Long way to happy

by pinsel90

Survival in the Enchanted Forest wasn't easy but Emma Swan knew how to achieve this easily. The thing is, sometimes survival isn't enough, because if you want something you have to risk something. And sometimes it even means to team up with pirates you usually hunt. (Mostly Captain Swan; Warning: AU & OC! Give it a try. Love comments. :)) Don't own Ouat/its characters/the picture.

14. The thin line between right and wrong

13. The thin line between right and wrong

It had felt like hours, when Doris had put Emma into that dress like a doll, had covered the kiss mark at her neck with rouge and had styled her hair and her face as if she was creating some peace of art. Nevertheless, Emma had endured it bravely so she could sit in this carriage beside Hook now. She wasn't as happy as Doris had been when she had been done with her, but she could cope with her task in this stupid plan. The only thing that had really troubled her since Doris had been done with her had been the fact that Hook had had to help her inside the carriage because of her huge blue dress and the farthingale.

Hook had listened to her and had left Base on board of the Jolly Roger as she had asked him to. Instead of him, Crouch and Blake joined them to King Klaus' castle. The King had send the carriage to pick up Lord Sinclair and it had been very easy for the two pirates to take the drivers' places, since the men had been greedy and lacy enough to accept some money and spent the night in a tavern instead of waiting in a carriage the entire night.

Emma looked outside the window and watched the landscape changing from old houses to trees and bushes until she could see a castle in the near distance. Hook hadn't asked about Base anymore and she was glad about that. His idea of a relationship between them was nothing but ridiculous and she couldn't imagine how he had even come up with it to begin with. However, she didn't like that he thought of her like that, since these kinds of thoughts destroyed their trust in each other and that was the last thing they could need now.

Maybe it was time to reveal something to him. He had noticed Nova somehow, even though she didn't have the slightest idea how, because she had been small and most of the time she had even been invincible. But he had managed to notice her and she couldn't shake the impression it would turn out really bad for their teamwork, if she wouldn't at least reveal her existence to him. It would be easier to tell him about a fairy, which he couldn't see and who wasn't there most of the time, than to talk about something as personal as his crew and a possible betrayer on his own ship, when they didn't have any proof for it or even a hint on who it was yet.

Emma sighed. But this wasn't the right moment for such a conversation even though she would have loved to ask some questions herself. Nova had told her, that the powder that they were after, had been created by Cora and that it was very powerful and even dangerous, since it could stop even a fairies work for the good side, if something like that really existed. So what did Hook want to do with that sand? Why was it so important and how exactly did it work? Would they really need it or was there another way to achieve what they wanted to achieve?

They passed a huge portal and the sound of the horses' hooves changed as they hit the stony pavement of the castle. Hook finally broke the silence between them, "are you ready?"

Emma grinned nervously, "how does that feel to be ready?"

He smiled at her with this very rare smile that touched her deeply every time he revealed it to her, "don't worry. You'll be all right. You'll shine."

"Let's hope not", she said a little breathless, "or they'll notice something."

He shrugged, "I wouldn't worry about that too much. As long as we get that sand before they do notice everything will be fine."

"I don't know", Emma said slowly more to herself than to him, "I'm not really the person to dress up like this, attend a ball and to dance around. I've never been."

"Is that what has been troubling you all the time?"

She could feel his gaze focusing on her again, but she didn't meet his eyes and looked out of the window again. This wasn't the time to get nervous about an intense glance from Hook. She could feel that it was intense but she didn't allow it to make her nervous again.

"You can't know if you're not made for it unless you at least do it for once, Love."

She sighed.

"Well, I actually thought you enjoyed dancing with me."

Emma smiled before she could stop herself, "and what made you believe though?"

"You allowed me to take the lead", he answered without even thinking about it, "even though you prefer control over trust."

She remembered their conversation about that matter and swallowed hard. It felt like ages had passed ever since even though it had been just months. Had she really changed that much during that time? Had she become careless around him or was it just natural to grow together through living and working together for such a long time?

Emma chuckled, "you know, I wouldn't read too much into that."

"But you've got to admit that I'm a pretty good dancer", he joked again while their carriage got in a row in front of the main entrance, where the guests were leaving their carriages.

Emma shrugged and remembered their conversation before her first dance lesson very well, "I can't judge that. I have no comparison. Remember? You're the first person I've ever danced with according to your words."

Hook grinned, "careful Love, I might decide to give you the opportunity to find some tonight."

"Does that mean, you want to choose someone to dance with me?"

Hook smiled, "scared?"

"Just of your choice", Emma returned his smile, "the last time you chose someone for me, he tried to force himself on me and I had to knock him out."

Hook's smile vanished, "at least the Lord got what he deserved. Even though I wouldn't mind to double what he got."

Their carriage stopped and Blake opened the door beside her. Hook left the carriage first before he helped her outside. She wished, they had practiced that with this dress before, too. Emma took the arm he offered to her and allowed him to lead her inside, while Blake and Crouch stayed behind with the carriage. It was strange to leave the only way to escape from this castle behind and to walk right into the lion's dent. It became worse the further they made their way through the crowd of guests and servants waiting for them to help them out of their cloaks.

"Stop fidgeting", Hook whispered amused even though it was obvious that he wasn't as cool as he pretended to be, "or you will definitely stand out."

"That's not funny", Emma whispered back almost without moving her lips, "is it always like this?"

"What?"

"That it is as crowded at the beginning of a ball as today? I guess, I've never seen as many rich people as now at once", she said and eyed the people around her. The women were dressed in big gowns in every possible color, their hair were tweaked up in different forms, that suited them very well and from their ears and around there necks they wore jewels in every size and color. The men were dressed as well as Hook and even some of them wore jewels.

Emma stole a glance at his ears and his wrists and noticed that he didn't wear anything like that. He even had taken off his earring. She frowned. Until now, she hadn't noticed that he had taken off his hook, "where is that hand coming from?"

He looked at her confused, "what hand?"

Emma nodded at the arm he used to take her along like a gentleman and raised an eyebrow, "that one."

Hook grinned, "it's not real. It's wooden, Love, so don't worry."

She sighed, "actually that little thought was a nice distraction from this crap here."

"Sht", he almost laughed, before he introduced them to the chamberlain as Lord Sinclair and his little sister the lovely Charlotte. Shortly after that, their names were announced throughout the entire hall and they were allowed to enter the ballroom. It was a huge room with tall walls and a very high ceiling. Everything was painted in white except for the stony pavement to their feet. There were columns at special spots in the room, that had to carry the ceiling where the walls couldn't effort it anymore and from the entrance to the room, there lead four stairs to the actual dancing hall. At the other end of the room, there was a pedestal that was a little higher than the entrance, where two thrones were placed. The rest of the room was as crowded that Emma was surprised. It seemed unnatural that there already were as many people in this room as now, since they had entered this castle with so many people before.

"Close your mouth, Love", Hook whispered into her ear and his lips barely touched it, "I know, it's impressive, but we need to concentrate now and if someone sees you stare like that…"

"Then we will have to pretend that this was my first ball", she shrugged as if it was nothing, even though it was more than tough for her. This seemed to be an entirely different world from what she knew.

Hook didn't comment that but simply lead her right down the stairs and into the crowed, giving her some other information about balls in general, "it's not usual to have as many people invited to a ball, so the King must consider this to be something like an engagement ball, which means-"

"He wants to make his intentions to marry his own daughter official tonight", Emma cut him off and stared at him, "we need to do something before he does, Hook."

"Calm down", he insisted gently and wandered through the room with her, "that's not how stuff like this works. First, the flow of arriving guests needs to stop, then he'll officially welcome everyone, the music will start and everyone gathers to dance, talk or eat and drink and some time later, he will announce it. At least that's how it should be."

Emma frowned, "how do you know all that?"

Their eyes met as they stopped in front of a column close to the pedestal where King Klaus's throne was. Hook grinned but it didn't reach his eyes, "I wasn't always a pirate, Love."

"What", she asked a little louder than necessary and froze as she noticed it. She swallowed hard while Hook's expression turned into something indefinable, "you never told me about it."

"It's not important. That was a very long time ago."

