Chapter 10: Out of OP COBRA

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Jennifer saw a number of people gathered around the old mines (which originally had been worked by the Dwarves). The earthquake had scaled throughout Storybrooke, but there was no evident damage for save the mines having collapsed in. Gathered around were the people of the town, including Archie Hopper, Emma Swan, Mary Margaret, Ruby, Granny, and Jennifer recognized another as Geppetto but he went by 'Marco' right now. Uninterested, Gold kissed Jennifer on the cheek and told her she would be at his shop; Jennifer joined the rest of Storybrooke near the mines.

Jennifer crossed her arms watching the construction workers run around, and talk to the Mayor who looked worried. The look on her face was a little more extensive than what Jennifer thought appropriate for an old collapsed mine. Mary Margaret looked at Jennifer, realizing she was standing beside her, and seemed to find it necessary to inform her of the situation.

"Archie and Henry are down there," Mary Margaret said quietly, her voice almost breathless. Being a school teacher, Mary Margaret had a natural fondness for children and while she deeply was unaware of even being a mother, she still worried a great deal—that motherly instinct was rich in this one as she shifted her weight uncertainly from the left foot to the right. Jennifer sighed.

"How long have they been down there?" asked Jennifer. "Were they there when the mine collapsed?"

"No."

Mary Margaret hadn't answered. Emma did. Hearing her voice, Jennifer and Mary Margaret looked in her direction as she, accompanied by Sheriff Graham, walked towards them looking very close and business like. Jennifer glanced down at Emma's shiny new badge, quirking an eyebrow.

"Deputy?" Jennifer inquired, smiling knowingly at Graham. "I didn't realize you finally hired an assistant, Sheriff."

"She'll do some good around here," Graham said.

"She will." Jennifer agreed.

Emma, surprised, said, "I will?"

Jennifer smiled apologetically. She glanced at Graham and Mary Margaret who suddenly became more interested in the certain rock on the ground and—due to their sudden intrigue—they both walked a little ways away, engrossed in awkward chitchat. Emma crossed her arms, ready for a surprising blow of some sort and she received it in the most unpredictable of ways.

"I'm sorry," Jennifer told her.

Emma's eyes widened in shock, unable to suppress it.

"What?"

"I'm sorry," Jennifer repeated. "For what happened yesterday. I was angry about a few things and instead of taking care of it a long time ago, I let it fester and I ended up displacing that anger onto you. So, I wanted to let you know I am sorry."

Emma smiled kindly.

"Thank you." Emma returned.

Jennifer said softly, "I get what people around here say about me, you know. The nasty rumors floating around..."

"Yeah?" Emma responded. "Well, all due respect, Mrs. Gold...you've been proving them right."

Jennifer chuckled saying, "I've never said they were wrong. I know I'm a bit of a hothead..."

"A bit?" Emma questioned, mildly humored.

"Fine—I am a huge hothead," admitted Jennifer, rolling her eyes. "But what I lack in controlling my temper, I more than compensate by realizing my error and admitting when I am wrong. So...water under the bridge?"

"Sure," Emma replied and they shook hands.

A moment passed as Sheriff Graham and Mary Margaret detected that the moment was over and they came sauntering towards them with a look of business and curiosity. Jennifer glanced at Graham.

"So when did you hire Miss Swan to join the jamboree?"

"Yesterday," said Graham.

"Yesterday...morning?"

"No, about the time the earthquake hit."

"Just before the earthquake," Emma informed.

"Will you stop talking and get my son out of there?"

Jennifer turned to see Mayor Regina Mills joining their lovely crew. Obviously tense (and naturally worried for her son's life), Regina looked a bit more worse for wear. However, seeing Jennifer, Regina smiled shortly as though recognizing a friend when she saw one. Seeing this reaction, Emma and Mary Margaret glanced at each other; Graham looked...well, disinterested.

"We're doing the best we can," Graham reassured.

"By wasting time?" Regina interjected irately.

"We are doing the best we can," Emma emphasized patiently—although that patience seemed lacking.

Regina looked like she was ready to retort so Jennifer cleared her throat a bit louder than what have been made necessary, taking the Mayor's arm gently and whisking her away as she told Emma to stop clowning around and get to work, please. Emma stared at her incredulously but eased up when Jennifer flashed her a smile.

"Get your hands off me!" Regina growled, shaking her arms from Jennifer's grasp.

"You're awfully hostile," noted Jennifer, leaning against Regina's car.

"I'm worried."

"For your son?"

