Aid

Will Scarlet had been a lousy bandit while drunk, but stone cold sober, he was proving pretty elusive to track down. Regina had been to the Merry Men's camp, the library and the pawn shop but couldn't find a trace of him. She did, however find a very irate Belle, yelling something about Rumpelstiltskin and monsters and "You can't just go digging around in someone's chest without permission!" but Regina was ony half listening. When it became obvious that Belle had no idea where the two men in her life were hiding, she turned around and walked out, leaving Belle hanging in the middle of what was no doubt going to be quite the devastating verbal setdown.

She could tell that Gold was nowhere nearby. Years of working with, and against, Rumpelstiltskin had left her quite attuned to his particular magic. Will Scarlet was a different matter. She'd barely spoken to the man and hadn't developed any sort of relationship with him that would help her track him and Belle's heart ("You had better bring that back right now, or I swear, I'll find a way to lock YOU in that hat!"). She didn't even have a phone number for him. Didn't even know if he had a phone.

"Dammit," she muttered under her breath. Why did outlaws always have to be so difficult? At a bit of a loss, she turned towards home. Regroup, she thought to herself. And maybe have some of the Samoas she'd hidden in the bag of Brussels sprouts in the freezer.

As she approached the front steps, she heard a thud coming from the backyard. Regina doubled back to the side gate as quietly as possible, peering over the fence to see the source. She could see a dark figure pick himself up from the ground next to her apple tree and brush himself off.

Will Scarlet, she thought, and pushed through the gate. "What are you doing in my apple tree?" she snapped, striding purposefully across the manicured lawn.

His chin jerked up, and he smiled at her. "Powerful magic here. Seemed like a good spot to hide from the Dark One." He reached a hand into his jacket pocket and withdrew Belle's heart.

Regina nodded, relieved that he was here but not pleased that he'd gotten his filthy boots all over her beloved tree. "Come in, then," she said. "We need to call your girlfriend and tell her to come get her heart back."

She expected him to argue that they should be the ones doing the returning, but he just grinned and followed her into the house. She led them into the kitchen and pulled down two glasses from the cabinet – a red wine glass for her and a whiskey tumbler for him. "There's a phone on the wall behind you," she said as she rummaged through her makeshift liquor cabinet. He looked over his shoulder, but made no move to the phone. Instead, he pulled a flip phone from his jacket. Well, she thought, that answers that. She busied herself with pouring drinks while Will spoke to Belle, but even though she wasn't actively trying to eavesdrop, she could easily pick up on the tension in the conversation.

Will snapped the phone shut, and Regina looked up at him, eyes wide and innocent. "Well?" she asked, holding out the glass of whiskey to him.

"She'll be here shortly." He downed the drink in one gulp, sighed, and held the glass out to her for a refill. Regina thought about telling him to slow down, but what the hell. She wasn't his mother, and given the spectacularly messy love triangle he'd found himself in, she certainly wasn't in any position to begrudge him another drink.

She refilled his glass, and as he held it up to his lips, she asked, "What made you think to come here?"

He smiled and sipped his whiskey. "I may not have magic, Your Majesty, but I know how it works. Hard for the Dark One to find me in your tree amidst all the spells you have surrounding it."

Regina shook her head. "I don't have any spells surrounding it, other than the ones that keep it healthy."

"Maybe not spells that you meant to cast, but trust me. They're there. That tree has so much magic in it I'm surprised it hasn't grown legs and walked off."

Regina looked out the window to her tree. It was the tree whose branches had shielded her fiercely passionate first kisses with Daniel. The same tree she'd sat under as a child and dreamed of a strong knight to carry her away from her mother's incessant demands. The tree she'd tended, as carefully as she'd tended her thirst for revenge, at the palace with Leopold and Snow. No, she hadn't cast any magic on the tree, but that didn't mean that it hadn't absorbed any.

Will pushed himself up onto one of Regina's granite countertops and surveyed the queen. "Did you win your battle, then?" he asked.

"I think so." Regina's brow furrowed. "But we've still got a few others to face. Not the least of which is Rumpelstiltskin."

"I really don't like him."

Regina smiled. "I really don't think you're supposed to."

"What he wants to do, then," he said nonchalantly, "it's going to turn Belle into a villain, yeah?"

Regina wasn't fooled by his tone for a second, but because she'd spent years hiding her own feelings, she didn't call him on it. "It may," she said, pausing to sip her wine. "I'm not sure what his plans are. I won't know until I find the author."

Will took another swallow of whiskey. "Well, if you need help finding him, just ask."

She was taken aback. She knew Will had a somewhat…fluid sense of loyalty, but she'd just ripped out his girlfriend's heart. "Really? You'd help me?"

Will shrugged. "Seems like we're on the same side. Besides, you matter to Robin. I owe him. I don't fancy facing him if anything happens to you."

"That's hardly a concern. If the villains are getting their happy endings, then I should be just fine."

Will raised an eyebrow. "You really think after snatching Belle's heart twice, Rumpelstiltskin will just let you have your happy ending?" He finished the last of the whiskey in his glass and turned his eyes back to Regina. "I thought you were smarter than that."

He had a point, but Regina didn't want to consider that. "Regardless," she said brusquely, "you don't need to worry about me. I'll be fine. I'll figure out my happy ending on my own."

Her guest studied her. "You don't have to do it on your own, you know. He wants you to have your happy ending. I'd wager he wants it with him, but no matter what, he wants you to be happy."

Regina was spared having to respond by a pounding on the front door. Belle, she she sighed with relief.

Scarlet trailed behind her to the front door. Regina opened it with her left hand, and just as Belle started shouting, "And why should I be the one to come across town-", Regina shoved Belle's heart back in her chest with her right.

"Good night, Belle. Will." She pushed Will out the door and slammed it shut. Let them hammer it out. Regina was done.

Besides, she still had those Samoas in the freezer.