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When Regina Mills walked into Granny's diner on Thursday afternoon, she didn't realise that the conversation she was about to overhear would change her life forever. If she had known, she might have skipped her morning coffee.
"Good morning Ruby" She turned to smile at the brunette who had returned to Storybrooke some months previously "the usual please"
The leggy woman nodded distractedly, forgoing her usual greeting and small talk as she turned back to whoever she was talking to in the kitchen behind her.
Regina could overhear snatches of the conversation, and what she heard only served to heighten the uncomfortable feeling in her gut as she realised she was eavesdropping on an intensely private conversation.
"...So then he just walked out?"
"Mhmm. Apparently he told her that..."
"...Is she holding up ok or...?"
"She'll be ok. You know Emma.."
Regina jerked back in shock, face flushed. Whatever she had expected to hear, it hadn't been that. The Pirate had walked out on Emma? Or had she thrown him out?
She'd known they were having problems recently, everyone did. Ever since Emma decided to give up the saviour power in return for her life, her relationship with Hook had been strained. Whilst the rest of the town knew that she had done the right thing, and were determined to find other ways to save themselves instead of relying on a certain headstrong blonde, Hook had been adamant in his disgust at Emma's choice. He had told her she was selfish for putting herself first, putting her entire family at risk and worse than that, putting him at risk.
But she had never thought it would actually get to this point. For almost a year now Emma had been completely oblivious to the way the Pirate treated her, and Regina had resigned herself to having to put up with it, or perhaps bash his brains out against a wall if it got to that. But it seemed like Emma had finally pulled herself together and told him exactly where he could stick it.
Regina made a mental note to phone the blonde later and make sure she was ok. For Henry's sake. Obviously.
However, by the time 5:00 rolled around that afternoon, Regina had spent the entire day in meetings with various town members, trying to arrange the building of a new youth centre in order to prepare the children of fairytale characters for the real world. And Emma Swan had been pushed to the back of her mind, way back behind planning permission and budgeting issues.
So when her phone rang with the blonde's ID she had almost entirely forgotten about the conversation in the diner earlier that day.
"Hello?"
"Regina? It's Emma"
The voice at the end of the line dripped with exhaustion, and she sounded stuffed up, like she was recovering from a bad cold. But Regina knew that wasn't it.
"Emma, are you ok?"
"I'm...fine. I was just wondering, I know it's my week to have Henry but would you be able to have him tonight? I just...I think I'm coming down with something. Don't want to give it to the kid, y'no?" She tried to inject some enthusiasm into her voice and failed drastically.
Regina sighed with concern for the woman. She wished Emma would come to her, tell her the truth and reach out for help, but instead she insisted on suffering in silence.
She weighed up the options she had in her mind. On the one hand, she could tell Emma that of course she would take Henry. That would give Emma the space she needed to get drunk and break a few things, let her work through her anger in the way she best knew how.
On the other hand, they were friends, and it was hurting her to let Emma suffer alone. So she could let Emma know that she knew she was lying, therefore admitting that she had overheard the conversation in the diner. Then, she could ask Henry to spend the night at Snow and Charming, freeing her up to take care of Emma.
She made a snap decision. She wouldn't tell Emma what she knew, but she would speak to Henry about spending the night at his grandparents. He would understand, he wasn't stupid.
"Of course I'll take Henry, Emma. Take as long as you need. And call me if you need anything, ok?"
"Thanks Regina" Emma mumbled, hanging up the phone as the tears threatened to spill over once more.
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It wasn't that she was upset about him being gone. If she was honest with herself, she had been wishing for this day for a long time now. It was what he had said before he had shown himself out.
He had dragged up long repressed memories, memories of not being wanted, of being told that she wasn't enough, that she would never be enough. All those things he had called her as the Dark One last year and worse, he had said all of that to her. And then when she had thrown him out, sobbing furious tears at 2am, he had had the indecency to spit at her that "he was glad to be finally rid of her anyway"
Emma took another gulp of her drink, not bothering to pour it into a glass this time. She didn't drink often anymore, but if there was ever a time to forget her own name, today was that day.
Henry was spending the night with Regina, her parents thought she had a simple head cold and couldn't make it to dinner, and all her friends were busy with their own families, partners and lives. In short, she was completely alone. Just the way she always knew she would be.
She took another drink and fell further into the black hole of her own thoughts.
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Meanwhile, across town in her large, pristine kitchen, Regina was cooking dinner as she spoke to her son.
"Henry?"
"Hmmm" the boy didn't look up from the sheet of maths equations he was working on.
"How's Emma?"
