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Their kiss was short and sweet; both savoring each other’s taste whilst they could. Emma ran the tip of her tongue over Regina’s bottom lip, the way she knew that Regina fell for every time! They continued to share their intimate moment together, whilst graduation hats came crashing down around them. They didn’t care that the moment for everyone else was long over. They didn’t care that they were the only ones left celebrating. They didn’t care about anyone or anything that surrounded them. Time stood still when the two were together … How would they survive the next few years without each other?Emma parted the kiss, slowly, as though if she did she would be ripped apart from her love forever. “What am I going to do without you in my life, Mills?”“The real question is what am I going to do without you, Swan?” Regina smiled as she took off her graduation cap and placed it on top of Emma’s golden locks “All those lonely nights in my movie trailer, alone.”“Gina, don’t! You know I feel guilty enough that I can’t go with you to California” The blonde stuck out her bottom lip in a pout that not even Regina could deny it’s cuteness!“Okay, I’m sorry, my love. And if it’s any consolation, I know how bad you feel. I would much rather you stay here, accept that offer from Pratt and become the amazing photographer you destined to be! It’s much better than traipsing around after me on some movie set somewhere.” Regina finished her sentence by pushing in Emma’s bottom lip with her finger and placing a delicate kiss on the corner of her mouth.“Babe, you know for a fact that I would follow you around anywhere. I would be with you, at least! Anyway, at least I’d get to see your cute ass from any good angle!” She laughed and snaked her hand around Regina’s small waist and rested her hand right over the curve of Regina’s back.The brunette smacked away her girlfriend’s hand quickly, looking around frantically, but laughing at her cockiness! “Miss Swan, not in public!”“But we were just kissing in front of everyone” The blonde’s infamous bottom lip began to poke out again. The brunette slung her arms around the taller woman’s neck and stepped onto her tiptoes to come eye level with her girlfriend. “I know but that was kissing. Grabbing my … ass is something of a much more … personal nature. Don’t you think?”Emma smirked and swooped down in one smooth motion to kiss the panicked look on Regina’s face. They both smiled into the kiss, as their lips locked slowly. Their kisses were always slow and never rushed. Even when they faced the sand-timer running out right in front of them, something always just felt inevitable when they kissed. Emma was about to pull away when she felt one strong pull on her bottom lip, and she looked down to see Regina’s teeth clasping it, greedily between her central teeth.“Look who’s showing risky displays of affection now, Miss Mill’s” The smile on Emma’s face dropped immediately as she saw Regina had only a blank line of resignation on hers. She shuffled forward slightly and took the brunettes face into her palms, forcing the smaller woman to look at her. As soon as their eyes connected Regina’s began to pool with tears, and Emma swallowed her up, into her strong arms.Regina’s face was tucked up into the crook of the blonde’s neck and she held onto to her with her arms like her life depended on it. “Sometimes you have to do something you don’t believe in when you’re running out of time!” Her legs were taking her as fast as they possibly could. She thought to herself that she’s never been able to run this fast before, but now she has a target on her back her life is literally depending on it!The brunette hurdled over logs and tree stumps, snapping twigs and branches under the pressure of her feet. Tree’s were whizzing past her head, skimming the crown of it and she quickly ducked under branches. Looking back, she saw them, approaching her quickly as she began to slow down from exhaustion. If they caught her this would be it; the end of existence for Regina Mills as the world knows it.Too caught up in her own head, she didn’t see the large branch that had snapped off overnight, and her sprint was cut immediately short when she plummeted face first onto the moist, scratchy forest floor below. She lay there, silently and in pain, until she knew it would all be over …“And cut! Regina, darling. You’re supposed to be running until you reach the end of the cliff and then jump onto the crash mat”“I know, Archie. I’m sorry I must have just not been careful enough” Regina replied, careful of what she says. She needed this job, to pay the rent. The last movie, wasn’t as successful as she had hoped, especially after her ‘secret’ got around the press.The director was a tall, ginger-haired man who wore the type of glasses you would find in a 1940’s crime drama – you know, the ones with the thin frames and large lenses. If he were to lose them he would surely be blind! He also, always carried around an umbrella, using it as a stick to walk with, even when the weather was nothing but sun and heat. He says it one of those ‘artistic’ things; something only a director would understand when in reality it was something that only he could understand! He had directed many … somewhat major pictures over the years be he knew for a fact that casting Regina Mills as his leading lady would be somewhat of a challenge.