Regina got up off the couch and took several steps away from Neal.
"What do you mean he needs me and Emma to kiss?" Regina asked. "What are you talking about?"
Neal also rose, but he didn't move closer to her. "I know how this is going to sound. It's going to sound crazy, and I could have easily lied or not told you any of this, but I need you to believe me because if you don't, you could inadvertently be releasing a monster into this world."
"Neal," Regina said taking a step closer to him. "You aren't making any sense."
"I know, I know. I just need you to listen to me. Listen with an open mind. You see, I'm not from Tallahassee. I'm from the same place you are."
"That's not possible," Regina said. "If you were from Storybrooke, I would know that. I would have known Gold was your father."
"Not Storybrooke," Neal said. "We're not from this place. We aren't even from this world. We are from a place called the Enchanted Forest. It's a land of magic, a land where what they call fairy tales here are real. My father, well I used to think he was a good man, and maybe he was at some point, but that was before he gained power, power through magic. My father is Rumpelstiltskin."
There was a pause before Regina laughed. "For a moment I thought you were being serious. You had me going there for a second."
"I'm not joking," Neal said. "My father is Rumpelstiltskin. And Regina, he told me the reason he is here, the reason you are all here is because of you. You brought all these people here, made this town from your magic, all because I was here in this world and my father was trying to find me so he used you to do it. He used your love for Emma to do all of this and now he needs that love to undo it."
"You aren't making any sense."
"I know, but you have to listen to me, can you do that?" Neal asked. He didn't wait for an answer, too afraid to let her have time to think it over. "The Enchanted Forest is … it's completely unlike this world. It's a world of castles and dragons and magic. I grew up in this world until my father gained magic through a talisman – a dagger. It turned him into Rumpelstiltskin. What he was becoming, it scared me and I thought the only way to stop him would be for him and me to go to another place – a world without magic. That turned out to be this world but when it came to leaving my father showed himself for the coward he was. I went through the portal and he didn't. I ended up here and he stayed there. And that I thought it was the end of it. Until I came here to see you and now everything has changed because my father wants his magic back, which isn't possible without you."
Regina backed away again, clearly unsettled by what he had to say. As she stepped back Neal knew that she didn't believe him.
He couldn't blame her because he knew how all of this would sound to her, but he had to try.
"I didn't know when I met you," Neal said. "I just thought you were an extraordinary woman who for some reason decided to give me a chance. I didn't know that my father sent you outside of Storybrooke to find me, but that is what he did. He explained it all to me. This town, it was made from magic and that magic prevents anyone from leaving it, except you."
This caused Regina to stop as she thought about the night before – about Emma standing there at the border. No, she thought, it wasn't possible. But Emma had said she didn't understand why she couldn't cross the border. She thought about her parents and how they had never left this town to come visit her. She thought about all the others – people she was pretty sure had never left its boundaries.
Of all the things Neal had said so far, this gave her pause.
And Neal noticed.
"Yes," he said. "This is why Emma couldn't go with you when you left for college and why she couldn't cross the border. It was never about her not wanting to be with you. It's this place. She and the others are trapped here."
"But why can I …?" She couldn't bring herself to ask the entire question. She felt like if she did, it would in some way mean she believed all of this.
"Because of me," he said. "My father is trapped here too, but you aren't so he tricked you into all of this. He needed you out in the world to find me. Somehow, the magic that did all of this, compelled you even though you didn't know it, it compelled you to look for me. Think about it Regina, think about all the different places you have lived and how we discovered they were all places I had been to. You always ended up in those places after me until we met in Philadelphia. I do not doubt if I had moved on from there that wherever I had gone you would have found some reason to be there too. Here, I thought it was my charming personality that had won you over when the truth was it was magic."
Regina thought about Mr. Gold's interest in her and where she had been. He had always made it a point to ask her about her travels outside of Storybrooke.
"You said that Mr. Gold needed me and Emma to kiss- why?"
Neal sighed. He had been hoping that Regina might believe him a bit more before they got into this, but he could tell from the tone in her voice, she didn't believe him. Still, he knew she was at least considering what he had to say which may be the best he could do.
Clearly, she didn't remember her life back in the Enchanted Forest just as no one else in this town did. She didn't know what she had done and while he was sure his father hadn't told him every single detail, he knew that it wasn't his father's magic that had done this. He didn't think that she needed to know that – at least not yet. He was struggling as it was to tell her what he was telling her.
"It took powerful magic to pull this off, not just magic, but a curse. If the curse is broken then this world, well, the magic would come back to this world and my father would be like he was before. Right now, he's not anything but a man, but if he gets his magic back then I'm afraid of what he might do. That is why he needs you to kiss Emma because in our world the only way to break a curse is with true love's kiss."
