Regina knew this was wrong, she knew it. So why couldn't she stop herself from doing it? After Maleficent had goaded her so blatantly part of her needed to prove that dragon wrong. She knew this would have bad consequences and also knew that Aldara wasn't going to like what she had planned but she needed Maleficent to think she was still the Evil Queen and this was the only way how.
She promptly got out of the car after Maleficent had finished talking, without looking at her daughter. Aldara followed her out and stood leaned up against the car, looking at her mother whose face gave away how much she was dreading what they needed to do.
Regina was looking straight ahead at the house, trying to decide what she and Aldara needed to do.
"I think out best bet is me walking into the workshop and hopefully putting them to sleep and taking the boy before his father wakes up," Regina said trying to act like it wasn't affecting her but Aldara could see that it was. There was a wobble to her mother's voice that gave away her how much she hated this situation.
"You don't have to do this, we could find another way to figure it all out. We don't need to resort to this mother." Aldara said to her. Regina looked at her daughter with sad eyes.
"If I don't do this it will put our family in danger. I'm not going to let that happen. I know this isn't what you were expecting Aldara, hell I wasn't expecting this either, but it's our only option now. If we don't I can guarantee that Maleficent and the others will do something far worse to the boy… and to us." She told the younger brunette honestly. Aldara sighed in defeat.
"Okay, but I'm coming with you and if Emma finds out I promise I will back you up," Aldara told Regina knowing what they were about to do was going to put a huge strain on the woman's relationship. Regina just nodded sadly.
"I'm not sure that is going to help but thank you," Regina said to her honestly. "Are you ready?"
"As ready as I can be, sure," Aldara said feeling a tug of guilt in her stomach at what they were about to do. They made their way over to the garage door.
Regina knocked lightly on the door and walked in. Aldara followed trying her best to hide her emotions.
"Hello, Marco, Pinocchio," Regina said as they both walked into the small works shop. The boy and his father stood behind a wooden rocking horse they had been working on. Pinocchio looked scared of Regina and backed up slightly, which made sense because the last time Regina had interacted with the poor boy she had struggled to keep herself in check and may have let her old self out of its tightly sealed box a little. "May we come in?"
"Of course." Said Marco as he made his way over to them. "Is, uh… Is everything all right?" Marco as just before Regina waved her hand and made the father and son fall to the floor, fast asleep. Regina walked over to the small sleeping boy, feeling a horrible sense of guilt in the pit of her stomach. She looked at Aldara who looked ashamed and just as guilty as Regina felt.
Behind them, the workshop door opened and Emma walked in.
"Regina, Al" Emma said shocked to see the woman she loved stood in front of a sleeping Pinocchio. The blonde knew nothing good could come of this.
"Emma!" Regina said shocked to see her there. "What are you doing here?" She asked her not wanting Emma to be pulled into this with them.
"I've been watching you. I saw you casting a sleeping spell, and my gut said something was wrong." Emma said worried about Regina and Aldara who was stood there with shame written on her face.
"Well, it will be if you don't get out of here," Regina said to Emma a little bluntly. She was worried if Emma was caught with them by Maleficent this would take a huge turn for the worse. Maleficent wasn't the forgiving sort and the dragon wasn't so easily fooled as the other witches.
"Not until you tell me what maleficent has you here doing," Emma said knowing that the dragon was dangerous and also whatever it was they were doing was going to be awful. Regina sighed, she couldn't lie to Emma.
"They're after Pinocchio," Regina told her knowing Emma wasn't going to approve of what they were up to in the slightest.
"I told you these things never end well. We'll have to do this quickly. Let's sneak him out the back and find a safe place." Emma said, not wanting one of her oldest friends, even if he didn't remember her, to get hurt.
"One little snafu and you're ready to pack up?" Regina said annoyed that Emma thought that it was easy as that. "What happens when Mal realizes and lets loose her inner dragon?" Regina said worried that Emma didn't fully understand how much danger they would be in if she didn't bring the boy to Maleficent.
"This is a child we are talking about, Regina. It's too big a risk." Emma said to her not wanting to put Pinocchio in danger especially if it meant letting Maleficent, Cruella and Ursula have hold of him.
"Not if we are there to keep him safe," Regina told her. Throughout all this Aldara was just standing back secretly hoping it would end with them being able to keep the young boy away from the villains but she knew this was unlikely to happen. "If they try to harm him, I'll stop them and fight my way out."
"Three of them! One of you." Emma said worrying about Regina.
"Two actually," Aldara said but could see neither one of the women was paying any attention to her. Both too caught up in their fight to remember that she was there also. She shuffled uncomfortably on the spot, hating being trapped there with the two of them arguing.
"I know you think I'm over my head, but I got this. You don't know them like I do" Regina told Emma angry that the one person who was meant to believe in her was doubting her.
"Then enlighten me, because ever since they came to town, my superpower has been going haywire, like everyone, including my parents. Is keeping something from me." Emma said hating the feeling of not being able to trust anyone anymore. The only person she knew she could trust was Regina and now she was starting to doubt that too.
"Emma, the only ones keeping secrets are Maleficent and her friends. They've taken a page out of the heroes' playbook. They're working together, which means we have to take a page out of theirs and break the rules." Regina told Emma hoping she would understand what was at stake here. Regina and Aldara needed to keep playing villain because if they didn't get a heads up on what was going on it could be disastrous for everyone.
"I'll be right on your tail. I see anything I don't like and I will come in blazing." Emma said wanting Regina to know that she still had her back. Regina nodded to her.
"Okay, then it's settled," Aldara said in the awkward silence that hung in the air after. The couple turned around to look at her embarrassed and stunned to remember she was still there. "I don't want to be in a room when you're both actually arguing."
