The visit chapter 9

Winter castle, Queen's chambers

The hand which was covering Regina's mouth and preventing her from speaking suddenly moved away. There were shadows shifting about in the room as though filmy black sheets were hung from the ceiling, they flickered to reveal the identity of the person pinning her down. She saw a flash of golden hair and recognised immediately who it was.

"Emma!" Regina gasped. "What happened to you? How did you get here?"

Emma only stared at her without replying. It was a blank soulless stare, not judging or smirking like the way Regina had seen Emma look at her many times before. It was devoid of any emotion, creepily so. She didn't like seeing it and wanted to provoke something out of her.

"I see your breaking-and-entering skills are being put to good use. How did you slip past my guards?"

The staring continued. Everything was adding up to a strange conclusion. Since when did Emma resist countering an insult about her sketchy past with her own jab at Regina's? Since when was she brave enough to make a seduction move like this? Regina doubted that Emma would be ballsy enough to sit on her in the middle of the night without knowing she'd be well-received. What was she thinking?

"Can you get off me. It's hard to breathe," said Regina, trying not to show how discomforted she was in such a vulnerable position.

The weight on her chest shifted heavily as Emma leaned forward, still with one hand pinning both of Regina's above her head and knees up near her collarbones painfully pressing into her. She was close enough now to see the blade of a dagger trapped between the grin of Emma's teeth. The blonde was smiling but there was no humour in it.

"Emma, I said get off! What the hell is wrong with you. Why aren't you saying anything?"

It might have been a trick in the low darkness but for a second the other woman's fair skin took on a greenish tinge before it flickered away again.

"No," Regina realised. "You're not really here, are you."

Quick as a flash Emma's free hand snatched the dagger from her teeth and held it under Regina's chin. The Queen swallowed and felt the pain of the sharp edge on the delicate skin of her neck.

Disappointment fell over her, she had waited so long to see her again and this wasn't even real. It was some disguise. If only it had really been Emma who slipped into her chambers in the night and settled above her with far more romantic intentions. Instead her reward was to have her throat slashed by some magical fiend. A cruel trick sent by the Witch no doubt.

"What do you want!"

"I have a message for the Queen," the vision whispered.

It felt as if a static sound exploded in Regina's mind like white noise and she couldn't tell if it was only in her head or not. A voice spoke to her through Emma's lips:

"I'm going to take everything from you. First your enemies, then your friends, and then your loved ones. I will take from you what you took from me..."

Emma's doppelganger lowered her face and tilted like she was going to place her lips on hers. Regina panicked. She tried to struggle but the grip holding her down was too strong and the weight sitting on her chest sapped her physical strength.

Her magical strength was not affected, however, and she used a spell to throw her attacker off. She put too much force behind it. Emma ended up hitting the wall on the other side of the room, then slumped forward and lay still.

Regina untangled herself from the bedsheets and went over. Standing above the unmoving form, she had her hand poised and glowing with magic, ready to rid the world of the fiend ... until it groaned. She half-expected that it would turn to dust but apparently it had survived the impact.

"I have a message of my own," said Regina, naturally adopting the voice of her Evil Queen persona. "If you live long enough to relay it, tell your mistress not to waste my time. Do you know what I do to assassins who come for me in the night? Let me give you a hint: they never come back."

Emma's eyes flew open and she gasped against the magic crushing her throat. She turned on her side like she was choking or being sick. "No… please."

For the first time since the vision had appeared in the night wearing Emma's face there was emotion showing there and she looked real. She looked terrified and completely aware of what was happening. The greenish tint flickered and faded across her skin again.

Oh god. It is her but she's not herself! She's been in there the whole time, conscious on the inside, out-of-control on the outside.

Regina knelt on the floor and grabbed her flailing arms to turn her onto her front. "It's only a shade, it's not you. Fight it, Emma!"

