Chapter Text
The sound of Regina’s heels echoed through the hallway, making her arrival impossible to hide. She had only been awake for a few hours, but she had already mentally cursed Zelena countless times for pushing her into this interview. What was she even doing there? Regina had spent the last eight years working in the newsroom of a small local magazine, and even though everyone around her had always told her she should aim higher, the family they had built in that tiny office meant far more to her than earning a few extra euros.
That was where she had met Zelena, who had picked out the casual suit Regina was wearing now to give her that “businesswoman” look that, according to her, would get her hired on the spot. Still, Regina hadn’t wanted to get ahead of herself. She had rehearsed the interview at least three times in front of the mirror and another five times in her head. And yet, when she finally stood in front of the glass door with Storybrooke’s logo on it, she felt like she had forgotten even her own name.
"Breathe," she murmured to herself.
She squared her shoulders and stepped inside, following the directions the receptionist had given her. A few meters ahead, a set was being dismantled after the filming of one of the production company’s shows. People moved back and forth carrying lights, cables, and cameras.
“Excuse me, are you looking for someone?” a man nearby asked.
“Uh… yes. I had a meeting with Robert Gold to–”
“Regina Mills?” A man in his mid-fifties approached her with a smile. He had brown hair, a wrinkled plaid shirt, and glasses hanging loosely around his neck. “I’m the one you’re looking for. Nice to meet you.”
“Oh hi.” She took the hand he offered, giving it a polite shake.
“Come with me. Let’s go to my office. Everything’s a mess out here right now.”
Regina followed him down the hallway, making small talk while her eyes wandered around the place in fascination. They passed several sets before finally reaching Gold’s office. It was just as chaotic as the set, but in a strangely organized way: a table covered in sketches, a coffee machine by the window, and a handful of awards scattered around the room.
Regina sat down across from him.
“Sorry about the mess. The end of a shoot is always chaotic,” he said with a smile as he rummaged through some papers.
“Don’t worry about it.”
“Coffee?” he asked, gesturing toward the table behind her.
“No, thank you,” Regina replied, settling into the chair and feeling herself relax a little more.
“I’ve been reading your work,” Gold said, pulling out a sheet of paper covered in notes. “What you did at OUAT.”
Regina blinked in surprise. She had never imagined that one of the most important media directors working today would take the time to read anything she had written. Of course, she had listed her experience at OUAT on the résumé she’d sent to his secretary, but she had assumed he’d overlook it.
“You know it?” she asked, a small smile forming on her lips, unable to hide both her astonishment and the pride she felt for the work she had done all those years.
“Of course.” Gold nodded as if it were obvious. “It was a small magazine, but it had a lot of personality. And your work was brilliant. That story about the four women who left their husbands and moved in together in a country house after retiring…” He snapped his fingers, trying to remember the title. “Oh, damn, what was it called again?”
“The Women on the Blue Porch,” she said with a soft laugh.
She still remembered those three incredible days she had spent with Anna, Elsa, Merida, and Jasmin. When she first contacted them for the story, she never imagined they would invite her –and Zelena– to spend an entire weekend at their picturesque house by the coast. It was something she would never regret. They would always hold a special place in her heart.
“That one.” Gold chuckled. “Great approach. It felt so natural, so emotional… and most importantly, nothing was forced. Not the laughter, not the tears. And the video you made for social media, with those shots of the orchard, them drinking wine and sitting outside in the evening breeze while the voiceover played…” He shook his head in admiration. “It was incredible, Regina. You conveyed so much sensitivity in just thirty seconds that even thinking about it gives me goosebumps.”
Regina swallowed. She wasn’t used to hearing someone –much less someone so important– talk about her work like that. Sometimes she hadn’t even been paid on time, and sometimes she hadn’t been paid at all. But she had poured her heart into every story, and moments like this made all the effort worth it.
“Thank you, Gold. I’m really glad you liked it.” She smiled gratefully. “There were only three or four of us working on it, so we didn’t have much choice but to give it everything we had,” she added jokingly, feeling more relaxed now.
“Yeah, but when there’s talent, it shows.” He winked at her. “I also saw the report about the kids who started a neighborhood radio station. The boy who said he wanted to be ‘the boss of the neighborhood’…” Gold laughed, making Regina laugh too.
“Oh, his name is Bruno,” she said fondly. “He was seven years old and had way more attitude than I do right now.”
“More than me too,” Gold admitted with a grin.
“Well, you could do similar things here, just with more resources. Not that many more, don’t get too excited,” he joked, “but still. The project we’re launching is a series of interviews with a more social, human focus. You know –not the usual cold studio setup with the white background where people come in already knowing exactly what they’re going to say. We want new stories. We don’t want to hear Ellen DeGeneres telling the same stories for the fifteenth time. We want new voices. Real people. We want the audience to feel like they’re listening to a person not a character.”
