Something I just had to get out of my head.

Thanks to my beta Withgirl for suggestions.

Enjoy.


After Owen and his father, Regina was sure no one would ever cross the threshold again. No one else would blunder upon her somnolent town leaving her with chance of having anyone. After twenty years of savoring in her triumph over Snow White and adopting her wonderful son, Henry, the Evil Queen still felt something. Or perhaps it was nothing. Nothing is what she was feeling. Still after all this time emptiness was still there. Loneliness still lingered. Regina was contented with discerning as Henry grew older he would begin to fill the void more and more. Some days that confidence faded away. It wasn't enough.

Most days when the mayor spent her free time in the kitchen, it was satisfying. Today just wasn't one of those days. She sighed as she bent down to take the freshly baked pie out of the oven. Regina was proud of her apple pies, though since it was one of those days, looking to the dessert she found its only purpose was to yet again remind her that it was a whole pie. One that she couldn't finish alone. That most people had someone or several some ones to share it with. So she grimaced at it as she closed the oven and placed the pie on the cooling rack on the breakfast bar. She sighed again wondering why she even bothered to do this. She felt these feelings less when she was doing something like reading or writing. Thinking normally would be on the list but she tended to think about how much she didn't like being alone, and those types of thoughts were forbidden.

Twenty years of forcing the thoughts into the dungeon of her mind was doing her no good now. The tactic was wearing thin. She hated that they were threatening to overflow the little cell she trapped them in. The isolation was getting stronger than her other feelings but never over her love of her son.

He was the light in the dark tunnel. Henry was the flawless package of happiness that fought off a lot of the darkness in her. His squeals of mirth fetched a smile to the Evil Queen's face of all people. Watching him sleep serenely was a small past time of hers. She'd envy him only slightly. His innocence producing naught except pleasing, happy reveries in his tiny head while he slumbered. Even then, all this bonding with her overactive two year old, that could only go so far in one direction. He was her son and even though she could very consider him as such, he was not her friend. She didn't have any friends and accepting that only brought on a twinge, a longing, for another person to share life with.

Despite today, a Friday, being one of those days her prison cell couldn't contain her dreadful thoughts, she still went about her usual routine. Johanna, the hesitantly hired nanny, tended to Henry for a few hours every day even after she was home from the office. She removed the over mitten from her hand and stalked towards the foyer, briskly moving down the short steps as she shrugged into her coat and tightly pulled the scarf around her neck and breezed out of the door. As cold as it was she still found her town scenic enough to take a drive. Maybe even indulge herself in greasy food from a little café she encountered when she took a drive outside of town.

She passed by the center of town, smirking to herself as she looked up to the clock tower. The hands hadn't ever moved and as long as they never did the brunette would be at ease reigning over the residents with an iron fist. Her smirk quickly turned to a frown when she glanced around the, surprisingly, lively sidewalks. It was cold and Regina could feel the presence of the first snow fall coming soon. Citizen were mingling together. Happy. Smiling. Truly content, unlike herself. Sometimes she did wonder if she actually cursed the town. People didn't seem all that miserable. They had friends and they dated and had families still in the face of the curse of the Evil Queen. She stopped herself in the middle of the thought. No she wouldn't go there.

The mayor trained her eyes back on the road and ignored the several people already making their way to the local bar for drinks and other things. This is why she hated Fridays, it seemed to show just how much the people weren't miserable. They were at their highest peak on Fridays. She should've outlawed such days in the curse's fine print. She was almost to the town line now. Her way out of Storybrooke and no one else's. Instead of maybe creating the illusion of being someone completely different than who she was when she left town for a few hours, she simply just observed what the outside world was like.

Before Henry she would take day long trips out of town to other places to witness what it was like outside of Storybrooke. Sometimes it proved impressive and other times she felt Storybrooke was better than some places. Regina convinced herself she was just curious about such things she couldn't just learn from a curse. She learned about the technology in the outside world, obviously advancing past her town and occasionally if she was tempted she would bring home things that could only be found out there. She kept her cell phone discreet as people were very nosy in her town. She learned new things of the English language she was sure had mastered long ago. There was always something new. That's what she focused on learning and being curious because in reality she was torturing herself just little bit by venturing out into the world only to see more of what she didn't have. Companionship. The brunette told herself she didn't need it.

