((Lord knows I love DragonQueen, so I decided to make a little series of oneshots (can be stand alone, too) I wanted to write them right from their beginning, because, OF COURSE these lovely ladies had a relationship at some point..))

DragonQueen Oneshots

Nightly Meeting

Today had been another unfulfilling day.

So very, very unfulfilling.

Another day with Snow White trailing after her like a faithful puppy.

Sometimes Regina wondered why she didn't just wrap her hands around the girl's throat and squeezed. How shockingly easy that would be.

But no. She knew she couldn't do that. No. When Snow White's fate finally caught up with her, it would be something far more terrible than being choked.

Something horrible.

But right now, Regina had no clue what the horrible something was. She can't harm the girl right now, and she certainly can't make her childhood miserable. The little brat would tell her father immediately tell her father if Regina dared to speak one unkind word to her.

And being scrutinized by the king was the last thing Regina wanted. At the moment, he's away on royal duties somewhere, but when he is at home, they ignore one another, and Regina preferred it that way.

Regina shifted on the bench. The royal garden had quickly become one of her favorite places to be when she's alone. She doesn't feel trapped as much when she's out here, and her apple tree reminds her of a different time. A happier time.

The air is balmy, almost too warm and humid to be outside, despite it being in the middle of the night. She should probably seek cover inside the chilled castle, but she can't sleep. Not very well, at least. She has a habit of waking up several times at night, often bathed in sweat and gasping for air.

Her waking hours are a nightmare. Why shouldn't her nights be it as well?

Regina subconsciously opens and closes her palm and is delighted to see a tiny flame erupt from her hand. She probably shouldn't feel so proud of herself though, she knows the little flame dancing in her palm is pathetic. Useless.

But it's the best she can do these days. Rumplestiltskin is in some sort of mood where he prefers to preach about magic and how astonishingly bad she is at it instead of actually teaching her magic.

"Use your anger", he keeps telling her, and she does. But it's not working.

"Maybe you're not angry enough, dearie", he taunts her, and Regina wants to scream every time she hears him taunt her with that impish voice. Of course she's angry. Angry and heartbroken.

Her magic lessons are going nowhere. And she still doesn't understand half of the spells in Mother's old spell book.

If only she had another option. Someone that wasn't Rumplestiltskin. Someone that didn't kept taunting her and drop hints about her "lovely little stepdaughter" all the time.

Regina sighs heavily. She's actually quite exhausted. She had another fruitless magic lesson with the imp today. One that ended with her screaming that he should "get the hell out of her castle". And Rumplestiltskin had done just that. But only after he had giggled manically and informed her that "this isn't your castle, dearie".

As if he needed to remind her of that. She's been living here for two years, and she still feels like a stranger. A foreign guest. Or a very well-paid nanny for Snow White. Except for dreadful stepdaughter, she doesn't really talk with anyone here. She quickly discovered that the king and her had very little to talk about, and the chambermaids…. Well, they obey her every wish, but they never talk to her. Except for the usual "good morning, your Majesty", and "goodnight, Your Majesty", none of them talk to her, and Regina has a nasty feeling that none of them thinks highly about her. Of course, she's aware what they say about her behind her back. "The child bride", "the teenage queen". But it's more than that. It's about who she's "replacing".

She's not Eva.

Beloved Queen Eva. Snow's mother and Leopold's first wife. The wife he's placed on a metaphorical pedestal. The wife he often toasts to for no reason. The wife whose birthday they still celebrate.

Regina isn't jealous. Why should she? But the implication in his words are still crystal clear and stings quite a bit: she'll never be as good or as well loved as Eva. She'll always be a poor substitute for the real thing.

She's competing with a ghost every single day. Always second best.

Regina doesn't know for how long she's been sitting in the same position on the garden bench, lost in her own head, but suddenly she sees something that makes her head snap up.

It's Johanna, Snow's nursemaid, and Regina decides to make a hasty retreat. She doesn't need Johanna to see her here and wonder about "the queen's strange habit of sitting outside in the middle of the night".

Regina gathers her skirts with one hand and slips quietly and unseen into the castle. It's so quiet in here. Except for Johanna, everybody must be asleep. Regina quickly peers into Snow's chamber and finds the girl peacefully asleep, most likely dreaming of flowery fields and unicorns.

Regina pauses for a moment and takes in the sight of Snow, sleeping innocently with her dark hair spread over the pillow. There was a time where Regina would have sworn that she could never hate a child. But then she remembers what Snow White cost her, and her vision reddens with real, genuine hate.

