#alternate8reality

You know, if there is something I truly appreciate from you is your level-headedness, the fact that you are able to dissect and be completely honest and true about it in a way that some others would jump right into things they are not sure about. Your ability to seek and find the core of things rather than to stay at the surface is mesmerizing to be able to be privy too and I can only congratulate myself a little for having decided to open up that message a few months ago 😉 Thank you, always, for your words and comments and encouragement with my writing, it means and always will mean, a lot.

-          Alternate here went for the AU route. The AU route of making these two enemies AND making them share a bed. So we are back to the bed-sharing thing but less sweet and certainly more… well, cliffhanger material.

“There must be some kind of error.”

The icy tone, something Regina knew was basically her trademark back at home, seemed to not affect the hotel clerk who, with a short yet resolute nod pointed at the computer screen in front of her, the sleeve of the uniform’s coat she wore riling slightly up her wrist as she did so.

“I am afraid that is the case.” Her accent wasn’t thick, but it made her vowels sound rounder, softer in a way as she typed some command on the computer, blue eyes focused intently on the information displayed. “Unfortunately, there is nothing I can do; the entire hotel is booked so we don’t have any extra beds at the moment. Perhaps tomorrow…”

Regina pressed her lips together, forming a thin line as she stared down at the young girl; vaguely thinking on how much she would love to turn her into a flaming ball of fire as well as the entire hotel if necessary. Rolling her shoulders, straightening her posture as much as possible, she smirked, channeling her anger in what she hoped could be an enticing enough look for the other woman to reconsider.

“I’m sure there is something that…”

“Regina, stop that, you look a second away from eating this girl whole.”

Bristling, Regina turned towards where the voice of none other but the bane of her existence seemed to have emerged. Standing in the middle of the hotel’s foyer with that awful red leather jacket Regina was 100% sure that went against every policy their company possessed regarding dress-codes, Emma was in fact looking at both her and the girl, one brow raised. Green eyes looking at her with something that morphed into distaste just as the girl informed Regina in that same icy tone the brunette had used with her a mere moment before that there was, in fact, nothing she could do at the moment.

“It’s Mills, for you, Miss Swan.”

“I will let you both know when we are able to fix this.” She added just as Regina looked back at her, lips pursing as she realized the girl was merely looking at the blonde when she spoke, apparently having decided not to speak to her any longer. Storming with purposeful strides towards the elevators, she brushed against the blonde’s shoulder as the woman answered to the girl with something she didn’t quite caught, so engulfed with anger as she was.

She shouldn’t have accepted the project. She had been having similar thoughts assaulting her every few days ever since she had been ushered into one of the offices and told that the company was going to be tackling quite the idea for the next few months. An idea that was linked to someone that, at the time, Regina only had known for several emails simply signed as “E. Swan”. She, of course, hadn’t rejected the project nor the possibility to show how she was not only her mother’s shadow but someone capable of doing more, of reaching more, than her surname seemed to convey.

However, there were moments like this, moments in where Emma and her obnoxiousness got too loud for her to bear when she wondered if she should have closed the door and walked away from the opportunity. No matter how many times her mother would have pestered her about it.

A fine ding told her the elevator had arrived and she took a few steps towards the slowly sliding door, still fuming by the idea of needing to sleep –sleep! - in the same bed than the woman who had been nothing but a problem to her on the last few months.

It wasn’t, Regina thought as she walked into the small space with her hand already reaching for her phone, mentally considering if she had someone she could try to call for help or a place to sleep rather than the hotel the company had given them, that E. Swan had proved to be inefficient. She was capable in a way that not even her and her need for perfection had been the main reason why almost no one felt safe to work for or with her could even deny. Still, Miss Swan did not follow rules that Regina found the roots for the job to be well done. Showing a total disregard for punctuality, the basics of paperwork or showing an overabundance of both pride and stubbornness the blonde had been nothing but a thorn on her side ever since Regina had looked at the details she had been able to get about the other executive before doing that blasted phone call all those months ago.

And now, a day away from both of them presenting what had been the biggest project Regina had been able to work on ever since she entered the firm, Regina was positively fuming and holding quite the murderous intent to whomever who had paired her up with Miss Swan not only for the final reveal but into the suite they had been given. A luxurious bedroom, yes, but one that happened to only have one bed.

The mental image of a cackling Zelena made Regina wince; she couldn’t be sure, but she was already suspecting the older woman had had something to do with the mistake. The woman had friends almost in every other company and fields, no matter how far they were from the one she currently worked for. And she had a mischievous strike that made Regina ponder if she couldn’t simply call her and ask her upfront why she had made both her and Miss Swan share a mattress.

