shop, and for three years it was just the two of them working out of the Evil Regal. Since there wasn't a tattoo parlor for miles around they became the go to place. On top of that she had made quite the name for herself back in LA for her freehand work and collectors had managed to find her, so her business was thriving. That lead to two more artists joining their ranks, but it took a lot to impress Regina and she was very selective on who she allowed to work out of her shop.

The door opened, Regina removed her machine and looked up to see who had entered. It was a holiday weekend so all of her staff was away enjoying a day off. Her eyes drifted momentarily over the tall blonde clad in a red leather jacket who seemed a little on edge, this woman was probably a newbie to the tattoo world. In a few swift movements she wiped the blood off of where she had just laid down ink, placed her machine down and removed her gloves. She stood up from her stool placing a light touch on her client's shoulder, "I'll be right back. Take a ten, we've been at this for two hours now." Her client nodded approval as she turned and strode toward the newbie.

Regina was now staring down the woman sizing her up, green eyes, slightly curled long blonde hair, a cautious smile on her lips, a disastrously hideous bright red leather jacket, "What can I do for you? Are you here for a consult?"

"I uh- well no," the woman laughed nervously, "I'm your new neighbor, I'm the proud owner of the bookstore slash coffee shop that just opened up next door and I just wanted to stop by and say hello."

"I see, well good luck with your business endeavors miss…" The end of her sentence hung in the air before the idiotic woman in front of her picked up on the question.

"Emma, Emma Swan," she looked slightly confused looking at Regina, but she stuck out her hand for Regina to shake, "and you are?"

"Regina Mills, owner. And now that we've made acquaintances I have work I need to attend to" Regina completely ignored Emma's hand and turned around heading back toward her client. Her attire, black skinny pants and a long sleeve red button up, was most likely throwing off the bookshop owner who quickly shoved her awkwardly held out hand into her pocket. Her attire always threw off people because it often looked like ink had never grazed her skin.

"Uh- well uh... nice to meet you Regina. See you around?"

"Most likely, this is a small town Miss Swan." Regina very carefully rolled up her sleeves revealing a full right sleeve underneath. A move meant to intimidate the woman who was now awkwardly standing in the middle of her parlor. Regina was proud of her variety of disney characters in comic book style frames. It was mostly of villains from the Evil Queen, Hades, Hook, Cruella, & Maleficent. Regina had just about every villain in the disney library except for the ones she could not morally agree with, like that wretched Frollo.

"Right, yeah. See ya later," Emma sheepishly smiled one last time before retreating out the door as Regina set back up.

The grey haired client spoke up, "You should play nice Mills, that poor girl looked like you were going to bite her head off."

Regina lightly chuckled, "Maybe I was. What does it matter to you Granny?"

"Because Mills she was quite the looker, wouldn't want to scare her off prematurely." Granny had her back to her but Regina could tell the older woman was smiling. Emma had been her type but it had been far too long since Regina's last date and with the way her love life tended to end up she had no desire to date ever again.

"Didn't realize the famous Granny was a closeted lesbian. You're just full of surprises, I never expected you to come in here demanding I tattoo you and now this-" Granny chuckled slightly under the touch of Regina's hand.

"Oh no dear, I'm straight. But I've known you your entire life and you've never once given a second glance to a handsome man. Plus Ruby confided in me when you two were in high school when she caught you and Mal lips locked under the bleachers. Let's be honest there aren't a whole lot of single attractive lesbian women in this town to choose from, you wouldn't want to scare off that Emma girl just yet, she's new and no one knows which team she swings for." Regina froze in place. She could count the amount of people she had told about her sexuality on her hands. Her and Mal had a brief relationship in high school but she hadn't realized Ruby had seen them together, let alone kissing. She'd only been in two relationships her entire life and they had both ended disastrously.

"Hey breathe back there, it's alright. Ruby had a huge crush on you back in the day, but you know her and Belle are together now. People here are more accepting than you give them credit for. Granted I don't know about your mother which is why I had the good mind to make sure she didn't find out. Now chop chop Mills make my back beautiful."

"Don't you dare rush me Mrs Lucas. Or I will go slower and it will be an extra thousand." Regina threatened trying to pretend Granny didn't know her secret as she began shading.

"Ah there's the Evil Queen we know and love." Granny chuckled, "you take as long as you need dear, you're the best one here."

"Flattery will only get you so far Granny. You're lucky I'm not going to stick Neal on you to finish this."

"That's Robin's apprentice right? Isn't that boy still tattooing oranges and pig's rump? I know you Mills, you wouldn't ruin your reputation to prove a point."

