restlesswritings: (Margaery)
restlesswritings ([personal profile] restlesswritings) wrote2019-01-27 02:05 am

The Good Queen (PG-13)

Title: The Good Queen
Author: Lauren (restlesswritings)
Fandom: Once Upon a Time
Characters: Regina Mills, Snow White
Word Count: 400
Rating: PG-13 (just to be safe)
Summary: Regina turns to Snow White for advice.
Notes: Written for Amber's Attic at the Hogwarts Writing Club. The prompt was Lex Luthor: Write about someone acting as an advisor.

Regina sighed from behind her desk. As the queen of the newly united realms, she was struggling to attend to the needs of her subjects. Back when she had been in the Enchanted Forest, this hadn’t been a problem; the Evil Queen didn’t care about the needs of her subjects. But now that she was Regina the Good Queen, she was doing her best to keep up with the problems her people had as they occurred.

Just as she was rubbing her forehead in order to soothe the headache that was forming, Snow White opened the door to Regina’s office. Although she was a queen, Regina had chosen to keep the office she’d had as Mayor of Storybrooke. She had a soft spot for the office, since it was a part of her life when she first learned she could be a good person.

Speaking of soft spots - Regina had also grown to have a soft spot for her former stepdaughter. And it seemed mutual, as Snow glanced at Regina rubbing her temples and said “Is everything okay?”

Regina sighed again and gestured to the paperwork on her desk. “Everybody seems to have a problem” she said. “Don’t they realize I’m only one person and I can’t fix everything with the snap of my fingers?”

Snow gave a small smile. “It was a shock to me how much work went into being a queen, too” she said. “After marrying Charming, there were times with the stress got so much I was tempted to run away and live in the forest again.”

“So how did you manage?” asked Regina.

“Having someone to share the burden with helps” said Snow. “So if you ever need someone to take some of the weight off your shoulders, you let me know. I’d be happy to help.”

Regina smiled. “I’ll keep that in mind” she said. “Thanks for offering.” It was amazing, how close the two of them had become in the past several years. If somebody had told her this was possible before she cast the first curse, she would have called them crazy.

Snow nodded. “Of course” she said. “It gets easier as time goes on” she added. “Once you start to get the hang of it and learn what to prioritize.”

Regina nodded. “That’s good to know.”

“And Regina?”

“Yeah Snow?”

“Don’t forget that if things get really tough, there’s always wine.”