Regina arrived home with her heart broken. Tear tracks were visible upon her pale, sad face. Her body ached and shivered not from cold but from revolt and sorrow. She took her coat off and put it on the hanger. She removed her shoes and walked to the living room, silently hiccupping, after being shaken by the most violent sobs she ever cried out on the walk home. She was a royal mess! Her hair was dishevelled, her makeup gone and her eyes red; she didn't need a mirror to know this. She ungracefully slump into the couch and shrank as much as she could, her legs to her chest and her face in her hands.
Completely dipped into her grief she failed to notice a presence nearby. There were two yellow eyes, lurking in the dark, staring right at her. There was no movement and then suddenly a soft sigh was heard. Regina jumped from the couch and searched with her tearful brown eyes for the intruder.
"Who's there?" she roared with no hint of fear in her shaky voice.
"Those tears... One would think you would never shed them again." A voice softly said.
Regina saw the pair of yellow eyes staring at her. She recognised them, from where she didn't know. They weren't menacing; quite the contrary. They stared at her tenderly and filled with...compassion. How she despised the creature already!
"Whoever you are, get out! I could get you arrested for invasion of private property."
"Please, Regina; no threats today."
"Come to the light before I turn you into a human torch!" Regina growled. The shadowed body moved into the window and the moon cut out a feminine silhouette. Regina could now distinguish some features that reminded her of her own self. She knew this person, this young woman. Oh, yes! She knew her. Regina lit the fireplace and all was clear. The woman in front of her was a few centimetres higher than her, had long dark reddish brown hair, rosy complexion, the Miller's nose, mischievous smile. She was strong built, unlike her; she also dressed casually: she wore a simple white shirt in a dark blue striped pattern and some jeans. She was wearing Chelsea black boots. "My, my! If it isn't the little kitty cat! Chasing mice much lately?" Regina scoffed as she tried to keep tears in her eyes.
"Mice are sometimes better company than certain humans; especially some humans you keep near you and shouldn't. I will not list any names, given the circumstances." She scolded. Eliza felt her face going left and a strong ardour upon her cheek. She had been slapped.
"Oh, I was really looking forward for a battle of wit against you, Eliza."
The young woman smiled at the sound of her name in Regina's mouth, feeling the skin of her cheek burning like hell.
"You barely escaped alive from our last, if I recall. Yet, I must admit such an anger release would do you wonders, though I think that this slap might have just done the trick."
"I couldn't agree more."
"Goodness! You haven't changed a jot!"
"Yes, you too; you have remained the same disgraceful creature you always have been." Regina noticed something strange about her. "Except for one thing; where are your boots?"
"So you've noticed..."
"Of course I have noticed. I can sense magic and your boots have a very peculiar signature. I failed to sense it. I assume you don't have them."
"And you're correct; I don't have them. They were taken from me with the curse, and before you ask which one, I have to answer 'both'."
"Well, If you came to..."
"I know you don't have them. Gold has them..."
"So you came to me, hoping I can open the way for you so you can get them back."
"I am afraid you're wrong, Regina. I have my own way to deal with the Dark One, I assure you. Anyway, if he wanted to use the boots - or anyone for that matter - and I believe he doesn't, he wouldn't be able to."
"How's that?"
Eliza sat on a chair by the fireplace and crossed her legs.
"The boots are passed from generation to generation in our family, Regina. Only the Miller's third son can wear them. They only fit the third son. If there isn't a third son, the boots skip a generation; they remain useless until there is a proper suitor. They wouldn't fit you because you're the youngest but you're not the third. And Rumpelstitskin is not a Miller, or a Mills. The boots stay faithful to the wearer until he dies. So I am afraid, even if I bit the bowl off the spoon right this instant, no one would be able to use them."
"I am sure the little imp would find a Mills or a Miller to manipulate so he could use them."
"There are no more Millers, my dear. I am the last. And there is a tinny tiny little microscopic catch to what you just said: The Dark One, as his lovely moniker indicates, uses only dark magic. Now, the Dark One has always dark purposes...The boots, are fuelled by light magic. I am sure you are familiar with it..."