And she still told herself she didn't need it as she sat in a booth alone, telling herself she was absolutely enjoying her meal. And she was, that much was true but it was hard to completely enjoy it when there were a few people around her laughing and talking intimately about personal things. Plans for the holidays. How annoying their families were going to be for the week. All that, she could ignore. The couple in the corner of her eye, though, were a bother on her nerves. It could've been jealousy but she refused that thought the instant it reared its ugly head in her frontal lobe. She required her attention back to her meal.

Regina thought back to a previous time when she was here. She was furious at first that someone had the nerve to impose on her desolate party of one at the sound of a voice asking if she wouldn't mind if he took the seat opposite her. Her scowl softened only slightly after looking up to the intruder. He was only a bit younger than herself with a scruffy beard goatee-mustache combination hiding the potential of a baby face underneath and wavy brown locks pulled into a one of those messy buns she'd seen plenty of young gentlemen wearing. He'd given her a timid smile and waited for the inevitable refusal. Instead of snapping at him and requesting why he would think it was okay to approach a queen when she didn't want to be disturbed, she gave a short nod. He nodded his thank you and sat down with his coffee and notebook. She gave herself an excuse why she said agreed: the café was packed with people today.

She had expected him to bother her for a name or maybe try to make small talk since they were sitting with each other. She really expected him to so she could move in with her quips and snide remarks and shoot him down for everything. With all the rejection and rudeness at the tip of her tongue, she had been disappointed to find that the man had no intention of bothering. She kept her eyes cemented on her newspaper and waited for him to say something. Steadily, the impatience grew on. Her frustration that he hadn't said a word to her intensified tenfold. Was I not good enough to speak to? Imbecile, she thought. She looked up and noticed he was staring intently at the notebook propped up in his lap against the edge of the table as he rapidly jerked his pencil across the paper with his left hand and held his cup to the edge of his lips. Regina regarded him questioningly with a raise of her left eyebrow and the tilt of her head. She cleared her throat subtly. His hand movement paused and he looked up to her. He gave another timid smile to her before sitting his cup down, "Hi."

"Hello," Regina said thinly as if she hadn't been waiting for him to say something to her for nearly ten minutes. He extended his hand to her across the table and she took the shake as if the gesture was offending but the young man didn't notice.

"I'm Freddie."

"Regina."

"It's a pleasant to make your acquaintance, Your Majesty," he said bow his head lightly to her. Regina immediately stiffened at the title but calmed when she remember the meaning of her name: Queen. It took a moment to for her to assure herself that everything about her past was trap in her head and anything remotely related to it, other than herself, was back in Storybrooke. She relaxed her grip on his hand, which he surely should have noticed, and pulled her hand away with a tight smile. "I'm sorry, I intruded on your afternoon. It was just so packed in here-"

"Nonsense. It was fine."

"Thanks," he said again. Then he took his turn to tilt his head and stare. "Pardon my curiosity but I've never seen you around here before, Regina. Are you new in town?"

"I guess you could say that. I visit here from time to time."

"Live close by then?" He asked sipping his probably now cold coffee. Regina cringed just thinking about it and didn't catch the fact that she was engaging in small talk and hadn't given any spiteful comments.

"Somewhat. Small, quaint town."

"Those are the best kind. So what is it that you do in your small, town, if you don't mind me asking?"

"I'm the mayor." Somehow telling the truth wasn't that hard to decide on. She may as well never see the man again in his lifetime.

"Really? You're a little young to be such a figure, aren't you?" He grinned. Regina rolled her eyes, "Flattery will get you nowhere."

"No, of course not. Flattery is food for fools."

"I agree completely."

"Well, I have to be going. You know how spouses can be," he said shoving his pen into his bunned hair and gathered his things. Regina didn't respond to the comment, only fiddled with the brim of her cup. Freddie took as a no she wasn't in the know of how spouses were. "I guess not. So, I'm sure people try to flatter you a lot then. They're all fools."

