This isn't going to work. Rumple won't say yes, and even if he wanted to, he can't die, so the spell might not even work.
But Regina has to ask, she has to try. She doesn't want to die, not when she finally has Robin back, but to save her son she will, a thousand times over. And she knows Robin would do the same, she's seen him do the same before, and she will not let that happen again.
She wants to believe there is an easier way, that she won't have to make this sacrifice, that she can have a life with her whole family free of this curse. But time and experience have shown her she never catches a break. After all she did in her life, she doesn't deserve a break. Her past actions had dire consequences, and she will not have them fall on anyone other than her this time.
Unless Rumple somehow agrees to this.
He's meeting her at the bar, she'd offered to go to him since he's been keeping a low profile, but he wanted to do it here rather than wherever it is he's staying. She's not put off that he didn't trust her with the location of his safehouse because if asked she can honestly say she doesn't know, but she's concerned about someone finding him on his way back. While he's incredible at hiding in the shadows, there is too much at risk not to use the magic she now has to ensure he isn't found.
She waits and waits for him to show up at their agreed 3:30 am meeting time, half an hour after closing. She watches the door from 3:15 on even though she knows Rumple isn't the type to be that early. As the time goes by, and 3:30 passes without him coming in, she starts to worry.
Robin had offered to stay and join them, but she'd sent him up to bed as soon as they'd finished closing up shop. He was tired, as is she, and they both will need to be well-rested for the next segment of the plan.
A plan that will be ruined if Facilier has somehow gotten his hands on Rumple and the dagger.
She's about to call Rumple when she hears a rustling in the backroom. She grabs her bat from behind the bar to be safe and cautiously approaches.
At first glance there is no one and she curses herself for being so jumpy. She starts to set down her bat but hears a scuffling sound from the back corner and raises it up, just as Rumple slinks out of the shadows.
"How the hell did you get in here?" she hisses, adding a biting, "You're lucky I have good reflexes."
"I have my ways," is all Rumple says as he steps more fully into the light. He looks awful, his clothes are dirty, his hair unkempt, and he doesn't look like he's showered in days. "Now, can we get on with it? What was so important you couldn't tell me over the phone?"
She gives him a steely look, pulling the necklace out from the neckline of her t-shirt, watching as his face lights up with interest.
"Well, well. Nicely done, Your Majesty."
"Don't call me that," she snaps, and it irritates her that he doesn't react at all.
They don't have time for any kind of games, so she tells him, "There's still the matter of saving my son."
"I'm surprised you haven't figured that out yet. I trained you better than that."
"I know how. The question is who is going to take it."
"And I'm required for this discussion why?" he asks, and she knows he knows what she's getting at.
"The faux ignorance never suited you, Rumple."
"If you have something you'd like to ask me you'd better do it directly. I don't have time for this."
That makes two of them, but since he's pretending not to know what she wants she spells it out far more plainly than is necessary, just to stick it to him. "The poison in Henry has to be transferred to someone. Someone who takes it willingly. Like an illness can be magically transferred from one person to another. That person has to be awake, has to know and accept all the risks—"
"Yes, thank you for that introductory healing magic lesson. I am aware of how things work," he deadpans, and she smirks.
"I was going to take it myself, but it was suggested to me that perhaps you would be a better candidate. You are still immortal here, aren't you?"
He nods, his expression unreadable, giving nothing away. He takes his time answering her, and the waiting makes her ansty, which is probably his intent. "I am immortal here, yes."
She waits, but he doesn't say anything more, and she wants to demand an answer but she forces her tone to stay soft as she asks, "Will you do it?"
"I think you are forgetting the more pressing question of can I do it? Willingness means nothing if it won't work."
She sighs, she knows that, and is about to tell him that when he adds, "But you're in luck because it can."
That lifts a weight from her chest because this means there is an option, it doesn't have to be her. While she's certain there will be a steep price, Rumple never performed this kind of magic, she is willing to pay anything for a chance at happiness with her family.
That thought leads her to a question. "How do you know it can? I've never seen or heard of you curing something like this. You could have demanded a hefty price."
