Little Boy Lost
"What happened?" Emma asked approaching Regina and the crying child,
"I'll tell you what happened" Blue chipped in from behind them "you tried to do this too early, I tried to warn you, why wouldn't you listen?"
"I don't know why this happened, but I don't believe that it had anything to do with doing this to early" Regina snapped irritably "I mean I felt fine and I still do, there's nothing wrong with my magic, how about you two?" she asked addressing Emma and Zelena
"All fine here sis" Zelena confirmed
"My magic's good too" Emma added "so what do we do now?"
"We just need to reopen the portal" Regina shrugged "someone will need to walk him through and make sure he gets back to his mother safely, we don't want to risk any more mishaps, I imagine that poor Miriam is frantically searching for him around the area where the portal closed at this precise moment so it shouldn't take long for whoever crosses over with him to find her and hand him over, we just need to hold the portal open for a little longer than usual so that whoever accompanies him can come straight back"
Both Emma and Zelena nodded in agreement and the boy took a deep breathe lips turning upwards into a watery smile, but Blue still remained unconvinced
"Do you have a better idea?" Regina challenged the fairy beginning feel her patience slip "okay then" she continued when Blue didn't reply "now we just need to decide who's going to escort this young man back to his mother"
"I'll do it" Blue volunteered surprising them all
"are you sure?" the mayor asked
"yes" Blue smiled down at the boy before turning back to Regina "on the condition that you promise to close the portal behind us if I'm not back within ten minutes"
The mayor was sure that her jaw had visibly dropped but she was cut off before she could reply "don't look at me like that" Blue continued "you said yourself that Miriam will be just on the other side trying to find him so there no reason for my trip to take longer than ten minutes unless something goes wrong in which case you need to close the portal, to keep the town safe, we'll synchronise watches" Blue gently tapped Regina's, Emma's, Zelena's and her own left wrists with her wand, small flashes of white light faded to reveal matching watches on each wrist, each one sporting a timer set to ten minutes, "I felt my magic return to full strength about an hour ago" she smiled "so I'll be fine even if I do end up stuck back home, now these timers will start ticking down as soon as I enter the portal, they will vibrate briefly at five minutes, then at ten an alarm will sound, if I'm still not back at that time close the portal" she instructed with a finality in her tone that no one argued against besides they couldn't deny that it was the most sensible course of action.
"okay" Regina agreed reaching out and gently squeezing Blues arm "But if you don't come back, be assured that we will regroup and come after you, I won't rest until I know that you and this little one" she cast a brief glance down at the boy before bring her eyes back up to meet the fairies "are safe"
"thanks Regina" Blue replied smiling warmly as she bought her hand up to rest on top of the brunette's "now how about we get this over with"
"yes lets" Regina agreed breaking contact with the fairy and squatting to the boy's level, taking his hands in her own, "do you understand what's going to happen?" she enquired softly, the boy nodded slowly but there was an unmistakable look of uncertainty in his eyes "I'm going to leave you here with Blue" she explained "she'll look after you, she's a good fairy" Regina smiled encouragingly and the boy offered a brave little smile in return " then when Emma, Zelena and I have gotten the portal open Blue will take you through and see you safely to your mother, does that sound okay?" the boy nodded again and Regina stepped into place to reopen the portal.
"ready" she called to others, "go"
She felt her magic build and channelled it into the wand, a bolt of purple light erupt from the tip, extending ever outwards until it met with the green and white bolts that were extending from the wands that Emma and Zelena held, she watched as the bright light of the portal began to form and grow, as it began to expand more rapidly she glanced over at Blue who was taking the boys hand, the fairy suddenly locked eyes with Regina a look of pure shock and fear on her face, she tried to mouth something in the mayors direction but the brunettes attention was abruptly pulled away from the fairy when she hit an extremely powerful block, this she thought as she pushed harder in an attempt to break through the barrier, beads of sweat gathering at her brow must be what Blue was so alarmed about, she must have sensed it coming somehow and tried to warn her, glancing at Emma and Zelena, Regina saw that they were both perspiring from their efforts to break the barrier to no avail, the portal remained stuck at just under halfway open, facing it again she refocused with a renewed strength but the harder she pushed, the harder the block seemed to push back, the wand was beginning to heat up now, so she tried to pull back but found that she couldn't, she was forced to stay in place as the wand became more and more unbearably hot, and just when she thought that she couldn't take anymore it shattered in her hand with a force that threw her off of her feet, huge clouds of purple, green and white magic rose into the sky quickly dissipating as splinters of wand wood rained down all around them.