"How would you know anything about that?" Regina questioned almost too quietly for him to hear. He looked down to his notebook and grinned. Then he pulled a page out and handed it to her. She was hesitant to take it but grasped it anyway. The young man didn't release it just yet, "Any man or woman who passes up the opportunity to get to know a beautiful woman like you is a most definitely a fool in my book, myself included. This is for your trouble."

"Thank you." He nodded and released his hold before tipping his head to her, "Have a nice day, Regina. It was nice to meet you."

"Likewise," she muttered to his retreating form. She glanced to the paper he had given her and found that he had spent that ten minutes sketching. Sketching her. This Freddie had sketched a very detailed and accurate visual of the brunette gazing musingly at her newspaper. She examined the page and looked up in time to see him crossing the street from her booth window.

Regina blinked out of her thoughts back with one last thought about how she never saw Freddie again. He was the only interaction she'd had since she'd been making these trivial trips outside of town. Well, he was the only one that hadn't annoyed her. No one ever bothered her when she sat at the booth. Her only other exchange with another person was the clerk and even then the girl had precisely remembered her usual order. The brunette stood up from her spot and paid for her meal out of her purse before she started to move towards the door. It was one of those days, though, and aside from Henry, she hadn't much reason to return swiftly. The mayor made a last minute decision and turned to the counter for one last order. The perky ginger on the other side of the counter looked up from the register and was surprised to find Regina there. After becoming familiar with the older woman's order she never saw Regina at the counter.

"Hi, Miss Mills," the girl said nervously. She'd overheard plenty of abrupt exchanges between her and other less coordinated customers in the past but Regina was nice to her. That still didn't make her any less uneasy. "Is there something wrong?"

"Not at all, my dear. At least nothing concerning yourself."

"Oh…how can I help you?"

"Your best cookie to go, thank you." The girl nodded causing her unruly auburn curls to bounce. She pulled on a thin, clear plastic glove and waved her hand around the steaming cookies as she contemplated her thoughts on the best cookie they had to offer. She glanced up at the brunette woman finding something interesting on the floor and figured maybe she needed some joy. The girl grabbed the cookie and pushed it into a white paper baggy and handed it to the brunette. Regina silently exchanged the cookie with a crisp bill and as the girl moved to give her change she stop her with the raise of her hand, "Keep the change."

"But, Miss Mills, it was only $2.25. That's $17.75 difference. Are you sure?"

"Quite sure."

"Thank you, Miss Mills. Have a nice day."

"You, too, Autumn," Regina said with a genuine small smile before she turned on her heel and exiting the diner but she didn't miss the shocked and pleasant look on the girl's face. Regina had always known her name and the only other time she had used it was the day the brunette nearly scolded her into internal depression after the sometimes nervous child spilled her coffee on one of her best jackets. It wasn't a great time in their relationship. Waitress and customer was what they were but it was the closest thing to companionship she had with anyone else. The fact was only realized after the girl avoiding taking her orders and sent someone else to do it. The brunette wasn't nearly as satisfied with the young boy, he was just as clumsy but annoyingly so. For the sake of her clothes and for other personal reasons the pride was shoved aside to give an apology to the ginger one day. It was timidly accepted and their 'relationship' continued on tensely but continued nonetheless.

Regina drove in silence back towards her town. A place where she couldn't even attempt to be a different person. Everyone knew her in Storybrooke. Still, she hurried back so she could be with Henry that was something at least. As she closed the distance between herself and Storybrooke, she frowned. It was only seven when she could spot the blur of the town sign and the sky clouded with darkness a little too early. And unlike what she was expecting when she approached town, the clouds crackled with lightning and thunder as opposed to the snow she was actually looking forward to.