She slapped the heel of her hand between Emma's shoulder blades to make her cough over and over like she had once when her young son had choked on a peanut. Emma fought against her like a drowning person gasping for air and trying to grab onto her for dear life. A small green orb the size of a marble flew out of her mouth and clinked across the floor. It rolled away unnoticed and then its victim fell slack as a ragdoll.

"Emma? Emma? Can you hear me?"


It was barely first light when Tink saw Robin Hood reach the castle. Inside, everyone seemed harassed and in a flurry of activity, more so than usual due to the Queen's scare during the night. None of the staff had been told exactly what happened and therefore they all knew. It didn't help that wild rumours were flying around, everything from 'the Evil Queen is back!' to speculation about her sexual adventures.

Regina's personal guard raised the alarm and summoned Tink for her sake, as well as Hook for some reason. It was a miracle he was lucid enough for it, given that he'd been on the turps last night. He smelled like it too, Tink thought. How unfortunate that he still looked handsome in that state. Not that she was going to pay any attention to that of course!

Whatever the green fairy expected upon entering the bedchamber in the early morning hours it was not what she found: Regina, in a flimsy slip of a nightgown kneeling on the floor, trying desperately to rouse an unconscious Emma Swan. It wasn't clear what had happened or how Emma had even gotten inside the castle but it was obvious that she was gravely injured.

"It's a miracle she was still walking around," said Doc, examining the side of Emma's torso under her filthy shirt. "With a wound this severe she could have bled to death."

"Then how did she get here?" said Hook. "I've seen stab wounds like that before, nobody walks away and lives to tell the tale."

Regina bit her lip. "It was the Shade. The Witch infected her with magic that controlled her every move, that's how she got here. She wouldn't have felt pain or fatigue. It may have saved her life."

"What now?" asked Tink worriedly. "How do we treat her? Will she… be ok?"

Doc pushed his glasses up onto the bridge of his nose. "Let her rest. Wait until she comes to. The colour ought to fade from her skin soon enough."

Though Emma's skin only held a tinge of green she remained pale and sickly-looking.

That was the last Tink saw of Regina. Now, she related everything that had happened for Robin's benefit, interrupting his frantic warnings when he ran in that his fiance was in danger from a strange woman who he had rescued. He didn't know the history and he didn't know Emma, so he was indignant to hear that the person who had attacked his fiance was currently convalescing in her bed. Apparently he was frustrated that he had been too late to save her. She had saved herself.

Robin demanded to see Regina immediately.

"She might be in the nursery," Tink suggested when they couldn't find her in her chambers, throne room, or any of the other usual places.

He seemed surprised to hear that. "The Queen never mentioned having a child. I did not realise."

Oh, rats! Tink mentally kicked herself. This was Regina's stuff to explain, she couldn't very well go into everything to do with Henry and Emma right now. It would be difficult enough to explain Anna's presence, and it really was up to Regina to tell her fiance her own history. She was heading into Bad Friend territory if she spilled something she wasn't supposed to.

"No, it's not her child. It's her godchild, Anna, the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming."

"Ah. Perhaps Anna and my son Roland might turn out to be playmates then. How many years is the young lass?"

"Regina said she's about two, but she toddles around and talks very well already. She comes out with some cute things."

"Yes, it's a great age," Robin said fondly. "It goes by quickly indeed. I am heartily sorry that my wife Marian will not got the chance to see her son grow and become a man. He was her world. I only hope that Roland is not entirely deprived of love and care. I do not believe that men are able to be both father and mother. There is something in the motherly touch, only women have it."

Tink smiled awkwardly though she didn't refute him. She was reminded by her earlier conversation with Regina and how she didn't want to marry for those kind of reasons as she had once before. It left her feeling torn though. Little Roland whoever he was deserved to have a mother, but would Regina again come to resent a stepchild for whom she was obligated into caretaking duties? Tink thought Robin was probably underselling his parenting skills as well. Was that really his main reason for wanting to marry her?

