Chapter 14 – Loyalty

"Butter me up all you want. I'm still going to get you back," Emma said as she took the offered bag from Regina. Her face lit up slightly as she looked inside, "Ooh, onion rings."

Regina rolled her eyes. "I am well aware that you will make some sort of half-hearted attempt to 'get me back,' Ms. Swan. Still, I thought you could use some lunch."

Emma was already swallowing her second ring. "Thanks."

Regina nodded and pulled out her grilled chicken sandwich. "I see you already took out the trash."

"Hmm," Emma asked, before realizing, "Oh, King George. Yeah, David hauled him off to the psych ward beneath the hospital. It seemed the best place to keep him for now."

Emma watched as Regina paused mid bite and seemed to lose herself in thought. She watched with a raised eyebrow, waiting for her to resume eating before asking, "Something on your mind?"

"Nothing important," Regina dismissed.

Squinting, Emma reminded her, "I have a super power, you know."

Regina sighed and began taping her foot in irritation. "I'm unsettled," she admitted.

"About George," Emma asked in surprise.

"No," Regina replied with a shake of her head.

Emma pulled the cheeseburger out of the bag, deciding to allow the brunette time to organize her thoughts.

Eventually Regina seemed to make a decision and asked, "That pardon you gave me, you were serious?"

"Yeah," Emma replied hesitantly. "Why? Is there something else you've done that I should know about?"

"You probably already know, or at least suspect." Regina paused to gather her nerve. "I tried to frame your mother for murder."

"You're right, I did already know," Emma replied, wondering what Regina was getting at.

"But I'm not the one locked up in the psych ward, Sidney is."

"And now that George is sharing a room right next door, you finally remembered him," Emma finished.

Cringing, Regina was forced to admit that was more accurate than she would have liked. "He doesn't deserve to be there, it was my fault."

"So… you want me to let him go," Emma asked.

"I…" Regina struggled to find the right words. "It's not that simple."

Emma lifted a single eyebrow.

"Do you know who Sidney was in the Enchanted Forest," Regina asked.

Half-shrugging, Emma replied, "I think the kid thought he was the man in the mirror or something."

Regina nodded. "He was, and before that he was the Genie of Agrabah."

"As in, Disney's Aladdin," Emma asked in surprise.

"How many times do I have to tell you that Walt Disney was a fraud, Ms. Swan? His stories were gross fabrications."

"Okay, fine," Emma agreed. "So tell me about the Genie."

"He… had a thing for me. I used it, used him, to make him murder Leopold for me," Regina confessed.

Emma nodded. "So… you want to throw him a parade?"

"For heaven's sake, Ms. Swan. Can you act like an adult for five minutes?"

Holding up her hands in submission, Emma mouthed a quick apology, but remained silent.

"Having him locked away is terribly unfair to him," Regina explained, "But having him wandering around Storybrooke, sniffing at my skirts, is also… unsatisfactory."

Emma snorted.

"I do have an idea," Regina admitted slowly. "But I'd like the use of the Savior's moral compass before running off and doing something rash."

Having wrapped up their discussion about Sidney, and finished lunch, Regina stood to leave.

"If you've got time," Emma asked, halting her, "Can I ask you about something?"

Regina sat back down. "Of course. What do you need?"

This time it was Emma who was nervous. "I've been thinking about what you said last night… the knee thing… I don't really know what to make of it?"

"Is it just that things aren't done that way in this world," Regina suggested.

"I suppose…" Emma rubbed the back of her neck. "It just kind of sounds like slavery," she admitted.

"I suppose it is, in a way," Regina replied thoughtfully.

Emma sat across from her, too surprised to speak. She had so expected a denial, an angry response to the suggestion that she was anyone's slave, and yet she hadn't denied it. Emma found it unnerving.

"When you really get down to it, back in the Enchanted Forest, anyone who wasn't a King or Queen was little more than a slave to one. Every King was an absolute monarch, who could take anything they wanted, even someone's life, with no justification at all." Regina bowed her head, thinking back to some of the atrocities that she had committed as Queen.

"Why the Hell do my parents want to go back to that," Emma asked in disgust.

Regina shrugged. "It was their home. For many people, that's enough. That and… you only see the shackles if you really look for them." Regina looked away. "Growing up the way I did, I never saw the shackles, but I could feel them."

"This is all kinds of fucked up," Emma thought. Staring at Regina, the way she was sitting, her posture, the empty look on her face... "I see them. And the day the curse broke at the hospital… I was the one that put them on her."

Emma stood abruptly, "I need to go. I'll a… catch you for dinner okay?"

Regina looked back at Emma. She was surprised by the blonde's abrupt departure, but shrugged it off and simply nodded.

"I'll bring pizza. You've cooked a lot lately and I uh… I don't want you to cook tonight."

Sidney's eyes slowly opened and he yawned.

"Welcome back, Sidney," Regina began.

Startled, Sidney glanced around and tried to gather his bearings. He was in his car… belted into the passenger seat… Regina was sitting behind the wheel… and they were… in the middle of nowhere. "What's going on?"

"What's the last thing you remember," Regina asked calmly.

"I don't know. I um… I was sent to the asylum for Mrs. Nolan's kidnapping, after that the days just started to blur together. How long has it been?"

"About six months," Regina replied. "But it's over now. I got you out, and now, I'm going to help you make a clean getaway."

His eyes widening, Sidney stammered. "You broke me out?"

"Of course Sidney." Regina gave him a reassuring pat on the knee. "You didn't think I would just forget about you, did you?"

"It never crossed my mind," Sidney replied, trying to sound more sure than he was.

"Well, I'm just sorry that it took so long." Regina smiled. "Here, you'll need these." As she passed him the packet, Regina continued, "I've created a whole new identity for you. Inside you'll find a driver's license, passport, birth certificate, some money to get you started, along with a map and an address to a safe house in Boston. I've also taken the liberty of putting Massachusetts license plates on your car, and altering the DMV records so that your VIN won't draw any red flags."

Regina leaned in towards him. "Believe me when I say, they are never going to find you."

"I uh… I don't know what to say," Sidney replied in astonishment. He opened the packet and got a look at his passport. "Rob Williams…"

Regina maintained a calm façade as she screamed internally. "For crying out loud, Ms. Swan! Was this your way of getting back at me?"

"I suppose I should let you get going," she said finally.

They both exited the car and Sidney came around to take his place behind the wheel. Rolling down the window, he looked up at Regina. "Thank you for doing this. I don't know how risky this was for you… but I know it wasn't free."

Regina placed her hands on the door and leaned down to the open window. "Listen. I know that you've kind of had a thing for me over the years and I know that I haven't always been a good friend to you. Worse than that, I've taken advantage of you and I'm sorry for that." She gave him a sympathetic look. "What I want you to do now is take off and forget about me. Start over somewhere else, find someone who loves you, and if you want, start a family. Henry is the best thing that ever happened to me and… I hope you're able to go out and find something that will make you just as happy."

Sidney smiled up at her, feeling misty-eyed. "Goodbye, Madam Mayor."

"Goodbye, old friend."

After watching the taillights fade into the distance, Regina turned around and walked back across the town line. "Goodbye."