Author's Note: Hey guys. Sorry I've been MIA. The holidays have been pretty busy. This chapter comes with a trigger warning, referencing some of the harder times from Emma's past. The content isn't graphic and it's brief but it's there all the same. Again, please feed the bard with your comments. They mean a lot to me. Thank you!

Chapter 8

Release

What she'd done to Belle was wrong. And Regina had never felt it more than she did when the girl was released from that cell with a scared, confused and tormented look on her face. Her name may have meant 'Beauty' but her expression translated only to 'Pain'. The person before them was, without a doubt, one of the cruelest reminders of Regina's reign and soon the man who loved her more than anything would know exactly what had transpired so many years ago.

Dark eyes took in a scene that would have almost been sweet were it not tainted with her betrayal. Emma was kind and gentle with Belle. Though it was in the Sheriff's nature to be direct and somewhat sarcastic, Belle brought out a side of the her that Regina had rarely seen; even with Henry. It was as if she could tell how fragile the bookworm was and how much she'd been through.

Regina didn't speak much past the initial explanation that Belle was free and that they would take her somewhere safe. Instead she allowed the blonde to ask all of the questions she deemed necessary about the patient's past and her intentions for the future. She seemed harmless enough. All she really wanted was a home, a job near books and the freedom to feel the sun on her face when it graced the world with its light.

God, what had she done?

After everything seemed safe enough to proceed they walked the ex-patient out of the hospital and toward the police cruiser. Emma let Belle in the back seat first and closed the door before stopping the Mayor from opening the passenger side.

"Regina, seriously, what is going on?" she asked, completely at a loss for what she was witnessing. "That girl doesn't have a dangerous or psychotic bone in her body and you look like you just attended the funeral of your best friend and your dog all in the same day. Do you know her? Is she like a relative or an ex-lover or something?"

The Mayor couldn't help allowing a huff of a laugh to escape her lips after that last question.

"No, Sheriff, she's neither. I can assure you," she replied, as her arms crossed and her head shook. "She is simply an innocent girl who needs help getting back on her feet. As for my involvement in her life, I promise, I'll tell you everything once we're alone but we have to finish this first and I do not want to hear one more question from you until we do. Understood?"

After staring at Regina for a few seconds too long to try to figure out what she was up to, Emma finally shook her head and gave up before opening Regina's door for her.

"Fine," she agreed as the Mayor slipped inside the car. "Where are we taking her?"

"Mr. Gold's shop," Regina replied before closing her own door and leaving Emma simply staring at the window in shock.

"Mr. Gold's?" she asked no one but herself through gritted teeth before walking around to the driver's side. "She better have a damn good explanation for that too."

Then, with the slam of the door, they were off.

The expressions that overtook Gold's face were downright priceless. Never in her life did Regina think she'd ever seen him so beholden to another human being. At first he was shocked at Belle's appearance and then worried for her wellbeing. Then, after a few moments it was obvious that his entire being had been flooded with such an overwhelming sense of love that the entire world fell away and only Beauty and the Beast existed.

But it didn't take long for those dark eyes to shift from love to blind rage as they leveled their path directly onto Regina.

"How incredibly fortunate the good Mayor found you in that sad, dark place," he addressed Belle but kept locked onto the former Evil Queen. "Tell me, Regina, however did you happen upon her?"

"Sometimes paths cross in the most opportune ways," she answered, not daring to back down to him. "But I think the main thing that matters here is that Belle is now safe and with whom she belongs."

Blonde curls bounced a bit as the Sheriff's head shot to the side to look at Regina. It just seemed wrong to leave someone so kind and sweet with Gold no matter how big his heart-eyes were for her. But she remained quiet, just as Regina had requested.

"Yes," Gold agreed, his voice calm and low. "That is the only thing that matters… for now. I'll be calling on you next week to have a little chat at your office."

