Chapter 4 Saving Daniel
"I knew I had a few left" Emma declared proudly waving three dream catchers above her head, "boy was I efficient when I was the Dark one, I made a stockpile of these things" she joked
"You certainly were dear" Regina smiled fondly at the excitable blonde "It's just a pity that you lost all of that super efficiency when you stopped being the dark one" she jested
"Cheek of it" Emma retorted "I kept these spares safe didn't I and look how quickly I collared this here Doctor when she appeared in town, I am efficient" she said indignantly, as Regina's laughter rang through the office in response to the blonde's defensive outburst.
"What are those for?" the Doctor asked interrupting the interaction
"These" the blonde explained "are where the memories will be stored until we need them again"
"Brilliant" the Doctor replied watching intrigued as Emma worked her magic to weave Regina's memories into the dream catcher, as she did it the scene played out on its surface, Regina's raw grief bringing tears to everybody's eyes, the blonde couldn't hold back and reached out to take the brunettes hand in a bid to comfort her,
"And now it's your turn" Emma aimed a watery smile at the Doctor when Regina was done, the experience was like nothing that the Doctor had ever experienced before, It didn't hurt she just felt a strange pulling sensation then saw all her memories of that night pouring into the dream catcher weaving into its threads, playing back for all to see. 'Fascinating' she thought.
"Cora's won't be so easy to get" the blonde explained when she was done "we'll have to catch her alone and freeze her"
"That shouldn't be a problem" the Doctor nodded, "I think it's time to pay a visit to my Tardis" she smiled "and you two lucky ladies get to be my companions"
"And how exactly you expect us all to fit inside or there" the mayor asked incredulously as they stood outside the little blue box ten minutes later
"It's bigger on the inside" the doctor laughed disappearing inside,
"Bigger" Regina replied as she walked in "Just how big can a…." but the end of the sentence was lost as she took in her new surroundings, "but how she whispered" looking in awe at the vast space in front of her
"Right there with you" Emma said as she too took in the surroundings, the two women stepped back out, circled the outside of the Tardis twice before stepping back through the door,
"are you two ready to go now" the Doctor asked as she watched their reactions, "Don't worry everybody's the same the first time they see the inside, now grab hold of something, it's going to be a bumpy ride and Emma be a love and close the door would you"
Seconds after Emma and Regina had taken seats near the control panel the Doctor threw the lever, the resulting jolt nearly threw both women straight back out of their seats
"Next stop fairy tale land" the Doctor declared happily
"It's called the Enchanted Forrest" Regina shouted over the loud noise that the Tardis was currently admitting
"Right, you are" the Doctor called back her voice coming through much too loud when the Tardis suddenly quietened and stopped.
When they stepped outside Regina quickly realise that had returned to the fateful night that Daniel had died, Cora was just leaving the stable which meant that young Regina was currently in the stable sobbing over Daniels body while the Doctor watched through the window unaware that they were nearby carrying out the plan that she was forming in her mind even as they spoke,
"We have to be quick and careful, trust me when I say that neither of us want to end up running into ourselves" the Doctor told the brunette. Maintaining a safe distance Regina waited until Cora was far enough from both the stable and the house that no one would notice her and then she froze the older woman mid stride, Emma wasted no time rushing up to weave the memories of what had just occurred into the third dream catcher before they all backed off and Regina released Cora from the freezing spell, at which time the woman continued walking towards the house as though nothing happened.
"Excellent" the Doctor smiled throwing the lever up as soon as they got back to the Tardis "I'd call the first part of our plan a resounding success, now for the next part" she grinned as the blue box took flight seeming to stop mere seconds later,
They stepped out into the same night half an hour earlier, hiding near the window they first froze the doctor when she arrived then standing on second barrel that they had placed beside the frozen Doctor Regina watched through the window, seeing the scene unfold in front of her from out here where she had the power to stop it was so surreal and made her feel powerful, she waited for her opportune moment and then as Cora's hand made its way to Daniel's chest she froze the room and teleported Daniel to the Tardis in a purple cloud of smoke while Emma worked her magic reinstating the memories,
"Are you going to unfreeze them now" Emma asked when they were done,
"Not just yet" Regina replied "reach out and tell me what you can feel" the brunette pressed, the blonde's eyes previously furrowed in confusion flew wide open as realisation hit,
"you're magic" the blonde gasped, and Regina nodded
"it's from the teleportation I used on Daniel" she explained "it'll dissipate momentarily then we'll back away and I'll unfreeze the scene"
"But won't that just leave new traces of your magic than Cora will be able to sense?" the blonde asked,
"It will but thankfully it's not the same with other spells" the brunette smiled "That kind of trace only gets left by teleportation spells, plus mine and my mother's magic comes from the same source, for most spells its really similar and as she won't know any different, she'll just think that she's feeling traces of her own magic in the air, but teleportation magic is unique to the user, if I unfreeze her to soon she'll know it's me that I used a teleportation spell just like you did, and since the me in there doesn't know how to use any magic yet and is still dead against it, feeling a powerful spell like teleportation from me would raise a lot of questions for my mother"
"of course, it would" the blonde whispered watching Regina in awe as she stepped down from the barrel accepting Emma's hand to support her,
"Anyway its gone now" the brunette said not letting go of Emma's hand, lets retreat a safe distance and unfreeze this scene, the blonde just nodded in response and allowed herself to be led away, once they were far enough Regina turned back unfroze everything, watched the Doctor duck on her Barrel then turned her back on the stables walking back to the Tardis not dropping the blondes hand until they walked through the blue door.
