As always, thank you for all the reviews and follows! We've finally reached the infamous diner scene. Frankly, I'm quite nervous about this chapter. There are already so many great continuations of this scene by talented authors, to add my own interpretation of it into the mix is rather daunting! I hope this chapter lives up to expectations…
Chapter 4:
The Wicked Witch of the West had been defeated by the Regina's light magic, her time travel spell averted with Emma and the pirate's safe return, and the entire town was in a joyous mood. Everybody was out tonight, packed into diners and restaurants and bars, celebrating with their loved ones.
Jefferson sat in one of the window booths at Granny's with Grace and her other parents, their little unit of four just one of the many families enjoying the festivities at Storybrooke's most popular diner. After Regina's first curse broke and his reunion with Grace, things had been difficult and awkward at first between him and her Storybrooke parents. Carl and Ellie loved Grace (or Paige, as she was known then) dearly, and even the return of their Enchanted Forest memories and the knowledge that she was not biologically theirs, didn't dim their love for her at all, nor hers for them. For Grace's sake, he had to learn how to share her with other people, no matter how much it killed him inside. Thankfully Carl and Ellie were good people, and they went out of their way to include and accommodate him. Over time boundaries and lines had been increasingly blurred and he now counted Carl and Ellie as part of his family, and joint dinners together were now common events.
A child's laughter drew him from his thoughts and he looked out the window as a little boy, an ice cream cone in his hand, came careening up the path to the front door. Over at the gate, Regina and her new man were locked in a passionate embrace, before breaking apart to join the young child at the door. They entered the diner together, the smile on Regina's face stunning to behold. She reined it in somewhat as their eyes met across the room, and like that time when he first saw them together, he raised his glass in a toast. She acknowledged it with a nod, before turning back to the boy and man she came in with. Jefferson turned back to his daughter, listening intently to her as she told them an animated story about her friends and pranks they were already planning now that the crisis was over.
So engrossed was he in the conversation with his family that it took him a while to notice the growing tension in the room. When he did, he looked toward the centre of the diner and surveyed the tableau before him. Regina's new flame was locked in a tight embrace with his child and a woman he had never seen before but dressed in the clothes of the Enchanted Forest, while Regina was in a standoff with Emma, glaring daggers at her as Emma's mouth gaped in shock and apprehension.
Brows furrowed, Jefferson stood up to get closer to the situation, confused as to what was going on. One moment before, Regina had been happier than he had ever seen her, yet right now she was radiating such animosity at Emma that he was surprised Emma didn't choke from it. Power was building up in the room, manifesting itself almost like static electricity, making his hair stand on end, and he could almost feel the maelstrom of emotions that was being kept barely contained in Regina's small frame. It wasn't just anger, he realized, it was betrayal and grief that Regina felt right then too.
Emma was pleading with Regina, trying to ward off the approaching storm. "I swear, I didn't do this to hurt you, I really didn't know. I just wanted to save her, she was going to die! I just…" She waved her hands in an ineffectual motion.
"Save. Your. Breath." The words all but dripped ice and the sheer contempt in Regina's voice brought the entire diner into a standstill, as everyone's eyes laid riveted to the scene before them.
"Mom?" Henry, who had twisted around in his seat, asked tentatively. "Is everything ok?"
Henry hadn't quite specified which one of them he was asking, and both replied."Everything is fine Henry, don't worry about it, we're just talking." "Of course everything's alright for you, Ms. Swan, you're not the one who had just been screwed over once again by your. Cursed. Family." And then Regina laughed, a shrill broken sound.
The sound of it drew the man from his embrace and he turned around sharply, conflicted eyes seeking Regina out, even as the long haired woman shrank back into his arms, clearly afraid of Regina as she whispered to him, "That's the Evil Queen, Robin! Why is no one doing anything?!"
The man – Robin – jerked at the Evil Queen moniker, hurriedly soothing her. "No, Marian, don't call her that. She's not that anymore. She's changed."
Changed she definitely had, that they were all here celebrating Zelena's defeat is proof of that, but the broken look on Regina's face was frightening to behold, and it did nothing to help assuage Marian's fear. "How can you say that? Just a day ago I was in her dungeons and she was going to have me executed! If Lady Leia, I mean, Lady Emma hadn't rescued me and taken me here, I would never have seen you and my baby ever again!"
The man tensed, growing completely still at her words. "What? Marian, what are you saying?" His words, though whispered, struck Regina like a blow in the face and her expression completely changed, grief stricken for a brief instant before her features were carefully rearranged to a blank mask of no emotion at all.
