Regina held the note in her hand, running her thumb over the oh-so-recognizable numbers. Surely, the key to Rumpelstiltskin's dagger. His most precious possession.

On the bed, Belle yawned sweetly. Regina looked down at her. A not-unattractive woman. And, at the moment, as vulnerable and trusting as Regina once had been. Before Rumpelstiltskin got through with her.

Belle. Rumpelstiltskin's second most precious possession.

Regina took out her phone and called her mother, waiting the five minutes it took for Cora to puzzle out how to answer a phone. "Mother, I've found the path to the dagger. Take Hook and go to the library. Use the card catalog and find whatever book's in," she checked the note again, reading out the numbers Belle had written in her cuddly pensmanship. "I'll be along shortly."

Before her mother could protest, Regina hung up. One good thing about phones; there was no chance Cora would figure out star-69. Changing her smartphone's mode, she looked up Belle's Facebook page. A little precaution she'd taken along with the keys to everyone's homes; she could check anyone's e-mail and social media. Hours of fun putting Charming on Grindr and watching him try to politely decline all the 'friend requests'.

In a few minutes, she had all she needed. She bought a copy of the last song Belle had listened to from iTunes, set the phone to play it on its small but powerful speakers, then left the phone propped up on the room's dresser. In a few moments, music was playing and Regina was sitting at Belle's bedside, holding her hand.

A minute of waiting and Belle woke up, helped along by Regina digging her thumb into her hand.

"Belle? Are you awake?" Regina asked sweetly, mustering a charming smile.

"Yeah?" Belle bit her lip ruefully. "I think so."

"You nodded off. I was worried for a moment there."

"Sorry about that," Belle said automatically. "I suppose it's all these meds they have me on."

Regina nodded understandingly. "Here. I brought you something." She reached into her purse and, with a little magic, produced a thermos. "Hot chocolate. Your favorite. I know the hospital menu can't be easy on the tongue."

Belle uncapped the thermos and took a cautious sip. She brightened, and couldn't help offering Regina a warm smile. "This is… wow. You're right, I think this is my favorite!"

Regina took her hand again, all happiness and light. "So tell me, are you feeling alright?"

"Yeah… I'm sorry, I don't… your name." Belle looked away, embarrassed.

"Oh! Oh, I'm such an idiot." Regina tapped her forehead with the heel of her hand. "I should've realized; my name's Regina Mills. I'm the Mayor. Or I used to be…"

Belle looked her over. "Who'd vote against you?"

"It wasn't much of a vote. More of a… deposing."

Belle snorted. "Well, how's that work?"

"It's a long story. There are parts that'd be hard for you to understand."

Wrong thing to say. Belle went dark, slamming her other hand down on the mattress.

"So explain it!" Belle seemed on the verge of eruption. "So many people come here, claiming to be my friends, and they won't tell me anything!"

Regina squeezed Belle's hand. Anger. She liked that. "Calm down, my dear, please calm down. I'm sure they don't mean anything by it. They just don't want to upset you. They don't know your strength like I do. Ask me anything and I'll do my best to explain."

That seemed to calm Belle down. She looked down at Regina's hand on hers and seemed satisfied with it. "Okay. Okay… what's going on in this town? What is everyone trying to hide?"

"No one's told you?"

"No! No one's told me anything!" Belle nearly screamed.

"I said to calm down," Regina said firmly, slipping up a little. Irritating girl. Where was all the fortitude she'd displayed in, ugh, trying to redeem Gold?

She stood up and went to the door. Felt Belle at her back, about to plead with her not to leave. And the relief when Regina only closed the door.

"Now then," Regina said, turning around. Her voice was soothing, calming, the one she'd used with Henry before that bitch Snow White had turned him into a fairy-tale-spouting delinquent. "I'm afraid you've gotten the wrong impression. Everyone being so… coy has given you the idea that something sinister is afoot. Well, that simply isn't the case… not for the most part. Our town is different from most, but there're no boogeymen."

"I'm pretty sure I saw a giant run by the window the other day," Belle confessed. "I thought it was the meds."

"Yes, he's quite nice when you get to know him."

Belle's eyes widened so that Regina had a hard time refraining from laughing. Oh, the adorable little waif. "He was real?"

"Yes. Him and more besides. You see, in most places, magic is just trickery or… I don't know, a baby being born." Regina rolled her eyes. "Here, it is very much alive."

"You're kidding me," Belle said, perhaps pleading a little. "Magic?"

Regina held out her hand. With a quick thought, purple smoke began to billow from her palm. It formed into butterflies that fluttered around the room, forming a funnel like a tornado that shimmied down to the foot of Belle's bed, becoming a rabbit.

