Teacher's Pet (OUAT)

Chapter Twenty

Regina Mills paced the floor of her study, eyes darting furiously back and forth as if something were to pop out at her in any given moment. She clutched her cellphone in one hand, tight enough to shatter it, and a card in the other, stuffed inside a sealed envelope.

Her mother had called her just moments ago to notify her daughter of her arrival. She would be here soon and that had Regina's heart racing, thumping so hard against her chest she thought it would burst. Because Cora was on her way here. And Regina had that in her hand, in which she was supposed to give her mother.

It was the night before Christmas and Emma's messages did little to soothe her when she had warned the blonde of her mother's arrival. Every fear, every memory, every resentment, every regret... it all had come back, crashing over the brunette like a tidal wave. She absolutely dreaded Cora's visit because every time she had shown her face, the English teacher always seemed to revert back to that little girl, yearning for nothing but her mother's approval and willing to do anything to earn it.

"I won't. Not this time." Regina promised herself, aloud. She wasn't going to allow Cora to twist her mind into thinking that she needed her mother. No. Not again. She had done that several times in the past and the brunette had always seemed to fall under her mother's spell.

Cora Mills was a manipulative woman and would stop at nothing until she got what she wanted. And what she wanted was Regina, or so the teacher had thought, and Zelena's visit had confirmed. Cora was after her for something, because why else would she visit? It would just kill the woman if she were to visit her own daughter for the sake of it.

The lawyer had been everything opposite Regina wanted to be if she were to become a mother herself. All the brunette's life, she felt as if Cora only bore her as an heir to her successful law firm, which had led Regina to believe that she did something to her beloved father. But, that was thinking way too far outside the box. Surely her mother couldn't be capable of such a deed? After all, she was the woman that raised her and cared for her for eighteen plus years of her life. Though, she was also the woman that had abused the brunette both mentally and physically; though the physical scarring had paled in comparison to the words that had sliced her ego.

And, yet, Regina always seemed to find herself yearning for her mother. To make that woman proud of her and want to love her like a mother should her child. It wasn't too much to ask for, was it? Or was Regina just caught up in her own self-delusion that made her think that it was perfectly fine to feed from the hand that hit her?

That woman was already clouding Regina's mind. She could already feel the little girl inside of her resurfacing the more she thought of her dear old mother. She needed not to have these feelings, and so she kept telling herself. She needed to remain calm. She needed to keep herself and not allow that woman to take her life like she had so many times in the past.

That would definitely be a bad thing, especially if she were to pry enough into Regina's mind so much that the teacher would spill her relationship with Emma. And neither of them wanted that. It was a dangerous thing and surely Cora would charge after the blonde to dissuade her of their standing. Like she had with many of Regina's other girlfriends in the past.

The sudden chiming of the doorbell hardly sated the brunette and she jumped in her spot in the middle of pacing, breaking from her worrisome thoughts. She was sure she had worn a track in her carpet by just those few minutes of anxiety. It was discomforting how much her mother had affected her in the way that she did.

Regina took a heartbeat to regain herself and straighten out her outfit, which had consisted of a straight pair of black slacks and a crimson, cotton button-up shirt.