Bane of His Existence

Chapter One

Detective Rogers sat quietly at his desk the day after Lucy had been admitted into the hospital for the yet unknown ailment that plagued her, as he worked on the piled up paperwork he had fallen behind on over the last several weeks on account of his search for the missing woman who had taken up most of his time, especially in the hours he was off duty. A few of the men he used to work under while he was still an officer commented on how exhausted he looked and one of them encouraged him to take some time off to catch up on his sleep. However, the newly ordained detective shrugged off their concern whether the men were genuine or not. The truth was, Rogers preferred to work. It helped to keep his mind off of the things still troubling him about this particular cold case, even if it was finally solved at last.

Rogers couldn't help but feel something was off. However, he wasn't sure if it was because Weaver had warned him a few days back that Eloise Gardener wasn't who he was really looking for, or if it was because he felt so drawn to this young woman for some unknown reason that didn't make sense to him any longer. He knew it couldn't just be his guilt that plagued him because he had been drinking the night he believed Eloise had disappeared, but it was the only explanation he had. Unfortunately, the more he thought about it, the more confused Rogers felt.

It was nearly time for the detective to get off duty for the day, around four o'clock that afternoon, after which he planned on going to check in on the young girl, as well as Henry and Jacinda who had been maintaining a constant vigil over her, before simply returning to the station to continue on with the paperwork in his off hours. However, before he thought any more on doing so, he looked up from the papers surrounding him and saw Eloise as she entered the precinct and walked through the bullpen in search for her rescuer.

Rogers immediately stood and nervously called out to her, "Eloise… Are you alright?"

She smiled at him as she approached him and then answered, "Good day, Detective Rogers. Yes, I'm doing much better today. Thank you. I'm sorry if I'm disrupting you in your work. I can see that you're very busy. Perhaps I should come at another time."

"No, please… stay," he responded quietly as he motioned for her to have a seat after quickly moving a chair from behind one of the other desks in front of his own so she could. "Is there something I can do for you?"

"Thank you, but I was actually hoping I could speak with you someplace that is a little more private than here at your precinct," the woman whose true, secret identity was that of a witch who called herself Mother Gothel replied. "If that is all right with you, of course. I don't wish to take up much of your time, nor to ask you a favor again so soon after rescuing me from that horrible woman. It's just that I have something of grave importance I need help with and I thought if anyone could help me, it would be you."

The detective nodded as he then moved to walk her out and answered, "Of course. We could go for a walk if you'd like. Down by the river, in the park. The waters… they're soothing to me. Perhaps they can be the same for you as well."

Seeing a little of the pirate she knew him to be before the dark curse that plagued Hyperion Heights was cast, her eyes suddenly grew cold as he walked a little ahead of her until he turned to face her once more while they continued to walk, then she uttered, "Perhaps they can be."

"So, what is it you wish to talk with me about?" Rogers questioned. "Are you certain you're alright?"

"I'm doing about as well as can be expected after being held someone's prisoner for so many years," Eloise responded softly as she glanced over at him, then turned her eyes back down on the path in front of her feet. "Detective Rogers... when I was out living on the streets, I lived among other runaways, which I suppose you must already know. I went by Rain then, to keep those I ran away from, from finding me. At the time, I didn't think my parents loved me. They treated me like the black sheep of our family. Like I was a vile child. So I left and took to the streets instead believing I would be better off. If only I knew then how wrong I would be. I never would have been kidnapped, and I would have been able to see my parents one last time before they died some years ago. Forgive me, I didn't come here to talk about my own past. I've come because I have friends I knew and lived with at times while I lived as Rain. Friends whom I fear are in the same kind of danger that I was. They were like sisters to me. I was hoping you might be able to use your resources that you used to help you find me, to try to find them too. I realize I'm asking you a lot and that I have no right to do so. But I…"

He finally cut her off as he replied, "What you're asking is far more than I'm capable of doing on my own, Miss. Gardener. And when I looked for you, everyone told me I should give up on trying to find you any longer. They all stopped believing you'd ever be found again. I will do all I can. It's just that I'll have to speak with my partner, Detective Weaver. But it's only fair you should know he's skeptical of your true motives. I doubt he'll be willing to help me. And besides, he seems to think you have some friends who are dangerous. They're not… are they?"

