Chapter 10
Regina had not meant to touch on the subject of King Leopold after Mary Margaret had specifically said she did not want to address anymore faults or shortcomings of the past but with the way they were so openly sharing at the moment it was hard to fight the thoughts swirling at the surface.
"I imagine that is something we both had in common." Mary Margaret offers. "We both had really wonderful and loving fathers."
"Yes... well..." Regina doesn't know what to say so she says nothing. She hopes that the subject will be dropped because she does not want to have to explain herself, to explain how in some sort of act of desperation she basically carried out an execution on the woman's father.
"Your father, he was a kind and loving man. I remember that much. I... I honestly had no idea he was your father with the way he served as your valet." She suggests in a curious tone.
"He... he always put my life ahead of his. He was... he was a very hopeful and optimistic man... always going on about how I could be happy if I would let myself. I..." She trails off unable to bear the subject of her own father any longer. She sniffles to herself and moves the woman to lie down beside her so that she may stand and collect herself.
"Regina?" Mary Margaret calls after her in confusion.
Regina clears her throat and turns away to wipe under her eyes. "Should they have taken this long to come find us?" She asks, her voice taking on a higher pitch than normal as she tries to get a hold of her emotions.
"I suppose they ran in to some trouble... or they are waiting until there is better light out. The sun seems to be setting quickly." She lets out a heavy sigh and a small whimper which does not go unnoticed by the older woman.
She moves back to kneel beside her and reaches out to grab at her good arm. "Are you alright?"
"No... no I'm not." She says simply. "My arm is killing me." She adds with a groan.
Regina puts the back of her hand up to the younger woman's forehead. "Yes... and you've broken out in a cold sweat." She says with a frown though it's hard to see as it has grown dark very quickly. "Just let me heal this for you."
"No. I really don't want you using your magic on me." Mary Margaret quietly pleads. "I can wait a while longer. I just... I need to sleep it off." She suggests humbly and the pain is evident in her voice.
Regina sighs. "You are so stubborn," She whispers angrily while rubbing at the woman's undamaged arm soothingly.
Mary Margaret laughs, "So I've been told." She can sense the weariness in the older woman though and suggests, "Maybe you should get some rest as well."
"I doubt I'll manage to sleep out here. I'm not like you." She says with a shake of her head. "Playing about in the woods was always your thing not mine."
"Still..." Mary Margaret starts to say and then coughs a bit from the moisture in the air. "You should at least lie down. Not to mention it's colder now."
"I would offer to make a fire but I don't think we want to call attention to ourselves that way... and you're so adamant about me not using my magic." Regina suggests.
"Which is why I am asking you to lie down, we can keep warm that way. It was working quite well before." She whispers quietly.
Regina does not reply but moves to lie down beside her. They remain quiet which Regina is now thankful for. Reflecting on what she had done to enact the curse was simply too much to dwell on. These last few hours had been nothing but a picking of old wounds and it was simply wearing her out but she was too much on edge in this unfamiliar place to allow sleep to take her over.
It does not take long for Mary Margaret to fall asleep leaving Regina to listen to the sounds of this place. The chirping of bugs, random howling of some unknown creatures, and the fact that it is almost pitch black only serve to get her heart thumping but that isn't watch jerks her to a sitting position.
The sound that startles her is Mary Margaret speaking casually in her sleep. "Father... I miss you..." She whispers and Regina gets angry. Of course this would be the last thing on her subconscious mind. Her earlier thoughts on her father were obviously producing this random conversation.
Mary Margaret takes in a sharp breathe and starts up in her one sided conversation again, "I don't understand why... you..." but she doesn't finish that statement and Regina starts to panic at the thought of what the woman's dream might entail. She didn't get the chance to explain herself earlier. She didn't get the chance to tell her about her own father's demise because it was asked of her to be 'let go' for the moment. How could she let it go now when the woman might very well be on her way to figuring this all out in her mind this very moment?
"No... don't... don't go. Please..." She quietly pleads in her sleep and then is starts, a tremble and she quietly sobs. Regina sighs and throws her gaze up towards what little stars she can manage to see, hopeful this whole scene is over and done with.
Mary Margaret gasps loudly and sits up, the motion causing some confusion on Regina's part as they bump into each other slightly causing the younger woman to lean on her injured arm. She cries out in pain and Regina goes to pull at her uninjured arm to help to ease her awake. "Shush now." She demands quite irritably. "You were... you were dreaming." She says in a startled stutter.
Mary Margaret sits still, breathing quite heavily, as she feels Regina's firm grasp on her arm. "Oh..." She says in realization as she sniffles a bit.
Regina puts out a hand in front of her so that a slight blue glow emanates and forms into a sort of orb. She gestures forward to set this glow afloat in midair and she turns to look the younger woman over. She furrows her brow and frowns when she sees the tear stained cheeks. None too gently she swipes the woman's cheek with the back of her hand to wipe away her tears. "Stop your crying." She demands coldly. "It was only a dream."
Mary Margaret smiles finding humor in how un-motherly Regina could be. "I'm sorry... I can't control what my dreams make me feel." She said with a shrug and that very shrug aggravates her injury so she winces.
"Yes... you're still hurt." Regina reminds her. "Why don't you lie back down and try getting back to sleep. You weren't out that long before you started up in your conversation... I mean..."
"I was talking in my sleep?" Mary Margaret asks quite curiously. "So you heard what I was dreaming about then?"
Regina frowns again. "I... yes... you were..." She shakes her head. "You were talking about your..."
"…my father?" She whispers in question.
"Yes it probably has to do with... with the fact that you brought him up before you fell asleep." Regina offers up quickly as an excuse.
"Actually you were the one who brought up my father... when I started talking about yours." Mary Margaret is quick to correct.
Damn this woman, always picking up on details. "Right... I... I guess... I guess I did do that..." and here it came, the words she didn't get to speak earlier now just on the tip of her tongue. "Earlier... when I tried to tell you something... something I thought you needed to hear you told me that if it had nothing to do with what we were dealing with now that I shouldn't tell you." She suggests. "I think... right now it most certainly has to do with what we're dealing with."
Mary Margaret is quiet as she tries to figure out where Regina is going with this, she squints her eyes as the blue glow still floats in front of them. "Alright then... what is it?" She asks with a tilt of her head.
"I..." Now was her chance to get this one thing off her chest so they could 'move on'. There really was no gentle way of putting this so she tries again. "Your..." and suddenly she's afraid and it's making her angry. What does she have to be afraid of... retaliation? Clearly she is the only one here with the upper hand. 'Just spit it out!' She thinks to herself. "Mary Margaret..." She starts to say and then she corrects herself. "Snow..." She says with a curt nod. "I wanted you to hear this from me." She explains. "It's about your father... and how he died." She says as she meets eyes with the woman.
Mary Margaret furrows her brow trying to piece together what little Regina has offered to her. "What?" She cautiously questions.
"I..." Regina can't say it now. Technically she didn't kill him but she didn't know how to explain what she had done and suddenly an expression of anguish appears on her face as she meets eyes with the younger brunette.
"You... you killed him didn't you?" Mary Margaret asks with wide eyes as her eyebrows shoot up.