The conference room echoed with the rustling of clothing and pieces of parchment from people fanning themselves, and the air was thick and musty as Prince Charming droned on about their last patrol.
"Can we open a window, please? It's stifling in here!" Snow White's voice sounded off the stone walls, interrupting her husband and startling the gathered group.
"Um...sure," David answered stepping toward the window. Before he could make it, however, his wife rose from her chair and rushed over to throw open the shudders. Sighing discontentedly, the princess pulled at the neckline of her gown and leaned out into the air.
"Snow, are you alright?" he asked quietly, resting a hand on her shoulder.
Glaring at him, she answered, "No, I'm not alright! It's almost as hot outside!"
"Well maybe Red could get you some water?" he suggested.
The young wolf nodded and made to get up out of her chair. Before she made it though, Snow grumbled, "I don't want water."
With that the princess stormed back to her chair, supporting her growing belly with one hand as she sat back down.
From further down the table, Grumpy, who was fanning himself with his knit hat, sending a very pungent aroma of sweat around the room, chuckled and commented, "I think you might be spending a little bit too much time with the queen here! She's wearing off on you."
Both women turned to glare at him, however, even with the influence of pregnancy hormones, all Snow White did was roll her eyes. Regina, however, had no intention of letting the scruffy miner off that easily.
"Afraid you'll have some competition for your name, dwarf?" she demanded irritably.
"Well if anyone could steal the title it'd be you, Your Majesty," he snarled.
Pursing her lips, Regina rose from the table, "You listen here, little man-"
She was interrupted by a wooden cup thumping hard against the table.
"Alright, that's enough!" Granny declared, slamming the cup down a few more times for good measure, "By the Gods, if all we're going to do is snip at each other I don't know why we're bothering to meet!"
David cleared his throat and suggested, "Maybe picking this up another day would be a good idea?"
There was very little objection as the group rose from the table. Snow White made it to the door first, and Regina was hot on her heels. Before she could exit, however, the dwarf's voice snarked from behind her, "Where are you running off to this time?"
Freezing, Regina turned with a murderous look on her face and got in the short man's face, "Where I go is absolutely none of your concern."
"I'd beg to differ!" he argued, "Last time we left you alone you cast a curse, so I'd sure like to know what is you spend your time doing!"
"Sounds to me like you have too much time on your hands, dwarf," she said curtly, "Perhaps you should spend less of your time worrying about how I spend mine, and do something useful...sweep something, perhaps!"
"Regina," David groused from across the room.
Glancing up she stared the prince down,"What?!"
He sent her a warning glare that she honestly wanted to laugh at. Rolling her eyes, she turned from the room and started up the steps toward the library.
* 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 *
As she turned the discolored page on what felt like the hundredth dusty old tome, Regina scratched at where sweat was beading under her lace choker.
With a sigh, she turned her attention back to the page, but was interrupted by a book slamming closed from across the room.
Looking up, Regina saw the diminutive librarian huff and toss her hands in frustration. She shook her head, and tried to turn her attention back to the text.
"Did you find anything new in those elvish texts?" Belle's slight twang echoed across the library.
"No, I have not," she answered evenly, "I told you. The moment I find something, you'll be the first to hear about it."
The younger woman sighed heavily in response, and stepped over to the table where Regina was working and dropped a book on top of hers.
"This. This is the symbol from that key Neal used to bring Rumple back," she pointed to a drawing, "There's a few texts about it accessing the vault of the Dark One...some mention the cost being one life for another, but none talk about a way to save someone who made that sacrifice!"
"Well, that would rather eliminate the purpose of a sacrifice."
The brunette looked stricken, "He was tricked into it by that witch! Now she's doing who knows what to him and Rumple!"
The queen sighed, "Look, from what you described it sounds like Rumple fused their lives together which means that as long as Rumple is alive, Neal will stay alive. And, as for Rumple...trust me, he isn't so easy to get rid of!"
"I don't know why I'm trusting you," Belle shook her head, "You always wanted him gone. You always did all you could to hurt us!"
Regina stiffened and turned, "Listen to me, little girl. You can be angry at me for locking you up all you want, but when it comes to Rumpelstiltskin...yes, I have plenty of reasons to want him gone, and all of them are good ones!"
"What about Neal?" Belle asked, "He doesn't deserve this! How do you think your son would feel about you letting his father die?"
