Regina was sitting at her desk when her secretary used the intercom to tell her Neal was there to see her. She paused before telling her to send him in.
She took a deep breath. She wasn't expecting to speak to Neal again so soon, although she shouldn't be surprised. Neal was never one to let something simmer for a while.
"Hey," he said when he entered. She didn't get up to greet him.
"Hi," she said.
"Do you mind if I sit?" Neal said when he approached one of the chairs.
"Of course," Regina said, as she stood up and took the seat beside him. She realized this was her best friend, no matter what, and to treat him as anything else would be a disservice to their friendship.
He gave her a small smile which she returned.
"I'm sorry about last night," he said.
"It's ok," Regina responded, feeling relieved that Neal must be about to admit that none of this was true.
"I shouldn't have sprung that on you like that," he continued. "I should have found a better way to tell you."
"Neal," Regina sighed. "You can't expect me to believe that any of this is possible."
"I know," Neal said. "I know that none of this fits into the way you think, the things you believe, but it doesn't make it any less true. And I don't know how to make you believe it, but I thought maybe Emma could."
"Emma?"
"Yes, I think you should tell Emma the truth or I can tell her with you if you want," Neal said. "You see, you and Emma are the keys to all of this. I don't know what kind of relationship you two had back home, but clearly, you were close or my father wouldn't have set you up like this. And the fact that Emma, to your knowledge, is the only one who has tried to step across the town …"
"Stop," Regina said, standing up. "You need to stop this, whatever it is. Neal, I love you, and if you truly believe this then you need help and I will get you that help, I will be there every step of the way, but you need to accept that what you are saying is not reality."
Neal also stood. "Don't you think I know this sounds crazy? Believe me, I know exactly how it sounds to you, but it is the truth and at some point, you are going to have to accept it too. I would rather that acceptance come with my help and not from you doing something we are all going to regret."
"You mean if I kiss Emma."
"Yes. This isn't a coincidence, that you have found me and now you are on the cusp of possibly reconciling with Emma. This is exactly what my father planned for. Don't underestimate him."
Regina felt sad at that moment, knowing she had no way to help Neal. But she meant what she said, she would be with him all along the way to get that help.
"This story you are telling me, even you realize that it sounds crazy," she said. "You can't possibly expect me to believe it's true."
"But you have to," he interrupted. "If you don't, you could unleash a great evil upon this world. This world isn't meant for magic, especially not the kind my father can wield."
"I know you have issues with your father, but this isn't the way to deal with them," Regina said.
"This isn't about my relationship with my father. I mean it is but not in the way you are suggesting," Neal said. "Please Regina. I'm asking you to open your mind to the possibility."
Regina paused before speaking, looking at her best friend with nothing but pity and sadness.
"I'm sorry, but I can't."
…
Neal had left Regina's office with the outcome he had expected – her not believing him and then shutting down entirely. She used work as an excuse to get him to leave.
He went straight to the only other place in town he could – his father's pawn shop.
"Bae, you've returned," Gold smiled.
"I told you, it's Neal. I haven't been Bae in a long time," Neal said. "Sorry, it will take a while to get used to Neal."
"I don't want you to get used to it. What I want is to know how to stop all of this," Neal said. "You said you came here to find me, fine, but I came here to escape the magic that was changing my father into a monster. Now if you want to have any sort of relationship with me going forward you are going to tell me how to stop magic from coming into this world."
"Without magic, we can't return to our world," Gold said.
"I don't want to return. This is my home now," Neal said.
"Not everyone will feel that way once they regain their memories. Once Emma and Regina kiss, not only will the magic return, but everyone will remember who they are," Gold said. "I suspect Queen Snow for one will want to get back."
"That is Emma's mother," Neal commented.
"Yes, and she isn't fond of the match between Regina and Emma. She will do anything to keep those two apart," Gold said. "You mentioned before that you love Regina."
"Yes, I do."
"You do understand you don't stand a chance with her. I'm not saying that to be cruel."
"I know she is gay," Neal said. "My love for her isn't that kind of love." He didn't see any point in arguing the point with his father about that. "My concern is that she doesn't get hurt in all of this, and I don't see how that doesn't happen now."
"You are looking at this the wrong way. You want Regina to be happy and the only way she ever truly gets to be happy is if she is with her true love – Emma. I made a deal with Emma that I would give them the chance to be together in another place where their life status wouldn't be an issue. I have kept up my end of the bargain."
Neal knew that being with Emma would make Regina happy, especially now that he knew they were each other's true love. But Regina's happiness would have to be put on hold at least until Neal could figure out how to prevent his father from getting his powers back.
"What happens if Emma and Regina never kiss?" Neal asked.
"Nothing happens. Life will continue as is," Gold said. "But nothing will prevent them from kissing at this point. I have watched those two for years and believe me, they will always be drawn to each other. And as I said before, now that you have been found, Regina will no longer have the desire to leave here that she once had."
"Why do this? Why do this at all?"
"For you."
