I don't own ouat.
Sorry about gaps, things will make sense later on.
Like any other day, Regina was up at the crack of dawn and hurrying to start her day. Raising a child and working full-time was a chore in it's own, and not even the most pressing one in her life. It's been three years since she returned from the Middle-East, where she'd gotten herself wrapped up in possible the worst situations someone in her line of work could get involved in. Likely, they'd be out for her head within the week. She knew she shouldn't have trusted a rookie, not with the likes of the documents that contained word of a nuclear strike that the U.S. was planning on Russia. After 20 years in the field, Regina shouldn't even be in this position. She was higly professional, and deadly; not too many people make it as long or succesfully as she away from U.S. soils. That fact alone, made her sick to her stomach. Though she would like to think that wishing she could undo her actions would save her, she had to think rationally. The only way to get out of this situation alive, would be to fake her own death as wel as her son's and flee the country. She needed to act fast, before trained assasins beat her to the point and she would never get a chance to see her son grow up. A fire, she would have to leave behind DNA evidence for both her and her son, and enough to ensure believability. Or, maybe she could make it look like a suicide, but that would be hard without a body. Just as she sat down behind her desk to plan out the impending events, a shrill cry came from upstairs. On edge as it is, the cry sent her bolting up he stairs, nearly falling as she burst into her son's room to find him alone. Relief relaxed her muscles as she made way to the crib, picking up the budle that was her son. Nearly a year of age, Henry Mills was definelty a crier, it drove his mother to the brink of insanity. Once, she'd contimplated shooting him, but the thought was just as quickly brushed aside when she realized how ridiculous it was.
"Shh, my sweet boy," She cooed, clearing his soft red skin of drool and spit up. Henry cried out again, dying down into a low wail that caused Regina's back to twitch. After ten minutes of soothing to no avail, she put a purple pacifier between his gums, muffling his sobs. This was not her area of expertice, she loved her son more than anything, but she was more comfortable breaking people's kneecaps than comforting an infant. When she'd first found out she was pregnant, she'd cried more in one hour than she had her whole 39 years of living. The father, had been a bar-fly in a seemingly remote part of Ireland, one too many drinks and the rest is history. The cliche in the situation irritated her to high heavens. If anything, Regina Mills did not want to be a walking cliche. Either way, he had planted his seed, and here she stood testing her personal boundries by raising a child. Henry had been the first infant she'd ever held. Of course, maternal instincts took over the moment her was born, but such instincts only went so far, as she still had no idea what she was doing. Henry took advantage of that, her inexpirience with his kind, and cried for hours on end; like he planned on doing now. Little did he know, that his mother had much more important tasks at hand besides putting an end to his inferior sobs. With a strike of luck, he'd fallen asleep shortly, fooled once again by the soothing nature of his pacifier.
Smiling contently, she went back to her study, slowly this time and sat back to put a beginning to their end. First things first, she needed corpses that could be presumed her and Henry; she knew just where to get them, but planning over the phone was not an option, so she'd have to go later on to speak with her friend at the funeral home. Now, she needed an exit plan, she'd always wanted to live in Amsterdam, plus she had no ties to anyone there, so it seemed ideal. She could pay a boatsman to deliver them to the Netherlands, due to the fact that flyng would involve passports which they wouldn't have until after arriving in their new country. All of her savings were spread between two safes within her home, one containing 20k and the other containing 150k. Regina had spread her money this way so that if anyone came snooping around after her death, they'd find the 20k and assume it was all she had left behind. Last but not least she'd have to start the fire in a way that it wouldn't look deliberate. Ah, an electrical fire, water spills from her nightstand onto the outlet, which caught fire to the drapes. This plan would likely work, as the fire would spread qucikly and burn the bodies faster than anyone could possibly notice and call the department. Though it all seemed too easy, she would have to push to ache that told her failure was inevitable aside, because if she didn't act fast she'd be dead anyway.
