"Please put all loose items away and your trays and chairs upright in the locked position. We will be arriving at Heathrow airport momentarily."

Regina put her Kindle back in her backpack and looked out the window to her left. Some people may think that choosing the window seat was crazy, far too claustrophobic for their tastes, but when she was choosing the seat for her flight and saw that by some miracle a window seat was open, she knew she had to snag it because she loved it in these moments.

She watched as the blue sky gradually gave way to a layer of fluffy clouds (apparently the jokes about English weather always being terrible were true), then the skyline of England began to appear. She could spot Big Ben, London Bridge, and even the London Eye off in the distance, and she remembered those sections in tour books she had haphazardly grabbed at the library the night before, which were currently stashed away in her bag. She wanted to see as much as she could while she was here, although she knew that some of the sights on her list wouldn't necessarily be in a guidebook. The Warner Brothers studio lot that was the site of filming for the Harry Potter movies was on her list, as well as The Eagle and Child, where C.S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and others had once gathered to discuss ideas and (she imagined) work on their greatest novels. She couldn't wait to see what adventures her own trip here would spark. Hopefully, despite it's rushed beginnings, it would be the trip of a lifetime.

(********)

Her suitcase rolling behind her, Regina stepped out into the London streets. A car rode by, kicking up water from the puddles that no doubt lined the streets, splashing her, and she sighed. This was definitely not the way she wanted to be welcomed to England, but she supposed that she was by no means the only person to be greeted by rain when they first arrived in the country.

She tried to hail a taxi, but they all zoomed by, destinations already predetermined by their passengers. After ten minutes of trying to flag one down, she sighed. This was going to be harder than she thought.

"Taxi!" a man shouted beside her, and to her astonishment, she saw a taxi pull over for him. How did he do it? There had to be some secret trick, and she had to find out what it was.

She ran up to him and asked, "Can we share one?" Probably not the wisest decision, but what else could she do? She couldn't walk through the London streets with all this luggage, could she?

"Of course," he acquiesced, nodding.

She breathed a sigh of relief and hurried toward him, not wanting the driver to get inpatient and drive away.

"Thanks," she gasped, hoisting her bag over her shoulder and hurrying toward him. Yes, she probably shouldn't be getting into a cab with a stranger, but in this traffic, she couldn't look a gift horse in the mouth, right?

She put her bag in the trunk (boot, it was called the boot here, she had to remember that) and opened the door to get in. She saw that her rescuer, a man with shoulder-length brown hair dressed in a business suit, had slid over so there was enough room in the cab for both of them and she stepped in and closed the door. After giving Belle's address to the driver, a Chinese woman about her age with dark hair pulled up into a messy ponytail, she turned to her companion, smiling gratefully. "You're a lifesaver, thank you so much."

"Of course," he said, smiling, shaking his head to get the shorter part of his layered hair out of his eyes. Regina secretly couldn't help wondering why he had layered hair at all. He was a man, after all. Weren't they not supposed to care about these things? He held out his hand. "Anything for a friend of Belle's. Robert Gold, at your service. Are you staying with her for the holidays?"

She understood the pleasantries, even appreciated them, to a degree. After all, they would be sharing a cab ride for the foreseeable future, so it was only polite, right? However, she refused to give him her full name. He was a stranger and she was in a different country. She could hope that chivalry wasn't dead in England all she wanted, but it didn't mean that that was necessarily the case. And the fact that he knew the address she had given the driver was Belle's raised red flags, although it maybe should have put her at ease. If this was Belle's friend, she would be fine- and even if that turned out to not be the case, she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself. "Regina. How do you know Belle?"

The blatant once-over and smile he gave her made her uneasy. She really should've gotten an Uber instead of a cab- if they even had Uber here. Did they? She would definitely need to know that, although Belle had told her she'd leave the keys to her car, so after today, she would have a mode of transportation readily available- assuming she could figure out how to drive on the opposite side of the road... and the opposite side of the car. She was looking out the windshield as they were riding now, and being on the left side of the road was certainly an adjustment.