Sighing inwardly and about to push the button that would led her to the proper floor, Regina needed to swallow quite the undignified yelp when two hands prevented the doors of the elevator from closing seconds away before she was left blissfully alone in the elevator. It was no surprise to see the damned Miss Swan at the other side as she forced the doors to open enough for her to slide inside, lopsided smile and glimmering green eyes.

A detail that Regina’s brain focused on far too quickly for the brunette’s liking.

“What do you think you are doing?”

The blonde shrugged, that awful leather jacket a splatch of color against the crème-colored walls of the elevator and even Regina’s own black suit. Blonde locks bouncing, she gave Regina something that could only be a shit-eating grin.

“Going to my room.” And she enunciated the pronoun in a way that made Regina clench her hands, turning them into fists as finally the elevator re-started once again.

“Fine.” She muttered, and she didn’t say another word until they were at their floor, effectively walking past the blonde and barely acknowledging her throughout the short walk to their room.

“Ruby, I tell you, she is going to murder me while I’m sleeping.”

Her friend’s laughter at the other side of the phone made Emma roll her eyes at her as she carefully peeked to the closed door of the bathroom in where Regina had barricaded herself ten minutes ago. Seated at the edge of the ominous bed, the blonde fiddled with the fabric of the comforter as she waited for Ruby to stop cackling at her.

“I doubt Her Majesty here will ever think on doing such a thing.” Wincing at the use of the nickname Emma had given Regina one night after a far too long skype conversation, the blonde waited as Ruby kept on speaking, an obvious smirk echoing on every word. “Blood stains are a bitch to clean.”

Growling, Emma run her free hand through her hair, her fingers stopping at her collarbones where she began to carry a toneless tune, drumming the fingertips on the hollow of the bones, pinching and lifting the chain of the pendant that hung there, cold against her skin.

“Not funny, Rubes.”

She could almost picture the shameless shrug from her friend, the one who had made some… interesting remarks before Emma had taken the flight that had inevitably ended with her having one of the longest flights of her life. She was used to travel but not for so many hours and the jetlag was beginning to get to her in a way that she at least hoped for her to be able to close her eyes and be unaware of Regina’s presence for the rest of the night.

“She tried to call someone back at home.” She added, lowering her voice despite the sound of the shower was still traveling back to the room. “Asked for a favor even. Trust me, the murderous glint on her eyes when she didn’t get what she wanted makes me wonder if tomorrow I will wake without a head.”

“As long as you have written me down on your will I won’t worry about it.”

“Ha ha ha.”

Stopping halfway a retort to her friend, Emma’s ears perked up as the sound of the shower disappeared, being quickly followed by some rustling.

“Need to go.” She said instead. “Her royal highness is near.”

“Not as near as you would want if you are still calling her that.” Replied Ruby, ending the call before Emma was able to say something to the awful reminder that as soon as she had seen Regina she had sent the lanky brunette a message about how unfairly hot the woman was.

An idea that didn’t disappear from her mind when the brunette walked out of the bathroom already changed into her pajamas that were, of course, made of silk by the looks of it. Tonight, the blonde thought while eyeing the other woman through the corner of her eye, was going to be a very long one.

It wasn’t. Not truly, as she fell asleep just as soon as her head touched the pillow. Not until she, of course, woke up in the middle of the night with a urge to pee only to discover that at some point in the night Regina had inched closer to her; the woman that was dubbed as impossible, evil and a stick up for rules looking nothing but adorable with her hair mussed and lips slightly parted as she hogged just a little bit of too much sheet.

And it wasn’t fair, the blonde thought as she found herself completely frozen. She had heard of Regina Mills before she had been paired up with her of course. It was almost impossible for her to not have heard about her, about her mother, one of the most efficient women in the entire planet and one of the meanest as well. It seemed that Regina lived up by the mantle her mother had left behind and, to be honest, she had been equally worried as well as wishing to prove that she, a newbie, was just as competent as the other woman. Something that had ended up with Regina’s first email, full of passive-aggressive subtext that had made her bristle and promise herself to not only show the woman that she wasn’t uncapable but also better than her.

The fact that she had developed a crush even when everything she wanted sometimes was just punch the woman’s face had been a problem she had had under control until she had finally been standing in front of her a few hours earlier, with the usual mask of aloofness she played so well already sliding into place. And Regina had seemed to eat that act without giving her a second glance, being completely horrified when they both had been given the same room, the obvious mistake one Emma wasn’t entirely sure had been a mistake at all by the way Regina had eyed the clerk suspiciously before storming away.

Not that she was able to prove it. And if Regina woke up in that instant, finding Emma so close to her even though it had been hers the one who had inched closer, Emma suspected she would be dead before she was able to prove that.