"Not quite..." Regina muttered, remembering the past day's events and the battle against her half-sister.
"I heard differently. You defeated the Wicked Witch with light magic, did you not?"
"Indeed, I did..." Regina whispered.
"It was an astounding triumph, I must say! Congratulations!"
"It was a magical one-night stand..."
Eliza seemed bemused.
"I am not quite grasping your meaning."
"It means I won't use it again!"
"Oh, I highly doubt that! Why not?"
"Because, I won't be able to use it anymore... Not after what happened tonight."
Eliza narrowed her eyes, suspiciously.
"What happened at the diner?"
Now, it was Regina's turn to narrow her eyes before the young woman's question. She tilted her head and moved, uncomfortably around the room.
"How do you know I was at the diner?" Regina asked, controlling her voice not to sound deranged.
"Well, let's say I am a sneaky kind of person..."
"You followed me!" Regina exclaimed, outraged. Eliza frowned in false thinking.
"Yeah, you can say that. So...what happened?"
"I don't want to talk about it." The queen spat.
"You're obviously upset about it."
"I am not upset!" Regina yelled.
"Of course not, dear. Your heart just happened to fall down on the floor and shattered by a mere coincidence." Eliza said, gesturing dramatically. Then she straightened her back and adopted a serious expression. She took her time observed the woman pacing around the room. "The guy that was with you – he wasn't just a mere fling, was he?"
"No. No, he wasn't." Regina confessed in a shy and feeble tone.
"Thought so... What are you going to do about it?"
Regina lifted her head and Eliza thought that if looks could kill, she would be rotting by now.
"Look, you weren't very helpful the last time, in fact you were quite appalling..."
"I couldn't agree more!"
"Give me a good reason why I shouldn't choke the life out of you right now as a pay back. Why are you here? How did you get in?"
"I'll start by answering that last question; by sheer dumb luck I found out that you keep a key under the entrance rug. Quite the lovely rug, if I may say so. I am here because that's where I need to be and because I owe you. The boots were a tool so I could reach the people in need of help. They would lead me to them and I would use all I could to solve their problem. After wearing them for so long, this...instinct – I mastered it. I began to do things automatically. I would move from realm to realm the minute I knew there was a person in need of help. I am afraid my instincts were tingling like crazy when I crossed your path tonight."
"Oh?"
"Oh indeed!"
"So you have been living without magic since the first curse was broken."
"Yes. It was good to have three years of rest."
"Why the hurry? One would think you didn't enjoy the blissful pause."
"I didn't, no. I missed my usual activity. It was the most wondrous feeling in the world. I miss it terribly. I miss being happy seeing others being happy."
"If it is a boost of happiness you need, you shouldn't be here! I am quite sure the Charmings would keep your happiness deposit filled for the rest of your days."
"I don't doubt you, but I don't need a boost of happiness, my dear. You do and desperately so."
"Excuse me?" Regina said, with revolt.
"I want to help you."
"I don't need your help! I asked you when I needed it, and you refused to help me!"
"Regina, like you, I let my sorrow cloud my good judgement in the past..."
"I wasn't asking for riches or pretty dresses! You didn't even try! You abandoned me, just like the others! You could have saved him! You could have given me back the only person who made me truly happy; the only person who ever truly loved me! I begged you! I knelt! I almost kissed the boots you wear so proudly to help the feeble and desperate! And still you mocked me! You refused! A queen knelt and begged you for help! And you didn't. Even. Try. You destroyed me that day!" Regina shouted, ire tears going down her face. Eliza was shaking in rage much like the queen was.
"I will not stand silent before such outrageous accusations! Don't blame me for what your mother did to us! She defiled you! Her own daughter! She is the origin, the centre and the matrix of the evil that resides in you! She drew the path for you! And she took my father from me and my sisters in the process of making you get what she wanted! We were children when it happened! And for your information, I don't need a reminder of my life's purpose! I know exactly what I must do and when I must do it! I provide people with what they need, not what they want! They are opposites, Regina! If you haven't learned the difference by now, there isn't much hope that you will ever learn it! You need help now; there is no other reason for my presence here! It's up to me to provide it and up to you to accept it! God knows you need it!" Eliza growled back.