"We were once romantically involved," he said with a wave of his hand. Regina suppressed a shudder. One thing was for sure: while she and Belle may have the same taste in shows and movies, they definitely didn't have the same taste in men.

Clearly just as eager to change the subject as she was, Gold said, "So what are you doing in London, Miss Regina? Are you here for business or pleasure?"

"I could ask the same of you," she pointed out, ignoring his attempts at flirtation. He could try all he wanted, he definitely was going to get nowhere with her. "You have a Scottish accent, after all."

His smile widened. "Beautiful and smart. I noticed immediately that you had a regal air about you, too. You certainly live up to your name, your majesty."

"Did you study Latin at all?" she asked, intrigued despite her better judgement. Her instincts told her that this man was trouble, even though he was once involved with her friend. Usually, that was the case for people who knew the meaning of her name. Her mother had had many crazy whims that she had forced upon Regina over the years, but taking Latin classes was one of the few that she had actually enjoyed. Maybe staying on this safe topic was how she could leave this cab unscathed.

"Indeed," he answered. "All through school. It is a valuable subject, is it not?"

She sighed. "I loved it- my class and teacher, the activities we did- and I do see its value, but it had its negative side too." Why was she telling him this again?

"Ahh," he said. "Say no more."

They fell silent after that, and soon the taxi was pulling to the side of the road in front of what appeared to be as close as she would find to a mansion in the heart of London. It was expansive, so much so that Regina couldn't help wondering how he managed to afford it.

"Well, I suppose I may see you again during your stay," Gold said.

Regina shook her head, inwardly shuddering at the very thought of that idea. "It's a large city," she reminded him. "How can you be so sure?"

He shrugged. "Call it intuition, if you like. I just have a feeling we'll meet again, Ms…"

She didn't fill in the blank for him. She loved Belle, but she wanted nothing more to do with her one-time beau, that was for sure. "Pleasure meeting you, Mr. Gold," she said, holding out her hand. Hopefully he would take the hint and leave. After all, she didn't know if the taxi would make her pay by the mileage of the trip or how much time she had taken. Either way, why take up his valuable time when she didn't want to talk to this man anymore anyway?

"You as well, Regina," he said, taking his hand in hers and kissing it, making her skin crawl. "I do hope our paths cross again before you're back on the other side of the pond, as they say."

All she could do in response was nod, then he shut the door and to her relief, they drove away.

"I'm glad he's gone," the girl in the driver's seat said with an audible sigh of relief.

"Me too," Regina murmured.

"You had the guts to get into the taxi with a stranger," the girl pointed out. "I respect that. Name's Mulan."

Regina shrugged. "Regina. I didn't have much of a choice, did I?" The driver's comments made her feel better though.

"True, London is always crazy," her driver acknowledged. "If something had happened though, I would've helped you out. Don't let my appearance fool you. I'm a black belt."

Regina looked at her more closely. She had to admit that that knowledge was reassuring, because her appearance left something to be desired when one was looking for safety. "Really?"

"Since I was ten," the girl shrugged.

Regina was impressed. That was really young to be that proficient in any extracurricular activity. "What other secrets are you hiding?" She was curious now. The ride to Belle's place couldn't be that far, and while she was a firm believer in a good companionable silence, why resort to that when she was having a perfectly interesting conversation with her driver?

The girl laughed. "I've actually lived in China, does that count?"

Regina shrugged. "I guess. Tell me three interesting things about you."

The two women continued getting to know each other, and as they talked, Regina took the opportunity to look out the window at the scenery they were passing. Normally, she just read on the metro, but today, she didn't want to miss anything. It wasn't every day she was in London, after all.

As she watched, gradually the view outside the window grew more rustic. "Are you sure we're going the right way?" she asked. Realizing that her sharp tongue had run away from her once again (something that Mal both loved and hated about her), she amended, "My friend told me she lives in London."

