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Songs: Heartbreak Heard around the World by Jacob Latimore, Stand in Awe by Dala
3 Days After Belle's Departure
"Amelia, it's been three days. Three! When the hell will my wife wake up?" Regina stalked the surgeon through the halls of the hospital with Annabel strapped to her chest. Some of the nurses and clerical staff smirked, others rolled their eyes, and others still grabbed their chests at the unconditional love between The Queen and her Savior.
"Regina, we've been over this. I drill the holes and drain the fluid. I don't tell the brain when to wake up," Amelia replied as lightheartedly as possible and stopped just outside Emma's door. Regina terrorized the ICU for three days, and had she not worn that crest or threatened people with fireballs, she might have been removed forcefully more than once.
Regina bounced Annabel, soothing the girl as she raged. "You're the damn brain expert. What the hell is wrong with my wife?"
Amelia scratched her forehead and then ran her fingers through her dark hair. With a deep breath, she reminded herself that Regina acted as a scared spouse right now, not the head of The Council. Fear never suited Regina well, always manifested as anger.
"Regina, as far as her scans show, nothing is wrong with Emma besides the fact that she's stubborn. There are some odd readings from the temporal lobe, but it's active and working. For the last damn time, I can't tell you anymore until she wakes up."
Amelia touched her friend's shoulders and rubbed them gently. "I'm sorry, Regina. This is the best I can do."
Regina nodded and straightened her spine. "I know," she admitted quietly, stopping just short of also confessing her all-consuming fear. She needed to sleep before she collapsed.
"Did you still want me to baby-sit during your meeting?" Amelia asked hesitantly, hands raising and then dropping. She itched to hold Annabel again, the infant soothed her frayed nerves.
"Yes, of course. Thank you," Regina said as she raised her daughter from their carrier and handed her to Amelia, along with the diaper bag hanging from her shoulder.
"Hey there, tiny person," Amelia greeted the girl and tickled at her belly before pressing a kiss to her head, waiting for Regina to remove the pouch before looking at her again.
Her gaze returned to Regina's when she tossed the carrier carelessly to the floor. She swallowed at the grief and rage in those dark eyes, so closely resembling the look in Emma's eyes when she'd jumped her in her office a few months prior. "I'm not having sex with you."
"What?" Regina snapped, startling from her daze.
"You have that look in your eyes," Amelia explained and then retreated to Emma's side and settled into a chair.
Regina followed. "Do not be absurd, you little trollop. I have no desire to bed you."
Amelia snorted and rocked the tiny being in her arms. "You're queen is showing."
Regina sneered and retreated to the other side of the bed. "Unlike Emma, I can control the urges of my heart." She touched Emma's cut and bruised face lovingly, tracing her finger alongside the scabbed abrasions.
"I never properly thanked you for that, so thank you," Regina murmured, her softness returning as she touched her wife, confirming that she lived even if she hadn't woken.
"Thanked me?" Her head jerked up suddenly and searched Regina's features. The older woman continued to study Emma's face, completely oblivious to her gaze. "I thought you were going to kill me."
Regina glanced her direction briefly and then gently raised Emma's hand to her mouth and pressed a kiss over the road rash on her knuckles. "I'd never hurt you, Amelia. Despite your arrogance and insouciance, I knew you'd never betray me, and without your… assistance, years may have passed before we realized that we'd carried the wrong hearts."
Amelia shifted uncomfortably, never having viewed her liaison with Emma in such a light before. Her gaze dropped to Annabel's bright green eyes, and she smiled. "I think you like being queen so you have a reason to use words that I don't know the meaning to."
Regina acknowledged the aversion for what it was and glommed on for the ride. "That is precisely the reason. You are the sun."
"Damn straight, revolve in my glory, bitch," Amelia laughed. Regina grinned, the expression feeling foreign and out of place. She hadn't smiled since Emma woke the morning after her night terror.
Ruby appeared in the doorway a moment later with Alex on her shoulders. Amelia smirked at the glazed and serene expression on the wolf's face. Ruby and Lauren must have finished meditating early today.
