April 30th 2013
Regina had finally fallen asleep. They had talked for another hour after finally admitting their love to each other. David had tried to hide his anger and frustration at the situation. He had finally found her and she was going to be taken away. Eventually, Regina had been in too much pain to go on without painkillers. Shortly after taking the two tablets, she had fallen asleep in David's arms. He was settling her carefully on the couch when Frank came back inside the station. "I sent Joe to check on the woman. Animal control drove her back home after she refused to go to the hospital."
The old lady. David had forgotten all about her. He had a bad feeling about her. Things did not add up but he had no time to think about anything but Regina. "You should go with him."
Frank shook his head. "And let you and Regina escape?"
David sighed. "And where would we go? We can't leave Storybrooke."
"You can't. But we both know that whatever curse is around the town won't stop the Queen."
David shook his head. "She is in no shape to leave by herself." He turned around to face the man, barely containing his rage. He pointed toward Regina's sleeping form. She was as white as the tissues left by her side. "Look at her! She is barely alive."
The man smirked. "And she won't be for long."
Before David could really think about the consequences of his actions, his fist connected with the idiot's jaw. Frank had been completely unprepared for the blow and he took a few steps back trying to regain his balance. His hand automatically cuddled his jaw, leaving him vulnerable to David's stomach punch. The man cried out in pain before collapsing on the ground. David did not wait for Frank to regain his senses. He punched the man one last time and felt him go limp. David dragged Frank's unconscious form in a cell and locked him inside.
David rushed toward Regina. They had a chance to escape this and he was going to take it. He did not have a long term plan but anything was better than letting George burn her alive in the morning. Preoccupied with his own thoughts, David failed to notice the weak whimpers when he rearranged the blanket around Regina. He gathered her in his arms and tried to lift her off the couch. She screamed as soon as he repositioned her. David immediately laid her back on the couch. "Regina?" Regina tried to curl on herself, holding her surgical wound. "Let me have a look." Regina was still whimpering and shaking from the pain and it took David a few minutes to get her to uncurl. He gasped at the sight of the blood-soaked shirt. He rapidly removed her dressing, confirming his greatest fear. She had ripped her stitches and blood was gushing out of the now open wound. "I need to take you to the hospital."
Her answer was barely above a whisper. "No…. Just let me die… Like this."
"I'm not letting you die."
Her voice was so weak that he strained to hear her. "If.. don't move.. doesn't hurt if I don't move…. don't want to burn."
David let the tears fall. She had stopped fighting and just decided on how she would die. "Regina, there is no way I'm letting us end this way. I'm getting you to the hospital."
He carefully lifted her in his arms. She groaned at the change of position but she was too weak to protest. He hurried to his truck and burned every speed limits on his way to the hospital.
EC
Joe was fuming. Frank had sent him to check on the old hag in case he would lose his temper again. Why did it matter if he had executed Regina in her cell? They were planning to do just that in the morning anyway. Joe smiled. Maybe Frank had been right to stop him. A bullet to the head was too gentle for the Evil Queen. He liked George's idea better. He would be able to hear her screams as the flames slowly burned her flesh.
He was still visualizing Regina screaming and squirming in her restraints as he climbed the few steps leading to the porch. He firmly knocked twice on the wooden door. Apparently, the farm was in no better shape than its occupant. He was about to knock one more time when the door opened abruptly. "Ma'am, I'm here with the Sheriff's office." The old woman did not move. She was even uglier than how he had imagined her from Frank's description. "I need to ask you a few questions."
"I'm rather occupied at the moment."
How busy could an useless old lady be? "It will take only a few minutes." Joe placed his hand on the door before she had a chance to close it in his face. He felt the resistance: the lady was extraordinary strong for her age and frame. He pushed the door and stepped inside the main room. He gasped in shock at the sight of the same old woman lying on the floor. Her neck was bent at an unnatural angle and Joe knew she was dead. He reached for his firearm and took a few steps back, pointing his weapon toward the other woman.
"I wish you hadn't come in dear."
The last thing Joe saw was the old woman twist her wrist as his neck snapped.
EC
David ran to the emergency room, carrying a barely conscious Regina. "I need help." The nurse and doctor chatting near the reception rushed to his side. "She ripped her stitches… she … she is bleeding." The doctor lifted her shirt to look at the damage and nodded once. David continued. "Where is Dr. Whale?"
The doctor cut off the nurse who was about to respond. "He had been called away on an emergency." David was so worried about Regina that he failed to notice the look of surprise on the nurse's face. The doctor's stern glance silenced her immediately. "I can take care of her."