“Regina, let me talk to you for a second. Everyone can take five” He put out his umbrella for her to grab the end of and pull herself up off of the muddy ground. They walked back to his chair, where stations of refillable lemonade lay cool under the sun by the giant gazebo overhead. He sat in his chair, leaving Regina to stand awkwardly at the side. “Regina, you know that casting you for this role was done on a whim. I admit, it must have taken guts to come out, not just at such a young age but in this line of profession as well, but we both can’t deny that it was something that the tablot’s fed on”“I know Archie, something that the critics seemed to feed on as well”“Yes, and that’s why I want everything in the movie to go perfect. So that means, you have to take the stunts seriously! Regina, look” he grabbed her hand tightly and laid it on his lap, forcing her to look him in the eyes, “I’ve known you and your mother for a very long time. You know that you’re like a daughter to me, but darling, you have to help yourself! There’s only so much editing we can do, the rest is all down to you. I promised your mother that I would look after you, when you moved to Hollywood, and I need you to help me, Regina; help yourself”She looked down, rather concentrating on the shine of the man’s shoes than his scrutinizing stare “I know Archie, I’m just finding it hard. After I was outted, I’m finding it really hard to get any roles and I know for a fact that you only cast me for this because my Mother would have fired you!”“Regina, that’s not true, in the slightest!”“Oh please, I know It is. Who would you have rather cast, someone like me, or someone like Katherine Nolan? I know that all directors have a soft spot for her, and no wonder why, she was rated best actress by Vogue for two years running!”“Yes, and there’s another reason why everyone loves her, oh so much, my dear Regina … she doesn’t have any character. Trust me, I’ve worked first hand with her myself, and she’s as thick as god knows what and she’s easily manipulated. Poor girl doesn’t know a thing. But you, Regina, you have style, character, compassion. You’re a real person and people love you for that! So, don’t let the likes of Katherine Nolan bring you down! Okay?”He brought his hand to her chin and forced her to look at him. She saw the truth and compassion in the man’s eyes and smiled, forcefully but sincerely at him.“Good, now we’ll call it a day. Go back to your trailer, relax, and don’t let me catch you reading any of those tablot’s again!” On the other side of LA, Emma Swan sat, drearily at her desk, looking at all the photographs that hang on the walls. She had high hoped of becoming a photographer; one for the stars. Being there at every red-carpet event, snapping photos of the likes of Margaret Blanchard and even Rumple Gold! But, no, she’s stuck in a dead-end office, taking photo’s every now and then of paparazzi shots; most of the time she doesn’t even know who they are, she just takes the photo, leaves, hands them into her boss and leaves with her pay cheque, only enough for this month’s rent!“Emma, see me in my office, now!”She rolled her eyes, for the fifth time that day. She swears if she roles them too many times they will fall out of her head!The office she steps into is dingy, and cold, and dark; the type of room that hasn’t seen light in years. Emma’s convinced she can see mildew growing up the inners of the window, where the blinds have been shut the whole time. Her boss is seated in a large, leather back chair, and in front of him lay thousands of manuscripts – probably all of which from co-workers which are never going to be read in our lifetime! His glasses falling down from his nose and the rare beam of sunlight peeking through the blinds shine off of his hairless head.“Emma, I’ve got a job for you,” he says, not even bothering to take his eyes off of his computer screen.“Let me guess, it’s another paparazzi shot of Tink Fair. Look, Leroy, no one even cast Tink in movies anymore since she got that botched up plastic surgery, so why in the hell am I still taking photos of a celebrity that no one is going to pay to put in their magazine?”He looked at her, finally, through the tops of his faded glasses “If you’ll let me finish, Miss Swan. I was going to ask you if you could take some candid shots of one Regina Mills, but if you don’t feel you’re capable of doing such exclusive photography then I can just find someone –““No, No! That won’t be necessary. Just email me all the info and I’ll be there” She ran out of his office and back to her desk, sinking in her chair with her head between her hands. Regina Mills. There’s a name she hadn’t heard in a very long time! The last time she had seen Regina was the day they parted. It was the day after graduation and Emma was standing at the side of the road, watching, miserably as her love drove out of sight and into the Californian sunset. The last time she had spoken, to Regina was the day her heart shattered. Regina hadn’t been returning her calls for a few days, when she received a text message (undoubtedly from her malicious mother, Cora!) dictating that she could no longer have contact with Regina whilst she was filming her first motion picture … she never heard from either women again. Emma was still heartbroken, of course. She would lay in bed at night and contemplate what her life would have been like if she has just put her foot down, said no and reached out to win her true love back. But she hadn’t. That’s partly the reason why she had gone into this career – well that, and she was struggling to make it as a self-hired photographer and being a part of the shameless paparazzi was something to pay the bills for her little-squabbled apartment in Queens, New York.If she was going to do this, and face Regina for the first time in ten years, then she was going to do this right.