The queen's eye was caught on a yellow vehicle she immediately deemed atrocious toppled over in the middle of the road right passed the 'Welcome to Storybrooke' display which she noted was now ruined with dents and was falling apart. The place was ready a mess with her only gone a few hours. Her heart thudded in her chest as thought about how it was even possible another traveler ended up passing into her town. Regina stopped her car just short of the wreck in front of her and stepped out in panic. Whoever was inside had to be dead? Right? The suddenly fallen tree impaled the car through the front windshield. The brunette hesitated in step before running over to the driver's door in her heels. She leaned over to her side to get a look inside. She gasped at the sight of a young blonde woman pinned in seat and blood probably rushing to her head as she hung upside down. Beautiful emerald eyes looked back at her with fear and confusion pouring out of them. Weakly the blonde woman reached out and whimpered, "Don't leave me. Help me…please…"

Regina found herself nodding but from the looks of the situation the blonde probably could not see clearly. The mayor whipped out her phone and dialed for an ambulance, keeping a close eye on the very injured and very interesting blonde now unconscious but alive. The dispatcher sounded very confused when Regina told her she wasn't sure who the person even was and that frustrated her to no end. Someone was hurting…but when had Regina ever really cared? She shrugged it away for the moment and demanded them to hurry before hanging up. She shuffled anxiously on her feet as she waited until she heard a muffled moan of pain. She bent down again to see the blonde still unconscious. Regina couldn't help but cringe at the uncomfortable position the woman must have been in. She thought about maybe trying to pull her out of the car but figured the attempt would only add insult to injury. Thankfully, the blaring lights and sirens of the emergency vehicles were speeding towards the scene and the mayor found her working residents out and doing their jobs instantly.

It took almost an hour to get her out of the car and the brunette looked on as the blonde was wheeled into the back of the ambulance, strapped to a gurney. She hadn't realized she had even moved and inch from her previous position to the side until her lips started moving without her. She blinked and was speaking to one of the workers as the vehicle carrying the strange prepared to roll away to the hospital. Most work Whale will have had in years she thought.

"Is she going to be alright?" the mayor questioned.

"I want to say yes. We're not sure entirely but there's serious injuries. Head trauma," the medic said shortly as his primary focus was on what to do with his patient before they got to the hospital. The town sheriff made his way up next to Regina at the last words. The sheriff, Graham, looked to the brunette, "Did you see what happened?"

"No but I assume driving like a mad woman would potentially lead to such an incident," Regina answered not being able to take her mind away from the mysterious woman.

"Well, actually there was cracking in the road. She could've very well been driving a little faster than she was supposed to be and unknowing drove over it. She going to have a hell of a time handcuffed to her hospital bed for the next couple of weeks." Regina frowned. Handcuffed? The poor woman was injured severely. The brunette admitted silently that she never would've thought such a think about anyone. She turned to her sheriff and looked at him with a bit of anxiousness and worry hidden beneath a look that told the man that she was expecting him to not follow up on what he just said. And if the mayor didn't want the woman handcuffed to her hospital bed, so be it. The medic took that as his time to leave the conversation and he moved to get in the back of the ambulance right before it pulled away. Graham took the moment of silence to actually question the mayor's request, "You don't want me to arrest her?"

"Did I not make that clear?" Regina ground out from clenched teeth.

"Yes but it's a bit unusual. Anyone one else would have been tossed in a cell fairly quickly from your say so."

"Well, this time I find that it was a fault of the town that this woman was in such a serious wreck in the first place."

"But-"

"I'll be having a word with our construction workers another day. For now, if you don't mind, I'd like to get home to my son now," Regina said curtly. Graham complied with no argument and let her stalk off to her car as the fire department continued their attempt at removing the tree from the tired vehicle. Regina was sure it wouldn't survive and that relieved her the horrendous thing wouldn't be killing the air or something quite worse. As she get to the driver's side of her car, Graham calls out to her in a hesitant voice, "I think this makes you her emergency contact, Madame Mayor."

"Very well, then," Regina scoffed as if it was a bother to her. In reality, it really wasn't. If anything, she was already scheming things. An idea was brewing in her mind but like any really good potion it would take a fortnight to be completely. The underhanded plan was at its early stages and she would need more information before she would go through with it. The brunette smirked to herself as she got in her car and pulled away from the scene and headed towards Mifflin Street.

It was eight when she finally got home. Johanna rushed as quickly as she could to meet the woman in the foyer, "Is everything alright? I was worried something was wrong when you didn't get back."

"I'm just fine, dear. There was accident at the town line that held me up. No need for any concern," Regina explained. The woman nodded along watching wearily still as the younger woman pulled off her scarf and coat and propped them up on the rack.

"If you're sure…" the woman said skeptically.

"I am...very sure."


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