"I'll keep a few slots open," Regina replied before sparing one last look to the woman they'd released. "Belle, you are more than welcome to stay at the bed and breakfast if you prefer. I'll make sure you're taken care of but I can assure you that there is no place safer for you than with Mr. Gold."

"No, thank you Madam Mayor, but I do think I'll stay here," she replied with a thick accent and a small, whimsical smile. "I think you're right. I'll be safe with Mr. Gold and hopefully I'll regain some of my memories."

"I hope so too, dear," Regina noted honestly with a small nod. "Well, we should get going. Allow you some time to settle in. Come on, Emma."

"Just a second," the blonde replied before stepping closer to Belle and handing over her business card. "If you need anything, anything at all, even just to talk, my number is right there. Ok?"

After taking the card, Belle nodded and smiled gratefully at Emma.

"Thank you, Sheriff. I really do appreciate all the help you've given me."

"Any time," the blonde replied with a smile before exiting the shop with Regina and sitting in the cruiser once more. "Where to now?"

"Back to my office," Regina replied solemnly as the Sheriff started the car.

"Jesus, who died?" Emma asked, noting the sadness that had taken over the Mayor.

"Daniel."

They sat in much the same fashion as they did the day that Regina had invited Emma over for a 'truce' after that horrible incident with the apple tree. The day the blonde accused Regina of having no soul and asked how in the hell she'd gotten this way. It only seemed right that they should find themselves in the same place for all of the real answers to finally come to light. The polished wood of the coffee table held not only the reflected flicker of flames that warmed the room from the fireplace but also a decanter of cider minus two tumblers.

Short nails tapped lightly against the expensive crystal that held the potent liquid as Regina tried to figure out how she was possibly going to get everything out. Especially with Emma Swan's penchant for interrupting her constantly with her impulsive questions. Finally, she decided to just speak and let the chips fall where they may.

"Everything Henry has told you is true," she explained as if she were going over the quarterly budget. "Everything in his book, everything about the fairy tales, most of his theories about who is who. It's all real."

The Mayor took a deep pull from her glass as she watched the woman before her try to process what she'd just heard. At first she was met with only a blank stare. Then there was a small bout of laughter followed by protests of disbelief.

"Oh, come on, Regina," she said before taking a sip herself. "You don't really expect me to believe you right now, do you?"

"Believe me or not, you wanted the truth and now I'm giving it to you. That woman that we released today was Belle French of the Beauty and the Beast tale. Though her Beast is far more nasty than the one in the Disney film. Mr. Gold is Rumpelstiltskin. They were very much in love until I ruined it by ripping them apart back in the Enchanted Forest. And now, for nearly three decades, she's been wasting away in a padded room," her eyes fell from the sea green gaze as she said that last part. "I know you were worried about her safety before with Gold but, make no mistake, it's me who's caused that girl more pain than she ever deserved."

Emma's mouth had dropped open slightly and she hadn't even realized it as she listened to the impossible tale. Why would Regina lie about this? How gullible did she really believe the Sheriff to be?

"I am the Evil Queen, Emma," the Mayor pressed on, meeting her gaze once more. "Make no mistake about that."

It was after that admission that Emma's disbelief turned to worry. What if Regina had gone insane. What if it was her that would now have to sit in a padded room? No. No, Emma wouldn't allow that to happen.

"Regina, maybe we should go see Archie," she offered softly, not wanting to set the Mayor off. "Just to check in. I mean, you could have hit your head and not remembered and now you're having some strange thoughts that he can help get rid of."

Then it was Regina's turn to laugh.

"Emma, I'm not crazy, I can assure you. I'm just… Evil," she thought for a moment before correcting herself. "Or, maybe I was. I'm trying not to be now."

The Sheriff had no clue what to do. Regina sounded so sure, so, well, sane. So, she decided to go further down the rabbit hole… but not without booze. Swallowing the entire contents of her glass, and pouring another, she settled back into the couch and got comfortable.

