"What is that… sharp pain. Why does it hurt so unbearably much…"

The thoughts in the mayors head were clouded and unclear. As Regina rolled over to her left side a muffled cry evades her dried-out throat.

"Where am I?"

With her shivering hand, she carefully tries to find her forehead to feel what that warm, wet stuff was that is running down her temple. She is finally able to open her eyes, twitching them together to examine her hand. Scarlet, warm fluid slowly dropped from her bruised fingers. Her pinky seemed to be dislocated. Under different circumstances the sight of blood wouldn't have bothered her, but the merciless combination of nausea, blurriness and that stinging pain in her ribcage that suggested that something must be stuck in it caused her injured body to cringe and throw up her empty stomach's acid.

Finally she was able to sit up and she wiped her mouth with the same hand she just had discovered the blood on, smearing it all over her face. Her other hand fumbles the air, trying to grab something that could possibly help her to get up. Wincing like a puppy dog, she held onto a fence, and pulled herself on her feet. With all the focus she was able to procure, she concentrates on her hand. She was the Queen, she was the mayor. She knew how to heal herself. But no matter how much she tried, there was no tingling sensation in her fingers, she was unable to spawn any magic in her hands. Nothing was happening. The realization that there was no sorcery in this land came quickly.

Regina tried to scan her surroundings but the bright daylight just causes the left side of her head to bite so horribly bad that she can only blink. Slowly the ringing sound she had been hearing in her ears began to fade out, allowing the noises of the real world to get through to her. There must be a street here somewhere.

As unfocused as her mind might have been, she knew one thing for sure. This did not go as planned. Not in the slightest bit. She kept clinging to the fence to move forward, her rips aching with every breath she took. She realized how she hadn't checked what was causing the pain there. Regina reached the corner of a house that provided shadow. Getting out of the steaming midday sun was the best thing that had happened to her since she woke up and allowed her to see better. The back alley she found herself in was abandoned, no one was here, but the noisy street couldn't be far now. She needed help. Desperately. There was no space for arrogance and pride now. As she tumbled further, she noticed how there was still blood slowly tracing down her face. If she didn't find something or someone, she would be fainting really soon. Her surroundings were beginning to get dizzier already, but she kept on walking. It was hard to keep track of where she was since her lungs felt like they were being sliced open this very second. When she was able to lift her head a little higher, she heard wheels screeching. It took only a millisecond from there to her tormented body being smashed against the white Prius, her knees first, cracking. As her upper body collided with the windshield, everything went black.

Councilwoman Knope marked her calendar. With a red, thick marker, she carefully drew a cross under today's date. It has been nineteen days since she had ran over the anonymous woman. The stranger. The patient without family, wallet, or identity. She has been visiting the nameless patient every other day ever since it happened. It was so quick, so unforeseeable. A moment so short and insignificant in any other situation, yet long enough to destroy so much. The incident had not only tremendously shaken up her life, it had also catapulted her marriage into serious trouble. When Leslie called her husband about what happened, crying, hardly being able to speak, he immediately rushed to her. He found her entirely distraught and weeping, on the side of the road, in-between the huddle of police and ambulances at work. He listened carefully to her and provided safety and comfort, as good as he could. The days went by and the hysteria simmered down… and his thoughts on the problem slowly changed as he grasped the severity of the situation. Ben started to blame his wife for what happened. Even though it was true indeed, she had been looking at her phone - she still could not believe that he would not support her. It was just for a second. To check a text message, the one that he had sent. She bitterly chuckled to herself when she thought about how a notification about lunch had ruined another persons life.

Leslie Knope was certain that if the woman's status wasn't thatserious, her husband wouldn't have asked her to put the marriage "on hold"… whatever that was supposed to mean. She defined the gravity of the situation by the medical state she had put the other woman in, an medically-induced coma. The doctors had articulated her state thoroughly to her. The coma would allow the brain damage and head injury she had suffered from the collision to heal faster and safer in this state. Further they explained that she already must have been in a severe condition before the collision, since lots of the wounds couldn't be explained through the accident alone, like the two broken rips, the dislocated finger and shoulder; all of it on her right side. Their suspicion was that she was mugged and beat up, nothing else could explain the absent of personal items. However, this did not explain why the hospital's staff was unable to find her family. It usually didn't take long until someone would show up in search of their lost family member, but Jane Doe didn't have such luck just yet. Leslie had offered herself as her emergency contact… it was the least that she could do for her. It was only a matter of time until the doctors would decide that she was stable enough to let her wake up, and Leslie would be the one they'd call.