"what the hell just happened" Emma demanded pulling herself to her feet, she and Zelena had both suffered the same fate as Regina,
"I think that someone doesn't want us to get back through" the brunette replied shakily looking from the wreckage that surrounded her to Blue and the boy, only the fairy wasn't anywhere to be seen anymore, the boy now stood alone looking at the ground crying quietly.
xoxoxox
"where did she go" Regina asked looking at the others in alarm as she reached the boy,
"I dunno, I guess she must have gotten sucked into the portal somehow" Zelena replied offering the only plausible answer that she could come up with for the fairy's sudden disappearance.
"but we don't even know if it opened all the way, she could be stuck between worlds" Regina's faced blanched with horror as she spoke,
"I'm not going home now am I" the boy sniffed beside her fresh tears beginning to flow,
"hey, hey, it's okay" Regina reassured him "we'll take care of you until we can get you back okay?"
The boy nodded lower lip still quivering "thank-you miss" he whispered
"how about you call me Regina from now on" she smiled and gently bopped him on the nose "and what about you, what's your name?"
"Ollie" the boy replied offering a tiny smile in return
"that's a lovely name" the brunette smiled more broadly offering him her hand
"I came as fast as I could" a frantic voice sounded through the crowd "what's going on? And where's Blue" Astrid demanded as she pushed through the last of the crowd into the clearing closely followed by Leeroy who had evidently been the one to call her.
"We don't know for sure yet, but we think that she may have been sucked into the portal when it sprang closed on us" Regina explained gently "and the wands" the pink fairy enquired eyes wide with shock as they followed the direction that Regina was indicating towards and landed on the mess of wooden splinters nearby.
"What are we going to do now?" Emma asked again
"I don't know yet, but we'll figure it out, I think this little lad has had enough excitement for one day though" Regina gently squeezed the boy's hand, "we need to get him settled somewhere, then we can work out our next step"
"What about Belle" Zelena suggested 'she's great with kids, she's looking after Robyn but I'm sure she won't mind taking in another" the red head reached for her phone "hang on a sec I'll call her" Ollie retreated behind Regina's legs as Zelena paced back and forth gabbling animatedly to Belle,
"what's wrong?" Regina whispered squatting down to boy's level again and peering into his face which was currently screwed up with worry,
"please don't leave me" Ollie quietly pleaded choking back a frightened sob,
"oh sweetheart" Regina replied heart breaking a little for him as she pulled him into her embrace "of course I won't"
"Belle said that's fine we can drop him off as soon as we're ready" Zelena unaware of the exchange that had just taken place between her sister and the boy triumphantly declared as she ended the call,
"that won't be necessary" Regina smiled reassuringly at Ollie "I'm going to look after him myself"
"Bloody hell sis, and what, you couldn't have told me that before I hung up" Zelena huffed rolling her eyes in exasperation as she turned her back on the brunette and redialled Belles number.
"What about our little problem?" Emma asked "we are going to need your help working this out Regina"
"I can research from home" the brunette replied "you and Zelena have access to my vault, and I'll be on the end of the phone if you need me, you'll do fine, I have faith in you Emma" she smiled at the blonde, then turned to Ollie " now how about I get you back to my house and I'll make you a nice hot chocolate" he offered a slightly bigger smile and nodded
"I like hot chocolate" he told her timidly
"So can I leave you two to regroup and look into what's happened here" she asked Zelena and Emma, "maybe you'd like to help too Astrid?" she glanced at the fairy "And Emma you should probably talk to Gold too he might know something about all of this, don't forget to call me as soon as you know anything"
"sure" Emma replied while the other two nodded, a single sad tear rolling down Astrid's cheek as she scanned the wreckage of wands one last time.
xoxoxoxoxox
With Ollie strapped securely in the backseat looking out of the window Regina steered the car towards her house pulling onto her drive a short while later and letting him out, she took his hand and led him into her home, Brianne greeted them in the kitchen with a cheerful smile, "who's this then" she asked watching as the little boy peered out from behind the mayors leg
"this is Ollie" Regina said introducing him "It's okay sweetheart, this is Brianne's she's really nice, how about you sit with her while I make that hot chocolate I promised you"
The boy hesitated for a few seconds longer before accepting the hand that Brianne was offering him, if she wondered why the boy was there or where he had come from the blonde didn't ask, she simply led him into the kitchen, where she lifted him onto one of the tall stools that surrounded the island, settling herself onto the one beside him. They sat patiently together, watching the brunette work, a few minutes later she presented them both with a chocolaty drink "be careful, It's, hot" she smiled as she sat across from them nursing her own mug. The three of them drank in silence then Brianne took Ollie through to the lounge to show him cartoons returning a few minutes later just as Regina was closing the dishwasher.