"Just please promise me you'll be careful Regina," Emma said to the brunette woman who just nodded at her reassuringly.
"I love you Emma Swan and I will do everything I can to keep you, our family and this town safe," Regina said meaning every word.
"I love you too Regina, my soon to be wife," Emma told her before placing a sweet kiss on her lips. Regina let out a sigh of relief.
"Come on let's get him and get out before Marco wakes up," Aldara said going over to the boy and wrapping him up in a blanket. Regina smiled at her daughter but it was obvious she wasn't happy with what was happening. She let over and picked Pinocchio up slowly trying hard not to wake him. Aldara opened the door to let her mother carry the boy through.
They walked out of the workshop and saw Maleficent stood outside the car. Regina carried the surprisingly heavy boy to the car and placed him gently In the back of it. She made sure the blanket was covering him properly as Aldara walked around and got in the other side. Regina looked at Aldara worriedly before standing up and placed a smile on her face so Maleficent wouldn't see her worry.
"It's good to have you back," Maleficent said to her Just before both of them climbed into the front of the car. Regina dropped her phone on the concrete just as she closed the door. She hated to have to do that to Emma but there was no way she was leading her into danger like that.
Emma sat in the workshop looking at her phone, Regina's location on her GPS hadn't moved in a while.
"Come on. What's the hold-up? Why aren't you…" Emma suddenly twigged what had happened and it wasn't that her phone wasn't working. "No!" Emma, she said standing up from her seat and walking to the workshop door to look outside. She looked down the road to see if she could spot the car but there was nothing but darkness. She spotted it on the floor in the middle of the road. Regina's phone that had been left behind so Emma couldn't track her anymore. Meaning she no longer could communicate with her and even worse she had no chance of making sure that Regina and Aldara weren't in danger. She picked up the phone and written on the screen was 'I got this'.
"Regina, what are you doing?" Emma asked herself wanting to know what the Queen was up too.
Regina and Aldara followed Maleficent through the front door of Rumple's cabin. It was clear where the three witches had based themselves. It did make her wonder if her dear old magic teacher had somehow made his way back into Storybrooke.
"Gold's cabin?" Regina said as she walked through the door looking around the room. The fireplace was lit and through golden light across the room, creating a deceitful calming atmosphere. "What are we doing here?" Regina asked eyeing Aldara to see what she made of the cabin too. Her face looked unsure and also anxious about what this meant for storybrooke.
"We needed someplace out of the way to hang our headdresses and hide our kidnapped puppets, and this little hovel became available to us," Maleficent answered Regina's Question. It was then clear to both Regina that her inkling was right.
"No!" Regina said hating the fact that the imp had managed to worm his way back. Would that man ever just give up? Regina knew the answer to that question the day she first met him 'never in a lifetime'. "Your dark magic, it's not a spell or an object. It's…"
"That's right, Deary." Rumple's voice sounded behind her. "It's me." He said as she turned around to face an unlit doorway as Rumble began to emerge from its darkness. In his right hand, he held his dagger. He stalked over to them. Aldara took a backseat to the conversation and just watched what happened worried what Rumble's sudden appearance meant for her new home. " You didn't think I'd stay banished for long, now, did you?" He said in shifty tone. Regina knew they couldn't keep this man at bay but she had wished he would have stayed away longer.
"No. I didn't." Regina said to her old tutor, she was trying to restrain herself, knowing Rumple was the one person who could ruin hers and Aldara's plans to stay undercover. She also knew now that Rumple was here that keeping Pinocchio safe was going to be a whole lot harder. Maybe she should have listened to Emma.
"I learned quite a lot about myself on my little journey outside Storybrooke. You were right Regina, sometimes the teacher needs to learn from the student." He told Regina who was growing more and more uncomfortable the more he talked to her. "And sometimes, you need to fall very far to finally see the light."
Regina knew this man had something up his overpriced sleeve. She needed to understand what he was planning to do.
"Well, you finally accepted the same truth I have. You can't get your happy ending without finding the author. I suppose that puts us on the same side." Regina told him a little glad she could rub it in his face a little that she was right. Aldara wasn't sure exactly was going on with Regina she understood that Regina once wanted to find the author to ask him to re-write her story but now why did she still seem so desperate to find the author. Aldara knew that her mother probably thought they would know more about what happened when Regina abandoned her. She still felt unnerved about why her mother plays this role of Evil Queen so well.
"I supposed it does," Rumple said seeming less self-assured. At this moment Cruella burst through the door carrying the still fast asleep Pinocchio. She placed him into an armchair. "And now, with the help of the real boy you've required. We can take our first steps." He said his voice taking a more vicious turn.
"What are you going to do?" Aldara asked him, she was going to stay quiet but something overcame her and she felt the need to question the dark man.
"If your mother steps aside, I'll show you." He told her his gaze shooting towards her eyes as soon as she piped up. His eyes seem to look into her soul as if he already knew what they were planning to do. Regina stood still, she was fighting her instinct to protect the boy knowing how malicious Rumble was. "Or have you gone soft?" He said whipping his head back to Regina. Regina tightened her hand into a fist and fought the urge to lash out at him.
"Never," She said chuckling a little but inside she felt uneased knowing that this was going to end badly. She stepped out his way extending a hand as to present the boy to him.
"What a relief." He walked towards Pinocchio. His stride intimidating as he approached the boy holding his dagger dangerously. "You see, we're not going to ask young Pinocchio here to remember anything because he can't. No amount of torture will work on him. But it will succeed on the man he used to be." Rumple said before he held up his dagger and waved it over the boys head. Suddenly Pinocchio began to glow and a white light expanded before it settled revealing August Booth.
"Welcome back, August," Rumple said to the now fully grown man who sat in front of them all. "Now, shall we begin".