"No, dear; I don't need your help; I need you out of my house before I turn to my old ways and kill you."
"Regina, you are an excellent communicator, truly, as an orator you are remarkable. Your listening skills however, are utter rubbish and I shouted what I just said! Now, I have something important I would like to tell you and I ned you to listen. I am not asking you to give up the throne to me or to surrender your beautifully decorated manor, I am just asking you to sit your fanny and listen to what I have to say! Can you do that?" Eliza sighed in annoyance.
"Get out!"
"Just listen to me for once in your lifetime, you mulish queenie! Jesus Christ, you really are blood of my blood! Sit your bloody hide on that chair and listen!" Eliza barked, pointing to the chair in front of the one where she was seated.
"You're in my house!"
"I am! I am surprised it escaped your notice."
"That's it! I am calling the police!"
"I am afraid they are still at the diner, dear. On your way to get them to come and remove me, could you order some apple pancakes? I could use a midnight snack. Oh! And you should order a self-pity pie slice for yourself; I hear it's your favourite these days!"
"You are so lucky, I have changed."
"No. You are lucky you have changed! There was a time people, me included, would like to have your head on a silver plate, believe me. But I have seen you working hard to get that to change... "
"Look what it got me! Will you look around you? I am wasting away alone in this house! I have everything one can dream about, I do; I have everything but the thing I want most..."
"... and deserve: your son, that guy, a family, happiness! That's why this can't wait, Regina. This is the moment! Right now! You have to listen to me. You need it. As much as you need help."
"Your help..."
"Yes."
Regina sat in front of her visitor and crossed her arms in front of her chest, in a very defensive stand.
"Go ahead. Speak and don't waste my time!"
The young woman smiles widely.
"Now we're talking!" Eliza said lifting herself from the chair and paced calmly around the room. Regina sat now, as a queen should, her back straight, shoulder's back, hands in her lap, chin up and vigilant eyes observing her visitor. Eliza then approached the fireplace and stood by it, staring at the fire. "I came here to tell you something, to offer you my help but also, well – to ask your forgiveness."
"Now, that is precious! You refuse to help me, you despise me for years, and now you break into my house, to insult me and exchange witty remarks, all this to apologise and ask my forgiveness... This is a surprise! Remind me again why I haven't killed you yet?"
"Unlike so many others, I happen to be the One Who Knows Too Much. Plus you already slapped me across my face."
"Point taken."
"It still hurts."
"I don't doubt it. Sorry but not sorry."
Eliza snorted.
"I have a question before I start. My family name...?
"Yes, I took your father into account."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome; but I suspect your family name is not the subject you wish to discuss."
"It isn't. I am here to discuss what went wrong forty years ago."
"Now you sound just like Hopper."
"I was wrong about you, Regina."
"Not so wrong if you think it over; you were right when you said I was just like my mother when we last 'talked'." Regina said, making air inverted commas with one hand as she leaned comfortably on the chair where she sat.
"Funny, you should say that because people don't always say what they think, especially during violent arguments; I think you are nothing like your mother. You are quite the complicated character, I give you that. And definitely NOT like your mother."
"I believe you're only one."
