Author's note: sincere apologies- these chapters are growing with each posting. I swear I will use better sense and start cutting them down a little.
Than you to MarieYotz for her betaing services.
Much love
Jane
Chapter 21
Snow sat behind her desk. The chair wobbled on the uneven earth floor and the air was a precious commodity, breathed by too many people- and the room was not even full yet- unventilated, dark, claustrophobic. She hated it and could not wait for the moment they would call it a day, just so that she could get home and feel a warm and even wooden floor under her feet and the sun coming in through the window. Perhaps indulge in a long bubble bath.
She sighed deep and long and waited for Emma, who seemed to be locked in conversation with Regina. For a second, Snow let herself resent her former step-mother again. Her daughter was caught up in all this drama because of all of Regina's deeds, because of all of Regina's bad choices and sins. "Is the defense ready to proceed?"
Emma gave her a panicked look and turned back to Regina. To Snow it seemed that there was pleading, that Emma had said please and she could only think that, had Emma beseeched her like that, she would have given her anything she wanted and anything more she could find. But Emma was saving all of those little kindnesses for Regina, and to Snow the only thing left was to try to understand and be a mother to a child she barely knew. God, she resented it. She resented every affectionate gesture Emma had for Regina. She resented that she had to try and understand when all she wanted was to punish Regina for the life Emma had lived, for the time she had missed. For the things that were Regina's to have now and not hers.
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Oh, this was better than the games he used to hold back in the old land. Much as he had loved seeing soldiers fighting each other at his command, this was so much better. The new princess- and god, was that title coming down with her mother's reign soon enough- was pleading with the disgraced queen. If he was any judge- and he was- he'd say that the princess as begging her to testify. Oh, he would love to see that. He would love to destroy the queen, to bury her, word by word. He had seen enough of the queen's weak spots to devastate her with one sentence- let alone her defense itself. It was a game that played itself now. Everything was win win. And with the fairy as backup? It was just gravy, as they said in this land. He leaned back and enjoyed the show, unhurried.
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David settled his long frame against the rock wall closest to the cell bars. He was keeping an eye out for Henry, for Snow, for Emma. His daughter was not collecting friendships and he felt for the Sheriff's service weapon he had confiscated from Emma the previous night. He hoped to all that was sacred that he would not need it. Regina was right for once: there had been too much blood already. Some of it already in his hands. He could do without any more. But he was worried. He was worried about Blue. Someone had attacked her and he had not seen her since Snow had driven her to the convent before lunch the day before. He was worried about Nova. Anything out of the ordinary was a worry because there were too many players interested in the outcome of this trial. And he was worried about Emma and Henry because no matter what came out of this, no matter what the council determined, the fact was that Regina was behind unmovable bars with magic a scarce resource in the hands of the fairies and of Rumplestilskin. He simply could not see this turning out any other way that it already had. And one thing he could do for Emma: he could put himself in her shoes and know that, had it been Snow behind these bars, we would stop at nothing until she was free. He knew little of Emma, in the grand scheme of things. But he knew she was a lot like him. At least on this one thing. And the way Storybrooke was now, that obsession was a dangerous thing. Very dangerous.
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Regina wanted to cry. Emma was convinced that her talking to the crowd would, in some miraculous way, help her case. She did not- could not- share the optimism. She looked at the Prosecutor and knew that he was actually looking forward to her taking the stand, as it were. She could see it in his eyes that she was nothing but prey. Wounded prey. She knew all the pitfalls, all the ways he would make Emma regret having her testify. Because she would have done the same. She would have exploited any and every weakness to maximum effect.
"Regina, please. They need to know from you. They cannot keep on guessing. If they hear it from you, they will be more sympathetic. They'll understand why you did all of this. That is important."
In the end, Regina was tired of repeating the same things. Emma had gone after her tree right when they met, after one of the things she loved the most - but she did not understand, not really, to what level the Prosecutor could play that game. "No." In the end, Regina spoke with finality. No. She would not speak. No, she would not show any more weaknesses than she already had. And no, she would not expose her heart and she would not explore Daniel's and her baby's deaths to garn some sympathy. She would not explore her affection for Emma so that people could think her capable of change. Truth was, she was not sure herself she could change. She had been here since the night the curse had broken. She had not lived. She had only remained in limbo. This was her first opportunity to do the right thing. And that was not to use Emma, to use Henry and her losses. Snow was right. She had been driven to the bridge but had crossed it with her own two feet. This was the time to start paying for, as Emma put it, all the fucked up shit she had done.
