Work Text:
Regina winced at the sudden intrusion into her vault, the loud sound of heavy boots flying down the stairs. Her stairs … in her vault … her sanctuary.
“Hey mom.” It was Henry. One of two intrusions she’ll allow. Her face softened immediately.
“Hi, my darling. How was school?”
“Eh it was alright. We’ve been stuck on math and science the past couple days, Grandma is refusing to move on to writing. Anyway, I came to see what’s for dinner or are we ordering Granny’s again?” His eyes crinkled around the edges in a sly smile.
Regina gave a small chuckle at that. It still caught her off guard whenever her son sassed her as she realized he was picking up some of her own mannerisms. It brought her a feeling she couldn’t explain. Like she had done something right, it made her almost giddy inside. Especially after everything they have been through with his early years where she didn’t think she could handle another night of him crying.
“No, absolutely not. No Granny’s tonight. Two nights in a row, what do you think this is? A fraternity? I’m finishing up here and I’ll be home to cook tonight. We are having roast chicken with mixed vegetables. I know I’ve been distracted down here for the past couple days but we are having a proper meal tonight. I promise.” Regina stated while adding a few more ingredients to her current potion recipe she was working on.
An eye roll “Great can’t wait..” “So what are you working on? It looks complicated.”
Regina straightened up at that, pushing her hair back behind her ears.
“I’m working on a new memory spell. Well not new, but improved. The old one had some side effects like unwanted lingering fog and blurring of old memories.” Three stirs clockwise then 5 stirs counterclockwise was all that was left until she was finished. “Okay that should do it.”
She double checked her recipe, pouring the smoking liquid into a vial. “I’m going to give it a shot, hang around for a minute and make sure nothing bad happens to your Mother.”
Henry laughed at that. “Ya sure - like I could whip up the antidote to whatever that is you concocted- but I’ll ‘hang around’.”
She thought back to the last 5 minutes up until the time she was interrupted mid recipe. Bringing the vial to her lips she tossed it back in one go (not her first rodeo in taking a shot). It warmed on the way down like her apple cider yet tasted like dirty sink water. She grimaced, it reminded her of a few unsavory nights at Aesop’s Table with a certain blonde. Nights that ended with her substituting her luscious bed for a porcelain throne. A few seconds passed as the warmth spread from her chest down to her fingers. Her eyes drifted close as it spread up to her head.
Henry shifted from one foot to another in anticipation.
“Soooo .. did it work?”
Regina sighed, blowing the air out of her nose “No.”
Feeling the irritation build over her failed recipe she straightened her spine squaring her shoulders “I think it’s time you went home to finish your homework and shower before dinner.”
Henry paused for a second at the sudden tone of his mothers voice. He knew better than to argue when she got like this. “Fine. See you at home”
He turned from Regina who was rereading her recipe and started walking up the stairs “Whatever you say, Your Majesty”
“HENRY DAN …” she trailed off. He was gone. That couldn’t be -he was just standing behind her.
- - - - - - - - - - -
Dinner was awkward. They were both silently stewing but neither wanted to be the first to broach the subject. Stubbornness runs strong in the Mills family and they both were experts in it. So they small talked each other to death about school and work.
The next morning Regina woke up early to get a workout in before breakfast. Nothing crazy, a small circuit workout followed by 2 miles on the treadmill in her basement. By the time she was finished she completely forgot about what happened the night before in the vault. Her thoughts were preoccupied with hoping to see a certain someone at Granny’s.
Freshly showered, make-up on, hair styled, with her favorite perfume sprayed she met Henry downstairs for their morning walk to Granny’s.
It was a cool crisp fall morning with the morning dew still covering everything despite the sun having risen. The sun rays were light and mild. Her favorite time of the year before everything became dusted with snow and gray light for months on end.
It was her favorite morning until they walked into Granny’s, right into her least favorite person. Unfortunately she was alone.
“Regina! Oh I thought I missed you, you're late today.” Snow chirped.
Regina curled her fist and then reminded herself to relax them “Yes, well my workout ran a little longer than usual. Thanks for noticing.”
“You’re so welcome. Henry said he would like to come for dinner tonight something about chicken? You’re more than welcome to join us, I know it can be lonely in that big mansion without Henry to eat with.”