She whirled on the shorter woman, "Just because you batted your eyelashes and melted Rumple's cold, dead heart does not give you the right to lecture me about my son!"
"I'm just saying there has to be some way we can help the both of them! A way to save Neal!"
"Belle," Regina said, "I'm looking, but this is the sort of thing that was designed not to be undone."
She frowned, shaking her head, "There has to be away. There just has to."
Sighing tiredly, Regina asked, "Is there something else on your mind?"
The younger woman swallowed hard and said, "I'm just afraid that...even if we manage to free Rumple from Zelena...what will I tell him? How will I explain that I didn't protect his son?"
Regina looked at her in surprise, "I wouldn't go getting a step-mother complex now if I were you. Rumple's son is older than you by several centuries!"
"I tried to warn him-"
"Exactly! You tried to warn him, but he's a grown man. He made his own choices."
"You really think Rumple will accept that, though?" Belle asked, "He cast a curse just on the hope of seeing him again!"
Raising her eyes from the elvish text that she had attempted to go back to reading, Regina looked at the librarian and said coolly, "Rumple didn't case any curse. He groomed and manipulated others into doing it for him! If you really love him you should have realized by now that he's willing to go to almost any length, except for that which goes against his own self-preservation!"
Belle met her eyes evenly and responded, "You were a grown woman. Didn't you make your own choices?"
Regina swallowed, but met her eyes firmly, "Yes, I did...and I also lost my son because of them."
That statement seemed to resonate, because the pretty librarian looked away, shifted uncomfortably and finally said, "I'm going to go check the archives again. See if there's anything I may have missed."
Once the other woman was gone, Regina looked back at the text. After a few minutes of watching dust motes floating above it, she slammed it closed. The library was in a high tower, and being trapped in the heat, between shelves overflowing with old books and papers was making her feel claustrophobic.
She quickly made her way out, and down the long winding staircase until she reached a first floor corridor that would lead her outside.
The open air of the courtyard, however, offered little relief. Snow's statement from earlier was right. It was hardly any cooler outdoors than in, and the area was packed with people. All the activity filling it with the odor of overheated bodies, hay, and manure.
Regina sighed in dismay as she discretely wiped sweat from her brow. However, as she glanced toward the main gate an idea entered her mind. She did, in fact, know of one place that was private and she could go to cool off.
Feeling her spirits lift, she made her way through the throng of people and toward the castle's entrance.
* 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 *
The walk to the river felt longer with the late afternoon heat beating down on her through the trees, but she finally arrived and was relieved to see that, as usual, there were no visitors to this section of the river.
As she stepped down the bank she poofed herself into her usual white bathing-suit with her hair up in a braided bun. The sun had warmed the water a little, but it still felt wonderfully cold against her skin. With a sigh, Regina waded out to an area that was about waist deep from bank to bank, and squatted down to lay back in the water. As she settled into a float, she stared up at the clear sky above her and let the weightless feeling take over. Her eyes drifted closed as the tension left her body.
She floated for she didn't know how long, feeling nothing but the muffled hum of the water around her and the occasional faint breeze on her face.
Eventually, however, an uneasy feeling of being watched came over her. Snapping her eyes open, she righted herself so that she was standing in the shallow water.
Glancing around, she caught sight of a familiar archer standing at the tree line.
"Robin," his name fell from her lips in surprise. Drawing herself up, she demanded, "What you doing here?! It isn't Thursday!"
"I might ask the same thing," he responded, stepping closer to the bank.
"I...came here to think," she said, "That doesn't explain why you're here!"
"I was out hunting," he answered, bracing his bow against the ground.
"Hunting?" she repeated.
"Yes."
Crossing her arms angrily, "I may not be a woodsman, Hood, but even I know that no animals would be out in this heat, so how about you try again?"
Looking appropriately chastised, he cleared his throat, "I saw you leave the castle earlier. From the direction you went, I surmised where you might be going."
"And you decided to follow me...why?"
"After this morning's meeting, I wondered why you would be coming here," he answered, "As you said, it isn't Thursday."
"So now I need your permission?" she demanded, "I'm not allowed to come here without you?"
"It wouldn't be wise-"
"Excuse me?!"