Sometimes she balks at her own thoughts. Sometimes she's afraid of what she's turning into. But never for long enough to think about changing anything.

Regina leaves the girl to her dreams and spins around on her heel to retire to her own chamber. She's halfway down the hallway when Johanna passes her. The nursemaid curtsies and utters a polite: "Your Majesty."

"Johanna." Regina acknowledges and walks past the elderly woman.

It's always the same. The same curtsies and "Your Majesty's" and Regina is sick of it. It's like she's here, but she's not. She's just a shell. A puppet, made for standing by Leopold's side and smile whenever someone is looking at her.

Sometimes the thought of revenge isn't even enough to pull her out of these dark thoughts, and Regina fears that this is gonna be another sleepless night.

Regina mechanically undoes the strings in her dress and slips out of it. She steps out of her shoes and finds one of her nightgowns in the closet. It's not much of a nightgown, really, more like a scrap of silk being held together by a few straps, but it's light and airy, so it'll have to do for tonight.

Once she's changed into the nightgown, she spends a moment at the vanity table, releases her braid and brushes her long, dark hair. Regina huffs a little when she gazes at her own reflection. Sometimes she feels like a child, with adult hairstyles, and dressed in adult clothing.

I was never meant for this life. I was never meant to be queen.

Regina sets the hairbrush down on the vanity table and slips into the bed. She should probably enjoy the plush comfort of the mattress and pillows and silk sheet underneath her, but her head is swimming with dark thoughts about revenge mixed with Daniel's perfect smile, and suddenly nothing seems comfortable.

Sleeping forever would be comfortable. Going to sleep one night and simply never waking up again would be comfortable.

But she knows she can't do that either. Her father, her sweet Daddy would be devastated. She's all he has, and he is all she has. It would destroy him if she disappeared. Sometimes she wonders if Snow would mourn her? Not like she mourned her mother, of course not. But would she actually mourn her if Regina died?

Regina's muddled thoughts is suddenly interrupted when she realizes that her cheeks are wet. She glides her fingertips over the skin almost surprised. When did she start crying? Was she perhaps already crying when she sat in the garden? Was that why Johanna looked at her like that?

Either way this is embarrassing. Only weak girls cry, that's what her mother always told her. Regina bites her lip in an attempt to stall herself, but the treacherous tears keeps falling. She kicks the covers to the side and searches through her nightstand drawer after a handkerchief, but she finds none. Maybe she left it in her closet instead.

Regina wipes her cheeks with the back of her hand and shuffles into a sitting position. She needs her handkerchief, and she has to leave the bed in order to get it.

She never makes it out of bed. Suddenly a white handkerchief is stretched out towards her, and Regina looks up in surprise. She didn't exactly expect company in the middle of the night, and the next second her mouth falls open when she sees who is offering her the handkerchief.

Maleficent is standing right next to her, and Regina wonders for how long she's been standing there. Her first impulse is to ask her what in the world she thinks she's doing, barging in like that, but then she remembers that that's exactly what she did herself when they first met.

But that was different. That was in broad daylight. This is the middle of the night, and Maleficent is in her bedchambers. For some reason, Regina finds that to be oddly inappropriate. And suddenly she feels rather exposed. She's only met Maleficent twice. This is strange. Why is she showing up in the middle of the night?

Maleficent once again silently waves the handkerchief in front of Regina, clearly an invitation to take it, so Regina does, and she quickly wipes her cheeks with it.

"Thank you." She says, because she can't think of anything else to say.

"Why are you crying, little queen?"

Being called "little queen" touches a nerve, but Regina ignores it and simply shrugs.

"Well?" Maleficent presses. ,,Why are you crying?"

Regina ignores that too. Instead she asks: "What are you doing here?"

Now it's Maleficent who shrugs. "I wanted to visit you."

"Why?"

"Why not?" Maleficent retorts.

"It's the middle of the night." Regina points out.

Yes, indeed," Maleficent replies rather careless.

Regina isn't sure what to make of the blonde's staring. There's that odd feeling of exposure again, and she drops the handkerchief and pulls the covers up to her chest.

That seems to amuse the other woman, and her voice is bubbling with something when she eyes Regina and asks: "Are you afraid of me?"

Regina considers her answer. She wasn't afraid when she met Maleficent for the first time, true, the woman had threaded to eat her, but she had seemed more unstable that intimidating. And during their second meeting, they had battled King Stefan. Well, Maleficent had done most of the work, and then she had let Regina ride on her back.

"Do I have a reason to be?" Regina finally lands on.

"I'm not going to hurt you."