At 12:30 Regina deemed it late enough to pay a visit to Mal, who owned probably the most successful morgue on the East Coast. Lucky for her, she and Mal had been the closest of friends since elementary school. All the years and crazy demands of her work, Mal had stayed by her side supporting her in all her endeavors. It was safe to say that Regina had trusted Mal with her life. Arrving just after 12:45, Regina lifted her son into his stroller and strode into the building waving a hello to the receptionist before slipping into the office she knew her friend would be in.
"Regina, what a surprise." Mal greeted, shutting her laptop, and pushing her reading glasses up. The blonde stood, slightly taller than Regina, the older woman walked confidentally over placing two kisses on her friend's cheeks.
"I would have called, but," Regina replied moving towards a single chair across from the blonde. "Matters are rather pressing, and I wasn't given the luxury." Flipping shoulder length hair, she sat with crossed legs.
Sensing curting vibes from her friend, Mal cleared her throat before also taking a seat. "What's wrong, darling?" She asked, concern and a little fear lacing her tone. She'd known about Regina's job and the stakes, so she already knew what was coming wouldn't be good.
"I have to leave, the country." Regina began. "I've done something very bad, Mally, and I can't dig any deeper this time. I'm fucked." The last words sounded odd coming from the brunette, who refrained from using such foul language, but her childhood friend was an exception.
"What do you need?" Mal asked, knowing that she couldn't ask about anything to do with her job, since all information was classified.
"I need bodies, ones that coud pass for myself and Henry." She gestured with her eyes over to her son, who slept soundly.
Mal rolled the question over, only slightly surprised by the request. "How soon?" She asked finally.
"As soon as possible." Regina replied.
"Okay," Mal stood and strode to her file cabinet, flicking expertly through the papers within. "Ah," Pulling out two small envelopes. "Francine Long and Gregory Pennings, both died last week. The woman, about your age, went naturally. The boy, his airway closed, poor thing." Mal looked at the file sadly before handing them to Regina. She looked at the picutres attached to find that the woman was brunette and of the same race as she, a good sign. Another flip and she was revealed a baby that didn't look much like Henry, but could pass as him to a stranger. "These will do yes?" Mal asked after a moment, breaking Regina's staring contest with the files.
"Yes, how will you transport them?" Regina looked at her friend quizzically.
"I could take them to yours the night you plan on using them." Mal replied.
"Okay, I just have to work a few things out before. I will text you the day before, the message will say 'how is Lily' if it says anything else, the deal is off." Regina explained standing to be more level with the blonde.
"I'll be waiting." Mal nodded, opening the door for Regina and Henry. She grabbed Regina's arm before she could leave. "Are you sure you're doing the right thing?" She asked, emotion strong in her tone.
"No." Regina admitted. "I'm so scared, but I need to do this for Henry, I can't let him die, or be brought up in the system. I need to do this." The brunette was whispering, on the verge of tears when Mal brought her in for a tight hug. Grabbing Regina and pushing her arms length away, she studied the woman.
"Okay, baby, I'll see you soon." Mal told her and turned her towards the exit as a tear fell from blue eyes. Regina nodded in response and quickly made way to her car before she let out a soft cry, gripping the steering wheel with all of the might in her soul. After a few moments she composed herself, she would not fall apart in this parking lot, she wouldn't fall apart at all. Looking back at Henry she was reminded by his innocent eyes, just what she was fighting for; starting the engine she went to the harbor in search of an old flame.
By the shore, the wind had picked up and the smell of the ocean as well as fish were coming at her in all directions. Her nose twitched, but she wouldn't let a smell hold her back. On the way here, she'd dropped Henry with a sitter, which was far easier than dragging him along.
Striding towards the only familiar ship, she thought of whom she was about to encounter. She was way over her head, and she knew that, but he never took too kindly to giving up; at least not without a fight. A fake smile was painted on to her face as she boarded the ship.