Emma stared at him as if she saw him for the first time. She was so curious that she even had forgotten to be nervous and to worry about dancing, saving Lotte and stealing from the king in a huge blue gown like this, "how long?"

"As long as it wouldn't make any point to tell you, since there is no way you could already have existed at that time", he said fast and focused on something behind her. The way he had said it made clear that he didn't want to talk about this subject now. Too bad. She would have loved to hear his story not just, because it would have been a welcome distraction but because she was curious for whom he had been before he had turned into the pirate with the dark agenda.

"So how many guards do you see", he suddenly asked and got back to business.

She looked over his shoulder and searched the room for men who hide swords underneath their frocks and those who were dressed in armors openly.

"Around 15 in armor and five in disguise, I guess", Emma answered and met his eyes, "and you?"

"About as much", he answered seriously, "but I assume there are more than that."

"Most likely. So what now?"

Hook took her hand, encircled it with his arm and sauntered through the room with her just like before, "for now we'll just enjoy the evening until we find a way to get up into his rooms."

Emma frowned and tightened her grip on his arm a little, "do you really think he would leave such a precious item behind somewhere? Why shouldn't he carry the sand with him all the time?"

"That's the problem. I don't know", he admitted darkly and looked at her hand, "are you nervous?"

"No."

"Lie", Hook grinned and stopped close to another column, "and I don't even need a special ability to notice that."

"Are you making fun of me", she asked playful and looked straight into his eyes. He stepped closer until she almost felt his presence physically. She could even see the separate hair of his beard.

"How could I possibly make fun of a woman as beautiful as you are tonight", he smiled mockingly and his voice was very charming and filled with amusement. Underneath all the charm and amusement, there was a hint of seriousness. It didn't even sound strange as he said it like that. On the contrary, Emma felt flattered. She swallowed hard and looked to the side with a very serious expression since she wasn't used to compliments like this. She couldn't face him as she felt her ears warming up, which meant she was blushing.

She felt his glance directed on her. She didn't even need to face him. It was like a tender touch that made her nervous and stood between them just like the heavy silence between them now. Suddenly his presence and his closeness were too much. He was too close and that not just physically. She would have loved to retort something smart and funny to ease the moment but nothing came to her mind. It was blank. All that was left was the strange feeling his words and his glance left inside her. Soon his focus on her was not just intense but unbearable. She could almost feel it physically as if he had reached out and touched her face. She managed to look up to him hoping that it would ease the pressure on her and froze as she met his blue eyes. The ocean blue color had turned into something darker. Now his eyes had the dark blue color of a stormy ocean. His features had turned softer just like his expression in contrast to it. She had felt this glance before but never had she seen his face as clearly as now in a moment like this. Her mouth went dry and like a deer on the run, her breath quickened a little.

Their eye contact lasted just for one or two seconds, before he let his eyes wander to her mouth that opened a little as if she needed to breathe through it. Her lips started to burn and almost automatically, her glance dropped to his lips. His mouth was drawn into a thin line and his jaw was clenched as if he was fighting himself.

What was she doing here? Why did she just give in and didn't wince back or fight it like she usually did in such situations? She looked at the column to her left to ease the tense situation between them. It didn't work. It turned out to be worse not to see what he was doing while looking at her like this than to actually see it. But she noticed his right hand. He was leaning at the column pushing himself up with his right arm. His hand was turned into a tight fist as if he had to collect courage or as if he was angry. His thump caressed his fingers nervously for a second then it went back in place and squeezed his fingers just like before.

She looked back into his face. Could it be that this situation was as tough on him as it was on her? But it didn't even seem that way judging the way he was looking at her. Her heartbeat sped up as his gaze wandered deeper and stopped in her décolleté. Her skin warmed up and her breasts became heavy. Without really noticing it, he shoved himself closer to her across the column until she could feel his breath on her skin. His eyes wandered up her neck, across her chin and her lips, where it remained for a short second again und stopped at her eyes. The color of his eyes had turned even darker and to her surprise, she reacted almost automatically to it. Her hands tickled as if they had been numb just a second ago, her stomach clenched, her pulse sped up until she could her nothing but her blood rushing through her veins and she felt the endless and overwhelming need to lean into him. Her neck tickled and waited for his hand to cup it and her breathing stopped.

After two seconds, he looked to the side and snorted. He cleared his throat and shoved both his hand and the wooden sham into his trousers as if he wanted to stop himself from touching her. Then he took a step back again and looked through the room as if he was searching for an escape. He released another breath but avoided to look at her again. Maybe he had to sort out some things first. Immediately Emma felt as if he had given her free. The numb feeling in her ears vanished and bit for bit the noise of the festivity broke down on her like the calm and steady surges of water at a bay. Her breath slowed down and the heat in her lips and her décolleté cooled down. Just the red color and the heat of her face remained.

Emma looked around as she realized that they weren't alone. The reality crushed down on her and she feared that someone had noticed their strange behavior towards each other. Had somebody watched her heated and intense moment? Did somebody look down on them now for their bad behavior? Or had nobody noticed anything. Her eyes rushed through the ballroom, jumping from face to face on the search for somebody who blushed like her or stared at them offended. Or maybe for someone who stared at them angrily or someone who gossiped about them.

A loud knocking that filled the air even across the noise of talking people caught her attention as the emcee pushed his ceremonial rod to the ground. The humming noise around them died out and everyone in the room turned to look at him in silent expectation. Hook snapped out of his rigid and turned to look at him as well. He chuckled about something she couldn't understand und grabbed her hand as if he had just mastered a very difficult task. Actually, he suddenly was in a very good mood.

"May I ask for your attention please", the emcee announced in a noble way. It was needlessly since everybody was waiting for him to continue anyway, "her majesty King Klaus and Princess Lotte."

The musicians stroke up a loud fanfare and the King walked into the room. He wore a very high and mighty expression and was dressed in a red and tight suit with golden neckband, a matching cloak and black boots. His brown hair with grey and almost white strands was short and barely reached his shoulders in his neck. His neck was almost covered by a huge and high sleeve. A huge golden crown decorated with jewels different shape and color finished his outfit and branded him as the royal he was.

A younger woman followed him side by side and allowed him to lead her into the room. Her hair was blonde and reached her hips in soft curls. Only some strands of it were braided. Her huge gown was green. Her outfit was completed by a long golden necklace, matching bracelets at each arm and a ring with a golden stone on her left ring finger. Lotte was young, beautiful, innocent and very scared and sad. As much could Emma tell by just looking at her, even though she hid those emotions almost perfectly behind a warm and wide smile. She looked like a true and happy lady, but the educated eye couldn't be fooled by her mask.

"She has got to be Lotte", Hook whispered directly into her ear, while the King made his way through the crowed the princess hanging from his arm like a price he had won. The captain's breath touched her skin and her still confused heart set into another race. Her skin tickled where it had warmed it and she swallowed hard.

Hook turned away from her as if he had burned himself on her. Therefore, he wasn't as fine as he pretended to be, neither. It was a relief to notice that. Emma just nodded instead of answering him verbally. She didn't trust her voice yet and she didn't want anybody to overhear their conversation.

The music stopped, the people waited for the King's speech in silence and stared at the throne, in front of which the royals had stopped. After some friendly welcoming words, King Klaus sat down in his thrown and signed the musicians to continue with the festivities. Lotte sat beside him as if she hadn't been able to escape fast enough. Maybe Hook was right and the King really wanted to announce his crazy plans of marrying his own daughter. Maybe the ring at her ring finger was an engagement ring. Maybe he would announce it later on, as Hook had expected him to.

Suddenly the pirate held out his hand to her and directed her attention from the sad princess back to him. He bowed down like she had seen him do it just today as they had practiced over and over again and her heart sank into her stomach, "my Lady, may I have this dance with you?"

"Oh", she said without thinking about it, "no."

"That's not really what I expected", he chuckled but still held his hand out to her.

Emma ignored it, "for real?"