Sighing deeply and moving at a snail-pace, she managed to detangle herself from the sheets without waking the brunette before tip-toeing towards the bathroom, only stopping herself an inch shy from the door to glance back, at where Regina still rested. Still looking far too hot and far too adorable for Emma’s slowly fried nerves.

If she survived the presentation, she thought while entering into the bathroom, shivering slightly against the cold touch of the tiles against the sole of her feet, maybe she could try to ask her for a drink.

Maybe.

No Henry :P Thank you for the prompt <3

(As alwaysI don’t count dialogue)

“How manytimes have you been told to wear a jacket?”

“As many asI’ve been told that you hate my red one.”

Reginarolled her eyes at Emma’s answer; the blonde slightly clanking teetheffectively robbing some of the haughty effect the woman was trying to go for.Even with the dim light of the woman’s flashlight Regina was able to see theway Emma’s entire body trembled as they kept searching the woods, the magic ofthe forest keeping some of the January cold out but not enough for theirbreathing not to be visible. Sighing, she snapped her fingers twice, the aforementionedred leather jacket appearing in a flurry of purple on her extended hand. Handingthe garment over to the blonde, purposely feigning blindness at the surprisewritten on Emma’s face, Regina kept her eyes ahead, fighting against a fartoo-telling blush that made her cheeks hot as Emma’s fingers brushed againsthers.

“Thank you.”She heard, the mutter soft and warm in a way, as much as Regina didn’t want to readinto it, she had only heard directed at her.

Asked by @alternate8reality from this list

The light from the bulbs placed high above the concrete walls titillated weakly, the metallic sound that sparked throughout the room one Emma had already memorized and learnt to expect. It hadn’t always been like that of course, when she had arrived the weak blink every other few seconds drove her mad, eyes twitching as she glanced at the bulb, half expecting for it to explode.

It didn’t, of course, no matter how long she stared at it, eyes focused and jaw closed so tightly her muscles hurt when she relaxed them. In time, as days turned into weeks and weeks into months, the blinking transformed into a way of keeping track of time, one she didn’t quite like but learnt to put up with. Even if it only was a permanent malfunction on the lamps of her cell. One that it didn’t matter how many times she asked to be replaced; it always remained the same.

Seated as she was, back against one of the walls, eyes slightly closed while she mentally counted hummed again with each buzz, she wriggled her hands together, fumbling with the fabric of her pants as she had her knees pressed against her stomach. Her chest barely touching her legs, so calmly she breathed.

It was probably because of that that her ears picked up the sound of boots scrapping the surface of the hallway beyond the closed door that connected her cell with the rest of the floor. Clinking of keys quickly following through, Emma tilted her head, curious as she felt a ball of anticipation quickly forming on her stomach.

She wasn’t supposed to have her morning jog until, at least, a couple thousand more buzzes. And she definetely wasn’t expecting someone that would want to ask for a talk to her. Humming to herself, she focused on the door, muscles taut as the door began to open and one of the guards entered, looking as uninterested as they all looked whenever they talked to her.

“Swan, visit.”

Well, this was strange.

The face of the guard didn’t truly give anything away, but Emma frowned nonetheless as she stood, slowly ironing her clothes and approaching the guard in what hoped to be a perfect mirror of their blank expression even if inside she felt small sirens going off; alert.

The buzzing of the light grew stronger, blinking momentarily worsening before quieting. Reaching the door, she silently began to follow the guard who kept a close eye on her as she walked past them, not once letting her go out of sight as the door closed once more, the blinking confined to the cell once again.

“Who it is?” She managed to ask, her voice raspy due to misuse. At first, she had tried to talk to anyone who approached her, hoping to, at least, fill her mind with chatter. That, however, had ended pretty quickly as she realized not many were interested on listening to her. Or answer her.

This time wasn’t any different; with only silence to accompany her she walked next to the guard; half expecting to be put on cuffs. Something that didn’t happen, and which only fueled the feeling of uneasiness inside of her.

And when, a few more minutes afterwards she was placed on a room with two chairs and one brunette dressed to the nines the feeling didn’t disappear but morphed. The coiled ball on her stomach growling and changing, she frowned at how the guard nodded at the woman and left, the metallic door shutting behind them with one soft swiss. One that didn’t make her break eye contact with it until she heard the woman sitting primly at the other side of the desk that separated them both clear her throat once. The sound the kind of one used by someone who was used to be respected and answered.

Emma, hands on her lap, back touching the back of her chair and posture as opposite from the other woman as possible, merely arched her brows at the sound, her green eyes raising at the light bulbs on the room as they began to blink; the buzzing sound that quickly followed afterwards making her stifle an annoyed sound.