The fairy realised now how upset the younger Queen must have been in the early stages of her marriage especially when the True Love spell had led her to the man with the lion tattoo. What did it all mean? How could Robin and Regina really be a fated romance if both had fallen in love with other people and even now they were only considering marriage for reasons of such… banality.

When was this great love story supposed to start?

"It's not," said Robin, furrowing his brow.

Tink spluttered. "What?"

"I said: 'it's not blood.' That can't be what it looks like. Or is it?"

The thief pointed down the hall to the floor outside to the nursery that had lately become Anna's room. For the second time Tink freaked out at the sight of a set of bloody drag marks and when the two of them raced to the doorway they saw it.

The Pawn guard who had been assigned to the night watch there was laying on the floor slain. It appeared that he had been stabbed several times in the chest, right through his thick leather armour, and then dragged inside the baby's room and left for dead. There had been no attempt to conceal the murder further and the brazenness of the crime glared.

"Oh no," Tink swallowed a cry. She looked over to the crib in the corner, which was as silent as the rest of the room. She moved slowly towards it, afraid of what she might find there.

It was only a partial relief that the crib was empty.

"Who or what manner of thing did this!" wondered Robin, aghast at the state of the crib.

There were slash marks in the white bedding and streaks of blood stains that must have come from using the same weapon with which the guard had been killed. But there was no lifeless little body lying there in the void and not enough blood for her to be… Tink shuddered, unable to complete the rest of her thought.

"Where is Anna," Tink whispered. "Do you think Regina has seen this?"

"I pray she has not." Robin was grim as he put a hand to Tink's shoulder to lead her away from the awful sight.

"Come, Miss Bell, we must find the Queen at once and begin a search for the child."


Summer forest

"Wake up, Prince!" The voice near Henry's ear made him jump a foot off the ground. It was not long after dawn and he had been asleep a second before. The Elites had made camp for a few hours to rest before they took on the Summer Palace, which was now not far away at all. He couldn't see anyone else around.

Henry opened his eyes blearily and sat up. A young female Elite in a Pawn's uniform was sitting on her haunches beside him. She was pretty, with fair skin and long blonde hair tucked away in intricate braids around her head. She couldn't have been much older than he was and though she looked to be of slight build underneath her leather armour, Henry figured that she was not to be messed with if she was an Elite already.

"Um, what's going on?" asked Henry. He smoothed his own hair down self-consciously.

"We're leaving soon. You'd better get a move on, Your Highness," the girl said, injecting a bit of sarcasm in the title. She threw a bundle into his lap. "Here, your Mommy sent you some stuff."

Henry frowned, annoyed at the jibe, and busied himself with looking through whatever Regina had sent him. He held up the top garment, a leather chest-guard with silver filigree branches reaching across it.

"Is this-?"

"It's a Pawn's uniform, yes. Not that you deserve it."

The way she said the last part under her breath made Henry think that she was disgruntled and for some reason he felt like apologising. Apparently the Elites weren't going to accept him as leader as easily as he'd thought.

"I didn't ask for any of this," said Henry. "I just want to help."

"Whatever." The soldier rolled her eyes. "Do you know how long it took me to get into the Elites? I trained six hours a day every day since my third birthday. It took four years for my application to be accepted and the guard I replaced after the last Unboarding was a veteran of the Ogres War. He made it to adulthood. When I put on this uniform every day it is the best day of my life. What have you to done to deserve wearing it?"

"Nothing," Henry admitted quietly. Suddenly his idea of co-opting Her Majesty's Elite Guards and leading them on the rescue mission to the Summer Palace didn't seem so crash-hot. He had meant no disrespect but she was right. What made him think that he should have command over any army?

He wasn't from here. He wasn't trained. He didn't know how to fight or ride a horse or anything like that. He sure didn't have knowledge of this realm and its people. Why should they listen to him?

