Chapter Two; Beauty and the Queen
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five years later
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A drunk driver, whose name and fate were unknown. An old car, the one her fiancé had been driving while on his way home from work. A black dress, that she had worn to the funeral full of empty, sympathetic, words of pity. A lifeless body in an open coffin, the body of her deceased fiancé, of a man who died long before his time.
Those were the four things Regina remembered about Daniel's death, over five years earlier. Somehow, Regina had managed to pick herself up again, but ever since her fiancé's death, she simply felt like a ghost drifting from one day to the next with almost no purpose. The only good thing that had happened in the past five years was when Regina first met the woman who lived in the apartment across from hers; Belle French. Regina's one and only friend since Zelena had moved to England after she had taken up a job as Robin's manager.
Speaking of Robin, apparently he had been cast in another movie thanks to Regina's sister. Zelena was a good manager, Regina would giver her that much, but Regina would have preferred her client to be someone who lived on the same continent, at the very least. But Zelena hardly ever visited anymore, and Regina had begun only scanning her sister's texts and typing out a meaningless, one-word, response.
A knock on the door interrupted Regina from her thoughts. She jumped up from the couch and opened it. The only person who would possibly be on the other side was Belle.
But when Regina opened the door, the young brunette was crying. Her makeup was smeared all over her cheeks and her eyes were red and puffy. Her hair was a mess - it clearly hadn't been brushed out or even cleaned within the past day - and she was wearing wrinkled sweatpants and an oversized hoodie. And with a past like Regina's, she immediately began to fear the worst.
"What's wrong?" Regina asked, her voice full of both panic and concern. "What happened?"
"It-it's Gaston," Belle sniffed, "h-he..."
As soon as Regina heard Gaston's name, she knew whatever happened had left only Belle hurt. Regina had tried to warn Belle that Gaston didn't care about her, but Belle had refused to listen. However, Regina wasn't about to tell Belle she had been right all along while she was already sobbing. Instead she ushered Belle inside and shut the door behind her. As much as Regina wanted to give Belle's no-good ex-boyfriend a beating, she had priorities, and helping Belle came first.
Regina grabbed two ice cream sandwiches from her freezer before sitting down next to Belle. Belle accepted the treat and ate all of hers before she was ready to talk. But Regina was patient; she knew that Belle didn't want words of wisdom. She just wanted a friend who would listen.
When Belle finally spoke, Regina could tell her friend was still on the edge of tears. "G-Gaston broke u-up with me bec-cause I found out that I'm-m p-preg-gnant. A-and he d-doesn't wa-ant anyth-thing to d-do with me anym-more. I c-can't do this on m-my own, Regina." Belle dissolved into more tears, and Regina pulled her into a hug.
"You won't do this alone," Regina promised. "I'll be there for you. Screw Gaston! He's an idiot for leaving someone as wonderful as you, and he doesn't deserve you or this child."
Belle sniffled and managed to smile up at her friend. "R-really?"
"Yes," Regina assured her. "Now where is that jerk, Gaston? I need to give him a good punch in the nose for hurting you."
"N-no," Belle put a hand on Regina's arm. "We need to be the better people."
Regina frowned. Belle was always giving people second chances and not letting her get revenge when that was all someone deserved. But Regina gave in and decided to let the matter of Gaston rest for the moment, not wanting to upset Belle anymore. So instead, she turned her focus to helping soothe Belle and make her comfortable. "Is there something you'd like to do? We could watch some Netflix or go get a pizza. I'll do whatever you want."
"Well, there is a movie I've been wanting to watch lately...but I couldn't ask you to watch it. I know you're against anything with him in it."
Belle didn't have to say his name for Regina to know who she was talking about. It was a code of sorts that the two had developed. Him meant Robin Locksley; the man who had ripped Zelena away from Regina. From what Regina knew - and that wasn't much - Robin only ever acted in British movies whose popularity never made it across the ocean. But Belle loved any sappy romance movie she could get her hands on, no matter what country it was from.
"I'll watch it," Regina reluctantly gave in. She had been the one who offered to do anything Belle wanted, and Regina's petty grudge against some actor wasn't enough to stop her from keeping a promise to her best friend. Besides, Belle needed something to get her mind off of Gaston, and Regina knew a favorite movie would do the trick.
"I'll go get it." Belle stood up and left to get the DVD from her apartment. When she returned, she had a movie titled Starstruck in Wonderland. It sounded like a painfully cliché movie to Regina, but that was what Belle enjoyed for some unknown reason.
Bells popped the disc into Regina's DVD player and the movie began. Robin Locksley played the main character's friend, Sean. When he first came on screen, Regina was surprised by how different he looked from what she had expected. Her first thought was that he actually wasn't too bad looking. His bright blue eyes looked like the sky on a bright, summer, day had been sucked into them, and his smirk was strangely charming.
He's the reason your sister left, she reminded herself. That was all it took for Regina to fill with hatred when she looked at him again.
While Belle immersed herself in the movie, Regina ordered a pizza for the two to share. As Regina waited for the pizza to arrive, Belle began informing her about the other actors in the movie.
There was Anastasia Red and Will - Regina couldn't remember his last name - who played the main characters, Michael and Emma. Apparently, the two actors had been dating while filming the movie, but broken up six months after it was released because of 'personal issues'. The actress who played Emma's best friend was named Alice, and, according to Belle, she had played Alice in an Alice in Wonderland movie when she was younger.
Belle kept spouting random fun facts about the cast at Regina until the doorbell rung. Regina rushed over eagerly, ready for her pizza.