"No," Neal said. "You have power, you could have found another way to get here, you could have found another way to find me. Why do it like this?" He paused. "You did it like this so you would still have your power. You wouldn't come with me because you couldn't give up your power and even now you wouldn't give it up to reunite with me. I used to think that the dagger changed you, but it didn't. This is who you are."
"Bae, Neal, why can't you see that I did this for you, for us, so we can finally be together," Gold said. "It's what I have wanted for all these years. Did I take advantage of others to get here, yes, I did, but that was only because I couldn't bear to live my life without ever seeing you again."
"But you are destroying other people's lives to do it," Neal said. "Don't you feel anything about that?"
"No, not when it brought me back to you."
Neal grabbed a hold of his father, practically dragging him over the counter.
"You tell me how to stop this."
"You can't," Gold said. "Unless you are willing to destroy Regina's happiness."
…
Emma was sitting on her couch planning her date with Regina, thinking that her life was finally on the right track. To her, it felt like a dream.
As much as she had been wishing for the chance to reconcile with Regina, to actually be living it now was almost unbelievable. She knew how lucky she was which meant she knew she couldn't afford to mess this up again.
It was why she wanted this date to be memorable.
Their first "date" back when they were teenagers wasn't even a real official date. She had asked Regina if she wanted to go watch a movie and they had, but they debated later on in their relationship if that was their first date. They hadn't even gone out to eat or anything and had met each other at the movie theater, so Emma wasn't inclined to call it a first date.
She didn't want this date to be a simple dinner and a movie. She wanted it to be special so that Regina would remember it and also so she would agree to the next date.
A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts. She wasn't expecting anyone, but a part – ok all of her – was hoping it was Regina stopping by for a surprise visit. She opened the door only to start shutting it again, but the person there blocked it.
"What are you doing here Killian?" Emma asked.
"Come on," Killian said holding up a bottle of whiskey. "Invite me in."
"Go away."
"Not until you have a drink with me, for old times," he said.
"No," she said, trying to shut the door again, but he kept blocking it. "I swear Killian if you don't leave, I will have you arrested."
Killian forced himself in the room – "One drink because I have some information you are going to want to know."
"Information about what?" Emma asked as she still held the door open for him to leave.
"One drink love. It concerns your beloved Regina."
Emma thought about it a moment before saying, "leave."
"Fine," he said. "Don't say I didn't warn you when it all goes to hell for you and the prom queen."
Killian backed up a step and Emma cursed herself even as she said. "Fine, one drink, but this better be worth it."
…
Regina felt out of sorts all day after Neal left her office. She didn't understand why he believed this idea of a curse. She could tell he believed it wholeheartedly by the way he spoke about it. Now Regina found herself torn about what to do.
Maybe that is why she sought out someone to speak to and the only person she could think of in this town outside of her parents was Emma.
Still, she was rethinking it even as she got to Emma's apartment.
But there she was knocking on Emma's door.
The door opened a moment later and Emma paused only immediately before glancing back into her apartment where Killian was standing. Emma just as quickly turned back to Regina who seemed frozen in place.
"It's not what you think," Emma said quickly.
Regina still didn't say anything and Emma reached out and touched her. "It's not what you think. Come in. There's something you need to hear."
Reluctantly Regina let herself be led into the apartment her eyes more on Killian than Emma and he noticed.
"Good to see you again, love," he said.
God, she hated when he spoke she thought and then quickly composed herself.
"What is going on?" This she directed at Emma.
"Killian came over to tell me that my mother contacted him to recruit him to make sure you and I didn't get back together."
Regina looked at Killian who shrugged. "It's true," he said. "And while I told her mum I would help out, I just said that to make her think I would. Truth is, I'm not interested in whatever she is planning. Believe it or not, I finally get it – our girl here isn't interested in me. She never was."
Regina turned back to Emma who had a small smile on her face, yet still seemed apprehensive. Regina realized that was because Emma was waiting for her reaction.
"Thank you," Regina said to Killian. "It means a lot that you would come forward with this information."
"Are you thankful enough to finally do that three-way?"
"Out!" Emma said.
"Relax, I was just joking," Killian said.
"Still, Regina and I need to speak – alone."
"Fair enough," he said walking toward the door. "Good to see you as always Emma. And Regina, well, if you decide you are sticking around town, my offer still stands."
"Out," Emma said again. This time he did leave and Emma turned back to Regina. "Sorry about that," she said.
"It's fine," Regina said.
"You don't look like it's fine," Emma said.
"No, it is. It was nice of him to come forward like that, even if he had to be an ass about it," Regina said. "I just … I've just had a really bad day and I shouldn't have stopped by without making sure it was ok first."
"Of course, it's ok," Emma said. "I'm glad you wanted to come over. Still, we should probably talk about what Killian had to say."
"That's not all we need to talk about."
"What?"
"It's Neal. He said some rather disturbing things to me in the last 24 hours and I don't know what to do about it," Regina explained.
"Disturbing in what way?"
"In the way that makes me question his sanity," Regina said, then she paused. "And if I am being honest, a little bit of my own."