This time, he set his pencil down. He shrugged, not wanting to meet Regina's eye. "Did you um, did you hear what happened last night?" He muttered.
"Bits of it, yes. Do you want to fill me in on the rest?"
Henry shrugged. He had heard parts of the argument as he tried to beat his high score on Mario Kart. But it hadn't been his business and secretly, he was glad that Emma had finally thrown out the Pirate. Regardless, he filled Regina in on the various things Hook had said to Emma, and her mouth grew into a tighter and tighter line as he continued talking. By the time he reached the part where Emma had thrown him into the street and locked herself in her room for the rest of the night, Regina's face was a picture of fury. Her eyes were alight with anger, and her jaw was set so firmly it could break glass.
"And how was your mother this morning?" She asked coolly, trying to keep her emotions under check.
Henry eyed her nervously, his gaze flicking from the look in her eyes to the slight tremors shaking her hands as she tried to keep her anger under control. "Umm..I don't know.." he muttered "I didn't see her, she said she wasn't feeling well. Are you ok Mom?"
"Hmm? Yes, fine. Henry, once dinner is over would you be able to spend the night at your grandparents? I think it's probably best I go and check up on your mother"
Henry nodded quickly, relieved that somebody would be looking after her. He had wanted to do it himself but, well, he didn't really know how. What do you even say to your mom after you overhear her own worst fears being spat at her by the man she lived with? He wasn't really good at all that stuff.
Regina smiled quickly and kissed him on the cheek before turning back to finish cooking. The world turns and relationships fall apart, but dinner still had to be ready on time.
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Later that evening, Regina knocked on Emma's door, apprehensive as to what she would find behind it.
"Open!" A voice slurred from somewhere within. Regina pushed tentatively, balancing a container of food in one hand, a takeaway cup of tea from Granny's in the other.
"Emma?" She called as she stepped inside.
"Who is it?? I told you I'm sick, mom!"
Sure, Regina thought cynically. For as dense as Snow White may be, the slur on Emma's voice would have failed to fool even her.
"It's Regina! I came to check on you! I brought food?"
She placed the containers down carefully and walked through into the hallway, still holding the tea she had picked up for Emma.
Emma appeared from a door leading into the kitchen, a bottle of vodka clutched firmly to her chest. Her other hand held a champagne glass, although the drink inside it was decidedly not champagne.
"R'gina! You're just in time! 'M Celebrating!"
"Celebrating what, dear?"
"He's gone, duh!"
"The Pirate?" Regina tilted her head to the side. Emma seemed a lot happier than she had earlier, and she had no choice but to account it to the 3/4 empty bottle she was waving around.
"Yeah! Im free R'gina! Freeeee!" The blonde waved her arms for emphasise, paying little mind to the liquid in danger of escaping the glass as she gestured.
Regina stepped forward and gently tugged the vodka bottle out of Emma's arms. Then, placing it down carefully on the side, she held her hand out to Emma.
"How about we save the celebrating for later? Come and sit down with me for a bit, will you tell me what happened?" Regina asked gently, using the voice she usually reserved for Henry when he was sick. But letting the blonde drunkenly dance around the house carrying a glass seemed like a recipe for disaster, and if showing a bit more patience than usual was the answer to stopping her, than so be it.
Emma allowed herself to be lead over to the couch, tripping over her own feet as she did so.
"Ginaaaaa, stop moving so fast" she whined "'m tiiiired"
"Ok Emma, it's ok. Just sit here for a minute whilst I get you some water, ok?"
Emma nodded and glanced down at her hands, suddenly noticing the absence of the bottle she had been hugging like a second child "Don't need water, had vodka"
"It's not exactly the same thing now is it, dear?"
Emma shrugged lopsidedly "same colour."
Regina stifled a smirk as she stood up again and made her way to the kitchen. Whilst she knew that she had to help Emma sober up as best as she could, the drunken sheriff seemed to be an endless source of entertainment, and part of her just wanted to see what would happen next. But alas, she had grown quite fond of the woman, and didn't want to see her meet her demise by alcohol poisoning any time soon.
Regina returned to the living room, two glasses of water balanced carefully in her hands. She handed one to Emma and placed the other one on the floor for later.
Emma took the glass reluctantly and sipped it, grimacing.
"Vodka was nicer" she muttered under her breath.
Regina waited until she had swallowed down half the glass, before speaking again.
"So Emma..." she asked carefully "do you want to tell me why you're more drunk than a frat boy on St Patrick's Day?"
"Told you" Emma waved a hand clumsily "Hook fin'lly left"
"And you're ok with that, Emma?" She queried gently.
