Regina was sitting on her bed, reviewing her mother's grimoire, when Tink arrived.
"What's wrong?" Tinker Bell asked when Regina did not look up to greet her. "You should be glowing with happiness!"
Regina looked up at her, but she didn't have the strength to answer. She wanted nothing more than for Tinker Bell to go away so she could forget about Robin as quickly as possible.
"What happened?" asked Tink, growing in size and landing next to Regina's bed. "Did you talk to him?"
Regina realized Tinker Bell was not going to leave her alone unless she talked. "Yes," she said, looking back down at the book. "I talked to him."
"And?" Tinker Bell pressed.
"And," Regina gripped the edges of the book hard, afraid of her emotions. She did not look up at Tink as she answered, "He was wonderful."
"Then what's the problem?" asked Tinker Bell loudly. She leaned in toward Regina, the biggest smile on her face. "That's good news."
Regina stood, throwing the book onto the bed in frustration.
"Why are you being so stubborn?" asked Tinker Bell.
"Me?" Regina spun to face her. "I could ask the same about you!"
Tink placed her hands on her hips. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"Insisting that this is true love," Regina shouted at her. "That this man is supposed to be right for me, that he will change everything!"
"He will," Tink insisted. "Pixie dust doesn't lie."
"Look around, Tinker Bell!" Regina raised her arms to gesture at the room. "I'm the Queen! I'm married to another man! I'm trapped in this castle! What do you expect to happen between Robin and I? That he'll rescue me from my tower and we'll just ride off into the sunset and live happily ever after?"
"It could happen," said Tink, confident.
Regina laughed at the absurdity of it all.
"Regina," eased Tink. "You have to believe. True love always works out."
"Does it?!" Regina roared with such ferocity that Tinker Bell jumped. "Does it always work out?"
Tinker Bell took a step back, her confidence gone. "Regina," she said quietly.
"What of Daniel?" Regina insisted. "What about him? If it was true love, if we were meant to be together, then why didn't we work out?"
Tinker Bell shook her said. She didn't have an answer.
Regina fought back the tears that were threatening to spill from her eyes. She couldn't be with Robin. She simply couldn't. Nothing good could come from it, she was certain.
"It's not about belief, Tinker Bell," said Regina, speaking more calmly. "It's about the truth. And the truth is that sometimes true love doesn't find a way. Sometimes it just dies."
"You seemed distracted, dearie."
Regina stared down at the concoction she was supposed to be mixing into a spell. But her thoughts kept straying to Robin. She felt so twisted up inside. She was conflicted between her mind's certainty that things simply couldn't work, her heart's certainty that it could, Tink's conviction that it already had worked, and the fact that she had promised to meet him again two nights from now. What was she going to do? How could she carry on like this! This was ridiculous!
And Rumple expected her to be able to concentrate! Her head was ready to explode!
Regina let out a grown of frustration and slammed her hands down on the table. Rumple hummed a little tune as he walked passed her. He was taunting her, she knew. He would act as disinterested as possible, despite the fact it was obvious he was interested, until it annoyed her to no end and she couldn't help but confess her thoughts.
It worked every time. She was coming to learn it was easier to give in to what he wanted than fight.
"Can true love happen more than once?" she asked.
He made that high pitched "Mmm" noise he made whenever he was carefully considering something. Regina suspected he was trying to decide if he wanted to answer her question or not. "It's rare," he said. "But it can happen." He crossed the floor to his favorite chair, which he lounged in sideways, his feet hanging over the arm rest. "I have no idea why you of all people would want to try it more than once. I mean, it didn't exactly work out well the first time, did it?"
The statement was meant to hurt, and it did. Regina crossed her arms over her chest, trying not to let the wound show.
"The problem with true love," Rumple continued, pressing his hands together, "is there's always some great catastrophe threatening to keep the two lovers apart," he gestured with his hands, pushing them away from each other. "Otherwise there'd be no story. And in the end, as you very well know, dearie." He paused for effect. "Love doesn't always win."
Regina turned away from him, regretting having ever opened her mouth. With her greatest fears thrown back at her, she could feel the hope in her heart sinking.
"So," said Rumple cheerfully, alighting from his chair. "Now that notion is out of the way. Let's continue, shall we?"
He returned to her side, and Regina worked diligently for a minute or two. But some part of her just couldn't let Rumple win.
"What do you know of fairy magic?"
"Neeaiihh!" Rumple jump back from her, but that look of impish joy, of complete and utter control, never vanished from his face. "Why do you ask?"
"A fairy led me to him," Regain admitted.
Rumple gave a wave of his hand as though to say he was done with the conversation. "I see no point in continuing this lesson," he said, turning to walk back toward his chair. "If you're getting magic from a fairy, you certainly don't need me."
But Regina would not let him reach his favorite taunting spot. "Is it because you don't know anything about fairy magic? Because they have power you don't?"
To her surprise Rumple spun around so close to her that he nearly took out an eye with one of those constantly pointing fingers of his. He curled those fingers toward him, as though he were gathering something secret in his grasp. He spoke very slowly. "You think your little fairy is more powerful than me?"
Regina did not believe fairy magic was more powerful, just different. And in being different than the Dark One's powers, fairy magic was obviously something Rumpelstiltskin could not perform, though he might find ways to achieve the same effect. The honest answer to his question was no. But Regina had no intention of being honest.
"Yes," she said confidently. She had gotten quite good at lying since Daniel's death.
Rumple's lips curved into a sneer. He turned from Regina and walked to a cabinet, which he opened and began searching through. "The fairy told you this man was your true love, did she?"
"She did," said Regina.
"Well, then," said Rumple as he found the bottle he had been looking for. "Tell me." He turned again to walk toward her. "If he's your true love, then would it stand to reason you are the only one for him?"
"That's how true love generally works," said Regina, uncertain where this was going. "Yes."
Having reached her, Rumple held up a tiny bottle of some clear silvery liquid. "This little vial," he said, "is good for discerning possible futures."
"I thought you could already see the future?" said Regina, wondering why Rumple would have such a vial.
"Well, it's not for me," he said, placing his hand against his chest. "It's for you!" He pointed at her. "Simply sprinkle this liquid over your intended and envision yourself seeing his romantic future. If you see other women, then you know I'm right." He gripped the little bottle tightly. "And your little fairy is wrong." He smiled and held the vial out to her.
"What's the price?" she asked.
"Price?" he said, sounding nearly surprised she had asked such a thing. "The price is you lose your man." He gestured around the room. "I can't have you working in here with these silly notions in your head. Take the vial." He took her hand and laid the bottle in it. It was quite cold. "Learn the truth, and come back to continue your lessons when you have nothing more to distract you."
He gave an impish laugh and gestured at her with his hands, making a shooing motion.
Regina clutched the tiny bottle in her hand as she walked away. The potion made her nervous and yet hopeful at the same time. She'd been so worried about the possible future, if she and Robin could ever really work out, but this potion would show her everything.
If Tinker Bell was right, if true love always found a way, then this potion would show her a future with her and Robin together. And if Rumplestiltskin was right, the potion would show her other possibilities she didn't even want to think about. For good or bad, she wouldn't have to guess anymore. This potion would let her know once and for all if she could pursue Robin as freely as she hoped or if she was simply wasting her time.