"I am afraid I have do disagree. But when you asked me for help, to bring him back, to make things right... I need you to know, even if I refused to do it out of vengeance for what your mother did to my family – even if I wanted to do it, I wouldn't be able to." The yellow-eyed woman said. "I want you to know that... I truly wish I could." At this, Regina bowed her head and closed her eyes. "I remember him" Eliza smiled. "He told us the way to your house when we went to ask your mother for help. We became friends. How could one not befriend dear Daniel? He was such a noble, kind-hearted and fine boy. One would think he was a prince in his past life! I used to find him in the marketplace, buying wheat for the horses. How he sang praises about his Regina. He would speak of you in the tenderest tones; it was like hearing the sound of water of the small creaks, running down little stones. He was devoted to you. I only realised that you were devoted to him as well, when you told me you would cross the boundaries of Death to be with him again if necessary. You were so young and so determined already. So resolute... But then, your mother surpassed your level of determination. Her goal was older and firmer. I can't imagine the horrors you must have been through so she could prance around like she owned the place. You got rid of her and still she had you in her grip. She wasn't letting you go. You situation didn't help. Marrying a man you didn't want to marry with Daniel fresh in his grave. The pain fuelled your every step... like once it did mine."
The queen's eyes shone with fresh tears.
"Please, Eliza; let's not talk about him today. I can't..." She pleaded with no hint of anger in her voice. The young woman sat in front of the queen and put her elbows on her knees, joining her hands, leaning over Regina. She also adopted a softer and tender tone. Her next words would not be spoken with violence, rage, wrath or acidity. Daniel and Regina's story should always be told in the sweetest tones.
"I believe it's not possible to talk about your life without mentioning him, or the love you shared, is it? It's a part of you. Even if you tend to hide it from the world, it's still there. It still hurts, I know. You omit it, isn't it? This is the vulnerable side you don't want to show people, because they will think you're weak." Regina strangled a silent 'yes'. "I know you were familiar with his kindness and devotion, but I am afraid you don't have many memories of him that were not tainted with your mother's presence as an impediment to what you could have had or lost. I would like to offer you some of my own memories. Daniel at the pub, laughing his eyes out of drunkards' jokes; Daniel beneath a tree, dreaming of his sweetheart while the devilish Eliza poured a bucket of water down his head, sending him squealing and running after her swearing he would kill her." This last comment put a sad wide smile upon Regina's face. A tear crashed against her palm. Eliza couldn't help to cry as well. She had been so fond of Daniel. "I remember him looking at the silk ribbons from a merchant stall. I shall procure that baby blue silk ribbon for my white flower's hair, he said that morning. He did. I helped him find an odd job so he could earn extra money to buy it for you. Do you still have it?"
"Not anymore. My mother burned it."
"He loved it so very much. He spent a whole hour telling me of how beautiful you looked with it in your hair." Eliza said letting a shaky chuckle out. "That day, I said something not that pleasant about you and he laughed and said Regina has it all: fine dresses, books to read, a good house, a carriage, food on her table, flowers in her garden, a warm bed... She has it all but a loving mother. And yet she is as kind of heart as if she had been raised by one; don't doubt me, Eliza, you silly girl." Eliza sniffed and smiled warmly at the memory. "But I did. I doubted each and every word." Eliza swallowed a lump in her throat, crying silently, her big tears matching Regina's.
"It was true, though... I had it all but what I wanted the most. I still don't have it." Regina whispered, smiling tearfully. The young woman got up and went towards the window to observe the streets surrounded by night.
"I saw that girl he spoke about once or twice. First, I saw her, cowering behind her father, as her mother denied me and my sisters the restoration of my father's health. She was scared to death. After all she was just a girl, much like myself at the time. We were what? Fourteen? Fifteen?"
"Fourteen. She remembers it well too, the girl. Too well to forget your face, your eyes and your sisters, how you begged... My father wanted to help but my mother..."
"I know of Prince's Henry's intentions. I know now that we were gone before he could do something about it behind your mother's back."
"It was the first time he stood against her in matters that didn't concern me."
"I am afraid all his effort went to waste. By the time we got to the village, my father was beyond repair. There was nothing we could do about his health."
"The whole village looked at my mother as if they wanted her head on a spike when he died."
"I bet nobody tried to make that lovely thought come true, though. As for our family, we vowed never to speak her name amongst us again, especially in the mill. It had been where he spent his whole life working like a horse, day and night, under cold and heat. We did mention your father quite often, however."
"Is that so surprising?"