David hesitated for an instant. No one had offered to help Regina before. But maybe the town was coming around or this doctor felt some sympathy at the recent loss of their child. After a moment, he nodded. Regina was bleeding out and she needed help. David followed the doctor to the nearest unoccupied bed. "Lay her down here and go with Nurse Cardin fill the paperwork."
David executed himself but the nurse objected. "Won't you need my assistance?"
David gently moved Regina's hair from her face, impervious to the discussion between the nurse and doctor. "No, I will be fine. This is a fairly simple procedure. Go help the Sheriff with the paperwork." David was concentrating on a barely conscious Regina and missed the stern glance the doctor was giving the nurse.
She knew the doctor had a temper and did not want to be on the receiving end of one of his famous tantrums. The Queen was not worth the risk of her losing her job. She placed her hand firmly on David's shoulder. "Follow me, please." David looked in-between the nurse and Regina. He hated to leave her alone. She must have realized his dilemma as she softened her tone. "It won't take long. And you'll be able to take her home faster."
This was all he needed to hear. They didn't have much time before someone found Frank unconscious at the Sheriff's office. Joe would surely be done with the old woman soon and David gathered they may have only an hour at the most before the two of them came looking for Regina. He kissed Regina's forehead tenderly. "I'll be right back." She groaned softly in response. David rubbed her cheek before following the nurse toward the reception.
As soon as the nurse and sheriff were gone, the doctor went to work. Fate had brought her to him. He would not let her go so easily. The Evil Queen had ruined his life; she had killed the people he had loved the most and she was going to pay for her crime. After the curse broke, he had hoped that justice would be served. But instead, the Prince had forgiven her. Moreover, he had fallen under the witch's curse. And he would force her to break the leash she had on the Prince. There could be no other explanation of why the Prince left Snow White for her.
The doctor smiled down at his patient. She was fighting to stay awake. He would make sure she would be for what was to come but first he needed to make sure she would not escape or alert anyone. He moved to grab the restraints they kept on hand for agitated patients. He first secured her feet to the bed before moving to her hands. Regina tried to fight him but she was too weak and her mind too foggy to offer any real resistance. The doctor's smile widened. The rumors were true. The witch could not access her magic in her weakened state.
The doctor traced his fingertips along her jawline. He wished he did not have to gag her. He would have enjoyed every scream he was about to tear from her throat. But considering the circumstances, he needed to make sure no one would hear her. At least not until he was done with her. He unfastened his tie and gagged her with it. Regina coughed against the fabric. The doctor slapped her cheeks a few times to wake her up. "Time to wake up, Your Majesty."
His slaps were not having the desired effect. The doctor realized then that he did not have much time to exact his revenge. The Queen would be dead soon. He turned around and filled a syringe with epinephrine. He injected the adrenaline into her system and waited a few minutes for the drug to act.
Regina opened her eyes suddenly. Her heart was racing in her chest and she felt a surge of panic as the adrenaline rushed through her veins. She tried to look for David but he was nowhere to be found. She settled her gaze on the man smiling devilishly down on her and her panic increased tenfold. She tried to get up only to find her hands and feet tied to the bed. She screamed against the gag.
The man leaned down. "No, Your Majesty. There is no calling for help. It's going to be you and I for a little while…. Until you pass out from the pain I'm about to inflict." He took great pleasure in watching the Queen's eyes widen in fear. Regina squirmed on the bed, trying futilely to loosen her bonds. "I would lay still if I were you, Regina. It will only be more painful if you move and you'll bleed out faster. There is no one coming for you. The sheriff is too busy with the paperwork and he thinks I'm here to help you. And I will…I will make sure each one of the new stitches is as tight as possible."
The doctor moved toward her abdomen, her eyes never leaving him. He ripped the soaked dressing off and she screamed against the gag. Satisfied that no one would be able to hear her, he settled himself on a stool and made a show at putting his gloves on. He wanted to savor this moment. The fear of anticipation reflected in her eyes was almost as entertaining as her screams. "You must be wondering why I'm doing all this…." He watched her carefully, waiting for her to try to plead with him.
But Regina did not. She turned her face away from him, resigned to her fate. "... Or perhaps you already know you deserve what's about to happen." He opened a suture kit and grabbed the pair of scissors. Regina cried softly against her gag at the sound of the package opening. Watching the Queen whimpering in fear and pain only fueled his desire to inflict more pain. He started cutting the few remaining sutures, enjoying every muffled screams.
Once he was done, he admired his handy work. Regina was panting hard against her gag, sweat pearling on her front, and her eyes glazed over in pain. "Do you even remember me?" Regina did not react. She was not listening anymore, her only universe was the white hot searing pain coming from her abdomen. The doctor plunged his fingers into her open wound. "Answer me!"
