Ruby, Tina, and Kathryn couldn't help but speculate between themselves, they were Regina's friends after all, but their worry didn't ease when Regina had finally answered their calls with a short "I appreciate your persistent concern, but I'm far too busy to continue wasting my energies when the town is in dire need of attention."
It was the most polite way the older brunette could say "leave me the hell alone" and it threw all three ladies a curveball. Every phone call, email, and text was met with cordial politeness, and whenever Kathryn had tried to see Regina at the office, her secretary was under strict instructions that no one was to be allowed in.
Even the excuse of her birthday had Regina shrugging her friends off and saying it was simply another year another number, though Ruby's perceptive ears picked up on the loathing drawl and aching loneliness in her tone.
Ruby and Tina were prepared to give the Mayor her space, but it was Kathryn, over a month later, deciding that enough was enough. She had given Regina her space only to lose her for fifteen years, and she wasn't about to make the same mistake again.
It was risky, showing up to the mansion on a particularly nippy March evening with bottles of wine and alcohol and a tub of caramel swirl ice cream, but they had Graham in tow should Regina kick them off her porch, and Kathryn had a feeling the Sheriff would be put to good use if they couldn't get Regina out of the house.
"Regina!" Kathryn banged on the door with a closed fist. "Open up!"
"You know, I could have you arrested for trespassing," Graham pointed out from the back of the group, shuffling his feet and twiddling his thumbs through his belt loops. His reluctance for storming the Mills mansion was clearly evident. "If Regina says—"
"Well you're gonna have me arrested for murder too if Regina doesn't open this damn door!" She banged her fist again once more and this time a face pressed against the side glass.
"Hi Aunty Kat!" Henry's muffled voice sounded from the other side, his breath condensing on the glass from the cool night air.
Tina smirked behind her and bent down low to Henry's level. "Hi Henry, can you let us in?"
"Henry, what did I tell you about answering the door to strangers?" Regina's voice boomed from the inside.
The boy turned to look at his mother. "But it might be—"
Suddenly Regina appeared behind her son, tugging him away from the door as she struck the group on her porch with a glare that should have made them whither even through the glass. Instead, Kathryn tilted her head to the door and held up a bottle of wine. "Please?"
"They'll be fine," Kathryn said softly, a hand on Regina's arm as she stood at the bottom of the stairs watching Henry lead Graham up to his room where the Sheriff was relegated to in-house babysitting. "If anything I'd be worrying about Graham and his back if Henry makes him be a horse again."
The joke did nothing to ease the tension stiffening Regina's joints, but as soon as her son was safely ensconced in his room, Regina reluctantly allowed herself to be led to the living room where wine was poured and drinks were mixed.
"What is this?" She asked flippantly, refusing to budge from her spot in the archway as Kathryn, Ruby, and Tina gathered around the coffee table, littered with a carton of orange juice, a bottle of soda, snacks, and large bottles of vodka, rum, and red wine.
"An intervention." Ruby pulled open a bag of chips and popped one in her mouth pointedly.
"And what exactly is my problem that the three of you found the need to infiltrate my house?"
"Infiltrate?" Tina repeated offended. "We knocked and you let us in."
"So spill." Kathryn got up and dragged Regina into the room before settling onto her knees before the table. "What's been happening with you?"
"Nothing." Her lips were pursed and her arms were crossed, and Regina refused to sit, instead just stationed stiffly, towering over the other three women in a blatant display of power. "Excuse me for wanting to spend more time with my son instead of gallivanting through the night."
Kathryn rolled her eyes. "Do you honestly think after how many years of friendship, I'm going to accept that excuse?"
"I haven't been unkind to you."
"Ignoring us hasn't exactly been friendly either," the waitress pointed out.
"I'm sorry. I wasn't aware that I had to check in with you every single day of my life."
"Not every single day," Tina said from her spot on the couch. "But your friends would like to be updated if you shut yourself out for three months." Before Regina could scoff, the preschool teacher interrupted with a finger in the air. "Yes. You have friends."
"Annoying friends."
Kathryn shrugged and retreated to the couch, patting the middle cushion determinedly. "Fine. We don't have to talk. We've missed you, and you need a ladies night."
After a full two minutes of begrudging silence, Regina stalked over none too happily to the couch and grabbed at a glass, foregoing the wine set in front of her and taking the proffered mixed drink of rum and coke from Ruby.
"Why are we watching this?" Regina scowled at the screen.
Both Kathryn and Ruby turned a knowing eye to Tina who was incredibly engrossed by Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling on the television. The curly-haired blonde felt their eyes on her and sat up defensively. "It's romantic, okay?"
The four women were squeezed onto the sofa, Regina sitting regally in the middle with her third mixed drink firmly in her grasp, while the other three women lay in tangled limbs over and around each other. When they had finally gotten Regina to indulge in their night, they had dimmed the lights, opened the snacks, and popped in the DVD. Every so often Henry's contagious laughter could be heard from upstairs as he and Graham horsed around. Every time, Regina would pause and listen, as if waiting for any sign of distress, but Ruby would nudge her and smile encouragingly for her to return to them. They released her for ten minutes near the beginning of the movie when Henry had come into the room hanging from Graham's back, claiming he and his noble steed needed sustenance (a word Regina had no idea where he picked up but pronounced as best he could in two syllables). It took three minutes for Kathryn to realize the brunette was stalling in the kitchen and another two to bring her back to the living room, trapped underneath their outstretched legs.
Regina scoffed at the screen, pointing with the glass in her hand as liquid sloshed precariously to the side. "Romantic? What's romantic about encouraging an affair? She's engaged for god's sake."
"Shh," Tina hissed, smacking Regina's arm. "It's the best part."
Rain pelted down on the actors as they rowed their boat to the dock, and suddenly they were yelling at one another.
"I wrote you 365 letters."
Regina's breath caught in her throat because she had not spent the better part of the year knowing that she and Emma had exchanged 248 letters and packages between them.
"I wrote you every day for a year."
Regina tensed and shut her eyes, finishing off her drink in a quick gulp and clenching the glass in her fist so tightly, the crystal should have cracked.
"It wasn't over. It still isn't over."
As if compelled by some spell, suddenly two hoarse words ripped from Regina's throat. "She's missing."
"No, she's not. Just watch," Tina responded obliviously, eyes still glued to the screen.
"Regina?" Kathryn sat up from the corner of the couch, patting Ruby's legs off her own to scoot closer to Regina who refused to open her eyes.