"It is, in a way. I should like to pay my respects to your father. I am afraid I haven't had the opportunity yet... If you'd let me, of course."
"Sure."
"It seems to me now, you inherited much of his features. Not only physical, after all he must have been responsible in some of the traits Daniel told me about when he spoke of you."
"I guess... I miss him terribly. He may have not been the best of fathers, but he tried... He was there. He was my mother's puppet but..." Regina smiled sadly.
"He made it a little better, didn't he?"
"Yeah..." Regina whispered, nodding.
"Anyway, the story really took flight when, a few years after, I am summoned to the palace in the White Kingdom. It was a matter of utmost importance, I was told. I had to go immediately! The young girl was then the young Queen, her eyes hopeful and afraid."
"The day you sent her heart crashing down; she had been denied so many things, she couldn't afford to be denied what she asked you, still..."
"Yes, the day I sent that young girl's heart crashing down, they day I knew about Daniel's death..."
"You didn't know about it?"
"No, I had been on a short trip to Wonderland..."
"That's why..." Regina whispered in surprise, lips parted in shock.
"Oh yes... That's why my discourse was worse than expected. The young queen mustered all her strength to dare to ask me to grant her only wish. I went blind with rage when she explained all the details, how her mother crushed her lover's heart in front of her, how she discovered that her then stepdaughter had sung her deepest secret to her mother and somehow triggered the tragedy. I don't even remember, what I said. The queen took the blow of my wrath with such courage. I saw her crumble down, fall on her knees while I spat the words of my denial, much like her own mother spat hers at me and my sisters: with all the cruelty I could gather."
"In front of him – of his corpse..."
"I spat all the venom I could in those words. Still she begged, the young queen begged! And still I mocked her behest. I laughed at her and failed to see the desperate young girl with a baby blue silk ribbon in her hair, pleading to bring her dead fiancé back from the dead. Instead, all I could see was her wretched, despicable mother, standing tall, laughing her eyes out at me, as I begged for my father's life. I failed to see my suffering cousin, freshly married to an old man. I remember thinking how wrong it was. Wasting your best years with a bloody old creep, babysitting a brat... My God, what a monster your mother was! So unlike her little sister... My mother would be appalled if she knew; well, I think she would be appalled, seeing her older sister turn into such a power thirsty demon. Good thing she didn't stay long enough to see that happen."
"What happened to her?"
"She died not long after I was born. Something as pathetic as an infection took her. My father did his very best but then... it was no good. I never got to know my mother but at least I had a loving father and two crazy sisters who took care of me, unlike yourself."
"We are not so different, are we?"
"Glad you noticed."
"Our paths were different. I turned to Evil and you turned to Good"
"Things are not so black and white as you put them just now. I was blind and my mistake cost greatly not only to you, but to me and other innocent people as well. I could have been there for you; I could have helped in some way even if not in the way you wanted. I could have had prevented the darkness corrupting your heart even more than it already had been. I could have – I could have given you the comfort and consolation you needed. I could have spared your soul and I did no such thing. And I had helpers! Your monster of a mother, Snow White, your poor father, the golden-ass imp, the Hatter and the Doctor, for starters. We all ruined you."
"It's essentially my fault; I chose to walk that path..."
"Yes, it's your fault too. You made some bad choices, killed, tricked, tortured... You have paid the price with your suffering and emptiness in your heart. Jefferson, your mother, your father, even Frankenstein and I, we all have paid the price with pain and misery. Snow White, you have forgiven her, haven't you?"
"Snow and I - our story is even more complicated than I thought. And surprisingly or not, it started with our mothers. This time, Snow's side started it. Apparently, it's all about telling secrets and getting revenge because of the discovery of that secret's consequences."
"Good God... That's complicated indeed!
"And it appears that our feud is far from being over, since insufferable daughter of hers, who really likes to play hero and muddle on other people's businesses, took over and managed to ruin things for me...again. I used to have a son all to myself, the only one that actually believed in me, the only one to give me a chance. The only one I had. She has her parents; she has a man who loves her, plenty of friends, a small apartment that never goes silent... And now, I have to share my son with her and live in an empty house, where the only thing I can hear, is my foot-steps' echo. It seems to me, that the price of what I did to others and of what others did to me is far from being paid."