"So, if you're the Evil Queen then that makes Mary Margaret my mother, David my father and you the reason I was an orphan throughout my entire childhood," she regaled.

"Yes," Regina answered as her head bowed in shame. "Something I become more and more regretful for every single day. There is no apology I can give you that could possibly atone for the pain I've caused you."

Green eyes widened in utter disbelief as Emma Swan witnessed Regina Mills in true emotional pain over her childhood. How was this even possible?

"Oh, god, Regina that was not your fault," she stated, leaning forward and resting her elbows on her thighs. "That was a decision my parents made a long time ago and a system that is built only to pose as a solution when really it's a problem. It had nothing to do with you."

"Yes it did, Emma," Regina held strong and finally locked eyes with Emma once more. "It had everything to do with me. And it's one of the main stories I won't be able to fix now that I've decided to do something about all the Happy Endings."

Deciding that if she was in for a penny, she might as well be in for a pound, the blonde pressed forward.

"What do you mean Happy Endings? According to Henry's book the Evil Queen wanted to take all of them away," she made sure to offer a distinction between Regina and her 'alter ego' as she spoke. "If you're her then why would you ever try to bring the Happy Endings back?"

"Because something happened to me," the Mayor explained. "On Christmas Eve I was… Ugh, you're really going to have a hard time believing me now but please just try to go with me on this journey. On Christmas Eve I was visited by three spirits of my past. Just like in the Dickens' tale. They showed me where I'd come from, the pain I was causing now and what would happen if I changed things. I chose to change them. That's why I'm bringing back all of the Happy Endings."

She took a sip of the cider and thought about another compelling argument.

"Also, I allowed Mary Margaret into my home on New Year's and didn't stab her with a kitchen knife. That should be proof enough for you that something very strange is going on and it has nothing to do with me going crazy because if I finally did lose all of my marbles I wouldn't care about getting arrested for her murder."

"Dear god, Regina, I'm trying here but this is just starting to sound more and more insane," she said, leaning back once more and taking another sip of the cider. After a second of silent contemplation she decided to keep going along for the ride. "What did you see? What made you change."

"A lot of things, honestly," Regina noted and then thought of ways she might prove to Emma that she was telling the truth. "Some of them having to do with you, actually."

"With me?" a blonde brow rose as she asked the question. "What about me?"

The Mayor didn't want to bring up the horrible vision she'd had regarding Emma's childhood. She would only do so as a last resort. But, what she could do was recall the scene she was able to witness between the Sheriff and Henry on Christmas Eve.

"I watched you that night with Henry," she started her tale, looking into the fire as she did so. "I stood right there with you both in the Sheriff's station and saw my… our son almost as happy as I'd ever seen him. You put lights on the tree, you threw popcorn at each other, you gave him his present and then he warned you before embracing you. I saw all the love in both of your eyes as you walked him home and then I listened as you told him that I loved him as well. After everything I've done to you, you still stood up for me with Henry. I saw you tell him that you would never take him away from me because I was his mother too. And then a part of the walls around my heart cracked so deeply that the ice started to melt."

"I… How did you… But I didn't see you…"

Emma stammered through the myriad of thoughts running through her head and decided to once again occupy her mouth with spirits while trying to contemplate the ones who'd shown Regina that very private scene. How could she possibly know all of that?

And then it occurred to her.

"Henry," she spoke the name with a relieved sigh. "Henry told you about our little Christmas Eve party."

"No, he didn't," Regina countered and finished her own drink before pouring another. "Henry didn't say a word to me, Emma. I saw it."

"Regina, that's not possible. I would have seen you."

"Not if I was invisible to you," Regina explained.

The Sheriff couldn't even help the laugh that left her lips then.

"Oh, come on. This is a joke you're playing on me, right? You had some kind of epiphany on Christmas Eve and you like me now and you're having a little fun at my expense," she reasoned. "That's totally fine, it's nice to see you so playful but I really do want to know what's going on."

