**Set during The Cricket Game**
Regina winced as she swallowed the last of her fifth whiskey sour. The ice clattered as she dropped the empty glass onto the bar, and stared into the clear tan slick.
Her head was starting to swirl already, but at least she'd spent the last hour comfortably numb, and not caring about sitting in a diner booth while most of the town paraded around either shooting her dirty looks or ignoring her all together, or that when she went home Henry wouldn't be there, or Emma Swan and her 'I'm not sure that's best.'
Regina snorted. As if the wandering blond knew what was best for anyone.
"Another?" the bartender asked tiredly.
She looked up at him and found that he wasn't immediately recognizable, and her head was far too fuzzy to try to conjure up memories of who he was.
Regina shook her head, "No."
"Well if you'd like to close out your tab, I'm afraid I'll have to ask for your car keys."
Blinking, Regina contemplated the statement before letting out an incredulous laugh. She dug her key-chain out, and pushed it across the bar toward the man as she lazily commented, "Glad to see the citizens of Storybrook are still abiding their civic responsibility."
"Yeah, whatever you say, Madam Mayor," he grumbled sarcastically as he swept the keys into his pants pocket, and fixed her with a glare, "You can pick them up tomorrow."
Regina returned the glare as she tossed her handbag over her shoulder, and slid off the bar stool. When her feet hit the floor she quickly grabbed a hold of the bar's edge to steady herself. She'd always been a lightweight, and knew it, but, after that dreadful party, she had deemed it worth the unpleasant side-effects to drown her sorrows.
When she trusted her legs not to give out she wove her way purposefully to the door and up the steps that would lead her out of Storybrooke's resident dive bar. Finally, outside she took a deep breath of air that didn't smell like smoke, peanut shells, and stale beer. The Rabbit Hole. 'Hole' was definitely accurate.
As she started up the block Regina contemplated how to get home. She'd driven to Granny's and then walked to The Rabbit Hole after her confrontation with Emma. It was possible to walk to her mansion from the middle of town, but she was starting to get tired.
Poofing it was then.
She stopped and took at deep breath, focusing on conjuring magic.
Familiar purple smoke surrounded her, and she felt the snap as she transported away.
If poofing away was like a snap, arriving at another location was more like a crack. Jarring and sudden.
It was a sensation she'd long gotten used to, though, so she wasn't surprised by it. What she hadn't been expecting was the shock of falling and impact of her entire body plunging into cold water.
The instinctive gasp she let out found her immediately choking as liquid rushed into her mouth.
She'd learned to swim shortly after arriving in Storybrooke, and, though it had been years since she'd done so, Regina had enough practice that she managed to fight down the urge to claw at the water. She cupped her hands and attempted to swim properly, but it was difficult. Her water logged boots weighed her down, and were so stiff they undermined her efforts to kick her way to the surface.
The bigger problem, though, was that she couldn't even see which direction the surface was through the turbid blackness. She thrashed around, desperately trying to figure out which way was up.
In the darkness she bumped into something soft, solid, and moving. It brushed across her back before wrapping firmly around her chest, and pulling her upward.
Before she even had the chance to panic that it might have actually been hauling her deeper into the water, she breached the surface sputtering and gasping for air.
Her eyes cleared in time to see a person's arm wrapped around her as it pulled her back against what was obviously a man's wide chest.
Regina gasped for air as she was pulled backwards through the water until she felt sludgy ground under her feet. Once she was out of the water she flipped around onto her side, coughing violently.
Her rescuer shifted to grasp her under her arms, and continued to drag her up the bank. Even through struggling to catch her breath Regina could feel debris scraping her legs.
By shear force of will Regina reached up and grabbed one of the hands gripping under her arms. She twisted and pulled in an effort to force the person to let go.
He did. Depositing her on the grass, and collapsing onto his knees behind her.
"Are you trying to flay me?" she gasped out angrily, looking up at the person who'd found her.
"A simple 'thank you' would suffice," the man answered in between his own heavy breaths.
Regina opened her mouth to answer back, but was stopped by another coughing fit.
Leaning over she gripped at the grass and fallen leaves on the ground beneath her, focusing all her attention on controlling her breathing, and on not losing everything in her stomach.
An unexpected gentle touch brought her attention back.
"Are you alright?" the man asked.
*0*0*0*0*
Since the curse broke, Robin had been spending more time in the woods. His mind, like everyone else's, was torn between his own memories and those from the time spent in this new land, and he found that being in the familiar surroundings of a forest helped.
Little John had agreed to stay at his apartment that night with Roland so he could take some time to clear his head, so he'd wandered for hours contemplating both everything and nothing.