She laughed. "She probably told you that to make it easier because it's somewhere everyone's familiar with. Surrey is actually a little over an hour away from London by car. Although I'm a little surprised, people are a bit more familiar with the town and it's been more popular over the past couple decades… are you a Harry Potter fan?"

"I am," Regina answered, her eyes widening in realization. "I can't believe I didn't think of that before. I'm so stupid, I should've known that Surrey meant the suburbs." After all, Harry had had to get his aunt and uncle to give him a ride to King's Cross for his first year of Hogwarts, didn't he?

Mulan shook her head quickly, then refocused her attention on the road in front of them. "You're not stupid, it's an easy mistake to make if you're not thinking of the two of them at the same time."

"If you say so…" Regina murmured. Inside, her mother's voice was a harsh wakeup call that was all too real at the moment. What have I always told you? You're such a stupid girl, Regina. That's why you need an intelligent, wealthy man to take care of you.

Snap out of it, Regina, she scolded herself. There was a reason she tried to avoid interactions with her mother as much as possible. Despite the fact that she was practically living her mother's dream living in LA, the woman still had an unhealthy hold on her life.

"I do," Mulan affirmed, nodding. "It's a common misconception, happens all the time. People know these landmarks from the books, but have no idea where they appear on a map of the country."

The two women chatted for the rest of the car ride, and soon, Regina forgot all about the increasingly rural landscape around her. She was glad that although her first substantial interaction in the country hadn't exactly been the best, there were decent people, just like everywhere else, and she had found one of them.

At last they pulled up to a quaint house made of dark stones with a small fenced-in front yard. "We're here," Mulan announced. "Do you want help with your bags?"

Regina's mouth fell open, and when she realized it, she snapped it shut quickly. This was a far cry from her apartment in the city of angels, that was for sure. Given the remote location, she was honestly surprised that anyone lived near Belle. The place was so rustic (at least, compared to the crowded streets of Los Angeles) that she was almost half expecting a farm to be nearby- which she was thankful wasn't the case.

Mulan helped her get her luggage out of the car and after taking the money for the ride, handed her a card and said, "If you ever need a ride anywhere, here's the number for my company. Again, I'm Mulan, so just ask for me. And if you need help with anything, or just want some company over the holidays, my personal number is on the back. I know you're staying with a friend, but-"

"No, I'll actually be alone, so I appreciate it, thank you," Regina responded gratefully. She wasn't a damsel in distress- far from it- but still, it was nice to know that she already had a friend here.

When Mulan drove away, Regina picked up her bags and walked in the house. The interior was just as homely as she had guessed upon seeing the exterior, She moved quickly from the front room to the kitchen and her bag fell on the floor with a thump when she saw it.

"This will definitely be interesting…" she murmured, looking around. The stove had dials on it, unlike the buttons on hers at home, and the coffee machine… where on earth was the coffee machine?! She was a stereotypical American in that she couldn't go a morning without at least one cup of coffee.

Then she spotted the kettle on the stove and she groaned. Of course. The British loved their cup of tea. Perfect. How was she supposed to find a decent cup of coffee in this place?

Not that she wanted one now. She had left in the morning, but after a flight that lasted thirteen hours and the eight hour time difference, not to mention that the journey to Surrey had taken an additional hour, she was exhausted, even though it was only 11 pm at home and she was often awake later than that for work.

She looked at the clock on the stove again. 7:30. Maybe she could go to sleep for an hour and a half? That way she'd be rested- at least a little bit- for the rest of the day.

In their conversations, Belle had told her that she was welcome to eat any food in the house, especially the fridge, since otherwise it would go bad by the time Belle returned home. Regina thought about looking in the small pantry and fridge to see what she'd have to work with, but she felt her eyelids drooping. Maybe it would be best to leave that for when she had had some rest.

She moved to the bedroom and collapsed fully clothed on the bed. She would explore Surrey once she had had some rest.