It twitched its nose.

"Magic," Regina said.

Belle was agog. Mouth hanging open. Her eyes blinked rapidly and she shook her head, then put her hands to her temples. "This is…"

"A lot to take in. I know."

"No, it's crazy. I'm crazy! I'm seeing things—"

"Belle, you are not crazy. Here." Regina picked up the rabbit and put it in Belle's arms. "Feel him. It's a goodly-sized rabbit. I didn't have that up my sleeve."

"Then this is… I mean… how is it possible?"

"Long story." Regina took the rabbit back and went to the window, dropping it outside. They were on the first floor, luckily. "And as I said, hard to explain. But do you know those stories like Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones?"

"Yes. Books I remember, magic no."

"Well, we—all of us—come from another world where magic exists. It was a horrible world. There were many evil people who ruled over others with cruelty and fear. You read books. You know the medieval times weren't exactly fun for the whole family." Regina sat down at Belle's bedside again. "I was a queen, and I was horrified at what my fellow rulers did to their subjects. I sought a way for everyone to live in peace and harmony. But how? If I went to war with the tyrants, I would surely be defeated, and the battle would only result in more suffering."

Belle sat up. Like she'd been strengthened by hearing the truth, she swung her feet off the bed and faced Regina. "What'd you do?"

"I did as… someone I loved would've done. I scoured the land for ancient books, I translated them, read them. I found a spell that would put an end to it, once and for all. It would bring us all here, to a much more civilized time, where kings and queens would have no more power than anyone else. I had to make great sacrifices—but here we all. Storybrooke. There's no discrimination, no judgment… if two people are in love, there's no one to stop them from being together."

Belle stared into Regina like she'd uncovered a new detail in a favorite painting. "Regina… were we good friends, in the other world?"

Regina nodded. "The best."

"And were we anything more than friends?"

Regina looked away. Hiding both the emotion Belle thought was in her eyes and the cold glee that actually was. "Belle, this is a lot to take in. It's not… important… what feelings were involved. What matters now is you. Only you. Lie back down, please, you're still hurt."

Belle got back under the covers, responding a little more quickly to Regina's instructions than she had before. Regina smiled fondly for her.

"Thank you," Regina said, patting Belle's shoulder. "The last thing I want is for you… I would never ever want you to feel as though I'm trying to force you to be who you were. That's not my place, no matter what you meant to me before."

"Before…" Belle tried to sit up again, but a cautionary gesture from Regina had her lying back down. "How'd I lose my memory? My arm's injured, not my head. And why aren't you the Mayor anymore?"

"I have a question for you, actually. May I have some of your hot chocolate? You don't seem to be finishing it." Belle obligingly handed the thermos over. Regina drank. Gave herself a milk moustache, which Belle found gigglesome, of course. Then she wiped it away. "All this explaining—thirsty work. Which would you like me to answer first?"

Belle gave Regina a look full of concern. "Why aren't you the Mayor?"

Regina pursed her lips. It wasn't hard to summon up feelings of… bitterness. She had enough to be bitter about. "In the other world, there were so many feuds and recriminations that if I brought everyone here, they'd just keep fighting. So when I cast the spell, I gave everyone new memories. And for a long time—for a very long time—everyone lived in peace. As the Mayor, I was able to stop any problems in their tracks. All except for one. A woman named Emma Swan. She came to town, figured out what was going on, and broke the spell."

"Why would she do that?" Belle demanded, a little aghast. "If everyone was getting along…"

"Therein lies the rub," Regina said sadly. "Eleven years ago, I adopted Emma's child. And once she got out of jail—"

"Jail!?"

"—she decided she wanted him back. And with the spell broken, all those tyrants I'd condemned to live the same lives as those they ruled? They weren't happy. One of them in particular; a brutal necromancer who called himself Gold. Irish accent, long hair, walks with a cane…"

"Someone like that came to my hospital room!" Belle said. "I think he tried to kiss me!"

It was the easiest thing in the world to show anger. Usually, Regina had to work to keep it down. But Belle, obligingly, had given her an excuse to sneer in perfect distaste. "That bastard."

"He didn't hurt me!" Belle said quickly, as if afraid of Regina's wrath on an instinctive level. "He just wanted me to hold this… tea cup."

Regina grabbed Belle's shoulder. "You didn't, did you?"

"No! I threw it against the wall!" Belle said it with a touch of pride.

"Good girl. It probably had a curse on it." Regina left her hand on Belle, rubbing away like she was summoning a genie from a lamp. "Gold, he'd do anything to hurt me. Even try to get to me through you."