Hands curled again, but this time she didn’t stop them “Again, thank you Snow.” Regina grit out. “I’ll let you know how my day goes”
Snow grinned irritatingly from ear to ear.
“That wasn’t a ‘no’” Snow sang “So I’ll count you in making sure I get enough for everyone.”
Regina ,who was far too irritated at Snow and her overly cheerful attitude, didn’t even register the words from Snow until it was too late. Everyone?
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Unlucky for her Regina had a fairly easy day and left work at a decent time. No town council meeting today; those were reserved for the first and third Thursday of the month. She was greeted by the sight of Henry at the kitchen counter finishing up some homework or what she hoped is homework.
“Hey.” was all she got from him. Not even bothering to look up from his writing.
“Hi my darling.” She eyed him carefully testing the waters of his teenager mood.
“So are you coming with me to dinner?”
No small talk or pleasantries, got it.
“I’m not sure honey. You know how well I ..” she searched for the accurate word. “ .. tolerate your grandmother.” She tried forcing a small smile. Henry didn’t need to know but she would be more agreeable to dinner if she knew Emma would be there.
Henry, who was solely focused on his homework, didn't bother looking up. “Shocker.” She thought she heard him mumble under his breath. Was she really that predictable?
Her eyes went wide. “What was that?”
Henry suddenly looked up, eyes clouded with confusion “Uhh nothing? I didn’t say anything.”
“.... right, so about dinner.”
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
An hour and a half later with Henry by her side Regina knocked on the Charming's door. She had an apple pie in hand, homemade, of course. The time she spent baking the pie left no time to change so she was still in her standard work attire. A gray blazer, a crisp white shirt with a matching pencil skirt and black pumps.
“Finally my two favorites have arrived.” Charming gleamed. “My favorite grandson and my favorite dessert.” He said as he reached for the pie winking at Regina.
Charming was the better of the two, even if she wouldn’t admit it. She tolerated him, even liked him if you caught her in a good mood.
“I baked it just for you - with my secret ingredient - of course.” She smirked.
“Cinnamon? Extra brown sugar?”
“Ricin.” She gave a devilish wide smile.
Charming laughed all the way to the kitchen where they were greeted to the sight of Emma and Snow preparing dinner together.
“Oh.” Regina let slip to herself at the sight of Emma.
“Regina! I knew you’d come. Thankfully I prepared enough for all of us.” Snow beamed. Emma turned around eyes slowly giving Regina a once over. Regina had to stop herself from reacting. Something about the way Emma always looked at her made her shiver.
“Hey” Emma said. Regina rolled her eyes. Like mother, like son.
“Hello Miss Swan” Regina replied as Emma turned back toward the salad she was preparing.
“Oh God, she's still in her work clothes. That skirt is sinful with the amount of leg it shows. Fuck.”
Regina's eyebrows almost left her forehead. “I beg your pardon Miss Swan?!”
A loud clatter followed by lettuce covering the floor as Emma dropped the bowl she was holding. Her eyes went wide for a split second before recovering. Her face instantly flushed while a light sheen of sweat appeared. “I uh … what was that? I um. Uh. Um, I didn't say anything.” Emma stammered out. But before Regina could reply Emma flew from the kitchen right out the front door. Snow stood there looking just as confused as Regina felt. What an earth just happened.
It took a couple seconds for Regina to close her mouth, giving her brain a second to catch up. Once it did she rushed out the door after Emma ignoring Snow and Henry’s question about what just happened. Did they not hear what she said? Are they not paying attention?
Regina found Emma down stairs sitting on a bench behind the half dead bushes in the apartment courtyard. She looked shell shocked, she barely noticed Regina as she approached. “Miss Swan, what on earth just happened back there?” Emma blinked up at Regina, eyes shy and timid. She looked so small.
“How … What …” Emma prattled on. “I .. you can …”
“Eloquent as ever Miss Swan. I don’t know why or how but that was a pretty bold statement to make in front of your family. I don’t know where the disconnect happened between your brain and your mouth but clearly it needs repair.”
“I what? I never said those things.” Confusion clouded Emma’s eyes.