By the time he decided to take a rest near the lake it was nearly midnight, and he'd been dozing against the bank when he was startled by what sounded like a person's alarmed cry and a loud splash.
He sat up, and saw ripples and violent splashing as if someone had fallen directly into the middle of the lake.
He didn't have time to contemplate how that could have been possible. Robin sprang up and raced into the water, diving below once he was in to his waist.
It became apparent quickly it wasn't a very well thought-out plan. The water was very dark and murky.
He dove back up and swam the rest of the way to the middle at the surface, diving back under only when he reached where the person in distress was creating a cacophony of ripples.
There was little hope of actually seeing whom ever it was, so he simply swept his arms through the water until he encountered a body. As he pulled the person to the surface, it became apparent it was a woman, but he did not recognize her until he got them to shore and realized, at her angry accusation, that the person he'd just pulled from a lake, far from town, in the middle of the night was, in fact, Mayor Mills...the Evil Queen.
Shaken from the impromptu rescue, he'd answered her less-than-courteous outburst with equal snarkiness.
Before things devolved into an argument, though, she doubled over into violent, retching coughs.
Instinctively, Robin placed on hand on her back to steady her, "Are you alright?"
After a moment of careful breaths she answered, "'m fine," in a hoarse voice.
"Are you sure? I think maybe I'd better call an ambulance," he reached into the pocket of his jeans to remove is cell phone which he had, unfortunately, not thought take out before diving into the water.
"No!" the queen cried in protest, "No ambulance! The last thing I need is for Sheriff Charming, or Emma Swan, to show up here and find out I poofed myself into the middle of a damned lake! How did that happen anyway?"
Robin looked up from trying, and failing, to get his phone to power back on. "I wouldn't know anything about that."
The queen scoffed.
"No, you wouldn't," she commented, the condescension in her voice obvious even though her voice was still rough. Robin glared at her, but she was already distractedly looking around.
"Where are we?" she asked.
"Well, thanks to your curse, we're in Storybrooke," Robin answered.
She rolled her eyes in response, "Obviously!"
He sighed, giving up on his phone coming back to life, "The main road is just up that hill, though, if that's what you're referring to.
Instead of answering, the woman pushed herself to her feet. Robin shoved his phone back into his pocket, and followed suit. She made it about five steps before stumbling. He quickly stepped forward and caught her before she lost her balance.
"Listen..." Robin said diplomatically, "...my phone isn't working, but we really need to find a way to get you to the hospital, Ms. Mills. You could have a head injury."
She shrugged him off and kept swaying her way up the hill, "I didn't hit my head."
"You can barely walk straight, and your voice is slurred."
"Yeah, well, whiskey will do that," she stated matter-of-factly.
"I see. So you've been drinking a little?"
She scoffed again.
"No, I've been drinking a lot!" was her answer, as if should have been obvious, and he supposed that maybe it should have been.
"I see" he answered again, trying to keep the amusement out of his voice.
The pair made their way up to the road. The woman sighed, "I used magic because I didn't want to walk home from the middle of town."
"Well I'm afraid it's far longer walk from here,"
"You don't have a car?"
"I do, but it's at my apartment which is in the opposite direction from your house."
"Perfect," she muttered under her breath before glancing at him, "How do you know where I live?"
"Everyone knows where you live, Ms. Mills. You are the mayor after all," Robin pointed out.
"Regina."
"Pardon?"
"It's just Regina now," she repeated as she began walking towards town, "I'm hardly the mayor of anything anymore."
He fell into step behind her, "Well, I imagine cursing worlds and splitting up families may not be conducive to high approval ratings."
She whirled, "I didn't split up your family!"
"No, you didn't," he acknowledged, "Though some weren't so lucky."
Regina rolled her eyes and continued walking, "Only two people. And they mostly split up their own family! Snow White and Charming were the ones who sent their baby daughter to a strange world alone in a wardrobe. Then that daughter also sent her baby away, and now she waltzes in ten years later and decides she's suddenly a mother. Up until a few weeks ago she barely had her life together, and now she's telling me she knows what's best for my son!"
Robin walked behind her as she stormed along the road, anger radiating off her while she ranted about Snow White and the Savior. Not all of what she was saying made sense, he'd never met any of the people directly involved in the curse, but he knew it sprang from a feud between the former queen and Snow White, and that the princess's daughter had been the one to break the curse.
"I may have tried to destroy Snow, but she and her awful daughter did half the work for me when it came to splitting up their family," she declared.
"Most would think other wise," he answered, "though, I was not just talking about Snow White."