But when she opened the door, she was more than surprised to see that Henry Cassidy - Regina's former friend's son - was the delivery man. Last she had heard from his mother, he was in seventh grade. But as Regina thought back, she realized that the last time she had spoken to Emma Swan (technically Emma Cassidy, but Regina had known her as Swan) was shortly after Daniel's death, making Henry seventeen now. Old enough to be a pizza delivery man, so long as he had gotten his driver's license.
"Henry?" Regina found herself asking. His nametag clearly read 'Henry Cassidy,' so Regina wasn't really sure why she had formed her statement as a question, but that's how the word had escaped from her mouth.
"Ms. Mills," Henry replied politely. "I didn't know you lived in this apartment building."
"And I didn't know you delivered pizzas."
Henry shrugged. "I just got the job a few weeks ago. But I'm saving up for a car, and I couldn't find anywhere else that was hiring." he handed her the pizza, and Regina payed him. Before she could shut the door, Henry spoke up again, "My mom was, uh, just wondering about you the other day. But she didn't know if you would really want to talk to her."
Regina pursed her lips. No, she really did not want to talk to Emma, but some part of her felt like she had to. Or maybe that was just Zelena nagging her to get back in touch, like she had done so many years ago when she was afraid Regina would be left completely and utterly alone once Zelena was in England.
"Tell her I said hi," was what Regina decided to say. "I'm sure she's busy with work and..." the names of Emma's other friends had escaped Regina's mind, "uh, her friends and family."
"I will," Henry promised with a smile on his face. Regina bid him a quick farewell and shut the door before she accidentally got herself roped into meeting up with Emma again. She brought the pizza back over to the couch and plopped down next to Belle. She opened the box and set it on the coffee table, and both Regina and Belle reached for a piece.
"Did you know that Robin has a son?" Belle asked. "He divorced his wife shortly after the baby was born, but they share custody of him."
Regina figured Belle must have run out of facts about the other actors and actresses because otherwise, she wouldn't have brought up Robin. Or she was just distracted by the movie, which Regina was fine with. Belle had obviously needed a distraction.
"And Robin and Will became good friends while filming this," Belle added. Completely turning from the facts about Robin and Will that Belle had been sharing previously, she delivered one about Anastasia, "Anastasia's favorite Disney villain is Jafar."
Regina frowned. "Where'd you find that out at?"
Belle shrugged. "I read it online somewhere. This movie was my absolute favorite for the longest time, and I looked up a bunch of stuff about the actors because I wanted to know what other movies and TV shows they were in."
"Can't say I'm surprised," Regina muttered. "Remember that one guy who played Rumplestilskin? You thought he was so wonderful, you were convinced you were going to marry him."
Belle let out a dreamy sigh. "Robert Gold. Yeah...I still really want to marry him."
Regina rolled her eyes. "You fall in love with any good looking actor you see."
"Oh, like you don't have a celebrity crush," Belle shot back. "I bet you're secretly in love with Benedict Cumberbatch or David Tennant."
Regina shook her head. "I'm not going to crush on some guy that is probably already married and doesn't even know I exist."
"Gold isn't already married," Belle protested.
"Yeah, but the other two are."
"Okay..." Belle thought for a moment. "What about...Jefferson Hatter?"
"I don't have a celebrity crush," Regina snapped. Once the words were out of her mouth, Regina immediately wished she could take them back. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell, I just-"
Belle shook her head. "It's okay. I shouldn't have pushed you."
Regina felt a small smile crawl onto her face when she realized Belle wasn't mad. Belle pulled her friend into a hug. "This movie is almost over. And I think I know what we should watch next..."
Regina grinned. "Beauty and the Beast?"
"Beauty and the Beast!" Belle exclaimed. As Regina stood up to find her Beauty and the Beast DVD, she smiled to herself. Tonight was one of those rare occurrences where Regina felt like she was actually living, and not just drifting. Having Belle as a friend did that to her sometimes, and Regina was grateful for that. Although the good moments were rare, it was better than nothing. It was the moments like these that gave Regina the strength to carry on. The hope that another one would seize Regina and leave her full of life, even if only for a few short hours.
Zelena was just about ready to throw her phone at the ground. She probably already would have if her phone screen wouldn't have shattered. Why couldn't her darn sister just pick up the phone?!
"She still not answering?" Robin asked, fiddling with the zipper on his jacket.
"No," Zelena growled. "I don't understand what's so hard about answering the phone! And I don't even think she read any of my messages the whole way through because she's just been responding with, 'okay,' for the past year!"
"I'm sure she's fine," Arthur assured his girlfriend. "Our flight will be here any minute, you need to make sure you're ready."
"I am ready!"
Zelena's frustrations were interrupted by a small voice calling out, "Papa!" Zelena, Arthur, ad Robin all looked up to see Robin's son, Roland, running towards his dad. His mother, Marian, trailed behind them.
"He wanted to say one last goodbye," Marian explained.
Roland jumped into his father's outstretched arms. "Bye bye, Papa."
"Goodbye, Roland." Robin pulled back to look his son in the eyes. "You be good for your mother, okay?"
"I will!" Roland promised. "When are you gonna be back?"
Robin sighed. "I'm not sure yet. But I'm going to visit you as soon as I can, okay?"
"Okay!" Roland grinned, showing off his missing teeth and dimpled cheeks. "I'll miss you, Papa."
"I'll miss you too, my boy."
As Roland ran back to his mother, he waved one last goodbye to Robin, who waved back.
"Ready to board?" Arthur asked, the question aimed at both Robin and Zelena. Zelena sighed, having given up on trying to contact her sister, and nodded. Robin nodded as well, and the three headed towards the airplane that would take them straight to America, where Regina was (hopefully) expecting them and awaiting the return of her sister.
