Chapter Thirty-One: Bring Me a Dream

It was not turning out to be a good morning for Regina Mills. Above having one of the worst nightmares that she had not had in a long time, her tree was beginning to die, which was clearly a sign that things were not going her way – not with Emma Swan still around Storybrooke. Furiously, Regina left home with one of the rotten apples plucked from her dying tree and went into town to stop by Mr. Gold's shop. As she entered the shop, an unsettling sensation overtook her; it was the same feeling she had during her nightmare. Looking to her left, she saw Dr. Alder Dorm standing in front of the police box, which he appeared to be "inspecting" just as Regina walked in.

"It was you, wasn't it?" Regina harshly questioned him.

"You'll have to be more specific." Dorm said.

"The nightmare I had last night!" Regina snapped. "Swan…Henry…Mary Margaret…the entire town…tying me up to a rotten apple tree and cutting my throat with a sword! You put it all in my head!"

Dorm snickered. "Now why would I do a thing like that, Your Majesty? We both know that I am incapable of using magic in this world."

"What you possess is not magic! It is alien!"

Her words silenced him for a brief moment until he responded calmly. "I see. Well, I suppose that makes me unique…that is, one of the unique." He slightly stroked the police box as he added the ambiguous part of his statement.

Regina darted her eyes away from Dorm and towards Gold, who casually stood behind the corner, conducting his business. "I'm beginning to regret you ever plucking this little man from the Doctor's head in the first place," she told Gold.

"It was your idea, Your Majesty." Gold reminded her.

"All of the knowledge the Doctor possessed that threatened your plans…and here I am to epitomize them." Dorm arrogantly stated. "Unfortunately, you didn't count on the 'side effects' to the extraction."

Regina grinned, noticing the game that Dorm was playing. "Don't think for one second that you're the most powerful being in Storybrooke, Doctor."

Dorm smiled. "No, of course not. We all know who the real powerful Doctor is in this town…unfortunately, he thinks he's a typical schoolteacher because of the curse you and Rumple conjured up."

"A curse that is currently weakening as we speak and it's all because of Emma." Regina indicated before advancing on Gold and adding, "But do you care? No…you just go about doing…whatever it is that you're doing, while all my hard work burns."

"That's not all, is it?" Gold inquired, much to Regina's immediate confusion. "C'mon. Get it off your chest."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Regina admitted.

"Henry…Miss Swan wants him." Gold clarified, and as soon as Regina heard this, she sighed in annoyance. "The curse was meant to take away Snow White and Prince Charming's happiness. Perhaps you giving up Henry is just the price to keep it unbroken."

Dorm smirked. "Now there's a big sacrifice."

"Don't you have an immortal man to be keeping watch over at the hospital?" Regina asked, obviously prompting Dorm in leaving the shop to allow Gold and Regina some time alone.

Knowing when he was not wanted, Dorm made his way towards the exit. "Very well. But just one more thing you should be wary of as your curse begins to dwindle, Your Majesty."

"And what would that be?" Regina queried.

"Henry has recently been 'recruiting' for breaking the curse, and he's obtained two more friends of the Doctor…ones who, unlike Mr. Harkness, know of the face he carried before the curse took its effect on him."

Regina's aggravation with Dorm increased. "And this should concern me why?"

"The Doctor himself is powerful, but his friends are even more so." Dorm warned. "I wouldn't be surprised if they went through drastic measures to get him back to his old self…and they will." Seeing the look of dissatisfaction on her face was enough for Alder Dorm leave with a huge smile upon his own; the warning had been given – how Regina dealt with it was all on her.