"The Dark One can't die, but they can suffer, viciously. No favour I could be offered was worth that pain. I did it once, to see, and never again. The poison tried its best to kill me, it would attack and damage my system, which would then regenerate and it would attack again. I was in agony for weeks as it shredded my cells and my magic attacked it right back. I knew I wouldn't die, but I wanted to when it was happening."
"Oh."
"Yes, oh. It was horribly unpleasant and while I am not looking forward to experiencing that again, I owe it to Henry after all that I did when he was younger."
As a rule they don't hug, neither of them are big on physical affection though she has come around to it, but she can't resist the urge to hug him now. "Thank you, Rumple. Thank you. I'll owe you one."
He shrugs out of the embrace, clearly uncomfortable, then surprises the hell out of her. "No, no favours. I'm doing this for Henry, to make up for what I've done, to stay on the right path. If I'm ever to get back to Belle I want to do it as the good man she saw and believed in."
She's impressed. "You really have changed."
"Yeah, well, don't go spreading that around," he grumbles, but it lacks his usual ice.
"Don't worry, your secret's safe with me."
Rumple looks around. "We'll need somewhere safe I can stay hidden while I'm incapacitated. Who all comes back here?"
"It's not safe here, this is where all the supplies are kept, but there's another room off of this, that's filled with crap and locks. You'd be safe there."
He takes a breath. "Okay, let's do this."
"Now?"
"Is there any sense in waiting?" he asks with arched brows.
That's true, but still, she wasn't expecting this. She almost can't believe this is happening. Things don't go this well for her, and any time they do, when she starts to let herself believe it will all work out, something happens that throws a wrench in it all.
She gets Rumple set up in the storage room, conjures him a nice bed and a little stocked kitchenette, which she vows to keep stocked up when she checks up on him. He doesn't want that, would prefer to suffer in silence without anyone seeing him weak, but when she points out fueling himself may actually help him recover faster, he reluctantly relents.
She casts a silencing spell over the room at his request and then they get to it. He sits up at the top of the bed and she sits on the back corner, legs dangling off as she concentrates. It takes her a moment to sense Henry's aura, but once she does she starts on plucking all the strings. It's embedded deep in him, doesn't want to come out, even here as it lies dormant. She lets her magic touch it, so it can feel it, and then it does her job for her. That little bit of magic activates it and it's drawn to her, to the magic that allows it to feed and destroy.
It tries to burrow inside her, and it's strong, but she forces it to stay in her hand, shaking and sweating as she pushes it toward Rumple.
It doesn't want to leave her, but she tricks it by sending a pulse of magic into Rumple that it follows eagerly. When it burrows itself inside him the magic dissipates and the poison goes dormant again.
She senses out Henry again and scans him for any last trace of it, but it's all gone. He is safe. Henry is free, and she's so relieved her eyes flood with tears. She lets out a shaky breath as a second scan confirms he's been cured. Her son is going to be okay, it's all going to be okay.
She has faith now, again. They can do this. They saved Henry, they can save this town, can end the curse.
Rumple is showing no ill effects yet, but she didn't think he would.
"I'll stay here if you don't mind," Rumple comments. "It's far more comfortable than where I have been staying."
"Stay as long as you like. I'll keep you updated, though I expect you'll be the first to know when the curse ends."
She's starting to feel her exhaustion now, pulling the poison from Henry took the last of her reserves and she is running on fumes now.
Rumple sniggers, "Indeed I will. Before you go, there's something else I want you to do."
He said no favours but then Roni still owes him one. She sighs and asks, "What is it?"
"Give me Hook's curse of the poison heart."
For the second time that morning, he shocks her into silence. Her eyes go wide and she knows she should be saying something but no words come.
After a moment he gets frustrated with her lack of response and prompts, "Well, will you do it or not?"
She nods, swallowing before finding her voice. "Of course, but um, who will it affect for you?"
"My son, I'd expect."
At first, she thinks he means Bae, and wonders about his state before she remembers his other son, Gideon.
"Where is he now?"