"Yes."

"Is that all?" Jennifer inquired smoothly.

Regina looked a little startled by the side question, but the Evil Queen simply shook it off, replacing her expression of being taken aback with one of genuine concern, and maybe relapsed irritability. Jennifer patted the seat beside her on the hood of the Mayor's car and, realizing that all she could do was wait for Henry and Archie to be saved, Regina sat sharply on the hood.

"So you're friends with the rabble now, I take it?" Regina questioned unhappily, her lip curling at the sight of Emma and Graham talking in low voices, gesticulating to the mines as well as receiving advice from onlookers such as Marco, Mary Margaret, even Granny.

"The Rabble being Emma Swan?" Jennifer guessed.

"Who else would I be talking about?"

"Your little boy toy," Jennifer teased.

Regina glared at her in a way to say 'don't talk about that in public', so Jennifer shrugged, holding her hands out slightly to convey peace.

"She's been trying to get my son ever since she came here—I can feel it."

"My husband told me it was a closed adoption," Jennifer reasoned.

Regina scowled, saying, "Does he tell you everything about everyone in this town?"

"Not as much as you would think," Jennifer mused. "But the point remains: Henry belongs to you. Not Miss Swan. And personally, I think you're only making it harder on yourself, and the boy."

"How?" Regina interrogated briskly. "I'm only looking out for the well being of my son. Emma Swan is...is..."

"His birth mother," Jennifer finished. "But Henry went to Boston looking for her."

"Because he thinks I'M the Evil Queen!" Regina exclaimed irritably. "And I'm not."

Jennifer smirked at her, saying, "Henry just wanted to see who gave him up, Regina. He was curious. He knows you're his mother. But the harder you try to keep them away, the closer you're pushing them together. And if he thinks you're the Evil Queen, maybe you should start making him think otherwise."

Regina shook her head, growling under her breath. She looked at Jennifer, but saw only the will to understand and reason. There was a softness in the way Jennifer spoke—she was telling Regina what she thought, but the comforting part was to calm Regina's already tightly wound nerves. Her son was in the mine that could collapse any moment. Any mother would be easily upset at such a time as this.

"He somehow thinks it's through an evil deed that David Nolan's wife found him after so many years," Regina muttered.

"His wife?" Jennifer replied, genuinely surprised, thinking of Snow White.

"Kathryn," Regina answered.

"Who the hell is Kathryn?"

"Blonde, tall, so optimistically sweet it makes you want to puke," Regina described.

Jennifer thought long and hard about it and then something dawned on her. Regina wouldn't want Mary Margaret and David to be together—Snow White and Charming had that true love kiss crap going for them—so she had placed cursed memories in David's head that made him think he was in love with his betrothed—Abigail. That must be Kathryn, in this land.

"So she just magically found him after being in a coma for many years?" asked Jennifer curiously.

"Now you sound just like them," Regina grumbled.

"I'm only stating the facts."

"Well, the facts are annoying me."

"Then maybe you should be changing them, dear." Jennifer returned.

"Are you still trying to comfort me?" Regina questioned.

"Oh, I was never here to comfort you," Jennifer giggled. "I'm your friend, Mayor, but comforting people isn't exactly a great strength of mine."

"No. You're right. Tearing up a good part of the woods and screaming bloody murder better suits you." Regina replied under her breath, smirking knowingly at Jennifer, who returned the gaze with mild surprise.

"It's no surprise to anyone in this town to know just how violent and intense your tempers can be," Regina said softly. "Whatever ticked you off this past time, it must have been heartbreaking—everyone knows you were in the woods, burning off a little steam."

Jennifer said nothing to that, but Regina leaned into her.

"As a friend, I'd like to know what angered you so."

Jennifer shook her head saying, "It was nothing."

"Doubt it. I have eyes and ears in this town, Mrs. Gold, and I heard you tried to hurt Miss Swan."

"So you suddenly care about Swan's safety?" Jennifer returned smoothly.

"No. But I do care to know the reason to motivate such aggression."

"It doesn't matter anymore," said Jennifer calmly, shrugging a shoulder. "The matter was resolved. And—if you must know—it had nothing to do with Emma Swan."

"Then, I'm guessing it was an argument between you and your beloved."

Jennifer smiled none too kindly at Regina saying, "Are you sure you're trying to be my friend, Regina? Because it sounds to me like you're trying to extract information that clearly hasn't anything to do with you."