Another broken light; they should really start working on that.

The woman, who Emma had barely gotten a glimpse as she had entered into the room, seemed to follow her gaze because she hummed, something close to wonder sparkling on her eyes when Emma quickly lowered her gaze. Half expecting to be able to gauge the woman in front of her in that tiny second, she wasn’t focusing on her.

She only had enough time to see brown eyes and brunette locks, gorgeous face lighted in that gleam of interest that, for a second, a beat, seemed to sparkle with purple light. One that was gone the moment Emma frowned, changing her own posture so, maybe, she could pick on that.

Unfortunately for her, the brunette was already looking at her once again, eyes back to rich brown. Hands clasped together in front of her, the brunette made her think more on a politician with that perfect posture rather than the smarmy lawyers she had had the pleasure to meet.

Which was the reason why the first words that escaped her mouth were precisely that.

“You are not a lawyer.”

The woman chuckled darkly and shook her head, her tresses caressing both sides of her face as she moved forward.

“Perceptive.” The brunette’s voice was probably just like Emma had imagined it to be; rich, maybe a little on the deep side, with the kind of perfect intonation and pitch to make her picture endless hours of learning how to. “I’m Regina Mills.”

Sprawling even more on the chair and crossing her arms at her chest level, it was Emma’s turn to hum, her green eyes roaming free over every little detail she could pick from the other woman: From her obvious expensive clothing to the ring that hung from her neck, old and dangling from a golden chain. The kind of one someone younger would have but not this woman whose outfit spoke of someone that didn’t like superfluous or nonsensical details around her.

Rising her chin enough to show a defiance that didn’t quite ring true, not even with the strange pressure on her chest growing with every passing second, Emma nibbled her bottom lip. The name didn’t ring any bell, neither did the surname. And still, there was something there, something calling for her from the deepest part of her brain.

Whatever it was, it made her feel queasy.

“That doesn’t answer what are you doing here.” Her voice didn’t raise as much as she would have wanted but her throat felt raspy still and she couldn’t do a thing about her.

Nodding, seeming to concede her that much, Regina moved slightly backwards, assessing her with piercing eyes that flashed purple for a second time as the light bulb above their heads blinked again.

Uh

“Emma Swan.” Regina’s voice carried away as if the behavior of a mere light bulb wasn’t really bothering her. “You were found guilty of theft. Is that right?”

Emma didn’t answer to that, she didn’t feel like she needed to after all. The woman was here, she had called for her. She obviously knew who she was, why she was there.

Sighing, Regina pinched the bridge of her nose and kept on talking, voice more of a whisper, less open and vibrant.

“I am here to give you a deal.”

That got Emma’s attention; it wasn’t like what she had done had been that horrible after all. She had already made her peace with the fact that she was going to spend her sentence locked away. The possibility of striking a deal made her look at the woman in front of her in a different light. A Detective? She suspected not many of those decided to take into an already filled case that didn’t have any dark corners. Just a stupid woman who had thought a man she had known for a few months was the love of her life.

Stupid.

“What kind of deal?” She felt weary and, as she let her eyes narrow she saw a small smirk curving Regina’s lips, chin lowering and shadows running down her cheeks for a moment.

The light bulb pulsed again, and Emma pressed the tips of her fingers against her forearms. There was something she wasn’t seeing.

“Your freedom.” The brunette replied. “I have someone that would be very interested on knowing about this man you told the police about. This…”

“Neal, Neal Cassidy.”

Regina nodded, and Emma wondered if she hadn’t already known that. She probably had.

Growling minutely, she dragged the chair closer to the table, the screeching sound elicited by it being answered with an arch from the other woman’s right brow; obviously not impressed.

“I told them everything I knew. If he has problems I don’t know where to find him or where to start.”

Which was true. And yet.

And yet the woman was still eyeing her as if she knew something more about Emma, something the blonde couldn’t know what it was but still made her like squirming; bolt.

“We think differently.” The brunette’s voice was back to that perfect pitch, one that seemed manufactured even more so now and yet it also echoed true on Emma’s gift; not a lie on her words or the intent behind them.

Baring her teeth, Emma shook her head, briskly.

“Why?” It wasn’t quite the question she had wanted to ask but her mind seemed to be on autopilot at the moment.

“Let’s call it a hunch.”

Emma didn’t like this, any of this. And yet she felt herself going back time and again to the “deal” word, to the opportunity to leave her cell, the boredom, the memories behind.

Sucking on her teeth, she nodded curtly, once.

“Deal.”