Rumple shrugs. "I have no idea. I haven't seen him since just after Belle died. He has a whole life, he doesn't need me. Alice and Hook, they need each other."
"I never thought I'd see the day when you would help Hook."
"What can I say, this one is better than the other."
Regina agrees, but she'd never say that to other Hook's face. "He'll have to come here. I can't sense him out like I did Henry."
"I know, you can get him here, just do it before you break the curse."
Even in her exhausted state, she recognizes what he's implied. "When I break the curse?"
"You've done it before, you'll do it again. Once you wake your son it should be easy enough, shouldn't it?"
"I thought he and Lucy…"
Rumple purses his lips and thinks on it. "That is also possible. The key to both is waking up Henry and with that—" he gestures to her necklace " —that should be easy for you to do."
She nods, and forces her sleepy limbs up off of Rumple's bed. "I'm locking the door for your sake, but call me or Robin if you need anything."
"Goodnight, Regina."
Making it up the stairs to her apartment is exhausting, she is bone tired and her muscles do not want to cooperate but she forces them to do one step at a time until she is finally at her door.
Robyn is fast asleep on the couch, sleeping contently on her back, one arm hanging down and off the couch only half covered by her blanket, and when Regina enters the bedroom Robin is asleep in the exact same position. If she had more energy she'd go back out and get a picture of both, but all she can do is smile as she slides into bed beside her soulmate.
Regina wakes up in bed alone, far later than she should have slept in. There are things to be done and a curse to be broken, and she has slept away most of the day.
She texts Rogers and asks that he swing by after work as she has "some information she thinks will interest him." It's a bald-faced lie but she wanted to ensure he gets here so she gets this done, so she can focus on finding the ingredients for the potion she needs to wake Henry up.
Three more steps: cure Hook, wake Henry, break the curse. The end is near, and it's not her end.
She checks on Rumple when she makes it down to the bar, and he's his normal self, complains about her intrusion into his space, and tells her to get on with it already.
Robyn and Robin are working the bar together, and they make a great team. She's happy they were able to know each other here in this way while they waited for the curse to break. Soon they will know each other for real and she hopes this relationship they've built in Hyperion Heights will be the foundation of a real father-daughter relationship, the one they always deserved but could never have.
She will take over for Robyn in a moment, but first, she needs to brief Robin on the Rumple situation.
She clears her throat and that draws his attention. He says something to Robyn, then he's coming around the bar, following Regina to the backroom so they can talk.
She wonders for a second if the staff think all these backroom conversations between Roni and Robin are stolen kisses.
"So love, what did he say?" Robin asks once the door shuts.
"He agreed," she breathes, and Robin's arms surround her, embracing her tightly as he murmurs Thank god.
When Robin pulls away just enough to see her face, leaving his arms around her waist, Regina goes on. "He's certain it will work, he's hiding out in the storage room, I've made it into a bedroom of sorts for him while he waits for the curse to be broken."
She's waiting for an I told you so that Robin is too good to give and instead he says, "Is it safe for him to be here? What if Facilier comes looking and discovers him?"
"Only we have the key, I locked the door on my way out last night, and there's a silencing spell in place. Come to think of it, I could shield it too, but Facilier doesn't have magic so I don't think that would be necessary."
Robin nods. "I trust your judgment on that, darling, you know best. Is the dagger here, then?"
While she doesn't know for sure, she can't imagine Rumple would keep his dagger somewhere he couldn't access and she tells Robin as much.
"So what now?" Robin asks.
"We are waiting for Hook, when he gets here I'm going to take him back here and pull his poison heart curse from him to give to Rumple. Once that is done, I'll get to work on waking up Henry.
I texted Jacinda about coming in for my night shift, so I can get to it, but she hasn't answered yet, I'll call her closer to if need be."
"Leave me alone here if you have to, this is far more important."
She smiles, brushing a stray lock of his hair from his face. "I know. I have to wait for Rogers to get here before I can start on that anyway."
He leans in and presses a soft kiss to her forehead before marvelling, "We're almost there, love. We're going to have our family back."
