Regina sighed as she heaved another empty box onto her desk to replace the one she had just taken down to her car. More exhausted than she would like to admit, she leaned against the desk and looked around at the office around her. It was chaotic, the most chaotic she had ever seen it. Usually the office was perfectly organized up to the last pencil, with everything in its' proper place, but right now things were strewn everywhere.
She couldn't say that she was surprised that the town had asked her to leave the mayor's office, but it was still hard to ignore the disappointment she felt. Despite everything, she loved being the mayor. Technically she was still mayor, and she had no plans to relinquish that title just yet, but she knew that for the time being, the town would be hostile to the idea of her being in charge.
Looking around the office again, Regina thought of all the time that she had spent in this room in the last 28 years. She had a lot of good memories of doing homework with Henry here throughout his elementary years. When he was younger, Regina would take a break from work to pick him up from school and bring him back here, where she would kick off her shoes and they would have a snack together, sitting next to each other on the floor with their backs against the couch. Then Regina would have Henry spread his homework on the coffee table in front of them and she would grab some paperwork. They would do their work together and when Henry was finished, she would pack up her bag and they would head home. It wasn't anything overly special, but it was their routine until this book had shown up in their lives, and Regina missed the comfort of that routine. She missed the comfort of having Henry with her.
If she was being totally honest with herself, even though it had only been a few days, Regina missed the comfort of having another person around. Since Henry had gone to stay with David, Regina had felt so lonely. Often she would wake up in the middle of the night in a panic to find Henry gone from his bed, only to remember that he wasn't coming home. She couldn't stop her mind from wondering what he was doing, where he was, what was he eating for dinner, how was he spending his free time, was he keeping up on his homework?
Regina pushed these thoughts away and picked up a stack of books from one of the bookshelves against the wall, setting the books neatly in the empty box on her desk. At that moment, the phone rang, and Regina crossed the room and grabbed it. Looking at the screen, Regina's heart jumped when she saw who the call was from. She clumsily pressed the green answer button, putting the phone to her ear. "Henry," she breathed, more a statement than a question. "I'm just packing up the office. I've been asked to leave. … No, of course it can wait, I'd love to have lunch with you. Granny's, ten minutes."
As Regina hung up the phone, a wide smile spread across her face, and she set it down on the desk, reaching over to grab her purse and jacket from the desk chair. She hurried out of the office, excited to see her son. She had no idea what made him want to have lunch with her, but she was delighted nonetheless. Maybe he wanted to try and make things work between them just as much as she did.
Her feet carried her down the block to Granny's in less than five minutes, and she chose a booth in the corner, ignoring the looks from some of the customers in the diner. Granny gave her a sharp look, but didn't seem inclined to kick Regina out, something that she was grateful for. She was sure this was going to be hard enough for Henry as it was. There was no need to make it harder.
The ten-minute mark quickly passed, but Regina waited where she was, hoping that he was just running a bit slowly. When ten minutes turned into twenty, and then twenty-five, Regina's heart sank as she realized that Henry wasn't coming to Granny's. Refusing to meet anyone's eye, she stood up from her booth and crossed the diner quickly, pushing open the door.
As she walked back to the office, she stuck her hands in her jacket pockets, trying to ignore the crushing feeling of disappointment that had settled onto her chest. She wanted to know what had made Henry change his mind, but she knew that she was too afraid of pushing him too far to call and ask him. She entered the office and slumped down in her desk chair, suddenly too depressed to face the packing.
The door to her office banged open, causing Regina to jump in shock, and she looked up to see David storming into the room, looking at her suspiciously. Before she could ask what he was there for, he spoke. "I just got a call from the school that Henry never showed up this morning. Where is he?" He came to a stop in front of her desk and looked down at her menacingly.
"I don't know," Regina said honestly, too confused to be annoyed with the unspoken accusations that David was throwing her way. "He called me half an hour ago and asked me to meet him for lunch at Granny's, but he never showed up."
David sighed in defeat and sat down on one of the chairs across from Regina. "This parenting thing is harder than I thought," he mumbled under his breath. Regina heard him but decided not to say anything. They stared at each other for a long moment before David spoke, his mind whirling. "He went to a lot of trouble to meet you for a lunch that he never showed up to…"
Regina looked away, suddenly not wanting to see the pity that she thought she might find in David's eyes. She didn't need or want his pity. "He seemed quite eager to meet me for lunch once he found out I was here," she finally said, analyzing the conversation with Henry in her mind. In her delight at Henry's request she had missed some of the more odd parts of the conversation.
David nodded. "Clearly he wanted you out of this office," he said slowly. "The only question is why."
Jumping at the sudden thought that entered her mind, Regina turned her chair and pulled open her top desk drawer. Pulling out the set of skeleton keys, she inspected them quickly to find that some were missing. David watched her but said nothing, waiting for her to speak. "My family mausoleum. He's there." She said, standing up and looking at David.
He stood up too. "Are you sure?"
Regina nodded, panic starting to rise in her chest. "Yes. The only keys missing are the ones that would go to there. That has to be where he's going." Her breath started to come quicker as she thought of all of the dangerous items she had stored in that vault.
David saw the panic in her eyes. "Regina, what's in there?"
"A lot of things," she said, her eyes wild. "We have to stop him."
"Then let's go!" David said, turning on his heels. He was almost out of the office when he realized that she wasn't following him. Turning, he saw that she was still standing behind her desk, her eyes full of fear. "Are you coming?"
"No, David, you have to go without me."
"Regina, he's in danger."
"That's exactly why you have to go without me."
"I don't understand."
"He won't leave with me. He won't come if I go. You have to get him."
David hesitated. He heard the pain in her voice, saw the fear on her face. He could tell how badly she wanted to go, but he also saw sense in her words.
"Go!" Regina snapped, her voice getting louder.
With one last look at Regina, David turned on his heels and hurried out of the office, the image of her standing behind her desk with such a look of fear and vulnerability imprinted on his mind.
A/N: Okay, y'all, I know this one was pathetically short, which is why I PROOOMISE I'll update again tomorrow. Hopefully in the morning before I catch my flight home, but if not, then the moment I get home! Or during my layover. Whatever.
Thanks to bananalestrange, HeroineGaudess, and Guest for your reviews! Also, Ella, I think we're going to be great friends who bake awesome cookies together-PS I've been to Italy and it's absolutely my favorite place in the world, so I'm jelly that you live there.
Reviews are a warm cup of tea in between your hands on a cold winter night. xxRose