“Miss Swan I heard you clear as day talk about how sinful my legs looked. Who knows what else you intended to say before I stopped you”
Emma blanched. “I know Regina, but I never said those words out loud. It was a thought. A private thought but only a thought. I have no idea how you heard it/picked up on it -whatever you want to call it.”
Regina gave a small look of disappointment. “So you didn’t say those things?”
“No I didn’t say them, but I thought them…” A few moments passed when Emma's eyes became hard, then suddenly an onslaught “Have you always been able to hear my thoughts?! Have you been listening in this whole time? This whole time?? That’s … that’s a violation of privacy. I can’t believe it. You’ve heard it alOH MY GOD. Oh my god. This is so embarrassing. Holy hell.” The speed at which Emma was flying through emotions from fear, to anger, to embarrassment was giving Regina whiplash.
“Miss Swan, just hold on.” Regina rubbed her eyes. Overwhelmed with all this information. Had Emma always had thoughts like this. What other thoughts has she had about Regina? Wait, before she could even get there .. how was it that she was hearing Emma’s thoughts? She’s never been able to before. Never been able to hear anyones thoughts or read their minds.
“No, I haven't been able to hear you. Ever. Except for just now. I have no idea what is going on.” Regina took a step back. “I have no idea how but I heard you clear as day like you were speaking to me. It seemed no one else heard it either, except for me.” She stopped to slow down and think for a second. “So not everyone is affected. Interesting” She murmured. Regina started running through her last 2 days. Wake up, work out, breakfast at Granny’s, take Henry to school, revise recipes in her vault, come home to make dinner, get Henry ready for bed, then lastly get herself ready for bed. She didn’t come across anyone unusual or have any unusual experiences. No weird feelings or any run-ins with weird magic recently either.
Regina looked down at Emma, noticing the tell tale signs of fear written in her features at Regina’s long silence. Even though Regina is the one with the problem, the urge to hold Emma, to kiss that look off her face, to comfort her is overwhelming. Her heart aches for Emma knowing what it must be like having your deepest desires out in the open for someone else to hear. Instead she settles.. “I’m sorry Emma.”
“Whoa. That’s a first.”
Regina raises her eyebrow at that. Emma has the gall to look innocent.
“It’s okay Regina. I know you can’t help it, that you didn’t choose this. We need to figure out why it suddenly started happening though. Something changed. A curse maybe?” An annoying smirk appeared “Piss anyone off lately, Your Majesty?”
“No Miss Swan, I have not pissed anyone off lately but thank you for that colorful vocabulary lesson” Realization dawned over Regina’s face. Colorful -oh my- her memory potion. She missed a key ingredient entirely. She forgot to add the 10 Red Herring scales. Henry had stomped in as usual breaking her concentration and when she turned back to finish up she jumped to the next line completely missing the red herring scales. Emma’s face was morphing back into fear at Regina’s second long silence of their conversation. “I know what happened.”
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
After explaining everything to her, Emma still looked fearful, like she might run any second. Regina slipped her hand in Emma’s giving her a small squeeze, hoping it would settle her. Regina led Emma back into the Charming's apartment. They decided that hiding it would be futile after everything that already transpired so they decided to stick to the truth.
As they walked back into the kitchen together, Henry glanced down at their hands “Ew, why are they holding hands? Gross.”
“Henry!” Regina shrieked. Emma jumped a little and whirled her head at Regina. “What has gotten into you lately?!”
Emma squeezed her hand, “Hey look at me. It’s okay, look at me.” Finally she looked over, meeting Emma’s gaze holding it there, getting lost in green eyes. They were so focused on each other they failed to notice the quizzical look Snow and Henry shared between each other. Emma started “Regina I didn’t hear him say anything. Is everything okay? Wait, can you hear his thoughts too?”
“Can you hear his thoughts too? What is going on?? Can you read people's minds Regina?” Snow looked bewildered.
“No, I cannot ‘read people’s minds’ but it appears I can hear certain peoples thoughts. Some people clearly have louder thoughts than others.” Regina gave a pointed look to both Emma and Henry.
“So wait … what have I been thinking?” Snow asked.
Regina furrowed her brow .. “That's a great question, I actually haven’t heard any of your thoughts. Only Emma and Henry’s.”
“Hmm that’s odd. What if you concentrated?”
