A/N: Thank you for sticking around. I hope you enjoy this chapter.
The camera managed to capture the knockout kick that ended Regina Mills' fighting career perfectly. The television screen in the changing room replayed the move in slow-motion. Belle knew that that move would end the match. She prayed that her friend would be able to survive it.
The screen cuts back to the aftermath of the fight. The FBI agent spots Gold leaving the cage.
"He's on the move, get into position." The voice in Belle's earpiece ordered her.
Belle looked at her reflection in the mirror and changed her facial expression to fit the secretary persona she had created for her undercover mission. She was alone in the changing room. Everybody else was in the arena watching the biggest fight of the night. She took the opportunity to block out her true feelings so that Gold doesn't get suspicious and, convincing herself that she's ready, Belle leaves the changing room, whips out her phone, and opened up a game app, pretending to have been doing that when the match was on.
"Ah! Belle! There you are!" Gold said gleefully as he walked up to his secretary.
He was expecting to have the woman by his side the whole time as the venue was huge and the cell reception was poor. He was glad to find Belle just outside of the changing room.
"How did it go, sweetie?" Belle faint ignorance.
Robert Gold glanced around to make sure that nobody was eavesdropping. He leaned into the secretary's ear, the one without the earpiece, "perfectly as planned. Clear out the bitch's room tomorrow for the replacement Queen. In the meantime, shall we… celebrate?" He asked suggestively.
"Ooh… lead the way, you naughty boy!"
The glee in her voice was ignored by the old man. He had only one thing on his mind.
He led her down the corridor to the exit that led to the designated car park for those with the event pass.
Belle spots security guarding the area and nods her head to them to signal the undercover agents to proceed with the arrest.
Gold showed his pass to the security guards. One of them stopped Gold. Another one flashed his FBI badge.
"Robert Gold, you are under arrest for racketeering activity." The FBI agent tried to reach for Gold's arm but before he could get hold of it, the old man backs away and attempts to run with Belle in tow. When the woman did not budge, he turned to her to see what was wrong. Belle flashed her badge which she had taken out from her purse while they were walking earlier.
Robert Gold lets go of her hand. He looked confused. Five other men wearing FBI jackets surrounded him. The FBI agent in the security guard uniform proceeded to handcuff the old man and read him his Miranda rights.
*.*.*.*.*
Emma had been waiting at the hospital forever. The moment the ambulance reached the hospital, they had wheeled Regina into various rooms for several tests. From the examination room to the radiologists for a CT scan to the operating theatre. The blonde has yet to be informed of Regina's condition. She was just thankful that the hospital had allowed her to wait in a special waiting room reserved for high profile patients. The hospital was not amused when reporters started snooping around the emergency room. The other patients in the waiting area had complained about the lack of privacy and the hospital had no other choice but to upgrade Regina's care to that of a VIP.
There wasn't anybody else in the waiting area. It seemed like Regina was the only one from the championship to be brought to that hospital.
There was a television screen on the wall showing a rerun of an old sitcom with the volume on mute. Emma was too worried about Regina to pay any attention to the screen. Her phone had been buzzing with text messages from David, Lily, and Graham. She ignored the texts and any phone calls. She didn't want to talk to them. She doesn't even know what to tell them as they were too far away to help her.
The blonde was just anticipating that a doctor will come out of the restricted area and tell her that Regina is completely fine and that she had nothing to worry about. However, she also feared that the doctor will not have any good news for her.
The click-clacking of heels snapped her out of her reverie. The sound came from outside the waiting area. Two uniformed policemen entered followed by a woman she couldn't identify in the dim lighting of the waiting room.
The policemen walked over to the entrance of the restricted area. The mysterious woman was now close enough for Emma to identify. Her hands clenched into a fist as she jumped out of her seat to confront the woman.
"What are you doing here?" Emma asked angrily in a whisper as she did not want to get thrown out of the hospital for creating a scene.
The two policemen started to rush over to the two women but stopped when Belle signaled to them to let them know that she had the situation under control.
The FBI agent pulled out her badge and showed it to Emma.
"I'm Agent Lacey Delaney, FBI. I was working undercover as Belle French the secretary to Robert Gold at Dragon Claws to get intel on some illegal activities."
Emma was thrown off by all that information and coupled with how late it was, all she could muster was a confused look.
"Gold is not going to hurt anybody anymore." Agent Delaney promised.
"You're FBI?" The blonde said as she finally caught up on who the woman was.
"How is she?" the FBI agent asked.
"I don't know yet. Nobody has told me anything about her condition."
"Lacey glanced at the policemen. They are still waiting for a point of contact to come out and talk to them. The receptionist at the Emergency Room had informed them that they could wait in the VIP waiting area while she sent for somebody to talk to them. She did warn that since it was past midnight, the hospital was short on staff and that it might take some time before somebody would be available to talk to them.
"Do you mind if I wait with you?" Agent Delaney asked.
"Erm… not at all." Emma was still trying to process everything that was happening.
The two women sat in silence. The two policemen stayed near the entrance of the restricted area. They wanted to ensure that they talk to any staff that came out of the area and also they didn't want to interfere with the ladies.
After almost half an hour of waiting, the doors of the restricted area finally opened. A young male doctor with blonde hair jumped a little when the two policemen appeared right in front of him. Even though he knew they wanted to speak to him, he was not anticipating that they were waiting right at the door.
Agent Lacey Delaney stood up and joined the policemen. Emma followed at a distance. She was not sure if she could listen in on the conversation of an active investigation.
One of the policemen stepped aside to give some room for the FBI agent to stand. The other one introduced Lacey as the lead investigator on the case.
As far as the doctor was concerned, up until then, he had only been aware that Regina Mills was there due to injuries from the fight at the UFC.
Agent Delaney explained that Regina is a witness for their investigation and that she wanted to check on her condition.
The doctor introduced himself as Doctor Whale. He informed them that Regina had just undergone craniotomy surgery to treat the brain hemorrhage sustained from a blunt force trauma. She will be in an induced coma for a while as they monitor her blood pressure and vitals so Regina won't be able to talk to them for some time and the doctor can't be certain when Regina will wake up and if she will be responsive at all.
Agent Delaney nodded her understanding and Emma could see the look of worry in the woman's eyes. Maybe the FBI agent had developed a bond with the fighter. The blonde figured.
Lacey fished out her name card from her purse and handed it to the doctor.
"Here is my number. Do update me if her condition changes. We'll station two uniformed officers to secure her room for her safety."
"Of course. Her room is still being prepared. I'll send one of the nurses out once she has settled into her room." Doctor Whale said before heading back into the restricted area.
"One more thing, Doctor Whale." Agent Delaney said.
The doctor turned back towards the FBI agent.
"This is Emma Swan. She is Regina's partner."
"Ah. Hello, Miss Swan. Do you want me to inform the staff to prepare a cot for you?"
The blonde was caught off-guard. She could only manage a nod.
"Alright then. Is there anything else?" the doctor asked.
"I think that's all for now. Thank you so much." Agent Delaney said.
Emma whispered her thanks to the FBI agent.
Lacey handed her name card to Emma and told her to contact her if she needed anything like a change of clothes or a place to crash.
The blonde appreciated that she had some support in New York.
A/N: This chapter took some writing and rewriting. Turns out Regina is my muse. With her unconscious, it was very difficult to put this chapter together. Also in Once Upon a Time, Belle's alter ego is Lacey but they did not give her a last name. So I used another FBI agent's last name from another show. Do you know which show?