"Regina…" Belle faltered, perhaps finding it hard to concentrate between the new information and Regina's silken touch. "Is he why I can't remember?"

Regina nodded. Stopped rubbing.

Belle bowed her head. "He did it to hurt you. Making it so someone… you're close to… doesn't even know your name."

"I don't care about that!" Regina said vehemently. "All that matters is that you're alive, you're safe, and I can protect you now. Oh, Belle…" Regina allowed herself to pet the girl's face, running her hand along a smooth cheek. Not that Belle could know, but it was the first time they'd really touched. Regina liked the feel of her. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry I left you unprotected. I thought even a brute like that wouldn't hurt you, just for loving me. I came as soon as I could, but… another of Gold's schemes. Some of his friends framed me for murder."

"My God!"

"And yet now, my supposed victim is walking the streets, alive and well. But Gold and his cronies have turned the town against me so well that even that won't convince them to trust me. They all think I'm some kind of monster and he's some kind of…" Regina sighed, calming herself.

It was all too easy to get carried away in her own fiction, with the half-truths she'd given it. He'd taught her that. Mixing truth and lie together until they were like salt and water, until you had an ocean. There was just enough truth in her story that Belle would never doubt it; Regina couldn't believe everyone else had been so foolish as to keep her in the dark for so long. Why, for their convenience? Because it would take too long to sit down and explain the situation to her? It hadn't taken Regina that long, and she was taking the time to lie.

The queen bowed her head. "It doesn't help that I'm… not exactly their definition of normal. I'm sure if you were a man, Gold wouldn't have hurt you."

Belle reached out to her. Ran her fingers through Regina's hair. Regina luxuriated in the feeling. It tasted of victory.

"I can see why we were so close," the librarian said. "I don't suppose you could just—wave a magic wand and make me remember you again?"

Regina shook her head. "Gold would never allow it. I'm afraid what he's done is permanent."

"Okay… it's okay." Belle put both hands on Regina now, cupping her face in her hands. "How can I mourn a life I don't even remember? I'm sad for you, Regina. Losing someone you love…"

Regina took a deep breath. And, unbidden, she felt tears come to her eyes. Oh well. It added to the performance. "I haven't lost you. Even if you run a thousand miles from this town and love someone else—honestly, I wouldn't blame you—as long as you're safe, my heart will keep beating."

"God, Regina…" And that was it. Belle was kissing her, deeply, passionately. Regina wrapped her arms around the other woman, holding her tightly. The librarian was not without skill. This might end up being even more pleasant than Regina had imagined.

Belle pulled away, star struck. "That was our first kiss." She smiled, nervously, regaining her good humor. "It wouldn't be so bad, would it? Having another first… everything?"

"No. Not at all." Regina looked around conspiringly. "Belle, would you like to leave? I could take care of you at my house, and it'd be easier to protect you there. I know it's a lot to ask—"

"I'd love to go with you!" Belle enthused. "This place is driving me nuts."

"Good. Excellent! In fact…" Regina took off her coat. "Put this on," she ordered. "We're leaving right now. You're not spending one more moment in this dungeon when I have a guest room."

"If that's where I end up sleeping," Belle said.

Regina smiled. Lovingly.

Emma was almost asleep, in her uncomfortable 'Gold-can't-spring-for-first-class' seat, when she heard the buzz of a phone. She looked over to see Gold taking his cell phone out of his pocket.

"Are you crazy?" she asked him. "Those things crash planes!"

"They do not," Gold snapped. "And if a fairy tale creature is calling me on my mobile, it must be important."

"How'd you like it if I talk on a cell phone on a plane your son is on?"

Gold waved her silent. It wasn't a phone call. It was a video message. "It's from Regina."

Emma… intensified at the mention of her rival's name. "Don't open it. It's probably gay porn. Three guys rubbing penises together or something."

He gave her another look, found her words unworthy of comment, and opened the message.

Sultry saxophone music started playing. Gold's brow furrowed as he tried to recognize the blurry images playing on the small screen.

"My kid is in the same row," Emma griped. "Could you at least go to the bathroom if you're going to watch porn?"

"I don't know what your relationship is with our former mayor, but she doesn't send me pornography." Gold turned his attention back to the screen, where the wrestlers—was that what they were?—had found a new hold on each other. "Wait, is that Regina?"

Emma looked over. "She has a mole right where Regina does. Who's that she's with? And what are they doing with that candleOH. OH. It's not a candle."

"THAT'S BELLE!" Gold shouted at full volume, bringing a flight attendant their way with plans for his cell phone.

"Well, I was right," Emma said. "Gay porn."