"One should never swim alone, m'lady," he explained, "Even those with experience-"
"Just because you offered to teach me to swim, doesn't give you the right to tell me what to do!" she fired back angrily, "I'm not your child or your wife...not that it'd give you the right to control me even if I were, though I know you think it does-"
"Papa!" a voice called from the trees, interrupting her, "Papa, where are you?"
Turning toward the tree line in alarm Robin called back, "Roland? Roland is that you?"
With a few crashing foot steps the small boy emerged from the trees, and ran to his father happily.
"Papa!" he leapt into his arms, "I tried to keep up but I thought I'd lost you!"
"Roland, what are you doing here?" Robin asked, "You're supposed to be back at the castle with John!"
"But I saw you leave and wanted to see where you were going!"
The outlaw sighed, and Regina shifted awkwardly in the water. The noise from the action drew Roland's attention for the first time. He blinked at her in surprise.
"Your Majesty!" he exclaimed, "What are you doing here?"
Clearing her throat she answered, "I was just...cooling off."
"But why are you in the water? You said you can't swim!" Roland observed in alarm, "Papa, we should help!"
After thinking over the potential ramifications for a second, Regina finally answered, "Actually, Roland, your father is already helping me. You see we both agreed it was silly that I didn't know how to swim, so he's been teaching me."
The boy took in the explanation before smiling widely, "Can I help?"
"Ah, Roland-"
"Please, Papa! I can show Regina what you taught me! I'm a good swimmer, you said so!"
"Actually, sweetheart, it's getting late. I think I should be getting out," Regina jumped in, making her was over to the bank. Once she was fully out of the water, she poofed her normal clothes back on.
"Oh," Roland said in disappointment, "Can I help teach you to swim tomorrow?"
"We'll see, Roland," Hood answered, firmly turning him back toward the trees, "But you heard Her Majesty. It's time to go back to the castle. It'll be dinner time soon."
His spirits seemed to lift at the prospect of a good meal, and, as they began making their way through the woods, he ran ahead of the two adults, smacking a stick against every tree he passed.
"I'm sorry about that," she muttered quietly.
"It's nothing," Robin shook his head, "He's just rather fascinated by you. He hasn't had many women in his life since his mother died."
They walked for a few steps before Regina said, "If you wanted to bring him...next time, I mean...I don't mind."
Looking over to her, he smiled, "That's very kind of you."
"It's nothing," she shrugged, echoing his words.
"Did you hear that, Roland?" he said to his son, "Her Majesty says you can help next time we go to swim."
Roland smiled widely, rushing over to toss his arms around her legs. It forced Regina to stop in her tracks.
"Thank you!" he said excitedly.
After getting over momentary surprise, she laughed, "You're very welcome, Roland."
"Are you going to join is for dinner too, Your Majesty?" he asked.
"Ahh..." she hesitated.
"My boy, the queen has dinner with the prince and princess," Robin answered.
"Why?" Roland asked. Both adults looked at each other, seeing if the other would answer first, but were saved from having to do so when Roland spoke again, "Because you're her step-mama?"
Regina frowned, but nodded along with the assumption since it seemed to make sense to the young boy.
"Maybe some other time?" he asked hopefully.
"We'll see," was all she said.
He seemed to accept the answer, though. Skipping ahead along the path.
Glancing over at Hood, she said ruefully, "Don't worry. At his age, he'll forget the idea within a day."
"Hm," he hummed.
The three walked along for nearly five minutes in silence before he spoke again, "You would be welcome you know."
Regina looked at him questioningly.
"If you did want to join me and Roland some time-"
"And your men?" she asked.
"They would welcome you too if they got to know you."
She scoffed, "I doubt that!"
"I'm serious," he insisted.
"They know who I am already," Regina answered, "the Evil Queen."
"They don't know you, though," the thief responded, "Not the real you. If you showed them that you're more than the Evil Queen they would accept it."
"Right!"
"M'lady, all of my men have pasts," he said, "Many of them criminal."
She laughed, "I thought you robbed from the rich to give to the poor? A noble cause and such?"
"Indeed," Robin answered, "And for many of my men it is their second chance. I promise you...if they saw how hard you were working to change, they would understand you better."
Regina frowned, thinking over his statement that she was working hard to change. He'd seemed very sure of himself, but it was really quite an assumption. Was she trying to change? She had been when Henry was around, but now...she wasn't so certain.
She kept the thought to herself, though, and simply answered, "I'll think about it."