But instead of answering, Emma stared at her blankly for a few seconds, before turning a shade vaguely reminiscent of pale green and standing up to make a mad dash for the bathroom.
Regina sighed and stood up, gently picking up the glass Emma had knocked over. Water pooled across the hardwood floor but Regina ignored it for now, instead following the sounds of faint retching coming from across the hallway.
She pushed open the door to find Emma coughing into the toilet, emptying the, mostly alcoholic contents of her stomach into it.
"Oh Emma" she sighed gently, stepping across the room to hold her hair back from her face. She stayed like that for a couple of minutes, rubbing the blonde's back gently as she coughed, until Emma leant into her warm embrace as she sat on the cold porcelain floor.
"You good?" Regina asked her softly, treating her as she would treat their son. Whilst she usually had little patience for vomiting drunks, she knew Emma and she knew how much it took for her to get to the point of drinking this much. The woman hadn't exactly had an easy time of it lately.
"Mmm" Emma leaned in closer, her eyes fluttering shut "tired now"
"Ok well how about you stay here for a minute, and I'll go and clean up, and then help you get into bed?" She pulled herself away from the now clingy blonde gently and stood up, smoothing out the creases in her skirt.
"Mmmm" Emma hummed in agreement.
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However, when Regina returned to the bathroom to help Emma up and into bed, she was greeted by a sight that would have been comical had it not been slightly pitiful. No, scratch that. It was definitely slightly comical.
A very drunk Emma Swan had climbed into the bathtub and fallen asleep. The loose, oversized shirt she wore had ridden up slightly, showing off her tight abs, with her legs curled into an awkward position, the taut denim of her jeans straining to accommodate it.
Regina laughed softly and leaned over the rim of the tub to shake Emma's shoulder softly "Emma" she whispered "Emma, wake up"
But the blonde simply curled a bit more into herself, sniffed once and carried on sleeping. Regina rolled her eyes, although the softness tugging at the corner of her lips betrayed how she really felt about the whole thing. Sighing, she turned back to the bedroom to collect a pillow, hoping that if she could place it under Emma's head she would be able to alleviate at least some of the pain the woman would be feeling in the morning, hangover aside.
That done, Regina perched awkwardly on the edge of the bath, unsure about what to do next. She couldn't go home, she wasn't comfortable with leaving Emma alone. It would be a shame if she choked on her own vomit or something equally as unfortunate. But at the same time she needed sleep, and she certainly wasn't going to power nap in Emma's bed now, was she?
Instead, she decided to pass the time by wandering from room to room, something she hadn't yet had a chance to do. Emma's house was certainly a lot bigger than that putrid apartment she had insisted on renting for several months.
She passed through the living room and kitchen fairly quickly, the furniture was basic, uninspired, as if she wasn't expecting to stick around permanently. The thought that Emma was always ready to leave at a moments notice hurt Regina in a way she never thought it would.
However, it was when she got to the bedroom that her heart really ached for the blonde woman curled up asleep in the bathroom.
Unlike the rest of the house, the bedroom was infused with the spirit of Emma Swan. It wasn't the clothes strewn across the floor so much, or the half filled garbage bags overflowing with what Regina could only imagine was the pirate's belongings. It was the small shelf in the corner of the room which caught her eye and made her breath catch in her throat.
The shelf didn't have much on it, but Regina could tell just by looking that everything placed there was incredibly important to Emma. A small cut out of a paper star. A feather from a dream catcher. A baby shoe, old and worn. But as she leaned in to look closer, Regina's eye caught something else instead. It was placed under a book, with only the corner exposed, but it was enough for her to know what it was.
It was a photograph, taken some months ago at the last Miner's Day festival. It had been shortly after the return from the Underworld, and everyone had been trying to pretend that their lives were normal again. Emma had dragged Henry and Regina with her, insisting that they were "her dates", much to Hook's disgust. They had spent the day eating bad food, throwing ring tosses and dipping for apples, and as the sun set they lit their candles together and huddled under a blanket, a family at last. Emma had pulled out her phone and snapped a picture of Regina with Henry curled up close to her for heat, not pretending to be too cool to hug his mom in public for once.
Regina's eyes filled with tears at the thought of her and Henry being on Emma's shelf of good memories, few and far between as they were.
Checking her watch she discovered that it was only just past 10pm, although she could have sworn it had been hours since the blonde passed out in the bathroom. Slipping off her shoes, sore after so many hours of wearing them, she padded across the room to Emma's bed. It was late and she was tired, and sitting down for two minutes would be fine, Emma didn't even need to know. She closed her eyes, relishing in the softness of the mattress.