Her smile brightens. "We are. There's always chaos when a curse breaks, but they all know we both work here, so I think our best bet is to stay at the bar and wait for them to come to us. We can have a family reunion right here, then figure out our next steps."
He frowns slightly, "Next steps?"
"I don't imagine they'll want to stay here. If they do, we will of course, but this isn't home. Wherever home is, we will have to go back to the Enchanted Forest to return Anastaisa's magic, and I'm well overdue for a visit to Storybrooke," she chuckles, "Snow is going to lose it when she learns you're back."
Robin smirks, "Well then, let's not keep the princess waiting longer than she has to."
"One second," she says, holding onto his arms and keeping them on her waist. "There's something I need to do first." With that she leans in, kissing him soundly.
She hums when they eventually pull away, smiling like the lovesick fool she is, still holding his hand as they walk back out.
They work the bar together for half an hour until Hook arrives and she excuses herself.
"What's this about, Roni?" Hook asks, and her mind goes blank. She cannot think of a single excuse, so she just starts, pulling the curse from him and letting it expand into the air.
"What the bloody hell is happening?"
"There are things you don't quite understand yet, Rogers. But you will, soon. I need you to trust me. Can you do that?"
He looks between her and the tangled web of green poison, swallowing heavily before asking in a shaky voice, "That was inside of me?"
She nods, "Yes, and would kill you if it had its way."
"So you're saving my life. Somehow, with this… magic."
Though it's technically not her for simplicity's sake she says, "I am."
He takes a breath, "Okay, then. Keep going."
He looks shaky on his feet though, so she asks first, "Are you feeling okay, do you need to sit down?"
There's not normally a negative reaction when a poison or illness is removed but she's never worked with this one before, and it's from Wonderland so it may work differently. The last thing she needs is Hook passing out on her.
"I'm not entirely sure that I'm not dreaming or hallucinating at the moment, and if not then magic is real and that's… but aside from all of that I'm fine, I guess."
She can understand that, so continues to tug out all the threads that have twinned themselves around his heart. It's embedded deep, molded to him at a cellular level and it takes a delicate hand to snip only the bad out.
After ten minutes she gets it all, and when she does it transforms into a small deadly-looking mushroom.
"Did you do that on purpose?" Hook asks, and she shakes her head. "Do I need to be afraid of that?"
"No."
He sighs, "Okay. Are we done here then? I need a damn stiff drink now."
She nods, and he heads out, looking back at her as he exits like he can't believe what he just saw (and he likely can't).
She tucks the mushroom into her pocket, checking on Robin, and giving a sympathetic smile to the miserable-looking Hook seated at her bar, before she slips off to the storage room to see Rumple.
Robin is so damn glad Regina managed to give away her plan before she had a chance to give herself Henry's poison. He doesn't know what he would have done if he'd lost her, and now he doesn't have to find out.
It's all coming together just as he hoped it would. Now there's only the matter of waking up Henry, then he and Lucy or he and Regina can break the curse.
He sees Jacinda calling Regina's phone, and he answers it even though she's not calling for him because they need her to come in.
Or they would if it wasn't Lucy calling bearing amazing news.
"I found the book," she squeals before Robin can even say hello, and he could just about cry with relief. Regina doesn't need to worry about finding ingredients, Lucy can wake Henry now.
"Can you get to Henry?" Robin asks, "We need to give him that book."
"He's already here! He's on a date with my mom right now."
Well, this is too perfect, but god if it isn't nice that things are actually working out for them now.
"Lucy, I need you to get him that book, and once he's awake you need to kiss him, okay? Can you do that?"
"Shouldn't he be kissing my mom?" she asks, and Robin chuckles.
"They can try that but we think it needs to be you and your dad."
"Okay, I'll go try now, bye Robin," Lucy says, then he hears the beep of the call ending.
Shoot, he should have told her to bring her parents to the bar after, but he's not going to call back to say what Henry and Jacinda will surely figure out for themselves.
He's gleeful as Regina comes back from the storage room, ignoring their customers to embrace her and share the good news.