Regina nods once but doesn't release the covers. Maleficent is still staring at her, and Regina isn't sure if she should feel uncomfortable or… something she can't quite name.

"Why are you here?" Regina asks after a pause, because she can't for the life of her think of any reason why Maleficent should come and visit her in the middle of the night.

"Well…" the bed dips slightly as Maleficent nonchalantly sits down next to Regina, and Regina shifts and shuffles away to create at least some distance between them. A strange habit the dragon has, invading Regina's personal space like that.

"You never came back," Maleficent continues.

"Pardon?"

"I waited for you to come and visit me again, and you didn't. Why?" Maleficent asks plainly.

"Oh... I…" Regina wasn't expecting this. Of all the reasons as to why Maleficent chose to show up in the middle of the night, this simple question was not one of them.

"Did I frighten you?" Maleficent asks and brushes a golden strand of hair behind her ear. There's amusement in her voice, and something else Regina can't quite name. Concern, perhaps.

"No," Regina says firmly. "I've just been… busy." That's the truth. She has been busy. With acting as Snow's nanny and the king's lifeless porcelain doll of a wife.

"Ah. Busy. With what, exactly?" Maleficent prods and shifts in her cross-legged position to look at Regina.

"I happen to have commitments here, and…" Regina motions towards the spell book on her nightstand. "I have my studies."

"And how are your studies coming along?" Maleficent inquires, and Regina silently wonders what spurred this sudden interest.

"Not very good." The brunette admits and a tiny smile tugs at her lips. "But that's probably my own fault, Rumplestiltskin thinks I'm too impatient, and..."

"How old are you?" Maleficent interrupts her rambling and gives Regina another look with her head tilted to the side.

"I'm… Twenty." Regina says and raises an eyebrow. This conversation is getting more and more strange with each passing moment.

"Only twenty," Maleficent muses, more to herself than to Regina. "So young…"

"Twenty-one in six months!" Regina indignantly retorts. Why is it that everyone has to comment on how young she is all the time?

Maleficent laughs quietly, but Regina fails to see what's so funny, and she glares at the other woman.

"It's getting late, and I'm very tired so if you don't mind…" Regina half-snaps in her best queen-voice. The one she normally uses with her servants.

That only seems to amuse Maleficent even more, and Regina grows more and more tired of this absurd "no reason" visit. The brunette ignores Maleficent and gets out of bed. She pours herself a glass of water from the decanter as she wonders just how to get rid of her unwanted, late night visitor. She could for the guards, but that probably wouldn't be a good idea. Maleficent is a dragon, and god knows what she would do to the guards if they tried to forcibly remove her.

Regina yelps in surprise when she turns around. Maleficent is standing inches from her. Very much invading her personal space again. God, why does she keep doing that?

"I'm sorry," Maleficent says surprisingly sincerely. "I shouldn't have laughed at you."

"Why do you keep doing that?" Regina asks.

"What?"

Regina isn't quite sure how to explain it, so instead she motions with her hands, indicating the very little space between them. "That."

"Does it bother you?"

Regina has to consider that one. Does it bother her? Well, it does something, that's for sure. It…. It flusters her, that's what it does. The real question is, why does it fluster her? Maleficent is just a woman like herself, right? So why does it fluster her when she's standing a bit too close?

And why is she blushing when she asks herself these questions? Regina doesn't know what to answer, so instead she simply looks down at her hands and takes a step back. She chews nervously at her bottom lip as she fiddles with her hands.

Maleficent smiles. Wider, this time, and Regina can't see what's amusing. She shouldn't be amused when Regina is feeling this… odd.

"I'll leave," Maleficent announces, still grinning.

Regina nods, feeling nothing but pure relief.

"If..." Maleficent continues.

"If what?" Regina says hesitantly.

"If you promise to come and visit me again."

Regina's brows knit together. Why is it so important for Maleficent that she comes and visit her? The two previous times, Maleficent had acted like it was a bother. Like Regina was irritating her with her mere presence.

"I enjoy your company; my castle gets terribly lonely."

Oh. Loneliness. Regina can emphasize with that. Loneliness is something she understands very well.

She nods once, as to indicate their "deal" is struck.

"Promise me," Maleficent insists.

"I promise."

"Excellent. Don't forget."

And just like that, she's gone, and Regina is alone in her bed chambers once more. For some strange reason, Regina feels a bit dizzy when she returns to her bed. And she still doesn't understand why Maleficent chose to visit her in the middle of the night…

To Be Continued?

(Yay or nay? I admit, I had fun describing Regina as naïve and clueless..)