A/N: Thank you so much for the amazing feedback on the last installment! I hope you enjoy this as well.
"What the hell was that?" Ruby demanded from across the diner, a look of complete shock drawn across her features.
David remained in the doorway. His impulse was to follow Regina, to try to find out what was going on. To kiss her again. And again. But as he scanned the faces in the diner, he realized that damage control was going to take precedence. Besides, he was discovering that, sometimes, the best way to figure out what was going on with Regina was to talk to anyone except her.
He took a step into the diner and let the door close behind him.
"That was a kiss," he told Ruby, matter-of-factly.
"Some kiss," Granny mumbled under her breath as she fanned herself with a take-out menu.
Ruby took several long-strides across the diner, her graceful predatory nature clear with every step, and slapped David across the face. Hard.
"That is for cheating on my friend while she is gods' know where doing gods' know what trying to find you," she spat.
David used a hand to work out his jaw. Getting smacked by an angry were-woman hurt more than some of the hits he'd taken fighting dragons.
"I suppose I deserved that," he acknowledged, Ruby's eyes flaring in anger. He didn't need to look around to know they still had the rapt attention of everyone in the diner. "But, Snow's best friend or not, Ruby, you are not entitled to an explanation. My relationship with Regina is just that. My relationship with Regina. It is our business, not yours. Just as Snow and my relationship is between Snow and me, not you and not anybody else."
Ruby looked flabbergasted. James had made out—made out!—with the Evil Queen in front of everyone, and he didn't even apologize. He was not himself.
Horrified, Ruby exclaimed, "You're bewitched! Quick, someone get the Blue Fairy—we need to undo this dark magic."
Irate at her assumption, David interjected. "No one move," he commanded. Temper flaring but tightly controlled, he told Ruby, "I am not bewitched. And you know me well enough to know I'm not bewitched, so stop it."
"But," Ruby's protest sounded weak to her own ears. What was happening?
"Regina has not used magic against me, Ruby. And, not that it's any of your business, but what you witnessed is the extent of our physical relationship. Both of us agreed, well, neither of us want to hurt Snow," David told his friend. The diner was so still and quiet that his soft tones carried through the room.
Ruby scoffed. "All Regina has ever wanted was to hurt Snow."
"It certainly used to be a fixation of hers, yes," David acquiesced. He believed Ruby's summary grossly misrepresented the complexity of Regina's feelings toward Snow, but that was a battle for another day. "Not anymore," he said firmly.
Ruby looked into the face of her best friend's husband, disgusted and angry. But there was no more to say. "I'm going on break," she told Granny. Then she pushed through David and left the diner.
David resisted the urge to look around and gauge the reactions of the rest of the witnesses to his and Regina's display of affection and instead met Granny's gaze. She indicated the bar stool closest to the register and said, "Ready to order?" Then she announced to the room at large, "Show's over, folks. Get back to your own affairs."
David smiled as he took a seat. Granny always could command the troops.
"I think your new queen is having a good influence on you," Granny commented. "That was some backbone you showed there. Potentially foolish backbone, but backbone all the same."
David gave her a wry smile. "Didn't see much point in elaborating, since they wouldn't believe me anyway," he shrugged. "And," he sighed, "Snow deserves to hear the full explanation first. It's bad enough that our stunt means she will probably hear about it from someone else before I have the chance to tell her."
"'Our stunt'?" Granny asked. "You don't blame Regina for kissing you in front of everyone?"
David shook his head. "She started it, sure," he allowed, "But it takes two to escalate it the way we did. And if we hadn't done that, well, maybe we could have played it off as less than it was."
Granny nodded in understanding.
"You don't seem surprised," David observed.
"I'm never surprised," Granny replied. With a glint in her eye, she added, "I'm just glad she accepted your apology salad."
David chuckled. "Yeah, me too."
Regina had only made it two blocks when her phone alerted her to a text message.
David: Left Henry at shelter with Mowgli. You want to pick him up?
As she typed her reply, her phone altered her to a follow-up message.
David: BTW, nice to see you too.
She blushed. "Smart-ass," she smirked and turned around to walk to the animal shelter.
"Ruby said Regina was here for a few hours?" David asked.