"Actually it's exactly what I expected", he admitted and stood straight. For a moment, he studied her before he sighed. He stepped closer, his eyes set on her with a silent plea to give in to him and the conviction that she definitely would do as he whished even if she wouldn't want to. It was as if he wanted to give her an option and leave the decision to her but at the same time they both knew that there was no option to choose or a decision to be made now, since they were here and had to act like ordinary guests. He smiled charmingly and took her hand, playing with her fingers. He held it up to his mouth but didn't kiss it. Then he looked at her across the ankles of her right hand but unlike before, he had an expression that was mixed of his dark eyes and his jokingly pulled up eyebrows. His voice was a deep whisper filled with humor and challenge, "come on, Love. What do you have to lose?"

She would get crazy if this would continue the entire evening now. She hadn't calmed down from their earlier strange and intense conversation and now she was already supposed to jump into another strange situation with him. First, he emitted this dark and sexy aura and now he was charming, charismatic and had humor. Hook had never unleashed his charms like this on her and it made her nervous. Why had he changed this much tonight? Was it about the ball? Was it her dress? Or maybe it was the role he had to play and seemed to enjoy a little too much? Or was he just trying to find out which ploy would work best on her? No matter what is reasons were, he was excessively close and as she knew from experience by now, it wouldn't change when they would dance. It was more in the contrary.

Besides that, she was amazed how easy it was to remind her of everything that could go wrong with a simple question like this. There was their plan that could blow up because of her and her bad abilities in dancing if she would cause a turmoil. She could accidentally hurt him or herself, which would be just as sickening for their plan, because it was hard to run with sprained or even broken bones. Her personal fear to appear ridiculous in front of everyone here, which she didn't understand at all, since she usually didn't care for such things, followed by her fear to be shoved at somebody else by Hook. He had warned her to do so for several times already and she wasn't certain that she would be able to play her role of his little sister Charlotte well enough for such an encounter at all. But first of all, she was afraid to…

"Come on", he said smiling and disturbed her dark thoughts, placed her hand on his wooden one and held out his right hand so she could grab it, if she wanted to, "don't think. Just do it."

Emma sighed. And he had said her greatest fear. With this man and his strange moods tonight, she didn't dare to give up control. It was too dangerous to stop thinking around him if he was like this, because it usually lead to stupid things like almost kissing him or thinking about kissing him, which he could easily notice since he was able to read her so well. It had always lead to this if she had stopped being careful around him. Earlier had been the perfect example for it. And it certainly would turn out like that again. It wouldn't be good for them.

However, she placed her hand in his and allowed him to pull her softly to the dancing area. He stepped backwards and held her glance as if he was afraid she might change her mind, if he wasn't careful enough. Then he stopped and placed her hand on his right shoulder. As he noticed her expression he smiled, "don't look so angry."

"I don't", she stated surprised and tightened her grip around his wooden dummy, while he wrapped his right hand around her waist to place it in her back where it warmed her through the fabric of her dress. This time he kept space between them, but it seemed to be the ordinary dancing style here, because everyone danced like that. She felt a little more at ease seeing that.

"You do", he insisted gently and chuckled as he realized that she hadn't even noticed it, "usually dancing is something harmless and nice, but you look at me like I was about to kill you with it, Love."

"I don't", she said a little softer, "I'm just concentrating."

Hook grinned and his hand in her back tightened but he didn't pull her closer, "how about you concentrate on something else?"

"Like what", she asked amused. It was easier to relax around him if they kept talking she realized now. At least it was more relaxing than his intense glance on her skin or even thinking about it. She swallowed and banished that thought somewhere in the back of her mind.

"Lotte", he whispered, "the princess was just asked for a dance. I'll keep an eye on the crazy old man."

Emma took a short look in the King's direction, "he doesn't seem to like to see his daughter dance with someone too much, if you ask me."

"Maybe he is just jealous", Hook answered in a strange voice, before he spun her around, so she could see Lotte. She stood with her back to him and bobbed up and down in his rhythm, his chest at her back, his right hand on her belly and his whisper in her ear joined by the warmth of his breath against her ear, "he seems to be quite possessive."

Emma pushed the strange sensation into the back of her mind and cursed herself for thinking a mere conversation with Hook couldn't turn out strange again. Had he only been talking about the King or himself now as well? If she thought about what he had said about Base and her, she wasn't as convinced of it as she might have been without that information.

She found Lotte. The Princess danced with a young man of her age. His hair was blond like hers and he smiled at her as if the sun had decided to shine just for him. Sadly, she didn't return it, but Emma understood just too well, why she couldn't.

Hook turned her around to him and circled with her together so she could see her across his shoulder. Angrily she wondered why he hadn't done that in the first place. But instead of pointing that out, which would have been pointless anyway, she corrected him, "you mean he is insane."

Lotte and her dancing partner came closer, so maybe she would be able to talk with her without being noticed. They just needed to be smart and careful.

Something in Hook's voice changed, "sometimes to love can have the same effect."

Emma stared at him in surprise, "what do you mean?"

"I'm not defending him, Love. What he wants to do and his sick desires behind it are nothing but wrong", he stated deciding before he looked across her shoulder again, "I was speaking in general."

Emma let it slide and focused on the princess instead. However, the strange feeling that he hadn't been talking about the King but himself was as strong as before. Was he thinking of Milah and his decision to hunt for vengeance for her life? Or was he talking about her in the end? Considering their conversations and interactions ever since they had teamed up and how they had changed during that time, it was possible that he was referring to her, too, wasn't it? Was he thinking about Base and her again? Or was he actually referring to her and him? It seemed impossible to be true, but even though she didn't believe that he actually was in love with her, she couldn't deny the attraction between them. To deny it there had been to many almost kisses, caresses and situations like before. It had been intense and maybe he was referring to that feeling instead of love.

But it was more likely that he was talking about his Milah and what he had done for her. She didn't know a lot about her, so it was highly possible that he had done some strange things for her out of love. Just like, she had done some strange things out of love for Neal.

"We should concentrate on Lotte and our plan", she stated and pushed her own memories of her first love back into the corner of her mind, where she kept stuff like that, if she didn't want to deal with it, "shall we talk with her?"

"There is only one way to do that, Love", Hook said and tightened his grip on her. His voice sounded strange and for a short moment, he even pulled her closer. They stared into each other's eyes, "trust me."

He stopped dancing and let go of her. His expression was very serious as he took her hand, led her to Lotte and her dancing partner and interrupted them by tipping on the stranger's shoulder. No matter what she had expected, this definitely hadn't been it. They way he had asked her to trust him, she had believed that he wanted to start a fight out of the blue. Now she realized that he simply made his threat true.

"Excuse me, Sir", he said in a very formal and polite voice and bowed for the princess, "your highness."

"What do you want", the man asked.

"May I have a dance with the princess now", Hook asked bold. Even for Emma it was clear that this wasn't a behavior according to the etiquette. They both stared at him and for a long moment, they didn't even notice Emma. Then Lotte focused on her face and her dress. Realization struck and she stared straight into Emma's eyes again. Hope and relief were shining through her eyes.

Her dancing partner didn't notice any of this. He was still confused and maybe even a little offended by Hook's bad try to change dancing partners. Anyway, he didn't start a fight nor did he call him out on it. He was calm and polite, but didn't leave the pirate out of sight even though he wasn't talking to him, "my Lady, it depends on your whishes."

Lotte snapped out of her thoughts and stared at him as if she had totally forgotten about him. She relaxed and smiled at him very kindly and warm, "I think it would be just fair and save to change partners from time to time, Prince Kevin."

As he heard the word "save", he focused on the princess as if she had slapped him. After a moment, he smiled sadly but respected her decision. Somehow, Emma had the impression that there had been more message in this simple sentence than she had understood. She looked at the King, who talked to a man she hadn't noticed before. He was dressed all in black and nervously glanced into their direction while listening to his majesty's words. Then he focused on the emcee.

If she wasn't mistaken than this man was the King's adviser or something like that. At least it was obvious he wasn't a guest. The King had to have asked for Hook's identity. At least that was what she would have done if she had watched the person important to her interacting with a stranger. However, if this was true, than the King would notice that their identities were fake soon, since he had to know Lord Sinclair well, if even Doris had had as much information about him.