“So, Emma, baby. What we ‘gone do this time?” the hairdresser spoke in a thick southern accent, despite running the salon in New York for over twenty years.“Give me something that says, I’ve completely got all my shit together, I’m a fucking bad ass at my job, women lining up for me, apartment looking over the Upper East side, I don’t need your cheap ass and your broken heart” She laughed off in one breathe and sat in the chair, staring down her reflection. The hairdresser glared at her for a full minute before she smiled, raising her eyebrow and nodded slowly; grabbing her scissors from her belt.“Oh, darlin’. I’ve got you covered!”Almost an hour and a half later, Emma strolled out of the salon, her newly trimmed curled locks swinging from her shoulders. The sun reflected so brightly from her hair that it was blinding! If this didn’t show Regina that she’s got her shit together then she didn’t what would! Regina, on the other hand, sat staring at her reflection in the mirror – one in her groggy, standard trailer on the outskirts of the movie set in New York. She was filming in a different state, not by her own choice; but as her mother always say “success comes at a price.” A price she never wanted to pay anyway.Sometimes, in quiet moments like this, she would let her mind wander to the start of it all. If she would still be in Maine, with a suburbia house, outside trimming the hedges making sure the place look in pristine condition for her family …
Family … Emma Swan?
Could have Emma been her family? Could they have adopted some children? A girl, Marcie, the eldest of course; so her younger brother, Joseph, didn’t feel so competitive. Marcie would try to convince her mother’s if they could get a pet dog to complete the family so Emma and she met Marcie mid-way and brought a cat instead, Rocinante … not that she had thought of it much!But, as they say, the show must go on! And so must life – she soon realised as there was a knock on the door, awakening her from her daydream, that was escalating far too deep anyway!“Come in” she answered loudly, raising herself from her desk chair and walking over to the seated couches by the entrance of the trailer.Entered Archie, but not before a large Dalmatian came darting in, first! He was strongly built, but fluffy and had that soft spot behind his ears that would completely anabolize him!“Pongo!” Regina cried in delight as the dog came running up to her and bouncing from the floor to the couch we she sat, laying his head on her lap – waiting for a rub on the belly.“Pongo, calm down! I’ve already given him a walk; I don’t understand where all this energy has come from!”“Well, that’s alright, isn’t it Pongo?” Regina replied, more so directed at the dog, in her best baby voice!“Speaking of, Regina. Guess who I saw as I was taking my walk?”“Who? Please don’t say it was my mother because I really don’t have the energy for her insipid questioning –““No, Regina” the man cut her off “it was paparazzi!”“What? No paparazzi have come near me since …”“Well, they’re out there now” he answered peeking through the curtains of the trailer “Although, when I say ‘they’ I mean more like ‘she”“She?”“Yes, just a blonde with a camera really. I mean she seems to have taken up home on that sidewalk. Set up a camping chair and everything!”“Well, if it’s only one woman can’t we just have security escort her off the lot?”“Regina, darling. This is a B movie … we don’t have the budget for security!”“Well then, I shall just have to go talk to her myself” she answered, matter-of-factly. She straightened out her blouse and gave her hair a few flicks over her shoulder, preparing for the Regina Mills her mother always wanted her to be.“Take Pongo with you, just in case. Return him to my trailer once you’re done!” The man said as he left.Regina ventured out of her trailer for the first time in hours, the light from the sun blinding her momentarily. She approached the blonde on the sidewalk, glancing down at Pongo making sure he’s still within distance; for both her safety and his.The blonde had her head down and her face was covered by her Knicks baseball cap – Defiantly a New Yorker! Even though her face was hidden there was something too familiar with this woman. Just by the way she was sitting, her posture and presence. The way she slightly slouched in her chair, or the way she twiddles her thumbs in her lap whilst thinking of what to write on her phone. Regina straightened her spine, toughening her outside … if this woman wasn’t going to go down without a fight then so be it!“Ma’am, can I help you?”Regina’s breathe hitched, her lungs stopped working, her brain stopped processing, her heart stopped beating. Only for a second, but to her it felt like a lifetime. Just standing, staring at the woman she hadn’t laid eyes on in ten years.“Emma?”The blonde snapped her head up, recognizing that deep velvet voice from anywhere. Of course, she could. She could never forget how the woman said her name. Their eyes met and for a second, just for a second the universe seemed to stop; or silence at least. It was as though It was just them, no movie trailers, no set men, no pongo!“Regina …”