"Regina." She heard from behind her. "Don't you know it's impolite to board a man's ship without his permission?" Killian's accent twirled around her, bringing memories of their time together bleeding back into her brain, but she shook them aside as she turned to face him. He looked the same, even ten years post, leather pants as well as vest over an outdated blouse. This man was not with the times, but he was one hell of a sailor.
"With our history, I figured I'd be welcome." She stated, her fake smile widening becoming almost genuine.
"Well, you're here now, love, what's the problem." He asked, letting his guard down slightly and leaning against the edge of the vessel.
"Why do you assume there is a problem? Can't I visit my favorite pirate?" Regina mused, though her facade wasn't even believed by her own self.
"That's not you, love, you only come around when you want something. So, let's skip the games and get right to it, then." Killian deadpanned as he took a swig of rum from his flask. He offered it to Regina, who refused standing up a little straighter.
"You're right, I need you to take me somewhere, under the radar." She told him and he raised a thick eyebrow to her. "No questions asked." The woman added, seeing the question in his blue eyes.
"Can I at least ask where were going?" The captain questioned.
"The Netherlands, Amsterdam to be specific." Regina told him.
"That's quite the trek, I assume I'll be paid handsomly." Killian asked, waiting for an eyebrow to be raised to continue. "10,000 for my services and complete silence." He answered.
Rolling the offer over, only to annoy him, she narrowed her eyes before extending a hand, which he took. "A deal has been struck." She added, if only a little jokingly.
"When do we leave?" He asked after a moment and another swig of rum.
"Within the week, nothing is set in stone, but it will most likely be the day after tomorrow." Regina said.
"Alright, love, I'll be here." Killian said and began to turn when she stepped in his path.
"You are not to tell anyone I was here," Regina warned him and he put up his hands in surrender.
"I got that part, lassy, I'm not a mumbling idiot as of yet." The captain joked and stepped out of Regina's way as she made to leave.
"I will be back with exact details of our departure." She told him over her shoulder and his nod went unnocticed as she all but ran to her black Mercedes, overjoyed to breathe air that wasn't tainted by fish and their excrents. The engine turned over with a purr and she sped out of sight.
Upon arriving home, she rushed to get in as much work as possible before she was due to pick Henry up at 8. It was nearly 5 and she still had so much to do. It all seemed so much more simple in her head, then again that seemed to be the case with most of her pursuits. She wanted so badly for this to just be as simple as starting a fire and letting it consume her old life along with the bodies that should be her. As she went through all of her paper work, shredding what would compromise her plans or give intel to her crimes, she thought of what would happen if she just gave in and let the agency kill her. If she were being completely honest, she would have no problem dying for her crimes. Running was what weak people did, and she was not weak, she believed in facing consequences and paying for what you've done. Regina'd spent most of her adult life chasing the people who could face what they've done, and she'd grown to despise those people, the world would be a better place if people could just grow a pair and face what they have done; because everyone thinks of consequences, but not everyone thinks they have to face them, some people just think they can get away with anthing and get off just like that. Just thinking about this made her blood boil, she was becoming everything she despised. Slamming her fist on the ground she surprssed a cry.
"You deserve to die, you dug this hole for yourself, Regina, you knew it'd become your grave. Stupid girl, with your fucking bleeding heart." Regina began to scold aloud, scanning the room she rest her eyes on the picture of her and Henry in the hospital bed. That day had been intense, 13 hours of labor and she was pissed through at least 8 hours of it. She could remember yelling at Mal, who wouldn't stop telling her what to do. Being an emotional woman giving labor, she'd began digging into her friend and being truely awful, bringing up events from the past that were touchy to the blonde; however, she had stayed by her side until Henry's cries filled the room, followed by Regina's as she held her son for the first time. A smile crept across her face as she remebered the photo Mal had insited on taking right then, and there it stood a framed memory.
"You're doing this for him." Regina reminded herself and began shredding and rearranging files, determined not to shed another tear on the subject.
Should I continue? This story is actually super complex when you know what's going to happen, so sorry for the errors, my brain is everywhere all at once!