Chapter 12

Emma and Regina stood, ready to attack if the man made any threatening gestures or movements. The night was cold, and both women weren't wearing the ideal attire to fight like they needed to if it came to that, nevertheless they were preparing themselves. "What do you want?" Emma demanded. The man smiled, watching both women's stances.

"Oh well not much," the man shrugged, and he immediately transformed into Gideon, grinning mischievously at them. Emma frowned, knowing that it was Gideon who had tried to harass Regina in the pub that night. "I just thought I'd clear the air, it's so … congested with lies, it's hard to breathe" he teased. Regina raised an eyebrow, still glaring at him. With a wave of his hand, Regina disappeared in a cloud of smoke and appeared right next to him. The brunette couldn't even blink before Gideon had his arm around her neck, pressing her body against his. She tugged at his arm that was holding her in place, gasping for breath, as she tried to glance at Emma who was panicking.

"LET HER GO!" she yelled, frantically. Gideon held Regina in front of him, using her as a shield.

"Not until you help me" he said, restraining the mayor who continued to struggle. Emma's eyes darted from the brunette to Gideon's smirking face. She contemplated how likely would Regina survive if Emma threw her magic at Gideon. She decided against it, avoiding hurting Regina is a good plan. She watched as Regina struggled, trying to pry his arm off her neck, Emma could tell she was getting weaker, with the lack of oxygen.

"Please, Gideon, let her go!" Emma begged, seeing the mayor grow pale, unable to utter a word. Gideon noticed the mayor's struggles became weaker, and released the pressure on her neck, only to grab her by the hair and pull her head back. Regina gasped and started to pant trying to regain some of her control. Gideon's hand held her waist as he gazed at the brunette in his arms.

"My you're a pretty one" he smirked, looking over Regina's body like a predator admiring his prey. Emma was almost unable to control her emotions. She wanted to kill Gideon for looking at Regina in that way, touching her. "Emma," he looked up, to stare into the blonde's eyes. "I will give this doll back to you, but in return you must do me a favor" he said mockingly. Emma continued to glare at him.

"What do you want?" she repeated, darkly.

"I want you to kill the black fairy" he said simply. Emma frowned, not knowing who or where the black fairy was, much less how to kill her.

"Why?" Emma demanded.

"I know what you did to this one" he said looking back at Regina, who was breathing hard through her nose, trying to give him a death glare, her head still pulled back. Emma's eyes widened, unable to respond.

"If you need more of a motivation to kill the black fairy for me, I have one" he grinned. Emma listened intently, hoping that Regina isn't in pain right now as he holds her still. "That dark mist that you saw enter your body…is the magic of the black fairy"

"Emma…what is he talking about" Regina finally spoke. Gideon leaned his head towards Regina, getting very close. He breathed in her scent, getting closer to her neck.

"Your girlfriend is hiding things from you Regina, dark things…You may want to reconsider who you're playing with" he grinned viciously. Emma couldn't hold back anymore, she screamed charging at him. Gideon disappeared into a mist letting go of Regina who immediately landed on the cold ground. Emma rushed over to help up the brunette.

"Are you okay?" Emma asked, concerned for Regina's safety.

"Yeah, I'm fine… what was that about?" Gideon appeared behind them suddenly.

"You have twenty-four hours Ms. Swan… or what you did to Regina, will be nothing compared to what I'm going to do to her." He threatened, before disappearing to a smoke one last time. Emma's mind raced, frightened about the threat.

"Regina, we need to talk" Emma finally decided, for Regina's own safety she would have to somehow discuss this issue with her. "Let's go back to my house" she said, helping the brunette up. "I should have never gotten you into this mess" she shook her head.

"Oh Emma, you couldn't have prevented it, or even known it… don't blame yourself" the brunette tried to reassure her. "He's playing mind games, he's just like his father" she scoffed, disgusted at how much Gideon reminded Regina of Rumple.

"He threatened you" Emma said sadly, thinking of those words that Gideon had said at the end, terrified her. She didn't want Regina to be hurt, and didn't want to risk it. She had to find out how to kill the black fairy, if that was even possible. "I'm sorry Regina" she turned to her holding her hand. "I'm sorry for bringing you into this problem, I'm sorry for hurting you, I'm sorry for letting Gideon threaten me by using you." Emma's tears started to appear, as she shook her head trying to get her head and mind away from the possibility of Regina suffering. She hated it.


Regina and Emma walked silently up the stairs to Emma's porch. Emma unlocked the door slowly, her mind buzzing with different ways of how she was going to break the news to the brunette about the incident, and how she took her memories away from her. Upon entering the house, Emma saw her mother in the kitchen researching on the computer, the equipment from the office, turned on. Regina was surprised to see Snow in the kitchen after going on a date with her daughter, the last thing she expected to see was her date's mother. Snow looked up and jumped, surprised to see her daughter and Regina standing in the hallway looking at her. Snow blushed, "Oh…Hi! Um oh …wow. I'm so sorry! I shouldn't be here, you're early! I mean, I…I'm going to go now" she said grabbing her purse and heading out the door.

"No wait mom… it's okay" tried to calm her mother down and make her feel less awkward.

"Oh no it's not okay, I'm invading your…space…I need to-"

"No really, mom… we have to …I have to tell Regina" Snow paused, not sure if she heard or understood what her daughter was saying. Snow looked at Regina, who was puzzled.

"Tell me what?" Regina stated, curiously looking between both Emma and Snow's face. Emma looked back at her mother.

"We're going upstairs, can you continue what you were doing, this is more crucial that it was before" Emma said before, taking Regina's hand and heading upstairs. Snow nodded, and went back to doing her research, trying to figure out where the mist came from.