Regina screamed against the gag, bright spots dancing in front of her eyes. She tried to look at the man, hoping for a distant memory of who this man could possibly be. Before he could repeat his action, she shook her head.
The man smirked. He grabbed the bottle of disinfectant and showed it to her. Regina's eyes widened in fear and she cried out softly, squirming on the bed. "We wouldn't want you to get an infection now, would we?" Regina shook her head from side to side. It did not matter anyway; she would be dead tomorrow. The doctor opened the bottle and poured half of the content on her open wound. Regina screamed against the gag, her body arching off the bed as much as the restraints permitted.
The doctor waited for his patient to settle once more. Her pupils were dilated from the pain and the adrenaline he had injected her with. He grabbed the needle and sutures, making sure his victim would have a good look at what was about to happen. Regina tensed and tried to move away from him but her bonds were too tight to allow much movement. "As I have said to you before, try to stay still. We wouldn't want those stitches to snap again."
Regina was breathing hard. She was begging him to stop with her eyes. Her tears were running down her cheeks but the man ignored her. He pricked her skin with the needle and started his work. "My name is Santo. But I'm not surprised you don't remember me." Regina bit hard on the gag and he continued to suture her. "I was of no consequences. My wife, on the other hand, deserved to die…. according to you." Regina shook her head. She could not remember him or his wife. She had killed so many that even if he was not torturing her and she could concentrate properly, she was not sure she would remember him or his wife. "You came to our village, looking for her. You were dressed in those tight leather pants and riding coats that became your trademark. But back then, we didn't know the monster you had become."
Despite the pain, Regina noticed the choice of word: become. So this man and presumably his wife knew her - or of her- before she became the Evil Queen. The doctor punctured her skin particularly harshly and she screamed again, tightly gripping the bed railings. He continued, seemingly impervious to the pain he was inflicting. He did not enjoy it, not as much as he thought he would. The memories from this world were conflicting with his desire for revenge: do no harm. But he was not exactly harming her; he was suturing her properly so she would not bleed to death. This procedure had been done before the advent of anesthesia. Surely the people back then did not see it as torture. He continued with his story. "She thought you came to reward her, to thank her for helping you…." He lifted his head to look directly into her frightened eyes. "... after the nights you spent in your husband's bed."
Regina gasped. She did not know who this man's wife had been exactly. There had been so many maids. After she became Queen, she had made all traces of her past life disappear, including the maids that had taken care of her during the eight agonizing years she had spent as Leopold's wife. She did not want rumors to spread. She did not want to show her weakness so she had killed all the servants remotely aware of the frightened young girl she used to be. She had killed all of them except Sarah. She had not been able to do it. Instead, she had banished the old woman from her Kingdom. She would always remember Sarah's eyes as they marched to the edge of the Kingdom. Somehow the old woman understood her; she understood the road that had led to the rise of the Evil Queen. But she could not forgive Regina.
Santo was hovering over her, smiling. "I see you remember now." Regina nodded slowly. Maybe if she acknowledged her mistakes, he would stop. But the man sat back on the stool, resuming his work. Regina bit the gag and tried to contain her screams. She deserved this. She deserved all of it. She deserved to be burned at the stake tomorrow.
She deserved to be punished but she also deserved to be loved. She deserved her second chance with David. She tried to imagine David's comforting presence at her side, the way he would rub her cheek, and his soft kisses. She had distracted herself enough to numb the pain to the bearable when the door sprang open.
EC
David was sitting in the waiting area, trying to fill out all the paperwork. Of all the wonders of this world, the sheriff could not understand why they had chosen the evilest of system: bureaucracy. He was trying to answer all the questions as best he could.
His heart was pounding in his chest. Regina had lost so much blood, she had been barely conscious when he had reluctantly left her on the bed. Hasn't she suffered enough already? She did not deserve to lose her child, she did not deserve to have a life-threatening surgery, and she did not deserve to bleed to death because she could not get the proper rest she needed to recover. Most of all, she did not deserve to make the choice of bleeding to death rather than being burned at the stake. Regina might be resigned to her fate but he was not. He would not let her die tomorrow.
The questions on the medical form were only increasing his frustration at the whole situation. He thought he knew Regina better than anyone - and he probably did-, but he could not answer the majority of the questions on the form. And he would probably never get the chance to learn the answers to them. In rage, he threw the clipboard across the floor and gripped his hair. "NO!"
"David?"
The blonde man turned toward the voice and gasped. "Viktor?" He jumped to his feet. "What are you doing here?"
The man frowned. "Working a double shift."