"Hey, Zen Wolf, what's up?" She tossed out, more amused than worried about Ruby's dizzy glare.
"Alex wanted to see Emma," she explained and set the girl at the foot of the bed gently.
"Hi Temma," the toddler greeted quietly and gingerly placed her tiny hands atop the blanket on Emma's feet. Ruby smiled sadly, her grief breaking through the peace she'd found only minutes ago.
"Ready, your majesty?" The wolf asked her friend. Regina nodded, sucking a deep, steadying breath through her nostrils.
Emma's skin felt hot and clammy beneath her lips as she kissed her temple. She pressed her forehead and nose against her wife's face. "It's time to wake up, Darling. Stop being so troublesome, Emma Swan."
Ruby squeezed her calf gently as she kissed her daughter's face all over. Alex squealed and squirmed, trying to get away while staying away from Emma's injured body. "Ruby Lucas!" She yelled and set her hands on her hips, imitating the words and gesture Belle did ten times a day.
Ruby froze. Regina and Amelia held their breaths. The wolf glanced at the two conscious adults, instant tears in her eyes. Amelia jumped up and grabbed Annabel's bag. "Alex, want to go get some cookies from the snack machine and ruin your lunch?"
The girl nodded enthusiastically, and Ruby numbly lifted her from the bed. She kissed the side of her head as she took Amelia's hand. "Love you, Little Wolf."
The toddler kissed her cheek, "Love you, Mama Wolf," and then followed Amelia none the wiser of pain her words caused.
"She's still not answering your calls or texts?" Regina asked, rounding the foot of the bed. Ruby shook her head and accepted Regina into her arms.
"Her phone goes straight to voicemail. She hasn't turned it on yet or she's hiding somewhere without service," Ruby answered verbally.
Hugging Regina helped, but it wasn't a permanent fix. They'd spent the past three nights on the couch, partly watching The Golden Girls and partly crying most of the night and partly clinging to the other like a life preserver with small bouts of sleep in between. It was different this time than it had been in The Enchanted Forest. Regina was married, a vow she took as sacredly as the oath she'd made to uphold the values of The Council.
Not even her loyal wolf could replace Emma Swan.
Ruby was broken this time, and Regina found a small amount of peace in comforting the wolf. It was motherly or sisterly, and nothing as it had been when they'd ventured toward one another due to loneliness and helplessness.
"How am I supposed to do this, Regina?" Ruby pleaded for some sort of revelation in Regina's eyes when she pulled back.
"I don't know, Sweetheart," she answered honestly and tucked brown and red hair behind her ear. "I had you when Emma and I were parted for six months. You'll find a way, for your daughter and for yourself. You're strong, Ruby, but it's perfectly acceptable to fall apart a little bit."
She cupped her face and tipped her forehead downwards to meet her lips. The wolf clung to her shoulders almost painfully. "Granny and I will pick up the slack if we can. You don't have to be balls to wall 24/7." Regina prayed she used the vulgar expression correctly.
Ruby chuckled and then laughed outright. "I know. I know. You got skills. I shouldn't be surprised you know that phrase."
"Damn straight," Regina agreed in a very Granny-like manner. Ruby giggled again. "Let's get this over with. I'm not much in the mood for meetings this morning."
Ruby nodded and escorted The Queen through the hospital. A few nodded in respect or reverence but most simply went about their day now that Regina wasn't yelling at Amelia, something becoming a daily event. Lauren waved and then smacked Ruby's ass as they passed the nurse probably on her way to change Emma's dressings.
"Hope like hell you get Granny's open by this afternoon," she tossed over her shoulder. Applause followed the statement. Ruby smiled.
"Nurses really love their coffee and fries," she whispered for Regina's ears only. The royal smirked.
Bethany met them at the doors of Town Hall and held it open respectfully for the leader of The Council. Her bid for a seat had been denied considering her role in the destruction of lives at the behest of the last Head of Council. Stacy reluctantly retained her as an assistant at Regina's request.