"so where'd he come from?" she finally enquired
"he's one of Miriam's boys" the brunette sighed and recounted the whole sorry story,
"Oh dear" Brianne exclaimed concerned "do you think you'll be able to find Blue and get Ollie home?"
"honestly I don't know" Regina admitted "but I do know that I'll never give up trying, come on let's go and check on him" she said leading the way to the lounge where the little boy was still sitting with his eyes glued to the tv.
They were all settled in the living room few hours later having just eaten a heart dinner when Regina finally heard from Emma via a text informing her that they hadn't learned anything new yet, "looks like you'll be staying here tonight" she told the boy stopping midway through tapping out her reply to ruffle his hair "you can sleep in my son's room"
He nodded in response without moving his eyes from the tv, "would you mind watching him while I get the room ready?" she asked Brianne, as she hit send.
"of course not, I'd love to, you go ahead" the blonde replied settling down closer to the boy.
Pushing open the door Regina stepped into Henrys room, taking in all the familiar things that surrounded her, she tucked Henry's most treasured items away inside his wardrobe sealing it with her magic, then she walked over to his bed, sat down, picked his pillow up and held it close to her nose inhaling his scent, then sighing she began peeling back the pillow case throwing it into the corner near the door, the rest of the bedding soon followed along with a couple of stray socks that she found, next she pushed open the window to let some fresh air circulate around the room and started to put the clean linen on the bed, she'd chosen one of Henry's favourite bed spreads when he was little it was covered in different sharks, stingrays and jellyfish, she smoothed it down fondly before laying out a set of his pyjama's on top of it, with a little wriggle of her fingers she shrunk them down to size more suited to Ollie, then she exited the room taking the dirty linen with her, back downstairs she put it straight into the washing machine and turned it on before heading back towards the lounge.
As she approached the doorway she could hear Brianne's animated voice wafting out of the room, hanging back in the doorway she peeked in, the tv was off and the blonde was telling the boy a story, it was like something inside of her had suddenly come to life and it warmed Regina's heart to see, She watched as Brianne put on silly voices and tickled the boy making him laugh, and as the story came to its close a huge yawn escaped from Ollies lips, "I think it's time somebody went to bed" Regina smiled as she finally stepped into the room the room
"Will I get to see my mom tomorrow?" the boy enquired as he followed the brunette up the stairs
"I hope so sweetheart" Regina replied, "I'll certainly try my best, but I can't promise you anything okay?"
Ollie nodded and said no more about it, he allowed Regina to help him into the pyjama's that she had laid out for him and hopped into bed where she tucked him in, offered him a small soft toy to cuddle and planted a soft kiss on his forehead, then pulling the window closed so that he wouldn't get cold in the night, she sat beside him holding his hand until he fell asleep, when he was sleeping soundly she crept out of the room leaving Henry's old nightlight on just in case he woke and returned to the lounge where she resumed her usual comfortable position on the sofa next to Brianne.
It wasn't long before the day's events caught up with Regina and she found her eyelids drooping, finally admitting defeat she placed her book down on the coffee table along with her glasses having read the same line several times and announced that she was ready to turn in for the night, "Wait" the blonde called stifling a yawn and switching the tv off "I'm coming up too". Letting the blonde out ahead of her Regina reached for light switch, as she did something caught her eye, that's odd she thought frowning as she approached a sideboard that had several drawers in it, one of which had papers sticking out from it, pulling it open she saw that the papers inside were strewn around haphazardly as though somebody had been rifling through them I was sure that was locked a quick look through the papers told her that nothing was missing, so placing them back in properly she shut the drawer a slight feeling of unease creeping over her as she waved a hand in front of it sealing it closed.