Granny gave a quick nod. "I was in the back most of the time, but, as I understand it, she showed up around two, took the booth with the best strategic lines of sight and wasted them staring blankly into her coffee. Ruby also said that your ex, Kathryn, stopped by but didn't even stick around to order anything."
Granny hesitated. Regina hadn't sworn her to secrecy, but the woman clearly didn't want David to know that she was anticipating her own death. And, while Granny wasn't one to let other people's preferences stand in the way of doing what was right, she wasn't convinced the fallen queen was wrong. David was impetuous and could very well do something incredibly foolish if he knew of the risk to the woman for whom he clearly had strong feelings.
The decision of what to disclose and what to withhold was further complicated by Granny's own contradictory feelings regarding said woman. Personally, she was beginning to quite like her. She was no-nonsense, didn't make excuses, and knew how to get things done—all characteristics Granny valued. Additionally, she'd seen none of the grating falseness of the mayor or the raging pain of the queen since Snow and Emma disappeared into that wretched hat.
But that begged the question. If Regina survived, would she revert once Snow and Emma were back? There was no doubt the woman was dangerous when cornered, and reuniting the Charming family would certainly threaten Regina's access to everyone she loved.
And Storybrooke would undoubtedly be a calmer place to reside with the Evil Queen gone. But Granny would have to be a fool to think Regina was the biggest or last threat in Storybrooke. Even before she came to appreciate her as a person, Granny liked the idea of Regina's power checking Rumpelstiltskin's and vice versa. Much as she didn't want confrontations occurring in her diner, the strategist in her appreciated the value of keeping multiple powerful players on the board, especially if those players would never fully trust each other. It kept everyone else safer.
All that thoughtful logic flew out the window, though, as she looked at David's crestfallen face.
"She's going to die, isn't she?" he asked heartbroken. "I finally found her, the real her, and we're never going to have a chance . . . she's never going to have a chance . . . no one else is even going to know—" David gulped for air, "How very Good she really is."
Granny's heart clenched. It had been years, but she remembered love like that. And Evil or non-Evil Queen aside, she didn't want to watch the boy in front of her lose it.
"Chin up, David," she spoke gruffly. "Unless I'm very much mistaken, the witch isn't dead yet," the twinkle in her eye tempering the harshness of her phrasing. "Now, who should I call up from the reserves?" she asked, picking up the phone as David grinned.
Regina was halfway to the animal shelter when she heard the unmistakable sounds of destruction from the alley to her right. She paused, debating whether to investigate. Typically, she'd ignore it and move on—it's not like anyone in this town wanted her help anyway—but she was going to have to walk back this way with Henry in order to get home, and she'd rather know the route was safe than leave whatever this was unaddressed. And, tired as she was, she probably had just enough magic to protect herself and possibly enough bravado to make it unnecessary.
"Hello?" she called into the alleyway. Maybe whoever it was would spook and run. Save them both a lot of trouble.
"Go away," the sulky and irritated voice of Ruby answered.
Regina sighed. She should just go. Walk away. The temper-tantrum of some wolf-turned-waitress was hardly her problem.
But Henry loved Ruby. And she was important to David.
She walked into the alley. "You sure you don't want to yell at me first?" Regina asked.
Ruby glared at her from where she sat, slumped against the wall. From the debris scattered about the alley, it appeared she had just finished demolishing several wooden crates formerly stacked by the dumpster.
Regina indicated the broken slats, "Feel better?'
Ruby huffed in irritation, "Of course not."
Regina smirked knowingly, "Never made me feel better either. But it made me feel less, less—" at loss for the word Regina gesticulated broadly with her arms—"Or maybe it did just make me feel less."
"No, I know what you mean," Ruby said.
"Like a release valve," Regina finally found an analogy.
"Yeah," Ruby perked up a little. That was what it was. Not a solution, just a valve.
"Mind if I sit?" Regina asked, gesturing to the spot next to her.
Ruby shrugged. "Whatever."
Regina examined the spot more closely. "On second thought, maybe I mind if I sit," she wrinkled her face in distaste, but then took a seat anyway.
After a moment of silence, Ruby snapped, "Aren't you going to say anything?"
"Nothing to say," Regina replied.
"Then why are you here?" Ruby asked impatiently.
"You didn't turn down my offer to yell at me," Regina replied. "And the offer hasn't expired yet."
