"What kind of question is this?"
She asked and bowed down her head avoiding any eye contact with Emma.
The blonde woman realized that she had just asked something extremely stupid that made the mayor feel uncomfortable for once again.
Stupid Swan... how could she even think that Regina would have forgotten her own son? Whatever madness Regina had caused was in order to make Henry love her. Even though her behavior could be characterized as passive aggressive what she did was not in order to hurt anyone...
She just needed to feel loved. She just needed to earn her son's love back. She couldn't understand that Henry loved her anyway... her behavior only pushed him away. She was way too blinded by jealousy to see the consequences of her actions.
"Just answer to me please. I wanted to ask you that question for so many years."
Emma replied.
"He's my son for god's sake..."
She said and looked back at emma putting her brave mask on again. Emma had made her feel vulnerable for a second. She had made her feel like she finally needed to get all these negative feelings out of her chest but boom... her walls were building up again.
"Or should I say... was... he was my son."
She continued and rested her head on her palms. She drunk another sip of her drink and her eyes wondered around the area.
"He's still your son Regina."
Emma forced a smile to make the other woman feel better but that didn't seem to help.
"I haven't seen him for five years. I bet he grew up a lot since the last time I saw him. He doesn't need his mummy that much anymore. He didn't even try to call me... he didn't even try to look for me. Maybe that's better. He would have discovered horrible things that a kid should never witness."
She forced a smile back at emma.
"He's not that old you know. You will always be part of his life Regina. You raised him and made him an amazing boy. He knows how to love, and live his life sincerely. I will always be thankful to you for that. He might witnessed a couple of horrible things back in storybrooke but that's better than witnessing the hard life inside an orphanage. When I gave him away I wanted to give him a better chance. I wanted to give him a better life. And you gave him that."
She rubbed Regina's shoulder and smiled warmly.
"What kind of mother makes her kid think he's crazy? What kind of mother chooses to make her kid suffer in order to achieve her plans? I was so blinded by hatred that I ruined everything within seconds."
She finally admitted and Emma froze looking at her. She examined Regina's shaky hands. Her legs were tapping on the floor neurotically as hot tears gathered at the corner of her eyes. The brunette swallowed hard and held her head inside her palms.
There was nothing left to say. She couldn't even face emma. She hated the fact that Emma mentioned Henry... she was trying so hard to forget him... but oh gosh... that was impossible. Even a forgetting potion wouldn't do the job.
The blonde woman caressed Regina's hot cheek with her left palm and focused on the golden necklace Regina was wearing around her neck. She couldn't recall Regina owing such jewelry back in storybrooke. It must be a new one she thought.
As long as Regina was lost in her thoughts Emma's concentrated on the necklace even more. It was weird... this time it wasn't about another extra jewelry the former queen owned. It looked extremely simple. It had the shape of a heart and in the middle of it there was a name written on it. -Ophelia-.
Who the hell was Ophelia she asked herself and frowned.
"Is everything okay?"
Regina asked and sniffed. Emma shook her head still in confusion.
"Emma?"
"Who's Ophelia?"
The blonde spitted out and swallowed hard.
Regina didn't seem to look surprised. She just pressed her lips together, took another sip of her drink and stood up.
"Where are you going?"
"I need some sleep miss swan! It's a big day tomorrow. Don't forget that we have another room to investigate and visit those stupid couple's therapy classes as well."
Regina defended herself trying her best to hide her guilt.
"I just asked you something!"
Emma insisted.
"So?"
"Usually when one individual asks a questions the other individual answers the question."
"Who said that I'm forced to answer to you? You tend to ask loads of questions miss swan!"
She grabbed her purse slightly annoyed and begun walking towards the entrance of the hotel. Emma run behind her holding her wallet tight inside her fists.
"WAIT! I got you opening up to me for a second Regina! Don't you tell me that getting all these negative feelings out of your chest did not make you feel better!"
"You're not my psychiatrist Emma! And we are definitely not friends."
The brunette replied firmly and looked at miss swan with the old time classic madam mayor look on her face. She raised her eyebrow intimidating the blonde woman and walked away.
Emma huffed and sat down on the bar. She immediately ordered another drink and slammed her hand on the wooden table. What the hell was wrong with Regina anyway? I mean... Regina had been always a lone wolf. She always enjoyed keeping things to herself and spending time alone but she never hid so many secrets.
Five years had passed since the last time they saw each other and Regina was a whole different person. This time she was not filled up with hatred. She was filled up with pain. Unbearable pain... She had to find out what happened.. she called Killian.
"Hello love! How is it going?"
He asked with his warm and soothing voice.
Emma cleared her throat and smiled at the sound of her husband's voice.
"Ya know... chilling! We haven't discovered any clues yet. This case is gonna last longer than we thought Killian."
"I can always replace you with someone else if you want."
"No no! I'm not leaving!"
She said louder than she expected and covered her mouth in surprise. She heard the sound of laughter coming from the other line of the phone.
"I thought that you hated being around that bitch."
His tone echoed playfully inside her ears.
"Well... she's behaving better than I expected. She's more human now you know. And she's also willing to collaborate with me as well."
Nice save swan... she thought once again.
"Okay... then I guess you guys are getting along."
"Hmm... kind of."
She smirked and rubbed her chin.
"I miss you so much love..."
He lowered the sound of his voice and squeezed the cellphone inside his hands in lust.
"I miss you too... I'm gonna be back before you know it though.. how's Henry?"
"We are getting along as well. Today we visited the zoo and then we had burgers for dinner. He's asleep now... I'll make sure he calls you tomorrow morning!"
Emma smiled broadly. The truth is that she missed Henry more than ever now... She needed his hug. She needed his soothing voice to calm her down. To reassure her that everything would be okay...