As they arrived at the detective's usual park bench where he preferred to sit as he looked out over the river before them, Gothel slowly moved in closer to him until their faces were inches apart and then seductively she whispered, "They're no more dangerous than I am. And you don't see me as dangerous… do you, detective?"

Before he could even answer, the witch continued to lean in against him, then at last stood on her toes to kiss his lips for several seconds until Rogers suddenly pulled away upon getting the strange sense something was very wrong, even stronger than he had felt earlier before Eloise had walked into the precinct.

"Forgive me, love," he spoke nervously again. "I never should have given in. It's nothing you did, I assure you. It's just… I'm quite a bit older than you and you're…"

"I'm what?" she asked still with the provocative look in her eyes and in her smile while she continued to look up at him. "I can be whatever you wish for me to be, detective."

Rogers gently shook his head while he pulled her hands and arms away from him, then stepped back from her once again and answered, "No. No, no, no. Eloise, please… you're only feeling this way because you're grateful to me for rescuing you. I know that you don't truly want… this. You might think you do now, but it's not real. What you're feeling isn't real. And it'd be wrong of me to take advantage of you. I promise that I'll see what I can do for your friends. Just write down as much information about them that you can give me and then drop it all off on my desk at the precinct. But I think it'd be best if we didn't talk for awhile, at least until you come to see that I'm right. I'm sorry. I have to go. Goodbye."

Gothel just smiled smugly as the detective walked away with his back to her and then the witch muttered under breath, "You'll eventually come to see that you want me more than you know, detective. And even if you don't, it won't be long before I have you like I did before so many years ago."

Meanwhile, as she watched the interaction between Rogers and Eloise Gardener worryingly from a distance where she wouldn't be seen by either one of them, Tilly played with the chess piece she held in her hands, she didn't know represented the detective's true self. The white knight.

"Tell me, why is it that you feel so drawn to Detective Rogers?" Gold quietly asked the young woman as he suddenly appeared beside her, while he watched the confrontation between his partner and the witch himself from another distance away until he noticed Tilly doing the same, then walked up on her so they could talk. "Does he mean something to you?"

"You mean like, have I developed romantic feelings for him?" she questioned as she turned her head to stare at him strangely. "Heavens no. He's so much older than I am. That's gross."

Gold chuckled while they continued to watch the scene before them, then he stated, "Of course not. I simply mean I can't help but notice how close you've become, as friends. You've been spending much more time together and have grown closer than you were before our little incident where I winded up getting shot. Or is it you've come to see him more as perhaps… a father figure?"

Tilly turned her head to glance at the older detective again as she responded, "Detective Rogers has been very kind to me. For some reason, he seems to care about what I do with my life and is trying to help me get off the streets. I'm not so sure I want his help, but because he's been good to me, I… I suppose I just want to make sure he's alright too. The problem is, right now something in my gut is telling me that woman over there with him… is no good. That Eloise Gardener is dangerous and not at all who she says she is. Yet he seems completely unaware she's dangerous. Or he's afraid to see it. I can't tell him. He was so troubled by her disappearance and has come to be so relieved now that he's finally found her again despite our efforts to keep him from doing so. I can't do that to him again, especially without real proof this time. Learning she's only a phony preying on the good man he is… will crush him."

"Yet… if we don't do anything, I fear that more than just his feelings will become crushed," Weaver replied in counter of her argument over not to tell him the real truth about the woman whom they watched as she suddenly moved in closer to kiss Detective Rogers until he then pulled back and took a few steps away from her. "Like you, I sense that woman's dangerous too. If we do nothing, he could wind up getting hurt from more than just a broken heart. Perhaps you and I could help him, together."

"I'll think about it," the young woman said worryingly and then watched as her friend walked away from Eloise and finally turned her full attention on the detective standing in front of her. "In the meantime, I'll keep a close eye on Rogers on my own. I'm used to working alone you know. I'll help him if I can. Promise me you'll do the same? You will look after him, won't you?"

Gold simply nodded his response without saying a word to the young woman. Upon seeing the stoic look in his eyes that she had seen a number of times from him before, Tilly gave the other detective she's worked with up until she had gotten to know Rogers, a small smile and turned as she walked away from Weaver as well.