A bright light. That is the first thing she notices. Someone was touching her. She raises her right hand to push them away, but it feels so heavy. Why would anyone touch another persons eyes and shine a light into them without permission? This was quite unbelievable.

"Yes, yes, she's waking up." Regina didn't recognize this voice. "Oh, that's good… right?" She didn't know this one either. "Indeed. She looks fine, so far. Ma'am, can you hear me?" Regina blinks. While her whole body somehow felt unusually warm and cozy, her mind was starting to get clear.

"Yes. I do."

She directed her gaze to the person in white to her right. She evidently was in a hospital. Her memories were distinct up to the point where she heard the cars brakes. She was hit by a car… Yes, that made sense. She carefully inspected her hand. The cuts on it were already healing well, they're shining in a soft pink. Her pinkie finger was in place.

"How long since the accident?" Regina lifts her eyebrow.

Dr. Harris shares a curious look with Ann.

"Miss…" He cleared his throat. "Miss, it has been almost three weeks now. How do you know you've been in an accident?"

"Well, doctor…"

"Harris."

"Doctor Harris, why wouldn't I?" She smiled innocently.

"I do remember the wheels of a car screeching as I reached a busy road. This is why I assumed that I've been in a car accident."

While remaining calm on the surface, Regina's mind started racing. They were certainly starting to question her really soon, at least about her name, family, what happened to her before she was run over. Playing the amnesia card was out of the question now that she had already established her intact memory.

"Miss, we would like to ask you a few questions after examining you. Nothing to worry about, just some standard procedures. Nurse Ann Perkins is going to take good care of you, don't you worry." No doubt that the innocent-looking brunette to his right must have been said nurse.

"Excuse me doctor, before you leave… Who is this and why is she allowed in my room?"

Regina points at the blonde who sat on a chair in the back of the room. Something was wrong with her. She had been watching this conversation rather anxiously, her feet restlessly dribbling on the floor. The doctor opens his mouth to answer, but the blonde gets up on her feet quickly and disrupts him. The smile she puts on is bright and friendly, yet fake. She unsuccessfully tried to straighten the wrinkles in her business blazer before she takes a deep breath.

"I'm councilwoman Leslie Knope of the wonderful city of Pawnee, Indiana. I'm so, so happy to see you awake and well."

"And why would that be, councilwoman?"

"Because…" She stopped for a second. "You know, maybe we should first let the best nurse in the world, Ann, do her job and we can talk later, isn't that right, Ann?" The pleading look she gave her friend didn't go unnoticed to the mayor. This one had something to hide, but no one conceals anything from Regina Mills.

"Actually, this is the one question I would like to see answered before anything else happens right now." Regina's smile reminds Leslie of a predators bared teeth.

"My name is Regina Mills by the way. A pleasure… to meet you."

She extends her hand. The blonde is hesitant of how to react, which made her handshake feel indecisive and weak.

Leslie wasn't able to hide that some colour vanished from her cheeks. She definitely didn't expect this to come so soon, she wasn't sure that she was ready to deal with this part of reality already. Checking in with the anonymous woman while she wasn't conscious was much easier than seeing her awake, talking and apparently very confident as well. Her heart rate started to pick up.

"I am the one who is to blame for everything that had happened to you. I'm the one who ran you over, who almost got you killed after you have suffered to terribly already, after you've been mugged." Regina realized that the other woman felt awfully guilty… and guilt was no stranger to her. Actually, she wasn't mad at her at all. She understood whatsoever that she had to use this opportunity, her crushing feeling of sin, to get rid off Leslie before she got too chummy. She hardened her facial features.

"I. Want. Her. Out."

Regina let the feeling of revenge stir up in her, the one emotion that she was the most familiar with. A vein swells up on her right temple.

Doctor Harris whispered something in Ann's ear, and she nodded quickly. "It's okay" the nurse assured as she gently placed a hand on the mayor's shoulder. "We don't have to do this right now." Regina throws a gaze at her that was as poisonous as a snake's venom. Ann carefully let go of the mayor. Doctor Harris rushes over to an increasingly worried looking Leslie and escorted her out of her hospital room.