Regina’s smirk only grew wider at that and, before Emma could truly do a thing to stop her, she rose her right hand and snapped her fingers, purple smoke filling the room in a second, smoke that quickly covered Emma’s entire body, tendrils of it reaching through her clothes, embedding themselves into the skin.

“What the f…”

And, in a flash, the room was empty, devoid of any of them, the light on the room stilling once more. Blinking gone.

This is the version 2.0 to the prompt @alternate8reality asked me. The prompt was “That’s not what I said, and it has a version that I posted a few hours ago but which doesn’t count since it doesn’t have a maintextual SQ content. Additionally, this prompt works as the second part to this other prompt I answered some time ago. -Long story short if you don’t want to read it The Evil Queen pays Emma a visit during the Split!Queen arc and tells her Regina’s feelings for her in a very queenie way.

“You want it to be true.”

The words circled Emma’s head, spinning on circles as she gaped, trying to regain her bearings. Sheriff’s office deserted now that the Queen was gone, she reached to her back pocket where her phone had been waiting for her. With quick but numb fingers she speed-dialed Regina, not waiting for the call to fully be made before she pushed the phone aside, letting it fall to her feet as she shook her head.

She couldn’t, she thought while feeling her magic beginning to slip through the cracks her not-perfect control had, didn’t know what to say. Groaning, she closed her eyes and thought again on the Queen’s words, on how she had smirked at her, far too sure of how her words were true. She hadn’t pinged any reaction from Emma’s far too beaten lie detector and that, she realized as the first rivulets of dirty white magic began to emerge from her figure, was what scared her.

“You want it to be true.”

She felt a wave of nausea as vertigo began to settle on the pit of her stomach, her head pulsing as magic kept on building. She needed to stop, she thought belatedly, reaching for the phone again. Otherwise, Regina would notice and…

“Emma?”

The difference between Regina and the Evil Queen was striking and not only on the way they dressed or their magic, metallic and burnt on one side, softer on the other but on the way Regina’s eyes searched Emma, worried.

The brunette had been different since she had plucked The Queen out of her; something Emma had seen the second the majesty had disappeared, turning -apparently- into dust and ash. A difference she hadn’t know how to look at.

She had vowed to be there for the older woman though, no matter what and, as she felt her magic grow even brighter inside of her, she wondered again why.

“Do you want to kiss me?”

The question came out of her, unedited, raw and painful as she braced herself not for the negative but for the possibility of destroying what she had built with Regina. The woman in front of her halted, blinking and slipping behind a mask, eyes dimming as she grasped the edges of what was left of her Madam Mayor days.

“That’s… that’s not what I wanted to say. I… that’s not what I said.”

“Then what did you want to say?”

She saw the weariness on those eyes, the tiredness and yet readiness to defend herself, to bolt. She saw it on the way Regina had crossed her arms in front of her chest, the black and white blouse and slacks telling her that she hadn’t been the only one not managing to fall asleep that night. She saw the way purple swirled just an inch outside of her chest, moving back and forth with her breathing; faint enough to be almost invisible but strong enough to create the glow Emma found herself following. She saw the way the older woman’s fingers moved, quick movements that made nails dig ever so slightly on the fabric of the blouse, creasing it.

She wanted it to be true.

“The Queen was here.” The words came out of her lips in a stilted, almost unnatural way and, for a moment, she thought on reaching for her heart, suddenly assaulted with the stupid and yet all too real fear of the Queen being the one speaking for her.

Her heart, however, remained on her chest. Its beating, strong and erratic, telling her that much.

She saw the sudden paleness around Regina’s eyes, the way she shifted, changing its gravity from one foot to the other.

“That’s impossible.”

The muttered answer made Emma sigh and shake her head. It was astonishing, she fleetingly thought, how in a place with magic so many people were so keen on saying that something was impossible.

“She was.” She repeated, and her magic burst out of her in a flurry of white sparks that got swallowed by the floor beneath them. “She… wanted to talk.”

“I doubt she only wanted that.”

Emma bit down on her bottom lip and walked closer to the older woman, feeling the pull of her magic there, just beneath the usual awareness of Regina, the way she fitted so close to her. It burnt, even more than usual and she growled inwardly, angry at the queen, at the questions she had put on her brain.

She needed to know however, in a way that made her tremble as she stared at Regina’s eyes; afraid and yet drunk on the possibility of something, something else beyond the idea of destruction.

“Do you want to kiss me?”

The second time it came out as a whisper, a thought mutter that made Regina blink and gasp, close enough to her that Emma could feel her magic touching hers, skin prickling and feeling too tense, too small on her body all of a sudden.

Swanqueen “Next time, I get to hold the remote.”...