Emma stared at Prince Kevin in surprise as he bowed before her and asked her to dance while Hook led Lotte away from them. He looked at her meaningful, but she didn't get what he wanted to tell her. Actually, she hadn't even heard anything of their conversation before, because she had been too focused on the King. Shocked and surprised she remembered what Doris had taught her and curtsied, "it would be my pleasure."

He gently took her hand and Emma was surprised to notice, that it was even easier to dance with somebody other than Hook, because she was more focused and relaxed.

"Lord Sinclair said this was your first ball", he said politely and tried to fake interest in her while his eyes kept wandering off to Lotte over and over again.

Emma smiled amused as easy and relaxed she felt. If he really was as polite as he pretended to be, it was nice to have somebody of her age to care for Lotte. Maybe Doris would approve of him, too. Doris…

Emma swallowed as she remembered their little conversation about mothers. Maybe it would be better to ask some questions before she would judge him. She smiled amused and obviously followed his glance, "you like the princess, don't you?"

The Prince, who hadn't even noticed that she hadn't answered him, looked at her in surprise, "is it that obvious?"

Her smile grew bigger, "have you known each other for long?"

He hesitated and stared at her. Then he released a very deep breath, before he answered her, "no. I met her in the forest one month ago. I didn't know who she was, but I fell immediately for her. She is kind, smart, polite and beautiful. She has her own will, can be very thickheaded and her laugh sounds like bells."

As he noticed what he had just told her, he blushed, "I'm sorry. It's not polite to talk about another woman like that while dancing with you."

Emma smiled amused, "how did you meet?"

Prince Kevin was surprised as he noticed her interest. Again, he hesitated to answer, but as he noticed how Hook and Lotte talked with each other, the words slipped out of his mouth, "I was hunting, when my horse went through. I ended up in this realm and almost rode her over. She was dressed in a strange cloak of different kind of furs and she threw mud at me, because she was angry with me. After that she tried to threaten me to take her along into my realm."

"What happened then", Emma asked curious. If she already had been as close to her escape as that, than why was she still here?

"We argued and I made her laugh, when I slipped and fell into the mud", he remembered melancholic. He hesitated, he stared at something behind Emma's shoulder and his smile vanished as he slowly said, "I wanted to help her. But as we reached the border of this realm, the King's guards were waiting for us, accusing her of robbery. While I tried to fight the, she was taken away. I was warned to leave if I didn't want to cause a war. Soon after I heard a shot and I was told that she was executed. They even gave a blood soaked part of her cloak to me."

Grieve appeared in his eyes and he looked at Lotte again, "I shouldn't have believed it. I should have looked for her right away."

"You are here now."

"But it is too late."

"It's never too late", Emma pointed out, "what do you know about King Klaus?"

Kevin's expression changed. He hesitated with his answer and studied her carefully. He wasn't certain what he could tell her and what not. He wasn't certain if he should trust her.

"You don't need to tell me, if you don't want to. I'm just curious", she explained.

"Don't get me wrong but you are Lord Sinclair's sister", he said slowly, "and your brother is supposed to be close to the King."

"I swear that Lord Sinclair will never find out anything about what you tell me", she promised and grinned secretly, since Hook wasn't the person Kevin believed to be and she wouldn't break her promise.

"But you are a woman and you shouldn't be confronted with information that is not meant for your ears."

Emma smiled at him gently. There was just no way to hate him and it was quite difficult to distrust him. He was just too kind and honest. She took a deep breath, "Lotte is a young woman, too. She is even younger than I am and if I can do anything to help her, I'll do it. You just need to give me the opportunity to do so."

Kevin frowned, "what makes you believe she needed your help?"

"You just told me, that she had been imprisoned for robbery and was supposed to be executed by her own guards. And you said that she had tried to escape. Of course she needs help."

He sighed and gave up, "her father is insane, to say it nicely. Everyone knows that, but nobody dares to attack him, because he somehow knows everything that happens at the borders to his realm. This place just can't be stormed. I planned to and I was stopped by my father. Besides that, nobody wanted to build an alliance with me to fight him because of that. In addition to that, most of the realms around here have their own problems and can't afford to burry their minds with more problems.

You have no idea how surprised I was, when I noticed that Lotte was his daughter everyone has been talking about all the time. He is strangely obsessed with her, which might be her biggest problem here."

Kevin's expression changed once more as he glared across her shoulder, "is that really Lord Sinclair?"

She looked at him in surprise, "why do you ask?"

"I've heard strange rumors about him. He must be a womanizer", he was jealous. As he noticed what he had just said, he looked at her apologetically, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't talk about your brother like this."

"That's why I know exactly that he really is Lord Sinclair", she joked, "could it be that you're jealous?"

Kevin smiled shyly and his eyes shone from amusement. He didn't say anything and there was no need for that. His expression said everything. After a moment, it turned serious again and he focused on Hook and Lotte, who were smiling at each other, "I'm sorry, but I don't trust your brother."

"You don't need to worry about him", she tried to convince him and maybe even herself, but she would never admit it, not even to him.

"I've heard many stories about him and some would have been enough to imprison or even kill him", he said darkly, "stories which would scare you. I'm certain you wouldn't believe half of them. They would make you feel sick."

"Lord Sinclair is a devil, that's true", she said slowly and chose her words carefully, "he's made a lot of mistakes and I'm certain, he will continue to do so. But my brother is someone I could always count on so far."

Kevin frowned at her for a very long moment. He cleared his throat, "that doesn't sound convinced, if you ask me."

"My brother is important to me", Emma said and was surprised that she actually admitted something like that about Hook, even though he didn't understand the code behind her words, "but I don't like every of Lord Sinclair's decisions."

"Why do you do that?"

"Do what", Emma asked. She had secretly enjoyed talking about the two different men like that, even though the Prince didn't understand anything. Kevin was right about the true Lord. He really was a true devil and after he had tried to force himself on her, there was no way, she would ever defend him or have to say something nice about him. But she had to like him if she wanted to convince in the role of his younger sister, so she projected everything good she had to say on Hook.

"Why do you talk about him so strangely", Kevin asked when he finally revealed that he had noticed her little, pointless trick. Well, sometimes it is as if there were two different men", she said and smiled to herself, while Kevin seemed to accept her reasoning and focused on Lotte again.

Emma glanced at the King, who was still starring at Lotte and Hook while his secretary finally reached the emcee. This wasn't good. Soon their cover would be blown.

Kevin stared at her before he followed her glance and noticed the King. His glance darkened, "he doesn't seem to like your brother."

"He doesn't seem to like any man in this room who comes close to the Princess", Emma corrected without thinking. As she realized it, they stared at each other for a second. The music stopped just to start with another melody, dancing pairs left the dance floor, others walked up to it and Hook lead Lotte back to them. The princess looked nervous and worried instead of relieved and happy, as Emma would have expected her to. What had Hook told her?

"Prince", Hook greeted him shortly, before he focused on Emma with a serious expression, "I hope my sister was great company to you."

"She was indeed", Kevin answered seriously. But there was something in his voice that sounded not just angry but almost warningly, "your sister is an angel, Lord." He kissed Emma's hand, before he handed it back to Hook and turned to Lotte. He bowed, "may I have this dance, Princess?"

Lotte smiled warmly at him, let go of Hook's arm and held out her hand to the prince to accept his offer to dance. She followed him to the dance floor and left them behind. Emma waited just until she was certain that they couldn't hear them, "the King is suspicious of us."

"That was to be expected", Hook answered darkly, "but this dance was absolutely necessary."

"What did you find out?"

"Our dear King isn't careful anymore", he said sarcastically and took her hand to lead her through the room, "he left the sand in his rooms. Lotte saw it when she was waiting for him."

"So what now", Emma asked as they stopped in a corner of the ballroom.

"Now, we search for that sand."

Her eyes wandered off to the princess, "what about Lotte? How shall we get her out of here?"

Hook sighed and Emma understood. Now it was clear why Lotte had looked so worried, but she wouldn't agree to this, "no. I won't just leave her behind. We promised Doris to get her out of here and I stay true to my word."

"Calm down, Love."

"No."

"Relax", he grabbed both of her shoulders, "she'll come to us on her own. If everything works out that is."

