The Queen, the Savior, and the Duct Tape
Sixty-five years after peace finally settled across the realms, Regina Mills has spent decades ruling wisely and balancing everything from goblins to city councils. Yet even a queen can ache for home. Drawn by the memory of apple orchards and her father's old riding trails, she returns to her ancestral estate in the Enchanted Forest for a quiet season of renewal. Her granddaughter Evelyn stays behind in Storybrooke to manage the mirror-gates as interim mayor, while the younger grandchildren-Jack the idealist and Luna the half-mad inventor-follow "Grandma Regina" into the woods with far more enthusiasm than sense. Emma Swan, older, silver-haired, and gloriously unfiltered, joins her for company, caffeine, and a little mischief. Years after losing Killian to a peaceful passing, Emma has stopped hiding her feelings and decides life's too short not to love Regina openly, even if it drives the forest spirits crazy.
Peace lasts about five minutes. When the ancient magic sustaining the Enchanted Forest begins to fade, Regina sets out to preserve it through research and ritual. Emma-armed with a walking stick, a roll of duct tape, and boundless confidence-refuses to let magic "die behind museum glass." One enthusiastic "repair" later, she manages to short-circuit the gateway between Storybrooke and the Forest, plunging both worlds into comic disaster. Portals flicker, spells misfire, enchanted horses appear in kitchens, and everyone blames everyone else while Emma insists it's "a minor technical hiccup." Now Regina, Emma, and the grandkids must race to restore balance before all magic collapses-proving along the way that family, forgiveness, and a good laugh can heal even the biggest mess. The Queen, the Savior, and the Duct Tape is a wild, heart-warming tale about second chances, late-life love, and the kind of chaos only Emma Swan could call a plan.
#1 in swen - 12/2025