Ruby let out a huff of exasperation but otherwise didn't respond immediately. "You could say you're sorry," the younger woman said.
"I could," Regina acknowledged. "But I'm not."
Ruby's head snapped toward the former queen.
"If the same circumstances arose again, and I knew then what I know now, I would still want to kiss him," Regina said. "And I would do it again," she said matter-of-factly.
"You're a bitch," Ruby said.
"Are you trying to be funny?" Regina teased. Then, more seriously, she said, "Yes, I suppose I am. I'm also quite selfish." Ruby's agreement was clear from her expression. "But I didn't kiss him for revenge," Regina stated.
"I know," Ruby replied.
"You know?" Regina asked, surprised.
"I know," Ruby confirmed.
"Then why are you in an alleyway breaking garbage?" Regina asked.
"Snow White is my best friend," Ruby said.
"Yes, well, if I were stuck with Snow White for a best friend, I would break something too," Regina replied. "Come to think of it, I did. Break several somethings as a matter of fact. But I'm still not following."
"Snow White is my best friend," Ruby repeated. "More than that. She is my family. And when she comes home, I have to tell her to give up on her marriage. I have to tell her that her husband fell in love with someone else and that her happily ever after is over."
"No, you don't," Regina said.
"I won't lie to her," Ruby said.
"Then don't say anything," Regina replied. "David knows that we aren't going to be together when Snow and Emma get back. He'll go back to her, forget about me, and Snow White's happily ever after will be safely intact."
Ruby looked at her in disbelief. "You can't possibly believe that," she said. "And I thought you were smart. Evil, but smart."
"He fell in love with her once. He'll do it again," Regina said flatly.
"Wow. You really don't get it, do you?" Ruby asked, nearly dumbfounded. "It's not just that he's clearly in love with you; it's not just in the way he looks at you," Ruby looked at her intently. "It's in the way you look at him."
Regina studied her fingernails intently.
"Snow loved him, she did. She does," Ruby said. "But she never looked at him like that. Not like she really saw him, him beyond the quests and title, and wanted the place beside him to be hers and no one else's." Ruby sighed. "She never looked at him like that." Ruby dipped her head to look at the queen's face. "But you do."
"I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about," Regina replied, mayoral mask in place.
"Right," Ruby said, clearly not believing her. "Time for me to get back to the diner anyway," she said, standing. "Granny's going to have my head as it is for walking out like that. I'll probably have to do inventory alone as punishment."
Regina chuckled quietly at the possible punishments Granny could inflict on her tempestuous granddaughter, but abruptly stopped, irritation flashing across her face. "Damn it," she muttered.
"Everything all right down there?" Ruby asked, slightly entertained by the older woman's frustration.
"Please-help-me-up," Regina exhaled the words one after the other.
"What was that?" Ruby teased.
Regina glared at her, knowing full well that Ruby's wolf hearing meant she'd heard every word. "Please. Help. Me. Up."
Ruby offered Regina her hand and hauled the woman to her feet, surprised when Regina swayed a bit before gaining her balance and releasing her hand.
Regina gave Ruby a hard look. "Don't tell anyone," she said.
"Or what?" Ruby asked. "You'll rip out my heart and crush it? I eat people."
Regina quirked an eyebrow. "A fight between us would be messy, that much is clear," she stated.
"Don't worry," Ruby said, "Not like I want people knowing I was hanging out with The Evil Queen anyway."
"So sweet of you, dear," Regina replied sardonically, slowly following Ruby back toward the street.
As they neared the end of the alley, Ruby suddenly turned to face Regina. "He didn't get shocked."
"Again, I'm not following," Regina said. She was too tired for this.
"David. He didn't get shocked," Ruby repeated. "When he kissed me—not nearly as thoroughly as he kissed you, by the way—he ended up sizzled on the floor. Then, he examines your tonsils with his tongue, and he's fine. No sizzle. Okay, plenty of sizzle, actually, but not in the literal way."
"Is there a point to this vivid and oh-so-tasteful commentary?" Regina asked.
"What gives?" Ruby asked.
Regina rolled her eyes, remembering why she'd actually watched the television the curse provided her. The vernacular here was impossible to understand. "It's his decision whether he'd like to explain that," Regina said.
