Something I can Work With
Yet another exhausting stretch...was over. At least for just as long as it would take Snow to vaguely relax. Which is why after all these years, she didn't really. Something was always bound to happen, so expecting chaos just made it easier. Not less painful, not less depressing or even less confusing, but at least it lent a bit of predictability...anticipating chaos.
Sitting at the diner seats with Neal in her arms with Granny and Charming, they waited the influx of people who wanted to return to Storybrooke. Emma and Zelena (when had they started working together? It was getting harder to keep track of the moving alliances) had reopened the portal and Henry had gone home with Regina after she had returned magic; most likely so she didn't have to go home to an empty house.
Snow's thoughts lit upon Robin Hood and his fate for a moment, before she shook her head to clear her thoughts. The more time that she focused on his worse than terrible fate, the less she was able to eat. Nothing would sit right in her stomach, not even plain toast, if she thought about how he had literally given up his afterlife...stop thinking about it!
Charming, as perceptive as always, wordlessly slipped his arm behind her shoulder, trying to anchor her to reality, while simultaneously un-anchoring himself with his third whiskey of the hour (of course she had been silently counting), a daring move, considering he knew she was counting. But Snow wasn't going to have a fight about that right now. They had just lost a lot, suffered a lot and had little time to breathe. She couldn't think right now about how Regina was feeling, only capable focusing on how David's arm was actually behind her: he was alive and there, her other half (literally now) was still with her.
Snow was not going to think about how (literally), David was beginning to feel like a half and not a whole. She was disrupted from this ruinous train of thought by Doctor Hopper.
He did not have to say anything, his eyes had always said more than was necessary. Now that he was a man and not a cricket, his eyes were even easier to read. There was the unasked question, followed by the glance across her face and then a quick glance down and back her frame. Then the slight frustration when she said she was fine. The brief look of pity and then a flash of anger, that dissolved away quickly and left them with a dark look.
Snow would counter with a question about how he was doing and maybe inquire about August or Geppetto. He would answer, emphasizing on something good and something bad they had been through.
Jimminy would then ask about either Emma or Neal, perhaps about David if he wasn't present or Killian (a new addition to the family litany).
But today, he asked about Regina.
Snow brushed aside the smallest wave of irritation at this (weren't they friends now, anyway?) and reasoned clearly this had to do with how she seemed to be handling Robin's death.
Which was logical...since she had not handled the last loss of her lover well at all and had become the Evil…
Right he hadn't heard the good news!
"She's doing well, actually… when we were..."
Extreme confusion flashed across his face and Snow sped up the story so he could better understand why she was excited. "We ran into Dr. Jekyll in our adventures and he successfully made a magical serum that separated his dark side, whom he called Mr. Hyde, from him and we helped him escape here. Dr. Jekyll, that is, not Mr. Hyde."
Dr. Hopper looked even more confused and perhaps a bit fearful. He raised his right eyebrow in worrisome confusion.
"Well, he had some extra serum left and he let me offer it to Regina. She had just had a long discussion with Emma about wanting to..."
There was suddenly a cold chill in the room, and Dr. Hopper looked more horrified.
Snow gave a slightly manic laugh. Oh, he must be worried about… "Oh, don't worry, once they separated from each other, Regina killed the Evil Queen, so there's nothing to worry..."
A strange groan came from his lips, he sounded almost in pain.
Suddenly, the diner took on an eerie silence. Dr. Hopper flashed from paling in terror, to clenching a shaking hand.
His voice was strained, when he spoke. "Let me understand this...Regina magically separated herself into two halves, dark and light and then she killed the Evil Queen."
"Yes, she ripped her heart out and crushed it. Emma and I both saw her die." Snow broke away and grabbed his shaking hand.
His grated voice continued. "And you...didn't stop her?"
Snow squeezed his hands and looked up at his eyes. She expected fear, but now it was definitely anger: anger, he usually kept reined. He studied her for a moment before she let his hands drop, like she was burned by his fury. "You...encouraged it?"
"Of c...course. She has been trying so hard to change... but was having trouble... putting her to rest."
Dr. Hopper closed his eyes and pinched between the bridge of his nose. When he opened his eyes, all traces of his usually good natured and soft spoken manners had disappeared. What Snow saw was what he must have looked like, when he had attempted to kill his parents, petty con artists (something she only knew thanks to August's pages in the Storybook), his distant darkness, coming all too real for Snow in that moment. (Something, she hadn't realized all those years, that Regina and he had shared)
His voice was metallic and he looked on the brink of saying something Snow was sure was going to lance her straight through: just like it had always been with Regina, when she was the Evil Queen.
Her pulse raced and David shifted defensively, (but a bit blurrily) reacting to the change in the mood.
Always, anticipate chaos.
Too bad, she was never good at seeing it, until it was already upon her. Never predictable.
"Damn it, Snow White, you are..."
Snow flinched and he suddenly snapped something, only it seemed to be like a rubber band inside, pulling back his unspoken harsh words.
He finished the sentence with such deflation that Snow knew that they were not the words he had originally intended. "so far from understanding, that you give me nothing to work with."
He propped himself up with a nearby chair and was beginning to sweat. "God, I was getting somewhere. There was a tentative truce. There was hope for reunification…"
Snow was very confused. "We are...there is a truce, between us now."
Dr. Hopper gave a weak laugh. "Not between you. Between the parts of herself."
Snow was still internally shaking a little from the scare a second ago. "And this would have been a good thing?" She bit back a little harshly.
"You still don't understand darkness."
Snow frowned. Had she not just been through Hell and back? Literally? Didn't Regina want to be friends? Wasn't their family joining together?
"Darkness never goes away. Matter can't be created or destroyed, it can only be converted. There must always be a balance."
Snow never got to respond, because Emma came bursting into the diner like she had seen a ghost. She took a few moments to breathe before announcing: "Hyde made it here with Mr. Gold. And you will never guess what happened when he tried to take the town hall, to proclaim the town his, which apparently Mr. Gold sold him, in exchange for his help with Belle."
Snow tried to process this new chaos, and shook her head no.
"The Evil Queen." Emma gasped. "She didn't get destroyed after all."
Snow hesitated. She thought about Dr. Hopper's comment about balance.
"Are you sure it isn't Regina dressed up to scare Hyde?" David asked.
Emma frowned and shook her head. "There were two Reginas there by the time I got there. The Evil Queen threatened to kill anyone who tried to take the town from her. Including herself. She is demanding alliances from anyone who wishes to be spared."
Dr. Hopper suddenly, strangely smiled. "An alliance: to help her kill Regina."
Emma turned to look at him sharply. "Y...yes."
"Finally something I can work with." And he rushed out the diner door.