This time Regina backed up until she hit the wall. "I … I think I should go. It's been a long day," she said and she walked over and grabbed her purse, and made it to the door. When she opened it, she looked back at him and Neal could see the confusion in her eyes and that she was now looking at him like the stranger he was when he had tried to steal her car.
"I will be here when you are ready to believe," Neal said.
Regina didn't say anything else as she closed the door behind her.
….
Regina got home feeling unsettled by her conversation with Neal. The entire drive she kept thinking about how insane all of what he had to say was and how none of it was possible.
Because it wasn't possible.
Thinking about it was why she was still sitting in her car in the driveway despite having arrived at her destination.
All her memories of growing up were here in Storybrooke. All her memories of Emma were here so it wasn't possible that they would have known each other in some other place.
But she kept going back to what he said about how no one could leave this place. Yes, it was crazy, but somewhere in her mind, she recognized that it also explained things.
If there were a spell keeping everyone but her here then that would explain why Emma couldn't cross the town line.
"No," she said, out loud. "It's not possible."
She shook her head at the absurdity of it. What she didn't know was why Neal would say such things.
Getting out of the car, she told herself she wasn't going to give it any more thought until she talked to a more sane Neal.
Walking into the house, she was shocked to come into the living room and find Mrs. Swan there speaking with her parents.
"Home at last," her mother said, giving her a small smile. "You have a visitor, Regina."
Mary Margaret rose from the chair she had been sitting in. "I'm sorry to show up here unannounced Regina, but I was hoping to speak to you. In private. And your parents were gracious enough to indulge my company while we waited for you."
Warning bells were going off in Regina's head. She could think of no reason why Emma's mother would be there to speak to her unless of course it had to do with Emma and after the night she had already had, Regina wasn't sure she was up for it.
"I won't take up much of your time," Mary Margaret said, sensing her hesitation.
"Of course," Regina replied. "We can speak in my father's office." She led the way down the hall to the office, neither woman saying anything as they walked. Once the door was closed, Regina offered Mary Margaret a seat – the only one being in front of the desk while Regina took the seat behind it.
"I don't know if you have spoken with Emma today or not," she began. "Regardless if you have, I felt I should speak to you face to face. You see my daughter has expressed her intentions as it were when it comes to you. As you know I have never been supportive of such a relationship between the two of you. However, things change. I wanted you to know that if you and Emma choose to pursue a relationship once more, you will not have to worry about me standing in the way. Emma has asked me to be supportive and I will be. I thought you deserved to hear it directly from me."
Regina sat back in the seat, trying to think this through. "Why?" she said. "Why the change?"
"All I want is my daughter to be happy," Mary Margaret said. "I see now that I was the one in the wrong all those years ago when I forbid her to see you. Back then I didn't think what you two had was more than infatuation and I expected it to pass, but when it didn't, well, I behaved poorly. But I want you and Emma to know that will not happen again if you two choose to pursue a relationship."
Regina still didn't understand why Mrs. Snow thought she needed to come here and tell her this. Maybe Emma had said something to her, she thought.
"While I appreciate your willingness to put the past in the past, I think any discussion of Emma and I is a bit premature," Regina said.
"Still," Mary Margaret said. "I felt it needed to be said and be said by me."
"Thank you," Regina said. She didn't trust this woman and nothing she had said made that opinion change. Even the smile on her face seemed forced which again made Regina wonder what was the point of this?
Mary Margaret stood up. "Thank you for your time."
Regina watched her as she left, but she stayed seated, thinking how strange things had gotten in her life in just the last two days. She thought again about what Neal had said to her. What bothered her the most about it was that she knew when he was being sincere about something – and she got that feeling when he was telling her all these impossible things.
A place where fairy tales are real, he had said. A place of magic.
Suddenly, the odd dreams she had been having lately came to mind. Seeing Emma in a castle, on a throne. No, she thought, those were just dreams and had nothing to do with this.
She closed her eyes a moment and tried to recall one of those dreams in more detail, but she couldn't remember any real details from them.
A knock on the doorframe got her attention and she looked up to see her parents standing there. She must have been sitting there alone with her thoughts for longer than she realized.
"Are you ok?" her mother asked.
"Yes," Regina said. "Just a little taken aback by Mrs. Swan's visit."
It was less her visit and more of what Neal told her, but she wasn't about to tell her parents what he had said.
"She didn't upset did she?" her father asked.
"No, nothing like that. She only came here to tell me that she was done standing in the way of me and Emma if Emma and I were to get back together."