"So it seems. Especially, when people like Gold are involved."
"What about him?"
"Look at him! I mean, fuck my luck... Look at him, prancing around the place with his little girlfriend, gloating, throwing his joy to our faces. He's the one who did more harm and yet here he is."
"He's changed..."
"Not really. I give him two months before he screws up and lets that poor girl down."
"You said he had yet to pay the price of what he did to me. You should know that he manipulated me to cast the curse so he could find his son, Baelfire. He died a few days ago. He was Henry's father."
"Damn me!"
"So, yes; he paid quite the price, don't you think? I can't imagine what it feels like."
"I hope you never know."
"Sentiment shared. The truth is, for more than thirty years, at the end of the day, we only had each other when things weren't quite smooth. If I needed anything, he would get the job done. He was flawless, the only con was the price... it was too high at times. But I would manage..."
"I see."
"No; we all paid the price I think." Regina said in a confident tone, her arms folded against her chest. "Now we're paying the taxes over our mistakes."
"I know you lost someone recently too."
The room went colder the second Eliza spoke. Regina wasn't so sure about what to say.
"Ah, yes, Zelena... my half-sister – she, huh, killed herself."
"She was quite the nuisance to begin with."
"Her little sister takes after her." Regina smiled sadly.
"I am sorry."
"Thank you."
"I wish you could have had more time to get to know each other, in spite of everything."
"She killed Neal, she wanted to wipe me from the face of the Earth, she wanted to use an innocent baby for her wicked purposes..."
"Still... she was your sister."
"She was just like me, thirty years ago."
"A chip of the old block..."
"Mother ruined her as well and..."
"Too much was left unsaid."
"Just like when my mother died."
"You wanted to try, didn't you? To be a family."
"I don't know, I guess that's what I meant when I offered her a chance."
"Things never go as we plan. Once someone told me that the best way to make God laugh is to tell Him about your plans."
"He must think we're all a bunch of clowns." Regina got up and went to the window. "What are you doing here, Eliza, really?" Regina asked, apprehensive about her cousin's intentions.
"I am here because I understand that your life, much like my own, has been a series of occupied chairs and tables becoming suddenly empty. I know that after the blows you just suffered you have nothing in your head but three words: They are Hate, Sadness, Vengeance and 'Justice'. I know what comes next. The problem came when you stopped saying those words and turned them to actions; when you fell silent; when you started to brew your revenge based on grief, I've seen the results."
"I am failing to see how you will make the difference. Everything I do is smashed. When I see a glimpse of happiness coming my way, people take it from me. This is a treacherous path you threading. I have relapsed numerous times..."
"This time, if you permit me to help you, I won't let you relapse. The Hate, Sadness, Vengeance and the so called 'Justice' are weeds. And weeds aren't supposed to grow on gardens. You are a garden, Regina. I let blood stain your hands once; I let life grow thorns on you. I won't let it happen again. You do realise now that I am seeking my redemption through yours." Eliza whispered looking straight into her cousin's chocolate brown eyes, smiling softly.
Regina smiled and shook her head.
"I think I am past the point of no return, Eliza. How can you have such faith in me?"
"I don't think you are past the point of no return and I do have faith in you! Someone has to! I mean, you are a better person than you were. You were an impossible bitch."
"I still am an impossible bitch."
"Hum, sometimes, yes." They both snorted. "Mainly when you don't have things your way as perfect as you want them to be, I'm afraid. Look, I know we don't have the best of relationships, we hardly know each other; what we know about each other has been told to us by others... And they are rather biased, I am sorry to tell you. But we are family, Regina; I understand your motives, I understand your life was not a monochromatic maze. It has a lot of shades of gray in it. For what I know you came a long way... By listening to a bug, by God!" Regina let out a faint chuckle.