Regina stopped, looking genuinely confused, "What...you mean that manic hatter? Yeah, alright, I gave his daughter another family, but she was probably better off without that greedy, manipulative lunatic. He earned every minute of his punishment!"
"I don't know whom you're referring to. I was actually thinking of Mrs. Nolan."
The queen raised an eyebrow.
"Princess Abigail," he clarified, "Her husband is a friend of a friend, and he recently learned that his wife was married to someone else for 28 years."
"Collateral damage," she shrugged and began walking again.
Robin sighed. Just the sort of answer he'd expect from someone like the Evil Queen. Why was he even bothering trying to make her see what her curse had done, especially when she was drunk?
Still, he'd never been the type to give up easily.
"There are other rumors as well. An expecting princess, separated from her child's father. Her child promised to Mr. Gold. Two children who, in this world, never even knew their father-"
"Well that's proof you don't know what you're talking about!" Regina interrupted, "You really think I made up new lives and memories for every single person in this town? That'd I'd have the time for that? I don't even know some of the people who were caught in the curse. Except for certain cases that I had special interest in, the curse did most of the creating. The life you lead here is based of your own decisions, and what's truly in your heart. Don't blame me if that just happens to be something you don't like!"
That was surprising news. All of the gossip in town seemed to assume that everything in Storybrooke had been meticulously crafted by the Evil Queen. Though what she was saying made a surprising amount of sense considering the mind-boggling logistics that would have been involved in that.
"Actually, other than having my memories stolen by magic, I suppose I can't much complain about this world," Robin admitted.
She glanced up at him, "Who are you anyway?"
"Here I'm called Robert Forester, but my name is Robin of Locksley."
"The thief," Regina commented.
"Not for 28 years," he responded, "Apparently your curse was very trusting."
She looked at him inquiringly.
"In this world I drive an armored car for the Bank of Storybrooke," he explained.
Regina barked out a laugh, "One thing you learn about magic, it does tend to have a sense of humor."
Robin Hood studied the woman walking down the road ahead of him. Though he and the Merry Men had spent a lot of time back in their land evading the Black Knights, he'd never actually encountered the queen herself. Even in Storybrooke he'd only ever seen her from a distance.
It was a bit surreal seeing someone who wielded such a large, and ominous reputation looking rather small and damp, but still carrying herself like royalty even as her boots squelched with every step.
Apparently she was also chatty when intoxicated.
Robin ran his hand through his hair to brush away the lake water that had started to run into his eyes, "So why exactly were you out drinking and magicking around in the middle of the night?"
"What business is that of yours?" she asked haughtily.
"I suppose it's not, but I'm asking anyway."
"Oh really?" she demanded turning to him, "What were you doing out in the woods in the middle of the night?"
Guess he should have seen that one coming.
"Clearing my head."
"After midnight?"
"I'm used to being in the woods at night. It relaxes me."
Regina studied him for a moment before turning back, "Well just because you told me doesn't mean I have to tell you!"
"Okay," he sighed.
Two walked in silence for a good twenty minutes. After about two miles, though, Regina began slowing down to the point where the former thief struggled to moderate his gait enough to not outpace her. She was also swaying quite a bit; her shoulders slumping and eyes bleary.
Clearly the adrenaline from her near drowning experience was wearing off.
Robin took a quick mental assessment of where they were in relation to town, and stepped back to take Regina's arm and lead her into the trees.
"What are you doing?" she asked with surprisingly little fire behind the words.
"We can take short-cut through the forest here. It will get us to your home faster."
The queen simply nodded tiredly.
With her lagging energy, she was hardly agile enough for an off path trek. By the time the lights behind the houses on Mifflin Street appeared as dim glows through Maine's thick underbrush, he was all but holding her up to keep her from stumbling.
When they finally arrived on her back porch Robin lead her over to a decorative bench beside the door, which she willingly sank into.
"Do you have keys?" he asked warily after testing the door handle and finding it locked.
Regina looked around, "Where's my purse?"
"Did you have it earlier?"
"Yes, of course I did!"
"Well then I'd venture a guess that it's at the bottom of the lake."
Apparently the thought had not occurred to her before. She shut her eyes and muttered, "Perfect."
Robin turned back to the door, and began feeling along the frame.
"Wouldn't have mattered anyway," her voice reached him as he stooped to check under the mat, "I just remembered the bartender took my keys...What are you looking for?"
"Where you hide your spare key," he answered, "Care to point me in the right direction?"
"I don't hide keys under doormats!" she answered sounding far more indignant at the idea than anyone would deem necessary, "I'm not an idiot!"
Robin sighed, "Alright, just wait here."