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A phone beeped somewhere off into the distance. Regina groaned and rubbed her eyes tiredly, wanting nothing more than to allow sleep to drag her back under. But the more the phone alarm rang in her ear, the more she began to realise that this wasn't her bed. Or her house. And she had been asleep for eight hours and oh god what if Emma the idiot Swan had died of alcohol poisoning because she forgot to check in on her. Regina stood up hurriedly and made her way down the hallway to the bathroom.
Much to her relief however, Emma was still very much alive and breathing, and just beginning to stir.
"Regina?" She muttered throatily "What are you doing here? Why am I in the... bath?"
"Ummmm" Regina hummed, unsure of where to begin.
But before she got the chance to explain, Emma's mouth fell open, as the previous night began to come back to her in pieces.
"Ohhhhh" she gaped.
Regina looked at her nervously, unsure of what to expect. Crying, maybe. Or complaints of a hangover from hell. What she wasn't expecting though,was for Emma to giggle and hold out a hand.
"Come!" She demanded,all bright smiles and angelic eyes.
"Miss Swan, if you think I am getting in that bathtub to...cuddle...with you, you are very much mistaken" Regina shuddered.
"Why not?" Emma shrugged "you already slept in my bed last night"
"How did you-?!"
The blonde smirked "Just a guess. But thanks for confirming. Now come hereeee"
Her voice rose to a whine as she spoke, and Regina rolled her eyes.
"Are you still drunk, Emma?" She said, not moving from her position by the door.
"Mmmm. Maybe" she grinned sleepily, all big eyes and red cheeks. Regina felt her frozen heart begin to thaw slightly.
"Come!" Emma repeated again.
A smile tugged at the corners of Regina's lips as she stepped forward, unwilling to ignore the woman's requests any longer.
It was for Emma's sake, she told herself. Soon the woman would fully sober up and she'd be miserable again. She was doing this for Emma out of the goodness of her heart. It had absolutely nothing to do with how cute and warm she looked, even as she lay fully dressed in a cold porcelain bath.
Obviously.
She held her hand out to Emma who pulled her into the bath with her, huffing a little as Regina stumbled and fell onto her.
"Owww! Regina! I said lie with me, not jump on top of me!"
"Oops?" Regina smirked "guess that's what you get for being so infuriatingly adorable"
Emma's grin grew larger as she curled up close next to Regina "adorable, hmm?
"Don't make me repeat myself, Miss Swan" Regina snapped, but there was no real bite behind her words as she wrapped her arms around Emma, holding her close. The blonde grinned sleepily in response.
"Regina?" She mumbled as her eyes grew heavy with sleep again.
"Yes dear?"
"Willyougooutwithme?" Emma rushed as though scared of the rejection she thought would follow.
Regina turned fully to look her in the eyes, unsure of how to respond. On the one hand, she wanted nothing more. She wanted nothing more than to be able to hold Emma close, not just as a friend but as something more. She wanted to be able to call Emma hers and for Emma to return the sentiment. She wanted to curl up next to her in the evening and awake with her face in her hair the next morning. Coffee dates and family dinner, candlelit meals and flowers on the weekend. She wanted it all. She wanted it so much that it hurt just to think about.
But Emma was tipsy and hurting and half asleep. Did she even know that she had said those words out loud? Regina turned to look at her.
But the face looking back at her told her all she needed to know. Emma's eyes were wide open, nervous and expectant, and her lower lip was sucked in between her teeth as she chewed it anxiously, waiting for a response.
Her heart tugged as she took in the sight, as she realised that it could be hers to look at every day, if she wanted it to be. And she wanted nothing more.
"Emma" she began warmly, as she curled closer to the blonde and looked her in the eye sincerely "I would love nothing more. But-" she held up a hand as Emma began to speak "on one condition."
"Mmm?"
"Next time? we sleep in a bed."
Emma laughed, relief and happiness written across her face.
"No more bathtubs, ok, I think that can be arranged."
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Regina lay next to Emma as the blonde drifted off to sleep once more, neither of them bothering to move from the tub, despite their shared complaints of it being cramped , cold and uncomfortable. They didn't mind, not for as long as they were lying next to each other.
Regina knew that when Emma next woke up she would be cranky, miserable and feeling the effects of the intense drinking. She also knew that there would be hard days ahead, Emma would need a shoulder to cry on, she would need to be shown that she was loved and wanted, despite what the pirate had said to her. There would be shouting, there would be crying and there might be evenings where neither of them could've look the other in the eye. But that was all in the future. For now, what they had was just enough.