Her eyes are bright and she's beaming, that full-faced smile he so rarely sees that he's dreamed about. She's finally fully unburdened, and she's looser, lighter as she hugs him back and practically squeals.
They wait for the curse to break, for that pulse of magic they should feel even with being awake, but it doesn't come.
"Henry's probably disoriented," Regina breathes, "We should go on as if all is normal until it isn't."
"Okay," he breathes and lets her go, returning to the bar. As much as they try to pretend all is normal they are both on edge and are checking her cell phone every minute to see if Lucy or Henry have reached out.
When Henry finally calls, Regina answers before it even rings, and Robin stands right in her space so he, too, can hear, not caring what it looks like.
"Mom, Mom. I'm awake. I'm…" his voice stutters as he chokes on tears, "I love you, Mom."
"I love you, too, sweetheart," she breathes, her voice low but filled with emotion.
"I… I kissed Jacinda and Lucy but the curse didn't break. Why didn't it work? What do we do?"
"Come to the bar. Rumple thought it might need to be us. I thought you and Lucy would work, it's always been parent-child love that broke the curse, but maybe that was because Emma and I had magic. We've broken a curse before, let's do it again."
"Because I'm awake now and we're trying to break the curse I'm assuming you found a way to cure me…"
Regina's voice shakes as she says, "I did."
"You shouldn't have," Henry admonishes in a serious tone that softens as he adds, "I wasn't worth all of this, but damn am I glad you did."
"You are worth everything to me," Regina tells him firmly, "You're my son. I will always do everything in my power to save you. Can you honestly tell me you wouldn't have done the same for Lucy?"
Henry chuckles and says, "I'll see you soon, Mom. I love you."
When Regina sets down the phone her eyes are filled with tears and he embraces her from behind, his head resting on her shoulder.
"What the hell kinda service is this? Stop fucking cuddling and get me a damn beer!" an irate patron growls, breaking the moment.
Robin does not want to deal with him, or any of this anymore and it seems Regina feels the same way because she whistles, hops up onto the bar and bellows, "Everybody out, family emergency, we're closing up early. The service is on us for the inconvenience. Have a nice night, folks."
That awful gentleman spits on the bartop and storms out, but everyone else is much nicer, and he's pleased to see that several tables leave money out to cover their tabs in spite of Regina's announcement. They file out quickly, well wishes given by the nicer folks, and a few thoughts and prayers sentiments are also thrown their way.
Robin was ready to fight anyone who disagreed, thought he might have to remove some people from the bar, but it's empty in ten minutes. The staff are given the night off with pay, and though they don't want to leave the bar as is, not cleaned and closed up, they insist on it.
Robin sets out three glasses, one for each of them and one for Henry, and Regina smirks when she notices him reaching for the bottle of whiskey.
"You want to have a drink, now?"
He's pouring them as he comments. "In the past twenty-four hours you've saved your son, cured Hook and Alice from their decade long curse, and now we're about to break the curse and get our family back. I'd say we've earned it, wouldn't you?"
She nods, reaching for a glass he holds out to her, her eyes on his tattoo. She waits for him to hold his up so they can clink glasses. After she takes a sip, she says, "Once upon a time, I would have said this celebration is premature. But you are back, here with me and Henry is safe and he remembers me. I have my son back. I wasn't sure this would ever happen…" she pauses to collect herself. "I want to thank you for your faith, for knowing we'd get here. I really needed that, I needed you."
"I knew you could do it."
She bites her lip and looks down before smiling shyly at him. "At times I didn't, but you always did, and it was comforting."
"I'll always have faith in you. You are always welcome or borrow mine, love. Whenever you need."
The door opens at that moment and they both turn toward it, expecting to see Henry running in, but it's not him.
Facilier barrels in, and shit, he's after the dagger. Rumple is here and this is bad, so bad.
Robin leaps over the bartop and rushes toward him, his body connecting with Facilier's as a fist rams into the side of his head. It disorients him, and he manages to get his eyes open in time for a second harsher blow that sends him falling back. His head bounces off the floor with a loud crack and everything goes black.