With a heavy sigh, Regina shook her head. She only had two more cards to play and she really didn't want to play her final one.

"I saw the future as well," she explained. "A future where you and I were very much a part of each other's lives… intimately."

This time Emma nearly spit out the finely aged cider. After a small coughing fit she finally met dark eyes with her own glassy ones.

"Exactly what do you mean by 'intimately'?"

"I mean we were a couple," the Mayor replied, not skipping a beat. "I saw our first Christmas together where we could barely keep our hands off each other, another where you'd proposed to me and then one where Henry offered to give up his presents to the poor just like I'd done as a young girl in the Enchanted Forest."

As Emma continued to stare on incredulously, Regina continued.

"Why do you think I was so incredibly confident in that closet with you?" she asked. "How could I possibly know that you would respond so… heatedly to my advances?"

"Because you're gorgeous," the blonde replied without thinking and then immediately covered her mouth, causing Regina to smile wickedly.

"While that might be true, you could have been completely straight," Regina noted. "You did have a relationship with Henry's father, however briefly it may have lasted. Even my charms can't breach sexuality."

Placing the glass on the table, Emma started speaking with her hands.

"Alright, look, while I might not be opposed to any of this I can't just fall into the fantasy," she stated seriously. "We have a son to think about here and we absolutely cannot feed even deeper into his illusions than we already are. It could really damage him, Regina."

"Tread carefully, Ms. Swan," the Mayor warned. "I would never do anything to permanently harm my son. In fact, this all has helped him in ways you can't imagine. Now he knows he's not crazy and he knows that his mother isn't lying to him anymore."

"Well, you'll have to excuse me if I'm not quite as convinced as the two of you," the Sheriff stated with a hint of frustration in her tone as she finished her second glass and poured another.

Regina's heart ached for what she was about to have to do. She didn't want to hurt Emma. Not anymore. Not after all she'd seen but she couldn't stop now. She had to right her wrongs and make things better. Now it seemed, to accomplish that, she would have to hurt someone she'd gravely wronged yet again.

"I saw another Christmas with you, Emma," she said, placing her glass on the coffee table and standing, fingers laced together as she spoke as if she were holding onto herself to ease the pain. "One where you were very young."

"What?" Emma asked, stopping mid way through bringing the glass to her lips.

"You were getting a glass of water in a desolate apartment that smelled of cigarettes and alcohol. You couldn't have been more than twelve or thirteen," Regina recalled sadly as she pressed on. "An obese, balding man named Tom found you in the kitchen with liquor on his breath and then he…"

She stopped mid sentence because she'd been slammed against the wall of her office, the Sheriff's forearm pressing into her neck.

"Stop! Stop right now! I never reported him, there's no way you could know that," Emma nearly shouted the words; rage filling her voice and tears filling her eyes. But Regina couldn't stop.

"I beat the door with my fists after he chased you into that room," she explained as her own eyes mirrored Emma's with their sadness. "I tried to stop it but it had already happened in the past."

"Because of you!" Emma did scream this time and she pressed harder against Regina's throat.

"Yes," the Mayor rasped, realizing she'd finally broken through. "Because of me."

A feral look took over Emma's features and she pressed hard enough so Regina couldn't breathe. And then the tears fell harder and she ripped herself away leaving the Mayor, heaving and coughing as she grasped her throat. The blonde wiped the tears that had fallen with one hand and then finished her drink before throwing the glass into the fireplace and smashing it. She gathered her coat and keys before giving one final warning to the woman she was starting to believe.

"I don't know if you have a god but you better start making peace with him," she said harshly. "Because now the Savior truly has come to vanquish the Evil Queen and after I do that I am taking my son far away from this place. Do you hear me?"

"Yes."

It was the only thing she could think to say as she watched the Sheriff exit the room and slam the door.

"I'm sorry," she lamented to no one and everyone. "I'm so very sorry."