Chapter two
Two days had passed since the 'school incident'.
Jefferson had one more day of observation in the hospital before he would be released to the sheriff's department for prosecution and then a lifetime in a six by six cell if Emma had it her way.
Not that she would admit it but Emma Swan had wondered how easily US law could be dodged in Storybrooke.
It wasn't as if anyone outside of the town would ever find out if she just marched into the Hatter's room and unceremoniously removed his heart.
She didn't necessarily need to crush it.
Keeping it would mean that there was no chance he would be able to hurt someone she cared about again.
The sheriff opened her eyes as it hit her just how unethical what she was imagining was. She could practically hear her mother's voice drip with disappointment and shock if she so much as mentioned what she really wanted to do.
One of the more frustrating parts of holding the 'saviour' moniker was that it was harder to justify homocidal rage.
She pushed herself up slightly in the plastic chair to reposition her body to hopefully prevent an impending pressure sore.
She'd barely left the position since Regina had come out of surgery the day before, all she'd done was watch the unconscious woman since.
Since Dr Whale had broken the news that he had repaired the damage in her heart (the bullet had mercifully missed anything immediately fatal) it was just a matter of waiting. However, he had listed off a number of possible complications, including, but not limited to: the now vulnerable heart failing, the loss of blood meaning that she either would never wake up or wake up and not being the same Regina Mills everyone knew and hated due to flatlining on the table long enough to cause brain damage.
Apparently, she wasn't even completely stable yet, and there was the distinct possibility that further surgery would be needed at any moment.
Not that Henry asked for any of this information in spite of the fact that the school was still closed following the 'incident'. In fact, Emma had been Regina's only visitor, unless you counted Snow White but she only showed up to make sure her daughter wasn't starving on a waiting chair.
She had glanced at Regina with something resembling regret but had claimed she needed to get back to Henry the moment she was satisfied that Emma had finished the bear claw offered to her.
The saviour had been half-tempted to force Henry to visit but it hardly seemed like the best thing to do considering that he was already likely traumatised after what happened.
So she decided to give him a few more days and then seek further advice from Archie to see what she should do.
"Sheriff Swan?"
Emma blinked and turned away from staring at Regina's sleeping face and towards to see a nurse stood at the doorway, clutching the frame. Since the saviour hadn't left the chair for more than five minutes at a time, the nurses had drawn straws to see who would have to ask the sleep deprived woman to abandon her post.
"Dr Whale wants to do some one-to-one observation with Mayor Mills just to check her heart function. He asked that there be no visitors during the test," she explained.
Emma blew out a breath and rose to her feet, albeit with some difficulty since literally everything was stiff.
"When can I come back?" she asked.
"Tomorrow morning," the nurse replied.
Emma's first thought was to protest that it was too long to be away from Regina. However, there was always the Henry-factor to think about, she needed to make sure that he was as okay as he claimed to be.
"That's…fine," Emma said reluctantly, "but please can you let me know if her condition changes?"
She asked the question quite pleadingly, she was well aware that she was neither Regina's emergency contact nor her next of kin, but she was apparently the only person who cared to know about the former queen's condition.
"Of course, sheriff," the nurse replied.
Emma offered her a smile and took one last look at the heart monitor that freaked her out at first but was now kind of reassuring. It meant that Regina was still alive and that she hadn't lost her chance to, well she didn't know what exactly what she wanted, but she knew that she needed Regina to wake up so that she could figure it out.
"Thank you," Emma said and hesitated for a moment.
She had no idea what she should do before leaving the room. The prospect of saying 'see you later' to Regina in front of the nurse made her feel more than awkward. She wanted to touch her hand but she'd never done that when she was conscious.
It was for this reason that she smiled at Regina before tiredly dragging herself out of the room towards the loft she hadn't seen in what felt like forever.
S
Henry flicked his pen back and forth between his fingers and stared at the words on the page sat atop the table, though he wasn't taking in any of the meaning.
Mary Margaret had been reluctant to give him the work for the lessons that he was missing but she figured that Regina would be more likely to appreciate it rather than letting him play video games for days.
Snow watched him from her position at the counter with her hot cocoa clutched in her hands.
She felt like there was something she should be saying but since watching the resigned expression on her former step-mother's face as she saw her lose consciousness she had a lot to think about.
The Evil Queen she knew wouldn't have stood in front of a gun for anyone, not least someone who appeared to have abandoned her. It felt more like something that the woman she'd first met would have done.