"Mayor Cochran asked me to give you the addendum to the docket before you entered," Bethany explained her presence and handed Regina a paper.
"Budget redistribution?" Regina spoke aloud to herself.
"Yes, the former Council usurped a substantial portion of the city's budget. Stacy prevented folks from losing their jobs completely, but they all took a major pay cut. I'm aware that Emma hadn't received notice of the changes yet but surprised Belle never informed you."
Ruby snorted and shook her head at her absent lover. "Belle doesn't look at her paychecks. She takes them to the bank, and Cathy tells her where to sign. I make sure they always go in, but I never calculated the amounts. It's none of my business what Belle buys."
The realization slapped her in the face. Perhaps Belle's online bank statements offered a clue to her whereabouts. Later, she determined. The likelihood of Belle understanding the Internet enough to delete the account stood between the categories of 'given enough time to figure it out' and 'not bloody likely.'
Bethany cocked her head slightly and wrinkled her nose as she studied Ruby. Her sister cared nothing for money? The wolf double checked her interests without invading her privacy? A wiggle in the back of her mind told her that her father once again spoke incorrectly. Ruby hadn't brainwashed Belle in her weakened mental state after Rumpelstiltskin and Regina's emotional torture.
"It explains the drop in profit at the diner, though," Ruby continued, oblivious to Bethany's distressing realizations.
"Bethany, please run ahead and tell Stacy that I wish to address this first before the town becomes antsy. I'd like them fresh for better information absorption," Regina ordered gently, the words sounding more like a request than a command.
"You look upset, Mama Bear," Ruby said as she continued towards.
Regina blew thru the door she held for her and into the meeting hall in a huff of pissy royal. Ruby fell into step at her side. She'd become her unofficial body guard during council meetings.
"Those damn fools nearly ran my town into the ground in less than three months," Regina growled, low enough to maintain the privacy of the conversation but loud enough for her wolf ears.
An idiot stood up as Regina called the meeting to order and Ruby settled behind her, hand resting comfortably atop The Dark One's dagger. She had no intention of using it or threatening people with it. It was simply comfortable and a mistake she'd never make again.
"How can we trust The Queen when she controls Rumpelstiltskin?" Whispers tore through the crowd. Apparently, they'd never considered that possibility until now.
"Enough!" Regina ordered. "I do not control The Dark One. He is controlled by purest and strongest soul in Storybrooke. I have no interest in his powers." Regina quieted the rabble and smoothed her hand over her black pencil skirt and midnight blue silk button up.
"Are there any further concerns I might address before we begin?" Regina asked calmly and glanced around the room, including members of her court. The pinky and middle finger of her left hand rubbed at her wedding band and engagement ring but rest neutrally at her side. Ruby saw the nervous gesture, but she knew Regina better than anyone else awake in Storybrooke.
"How long are you going to be fair and kind if The Savior never wakes up?"
Ruby growled and tensed but stayed in place when Regina raised her hand. The Queen glanced around her council and then the crowd of civilians. "If Emma never awakens, I image I'll spend several weeks in an intoxicated blur. I might blow up the farm house where my mother killed herself. As long as my children live, I will never again return to evil. You begged The Savior to destroy The Evil Queen, and she has. As Emma does everything, she completed that particular task her own way."
"What made you follow Rumpelstiltskin in the first place?" Another question came from the back.
Regina sighed and glanced at Snow who nodded encouragingly. "While I accept responsibility for my actions, I also realize and accept my own victim hood. Emotional manipulation can break any mind."
"What did he do that was so horrible as to break you?" Snow asked.
"Enough," Ruby stepped forward and put her hand atop Regina's shoulder and squeezed lightly. "This has nothing to do with Regina's ability to perform this job."
Regina patted her hand and smiled gratefully at her friend. "Yes, it does, Ruby. They have a right to ask. Do you trust me?"