"And how should she do that? The king is watching her every move, Hook. He won't leave her out of sight", she pointed out worried.

He pointed at the dancing pair they had just parted with, "he is the key."

Emma frowned, "what? Kevin?"

"It depends all on him", he stated and glanced at the king, who send away his secretary who finally had made his way back to him. It seemed now that Hook wasn't dancing with Lotte anymore, the king didn't care about the pirate, but only about Prince Kevin instead. The secretary on the other hand searched the room for them.

"Come on", Hook said and took her hand to lead her back to the dance floor, "we shouldn't waste any more time."

Emma frowned, "so you think dancing like this isn't wasting time?"

He grinned, "no. It's the fastest way to get through the crowed. What did you talk about with the prince?"

Emma frowned and followed him through the room, "we talked about Lord Sinclair and his awful behavior."

"So that's why he is staring at me like that", he understood and let go of her to pull her through the crowed, up the small stairs and outside into the hall, "that explains everything."

They were silent for a short moment.

"Were you referring to me or to the real Lord when you did", he asked curious and his glance was almost forcing her to tell him the truth.

She ignored it, "I didn't lie."

He frowned and stopped to move. He stared at her unable to judge her words. Unable to tell if she had something bad about him and if she had meant it that way or if she had referred to the real Lord in that case. His hands fell to his sides just to grab hers and pull her up the small stairs to the entrance hall. He led her up another staircase und through corridors. To her surprise, he knew the way. Lotte must have had told her. Strangely, nobody seemed to care for them as they entered the private area, that wasn't connected to the ball at all. Was it a trap? Why didn't anybody care about them? But when she noticed the other pairs up here, she was not surprised anymore. In fact, it seemed to be the ordinary thing to happen, that the guests came up here to have a little fun in private.

Hook suddenly stopped and tried to open a door, but it was locked. He knelt down in front of it and tried to break through the keyhole. He checked it to see if it was locked from inside and sighed, "too bad I couldn't bring along my hook."

"Let me do that", Emma said and shoved him aside, the carpet, that lead through the entire hallway up here covering their steps. She fished two pins of a hanging carpet at a wall and stuck them into the keyhole. In seconds, the lock was opened.

Hook pushed open the door and smiled at her charmingly, "after you, My Lady."

"How courteous", she smiled sarcastically especially since she had done the work and not him. At the same time, it felt like in old times to joke around while stealing and not to consider a possible capture by guards. It reminded her of a part of her that she had locked away fro the past years ever since her last raid. It was strange and somehow it even seemed to be out of place since she wasn't the Emma she had been back then anymore. She never wanted to be the naïve girl, who trusted her partner blindly ever again. Back then, it had hurt just too much to be betrayed by somebody as close to her as he had been.

Would Hook do the same? No, he wouldn't. Hook needed her to find Rumpelstiltskin or ideas about where to find him.

Hook closed the door behind them, "on occasion we have to talk about Graham's lessons, Love."

She looked at him a little surprised. She hadn't even noticed that she had entered this room as lost in her thoughts she had been so it took her a while to understand that he was still talking about that door. She wanted to correct him, since it had been Graham who had taught her to do this, but decided against it, because she didn't want to answer questions about Neal, "we both know that it wasn't something big since you could have easily opened it, too."

"Ouch", he said and placed his hand upon his chest as if she had hurt him, "pull in your claws, Cat, I don't mean to harm you."

He was right. Her words had slipped out in an unfriendly way. Maybe she was just paranoid, but now that she thought about it, his behavior had changed ever since their confrontation with Cora and she had been too blind to notice it. She only had noticed one half of it and had been blind to the other until now. Had he just used his charms to cover up his distrust or even his true plans without her? When she had met Rumpelstiltskin, he had questioned exactly this and even though she had noticed and questioned her own behavior towards Hook compared to Graham back then, she had forgotten about it soon after. Maybe she was just paranoid, but she couldn't take the chance to be wrong about a partner again. This time there wouldn't be a Graham to save her and pick up the peaces. This time she would maneuver herself into a much worse situation. This time in this situation right now, she wouldn't have to cope with someone who just was angry with her for trying to steal something but with an insane father, who would be furious with her for stealing the one thing that would help him to break every rule of ethics, moral, trust and a healthy relationship between family members by marrying his own daughter and committing incest. She could die.

Hook stared at her a little worried, "serious, Love, what is wrong with you?"

She snapped out of it, "I-I am jut wondering what Kevin will have to do and what we will do now."

For a moment, he studied her carefully and it was clear that he didn't believe her. Obviously, he decided to let it pass and walked past her into the room, which she recognized for the first time now. There were huge windows on the opposite side of the room, through which barely shone the dim light of the moon. In front of them was a huge desk that carried many papers. At the walls all around were sideboards, shelves with lots of books and a display case in which were three dresses of different shape and color and something that looked like a strange fur of several animals.

"The Prince will meet Blake and Crouch to provoke a confrontation and disturb the festivities", he answered her first question as he walked up to the desk, "they will fight the guards and hopefully the little Princess will make it up here in the meantime. At least we will make use of the time we'll get through this and search for the sand, before we get out of here." He looked up from the desk he was searching through and stared at Emma, who eyed the dresses in the display case, "that is if we focus on the sand now, of course. Love, I don't think this is the right time to develop interest in fashion."

Emma ignored his words and bit her bottom lip. She wasn't interested in fashion. Lotte would catch too much attention the way she was and this cloak would take care of the problem for them. She had planned to take these clothes with them all along believing that Lotte could need them in the future. Now it turned out that the cloak of different fur would be handy.

She heard Hook searching through the furniture behind her again, so he had given up to encourage her to help him. She didn't care. She searched the entire display case for a lock or something she could use to open it, but there was nothing. Just as she decided to simply break the glass, the door was opened and a very exhausted Lotte stumbled into the room. She breathed hard and stared at them as hell broke loose somewhere below them, "what are you doing?"

"Searching for the sand", Hook said frustrated and shoved a picture the side, that was hanging at the wall just in case there was a safe hidden behind it, "at least that's what I'm doing. Where is it, Lotte?"

"Underneath the carpet", the Princess answered through the noise and pulled at a desk to block the door, but it didn't move at all. It was too heavy for her. She was very nervous and the noise from below increased her rush, "whatever you do, don't touch the display case or he'll be here immediately."

Emma rushed to Hook and helped him with the huge carpet, "and what are you doing with that desk?"

"I block the door", Lotte answered the obvious.

"That's not what I meant. How do you expect us to get out of here, if you block that door?"

Lotte stopped and stared at them, "you want to go back down there?"

Hook broke the secret door in the floor with a paper knife he had found on the desk and fished out the package with magic sand, "of course."

Emma ran up to the display case, "Hook, the sand?"

"Got it", he answered and Emma destroyed its glass with a chair. It was noisy, but it worked. She fished out the cloak carefully avoiding the peaces of glass on the floor and sticking the wooden frame to give it to Lotte, "put this on and take this."

She threw the nut she had received from Nova at her, "point it at everything you want to take a long."

Lotte stared at the nut and let the cloak fall to the ground. As she held the nut away from her, a bright light appeared and the cloak was gone. She stared at the nut with her mouth opened.

Emma swirled around to Hook who waited impatiently for them, "am I right if I believe that I won't need this dress anymore?"

The noise from below died slowly died out. But the noise outside the castle grew louder. Therefore, the fight had been transferred outside. That was good for them, since nobody would care for them, now.

Hook, who had noticed it, too, leaned at a sideboard, his arms crossed in front of his chest, the package with the sand hanging from his belt. He watched her carefully and frowned. His eyes wandered from her décolleté from where she had gotten the nut, to Lotte, who used it to collect the dresses now.

She waited for his answer fully aware of the fact, that he distrusted her just as he had done it the entire time during the past days. Gone were the easy atmosphere and the charming companion on this journey who she had met and interacted with during the past hour. Somehow, it was sad, but she didn't have the time to call him out on it.

"Yes", he finally answered but the mood in his eyes resonated in his voice.

"Great", she ignored him and tried to shove off the skirt and the farthingale because they would just get in her way but they were bound up in her back and she couldn't loosen the lines.