"Perhaps. Now if you are quite done I'm going to finish up a few spots and then I'm going to call it a day. I'll have you come back in three weeks as long as this has healed." Granny nodded approval as she got comfortable on the chair. Regina knew Granny was a strong willed individual but she also could tell her client was reaching her threshold for the day. She managed another thirty minutes worth of shading before stopping. She wiped off Granny's back before handing a mirror to the woman to show her the progress that had been made.

"Looking good Regina, how much longer will it take to finish this sucker?"

"Best guess, give or take an hour."

"Then let's do it now." Granny sounded half determined and half defeated.

"No, you're starting to squirm. A lot." Regina nearly sent a glare toward the woman as she began saran wrapping the piece. "Three weeks. Then I'll finish you."

"Fine" Granny grumbled but she also sounded the slightest bit relieved "but you better talk to that girl, what was her name Emma? You don't get out enough. What do I owe you?"

"Let's call it seven hundred now and I'll do the next session free of charge with the promise that you never bring up that woman again." She gently placed the last piece of saran wrap over the tattoo before taping it down. "You know the aftercare drill A&D for four days, after that perfume free lotion twice daily, preferably saran wrap it the next few nights, loose clothing until healed, don't let anyone touch it unless they've washed their hands, in general take care of it. Anything looks abnormal or you have any questions you know where to find me." Granny just let out an exasperated sigh with her nod. The two walked over to the cash register to pay as the door jiggled with the arrival of Kathryn.

"Regina, there you are, I couldn't find you anywhere, I tried texting you like five times. I figured that only antisocial people work on holidays and then I remembered that includes you." She strode toward the duo as Regina rang up Granny. She excited expression exaggerated as she made eye contact with the older woman, "Can I see it?"

"Of course you can dear, and no change Regina." Granny had ended up tipping a generous two hundred extra dollars, Regina figured it was because of the Emma incident but who was she to turn down extra money for her hard work. Kathryn was trying to inspect her hard work under the saran wrap.

"Why exactly were you trying to get in contact with me Kathryn?" Regina raised an eyebrow at the woman as she leaned against the counter.

Kathryn gently laid Granny's shirt back down, "Well for one, did you see we have a new neighbor? That shops been empty since that fro-yo place got shut down. And second I came to see if you wanted to get some drinks, come on it's a holiday weekend, you should be having fun not working."

"Working is fun." Regina retorted. She reached under the counter collecting her things before ushering her client and her best friend out of the shop.

"You two could always get drinks at my diner you know. A round of shots on the house." She felt the lock click under the turn of the key. It was always satisfying opening and closing the shop knowing that it was completely her's.

"Thank you for the offer but I think I'll take a raincheck," Regina began walking toward her Benz as Kathryn sighed.

"Have a good night girls," Granny called as she walked away. Regina unlocked her car and gracefully got in the driver's seat surprised that Kathryn was opening the passenger's side and crawling in. She sent a hard questioning look toward the intruding woman.

"You didn't think I was going to let you spend tonight alone did you? I am your friend remember, I know what today is Regina."

She gritted her teeth as her finger began turning white from clenching hard on the steering wheel, "You were her friend too." She spat out in an accusatory manner.

"Not after what she did to you. That was unforgivable." Kathryn gently laid one of her hands over Regina's, "Come on I'm sure you've still got that cheap ass box wine I brought to the last party you hosted. We can drink that and watch sappy love movies if it'll make you feel better."

She turn the car on and began driving home before dignifying a response, "Watching sappy romance movies will not make me feel better."

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Kathryn shrug "We could watch a Christmas movie."

"It's the middle of July Kathryn, why in the hell would we be watching a Christmas movie? And I've had the displeasure of watching enough of them with you to know they all end the same way. A bunch of heterosexuals running around falling in love because of the magic of Christmas."

Her friend chuckled before replying "well yeah that's true but I was thinking of a specific Christmas classic. Die Hard, seems more like your style at the moment."

Regina chuckled under her breath. Her friend knew she was in a mood to watch the world burn. "Fine boxed wine and Die Hard will have to do."

They made it inside Regina's house which was probably far too big for one person but she didn't care, it had been left to her by her father. Kathryn darted off into the kitchen while Regina curled up on the sofa. The weight of the day was finally hitting her hard and she both want to repeatedly punch the living hell out of something and sob excessive amounts of tears. Her mother's voice still rang in her head that ladies don't cry, and right as she was about to throw her mother's advice into the wind Kathryn emerged handing her a glass of wine so she sucked in her breath and held back her tears.