"Join us in the clearing when you're ready," said the girl, springing to her feet.

"Wait!" he called to her back. "What's your name?"

She turned her head and glared. "You are Royalty are you not? You can call me whatever you want but everyone else calls me Jenna."

Once she was gone Henry undressed and put on his new uniform. It fit perfectly but he felt odd wearing it after the comments Jenna had made about it's importance to her and what it meant to be an Elite. But his Mom had sent it for a reason and not wearing it would likely be viewed as a greater insult.

When he joined the other guards in the clearing they were all waiting for him, standing around in a circle and it made him feel even more like a conspicuous tag-along who was further delaying the proceedings. All at once they each knelt down on one knee and bowed their heads. They were so well-trained they even completed unspoken orders in unison.

After a few seconds the Commander rose first and presented the sheathed sword that was laying across the flats of his palms. The sheath was black leather and curled with silver and embedded with red jewels representing apples. It was more ornate than the ones the other soldiers carried.

"Prince Henry, you are now one of us. Allow me to present your guards, the finest warriors in the Winter Kingdom. We are at your disposal for the protection and service of the Royal family." The Commander stood and swept his arm out as the circle of guards rose to attention.

They stood silently and it took Henry a minute to realise that they were waiting for him to speak. But what should he say?! Should he give a pep speech? Was he supposed to thank them for welcoming him into their ranks or thank them for serving him? Was he supposed to act like the Prince or the Pawn? He did not feel like one of them.

Gingerly, Henry took the sword and gulped.

"Now, let's see what you can do with it." The gruff Commander gestured with his head towards one of the soldiers for her to move forward.

Jenna stepped into the ring of soldiers and readied herself in a fighting stance, despite having no weapons in hand. She levelled a stare from under a determined brow. As though he could read her mind Henry knew what her challenge was, or rather, her promise:

I am going to destroy you, Prince.


Winter castle, Royal Gardens

They found Regina outside in the snow in nothing else but slippers and the nightgown she had slept in, and apparently she had been out for a while. She was holding Anna who, thankfully, was wrapped more warmly in a blanket. Tink was relieved to see the baby unhurt and not upset. Perhaps she didn't realise or hadn't been awake during what happened in the nursery?

Robin rushed to Regina's side and exclaimed. "Milady, you must be freezing! You should not be out here in such undress."

He made quick work of untying his cloak so that he could drape it around Regina's shoulders. She didn't refuse the gesture, the only sign of her discomfiture was a millisecond where her eyebrow furrowed.

"Hi hi," Anna chirped happily. She reached out towards the newcomer for a hug and he naturally took her into his arms.

"Hello there, princess. If it pleases Your Royal Highness I shall introduce myself, my name is Robin Hood but you may call me Robin."

Anna frowned like she was trying to assess him. "Wobbuh?"

The thief laughed heartily at her attempt at pronouncing his name due to her trouble with 'R' sounds. "Close enough. I suppose it is apt, I am a robber of sorts. I hope you won't hold that against me," he glanced at Regina here to give her a smile, "and I hope your godmother won't either."

Robin started a game of bouncing Anna around and pretending to throw and dip her, which set the toddler off into fits of squeals. Tink took Regina aside and they watched the pair for a few minutes before discussing in soft voices.

"What happened," asked Tink. "Are you ok? Have you been out here all this time?"

"Yes," Regina said, gathering the cloak over her chilled bare arms. "After what happened with Emma I left you all and went to check on Anna and I found-"

"The crib? Robin and I saw the nursery and-" the guard.

Regina nodded her head. "I panicked. I grabbed Anna and ran. I couldn't think beyond what almost- what could have happened to her."

Tink gathered her friend's hands and held them. "Hey, it's ok. That didn't happen. Anna's fine, see? Little Miss Popularity over there has won a new heart. She doesn't seem affected by what happened, whatever it was."