Despite her unwillingness to discuss the swirling thoughts about whether Regina's action could be forgiven following the 'school incident' she certainly found it strange that Henry hadn't even asked about her. He technically didn't even know if his mother was alive.
The tension in the room was cut by the sound of the door opening and Snow's eyes shot over to it, since David hadn't finished work yet and there was only one other person who had a key. She was pretty sure that she knew who it was.
"Emma," she said in relief as her daughter closed the door behind her and walked over to sit at the counter opposite her.
Henry glanced over and inspected his mother's faces for a moment before he gripped his pen more tightly and actually started writing on his worksheet.
Emma frowned at him but Mary Margaret stole her attention as she asked, "how is she?"
There was a sudden pause in the scratching of Henry's pen but he didn't look over again. She supposed that he was showing at least a mild interest, even if he wasn't willing to be too overt about it.
Henry held his breath as he waited for Emma to respond.
As much as he told himself that the Evil Queen deserved what she got, he had still been on pins and needles waiting for some indication about the mayor's condition but couldn't think of a way to ask casually.
"The same," Emma finally replied, deciding that there was no need to be too graphic with all of the possible complications, but she did add, "she still hasn't woken up."
Henry let out his breath though he wasn't quite sure whether to feel relieved or not. It didn't really sound like good news, but then again what would he consider good news?
When he first realised the truth he would have said good news would be the Evil Queen being 'vanquished' but he never quite thought too much about what that word would mean in relation to his adoptive mother.
When the town wanted to 'vanquish' her, he'd asked Emma to protect her because 'she's still my mom'.
That statement didn't feel so simple when he'd heard her state that he was no longer her son.
However, a knock prevented him from getting anymore information via whatever question his grandmother was about to ask.
The three Charmings each turned to the door with the same frown and it was Mary Margaret who took the initiative and went over to yank the door open, though if the sudden tension in her shoulders was anything to go by, she wanted to slam it as soon as she saw the visitor.
Emma slipped off the stool so that she could move into the view and she let out a visible sigh.
"Mr Gold," Snow White said, "what can we do for you?"
"I need to speak to Miss Swan and her son, it's rather important," the Dark One replied.
Mary Margaret narrowed her eyes at the man she wanted no where near her family, but she still looked over her shoulder at Emma as if asking for permission.
The younger woman nodded, a little reluctantly.
It wasn't like 'no' was a word often heeded by Rumplestiltskin so they might as well get this over and done with.
The school teacher stepped back to let the man limp his way into the loft and Emma's eyes were drawn to the stack of papers under his arm. Foreboding surged up in her stomach at the sight.
"Mayor Mills asked me to look over these before the…incident," Gold said, glancing over to Henry, expecting to see some pain on his face but was met with a blank expression. Even if Neal was no longer around, he still cared about his grandson, which as why he agreed to help Regina organise all of this without a price, but he had been sure that dropping this bombshell two days after the shooting would cause Henry at least some discomfort.
Apparently he was unfazed.
"And why are you bringing them here?" Emma asked as she eyed the man she was sure had to always be up to something.
"Regina would likely have preferred to have this discussion with you herself, but with her…situation it is quite important to deal with this before…"
The man trailed off and Emma narrowed her eyes at him as they both looked over to the boy, but other than a clench in Henry's jaw, there wasn't much sign that he was listening as he continued to write on his work.
"What is it?" Mary Margaret asked when no one made an attempt to speak in a few seconds.
Rumple moved forward to hand the papers to the saviour and her brows pinned together as she read the first few lines.
"Adoption dissolution," Henry read aloud much to Emma's surprise since she hadn't clocked that he had stood up to find out what the papers were.
Mary Margaret actually gasped, Emma's mouth was slightly open.
Henry's face was still blank.
"The contract stipulates that all parental rights will be transferred to you, Miss Swan," Gold explained and then handed her another contract, "and if you sign this, Henry's surname will legally become Swan."
Emma's eyes fell down to what was definitely Regina's signature at the bottom of the page.
It made complete logistical sense.
Henry hadn't spent even a moment with his legal mother in six months.
If the unthinkable happened it would definitely make things easier from a legal standpoint, especially if Henry wanted to be a person outside of Storybrooke at some point in his life.
Emma wasn't even really sure if 'Henry Daniel Mills' was a citizen of America now that she thought about it.
"You just need to sign both contracts and I will have them notarised," Gold said.
Emma started shaking her head, there was a million reasons that's he didn't want to sign but before she could think about how to put any of them into words, Henry leaned over to the table and then handed Emma his pen without a word.