Why Regina was trying desperately to hold herself together, she didn't know. It wasn't like Kathryn hadn't seen her cry before but it was probably because she absolutely detested the idea of crying in front of someone else. Kathryn fiddled with the dvd player a moment before plopping down onto the couch next to her.

"Alright cheers, let's make this night fun," their glasses clinked and they both took a sip. Kathryn immediately spit it back into the glass while Regina grimace and managed to swallow the putrid fluid. "Annnnd no more boxed wine for me ever. Got anything else?"

"Unfortunately no, you drank me dry a month ago except for that putrid boxed wine." She grimaced at the wine glass as she sat it down. Kathryn started up the movie as she grabbed Regina's car keys.

"I'll be back, enjoy John McClane being a badass. We need some real liquor." She slipped out of the house and Regina was left alone. The emptiness of the house usually didn't bother her but today she just felt alone, abandoned and betrayed. In the solitude her tears finally betrayed her rolling down her cheeks. She tried to compose herself before her friend had returned but the effort had been in vain. Kathryn had returned with an expensive bottle of Pinot noir and a bottle of whiskey. At a glance of Regina she had poured them both a glass of whiskey and curled up next to her weeping friend.

They ended up watching the first three Die Hard movies, Regina flat out refused to watch the newer incarnation of the series. And by the end of the marathon and whiskey they were both passed out in her living room, Regina curled up on the sofa and Kathryn sprawled out on the floor covered in pillows and throw blankets.

She was sitting in the Huntsman parlor working on a large Nightmare Before Christmas piece on her regular Buzz's, bicep. He's a great guy telling her all about Disneyland, she's never been and he's an annual pass holder. He's just about convinced her that she needs to get a pass when Graham calls across the room, "Hey Reg, your phone has gone off like three times from the same number you want me to answer it? The area code is Maine I think..." Reg was a nickname that only Graham was allowed to call her, the first time he had called her that he had gotten a death glare for days but after three months of convincing she conceded to the nickname.

Normally she wouldn't allow anyone to answer her phone but if it's from Maine it's possibly important or it's her mother and if a male answered the phone maybe she'd get off the hook of having to talk to the terrifying woman so she nods at him to answer, she kept her attention on her work though. She's shading Zero when Graham walks over. "Hey I think you should really take this call Regina."

One look at Graham and her heart is pounding hard with nerves, the look on his face isn't a good one and he only calls her Regina when he's being serious, and he's never serious. Buzz nods encouragingly at her to take it so she removes her gloves and takes her phone. "Hello?"

"Hello my beautiful daughter, you are a very hard individual to get ahold of." His voice sounds frail. She hadn't talked to her father in over four years, it was her mother's fault. "I was hoping you would visit me soon."

"What's wrong daddy?" She feels the tears form and her throat catch. If he wants her to visit there has to be something wrong. She walks away from everyone in the room into the backroom so that she wouldn't have an audience.

"I don't want to worry your pretty head, I'd just love to see you my child."

"But mother-"

"-Your mother is a stubborn woman, but if I want to see my daughter then I shall see my daughter."

"Please tell me what's wrong."

His response is almost a whisper, "It's cancer. I'd very much like to see you again."

"Is it-" her throat catches and the tears start falling from her eyes.

"Terminal, yes it is my love. Please come home."

"Yes, daddy. I'll be home as soon as I can. I love you." she manages out between sobs.

"I heard rumor there's a special lady in your life. Bring her as well. It'll enrage your mother but I no longer fear her, nor should you. She can't keep us apart any longer, I am a dying man. I love you too. See you soon." He hangs up and she continues to sit there crying staring at her phone. She has no idea how long she's sitting there before Kathryn comes in to check on her and pulls her into a giant hug, and that's how they remain until Regina manages to pull herself together.

"I need to go home, I'm going to Storybrooke. Oh god I just left Buzz there, tattoo half finished-" embarrassment at her current emotional state crosses Regina's face.

"-Don't worry about him. Graham is finishing him off, he figured this call wasn't going to end well. Come on I'll drive you home."

Kathryn wrapped a supportive arm around Regina as they walked through the main room. Both Graham and Buzz sent a supportive look as Regina fruitlessly tried to wipe away the tears. The door jingled as they exited and made it into Kathryn's car.

Regina woke up head slightly throbbing, the light shining brightly through the living room window. The scent of bacon wafted from the kitchen. She pushed herself off the sofa and found Kathryn cooking in her kitchen.

"To what do I owe this displeasure of having to clean up your destruction of my kitchen?"

"Most people would say thank you."