Lotte walked up to her staring at the nut in her hand, "what is this?"

"A present", Emma answered shortly, while Hook walked up to the door, "what no? We can't stay here forever and I doubt they will just let us through down there."

Lotte helped her with the lines and soon the skirt was lying in a circle around her feet. She stepped out of it dressed in her brown trousers, which she had put on secretly when Doris had been busy with Hook. She ignored Lotte's stare.

Hook stared at her for a short second before he shook his hand and held up the sand, "with this we don't need to worry about anything, Love."

He opened the door.

Lotte's face turned pale and Emma couldn't help but stare at the hallway outside, "did you tell them, too?"

Down the hallway, several guards rushed towards them. There were about ten of them harmed with swords and protected by armors. They tried to creep up to them, but as soon as they noticed that they had caught them, they rushed up to them.

Hook threw the door shut and ran up to the sideboard with Emma on his heels, "forgot about that."

"Obviously. And what now", she asked and helped him to place the furniture in front of the door as Lotte had tried with the desk before. The door shook as soon as they stepped away from it.

"We could pretend to threaten Lotte. Do you have a weapon?"

Emma stared at him in disbelieve, "of course not."

"But at least your trousers are here", he growled angrily and searched the room for something he could use as a weapon in a hurry.

"Don't blame me. It wasn't my ridiculous plan that got us here", she growled back and ran up to Lotte to help her out of the skirt and the farthingale, first.

"What are you doing", Lotte asked shocked.

"You can't run through the forest in this. If we ever reach it as our grand leader has planned us to, that is of course", Emma said sarcastically through the noise at the door, where the guards still tried to break through.

"I heard that, Love", he stated as he looked out of the windows and grinned, "we could climb down here."

Lotte looked down on herself, "with this?"

"Not if I can finally get you out of it", Emma growled but didn't manage to open the strings.

"Use this", Hook threw the paper cutter at her and opened the window.

Emma caught it, "that helps."

She cut the strings and helped Lotte to step out of her skirt, dressed in the upper part of her dress and the long undergarments, Emma had refused to wear. The noise in front of the door became louder while they ran up to Hook and the window. They helped Lotte through the window and waited until she was deep enough for the next to climb outside.

"Careful, I'm not certain the rose tendrils will carry us", Hook warned her then she was gone. He turned around to Emma as the door shook heavily underneath the guards' attempts to get in. No matter what they would do, they needed to be fast, since the door wouldn't last for long anymore.

Hook took the paper cutter from her and looked at her before he focused on the door. Within seconds, all of her evil thoughts were back. Was this it now? Was this the moment he would betray her? Would the paper cutter be sharp enough to even hurt her? Did he want to hurt and leave her here with the guards?

Emma stared at him insecure of what she would do and of what she should do while the first crack appeared in the door. A part of her still wanted to trust him.

When he stood right in front of her, he placed his wooden hand in her back and pulled her closer until her chest hit his, before he reached behind her with the knife in his other and. Emma placed her fingers in his neck just to make sure that she would have a chance against him, pretending to make space for him, as there was a reaping sound.

"I would have preferred to do this in another situation", he whispered in her ear as the robe she wore above her corsage gave in and her arms were free to move, "climbing will be easier like this."

"Thanks", she stepped back and the robe fell to the ground, "but what makes you believe I would have let you do that in another situation?"

Hook ignored her but looked at the legs while she checked on the Princess, "weren't you supposed to wear those white pants like Lotte?"

Emma climbed out of the window just as another peace broke off the door. She didn't answer him, "hurry up."

She climbed to the side, so he could follow her faster as the sound of breaking wood reached their ears. The furniture was shoved aside.

The roses' thorns scratched their arms and faces and sometimes even stuck in their hands when they grabbed plants instead of the wooden ladder underneath it. But the plants were great to hide as the guards looked down through the window in the dark of the night and thanks to the wires, Hook was able to climb at all, since he had to hang his arm into them. The noise from above revealed to them, that the guards were searching the room and falling objects that rained down on them told them, that they had been discovered despite the plants' protection. Those objects didn't hit them, thanks to the darkness and the distance they had already brought between them and the windows. The air was filled with the smell of smoke, so something had to be burning behind or in front of the castle somewhere inside its walls.

"Remind me, to never attend a ball with you again", Emma grunted as she landed on both of her feet and looked down on her dirty and bloody hands.

Hook landed not as gently as she did on the ground. He fell on his butt and held his left arm close to his chest as if it was hurting badly. He was sweaty and grunted a lot, "where is Lotte?"

Emma stared at him, "are you alright?"

"Don't care about me. Where is she?"

"I'm here", the princess said out of the dark and pulled back the hat of the fur-cloak she had put on. So she had found out how to use Nova's nut.

"That hurts", Hook said through gritted teeth as he stood up and loosened his left arm a little.

"You're arm", Emma asked concerned.

"No", he grinned but his breath was still heavily, "that you don't want to attend a ball with me again. I thought you liked dancing with me." He chuckled but he couldn't fool Emma. She knew he was just trying to cover up his pain and his anger towards her. Instead of calling him out on it, she grabbed his right hand and pulled him along, "come on. We need to get away from here."

"The sand, do you have it", Lotte asked and followed them into the forest.

"I even brought that paper cutter", Hook answered and pointed at his belt, where it was sticking.

"Where is Kevin", Lotte asked and ran in front of him to stop them. The way she looked at him, Emma suspected that he had hidden a part of his plan from both of them. As he noticed her expression, he said slowly, "I don't know."

"What?"

Emma walked up to her and pulled her along, "we don't have time for this now. He's fine for sure."

"How can you know that?"

"He is with Crouch and Blake, that's why", Hook stated and avoided Emma's judging eyes on purpose.

---

"You don't understand. I can't let her go", she insisted and stared at her, "it's too dangerous for her and we need to pay Hook with her. We've made a deal."

"You mean, you've made a deal. I just do not understand you, Regina. This is trafficking and nothing else. How can you support something like that? Besides that it wouldn't be the first time you don't keep your word, remember?"

"I just want to protect her."

"No, you want to use her", Snow White corrected her, "you can't fool me, Regina. I've seen the state she is in. That's not how you protect someone. Especially not if you want to sell her to pirates."

Regina sighed and placed her hands on the rail of her balcony. Her fingertips pressed into the cold stone until they hurt, but she didn't stop. The pain was distracting her somehow and that was good. She didn't want to freak out after all, "what you saw was nothing but an illusion. I placed a spell on the cell to keep my guards away from her."

Snow White crossed her arms in front of her chest. Her voice was filled with skepticism, "and who have you protected her from? The guards can't be the problem since you confront her with them through keeping her hostage."

"She is not a hostage."

"But she is locked up."

"To protect her."

"Of whom? Would you finally tell me?"

"My mother", Regina said darkly and stared into the night, "she would have loved to use her and I couldn't allow that to happen. I couldn't allow that she would find out about her."

"But why her", Snow asked confused and walked up to her, "Belle is just an ordinary woman. What use could your mother have had of using her? What for? And why can't you let her go now? Your mother is gone, isn't she? So she can't be a danger for Belle anymore."

Regina sighed deeply, "I can't let her go and I won't no matter what you say."

"But…"

"Charming is back", Regina disturbed her before their discussion could turn into an argument. In the current situation, it would be bad to fight each other. They needed to work together so nobody would make use of their fight to play them out against each other. They couldn't risk Henry for a stupid argument about a woman nobody had cared for so far. Well, nobody except for Henry that was.

"If you think this is over now, then you're highly mistaken", Snow stated like a mother scolding her child.

Regina sighed, "but for now it is. Don't you want to tell him the good news?"

Snow White frowned and followed her back inside, "what news?"

Regina stopped and looked at her annoyed, "come on. Don't think I didn't notice. You're hungry all the time and you eat the strangest things together, your body aches especially if you have to climb stairs, you're tired fast and somehow you even look different."

"I look different?"

Regina turned her back on her again. She didn't like to tell her, but now that she had asked, "you're shining somehow."

"What?"

She snorted and turned around to her again. She walked up to her and stared straight into her eyes, "don't act dump. We both know that you're pregnant again."