Jefferson felt dawning comprehension at what had just happened. Two years ago he might have been a gloating spectator at seeing Regina so devastated, but his own happy ending had mellowed Jefferson, and he felt nothing but sorrow for what Regina might have just lost. Looking at the horror on the Charmings' faces, he knew that they too, had begun grasping the enormity of just what Emma's well meaning actions had caused.
Regina's current (maybe not anymore?) beau had a deceased wife who, without his knowledge, had been sentenced to death by Regina in the past, and perhaps this did happen and she died at Regina's hands, or perhaps she escaped and died by other means later. Without interference it might have remained just that – an untold story, an unsolved mystery, forever buried in another time and realm. Emma's journey to the past changed everything though, and now past and present met head on in a collision that will forever change the future. This wasn't just Regina's past deeds come back to haunt her, it was her watching her hope of happiness evaporate once more in front of her. That it was by Emma's hands made it so much worse, them who had come so far together, and he understood now the betrayal that had been painted across Regina's face just now.
Regina held herself taut, a tightly coiled spring, just waiting for the slightest provocation to lash out. And lash out she would. He had known her a long time, those years in the Enchanted Forest before he left her service and before Wonderland happened, and later at Storybrooke as he spied on her, waiting for her to make a mistake and for the curse to break. Jefferson knew her defense mechanisms, how she hid her vulnerable side with barbed words and destructive actions. What followed next wasn't going to be pretty at all.
There was a scornful sneer on Regina's face as she countered Marian's accusations. "Did I? Well, I'm sorry dear, I'm sure it's nothing personal. I've executed so many, you probably just annoyed me by being in my way one day. You would excuse me if I don't remember your face, it's not a particularly memorable one."
Her hands, clenched at her sides, were trembling just slightly and he knew she was fighting to keep in control, to live up to her redemption and not do anything more than pointed words. "Now, if you would excuse me, I have better things to do with my time than talk to peasants at some dingy diner." Head held high, she turned around to leave before her control slipped further.
"Regina, wait," Robin finally called out, worried eyes tracking her every step, and he made a move as though to reach out to her, but then his eyes turned back to Marian beside him, and he stilled for one moment. The hopelessness in Regina's face had cleared a little when he first moved, but in Robin's split moment of indecision, a terrible knowledge passed through Regina's face, the likes of which Jefferson had only seen once before, when they had told her that Daniel's resurrection failed and he was lost to her forever.
Robin saw the same expression on her face too, and his own face fell, and Jefferson wondered at how serious things were between them, if he could read Regina just as well as Jefferson could but only after decades of history. Realizing the gravity of the situation, Robin moved quickly to disengage from Marian and took a step forward to Regina.
But it was futile. Regina had seen his hesitation and come to her own conclusions, and with a splay of her palm, she froze Robin's feet to the ground and he could not take a single more step.
"Robin! What have she done to you!" Marian gasped in horror beside him.
Robin struggled ineffectually against the invisible bonds holding him locked to the ground, blue eyes wide and pleading at Regina. "Regina, wait, please, listen to me, we have to talk about this."
There were tears, actual tears, falling down Regina's cheeks and Jefferson knew her pride, he knew just how much she must hate that people were seeing her weak now, how close she was to breaking down right there and then, and he knew nobody with any sense should keep her from leaving.
Emma though, was never one to analyze an emotionally-fraught situation like this. "Regina!" She implored, moving to grab her arm, and this time, when Regina raised her arm, Emma was thrown back against the wall.
Gasps of fear rippled through the diner.
Regina surveyed the room as people cowered from her, and really, did the curse break something in everybody's brains that they so easily forgot that just yesterday, this same woman had wielded light magic to stop the Wicked Witch? There was a manic look in her eyes, and she commanded in a voice that was just a hair breath from freezing air. "Let this be a warning. I will lay waste to the next person who dares come after me. Heed my words." She then disappeared in her trademark purple smoke, leaving a stunned silence behind.
It didn't last long though, and before long the room erupted into pure chaos, as everybody started shouting at once, as the pirate (Hook?) helped Emma back to his feet and a hysterical Marian clung to Robin, still stuck in the same spot and a look that was utterly lost on his face. David took charge, trying to calm everyone down, reassuring people that Regina wasn't about to go start ripping hearts out of people again.
Ripping her own heart out, though, Jefferson thought, would be quite likely.