“I can try. Hold on.” Regina let go of Emma’s hand not wanting any interference. She tried to quiet her mind while focusing on Snow. She let herself feel.
It was Emma who spoke after several long minutes .. “Anything? You’re starting to look a little constipated.” That received a raised eyebrow and smack to the arm. “Okay okay got it.”
“Thank you Miss Swan but no I couldn’t hear anything. I guess you two are the lucky ones.”
“Lucky us” They chimed in unison.
That received two smacks to two different arms.
“Ow!”
“Ouch!”
“Enough from you two, we need to know why it's affecting you two and how to end it.” Regina started pacing the cramped apartment. “I need space….. I need my vault.” With that Regina disappeared in a cloud of purple haze.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Loud boots descended her stairs for the second time in 2 days. A record. “Hey.”
“Miss Swan, do either you or your son know any other greeting besides ‘Hey’ ” she pulled a mocking face.
Emma rounded the table to stand close to Regina. “Yes we do, we sometimes say … actually that’s not important.” She started picking up different looking vials -the ones that looked cool- “Have you gotten anywhere with this thing?”
Regina snatched them out of her hand “No where, I have no idea how skipping one step altered a potion this much from the original intention.”
“Which potion were you working on?” Emma was desperately trying to lean in the opposite direction of Regina. The overwhelming scent of Regina was calling to her like a Siren.
“I was improving my memory potion. I wanted to get rid of the lingering fog that sometimes happens along with the blurring of old memories. But I guess skipping the red herring scales really makes a massive difference.”
She couldn’t wait any longer. She had to know. “So are we going to talk about what you heard or ..”
“Well what is there to say Miss Swan?” Regina looked up from her book at Emma. “I think it’s pretty straight forward. I need to keep working out while also continuing to wear skirts around you.” Regina smirked.
Emma finally cracked a guilty smile. “Oh and the pantsuits too, I think I prefer those over the skirts.”
Regina let out a full laugh at that. Something Emma wishes she could bottle up and save for later.
“You know if you play your cards right Madame Mayor, you may get to do more than just hear my thoughts”
Oh shit. Here comes the blush, Emma can feel it spreading up her neck, betraying her.
“Miss Swan” Regina husked. “Are you .. blushing?”
“Of course I’m blushing, between the flirting and that fucking skirt I can’t help it. Holy shit woman.”
Regina scrunched her nose “Hmm there is that colorful vocabulary again … maybe you can give me a lesson on how to swear like a sailor.” The side eye Regina gives is down right lethal. Emma thinks she might combust on the spot.
A dramatic sigh “I’m going to need you to get out of my head. It’s not fair.” Emma finally gave in, leaning down to whisper “It’s not fair because how will I ever get to catch you off guard.”
“Catch me off hmph” Emma lunged forward capturing Regina's lips. Regina took a second to catch up, but slowly kissed her back. Regina slid her hands into Emma’s soft curly hair encouraging Emma to grab Regina’s hip pulling her flush against her. Regina melted into Emma pressing herself up against the blonde. Regina let a small moan slip between kisses . Emma thought she could stay in this moment for the rest of her life. They were so caught up in each other they failed to notice the faint white light that was illuminating out from underneath them.
Emma pulled back ever so slightly but still held Regina “Whoa. What is that??”
Regina blinked. “I have no idea.”
Emma’s eyes darted around the courtyard, almost wincing in anticipation. She slowly grabbed Regina by the chin, holding her gaze.
Emma furrowed her brow. “So now it’s okay and I don’t get an ‘I beg your pardon Miss Swan’ or ‘Miss Swan what colorful vocabulary you have.’?” Emma questioned.
Regina regarded her cooly “What are you going on now about Miss Swan?”
“Oh nothing” Emma singsonged. “But whatever that bright light was definitely ended the effects of the potion.”
“And how, pray tell, would you know that?” Regina gave Emma a disbelieving side eye.
Emma leaned in brushing her lips against Regina’s ear. “Oh trust me, you would have definitely heard what I just thought.” Emma paused leaving a small kiss to the tender skin under her ear “Well maybe not ‘heard’ but definitely seen what I was just thinking about …. Your Majesty.”
Regina gasped “Emma!”