*0*0*0*0*
Regina stared out across the back lawn at her apple tree; the one that had made it with her to the king's castle, and then to Storybrooke. She glared at the stump covered in gaudy black pruning paint where it was missing a limb. Her resilient tree's beauty ruined by Emma Swan.
It occurred to her that now that she had magic she could fix it.
She started to lift her hand, but stopped. She couldn't. She'd already broken her promise to Henry by trying to use magic to travel from The Rabbit Hole, and instantly paid the price for it.
Regina slumped her head down, tears gathering in her eyes.
Before they fell, however, she was startled by a hand on her shoulder.
She turned and found herself looking into the face of her rescuer, Robin Hood. Blinking she recalled him telling her to stay where she was, and walking down the steps off the porch.
Not that she'd stayed because he told her to. She simply had no urge to move. Even without the curse Regina didn't take orders from just anyone.
Glancing behind him she saw that the back doors were open.
"You got in? How?"
"Thief, remember?" he smirked leaning over to haul her up off the bench, "And, if you'd like the advice of one, you should install a lock on your bedroom window."
"You were in my bedroom?" she demanded, confused for a moment until her mind brought up recollections of Graham climbing the trellis.
He must have done that as well.
"Been a while since anyone has been," she muttered amusedly, she thought, to herself.
"Come on, lets get you upstairs to bed," the thief said as he steered her toward the staircase, his momentum faltering when he comprehended the words he'd just uttered.
Regina laughed out loud before she could stop herself. Normally, she would have already been mortified by this conversation, but the alcohol had dulled her inhibitions enough to stop her from caring about embarrassment.
"Been awhile since anyone's done that either," she slurred, planted one hand on his chest and pushed herself off toward the stairs where she grabbed the banister, and began trudging her way up.
*0*0*0*0*
Robin followed the queen as she walked into her room, flipping the light on.
She sat down in a plush white chair in the corner and began pulling her boots off, dumping a large amount of water onto the carpet as she did so.
Based on the immaculate surroundings, he surmised she'd have a lot of regret about that in the morning.
Robin looked her over and noticed that her hose were torn, and knees covered in some substantial scratches.
"You're injured," he observed, "Do you have a First-Aid kit?"
She looked up at him and then at her knees before nodding, "Yeah, under the bathroom sink."
He retrieved it and returned to her, but she stopped him holding up one hand.
"Hold on, I need to take a shower first."
That sounded like an incredibly bad idea.
Not that he didn't sympathize with the urge to wash the residue of lake water away, but he also seriously doubted her ability to complete a task like showering without falling and requiring some sort of assistance...and that wasn't a train of thought he needed to be following, because he was finding himself far more charmed than he'd have ever expected by the Evil Queen turning out to be such an amusing drunk.
Regina stood from the chair and swayed almost immediately, forcing him to catch her, and confirming his assessment about her odds of successfully staying upright.
"M'lady, I think it would be best to wait until you're more steady on your feet for that," he said, not even realizing he'd slipped into phraseology that wouldn't be considered appropriate for this world.
Thankfully, she nodded in agreement.
"Wanna change, though," she muttered and carefully padded to the walk-in closet, shutting the door behind her.
Robin stood awkwardly clutching the First-Aid kit in one hand.
He checked his watch. 1:45 AM.
He'd already put Roland down before setting out, and John would probably be snoring on his couch by now.
He knew these late night walks were odd, but between work and raising a child it was the only time he really had to himself, and, in truth, he liked the solitude.
It certainly had led him into a wholly unexpected situation tonight.
His musings were interrupted when Regina emerged from the closet with wearing a cotton jersey nightshirt that came to just below her knees.
That was a surprise.
Based on this over-sized, designer mansion, he'd have taken her for silk pajamas.
He shook away that thought as she sat down on the end of her bed and looked at him expectantly.
Yes, good idea, focus on the matter at hand.
Robin set to work cleaning her skinned knees with an antibacterial swab. He was pleased to find an unopened bottle of iodine at the bottom of the tin, and set to work using the applicator to drip some into her wounds.
The queen flinched as soon as it hit her.
"Ah! You're using that stuff?" she protested, "I have Neosporin."
"I always found this more effective," he answered, leaning forward to blow air across the liquid.
His intention had been to dry it faster so that it wouldn't stain any more of her skin than necessary. Being used to attending Roland in this way, he hadn't even considered the intimacy of the action until he heard her breath hitch.
Awkwardness suddenly returning, he cleared his throat and sat back on his heels.
"You should try to get some sleep," he said, quickly tossing the supplies back into her First-Aid kit and shutting the lid.