His eyes shone as he spoke. Robert Gold clearly loved his work, and even after twenty-five years in the industry, that hadn’t changed.
“And you’d be perfect for this.” He smiled.
Regina straightened in her chair, surprised but deeply intrigued. In her mind, everything felt surreal. How was this going so smoothly? Was life finally playing on her side?
“And how would the team work?” she asked.
“You’d handle all the journalistic side, of course. Pitching topics, research, scriptwriting, interviews, you know, the tedious part, you could say,” Gold joked, though he wasn’t entirely wrong. Fortunately for Regina, that sounded like heaven.
“The other half would be handled by someone from the film and video team: recording, sound, photography. The whole package.”
“So basically, I’d be working closely with that person if I get hired?”
Gold made a knowing, slightly ironic face. Of course there were more people on the team, but they worked in smaller units.
“Yes. Though I won’t lie to you. She has… a temper.” He leaned forward across the desk. “But as long as you bring her a coffee before you start asking for things, everything will be fine.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Regina replied with an amused raise of her eyebrow.
“Well, if you can’t beat the beast, join it,” he laughed.
“Now, back to the important part. I’ve seen some of your work, but do you have anything more recent like this?”
Regina unlocked her iPad and handed it to him. She had prepared a folder titled Mine, filled with videos, interviews, and annotated scripts. Gold looked through them one by one with genuine interest. At one point he even stopped to ask how she had managed to record a woman tearfully recounting the moment her daughter returned home after years of being missing.
“I like the way you think. The way you look at the world and people,” Gold said, alternating his gaze between Regina and the screen. “You’re intelligent. And more importantly, you know when to stay quiet and let the other person speak. There are plenty of famous journalists who never learn how to do that.”
Regina felt her heart start to race. Her eyes shimmered with tears she had been holding back. She couldn’t wait to get home and scream, cry, and call her friends to tell them how well everything had gone.
“Thank you. Really.”
“Look, I can’t confirm anything today. We still have other interviews this week, and someone else on the team wants to weigh in. But…” He gave her a reassuring look. “You’re the strongest candidate so far, Regina. And if I don’t call you, it’ll be because someone forced me to do something incredibly unfair. That’s the only way I could describe it.”
Regina smiled, still slightly dazed.
“Then I’ll wait for your call.”
“Please, none of that formal stuff. Around here hierarchy only matters if someone breaks something extremely expensive,” he joked.
Regina stood up, shook his hand, and left the office with a strange mixture of happiness and pure terror. As she walked back toward the exit, she realized she didn’t remember the way out but somehow her feet seemed to know where to go.
When she stepped outside, the air felt heavier than before. The sky was partly cloudy, though the sun occasionally peeked through the clouds. She stood there on the sidewalk, clutching her iPad to her chest as if she were still inside the interview. It was a strange feeling. Not quite relief, not quite excitement… not even nerves.
It felt like something inside her had opened up. Something that had been closed for a very long time.
She was speechless.
And coming from her, that was almost concerning.
<<<<>>>>
A couple of weeks later, Regina received the call.
She got the job.
She celebrated so hard that on her first day she had to take a couple of pills for the hangover. As she applied makeup and tried to hide how utterly dead she looked, she cursed Zelena and David, who had dragged her to their favorite bar and kept buying her shots… one after another.
She remembered them again as Gold showed her hallway after hallway, explaining names and rules. Regina tried to remember everything: his office, Studio 4 that shouldn’t be used without prior notice, the bathroom that was always clogged. Gold guided her through the studio like it was an amusement park.
“That door leads to the editing room, and this –finally– is the newsroom. Welcome to your second home,” he joked. “Both departments are together because the core team works here. Emma, the one I mentioned would be your right hand, is usually around here or out filming… but I’ll introduce you properly later.”
Just then, the sound of heeled boots echoed down the hallway. Gold went quiet and looked toward the door.
Regina turned her head as well, curious to see what had caught her new boss’s attention.
And then she saw her.
Emma Swan.
Time stopped.
The years that had passed didn’t matter. The cities that had separated them didn’t matter. Not even, deep down, the relationship they had once shared.
Only her.
With that calm way of walking, her bright blonde hair swept back, and the same eyes that had once told Regina they loved her… before letting her go.
Emma didn’t react any differently.
For a moment that felt endless, they both froze. Neither of them could look away, but neither of them could speak either.
There was only silence.
Just like there had been for the past ten years.
“Oh, look, speak of the devil,” Gold said, completely unaware of the emotional storm between them. “Emma, this is Regina Mills, our new editor. Regina, this is Emma Swan.”
They looked at each other, swallowing at the exact same moment.
How do you greet someone after so long? Someone you once believed was the love of your life?
Neither of them knew the answer.
So they simply shook hands.
“Nice to meet you.”
They lied in perfect unison.
Because that couldn’t have been further from the truth.