"Of course," Ruby said without hesitation and presented her chest, aware of what was about to happen. "We'll enchant it again once we've finished this little show."
"Just do it."
Regina snapped her fingers, summoning a potion vial. Amelia made created a counter enchantment just in case her recipe for protecting hearts fell into the hands of someone trying to kill them. The crowd gasped when Regina jerked her wolf's heart from her chest and sprinkled the potion while uttering some sort of spell.
When the beautiful bright pink organ produced an explosion of light, Regina held it up for all to see. "A heart can be used to control a person. All of you are aware of this. Jump this table, Ruby."
The wolf obeyed and stood stoically in the middle of the semi-circle.
"Relax, Snow. I'll not harm you," Regina assured her mother-in-law. Snow nodded, sure she wasn't going to like the next part one bit.
"Things you never wanted are forced upon you," Regina returned her attention to the crowd.
"Ruby, seduce Snow White," Regina ordered, fighting the bile in her throat.
Snow reluctantly accepted Ruby's numb affections and waved her hand in a circle, telling Regina to get on with it as Ruby kissed her neck. Regina took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
"Rape her," Regina ordered.
The wolf slammed Snow onto the table and ripped open her sweater before anyone could blink.
"Stop, Ruby! Come here," Regina said gently, and the wolf obeyed. She cried silently as her heart slid into her chest, and Regina touched her face. "I'm sorry."
"They have to know or they'll never trust you," Ruby said. She turned to the idiot civilians that Regina wanted so desperately to love her. "When you're forced to do things that you don't want to do, eventually you'll do anything to make it stop. Believe me, I know. When I was controlled by Cora, I attempted suicide twice."
"Ruby, don't," Regina started, but the wolf held up her hand. This was her confession, not Ruby's, yet her friend willingly spared her the recounting of her many rapes at the hands of Rumpelstiltskin.
Ruby cupped Regina's cheek and continued, "The woman I attempted to escape saved me both times. You can fight heart magic, but you'll never win, not when another holds yours. Lauren was forced to use her powers to control several of you in this room. While you were in her thrall, your thoughts were your own but your body was hers to control. You couldn't even cry out."
The crowd nodded, finally understanding. "Would you do anything to stop that from ever happening again?" Regina jumped in, sparing her friend from more emotional torment.
"Are you telling us that The Dark One broke you by forcing you to have sex with him?"
Regina clenched her jaw and returned to her seat but stood facing her people. "He is not a gentle man," she said simply, allowing them to draw their own conclusions. They remained perfectly silent.
Regina swallowed the bile creeping up her throat and pushed forward. "Are there any further concerns regarding my ability to perform this job and maintain a level head. This will be the only opportunity I grant answers to such personal questions.
"Did my father?" Snow asked, still shaken from Ruby's attack but recovering quickly.
Regina sighed and met Snow's eyes with pity in her own. The child really knew nothing of what occurred within her own castle walls. "King Leopold was a very fair and patient king, but even he viewed his wife as his property," Regina answered without actually answering directly.
"You were married for 15 years," Snow murmured more to herself than Regina.
"Are you sorry?" Another question from the crowd. Regina searched for the asker in vain.
"Everyday," Regina answered simply. Her shoulders tightened painfully, and Ruby touched them in silent support. Her heart swelled with affection for the loyal wolf. She'd expected this, but it made the actuality of the moment no less painful.
"What do you regret the most?"
Regina gritted her teeth, the question requiring more political finesse than the others. It divulged information not only pertaining to herself but others as well. "Harming Belle French, holding her captive for thirty years and everything that entailed. She could have escaped as I knew nothing of her mastery of Earth Magic, but she chose to stay and endure the punishment in contrition of her actions at Breck. She has been adequately punished, I assure you." The admission made Regina squirm.
"Is that why she left?"
Ruby stepped to Regina's side and wrapped her arm around her waist. "Belle left because you turned against her," she accused the crowd and The Council who hadn't fought for her partner. "She forgave Regina because that's who she is and that's who Regina has become, someone worthy of forgiveness. If you have no other incredibly inappropriate and painful questions for my best friend, can we get the hell on with this because I would very much like to open my diner in time for lunch today."
