Queen of Nothing

“ Good afternoon, Madame Mayor.” She called  out when she entered the shop. “ Ah yes, I do. Just one moment.” Calypso went to the back room before returning  with the garment bag that contained  her order. 

“ I do hope it meets your requirements. It’s not often that you get re-sworn into office.” She said with a smile, holding it out to Regina to see it met her standards.

“Good afternoon,” she offered dully. Whether or not it would be a good afternoon for either of them remained to be seen. Once she got a look at the gown and tried it on. Accepting the garment bag she slipped into the changing room and pulled it on.

She hummed thoughtfully as she gave the dress a once over in the mirror. “Only every time I get re-elected,” she offered as she came out. “Everything’s fitting right but I’m still not certain on the bottom or the bodice.”

“You’re right Monkey! Now I don’t have to call ya a leopard anymore.” She teased before kissing the top of her head and smiling at Regina. She really meant it. “ Hell, if ya want, we can always invite Alison, bet she still knows about babies and shit.” Sarah points out with a teasing smile before giving her a gentle nod and a smaller, real smile.

“ Cool. I can always borrow S’s car if you can’t fly and we can meet in the middle or something.” The punk points out, not wanting to do anything that would hurt the bay. Her hand waved away Regina’s words. “ Oi, course we did. Ya part of the Clone Club now.”  She might not be an original member but having a clone baby along with running from Dyad, Sarah and her sisters felt like Regina was one of them.

Sarah leaned over and gave Kira one arm hug and kissed the top of her head before whispering good job. “ S made me one out of one of her old shawls and it was super help with Monkey here. Figured you might find one useful when you have to go out with the little tyke.”  She points out, having had to go out shopping a few times with Kira like that.

“I’ll save the leopard hat for when Cal’s around,” Kira promised with a grin before lightly nudging Sarah to take the tag off of her new hat so that she could put it on. Regina had removed the prices, but left the tags just in case someone didn’t like their gift. “That sounds fun, and I can take you two for lunch,” she added with a smile. She’d have to search for a place that had both healthy food, and the greasier style of food she imagined Sarah and probably even Alison preferred.

“I think I’m able to fly a little longer, and Abel has to come with me anyway so even if we end up having to drive, we can switch it up so each of us can sleep,” she offered. It was better to do their shopping trip in the Toronto and Scarborough area that Sarah and Alison were familiar with rather than in a city neither of them knew. “That will take a while to get used to,” Regina replied with a small smile. She’d once worked for Dyad, admittedly only for her own interests, and in many ways she blocked their efforts from the inside as much as she could. Still, Dyad had done some pretty awful things to the Leda clones, and she was sure that one or more of the clones secretly resented her.

“You caught me, but I confess I did a terrible job of hiding myself.” She teases a little as she smiles at Regina. The brunette nods and puts them away. “ You’re welcome, dear.” Jay brings her own hand up to shake Regina’s, giving a small ah at the name.

“Indeed,” the petite brunette agreed with a small smile. Well...she’d managed to do a good job hiding from Regina’s mother Cora, so that was a small miracle if truth be told. “Although you’ve managed to evade my mother,” she offered wringing her hands lightly. Thus far she’d managed the same aside for a short time after their arrival. She was truly thankful for the bit of freedom.

“ Look, I swear, I didn’t tell anyone alright?” The only place she had anything was in the apartment she was renting, a wall of information, trying to connect the dots.  She shifted her weight, feeling a little confused. “ Then why are you her-” Emi stopped talking. It took her a few moments to find the words that she was looking for. Taking a breath, she looked at Regina.

Evening dress, 1905-10

“Yep… mom wanted a lot of kids. Verdi’s the baby though, even if she denies it.” Raz pointed out before speaking. “ Although, Blair says that she never got over losing us or thinking she lost us, so she never said anything. Said that Verdi never liked to talk about her problems, pretend they never existed. Plus, she said once the Queen of Hearts was gone, Verdi didn’t wanna hurt someone  by bringing up the Queen’s past. I don;t know who though, Verdi starting hitting Blair when she was talking about it.” The Wonderlander rambled, fiddling with her cup of tea.  She couldn’t stop it, secrets were something she couldn’t keep, a side effect of the transfer to Storybrooke. Dr. Whale called it aspergers, “ Oh I’m sorry, would you like one?” She holds up the cup of tea, remembering that Verdi told her to always offer one to whoever came into the shop.

“Clearly,” Regina nodded. Eight was certainly a lot. Not unheard of in their land, but still. “I guess that makes you the baby as well since you and Ms. Papilio are clearly Monozygotic twins,” she stated. Really...you don’t just forget to tell your friends--clearly they had never even been that--that you had an identical twin. It was clear to Regina that she’d read more into her and Verdi’s relationship than the other woman had. To say she was hurt wouldn’t even cover it. If you couldn’t trust someone, you couldn’t even be friends let alone something more. Why should talk of the Queen of Hearts upset anyone? She was dead, Regina had seen to it. She doubted anyone other than Jefferson ever even thought about her, and if he did, it was only because he had reminder of her staring back at him in the mirror when he didn’t cover it with a scarf.