" I tried... for Henry... "
"That kid will be the end of you..."
"The best end I would ever have. I have imagined my own death; it couldn't get any more violent than I have imagined it to be. But dying protecting my son, well - I would go toes up with a smile on my face and a much lighter heart."
Eliza smiled.
"Being a mother suits you, you know?"
"I wasn't the best of mothers. I made a lot of mistakes..."
"Who doesn't?"
"My mistakes are...let's put it this way: I made mistakes no mother should make."
"Hum... But you learned your lesson, did you not?"
"I'm still learning..."
"You say you tried for Henry. The issue is that you didn't try for yourself. Can't you see? You will never be happy if you let darkness rule over you. You're the Queen, you rule!"
"You are forgetting the Evil moniker..."
"I'm forgetting absolutely nothing."
"No matter what you say, that's how they'll always see me..."
"To hell with them!" Eliza said, sweeping Regina's words with a flick of a hand. "For all I care, they can strategically place their lips upon my posterior and kiss it al gusto! I am absolutely not interested in their opinions about me or my cousin. I refuse to pay attention to such frivolities. I have no intention to waste my precious time listening to a ludicrous parcel of drivelling idiots who aren't worth my spit with their insufferable rambling about the only family I have left." The Queen let a sultry laugh escape her throat. "And a Queen, so witty, rough and courageous such as yourself shouldn't too! You're a diamond, Regina; your jeweller was rather neglectful when he cut you, but I shall restore you to your former glory. I will help you find your shape, give you a jolly good polishing and keep you shinny. You are too precious to be wasted like this, dear cousin. And I am sure, our dear Daniel would agree." Eliza smiled. Regina smiled widely and dried her tears that came quickly down her cheeks at the sound of her cousin's comforting words "Can you muster the strength it takes to forgive me all the wrongs, all the harsh words, all the pain I caused you? Will you accept my help?" Eliza asked, sincerity filling her yellow cat-like eyes. Regina smiled and nodded. "Come here, you." Eliza said, opening her arms. Regina let her cousin wrap her arms around her body.
Regina felt relief washing over her when she felt the warmth of Eliza's body against hers. She felt tired and yet somewhat happy that there was somebody actually there to comfort her. She wasn't used to share her grief with anybody, not even Henry. She always had been a very private person, but somehow, that night's events had taken such a toll on her that she wasn't able to hold her emotions in. She was mad at herself, mad at Eliza for being there testifying her fall; yet, she was also glad she was there, glad she still had some sort of a family. Their hug was brief but served its purpose. Regina was now looking at her cousin, with an unreadable expression upon her face.
"I absolutely despise you, Eliza Miller."
"Such lovely words, Regina Mills. Ah! Music to my ears!"
Regina and Eliza chuckled.
"And how do you plan to rehabilitate me?" The Queen asked, with Eliza's hand on her shoulder.
"I am going to keep you away from trouble." Eliza assured, facing her cousin.
"Is that even possible? Troubles and I have such a serious relationship. I think we might have exchanged our vows somewhere in the past." said Regina, smiling.
"It's time to get a divorce, darling! I am telling you, it will get better; "We will make it better."
"How?"
"First, you will get a good snooze to be all fresh and witty in the morning. I'll get my boots, first thing and then... then we'll get your life back on track. It will take time, it won't be smooth, and there will be ups and downs. I promise it will be alright in the end. Never fear, you will have your happy ending, if it is the last thing I do."
THE END ?
Author's note: The story is based on my Storybrooke Live experience so far. I am not really into it, but I couldn't get this little one-shot of my head. It took three days to write it until I was finally satisfied with the final result. The OC doesn't always express my opinions and views about the other characters in the show. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I don't know if I should continue or not, hence the question mark in 'THE END'. I'll leave that entirely up to you. So, if you liked what you just read, if you want the story to have a continuation, please, do review. Also, I am sorry for the mistakes, I know there must be quite a few around somewhere in the text. English is not my native language. Thank you.