Snow White's reaction made clear that she hadn't known it. Maybe she had been too caught up in her worries for Henry and her grief of losing him to notice the signs. Her face turned pale and her eyes widened in surprise. She looked as if she was shocked and was frozen on the spot. For a long moment, she didn't even blink. When her eyes went dry and she had to do it, she swallowed hard and looked down on her belly. She breathed heavily and placed both of her hands on it as if she had lost and found it just now. She frowned as if she had to understand this first. When she looked up her rigidity resolved and her eyes almost sparkled happily.

The door behind Regina opened and Charming stormed inside. He barely greeted her before he pulled his wife into a tight hug. Snow smiled warmly at him and tears appeared in her eyes.

Regina didn't want to watch this. She left the room and slowly walked down the hall that lead to her apple tree. When she had been with Daniel, she had dreamed of having a family with him, too. She had imagined how she would tell him the good news. How happy he would be. How his eyes would shine. How he would listen at her belly waiting for a sound coming from their baby or a kick from inside. And she had imagined how they would have raised their children together. She had imagined how they would have taught them horseback riding and to stay true to themselves. She had imagined what it would be like when they would sit outside, watching the sunset together while their children would be sleeping inside. But her mother had taken all that away from her. Cora had destroyed it and there was no way to get it back. She wouldn't get another chance. Daniel was dead. Her mother was gone. She was all that was left.

Instead, she had to watch Snow White living her dreams. It wasn't easy. It actually hurt quite a lot. Having Snow around and seeing all her happiness and luck she could hardly feel at home anymore. Sure, Snow hadn't been that lucky with her children and in her daughter's case it had been her fault, she was jealous anyway. Snow wasn't alone. She had Charming.

Regina missed Henry in this moment even more than ever before. The boy had always been able to make her forget about those feelings without even noticing it. He had always made her feel like a mother around him, because he had been someone she could care for and treat well in a world where she had nothing. Maybe it had been wrong to think and feel about him that way, but she had never treated him bad. For him she had always been the step-grandmother he could run to and for some reason she had been fine with it, even though he was Snow's son.

"So this is the most famous apple tree in the entire Enchanted Forest, huh", someone suddenly said from behind her. She knew that voice quite well even though she hadn't known the person it belonged to for a very long time yet. Still she was glad to hear it. She didn't need to look at him to know that he was approaching her even though his steps were very silent. It was more like she just knew what he would do like they had known each other their entire lives and she had watched him doing it a thousand times before. Maybe Robin would be able to distract her before she would do something stupid like eating one of her own poisoned apples to get rid of her sorrows.

"I hope you're not hungry. In that case I'd advice you to stay away from it", she said and smiled as she heard him chuckle.

"Are you worried you could have to kiss me awake?"

She wanted to tell him, that it wouldn't work anyway but thinking of the tattoo on his wrist the words died on her tongue. She didn't know what to say now. On one hand, she knew that he was supposed to be her true love so it could be possible that it would work one day, but on the other hand, he didn't know about their connection, if it really was true and she didn't want to be the one to inform him.

"I accidentally overheard your argument with Snow White."

"Accidentally? I see", Regina said sarcastically and focused on the tree in front of her because she wasn't ready to face him yet. She didn't want to hear him attack her for her decisions like everyone else would do. She just knew she was right and that had nothing to do with taking vengeance or her own survival. It wasn't about threatening anybody anymore. Henry had changed that. He had been able to see through her and to notice the good in her.

"Who is that woman", he finally asked curiously just as she had expected him to, "what has she done to you? Why are you doing this to her?"

Regina sighed heavily, "she…", she stopped insecure if she should tell him. But something was telling her that she had to or she couldn't find out if he would understand it. And she noticed that she was very curious of what he would say. She couldn't deny her past. It was part of her and she had to accept it just like everyone else who wanted to be close to her had to.

"Everything I know about magic I learned from Rumpelstiltskin, but someday he changed. He started to interfere in my plans of killing Snow and helped her to get together with Charming despite all the obstacles that got in their way mostly because of me."

"Are we talking about the same man", Robin asked confused and surprised to hear that.

She smiled, "of course he had already been following his own plans. Well, one day I found his weakness. It was that woman I'm holding captive now."

"Wait… B-Belle?"

She stared at him, "you know her?"

"Later", he shrugged curious for her story.

Regina suddenly had a bad feeling. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to tell him about it. There had been a time in which she had been different from now. A time in which she had made decisions and done things that had been wrong and which she would regret for the rest of her life. Fine, maybe not all of them but some she definitely did regret. They had been wrong and if she would tell him now one of those decisions might already be haunting her.

If Robin knew Belle and it definitely looked like that, then he would condemn her for it no matter what she would explain to him. All he would see was Belle and how she had mistreated her. It was true that she had done something wrong with her and it was true that she hadn't done anything to release her. However, it was also a fact that she had had her reasons for it. She hadn't held captive Belle for such a long time out of fun or pleasure. There had been a time she would have loved to release her again. If he really knew her, Robin wouldn't care for those reasons anymore and she would lose him.

She frowned. Lose him? She didn't have him. They were nothing but friends, which was already more than she would have every expected. Right. He was her only friend and that was what made it so hard to tell him the truth.

Regina looked at him and regretted that she had started to tell him at all, as she noticed the curiosity in his eyes. But now it was too late to stop. She had started this story and now she had to finish it for him and for herself. If she wouldn't stay true to her past, she would never change anything about her life as Henry had whished her to.

"I noticed that she had fallen in love with him, so I told her she should try true love's kiss to free him from his curse. He would have stopped to be the Dark One and I would have lost an opponent in my fight with Snow White.

Regina sighed and avoided to look at him, "it didn't work and he threw her out cowardly as he usually is."

Robin watched her carefully as he followed her to sit on a bench in front of her apple tree. She didn't want to put on an act, so she didn't pretend that she regretted this or felt sorry for Belle. But she wasn't happy about it either. She told her story just the way it was and she was fine with it.

"In short, I convinced him that she was dead and locked her up in Snow White's old bedroom that I had turned into a cell to make sure they wouldn't meet again."

"For how long", Robin asked without looking at her. So he already hated her, didn't he? She felt bad even though she couldn't really understand why. Sure, she had started to trust him as much as she had entrusted her own heart to him, but that she had just done because of his tattoo.

"I don't know", she answered his question honestly. It had happened sometime before she had screwed up her dark curse twenty-eight years ago and she hadn't counted the days or months.

"Why don't you just let her go", his voice sounded strange but she knew why and she could understand his reaction.

"When I brought Henry here the first time", Regina said slowly and ignored his confused expression and his question, "I fell for him the moment I saw his eyes. He was just a small boy and he had already beaten me with one glance. He stayed at this place believing it was just a trip for a whole year but I couldn't treat him like a prisoner just like I hadn't been able to get rid of him. I had planned to do so in the first place, but I couldn't. When I looked into his eyes, I had hope for myself. He seemed to believe in me despite everything I had done. Maybe that was just because he didn't know anything about it and if he knew something he couldn't understand it."

"Didn't he ask for his parents? How old was he", Robin asked weather deciding to wait and listen to where this would lead them or just curious enough so he couldn't stop himself to ask. She didn't know.

"Of course he did", Regina said, "and I believe he perfectly looked through my lies of visiting his step-grandmother for a year. I don't know why he stayed instead of trying to escape. But with six years he didn't really have a choice, did he?

In any case, he found Snow White's old bedroom one day. Without me noticing it, he started to talk with Belle every time he came to visit her and they became friends. So when I noticed it he almost begged me to be nice to her and to treat her well."

"So that's what you understand in treating someone well? You lock them up", Robin asked confused. If she wasn't mistaken, then he was disgusted of her. It hurt more than she wanted to admit.

Sure, it wasn't the right thing to do towards someone else, but locking Belle up in her castle she had done for a reason that hadn't had anything to do with vengeance on Rumpelstiltskin. At least not since she had met Henry.

She knew that it had been wrong to kidnap Henry back then and she had done everything to erase this mistake. She knew that a parent would never understand it and if she was honest she couldn't understand it herself anymore. Robin was a father, so maybe he hated her for that, too.

