Better When I'm Dancing - The Surprise

Chapter 1: Fatigue

A/N: Happy (belated) Valentine's Day to robinoffillory! I'm sorry this is a bit late but your original Valentine had an emergency so I stepped in to help. When I heard you loved Better When I'm Dancing, I had the perfect story for you. I hope you enjoy it.

It was a miracle Regina Mills and her partner had survived to Week 6 of Dancing With the Stars. She couldn't help but wonder if they were coasting on her popularity - she didn't want to feel conceited but she had seen enough feedback on social media to know that the fans weren't really voting for her partner. Which meant that her Royal Court were really stepping up, though she wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

Her partner this season was probably her worst ever. Percy Pellinore had taken a dislike to her almost immediately after their first meeting. He did not like to take direction and no matter how many different styles she tried, he always fought her at every turn. But she had soon seen that he showed the same disrespect to all the women on the show, even judges Eudora d'Orleans - who had started as the head judge a couple seasons earlier - and Cru deVil. He wasn't openly defiant around the men on the show though he still gave them attitude as well, which led to him almost coming to blows with Killian Jones. Regina had managed to pull her partner away while Ruby and Ursula had intervened with Killian, pulling him backstage to cool down. Everyone had had terse conversations with Nimue about possibly asking Percy to leave but the network balked at the idea as he was one of the leads of their latest hit show.

So corporate synergy and oodles of promotion took precedence over everyone else's comfort, leaving them all to pray that Percy got eliminated sooner rather than later.

And then on top of all of that, Regina got sick at the start of Week 6.

The alarm beeped several times but Regina could muster the energy to turn it off. She just lay under her blankets, curled on her side as she tried to get some more sleep. Eventually, the beeping stopped and she felt the bed dip. "Regina? Sweetheart?" her husband asked. "Are you okay?"

"Just wanna sleep," she told him. "Can I just sleep?"

"I would love to let you sleep but I'm pretty sure they're expecting you at the studio," he reminded her. She groaned and he started to rub her leg through the blanket. "Maybe you should take the day off? I'm sure someone else can work with Percy today."

Regina was tempted to take Robin's suggestion. Having a break from Percy and getting some rest would be nice. But they had just started to learn their routine for the next show and they still had a group dance to get through as well. It wouldn't be fair to foist him off on someone nor could they lose a day of rehearsal.

She was going to have to get up and go to work. Regina sat up and opened her eyes, taking in her concerned husband. "No, I need to go in," she said.

He pressed his lips together before sighing, reaching out and putting a hand to her forehead. "Well, you don't feel feverish," he said.

"That's good," she replied, gently pushing him off the bed.

Robin stood but hovered over her. "I still think you should take the day off."

She shook her head. "I can't. Percy is definitely not ready and I can't subject anyone else to him."

"So you're just going to push yourself instead?" he asked, crossing his arms as he frowned at her.

"I'll take a half day," she replied, mentally reviewing their schedule. "We have group practice this afternoon but I think someone can sub for me at least once. Ruby's our lead so she can teach me later."

He nodded, letting his arms fall to his side. "Alright. I just don't want you to press yourself until you're really sick or end up in the hospital."