Regina looked hurt—but it was an act. Jennifer was a little hurt by it though. She thought for sure that she and Regina were getting closer and had done away with this mocking and bantering crap, but apparently, Regina, too, was a hard person to love. Regina simply got off her own car, turning to look at Jennifer pointedly.

"You've become friends with this Swan woman," Regina told her carefully. "You seriously need to pick which side you're on."

"I'm on your side," Jennifer said.

"Are you?"

"Honestly? No." Jennifer replied flatly, crossing her arms. Regina looked a bit taken aback.

"But you just..."

"To be honest, Madam Mayor," Jennifer said softly, "I'm not on your side. I'm not on Emma Swan's. You can battle this out with the Deputy all you want but in the end, it will be Henry who gets hurt. He's the one who has to see his adoptive mother and biological mother butt heads all the time—not me."

"Some friend you're turning out to be," Regina pointed out unhappily.

"I told you in the beginning that I have a hard time making friends," reminded Jennifer kindly. "I'm blatantly honest—I will not tell you something just because it's something you would like to hear. If your son believes you're the Evil Queen—as sweet and loving as your child is—then I believe him."

Regina gaped at her.

"So you are on this woman's side."

"I am not."

"Then whose side ARE you on, Jennifer?"

"My own," Jennifer answered calmly. "And my husband's, of course. And while we're on the topic of husbands, you can separate David Nolan from Mary Margaret—and I know that is what you have done, regardless of your excuses. Any intuitive person can see that they like each other and bringing in David's wife just when a new romance is about to blossom does seem like something the Evil Queen would do."

"And why..." Regina said coldly, "What the Evil Queen do that?"

"To destroy the happiness of the person she despises the most," Jennifer answered.

Regina stared at her; Jennifer moved off the hood of the car and walked towards her.

"I thought you didn't like Miss Blanchard," Regina said quietly.

"I didn't. For a very long time, I have been blaming her for something I realized she hadn't done on purpose—out of my own hatred, my own grief, and despair. I am known for my foul temper and even my...ahem...disturbing food preferences and interests…but I know when I've done someone wrong." Jennifer told Regina softly. She touched Regina's arm, saying, "Anger can give you strength. But trust me when I say that it can also weaken you."

"You've really gone soft, haven't you?" Regina questioned as though realizing some rumor had been confirmed.

"Whatever do you mean?"

"In the past, you were a calculating, cruel maniacal woman," Regina told Jennifer. "Now you're just...just…."

"Human," Jennifer returned, smiling at her. Honestly, she said, "I know—It's a bitch. But as long as things stay the way they are, nothing will go back to normal."

"And what..." Regina whispered suspiciously, "Would you know about being 'normal'?"

Jennifer chuckled, "I hope you find your son, Madam Mayor. Tell me how the new Deputy works out."

She walked away, Regina looking after her with such an infuriated look on her face that Emma and Sheriff Graham who had been watching them talk discreetly, glanced at each other curiously. Jennifer met them shortly after.

"I guess I am out of Operation: Cobra," Jennifer admitted to Emma Swan.

"What? Why?" asked Emma.

"I can't even pretend to be friends with that woman." Jennifer confessed plainly.

"You looked like you were doing fine to me,"Graham offered, being awfully supportive.

"She has some real zingers," Jennifer informed. "And she doesn't trust me anymore—I doubt she ever has."

"Why?" Emma asked.

Jennifer shrugged saying, "Apparently—according to Regina—I'm on your side and I think where she's concerned, any friend of yours is an enemy of hers."

Emma looked a little sad about that, feeling as though she had just involved Jennifer in the war of Emma Swan VS The Mayor, but Jennifer waved her hand dismissively in Regina's direction.

"I've dealt with her kind before," Jennifer said. "Granted, in the past, I would just hunt them down and skin them alive, but I guess in this world, it's more civilized..."

"And more humane," Graham offered.

"You're not kidding," Jennifer agreed, shaking her head.

Emma was staring at her and said slowly, "You've got a weird sense of humor...don't you?"

"Well, most people call it 'disturbing' and 'creepy', but I'll go with 'weird'." Jennifer giggled. "Good luck with finding Henry—I'm sure you'll do a fine job as Deputy. And….good luck with everything else. I'm going back to the shop."

"Aren't you going to stay and help?" Graham asked.

"Oh, I think I have done plenty of that already," Jennifer responded politely. "Good luck, you two."

Graham and Emma nodded to her as she walked away. They glanced across the way to see Regina glaring daggers after Jennifer's back. If looks could kill, Jennifer would be impaled by now.