Meanwhile Regina sat on the bed, watching Emma pace the hard wood in front of her. Regina was trying to be a patient as she could but it was getting under her skin, knowing that Emma isn't used to hiding things. Emma tried to restrain herself from weeping and throwing herself at Regina to beg for forgiveness. She finally stopped and took a breath. She went and sat next to the brunette, who was searching her face for some answered. "Regina, I need to tell you something, very difficult, and I understand if you want nothing to do with me after" she watched Regina shake her head, trying to provide her with some comfort silently. "It's not easy, I did something…something I regret, and I should have listened to Mary-Margaret, but I didn't and now, I'm going to pay the price for it." Regina continued to watch her, trying to be silent to not break Emma's concentration. "I was…I was the one who took your…memories away" she said, looking away. Regina was taken aback, she frowned trying to understand.

"Why? Why would you do that?" she tried to sound understanding, and not jump to conclusions.

"I thought it was for the best, I thought it would be easier… I didn't want to see you in pain… I didn't want you to see me the way you did…" Regina was confused. "I didn't want you to be in pain…" Emma couldn't control the tears. "I didn't want you to hate me the way you did…" Emma sobbed. Regina continued to watch her, silently. Emma was having a difficult time coming out with the information that she was so ashamed of.

"What happened?" Regina asked quietly, watching Emma try to control herself as she produced the dreamcatcher that contained the mayor's memories. Regina frowned, secretly hoping that what Emma said wasn't true. She looked that the item and then back at Emma. "You want to give me back my memories?" Regina was upset, but was so confused at this point that she just wanted to know, what it was that she was missing. Emma shook her head.

"No, I don't want to Regina, but I have to…It's the only right thing to do, no matter how painful it is, you don't deserve to have them taken away from you." Regina was becoming anxious, realizing that Emma had been lying to her since she regained consciousness in her bedroom that morning. Regina reached for the dreamcatcher, hesitantly before she held it. Emma sniffed, her eyes red from weeping. "I'm so sorry Regina," Regina looked at the blonde, thinking that whatever the memory was, it couldn't have been as bad as Emma's reaction. Perhaps she was overreacting, perhaps it was just unpleasant but not unforgivable. Regina was still reeling at the thought that she had been lied to by a woman that she thought she could trust. Anger built up inside her but she hid it from the blonde, who appeared to be too weak to take any lashes from Regina's tongue. Emma prepared herself, and waved her hand over the dreamcatcher, letting all the memories that she took from the brunette flood into her forehead. Regina closed her eyes as she felt the memories pour into her, causing flashes of scenes behind her closed eyes. The mayor squeezed her eyes shut as she recalled all the events that had taken place between the office and having Emma advance on her in her home, removing her memories as the brunette pleaded with her to not do. Regina quickly came to the present panting, trying to catch her breath and settle her mind as she recovers from the after effects of the memory spell. Regina held on to the side of the bed as she sat there, contemplating her next move. She had never felt so betrayed, violated, tricked, and lied to. She felt that Emma had lured her into a false sense of hope that she would be interested in her. She led her on, lied to her. Emma watched her carefully, observing her moves as Regina tried to restrain herself from doing something she may regret. Finally, the brunette got up and headed towards the door. Emma got up and followed her attempting to stop her. "Regina, please wait" Regina paused, closing her eyes, trying to restrain herself from breaking down. Emma reached out and placed her hand on Regina's. Unable to restrain herself, Regina slapped the blonde across the face.

"You liar!" Regina broke down, "How could you?!" She looked at Emma, helplessly. "How could you keep something like that from me?" Emma remained silent, looking at the carpet, blinking away the tears. "You took away my choice… you took away my ability to defend myself! You made me believe that you wanted to be with me!" she cried, Emma opened her mouth to protest "I fell for you, Emma". She said quietly. "I fell for you, and this was all just some cruel trick to what? Make you feel better? Make it easier on you so you don't feel guilty? So I stop being angry with you? To control me?" Emma shook her head vigorously.

"No! No Regina, I didn't- that wasn't my intention! I wanted, I thought…I thought it would be less painful if you…didn't remember what I did to you…" Regina shook her head, the memory of Emma on top of her, hurting her, still fresh on her mind. "Gideon…Gideon said that…It was the black fairy's magic that made…made me do that to you" Regina looked away. "I didn't know what else to do" she said quietly, trying to stop the tears from flowing.

"You could have let me make my own choice, you could have let me deal with this my own way. If you had no control over your actions, I could have, I would have been able to handle it better. But this…how do you expect me to trust you?" Regina was angry and hurt, her trembling voice, echoed in Emma's ears. "I was stupid to think that you cared for me, that you wanted me" Regina whispered more to herself than Emma as she shook, she hugged herself and leaned on the wall, trying to regain her balance. Emma watched her, not knowing what to do or say all the while thinking that she truly did want her, but was unable to express this. She knew she wanted to protect Regina, but didn't know how. They remained silent for several minutes before Regina broke the silence. "I have to go" she said, as she pushed herself off of the wall, wiping her tears with one hand and heading to the door.

"Regina, I- … I don't want you to be alone" Emma said, worried about her safety, now that Gideon has threatened to hurt her if Emma doesn't fulfill his wish.

"That's not your choice now, is it?" Regina replied coldly, as she stormed out of the room and down the stairs. Emma sank down the carpet, hearing the door slam from downstairs.


A/N: So weirdo here, uploads the chapter to the "Doc Manager" two days ago. Today I noticed that I didn't actually post the flipping Chapter 11 and just uploaded it to the document manager. *slaps forehead* sorry... So Here I went ahead and uploaded Chap 11 and 12. Hope you enjoy!