Regina sat down on one of the stools, "Most people know not to use four different pans to cook breakfast." Kathryn just rolled her eyes and plated the assortment of bacon, eggs, potatoes and pancakes.

"Well here you go your majesty. You're welcome." She served herself a plate and sat down next to Regina.

"Thank you," she said under her breath. The food did actually smell really good.

"What was that?" Kathryn leaned over with a giant grin spreading across her face.

"I will not be repeating myself, you damn well heard me Nolan." Regina rolled her eyes as she began eating the food in front of her. It was delicious.

"Ah last naming me," Kathryn waved her fork in Regina's general direction, "eat your pancakes Mills, they'll soak up that repressed rage and maybe some of that hangover. We got work to get to."

"You are very lucky that I like you."

"Trust me, I know. If you didn't I probably would have ended up dead a long time ago. But then again, you can't kill me, who would help you bury my body? As far as I know I'm your best accomplice."

"I'm sure Graham would be more than happy to assist me." Regina smirked at her friend.

"Naw are you kidding me, he's got the biggest crush on me. He'd probably try to murder you in revenge."

"This hypothetical is completely ridiculous I'd be able to bury you by myself."

"Hmm, alright I'll give you that one, I am tiny. But you'd need me for when we go and take on that client from last week that cussed you out for refusing to tattoo 'eat shit' on his middle finger."

Regina hummed in amusement, "Yes true, I would probably need help, how's next week sound for you?" She quirked an eyebrow at her friend.

Kathryn broke into a smile and chuckled under her breath, "You terrify me sometimes ya know." She shoved the last of her pancake into her mouth and stood to begin washing the dishes. "No murdering people. Go shower and I'll clean up this 'disaster of a kitchen' and then we can go pound some ink."

Regina sighed handing her now empty plate to Kathryn before heading toward her front door to go check the mail. She swung open her door and noticed a grey pit bull running around on her lawn. It took her all of two seconds before she slammed it shut. Kathryn popped her head around the corner and found Regina trying to steady herself against the door like she was barricading it from a serial killer.

"Uhm everything alright Regina?"

"There is a dog outside." She hissed.

"Let me see this vicious beast." Kathryn walked out of the kitchen toward her but Regina shook her head no.

"You are not opening this door until that dog is gone."

"Alright fine," She went into the living room, Regina following closely behind. They peered out the window at the dog. He was currently spinning in circles trying to catch his own tail, he eventually tripped over his own paw, fell over and then rolled onto his back. "Yes, you're right he's absolutely ferocious." Kathryn said in a mocking tone.

"If my memories serve me correctly, you didn't get bit in the face by a dog as a child now did you." Regina sneered back.

"You're right, I'm sorry. You're allowed to be terrified. Can I at least go see if he's got a tag?" They both diverted their attention back to the dog who was sniffing at the ground and ran head first into the tree. He looked momentarily stunned before continuing sniffing the ground. "Come on, he's got to be the most ridiculously harmless dog I've ever witnessed."

"You are not going out there."

"Alright how do you suggest we get to work then? Your car is out front. I know you, you didn't miss work when you were running a fever of 103, Graham literally had to drag your ass to the hospital." Kathryn crossed her arms and stared down Regina who sighed in defeat.

"Fine." She met Kathryn's glare. "But that dog is getting nowhere near me. You will corral it far away from me understood?"

"Yep got it!" Kathryn bolted around Regina and out the front door, she went out to the sidewalk as Regina watched from the open door, her grip on the doorknob was turning her knuckles white. She knew the fear was irrational but it didn't stop her. She was five when it had happened, the attack was entirely not her fault, her mother had terrified the poor dog and in fear he had lashed out biting Regina in the face, leaving her with a scar above her lip. She stood there watching Kathryn squat down and call the dog over, he joyfully bounced over to her and attempted to push her down while trying to lick her face. Kathryn barely managed to keep on her feet giggling as she fumbled with his collar. "He's got tags! And there's a phone number!"

Regina sighed as she went inside to grab her cell, she returned to the door and the scene was still very much the same, "Well read me the numbers, and I'll call them to come collect their dog."