When she just stared at him, he nodded as if to encourage her.
She looked away without taking the pen and said to Gold, "I think we have some things to discuss as a family."
The store owner resisted the sigh that wanted to leave his body. In the past six months, he'd seen no evidence that any of the Charmings would have a problem with what was being proposed. But then again, he could certainly understand complicated family relationship, so the need for a minute to think about things wasn't too unreasonable.
"Please bring the contracts to my store when you've decided," the Dark One replied as he walked towards the exit, not waiting for a response before he let himself out of the apartment which he left in silence.
Emma gripped the contracts harder and looked over to her mother who appeared to be fighting both concern and confusion.
Meanwhile, Henry gathered his worksheets and said, "I'm going to study upstairs," but when he reached the bottom step of the stairs, he added almost casually, "you should just sign them," before he went up without a further word.
S
A low rumble vibrated in Jefferson's chest as he slowly opened his eyes only to be assaulted by blurry white.
He closed his eyes but reopened them a moment later so that he could look down at his arms.
One was in a sling and the other wa cuffed to the railing of the bed.
The chain pulled taut as he lifted his arm up experimentally and his head fell back with a heavy sigh down to the pillow.
"You'll pull your stitches if you slam your shoulder like that," someone announced with a few disapproving tuts.
The Mad Hatter opened his eyes again as far as his exhaustion would allow to find the doctor was standing by his IV bag that ran into his cuffed arm.
Whale pulled his hand away from the mechanism and explained, "I lowered your morphine, you need to get used to the pain before you to go to prison."
Jefferson shifted a little, the painkiller was still in his system since he couldn't feel anything, but the thought of it wearing off with two holes in his shoulder terrified him.
He opened his mouth to reply, but only a croak came out and the chain went taut again as he tried to raise his hand to his throat and he huffed when he couldn't reach it.
Whale let out a puff of laughter and held a cup with a straw in front of his face, from which he drank hungrily until the doctor pulled it away.
"What do you want?" Jefferson managed to croak out, figuring the doctor would have left already if he was only here to taunt him about the morphine.
"You wanted to ruin Regina's life, but all you did was put her in a coma so the saviour realised that she had feelings for. I don't think that was exactly the revenge you was going for," Whale explained.
Jefferson decided not to point out he wasn't really sure what kind of revenge he really wanted. He'd just snapped while eating breakfast alone again and decided that Regina should be alone too.
Of course, he hadn't really realised how alone she already was.
Now he'd definitely lost Grace forever and he was going to prison for the maximum sentence, especially if the sheriff had anything to do with it.
It all added up to having nothing to lose, which never boded well when a mad doctor was involved.
"And what exactly would you suggest would be better revenge?" Jefferson asked, to which Whale reached into his pocket to pull out a phial filled with sickly green liquid.
"Science never seemed to work in my favour so I decided to start looking more into magic. Of course, I can't cast my own spells, but you don't need to be a wizard to mix a poison that will mirror the effects of a Death Curse," the doctor explained as he started at his own creation with something resembling pride or love.
It was his ticket to hurt the woman everyone seemed to collectively decide to tolerate. The 'school incident' gave him the perfect opportunity to enact his plan and his patient gave him the perfect cover and person to blame.
Who would believe the Mad Hatter if he tried to rat on him?
"I'll let you go and inject Regina with this while I hold an 'emergency staff meeting', you slip out and return to Wonderland," he continued and threw over the only personal effect that he had when he was admitted and the hat landed on his leg.
Jefferson eyed the hat and replied, "I can't get out when the heart monitors will alert everyone that I'm there."
"Equipment fails all the time, especially when the mayor didn't allocate enough money to the hospital," Whale said, "by the time a nurse comes to do observations, it will be too late to do CPR."
"Do you really think just killing her will be the best revenge?" Jefferson asked, having fully accepted how little sense shooting the queen was.
"That's the best part!" Whale replied, the words laced with the purest joy, "she won't be fully be dead, it will keep her body alive enough so that her soul will never be able to move on. Her spirit will be trapped in Storybrooke so she can watch people find their 'happy endings' without her!"
Jefferson was seriously beginning to wonder whether morphine could cause hallucinations as he asked, "spirits?"
"Believe me or not, but the fact is that I am offering you freedom with the bonus that Regina mills will be miserable for the rest of eternity."
Jefferson just frowned in response.
Dr Whale rolled his eyes and replied, "the staff meeting is in two hours, the morphine should have worn off by then, so I'll ask you again then. Think about it Jefferson."