Upstairs on the landing Brianne wished her goodnight, planting her usual gentle kiss on Regina's cheek before disappearing into her room, the brunette checked on the boy who was still sleeping soundly then went to bed, as she set her alarm in for the morning she suddenly remembered the watch Blue had given her that still sat on her wrist, pulling it off she looked at its face, strange, she thought as she looked at the timer which remained frozen on ten minutes before discarding the watch on her bedside table and picking up her phone again tapping out a message that she sent to both Emma and Zelena, the phone pinged twice in quick succession as the two replied leaving Regina with something new to ponder as she tried to fall to sleep. Why if Blue had been sucked into the portal as they suspected hadn't the timers on any of the watches been activated like the fairy had said they would be as soon as she entered the portals? was this a sign that she didn't make it through it to the other side and was now stuck somewhere between worlds? So many questions whirled around inside Regina's head the last of which she uttered aloud before falling into a restless slumber "where are you Blue?".
xoxoxoxox
Screams pierced through the silence of the night startling Regina awake, bleary eyed she stumbled out into the hallway and was almost at Brianne's door when it flew open and the blonde ran out almost colliding with her, they blinked stupidly at each other for a second, renewed screams still filing their ears, and as a sudden realisation dawned on the Brunette, she spun on her heel and headed in the opposite direction towards Henry's room, Brianne hot on her tail, pushing open the door Regina hurried over to the small boy who was writhing and crying out in his sleep, "shhh it's okay" Regina soothed as she scooped the little boy up into her arms, humming quietly and rocking him, the boy eventually calmed and his eyes briefly fluttered opened, before he settled back into a more peaceful sleep, continuing to hum the brunette gently lay the boy back into the bed tucking him in and crept out of the room. Brianne who was still stood in the doorway moved to one side as Regina pulled the door closed behind her.
"that must have some nightmare" the blonde breathed
"I guess so" the brunette replied casting her eyes to the ground
"What's wrong?" Brianne asked voice full of concern "you did great in there"
"It's nothing, I'm just tired?" Regina shrugged, "we should probably go back to bed"
Brianne wasn't buying it for a second "you aren't fine" she reached out taking Regina's hands in her own "please tell me what's wrong" she implored,
"what if I can't do it?" the brunette whispered voice breaking slightly
"what if you can't do what?" the blonde enquired
"What if I can't get him back to his mother" tears flowed freely now dripping off of the end of Regina's nose and landing on the carpet as she continued to look down heart aching at the thought of not being able to reunite the child sleeping in the next room with his mother, thoughts of how she had felt when she thought that she might lose Henry to Emma swam at the surface of her memory increasing the pain in her heart tenfold "what'll happen to him, what'll happen to Miriam" she choked out.
"Hey you mustn't think like that" Brianne reached out gently lifting the Brunettes chin meeting her eyes, blue eyes gazing into brown, "please don't cry" she whispered her heart aching so much on seeing the utter devastation in Regina's eyes, that tears began to fall from her own eyes "there you see" she said softly, lightly brushing some of the brunettes tears away with her thumb and offering her a watery smile, "now you've set me off" she leaned in closer continuing to stroke the brunettes cheek, Regina's breath caught and her heart began to race erratically as Brianne pressed her forehead lightly against hers "you'll figure it out" Brianne continued, smiling tentatively "you're too amazing not too" then closing her eyes she lifted her lips planting them gently on the brunettes forehead, a single tear falling onto Regina's cheek to mingle with her own as they rolled down her face together "Goodnight Regina" Brianne whispered pulling her into a warm embrace, before reluctantly letting her go once they had both regained their composure and returning to her bedroom.
Regina continued to stare down the hallway for a while after Brianne had closed the door behind her waiting for heart to return to a normal speed before finally turning into her own room and slipping into her bed she was just dozing off when her door began to open casting a growing crack of light into the room, "Brianne" she mumbled squinting as her eyes readjusted to the bright light, "oh it's you sweetheart" she smiled at the wide eyed boy in hallway "did you have another bad dream?" she asked sitting herself up
Ollie nodded and suddenly ran across the room throwing himself into the brunettes arms and burying his tear stained faced into her shoulder "It's ok" she soothed holding him close and stroking his hair until he fell asleep in her arms, she didn't even realise that she had fallen to sleep with him until she woke in the morning to find him snuggled into her side.