"How can you trust that she won't go back down a dark path?" One of the dwarves (Jefferson had never bothered to learn their names) scoffed at David, "She's the Evil Queen. She's always going to be the Evil Queen."
Regina, had she been in a better mood, and still here, would be rather gratified to hear the swift denials this statement provoked in her son, the Charming family, Robin, and a few others like Granny and Jefferson himself, who wasn't even aware he spoke until Whale snorted in derision. "You trust her? Are you kidding me? She stranded you at Wonderland and then tortured you with two sets of memories for 28 years."
That started off a new round of shouting, as people started airing grievances that the Evil Queen had done to them, and in the resulting melee, Henry started sneaking inch by inch to the exit. Halfway toward his goal, Jefferson spotted him. Henry jutted his chin out with a stubborn expression on his face that could have only come from Regina, and so Jefferson only nodded his head once at him, before moving to block everyone's view of Henry as he made a dash for the door and to his hurting mother.
He could only hope that Henry was enough to offer Regina some comfort, because this discussion was going to take a while.
Archie was completely unaware of the drama that was unfolding over at Granny's. Whistling, he ambled down the street, in a good mood after officiating the wedding of Mr. Gold and Belle. He was a human once again instead of a cricket, the latest threat had been neutralized, and Regina was making giant strides toward redemption and happiness, and life couldn't be better in his opinion.
A whirlwind suddenly knocked into him, almost sending him off-balance, and after catching his breath, he turned shocked eyes to see that the whirlwind was actually Henry, whose hazel eyes were wide and frantic. Bouncing restlessly on his feet, he let out a breathless "sorry, Dr. Hopper, I didn't see you. I've got to go, I'll talk to you later," before he took off running down the street again.
Grabbing his arm, Archie stopped him. "Henry, wait! What's the matter?"
Whatever it was that Henry was hurrying to, he clearly thought it urgent, and he spoke in rapid fire as he pulled Archie down the street, not a moment more to lose. Archie didn't catch everything Henry said, but he heard just enough about Robin, time travel, escape from the gallows, and a returned dead wife that he pieced together what just happened. Immediately he felt heart sick for Regina.
"I'll come with you, the two of you shouldn't have to face this alone."
"But just now at the diner, she said... she doesn't want people to come after her."
"Well just a few days ago she agreed that we are friends, or starting to be, and friends don't let friends be miserable, do they? Come on, Henry, let's go find your Mom."
Henry's smiled gratefully at him, and together they raced toward 108 Mifflin Street.
They reached the mansion, dark and foreboding, not a single light on, but energy and power crackled around it and they knew Regina's inside, and hurting bad. Henry hurriedly grabbed the spare key from under a flowerpot, and together they entered, Henry calling out for his mother. The sound of breaking glass and a low keening moan from the kitchen alerted them to where she was.
Henry made to run over but Archie stopped him. "Wait, Henry, let me talk to her first."
"She's my Mom! I know she's not going to hurt me."
"I know she won't. But some things, we can't talk to our children about, and some things, she would never want you to see. Go to your room now, while I check on her, and do not eavesdrop - I mean it Henry - your mother will not want that. I'll make sure she comes to you after."
Henry was still conflicted. "Don't you hear her? She's hurting, so much, and I just want to help her," he said in a small voice, tears gathering in his eyes and dripping down his face in a steady stream. Henry had grown so much in the past year, but he was still a child that's clearly out of his depth but still aching to be with his mother, to help in any way.
Archie crouched down, though not as much as he used to, and looked straight into Henry's eyes. "Trust me. Let her speak to me alone first, I can and I will help her. Go to your room, shut the door and call David, let him know you got home alright and that I'm around too, but tell him it's probably not a good idea that anyone else comes here tonight. Can you do that for me, and for your mother, Henry?"
He swallowed. And darted another glance at the hallway to the kitchen, where the moans had turned to soft sobbing. He nodded his head once jerkily. Archie watched him head up the stairs slowly, each step a dead physical weight. He waited until Henry disappeared and the click of his shutting door, before heading to the kitchen, where a storm awaited that he could only hope he can weather through.
End Chapter 4
I hope that was alright! I have a feeling I'm going to get some comments fearing that Regina is turning evil again. Don't worry – I will never erase her redemption that way… She's just so completely blindsided by Marian's return that she has no idea how to react, and this is her lashing out, a distraction of sorts so others don't see past the anger to how heartbroken she is feeling inside.
Also, the names of Grace's other parents? Not a random choice. ;)
Thanks for reading, I would love to hear everyone's thoughts on this!