When she had heard that Snow White had been pregnant again, she had feared her second child could take the place of her first daughter and break her curse. She had wanted to hurt Snow White because she had discovered that nothing hurt her more than to search and miss her child. Today she hated herself for it and it had taken her years to convince Snow White and Charming that she had changed. If Henry wouldn't have helped her, she might have never convinced them.

"No", she answered his questions and stood up, "no, I don't. I let her go even though I knew Rumpelstiltskin would come back on me for this. But she stumbled into my mother. Right the moment she was about to leave this castle, my dear mother had to come to visit me after eight years of nothing."

Robin stared at her, "so?"

She sighed and sank back on the bank, "my mother has always been hungry for power. She even did everything so I would end up to be King Leopold's wife no matter what I wanted or how I felt. Because turning me into a Queen she could control, would have given her more power than her magic already did."

"So", he repeated and looked at her in confusion. He still couldn't see the connection between all this and Belle's imprisonment.

"So when she ran into Belle, she tried to use her against me", Regina explained, "she knew that I had hold her captive for years and believed her to be important to me somehow, because I let her free now. And she had spied on me long enough to know about Henry. So she reaped out her heart and send her to get him. Henry didn't notice any of this when he followed her. It was an accident they ran into me as they were about to leave the castle."

"What happened then", Robin asked shocked of what she had just told him.

Regina sighed, "I send Henry back to Snow White and Charming so my mother would believe he wasn't important to me anymore and stole Belle's heart back from her as she showed up at my castle. I had been more than lucky and somehow she simply disappeared instead of fighting me back. Later on I had to find out that she had killed a friend of mine whom I had wronged."

"What then", Robin asked and this time his voice was softer.

Regina rolled her eyes, "I gave Bell her heart back and locked her up again to protect her. Her room isn't a cell anymore. I turned it into a bedroom. And Belle is fine there…"

"To protect her?"

"Cora had found out about her true identity and her connection to Rumpelstiltskin. She would have used her to control the Dark One and nobody of us would have needed that."

Robin slowly stood up and looked at her in confusion, "Why? How?"

"Rumpelstiltskin's power comes from a dagger that cursed him once", she explained, "it's the reason he is the Dark One. As long as he has the dagger himself, he can do what he wants to, but as soon as someone else gets a hold on it, he has to obey that person's whishes. Cora knew that and she wanted to threaten him to give this dagger to her by threatening Belle's life."

"I see", he said slowly but his expression didn't change. He was still confused. Regina couldn't blame him for that. It was a lot to understand in a short time and the past often was the most difficult field of information. She continued anyway, "but controlling him wouldn't have been enough for her. I'm certain one day she would have killed him to become the Dark One herself."

Robin walked up and down in front of her, before he stopped and focused on her again, "but Cora is gone now. Belle isn't in danger anymore."

She stood up and sighed, "as long as she is important to him, she will always be in danger, Robin. And we don't even know who or why Henry has been taken yet. It could be possible that we should just be distracted from something. Besides that, Rumpelstiltskin would kill me as soon as he would see her and right now, I just don't have the time and energy to deal with him. I have to focus on Henry."

"So you keep her here out of a guess and of fear?"

"Yes", Regina admitted silently, "I promised Henry that I would take care of her and I don't want to take the risk of failing in it. She is fine. She is healthy and she can read her beloved books."

"But she isn't free, is she", he pointed out accusingly, "you said that when you send Cora to Wonderland you were finally free. Don't you think Belle wants the same?"

Robin looked at her for a long moment like he was disappointed before he simply left her alone without saying anything more. He hadn't told her to let Belle go like Snow had demanded it but he had done something worse. He had forced her to think about what she was doing and he had stimulated her conscience to see everything from a changed perspective.

The entire time she had been able to stop herself from thinking about it by pretending to do the right thing and that locking her up was just her way to protect her. Every time she would have thought of Belle, which had happened a lot especially since Henry was gone, she would have told herself that Belle was fine and didn't need anything besides what she could give to her, which was almost everything.

But now she had to realize that all that wasn't enough. It wasn't what made her happy and she had broken her promise to Henry by refusing the one thing Belle actually always wanted to have, her freedom.

The worst about this was that she had been in the same position when her mother had forced her to become the Queen and still she had done it.

Regina stood up and looked at her apple tree in sorrow. In the end she was just like her mother, wasn't she? Everything she had done ever since she had lost Daniel she had done out of hunger for revenge on the entire world. She had attacked people, had locked them up. She had killed and punished them and she had destroyed their lives, their families and their loves. Just like her mother had destroyed her life for power.

The worst thing was that she couldn't change anything about it now, even though she really wanted to. Cora was gone and there was nothing to fear for Belle anymore or at least she hoped so. But Rumpelstiltskin was still there and he would hate her for what she had done to them. He would hunt for her life and he would kill her.

Regina walked back inside ignoring Snow and Charming and their mixed feelings of being sad about Henry and more than happy about their third child at the same time.

Rumpelstiltskin would hate her even more and he would try to take advantage of her situation with Henry. She couldn't allow that. If it had just been about her own life, it wouldn't have been a problem. She would have managed to protect herself against him somehow and she would do it in the future. But as long as Henry was gone, she couldn't risk to be distracted by him.

When she reached the door that lead to Belle's room, Robin was already waiting for her. He had argued with the guards she had placed in front of the room and he obviously had knocked them out in the end. As he noticed her climbing up the last stairs up to her, he smiled, "I knew you'd do it."

Regina ignored him. She was too nervous to pay any attention to him. He wouldn't like her decision. Belle would hate her and even though she didn't care about that, she was worried she was making a wrong decision. After all Belle was a valuable tool against the Dark One and she wouldn't be the only one to notice that. Hook had noticed that, too, or he wouldn't have demanded to get her in return for Henry.

She opened the door and the room that had appeared to be wet and cold turned out to be warm, light and comfortable. There was a small bed, a sitting corner, a fireplace and loads of books placed in shelves all around the room. Belle was sitting in an armchair and looked at her in a rebellious way. She reminded her of herself whenever Cora had shown up in her room to convince her she was doing the best for her.

"You are free to leave this room", Regina said and stepped aside to underline her words.

"What does that mean", Belle asked suspiciously and didn't move at all, even though she had expected her to run outside as soon as she would hear this. She knew that if Cora would have offered this to her all those years ago, she wouldn't have hesitated for even a second. She would have run away right away afraid her mother could change her mind again.

"That means you can go", she answered her a little annoyed and hoped she wouldn't deepen this subject now. She didn't want to discuss all this now. It would be just fine with her, if she wouldn't need to explain, that Belle couldn't leave this castle.

"The last time you said that, you locked me up again", Belle said accusingly, "my heart was reaped out and you locked me up again."

Regina bit down some rude things she wanted to say and resisted the urge to simply slam the door in front of her nose, "I didn't take your heart. I was the one who gave it back to you."

"But your mother did."

"And I had nothing to do with it", Regina defended herself, "do you want to leave now or not?"

Belle stood up and approached her looking argumentative into her eyes, "why now?"

"Because my mother is gone", Regina said and stepped back. She didn't want to endure this any longer. She just wanted to put an end to this.

Before she could throw her out magically, Robin entered the room and smiled at Belle, "do you want to stay here for the rest of your life or what are you waiting for?"

"Robin", Belle asked surprised and hugged him. That Regina was there, too, seemed to be totally forgotten. She left them alone ignoring the strange feeling that sneaked into her heart as she watched them interacting like old friends. There was no reason to feel like that. It was not like there had been anything between Robin and her, was it?

As she was down the stairs, she stopped and looked out of a window. She held out her hand, closed her eyes and concentrated on the spot deep inside her, where she always reached if she wanted to do magic. It warmed up, enlightened her from inside until it filled her up and burst out of her hand. She opened her eyes and watched a dark light emitting from her palm, floating through the window and disappearing in the air somewhere around the castle. At least she had made sure that Belle wouldn't be able to leave the castle now. She didn't even want to think of the trouble she would get herself into through this. But it was her only choice.