xoxoxox
She tried to move without disturbing him but as soon as her feet touched the carpet his eyes fluttered open, "morning" she smiled reaching over to ruffle his hair, "did you sleep okay?" Big wide eyes looked at her over the top of the blanket and the little boy nodded slowly "come on then let's get you some breakfast?" she said holding her hand out to him,
"I need a wee" Ollie said squirming as he stood up,
"just shout if you need any help" she instructed showing him into her ensuite, casting her eyes around to make sure that there was nothing he could get that could be harmful to him, she backed out and pulled the door closed, to give him some privacy. Pushing her make up drawer closed as she approached her dresser she sat down and brushed hair while she waited, she listened as the toilet flushed and the taps came on, replacing her brush when the taps went silent again, rising to take the eager little boy by the hand and lead him down the stairs once he had exited the bathroom.
In the kitchen she lifted him onto one of the chairs at the island, crouched down in front of one of the cupboards reached in and magicked a box a cereal she thought he would like into her hand before pulling it out and pouring some into a bowl placing it in front of Ollie and adding some milk, "will I get to go back to my mummy today?" he asked through a mouthful of cereal, normally Regina would have told a child off for doing such a thing, but today, in light of the question and the circumstances she didn't have the heart to scold him, instead she sighed and replied,
"I hope so sweetheart, but I really can't promise anything" he seemed to accept this reply for a now and continued to watch her over his cereal bowl as she dropped bread into the toaster and turned on the coffee machine while he steadily chomped his way through the contents of his bowl, washing it down with the orange juice that she had poured for him.
"You look better this morning" Brianne stated as she walked into the kitchen a few minutes later smiling radiantly and pulling Regina into a quick hug, the brunette felt her heart flutter slightly as she hugged the blonde back,
"Yes I feel much better thanks, I don't suppose you'd be up for keeping Ollie company while I make some phone calls" she asked "don't worry" she continued catching the boys worried look "I'm not going anywhere, I'll just be in another room,
"okay, can we watch cartoons" he enquired looking at Brianne
"Sure thing little buddy" she replied accepting the coffee that Regina was now handing her briefly making eye contact before the two shyly looked away and the blonde followed the little boy into the lounge grabbing a slice of toast as she went.
Once she'd cleared away the breakfast things Regina retreated to her office to call Emma who unfortunately had nothing new to report "I don't know how we are going to get through that barrier" Emma admitted "Henry's looking in the books but at the moment he's coming up blank too"
"Damn it" the brunette cursed "there has to be something"
"well if there is we haven't found it yet" the blonde replied "but its early days yet" she added promising to tell Regina right away if she discovered anything.
"I'm going to visit the fairy's in a minute" Emma continued "I thought that maybe one of them might know something about how the watches work, maybe they could offer us a clue as to where Blue might be" she continued hopefully, "I'll let you know what I find out as soon as I'm done" she promised leaving them both with nothing more to say than goodbye.
Regina was preparing lunch when Emma finally called back, the morning had passed peacefully enough Brianne and Ollie seemed to enjoy one another's company and Regina had been able to focus on research not that she had managed to turn anything new up.
"Any news?" she asked when she answered the phone
"nothing yet" the blonde replied "but I've left my watch with the fairies, they're trying to figure out how it works, and they seem to think that they may be able to use it to figure out where Blue is"
"oh" the brunette responded intrigued
"yeah something about it being made from her magic and her having one, you know what I'm like Regina I start switching off when people start droning on too much, I can't help it, anyway the main thing is that the fairies think it might prove useful, I told them to fill you in if you call because I thought that there could be details I missed that might interest you, they were a bit uppity about it but I don't care, I know you've done wrong in the past Regina and I kind of get where they are coming from but you've been through so much and come so far and it's high time they cut you some slack, you're good now damn it" the blonde ranted
"anyway I'm going to have go now" she continued before Regina had a chance to respond "I'm just getting in my car and heading to meet Zelena at Golds, she's bringing her watch to see what he makes of it, The Fairies weren't impressed by that idea either" the brunette stifled a chuckle as she picture the blonde rolling her eyes as she continued "they felt that the watches were fairy property and should all be returned them, I told them that they were gifted to us and we could use them how we wished" she finished
"okay, call me again after you've spoken with Gold, and thanks Emma"
"for what?" the blonde asked
"for always seeing the best in me and believing in me even when other don't, for trusting me and standing by me, you have no idea how much that means to me" Regina replied
"you've earned it Regina and don't ever forget that" she concluded before they said their goodbyes and Regina pressed the end call button returning to finish preparing lunch, and with a warm happy feeling still spreading throughout her she called the others in for food.