"Fine," Ruby huffed. "Later," she said in salutation as she headed back toward the diner.
Regina gave a brief nod and then headed the opposite direction to the animal shelter.
"I'm in," Ruby said simply as she dropped into a chair beside the booth holding Astrid, Grumpy, Granny, and David.
"What's that, sister?" Grumpy asked.
"Whatever batshit crazy plan you're hatching to save Regina's life," Ruby clarified. "I'm in."
Granny smiled in pride at her granddaughter.
"Thanks, Ruby," David said with gratitude.
"Mom!" Henry exclaimed when she entered the animal shelter. "Can we get a dog?"
Regina smiled tightly as she took in the sight of her son with his arms around a mangy mutt that bore a striking resemblance to the romantic lead in Disney's animated Lady and the Tramp—one of the only Disney movies she'd allowed Henry to watch as a child. Not because it was any more accurate than any of the other adapted monstrosities, but because watching a couple get their happy ending was easier to stomach when the couple in question was in canine form. Besides, it amused her to think of Lady Ariella's reaction if she knew that millions of people thought of her as a cocker spaniel. And she liked Scottie's accent.
He looked so hopeful. She almost said yes just to make him happy. And to stick it to Emma, who would no doubt have the lion's share of the work taking care of the mutt after Henry lost interest in the responsibility of owning a pet.
But, her better angels won out. "How about we focus on getting Ms. Swan and Snow back first, okay, dear?"
Henry nodded. "Okay," he agreed. "But if Emma says yes, can I get one?"
Regina laughed. "We can talk it over once she's back," she said. As soon as the words left her lips, she felt the guilt hit her in the gut. The normality of her refusing Henry's request for a dog had made her forget—just for a moment—that she most likely wouldn't be around for that conversation. Would Henry ever forgive her?
Regina squared her shoulders and put her hands around her son's shoulder as they began to leave. "Thank you, Mowgli," she called to the back and smiled as she heard a "Welcome, ma'am," in response. For some reason, when the jungle boy said "ma'am" it sounded respectful rather than sarcastic. It was nice.
"Now, how about we go home, make some dinner, and watch a movie?" Regina asked.
"Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs?" Henry asked.
"Sure, dear," Regina smiled. "Is that your way of saying you want spaghetti for dinner too?"
"Yep!" Henry replied. "A Theme Night! Like we used to do."
Regina's smile broadened. "Sounds perfect."
"I can't believe this place can run without you two," David said, amazed as orders were taken and food was served during the dinner rush despite Granny and Ruby's presence at his table.
"Chuck's pretty good. As are the line cooks," Granny said. "But Ruby and I should get back to help, so let's get on with it."
David nodded and addressed Astrid, "Regina seems to think she's going to die. And you didn't seem happy about the linking spell on Sunday. Do you know what's going on?"
"Not completely," Astrid replied. "Has she told you how you'll be anchoring Henry?"
"Anchoring?" David asked, puzzled. "Regina mentioned 'anchoring' briefly a couple days ago, but she said she'd be doing it. She said that she and Henry would be handling the magic, but that I should come along in case something goes wrong or either Snow or Emma is hurt when we get them back."
"Oh my goodness," Astrid replied, feeling a sudden pressure on her chest. "She is going to die. If we don't do something, figure something out, she is going to die."
Grumpy and Ruby both bit back their instinctual response of "Good riddance." Grumpy, because he loved Astrid, and he loved the confidence that Regina had helped her find. Ruby, because the woman in the alleyway had seemed all right. And because she didn't want to condemn the man beside her to a life where his true love was all in the past.
"What do we do?" David asked. "What is anchoring and how do I do it?"
"Want to make the pasta from scratch tonight?" Regina asked. She was still bone-weary, but she was determined to savor this evening with her son. Even if she survived the spell tomorrow, it was likely her last.
"Yeah!" Henry said, bending down to extract the pasta cranker from between the food processor and Dutch oven and handing it to his mother.
"Thanks, dear," Regina said, setting it on the counter. She then glared at her injured hand, tempted to heal it, but knowing that she should conserve her magical energy. Just as well, this would be a good excuse for why she was teaching Henry how to make everything rather than doing it herself.
"All right," she said, setting the flour and eggs on the counter. "Wash your hands, and we'll get started."