"Please, Regina. For me. For Henry."
Not fair. Not fair at all. A tear slid down her check without her even noticing.
"That is precisely why I will not, Emma."
"Because of us?" Regina added nothing but a nod to that. "I don't understand. If it gives you a chance of being with us, free from this… Don't you want us? Me?"
Regina grabbed her Emma's hair and pulled her to the bars, to her where she could kiss her. "Anything, Emma, I'd do anything but explore publically how I feel for you. I will not use you or Henry for sympathy. I need to know if I am capable of this. I never knew how to love, Emma. Not how to love well. But I think this is the way. I want to do this -us- the right way."
"Are you scared of him?" Regina looked over her shoulder at the prosecutor. "He can't hurt you. He'd have to go through me, Regina, and I'm not going anywhere."
"He can and he will hurt me. He will go through you and Henry, Emma. Through everything and everyone that I hold dear. Even the ones that I have already lost. That is the person he is. Yes, I am afraid of him. For you, for Henry. For me. I am done hurting. I want to feel something else now, Emma. Let me do this right. Let me love you well."
"You love me…" Regina smiled at how easy those words were coming now. "That is not playing fair."
"It's not a game…"
"Okay… Okay. I'll think of something else."
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When Snow called her for the second time, Emma knew she was out of time. She held Regina's hand because she was not sure that on her own she would have the strength to this. "We're ready."
"Good. Okay. Do you want to call your next witness?"
"No. No more witnesses. Your Honor."
That seemed to take Snow by surprise. "Okay. so… Closing arguments. Is the Prosecution ready?"
"Yes, Your Honor, I am. The Prosecution's case is solid and self-evident. It requires no more preparation than the facts."
"Good." Or not. It was obvious from Snow's tone how much she despised the Prosecutor.
"Indeed. I am very keen to put this to bed. There are so many important decisions to be made about the future of Storybrooke, now the greatest menace is about to be taken care of."
"Get on with it, Mr. Spencer."
The Prosecutor paused for effect, rubbing at the bridge of his nose as if to gather his thoughts. Then he stood and walked the available expansion of the cave they were in. He walked to the bars and stood in front of Regina. "The Prosecution would like to remind Your Honor- and the rumored Council to be gathered- that the defendant is a sociopath. How do I know this? Simple. I looked it up because our world has no words for what she is except monster and the defense seems to take exception to the truth. So I looked it up, the words from this world that explain what the defendant is: a sociopath. A criminal mind that is manipulative and conning, who lies pathologically, that lacks empathy, is callous in their actions, promiscuous, a parasite. Someone who is incapable of love. Incapable of remorse, shame or guilt. Someone who causes damage to the society they live in. Someone who cannot live within the rules of that society. Someone who causes harm at large to get back at a select few. Sociopath. The Evil Queen destroyed kingdoms, families, individuals- some of which, children. She murdered her lover of forty years and her father to effect revenge on a single person. Sociopath. Now she stands before you. Claiming to love one of her victims who cannot see any better. A victim so damaged that she cannot pledge her obviously loyal heart to her family and instead goes on some misguided crusade to save the one person that does not deserve any sort of salvation. The one person that should burn for her crimes.
Every once in a while, I recover memories of my youth. Memories that she took from me. Memories make us who we are, don't you think? Without them, how are we to be ourselves? But I digress. When I was very young, I went out with my father on a trip to a neighboring kingdom. Everything there was different and strange. Everything seemed shiny and bright and I ended up spending a great deal of gold coins on a fancy leather coat just because it was fashionable in that kingdom. When I got home, I realized that it was indeed a horrendous piece, poorly crafted and, generally, of appalling taste.
I bought it even though I knew better, because I was in a strange place and I got carried away. Fancies of youth, I'm sure you understand. But the reason I am telling you this shameful story is because I see it happening now. Forgiving this monster… well, it's a lot like me buying that horrendous leather coat: It is distasteful, it will cost us dearly and it's a fashion that is not of our land. Buying that coat was a mistake. Forgiving this monster is a mistake.