"Where's Ollie?" she enquired when only Brianne appeared
"he went to the toilet before you called" the blonde replied taking her seat, "this looks great Regina" she smiled,
"you may as well start" Regina smiled warmly back "I'll just go see what's keeping Ollie"
Approaching the bathroom door she could see it was left open and peeking inside she saw that the boy was no longer in there, he's probably gone back to the tv she thought turning towards the lounge she was almost there when a sound coming from the direction of her office distracted her, she paused and listened, there was definitely somebody rifling around in there, annoyed she stormed into the room startling Ollie who had been looking through one of her drawers, "what are you doing in here?" she demanded a little more harshly than she had intended,
"Sorry I wanted to draw" the boy replied sheepishly looking at his feet,
"Oh" Regina smiled relief flooding through her as It sunk that it was just the boy, "and you wanted some plain paper?" she asked thinking back to papers that had been rifled through the previous night as the boy nodded "were you looking for paper yesterday too?" she asked gently, Ollie nodded again, "here you go" she handed him some fresh paper from her printer and a pack of coloured pencils that Henry had left on her desk last time he had been in there with her, "if you need any more just ask" she smiled taking the boys hand "but no more rifling okay, now come on its lunch time"
"Okay, I'm sorry Regina" Ollie returned the smile and ran off to the kitchen, he was already settling onto the stool in front of his lunch when Regina entered the kitchen and took her usual seat opposite, the blonde was already half-way through her own food.
The rest of the day passed without incident; Emma called again to say that Gold had some theory's but predictably as ever he wasn't quite ready to share them yet, so she had left the second watch with him. Regina had continued to research throughout periodically stopping to check on her two house guests and provide them with regular refreshments, before stopping completely just after four to cook dinner, she cooked her speciality Lasagne followed by homemade apple turnovers much to the appreciation of both Brianne and Ollie who polished all of their servings off and asked for seconds, she packed some up for Emma, Henry and Hook, popping it in the fridge and texting to request that the blonde pick it up on her way home from work, then settled into her own portion, she'd just finished cleaning up the kitchen when a knock on the door announced the blondes arrival.
Answering the door she found a very eager Emma on the other side, "I'm sorry I can't stay today" she said accepting the Tupperware dishes that Regina was holding out to her "But I was thinking maybe we could all meet up at Grannies for dinner tomorrow, mine and Killians treat, I know Henry would love to see you,"
"That sounds great" Regina smiled "see you tomorrow".
xoxoxox
She closed the door as the blonde hurried towards her bug and headed up the stairs to run a bath for Ollie, turning the taps off once the bath was partially filled she waved a hand and made a small basket of toys appear before heading back to the top of the stairs to call the little boy, it wasn't long before Ollie was laughing and splashing about in warm water, as the water started to cool Regina washed his hair, lifted him out, wrapped him up in a huge fluffy towel and carried him into Henry's room. "what's the matter?" she asked as she towelled him dry, concerned that he had suddenly become very quiet and withdrawn.
"I miss my mummy" he answered eyes brimming with tears
"I know sweetheart" the brunette pulled him into her embrace "I'm so sorry that it's taking so long to get you back to her" the boy just nuzzled into her shoulder and sniffed, the brunette held him until he pulled away offered her a weak smile and climbed into bed yawning widely, she tucked him in, kissed his forehead and sung him to sleep creeping out of the room to join Brianne once he was sound.
The blonde took one look at Regina as she entered the lounge, muted the tv and sat up patting the seat beside her "come here" she said wrapping her arms around Regina as soon as she sat down "you'll get this" she soothed as she snuggled into the brunettes neck sending small shivers through Regina's body,
"I know" the brunette sighed "It just seems so impossible at the moment I have no idea why we can't through, nothing like this has ever happened before, I mean we've faced barriers before but we've always been able to break through them, it's so frustrating it doesn't seem like we are getting any closer to figuring this out, come on "she changed the subject abruptly "I'll watch some tv with you tonight" she pulled out of the embrace and settled into her usual position, half an hour later she conceded defeat, she was initiable and restless, and she had no idea what was going on, on the tv so she decided it would be best to just go to bed, Brianne planted her usual kiss on Regina's cheek and sat back down opting to watch the rest of the show before going to bed herself, looking back from the doorway the brunette smiled as she watched the blonde laughing in the glow of the tv before turning and ascending the stairs alone. After checking on Ollie she slipped into her own bed and eventually fell into another restless sleep.