Regina seemed to agree and made a move to lie down, but suddenly shook her head, "No."
She pushed herself up and began striding out the door.
Robin swore to himself as he stood from her floor. What was she up to now? All this chasing after her in between uncomfortable moments was starting to get tiresome.
"Ms. Mills..." he called after her but she kept going down the hall, "...Regina!"
He caught up with her as she swung the next door down the hall open.
He was slightly surprised to find that inside was a bedroom that obviously belonged to a child. Though he supposed there shouldn't have been any. As mayor it was hardly a secret that Regina Mills had a child, she had off-handedly mentioned a son earlier that night, but watching her slowly ease herself down onto the bed and clutch one of the pillows to her chest...she was a mother, inescapably so.
"I'm sleeping here until he comes back," she said, more to the pillow than to Robin himself, but he could see a shocking depth of pain her actions.
"Are ahh...do you need anything else? Any I can help you with? Perhaps someone you'd like to call?" he stepped forward and crouched in front of her.
She shook her head, "No, I don't have anyone and no one can help me."
He swallowed hard, unsure of what to say. Probably there was nothing.
As he made to stand, though, she grabbed his wrist.
"Thank you for saving me," she said, "Most of this town would have just let me drown."
"I'd never do that to anyone," he answered firmly.
She looked up at him as if searching for dishonestly in the statement, and quirked a smile at finding none.
She glanced down briefly, and suddenly stilled.
Grabbing his wrist again, she turned it over and stared. She was staring at...his tattoo?
Just as he was about to ask what she was doing, she looked up with a resigned expression, "Oh, I get it now."
"You aren't real," she continued, dropping his hand.
"I'm sorry?" He hadn't been expecting that.
She slid away from him, "You're just here to remind me of all the decisions I've made, and that I'm paying for them now."
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Robin answered, "But, I assure you, I'm real."
She ignored him, though, swivelling her body around to swing her legs into the bed, "Just go away. I don't need more reminders. I live with plenty everyday!"
He was definitely confused by her sudden change in demeanor.
"Regina-" he began, but realized that she had already dozed off. Giving up, he unfolded the flannel blanket at the bottom of the bed, and draped it over the sleeping woman.
Leaving the room, he made his way down the long staircase and out the back door. He took a deep breath of chilled air, and tried to gather his thoughts. It had been a very confusing evening, and not just because of whatever it was that had happened right before Regina fell asleep.
"What the hell was that?" he muttered to himself.
"I was wondering that as well," a voice chimed in from behind him.
Robin turned to find a dark-haired woman in a long purple gown standing behind him.
"Who are you?" he demanded.
She raised an eyebrow, "Is that how you speak to a lady?"
Just in a few seconds of interaction he had a bad feeling about this woman, and wished, not for the first time, that he'd been able to find his bow after the curse broke.
"So you're the man with the lion tattoo," she commented, moving her hands to her hips.
"What?!"
The woman ignored him, though, looking him up and down appraisingly, "I expected a lot more. Though I suppose you might have had potential had you not been married."
"How do you-" Robin began, "What is going on here? Have we met?"
"No dear," she shrugged, "Though, I did try to find you once. One of my rather foolish notions, I must admit."
"Why?" he asked, "What do you want with me?"
"With you?" she smiled disdainfully, "I assure you, you're no use to me at all."
With that she stepped past him into Regina's porch.
"You should go home to your wife now," she waved dismissively.
"My wife is dead!" he snapped, frustration bubbling over, "And I'd like to know who you are!"
The woman stopped at his words slowly turning back to face him.
"That's unfortunate," she commented softly before recovering herself, "As for who I am, well, it's quite simple, I'm Regina's mother."
He had not been expecting that.
"Her-...she said she had no one."
"Yes," the woman nodded, "and I need for her to continue to think that."
Before he could even think he was hit with pain as the woman reached into his chest, and pulled. He doubled over in pain, struggling to remain on his feet. The pain was nothing, however, compared to the shock of seeing the woman holding a heart, his heart, in the palm of her hand.
"What have you done?" he gasped out.
"I cannot afford to take any chances," she said, and raised his heart to her lips, "So leave and forget everything that happened tonight. Especially forget that you ever met my daughter. You've never seen her, do you understand?"
"Yes," the words were out of his mouth almost immediately, his feet carrying him across the manicured lawn into the forest.
If he'd looked back he would have seen the witch smirking as she slipped his heart into the small satchel at her wrist, and used magic to let herself into her daughter's home...
THE END
Notes: Yes, I do mean that this is the end of the fic. It is only a "what if?" scenario. I do not intend for it to become a longer fic.