David was on his feet in an instant, shaking his head. He grabbed the man's upper arm to make sure he was not hallucinating. "You can't be here. You were called on some emergency. Regina…." Fear gripped him. Why would the other doctor have lied? "Regina!" He ran toward the room he had left her in, quickly followed by a very confused Dr. Whale.
David picked up the pace, shoving people and objects aside. Sarah looked at the desperate man running through the corridor, a feeling of dread settling in the pit of her stomach. She followed the pair to one of the emergency rooms. David tried the door, but to no avail. "Open this door." He banged hard on the door.
David could hear the muffled screams through the thin door. His fear was approaching to complete panic; Regina was in danger and he was responsible for leaving her at the hands of her executioner. He took a few steps back to kick down the door as Whale and Sarah were catching up with him. The trio gasped at the scene in front of them.
ECECEC
April 11th 2013
Regina smiled as she parked her car outside the stables. David was saddling two horses for their weekly ride. She let her eyes enjoy his strong forearms, the way his t-shirt was hugging his broad, muscled chest down to his flat stomach, and his perfectly-shaped behind. She felt a tingling in her lower abdomen and she quickly pressed her thighs together. Regina took a few steadying breaths. She had never felt this way before, not even with Daniel. Her body was reacting in strange and unexpected ways and it truly frightened her. She grinded down the seat of her Mercedes to get some relief. The ache in-between her thighs was unbearable. She needed something… but she was not sure what that something was.
Mostly, Regina was afraid of these new sensations. Her experience in Leopold's bed had taught her that nothing good could come out of being touched down there. She closed her eyes. And then there had been the night with David. He had not hurt her; but there had been no pleasure either. She opened her eyes again to see the man in question smiling at her. She blushed but quickly recomposed herself. She shook her head and exited her car. She needed to control these new feelings. No matter what they were, nothing good would come out of them. She did not want an intimate relationship. Besides, the man her body was longing for was unavailable.
She quickly made her way toward him, unable to suppress her smile. "Good morning."
He smiled at her, trying to keep his eyes from wandering over her perfect body. Her tight riding outfit did not help conceal her shapely curves. He needed to control his mind and hopefully his dreams. The sensation of his mouth on him was still vivid in his mind, even though it had been nothing but a dream. But nothing could happen between him and Regina, no matter how desperate he was to spend all of his time with her. "Good morning." He gestured toward the horses. "I hope you don't mind. I dropped Henry at school early and I thought I could get them ready before you got here."
"Is Henry ok?" Her heart rate increased. Henry would never willingly go to school early.
David must have seen the fear in her eyes as he reached for her hand. "Everything is fine… he is working on a project… and he wanted to use the art classroom. His teacher allowed him to." He hoped that she would not ask any more questions. Henry was working very hard on this project and he did not want to spoil the surprise.
Regina quickly looked down at her hand clasped in his. His touch had reignited all of the tingling sensations throughout her body, including the ache in-between her thighs. Her mind was telling her to take her hand back but somehow her body refused to obey the order. She stroke her thumb across the back of his hand. "You need to tell me your secret."
David blushed. He was trying to control the sudden need surging throughout his body. His pants were tight enough that she would not miss his untimely erection. Surely, she did not know how he felt about her. His voice slightly betrayed his panic. "What secret?"
Regina tried to recompose herself as fast as she could. "Henry. How you got him excited about going to school early…?"
David let out a breath of relief. "Oh! Let's say he is very excited about this project."
Regina looked away. The only thing her son had been excited about in the last year was his fairy tale book. And she dreaded that this project had everything to do with it; one more way for him to pull away from her. "I see."
David saw the change in her demeanor, reading her thoughts instantously. "Regina?" He waited for her to look at him. "It has nothing to do with the book." She did not know why or how but somehow she believed him. He continued. "Henry has not looked at his book since we went to lunch with you for the first time."
Regina gasped. This had been over a month ago. "Why…?"
David smiled at her. "Maybe he is starting to realize that one needs to make their happy endings rather than reading about them in a book."
Regina shifted uncomfortably. What had David meant? Surely, he could not imply that he was returning her feelings for him, whatever those might be. She took her hand away from him and replied in the only manner she knew how. With her usual hurtful sass. "And you've learned philosophy in shepherd's school?"
David just chuckled and shook his head. A typical Regina response. One that he had grown to cherish.
Thanks to everyone who is following, faving, and leaving review for this story. As I've mentioned before it's part of a four-story arc so part of the plot will not be resolved by the end of this book. If you like the story, give a change to "The Queen is Dead, Long Live the Queen".
I started writing for EC week. I'll post on the day both the OS and the new chapter of Forgive Me. Forgive Me will end in the middle of the next week.