This had Cora crossing her arms. Her mother had tried to speak with Mrs. Swan back when she and Emma were teenagers, essentially trying to get her to back off, but Mary Margaret was having none of that.
"And what brought about this change of heart?" Cora asked the skepticism plainly on display.
"I don't know. She said she was wrong all those years ago and I guess she feels bad about it," Regina said. "We didn't speak in-depth about it."
"You and Emma," her father said. "Your mother said you were with her last night. Is there something there I should know about?"
Her father was smiling at her. He always was the hopeless romantic of the family.
"No," Regina said, smiling back. "She and I are just talking."
"If I recall correctly, you used the we're just talking line on us at the start of your relationship with Emma all those years ago."
It was true, Regina thought, she certainly had. When she first started seeing Emma, she had said they were just talking because when they started that is what it was. They talked and Regina had no idea what it meant that they were talking.
She still wasn't certain until the night Emma kissed her.
Regina had seen Emma leaning in toward her and she thought maybe she was about to be kissed, but still, it managed to surprise her when it actually happened.
There is something about a first kiss that was magical.
As soon as that thought popped into her head, she couldn't help but think of what Neal said about being from a place that had magic and that magic had brought them here.
"Has Mr. Gold ever been out of Storybrooke?" she asked suddenly.
The question caught both of her parents off guard.
"Not that I know of, but why do you ask?" Henry said.
She wasn't about to tell them anything about what Neal had said or that Neal was his son.
"No reason," she said. "He just always seems interested in where I have been. Every time I come back here he is always asking me about different places."
"Maybe he is just curious," her father said.
"Or nosy," Cora said, earning her a look from Henry. "What? The man is always lurking around trying to keep tabs on everything and everyone. It's creepy, he's always been creepy."
Her mother had never gotten along with Mr. Gold, or at least never said a kind word about him, but Regina didn't know why that was.
"It's been a long day," Regina said. "I think I'll turn in early."
She got up and walked over to them. Her father hugged her and she went upstairs. Once in her room, she sat on the bed. She wasn't really tired, but she felt out of sorts with everything that had happened.
Normally if she was feeling stressed or didn't know what to do, she would sit and talk to Neal because he always had a way to make her feel better.
But talking to Neal now wasn't an option.
Taking out her phone, she called Emma.
"Hey," Emma said, answering the phone.
"Hi," Regina said. "I thought I should call you because …" Suddenly, Regina wanted to tell Emma everything. Tell her all that Neal had said so that Emma could tell her that there was something wrong with Neal because there was no way this entire town was being held captive by a church.
"Regina?"
"Sorry," Regina, realizing she had trailed off. "Your mom was just here."
"Oh God," Emma said. "That woman is unbelievable. Did she say or do something to upset you?"
"No, it wasn't like that. She was here to apologize for her behavior in the past and to let me know that if you and I were to date again that it wouldn't be like it was before, that she would support us this time around."
"Huh," Emma said. "I guess she is taking that to heart. She and I talked earlier and I told her that she could forget having any sort of relationship with me if she couldn't support me being with who I want to be with. Still, I didn't think she'd show up to tell you this. If I had known I would have warned you. Sorry."
"It's not your fault, I'm not angry or anything," Regina said. "I thought I should tell you that she stopped by is all. Although I did wonder what brought about her change of heart."
"I should have put my foot down with her a long time ago. I mean she's always said she wants me to be happy, but she can't seem to put that into practice," Emma said. "And speaking of being happy, when do I get to see you again?"
Regina couldn't help but smile. Emma always knew how to make smooth transitions.
"I don't know," Regina said. "Is that your way of asking me out?"
"Yes," Emma said.
"Well, in that case, I guess I could be agreeable to that. What did you have in mind and when?"
"How about two nights from now?"
"That works for me," Regina said. "And what will be doing on this date?"
"Leave that to me," Emma said. "I'll let you know what time for sure tomorrow."
"Ok," Regina said. "I will speak with you tomorrow. Bye Emma."
"Good night," Emma said before hanging up.
A date. She was going to go on a date with Emma. She had just been thinking about what a whirlwind these last couple of days had been yet agreeing to go out with her had seemed so natural. Neal had said that his father needed her to kiss because they were true loves. Regina shook off the thought. She wasn't going to let Neal and whatever that was this evening invade her thoughts anymore tonight.
Even as she thought it though, she again tried to remember one of the strange dreams she had been having. Nothing specific was coming to mind and she decided she would change and go to bed. If she dreamt tonight she hoped it was an ordinary dream or better yet that she didn't remember her dreams at all.