She was fumbling with the espresso machine, it was pulling the shots too fast and she was trying to fix it. Thankfully there was a lull in customers, it was only eight am and apparently the rush for caffeine hits around nine. Ruby bounced over, "Here let me try. You should go relax boss." Emma grunted giving control over to Ruby, she knew the machine better than Emma anyways and she'd rather not destroy the machine that cost more than her car to buy. The realization that this was her store hit her again, she didn't think she'd get over that fact. Ruby and Emma had been college roommates, Ruby the drama major and Emma a business major. They had parted ways after school, Ruby returning home to Storybrooke with the love of her life Belle, and Emma living in Boston for a few years working a job she despised. A year ago they had reconnected at a small frozen yogurt place in Storybrooke which was where the idea for Once Upon a Time, a small bookstore/cafe where customers can pay to sit and read as much as their heart desires without buying any books was formed. It was almost ironic that the exact frozen yogurt shop went out of business and Emma decided to go for it, bringing in both Ruby and her wife Belle. Her phone buzzing in her pocket brought her back to reality.

She didn't recognize the number but she picked up, "Hello?"

"Your wild animal is on my yard, I would appreciate it if you picked him up in a timely manner, I have things to attend to today that do not involve taking care of a stranger's dog," the harshness of the voice threw her off.

"Oh, uh… right sorry, Brutus won't hurt anyone, he's probably just confused about the new area."

"I didn't call asking for an explanation, I simply want your dog removed from my property, my address is 108 Mifflin St. Come pick up your animal before I call animal control to do it for you." She heard the phone call end. She looked down at her phone confused at the conversation before walking over to Ruby who was fist bumping the air in triumph.

"Ah-ha fixed it! Magic fingers." She wiggled her fingers in Emma's direction. Belle walked out of the back room at that exact moment but she was completely engrossed in the book she was holding. Ruby sent her a brilliant smile, "Isn't that right dear?"

Belle managed to look up at her wife sending her a confused look, "Hmm? What was that?"

"She was saying she's got magic fingers, and honestly I'd rather not know if that's true or not. You two going to be okay? I gotta go get Brutus he's made a daring escape again. Apparently he's at a 108 Mifflin Street, any idea where that is?"

Ruby snorts in response, "Of course your dog picks Regina Mill's place to crash, good luck with that one, it's not far from your place actually."

"Regina Mills? That name sounds really familiar…" Emma drifts off in thought.

"She owns the shop next door, she's a little terrifying," Belle nearly mutters the next part under her breath, "People call her the Evil Queen."

"Oh god," Emma groans, "I met her yesterday I went in there hoping to make friends with our neighbors. I thought she was going to rip my head off."

Ruby genuinely cackles which causes their three customers to momentarily divert their attention toward her, "I could have told you that was going to be a bad idea. You should really go get your dog before she murders you."

"Right," Emma makes her way outside to her yellow bug, hopping in she pulls up the directions. It's a ten minute drive and only two minutes away from her place, she drives off and quickly pulls up at the destination and sees a blonde, sitting on the pavement outside of a white mansion of a house, who is currently petting her dog. She parks and hops out of the car grabbing her spare leash she keeps in the glove box. She sees Regina standing arms crossed just inside her doorway.

She catches Regina roll her eyes, "I should have known this was your dog, thank you for gracing us with your presence Miss Swan. Make sure this doesn't happen again." With that Regina slams the door shut before Emma can say anything.

She hears a giggle erupted from the woman sitting on the ground. "Hi, I'm Kathryn," she reached out her arm toward Emma. "Don't worry, her bark is worse than her bite, she's not exactly a fan of dogs." Emma takes the woman's hand into her own and shakes it.

"Emma, and I see you've met Brutus." She ruffled his ears which causes him to attempt to roll onto his back. "He's basically a giant bundle of fluff."

"Yes, I can see that, he's adorable," Kathryn pulled herself to her feet as Emma attached the leash to Brutus' collar, "So how did you meet Regina?"

"I uh- went into her shop yesterday, see I own Once Upon a Time, it's the store that opened up next to her tattoo parlor-"

"-ah yeah, yesterday wasn't a great day for her. I also work at the Evil Regal, one of the resident artists. I heard you guys make a mean latte."

Emma chuckled at least Kathryn didn't seem to hate her. "Yes we do, half price to any artist at the Evil Regal, you and Regina can have one on the house for dealing with this punk." She pet Brutus which caused his body to wiggle because his tail was wagging so hard. "Well I have to get him home and get back to work, it was lovely to meet you, if you could pass on my apology for Brutus to Regina?"

She nodded, "Absolutely, hopefully I'll see you again soon. I also have to get to work so maybe I'll take you up on that free latte." She headed off toward the mansion as Emma convinced Brutus into her car. She took a deep breath as she sat in the driver's seat glancing over at her canine companion. "You need to stay away from that house do you understand me? I don't need Regina to hate me."

His body just wiggled in response before he leaned forward placing a giant lick up Emma's face. "Ugh thanks pal. Alright let's get you home." She turned on the engine and drove home.