"Regina...".
Suddenly the woman on the bed looks up again, snapping out of whatever was going on inside her mind. "Miss Mills." she says. "I prefer Miss Mills."
Dr. Anderson nodds. "Alright. I'm sorry. Miss Mills, what just happened?"
"Nothing."
"Are you sure? It seemed to me you were clearly afraid of something."
"I am not afraid of anything." Regina holds her head up high and looks Dr. Anderson straight into her eyes, almost daring her to counteract again. The doctor however has many years of training under her belt. She knows when to back off in order to gain even a little bit of trust from her patients.
"I'm sorry. My mistake. As I said, Miss Mills, I'll be here all evening. I'll contact Robin immediately and ask him when he can come visit you with your son."
"Thank you."
"I'll pick you up after my call."
"What for? I'd like to stay in my room for the rest of the evening."
"It's almost dinner time, Miss Mills. I'll be guiding you tonight."
The woman on the bed sighs but she knows better than to argue right now. She doesn't know this person in front of her, not yet, and she's not sure if the doctor is going to make her requested call if she behaves bad right now. So Regina just nodds. "Alright."
15 minutes later Dr. Anderson knocks on the door to Regina's bedroom. She waits for approval to go inside. "Yes?"
The doctor opens the door. "Miss Mills? I've made the call. Robin and your son will visit you tomorrow after breakfast."
"Thank you." Regina smiles. Is that relief in her eyes? Dr. Anderson isn't quite sure. This woman clearly has very little, if not zero, faith in others. What happened to her to be like this?
Regina gets up from her bed and, without a word, follows the doctor towards the dining room. As usual she sits down on her favorite spot, close to the door. She looks at her lap and doesn't acknowledge the plate being set in front of her. She doesn't look up to the person sitting down next to her.
"Miss Mills, it's time for dinner." Dr. Anderson says softly. Regina shakes her head. If it would be Deidre sitting next to her, she would have felt the girl tense. But Dr. Anderson remains the calmness itself. She doesn't say anything else right now, doesn't acknowledge Regina not doing anything, doesn't push her to do anything she doesn't want.
"I'm not hungry."
"I know you're not. Your body doesn't recognize hunger anymore. You've been having this eating disorder for quite some time, haven't you?"
Regina looks up. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"Because the longer you are breaking down your body like this, the more effort it will take to recover. I'm not going to lie, Miss Mills. This will be hard and at times it won't be pretty. But I'm here for you and I'll be helping you every step of the way. "
Regina does the math in her mind. She can't say the whole truth, because for 28 years time stood still in Storybrooke. 28 years in which her eating hasn't been good. 28 extra years she can't share with this woman. "17 years." Regina admits. "It's been 17 years. Or do we also count the years in which my mother constantly critised me about my appearance? Then it would be something like 25 years."
The doctor doesn't seem surprised. "Thank you for sharing this with me."
Regina sighs. She feels she needs to be careful around this woman. She clearly knows her job very well, making Regina talk even though she isn't inclined to do that.
"Can I go to my room?"
"We'll be waiting until everyone has finished their meal."
"Fine." Regina sneers now. She doesn't want to be here. She doesn't want to see people eating, as hard as it might be for every single one of them. She just wants to be left alone.
After what feels like ages, one of the nurses collects the plates, some empty, some half empty, one untouched. Before the plate disappears, Dr. Anderson takes off the dessert. A small tangerine.
"Can you try to eat this, Miss Mills?"
Regina shakes her head. The doctor slowly peals the fruit, setting down piece next to piece in front of Regina.
"It's fruit. It won't make you fat."
"It's not about getting fat." Regina snaps, immediately regretting this.
"It's not?" Dr. Anderson sounds surprised but she's really not. It's never about getting fat.
"You know well enough it's not. Now leave me alone. I'm done." Regina snaps. She doesn't leave the dining room though. The smell of the tangerine has reached her nostrils and, no matter how hard Regina tries to deny it... She's starved. She's so very hungry but her mind panics by just thinking about getting food into her system. "Leave me alone." she repeats.
"You're free to go to your room now, Miss Mills." Dr. Anderson offers. She gets up herself but Regina doesn't follow her example. Her right hand, lieing next to the fruit on the table, trembles. The doctor remains silent now, observing what Regina is going to do.
"I... I..." Regina mumbles softly.
"He won't see it." Dr. Anderson whispers.
Regina immediately turns around, darkness overclouding her eyes. "What did you just say?"
"He won't see it." the doctor simply repeats herself.
"He? Who's he?"
"I don't know, Miss Mills. Why don't you tell me?"