"Anchoring is a critical element of any enchantments that involve multiple dimensions," Astrid explained. "Accessing other dimensions isn't actually that hard; it's not destroying yourself in the process that is difficult. The presence of successful anchoring properties is what made that hat such a precious magical object and what made the curse that brought us here so impressive, magically speaking."
"But, if Regina was able to anchor herself while ripping us out of our lives and bringing us here, shouldn't she be able to do it this time too?" Ruby asked.
"If that was all she had to do, probably," Astrid replied. "But, she's not just anchoring, she's also buffering for someone else's magic—a barely trained child's no less—and that combination . . . Surviving it is unprecedented." Astrid finished quietly.
The group was somber until David spoke with his trademark conviction, "A dark curse of that magnitude was also unprecedented, so precedents aren't relevant where Regina is concerned." He turned his attention back to Astrid, "Why did you think I was going to do the anchoring for Henry? Is it something I can do for Regina?"
"I thought you would do it, because you truly love Henry, and true love for the caster is necessary for vicarious anchoring to work," Astrid replied. "As to whether you could do it successfully by yourself, I don't know . . . this could be the reason Regina decided to do it herself. She knows her magical capabilities and must have felt certain that she could keep Henry safe better than a novice magic user, regardless of how true your love is."
"But, there must be a way, Astrid," David insisted. "She shouldn't have to die for this."
Ruby bit her tongue to keep from mouthing off a smart-ass comment. She didn't want Henry to lose his mom, and she didn't want David to lose his friend, girlfriend, whatever, but every time she remembered that the person in question was the woman that hunted and persecuted her friend for years, her commitment to help weakened.
"Henry deserves both his mothers," Granny stated, as if she knew the direction of her granddaughter's thoughts.
David nodded in agreement and turned to Astrid again, "There must be a way to keep Henry and Regina safe. Where do we start?"
Astrid looked at David, at a loss, before suddenly recollecting something and rummaging through her purse. "Ah, ha! Here it is," she said, pulling a thick, but oddly proportioned leather-bound book from her bag.
"That's why your purse weighs five hundred diamond carts?" Grumpy exclaimed. "You've been carrying around a brick of a book?"
"Regina leant it to me," Astrid explained.
"The Evil Queen loaned you a book?" Grumpy asked skeptically.
"She's not evil," Astrid replied. "And, yes, she did. Before I helped with the linking charm for Henry on Sunday, we'd been talking about which reference texts should be considered fundamental to magical training, and I had never read this one. There are so few copies in existence," her words trailed off as she thumbed through the book looking for a specific passage.
"Why don't they just make more copies?" Ruby asked.
Astrid looked up from the page, "Have you ever seen a magical object enforce its copyright?" she asked rhetorically.
"Oh," Ruby replied.
Reading furiously while the rest of her companions imagined the horrific and creative ways the book in her hands could attack them should they attempt to copy it without the long-dead author's permission, Astrid finally found the phrase she needed. She re-read it. She re-read it again. She shut the book.
"I know what we can do," she said and looked around the table, cataloguing the composition of their group. Nodding in confirmation of her mental calculation, she said, "But it's going to require all of us. And each of you must be certain that you are willing to participate."
Regina was sitting in the chair in the corner of Henry's bedroom when she heard the door to David's truck close. She had peeked her head in to check on him and hadn't been able to resist watching him sleep. Just for a little while.
Checking her watch, 'a little while' had turned into well over an hour. Sighing, she placed a kiss on Henry's forehead and brushed his hair back. She wondered if he'd keep growing it out as he got older. She gazed at him a moment longer and then walked downstairs to meet David.
David was locking the front door behind him when he heard Regina walk down the stairs.
"Hello," he said, turning to face her.
"Hello," she replied, keeping her distance. The last thing she needed to do was accost him again. She was trying to redeem herself, trying to be better. She didn't want Henry to remember her as the Evil Queen. And taking Snow White's husband to bed, even if she didn't intend it as an act of revenge, would certainly be perceived that way. And here, without Granny and a diner full of patrons to remind them to keep their clothes on . . . well, distance was good.
"I have bad news," David said, and she heard a warning in his tone. "You're not going to die tomorrow."
A/N: I'll try to get the next update posted within a week. Reviews would be lovely.