"It was the Shade of envy." Regina recovered her composure and got back down to the business of figuring out what had happened. "While Emma was infected she must have killed Torin to get into the nursery. She may not have been aware of her actions and when her cognition returns it's possible that she won't even know what she's done."

"But if she was here for you under the Witch's orders why would she go to Anna's room first? And if she did want to attack Anna, why did she… you know, let her live?"

"The Shade took over control of Emma's body but her mind was still there. It may have been influenced by Emma's own emotions and taken out her rage against Anna. Any repressed jealousy towards her sibling would have been easily available for the Shade to co-opt, that's why her skin turned green. When I found Anna she was still sleeping but the sheets and mattress were slashed around her. Something stopped Emma from killing her sister."

"What?"

"I don't know. In any case, the Shade came for me next. At first I thought it was Emma and then she attacked me … I almost killed her when I thought it wasn't her. She was trying to fight the infection, I saw it in her face. That's how strong she is."

"Maybe it's all the same thing."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, this Shade magic took over Emma's body and accessed her jealousy, what if her love got in the way and fought back? It might explain how both you and Anna survived."

Tink went on to update Regina with recent developments: that Robin had arranged with the Elites for the room be cleared securely and arrangements were being made for the slain guard's Unboarding ceremony to be held as soon as possible. There would be no physical trace of last night's events left in the castle by the time they returned, apart from the lone evidence that it ever happened … Emma herself.

"Aren't you going to ask how she is?" said Tink.

"Why would I?" Regina looked away. "Regardless, I assume you're about to tell me."

"She's doing ok this morning according to Doc, still hasn't regained consciousness though."

"She will."

Tink was confused by her friend's indifference. "Did something happen last night? Apart from the obvious I mean."

"No."

"But I thought you'd want to be at her bedside. Close by."

"What would be the point of that? If she dies, my sitting there watching will not prevent it. If she lives, I'm sure I'll hear about it eventually. She won't know who I am anyway."

"Regina!" Tink was shocked. "You don't want to see her? How can you do this to yourself!"

However much she tried, Tink wasn't able to convince the stubborn woman into going to see the one she loved. Regina was too, too stubborn! The fairy suspected that, as usual, she was trying to save herself pain by causing even worse. The Queen was helpless in doing anything to bring Emma back from death but it was in her control whether or not to watch it happen.

Robin joined them again with a thoroughly wound-up toddler who distracted them all from the grim events of the night with her infectious giggles. He was very attentive to Regina, asking how she fared and offering to fetch any comfort she might enjoy. Tink watched the couple, seeing them interact for the first time, and though they got along in a congenial way there was something missing in her view. That spark of chemistry as is normally evident between the newly engaged.

They bantered and Regina snarked at him but sometimes her parries went unmet. His deference was chivalrous … yet it seemed too honourable for the former Evil Queen who, if one were to be honest, could give as good as she got (with interest). Robin clearly wasn't sure whether to take her seriously when she spoke of threatening her guards with novel tortures in order to increase castle security.

They just don't mesh well together, Tink thought with frustration. They weren't a good match anymore, if they ever had been. Robin was squeaky clean and resiliently optimistic despite being a widowed thief. Regina brooded over everything and her dark past wasn't entirely behind her; she needed someone with an edge, someone who knew what it was like to be fucked over by everyone around her and to fight back with whatever weapon happened to be available, morality be damned.

Tink went over in her mind the spell she had cast with the stolen pixie dust, checking for clues as to where it had gone wrong. It wasn't just that she wanted to help her friend understand, it was also because she had an intellectual desire to know why her magic had misfired! The spell that was meant to lead Regina to her True Love had pushed her towards Robin. Why?


Winter castle, Queen's chambers

In no time at all Regina's patience wore thin. She tried to resist going up there but second-hand accounts of Emma's condition did nothing to satisfy her need to know everything. It wasn't the first time she found herself hovering outside her own private chambers, dithering over whether it would be a good idea to go in or not.