"Wow" Regina gasped, she hadn't quite be ready for the sight of the still frozen Daniel led out on the Tardis floor, lowering herself beside him in a way that wasn't to dissimilar to how her younger self was currently sat next to what she believed to be Daniels body led in the barn Regina reached out and gently stroked his warm cheek, healthy and full of colour, full of life, she pushed his hair out of his eyes and drank in his features just as handsome as she remembered, this was so strange to Regina, all the memories of Daniels death were still there in her memory, the pain she had felt had been so raw and real and yet here he was, frozen but very much alive in front of her. Taking his hand in hers she leaned forwards and planted a gentle kiss on his forehead before placing the hand on the floor beside him and rising to her feet, clearing her throat, unseen behind her Emma quickly wiped away the silent tears that had fallen from her eyes as she watched.
"I know where we should take him" Regina's voice cut through the silence, "My mother once banished my favourite nanny from our town, I later heard that she and her husband settled in a distant town but I could never bring myself to visit her, especially after I became the Evil Queen, I use to hear rumours that people would flee to this town because they heard that I had never visited it" she chuckled "anyway Eileen and Peter always wanted a child of their own but they were never blessed with one" she glanced down at Daniel, "If you'll help with the magic Emma" she said quietly without looking away from the frozen form on the floor "Then Daniel can be their son" she finished finally pulling her eyes away to look at the blonde, "are you okay?" she asked a gentle frown appearing as she took in Emma's red eyes
"course" Emma smiled brightly, the smile not quite making it to her eyes, "it's been an emotional kinda day is all, but I'm good to go and happy to help with the magic"
"As long as you're sure" the brunette murmured
"Course I am now what do you say we get this done so we can get home already?"
The brunette didn't look entirely convinced but she gave the Doctor the co-ordinates anyway and they were soon stepping out into a peaceful village on the other side of forest, the tell-tale signs of dawn fast approaching were creeping up from behind the trees as together Emma and Regina froze the entire village then created a bubble over it,
"It'll act like similarly to the town line in Storybrooke" the brunette explained, when we cast the memory spell over the town it won't be able to travel any further than the bubble, once the spell is complete, we'll remove the bubble"
"But what about friends and relatives outside of town" Emma asked
"Well, that's the beauty of this clever little spell, I've designed so that once everyone wakes in an hour or so's time, everybody that would know about Daniel will know about him, both in and outside of town, now first things first let's find Eileen and Peters house"
They searched twenty houses before they found the one that Regina's old nanny and her husband were sleeping in,
"She was the best nanny I ever had" Regina smiled fondly at the sleeping woman "Mother only got rid of her because she was jealous, she thought I like Eileen more than her and she wasn't wrong, I never had a nanny like Eileen again, mother always picked cold, hard women after her, I don't think any of them even liked me" she finished sadly
"Well then they were fools" Emma replied vehemently "Even when we were fighting over Henry, I still liked you, sort of" she shrugged smiling sheepishly
"Why thank-you dear" Regina chuckled "I always liked you too deep down"
They moved on through the house together finding a small empty room next door to the sleeping couples,
"I think we've just found Daniels room" Emma smiled and the two combining their magic make quick work of creating the perfect space for Regina's first love, the blonde embraced the rush of the brunettes familiar magic combining with hers like they were meant to be together and followed Regina leads careful not to put any of her twentieth century in the land without magic influence into the spell and when the purple and white clouds eventually dissipated the once empty room that had previously had an air of neglect about it, now looked perfect and felt lived in,
"and now for the final touch" Regina smiled waving her hand over the bed, a purple cloud appeared, clearing to reveal a frozen Daniel, now wearing night wear and looking like he was sleeping peacefully "live well my love" the brunette whispered bringing two of her fingers to her lips then placing them gently in the middle of Daniels forehead before taking Emma by the hand and leading her out of the room, stopping to spare a single backwards glanced as the blonde closed the door behind them.
Back outside the two stood face to face holding hands reciting the spell that Regina had created white and purple smoke spiralled around each other shooting upwards in narrow columns between them until all at once the magic combined creating a huge light purple cloud that quickly spread out between them settling over the whole town before dissipating moments later just like the clouds in the bedroom had.
"You know" Emma said to the brunette as they removed the bubble and unfroze the town moments later "we don't have to back to the Tardis right away, its well-hidden, so if you wanted, we could hide in those tree's over there and watch for when Daniel comes out and then leave" she suggested smiling gently
"Sounds like a great plan to me" the Doctor said as she bustled past the surprised pair heading for the clump of trees "and I'll call the Tardis over, so we won't have so far to go to jump back in after we've seen him, it'll be well hidden over here"
"What?" she said when she looked back at the pair who were still looking at her wondering where the hell she just popped up from so suddenly "You didn't think that I wouldn't be heading on over here the second that frozen boy disappeared from my floor did you?" she laughed "Now come on what you waiting for, the suns almost up, you'll want to be out of sight before anyone gets up"
Shrugging the two followed the Doctor into the copse where the Tardis had arrived mere seconds before the two of them had, together with the Doctor they waited out of sight.
Thankfully it wasn't a long wait as less than an hour later the front door of the house they were all watching so intently opened and Daniel stepped out,
"Wait a minute Danny" a voice called from inside and Eileen came running out with something in her hand that they couldn't make out "you forgot your lunch" the older woman smiled handing the item to her son
"Thanks Ma" Danny replied taking the item and leaning in to kiss the woman on the cheek, pulling her in for a quick hug,
"Go on you go and have a great day" she said pulling a way to shoo her boy off "and I'll have dinner waiting when you get home"
'Thanks ma, see you later" Danny smiled then turned and went on his way waving to his mother as he went, When Emma turned to look at Regina who had been gripping her hand the whole time the brunette had tears brimming her eyes but none of them had yet fallen
"Come on" the blonde whispered giving the brunette's hands a squeeze "It's time for us to get back to our boy now"