xoxoxoxox
Regina's eyes snapped open, the clock read one fifty five, she didn't what had woken her but the hairs on the back of her neck were all standing on end, Rolling over she let out a blood curdling scream, Ollie was sat next to her staring at her through the shadows but there was a darkness surrounding that made her blood run cold, his little face was twisted into a horrifying evil grin and he was holding his hands out over her she didn't know what he was doing but his palms were glowing purple, he opened his twisted mouth to speak when the door crashed open and Brianne ran into the room flicking the light on as she came "what's happening" she asked frantically as a disorientated Regina toppled out of bed,
"Ollies evil" the brunette babbled as the blonde helped her back up,
"what?" the blonde frowned
"he, he was, well I don't know what he was doing but the look on his face" she trembled as tears spilled from her eyes
"shhh its okay Regina" Brianne soothed "you must have had a bad dream"
"no I didn't, I was awake, he's right there, look" Regina pointed towards her bed which was empty "oh my god" she groaned "I'm losing my mind"
"come on" the blonde encouraged holding out her hand for the brunette who accepted it "let's go check on him" together they peeked around Henry's and there sure enough was the boy sleeping soundly in his bed, Regina breathed a sigh of relief but still she couldn't get the image out of her head, "let's get you back into bed" Brianne whispered leading the brunette back to her room and tucking her in.
"could you stay with me" Regina asked fearful of being left alone when the blonde turned to leave,
"sure" she said turning back and climbing into bed behind the brunette, wrapping her arms around her trembling body and pulling her close, Regina relaxed into Brianne's safe embrace and quickly fell into a dreamless sleep. The next morning she woke up still nestled in the blondes arms only when she opened her eyes she found herself looking into Brianne's blue ones, "morning beautiful" Brianne whispered pushing a strand of hair off of the brunettes face and leaning closer sending Regina's heart into over drive as gentle lips found her forehead then the blonde pulled back looking into her eyes again, "how did you sleep, did you have any more dreams" she enquired.
Regina shook her head "no, I slept well, thanks for keeping me company" she smiled surprised but pleased by how steady her voice was. By the time that breakfast was over Regina was feeling pretty sheepish about her late night fears, Ollie was a sweet as ever and any remnants of fear quickly disappeared, the day passed much like the previous one only instead of stopping to cook dinner Regina bundled them all into the car and headed over to Grannies where Emma, Hook, Henry, Zelena and Robyn were already waiting for them.
Joining the others at their table the three of them selected Menu's, and with Henry helping Ollie who couldn't read much yet, they chose what they wanted and placed their orders, as they waited for their food, Brianne occupied little Robyn instantly taken in by the little girl she tickled her tummy and spoke to her in silly voices all of which made the baby giggle, "she reminds me of my sister Charlotte when she was a baby" she sighed as she continued their games. Smiling at the two Regina proceeded to ask the others about their progress
"The fairies seem to think that Blue didn't get sucked into the portal after all" Emma informed her "of course they still don't know where she is what happened to her, but they don't think it's going to be much longer before they do"
"Rumples in agreement" Zelena added "which reminds me he wants me to make him a potion later, something that he says can help, you've got the ingredients in your vault which means I'm going to be trapsing around the cemetery in the middle of the bloody night" Zelena griped "you know that everybody in town remembers who you are now right sis? And pretty much everyone knows the location of your vault by now, so you don't actually have to leave it underneath daddy dearest anymore, you could, oh I don't know, move it to somewhere that's in land of the living"
"I can't move an entire vault, where would I put it?" Regina laughed "it's fine where it is, besides the dead can't hurt you, they leave that job to the living"
"you weren't saying that when Dr bits and bobs brought back Daniel" Zelena mumbled "well you weren't" she defended upon seeing the look that her sister was shooting her way "okay so maybe you can't move the whole vault" she conceded "but I still think you could move the essentials somewhere like the Town hall, there must be plenty of empty rooms there that we could use for potion making and it would be so much better for my shoes" she pouted
"dinner is served" Ruby interrupted smiling brightly as she began to place their meals in front of them "enjoy"
"thanks Rubes" Emma enthused tucking in, everyone else quickly followed suit, the previous conversation already forgotten. The rest of the evening passed in a flurry of humour and small talk and all too soon they were heading home again, Regina carried Ollie into the house tucking him into bed he had fallen to sleep the second he had gotten into the car, then she accompanied Brianne into the kitchen where to two finished the evening talking over a glass of red wine followed by their usual bedtime ritual, a gentle kiss laid on Regina cheek as they parted ways and entered their retrospective rooms, both secretly longing for more and both too afraid to be the one to make the next leap.