Anna was off playing fairy games with Tink. Robin had gone to send for Roland to join him at the castle. Regina had nothing else to do, or rather there were too many things but none she could do anything about at present.

Emma never left her thoughts, occupying that same center of her mind that Henry did - the place of constant worry.

Why should I bother going to her? She won't remember me and it will be too hard to be the only who remembers. Somebody will make quick work of telling her that I'm the Evil Queen and then I'll be back to square one with her, hated and mistrusted. Without knowing what we went through together during the time we had in Storybrooke and Neverland, without knowing how we fought, at first against one another and then much later on the same side… she won't understand. She won't know me.

When we left Neverland our relationship (what relationship?) had been at a new juncture. It felt like we were becoming close... close to starting something new. Now, we're about as far apart as if we were still in different realms.

Just as she finished convincing herself that was not going to go in, Regina found herself already standing beside the bed running her gaze over Emma's unconscious and injured form.

In the daylight it was even more apparent that she was in a bad way. She was filthy from head to toe and sour-smelling from running around the woods in the same clothes for days. Her skin had returned to its previous colour though it was pale and marred at some extremities by the early stage of frostbite, for which treatment she had been wrapped in blankets and left with a well-stoked fire heating the room.

Regina sat on the edge of the bed and crossed her arms, surprised that she still found her as compelling as ever.

"I'm not going to just sit here and wait for you to rejoin the land of the living, Emma Swan. Neither have I been pining for you since I left Storybrooke, I barely noticed your absence. In fact my life is much easier without your presence in it. You annoy me less when you are unconscious. Or is it more? I don't know.

"You might be surprised to hear that I'm not pleased to see you. When I underwent the Sleeping Curse I never wanted to see you again. That was the point.

"I sacrificed much to give you and Henry a new life and this is how you repay me? You ended up back here anyway! This wasn't supposed to happen. I sent you both away to save you, for Henry's sake. If it had been possible I would have taken him myself and escaped. For my son I could easily have left everyone behind including you and never looked back. But I couldn't escape my own curse, I had to let him go. I would never wish him to grow up alone … like you did. You were the next best choice to take care of him, the only one I could almost trust.

"I've hated you. Because you were there for him and I wasn't, you had a year with him that I will never have. I spoke to him yesterday and oh Emma, he's matured so much in the blink of an eye and he seemed fine. I am relieved that you haven't ruined him. I half expected to see a different boy but he is still the Henry I remember. I wanted him to be happy and that's what hurts the most because he was able to be happy without me. Whereas I, I cannot live for not having him in my life. I hardly want to.

"Even now he isn't here with me. Your son had the brilliant idea of playing hero and joining a rescue mission. I wonder where he gets that from!"

Regina smiled wistfully. "I couldn't be prouder of him."

"Did you find happiness this last year without my interference? It seems we're at cross purposes lately, one of us being unconscious and the other not. I haven't forgotten the promise you made me in Neverland and though you have no memory of it I wonder if you will ever make good on it. Earlier this morning you were sitting on my chest and I assure you it was less than comfortable. In future I hope you will treat my breasts with more respect."

She finished at a whisper, leaning over with her lips close to Emma's. Before she could stop herself Regina kissed her. It was only a small fleeting touch and in that instant she knew what she had done. This was the reason why she should never have allowed herself to come here. It was torture. Like giving a sip of water to someone dying of thirst.

When Regina pulled away her heart was still fluttering wildly and she waited to see if anything happened. But nothing did. There was no pulse of rainbow light and Emma did not awaken with a gasp and wide eyes full of shock and love. Regina cursed herself for even starting to hope that it might be true. How devastating it was to be the only one in love. Of course it's not true! You're delusional. You both hate each other. She thinks you're a monster.

Emma lay there, oblivious to the fingers brushing a blonde lock of hair behind her ear. The only sign of life was her gentle breathing.