In the meantime Regina was upstairs, laying on the king sized bed while searching files on her computer. She wouldn't even bother to analyze her conversation with Emma inside her brain. She was willing to try anything in order to stop thinking of her relationship with miss swan... and her son.. of course.
She cleared her throat as she kept tapping the letters on the keyboard and drunk a sip of the red glass of wine she had right next to her. She always loved to drink a glass of wine while working during night time. It helped her think rationally and focus. Her muscles would relax and it would be easier for her to put her own problems aside and focus on the case.
This time red wine wouldn't help. The case she had been working on for the past couple of days was even more complex than she expected. She had no idea how to perceive the current case. It wasn't about something specific. There was no crime scene, there was no dead body. It was all about two couples missing.
There were so many times that she just hoped that it would be all about those couples running away but that didn't even make sense. From the other side the were no clues so she could not convince herself that there was something dangerous going on.
She took a deep breath and opened a file with all the people evolved in the case so far. She could see pictures of Vanessa, Justin smith and Damon plus pictures of the missing couples and the two blondes they had met last night in the hotel. Both Emma and Regina liked to be thorough so they preferred writing down the names of all the people they had heard about or met so far in order to remember every single detail about them.
But there was something weird.
There was another man's picture at the bottom of the website. It was Jack! Jack Beckett.
You know who Jack Beckett is. Justin Smith's husband! His true love... his secretive love affair and ex husband.
Regina could clearly see a picture of Jack at the bottom of of the screen but there were no details underneath his close up picture. She knew exactly the background story of course. She had made sure to memorize every single detail in order to save time.
She moved the mouse on the mousepad and clicked on his picture so she could see his face clearly. Big nose, thin lips, blonde Afro hair and olive skin. He looked like a pretty exotic man. Not the kind of man she would sleep with though.
There were freckles all over his face and neck that seemed to be covering the rest of his body as well. She drunk another sip of wine and rubbed her chin skeptically. Jack had actually abandoned Justin and Vanessa since the very beginning of Vanessa's adoption.
Justin Smith was the one that sacrificed everything in order to be with the one he loved but jack seemed to be the coward. Or should I say that he was the one that didn't love Justin that much after all... what kind of man would abandon his beloved husband and adoptive daughter that easily if everything was supposed to be okay?
There was obviously a piece of the puzzle missing. Regina knew exactly what she had to do. She had to ask a couple of questions to Vanessa. Vanessa is the only one who can answer and possibly help Regina find out more about their lives.
She shut down her computer and decided to put on her pajamas and prepare herself to get some sleep. It's gonna be a big day tomorrow... she has to be energetic. She yawned and laid on the bed when her phone started ringing.
She rolled her eyes irritated and stood up again. She should have muted the calls. She walked towards the living room area on her tip toes and reached for the buzzing cellphone. She held it tight inside her palms and her eyes widened open.
Unknown Caller ID! Someone was in the mood to play. She cleared her throat and looked around the room nervously. During night time, when the lights were out she always felt a pair of eyes watching her in the dark. It was probably her imagination again. Or the fear that hid inside of her...
She answered the call and put the phone on speaker to listen to the robotic voice carefully.
"Hello? It's agent Mills!"
Nothing... there was no answer. She could listen to someone breathing deeply from the other side of the line.
"Hello? Who is this?"
She asked again and cracked her knuckles nervously. Although her body was getting tensed, her voice remained steady and comfortable.
"You look good in that nightgown."
The other voice answered and she froze. She could feel her entire body tensing up. Her palms immediately got all sweaty and her eyes were burning. There was no effect covering the real sound of the voice this time. It was him. It was definitely him... or at least it was a prank! A horrible prank.
"What?"
It was the only thing she could say at the moment. Her mouth was dry. She could barely breathe properly.
"Red looks so good on you my lady."
The low voice said again and the last words made her jaw drop. Her eyes teared up in terror and she immediately turned around scanning the suite while her eyes were struggling to see in the darkness.
"Who is there?"
She asked loudly and took a few steps back heading towards the sofa. What a horrible idea she had to come over the suite all alone in the middle of the night! She wanted to slap herself for this.
"An old friend."
The voice replied through the phone and a sneaky laugh followed.
"Turn around!"
The voice continued almost whispering now.
The brunette grabbed her gun over the table with shaky hands and pointed it towards the window.
"WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME? WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT FROM ME?"
She threw the cellphone on the floor and yelled in terror.
Each word escaping her mouth was filled up with pain and fear. She shut her eyes closed pointing the gun towards the window while she was in denial to accept the fact that Robin was trying to get to her for once again. She felt extremely dumb for letting him hurt her even through the phone.
She bit her fingers and sat down on the floor trying her best to convince herself that she was dreaming. Silence covered the entire room and she could swear that she could listen to another person breathing in the room. Her heart was pounding extremely fast. She could feel a horrible headache spreading all over her head while her body was shaking in agony.
She took a deep breath to relax when she heard the door of the suite open widely. That made her jump. She gasped loudly and held her breath looking towards the figure that had just entered the room...
"Regina?"
The blonde woman turned on the lights and looked at the brunette in shock.
"What the hell?"
She asked and run towards the brunette woman kneeling down next to her.
"What happened to you?"
The brunette wouldn't speak. She just stayed there looking at emma in relief while her eyes were scanning her surroundings. There was no one else in the room except the former savior and queen.
She raised her head high looking at emma with a firm look on her face and wiped away her tears.
"I just thought you were someone else. It was just a nightmare relax... please don't ask any more questions."
She stood up avoiding any eye contact and walked inside their bedroom ignoring Emma's efforts to help...
—————-I'm sorry for not posting that much lately but I'm on vacation and I'm getting back home tomorrow afternoon.
