I know these chapters have been super spread out, so it might get confusing for a second, but it should become clear. More chapters up soon! :)
Deception
Chapter 8
Regina sat up quickly at the sound of footsteps coming down the hall. She waited from her bed as the block in the hallway slid open and David was deposited roughly in his cell. There was a brief moment of panic for her when the doors between them closed tightly and looking across the hall, she saw that David felt it as well. They were each other's only form of human contact outside of the rough guards, and she wasn't at all excited about losing it. Beyond that, it would be harder to carry through with her plan if they separated them again. Although, the separation itself would prove her wrong, so she supposed it would become useless anyway.
She felt herself spiraling down once more into hopelessness at that thought. She'd finally managed to figure something out about this place and have some hope that they'd be able to escape, and it hadn't even lasted twenty four hours. David stood up and moved to stand at the wall again, trying to make eye contact with her as the guards retreated once more, and she let him, using him once more to anchor her in the present, to keep away from the dark thoughts that would keep them from escaping.
The worry had been for nothing. As soon as they were alone again, the halls were blocked off and everything opened so they were free to move between the cells once more. Regina was quick to her feet and David met her halfway. They stopped toe to toe, standing awkwardly in the hallway, having been propelled by a force that neither of them understood. All Regina knew was that she didn't want to be alone again, and if she was in the same space as David, they couldn't put walls between them again.
"We should talk more," Regina finally said to break the uncomfortable silence.
David cleared his throat. "After you."
She turned to move back the way she came, their natural gathering place now being her bed. How tawdry, she thought sardonically. If only Snow were here to appreciate it. She jumped when she felt David's hand on her back, but the contact wasn't unwelcome, and she allowed him to keep the light connection the rest of the way.
"Have you remembered anything else?" he asked hopefully once they were seated.
"No," she told him. "But I thought of a few things that happened before that may be relevant."
He leaned forward in interest.
"I've been going over and over those last few days in Storybrooke in my head," she started, "and I wanted to go over them with you. Retrace our steps and see if it helps us jog our memories at all."
"Sure."
"We can start with the magic beans. You and Snow were growing them, but you were worried someone was going to find out about them so you had me take them and make it appear as if the field had been completely destroyed, along with all of the beans."
David looked up at her with narrowed eyes when he caught the lie. "Regina—"
"Because the last thing those idiots would expect would be for us to be working together," she told him.
He watched her face – unchanging as always – but caught a flicker of something in her eyes. As he watched her, he began to catch on to what she was doing, so he slowly nodded, and making himself look discouraged, he added. "Not that it did us a whole lot of good."
"But it did," she argued. Her brow furrowed as she seemed to be remembering something. "Someone did steal the beans, but I'd figured out who it was," she said slowly. "That's what I was going to tell you after we'd stopped the trigger…before we realized Henry was missing. "I'd discovered where the remaining beans were, we just didn't have time before the trigger would destroy Storybrooke." She sighed. "And as we discussed before, it was for the best that we ended up stopping the trigger the way we did."
He nodded. Regina was brilliant. They'd assumed they were being listened in on, but there was only one way to prove it for sure. They needed to give their captors something to worry about – something they'd want to investigate further. "So you're saying that if we can find a way out of here and back to Storybrooke…" he trailed off.
"I know where the beans are," she finished. "And we can use them to take care of our problems."
-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-
"Greg and Tamara were supposed to check in," she whispered harshly. "They're hours late and we have no way of communicating with our world. If this plan doesn't go exactly as it should, we don't have a lot of ways we can alter it."
"Portia, you've got to calm down. The others know something's up, and if you keep freaking out, they're going to know you're not Regina."
"I've spent months studying her. Her mannerisms, her behavior, the way she speaks…you leave being Regina up to me. You should worry more about being David."
"I spent just as long in Storybrooke as you did, remember?"
"Oh, good for you, Ian. I'm sure when you get caught and blow the whole mission, the bosses will feel so much better because you spent so much time in Storybrooke."
"We're not gonna get caught!" he told her a little more loudly, and when she shushed him, he lowered his voice. "We're not gonna get caught. As long as we keep acting the way we're supposed to and we get them up to Dead Man's Ridge, no one's gonna catch on. Mary Margaret's easy to fool. She's so lovesick for David she'll listen to anything I say, and no matter how suspicious she gets, she'd never let herself believe that her precious David was up to something bad. And that imp and the pirate are too busy fighting to realize what's going on."
"It's not them I'm worried about. Emma's no dumb blonde."
"You think she knows?"
"No." Portia shook her head. "I mean…these disguises are fool-proof. That magic idiot really knew what he was doing. The director should have kept him around a little longer in case we needed him in the future. No, Emma's suspicious, but she has no idea we're not Regina and David. We just need to get up there so Pan can do what he needs to in order to get his power back. Once he has it, he'll give us the stone, and we'll be able to close the portals to our world forever. No more magic, no more chaos. Everyone not from there will die and the proper order will be restored – like a reset button."
Ian sighed. "I just hope it doesn't take too much longer. The playoffs are coming up and I swear to god if I miss them—"
"Shh," she said suddenly, freezing.
He looked around before looking back at her. "What?"
She shook her head. "I thought I heard something. Nevermind. It's late – we've been gone awhile. If anyone wakes up, they might notice we're gone. We should get back. Besides, you're supposed to be on guard duty for the next two hours."
"Whatever."
He followed her as they made their way back to where the group had made camp for the night. Neither of them noticed Emma slipping quickly and quietly through the brush ahead of them, mind reeling from what she'd heard, but desperate to reach the camp before they realized she'd ever been awake.