There was a knock on the chamber door and the Queen only got up for the pleasure of yelling at whoever it was to go away. It was Hook delivering a message that had just arrived at the castle gate. Regina was annoyed at the interruption and told him so.

"You need to see this," Hook insisted. The pirate peered around her, trying to locate Emma with his eyes.

Regina made no move to step aside from the doorway and let him in or even to let him see past her. She scanned the note quickly and its contents left her uneasy.

"This can't be right. Who sent it?"

"It's from the war front, I suppose one of the 'old' seasoned warriors in command there sent it. Maybe a fifteen-year-old boy perhaps. How can you, a mother yourself, sleep at night after sending other people's children off to die?"

"I am not going to have my morals questioned by a degenerate pirate from the Caribbean," said the Queen, unable to ignore his pointed jab at her politics. "I have never condoned the conscription of children. I simply don't have the resources to prevent the abduction of every child in every village in the Kingdom for nothing but a pointless war against those brainless barbarians, the Ogres."

"It's a bit of a moot point now, isn't it? Bit of a relief for the Kingdom. Good riddance."

"No," Regina said slowly. "I wouldn't make plans for drunken festivities yet."

Hook tipped his head down skeptically at her paranoia. "You just received a note from the army saying that all of the Ogres have been mysteriously killed. Only you would think that a bad thing."

"Did you stop to consider who might have accomplished such a feat? Given that the realm has been battling the Ogres for centuries don't you think whoever is powerful enough to wipe them out ought to be worth some caution?"

"You think it's the Witch?" he guessed. "But why would she kill your enemies?"

"What I think is-"

That strange staticky voice echoed in her mind. "I'm going to take everything from you. First your enemies..." The Ogres qualified as her enemies, even though they were the enemy of many others. Was this the start of the Witch's plan for her?

Regina snapped out of her sudden daze. "I need to go. Move out of my way."

Hook raised his eyebrows at her and held his arm across the doorway preventing her from leaving. "I need to see her."

"She's not awake yet."

"Let me know if you're going to try True Love's Kiss so that I can watch?" he joked. "I hear it's all that it's cracked up to be. Breaks curses and such. I have the pleasure of knowing first-hand how skilled Emma is at kissing."

"You're lying and you're pathetic. You've never kissed her."

"I didn't the first time, she kissed me. When we were on Neverland together we shared a moment in the jungle one night. The lady wanted to express her gratitude for my efforts at redeeming my formerly bad self and for saving her father's life. Emma couldn't resist our connection nor fight her desires any longer, she grabbed my collars and planted one on me."

Regina rolled her eyes at the pirate's lecherous arrogance and angrily slapped his arm out of her way as she passed. She never looked back, heading to her throne room with her usual purposeful stride.


Hook watched Regina go, as graceful and in-control as ever and yet still a formidable force to be reckoned with.

He didn't know what to make of the Queen lately. He suspected she was something of a rival to his suit with regards to Emma Swan, but he didn't really care. It was obvious that she did though. He'd swear that jealousy suffused Regina's face when he told her about the kiss and that was exactly his motivation in assessing his opponent. She never was very good at hiding her emotions. She'd be rubbish at cards, much more suited to the game of chess where she could control the entire board and use others around her to carry out her attacks. Had she really fallen for Swan?

Hook had been unfazed by sparring with Baelfire over Emma's attentions, and they had history and a child together. What did Regina have? What she had was the distinct disadvantage of not being a man for a start, and clearly Emma liked men since she was attracted to him… Then there was her family. If there's one person the Charmings would less like to accept than a pirate as a match for their daughter it'd be the Evil Queen. It'll never happen, he thought with confidence. Sorry, Your Majesty, but this isn't exactly a fair fight. You lost before it started.

As soon as Hook stepped into the Queen's chambers he saw that Regina had been wrong. Emma had already woken up. She was rubbing her head and complaining about feeling like she'd fallen in front of a subway train.