The crowd quieted, and Regina brought the meeting to order again. There was a cheer when she restored the salary of all the city workers with unanimous support from the rest of her court. She even managed with a little of coaxing and queenly charm to get a new small tax passed to assist with community projects such as the youth center and extracurricular funding for the school.
Ruby stood watch, pride rolling off her in waves. Regina handled the entire situation professionally and stoically. She fully intended to gorge on brownies and cry into a cup of coffee watching her favorite sitcom later, but right now, Regina reveled in her element, relishing the rush and confidence and genuine joy leading The Council brought. She was built for this, and finally after decades, she ruled the way she wanted to rule.
"Finally, I'd like to close with the pardoning of Ruby Lucas and Belle French (absentia) for past crimes. You've all heard Belle's case and know of her past in relation to me. Are there any further comments or questions or can we put the subject to vote?"
"Vote," Snow said immediately.
Regina nodded at her step-daughter gratefully. "All in favor of full pardon?" Three members raised their hands, and Regina took a deep breath of faith.
"Normally, I'd act as intermediary and hear both pleas before making a decision. As I am too emotionally invested, I shall leave the vote to the people." Ruby squeaked and shifted behind her. She understood logically, but her heart felt betrayed.
Regina stood and addressed the people, "As you decide, please bear in mind and equally weigh the facts of Miss French's extraordinary actions during Pan's War as well as the battle against Cora and Zelena. All in favor of pardon for a crime committed 35 years ago for which Belle French saw fit to punish herself at the hands of The Evil Queen, Regina Mills, please stand," Regina presented the vote in such a manner that favored Belle's case without compromising her position.
Regina slumped forward and caught her weight on shaking arms when almost everyone stood up in Belle's defense. Tears sprang to her eyes. She'd believed and made the right decision and had been rewarded. Belle was safe when she returned. The salty liquid trickled shamelessly down her cheeks as she straightened and addressed her council.
"The public has made known their opinion, and I vote in favor of full pardon on behalf of Belle French (absentia) for her role in The Massacre of Breck," Regina stated, voice clear and confident despite the quiver of tears their.
"Regina!" Lauren burst through the doors of the meeting hall. "Sorry, you turned your phone off. She's awake," Lauren finished breathlessly.
Regina jerked, glanced around at her people and then back at Lauren. "Are we really going to shut down Granny's to persecute Ruby for being a wolf?"
Some chuckled at the absurdity of the situation thanks to Regina's wording. "All in favor of full pardon, raise your paws," Regina said, her heart soaring. She'd made the right choice, and she'd been rewarded.
Thank you. She said silently to the higher power she'd begun praying to for some unknown reason. Two opposed, four agreed.
"Full pardon granted to Ruby Lucas with the condition she must wear her cape during the full moon, except during the time of her transformation, until absolute control is obtained in human form. Meeting adjourned," Regina spouted quickly as she, Snow and Ruby rounded the table.
Lauren met them at the end of the chairs and grabbed Regina's hand. They disappeared in a swirl of purple. The came together in the hall outside Emma's room and collectively choked on the chalky, apple flavored smoke they'd inhaled during the teleportation.
Amelia met them at the door and held her hands up, stopping their progress. A nurse handed Annabel to Lauren as she was instructed. No one knew how Regina might have reacted to the news they dreaded delivering. Ruby picked Alex up for comfort and settled her on a hip, sensing a huge boot about to drop kick Regina in the heart.
"Stop, Regina, wait. We've had to sedate her slightly. There's been…" Amelia stopped when her voice broke. "An unexpected development."
"What?" Regina demanded, anger covering her fear.
"She…" Amelia swallowed and glanced at Eva who stepped forward.
"She thinks she's 21 and living in Texas. It's called Retrograde Amnesia. She doesn't remember the last ten years of her life."