SwanQueen One Shot(s)

A Broken Heart and Mind

"Hey, Madam Mayor, could you come down to Granny's? We have a situation."

Regina groaned, but quickly typed her response before waving her hands and disappearing in a cloud of purple smoke.

For over a month, the mayor of the quaint little town of Storybrooke was pulled in every direction. The woman had defeated villain after villain, performed the regular mayoral duties, assisted various citizens with whatever task they asked of her at the time, and had not had time to herself in well over a month. She was growing tired of it all.

Left and right, the people needed more. Always asking and never giving. Between slaying monsters and fulfilling every need, Regina was low on energy and magic.

Her body felt as though it was carrying the weight of the world, every breath and every step felt as though it took every fiber of her being to complete.

Regina finally returned home after another full day, smiling weakly as she took hold of an expensive bottle of wine and a crystal wine glass. Her mind was exhausted and her body ached from the incessant needs of the people surrounding her. The bathwater ran and the scent of oils filled the steamy air. As the bubbles neared the top of the large bath, Regina twisted the knobs and the water ceased its flow.

The glass in Regina's hand was soon filled far above the standard filling for wine, and her feet stepped into the hot water. The warmth surrounded her calves, heating up the stiff muscles and begging them to relax. Just before the woman could lower her body into the welcoming pool, her phone cried out next to her.

The ringing was obnoxiously loud, and she felt tears well up at her eyes. "One night, that's all I ask for." Her voice whispered, broken, out into the empty house.

With the roll of her eyes, she picks up the phone, wine forgotten.

Her voice is tight and low on patience, "Mayor Mills."

"We need you down at the docks, sister, its an emergency." A gravelly voice echoed through the speaker.

"I just got home, Leroy, I am finished for the night, call someone else." She rolled her head back, finally sitting on the edge of her tub.

The cold material sent a chill up her body, contrasting the heat rising from her submerged legs.

"You're just going to leave us to figure it out? Just when we thought you were a changed woman."

A pang of regret and slight embarrassment clouded Regina's mind, and with the wave of her hand, she was dry, dressed, and at the docks.

The wine glass sat on the edge of the bathtub even after she returned home just a few hours before the break of dawn. Her muscles felt as though they were being torn to shreds with every movement. When she returned the from helping out with what could have been easily solved by any of the citizens in town, or perhaps the sleeping sheriff, Regina laid down in her bed and fell asleep - still fully dressed. Much too soon, the woman was awoken by the blaring of an alarm clock resting on her nightstand.

Too few hours of sleep meant an extra layer of concealer beneath her tired, caramel eyes.

A month of sleeping at most three hours every night was catching up to her. While she had been setting her alarm clock for later each morning, the mayor had been taking longer to get ready, meaning skipping breakfast - every day.

By the time Regina was walking into her office, her appointment list had been booked the day, or two, prior. The full lunch hour was often used for the ex-Evil Queen to rest her mind, and she found herself curled up on the couch she had placed in her office. She wasn't proud of the situation, but thankful she had planned her office accordingly all those years ago.