xoxoxoxox
Regina tossed and turned, got up and paced the room unable to stop thinking about the blonde sleeping in the next room, twice she found her hand on the door handle before she stopped herself, she had to talk to Brianne about the way she felt and she had to do it soon, she couldn't go on like this any longer it was driving her out of her mind but she couldn't very well go storming into the other woman's bedroom in the middle of the night to discuss her feelings, but she decided as she climbed back into bed I'm going to have to create an opportunity to talk this through with her tomorrow and with that decision made she rolled over, curled up and closed her eyes.
xoxoxo
Finding a window of opportunity to talk to blonde the next day proved to be more difficult than Regina had initially anticipated she had hoped to get it over with early in the day, but it soon became apparent that she was going to have to wait until the evening once young Ollie was in bed. The morning had passed much the same as the previous few, Regina had dedicated her time to researching a way of getting the portal open, spending much of her time on the phone listening to reports from either Emma or Zelena and one call hearing the details off of the fairies who seemed to believe that they were very close to finding Blue now, "finally some good news" she had sighed when Astrid had concluded her explanation.
She had ceased work after lunch and taken Ollie with her to replenish the groceries which were now in short supply, Brianne had said that she preferred to stay behind that day, the younger woman had spent most of the day in a thoughtful silence and Regina was beginning to wonder if she should worried, a concern that was firmly cemented in her mind when she and the little boy had returned a little over an hour later to a seemingly empty house, placing her grocery bags on the kitchen island ready to be unpacked the brunette attention was drawn to a piece of paper that had been a left there, the note written in Brianne's beautifully elegant script read,
R
I hope your shopping trip was productive,
I've popped out for some fresh air and borrowed
the spare set of keys you showed me
I'll be back later
Love
B x
Brianne hadn't left the house alone the whole time that she been here so this was completely out of character for her, worried and needing to keep her hands busy Regina began to fold laundry in the lounge while Ollie snacked on popcorn in front of the tv, waiting for his bowl to be empty before she took it upstairs, she then deposited a set of clean pyjamas on Henry's bed for Ollie, a small pile of things onto the chair in her room intending to come back and put it away and ventured down the hall to put the rest in the blondes room for her to sort through later, she didn't pause and knock as she usually did, the note had said that Brianne was out so she expected the room to be empty, so it came as an enormous surprise when she walked in just as the blonde who was sitting on the bed with her back towards the door dropped her dressing gown, "I'm so sorry" Regina mumbled immediately adverting her eyes as she made to back out of the room "I thought you were out"
"It's okay" Brianne replied sheepishly, "it's my own fault I should have moved the note when I decided on long soak in the bath instead of walk" Regina found her eyes drawn back to blonde against her will as she struggled to pull the door closed around the laundry, her eyes following Brianne's spine from the base of her back to the top, her long blonde hair that usually fell over her shoulders was twisted into a top knot inside a turban towel, leaving her whole back exposed the brunette found herself mesmerised by how the light danced on the blondes bare skin, a few water droplets still clinging here and there, she blinked still frozen on the spot as Brianne began to pull a t-shirt overhead, the blonde pulled the shirt down over her body covering her back but not quite quickly enough.
Hearing the thud as the pile of laundry hit the floor behind her Brianne turned in alarm the brunette was staring at her with a strange look on her face, one that was somewhere between horror, hurt and fury, the washing lay forgotten at her feet. "what is it" the blonde asked concerned
Regina didn't answer immediately she was still working things through in her mind, there on the blondes shoulder she had seen something that she hadn't seen for a while but never the less it was undeniably familiar and she had recognised it instantly, the something had caused her blood to run cold because it now had her questioning everything that she thought she knew about the blonde standing in front her, with danger dripping from every syllable Regina finally formed words,
"Who the hell are you and what do you want from me" she demanded.