It is my duty to point out that mistake. It is my duty to remind those of you that might have forgotten, that we do not belong to this place because she brought us here and, therefore, the laws that should prevail are the ones of our land. Not these flights of fancy of this foreign land. And make no mistake: it is a foreign land. We are foreigners here. That barrier at the border of town makes it so. She never let this world in so it is non sequitur that, though displaced, we are not of part of this foreign world.
The Prosecution asks that our Queen, our elected Queen, do what she was born to do, that she has the backbone and the strength of character to do what must be done. The Prosecution, for the people, asks that a punishment befitting her crimes be delivered. So that we can again feel safe. The prosecution asks for the death of the monster. As it is our land's law and custom.
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."
The Prosecutor delivered his speech looking Regina squarely in the eye. Waiting for the moment she would let the meaning, the enormity of it sink in. He wanted to see her surrendering to the hopelessness. He was done and tired of seeing her stand against him and that would stop now.
And was thoroughly disappointed.
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That son of a bitch had a date with her fist and didn't even know it yet. Emma nearly stood to make his acquaintance with her hitching fist but the sight of Regina standing tall, not letting him get a rise out of her made her think twice for once in her life.
When the Prosecutor sat down again, Regina was still standing. She looked like a tree sapling that had weathered down a hurricane, slightly bent, slightly ruffled but unbroken. Emma felt a surge of pride in her chest. She smiled at Regina, encouraging, soothing.
"Is it my turn now?" She queried the Prosecutor directly without asking it of Snow. When he nodded with a self-satisfied smirk, Emma smiled, a beautiful, wide smile that was obviously a fake. "Can I just say, Mr. Prosecutor Man, right back at you. I mean that: right back at you. I could not have put it better had I been trying to describe you in my memoire. So thanks for that." She then turned to Regina and smiled. "God, I'm nervous, you know?" She faced Snow and then the crowd. "You guys know me by now. I'm impulsive and rash… definitely not great with words. Not a sharp speaker like the Prosecutor. Definitely don't speak lawyerese. I've never done any lawyering. That makes me nervous. My own lawyer when I went to jail was a creepy little shit, so I learnt nothing there.
But, you know, since my son found me, since I came to Storybrooke, I found my mom. I found my dad. I made friends… so I guess anything can happen in life. And that gives me hope. It gives me hope that you can look past my obvious incompetence at this and see the truth.
I have a feeling that during this time we have been gathering to discuss Regina's sins and Regina's crimes and Regina's shortcomings that something got lost, you know? Something important, something fundamental and I kept trying to put my finger on it and I just didn't know what it was.
When the prosecutor was going on about his leather coat, I got it. I suddenly got it. What's been missing is empathy.
I don't think there was a chance that Regina could ever get a fair trial no matter how much we try. There is a reason why here in America they choose a jury of the defendant's peers, people who have never heard of the victims or the defendants to sit in judgment. That cannot happen here. We are living in a fishbowl. We can't get out and seek someone impartial to judge. So we can only do so much in that respect. But here's the thing: we look at ourselves in the mirror and we tell ourselves that we have been wronged. That we are the good ones. All saintly and stuff.
And that's okay. Okayish. Human reaction. But I wish you would bear something in mind when you go from here; when you, the council sit to deliberate on her fate. What makes you act as a good person? Is it that you don't kill? Is it that you don't lie? That you don't omit? That you don't manipulate or think of yourselves first above others?"
Emma stuck her hand through the bars and held Regina's hand, pulled her to the bars softly and then removed the silk scarf Regina had wrapped around her neck to conceal the burns of the iron collar. People craned their necks to get a better look and Regina shrunk into the meager darkness of the cell.
"What in us makes us good? Is it our minds or is it our hearts? What we do or what we don't do?
The prosecutor has told us a story. I want to tell you a story too. A bedtime story, so go ahead and close your eyes, for me. Go on. Nothing is going to happen. She can't get out from behind those bars that are slowly killing her. Believe me, I've tried. So go on. Close your eyes." There was a moment of suspended life in the crowd where people looked at each other, hoping to get their cue from the others. Granny held Ruby's hand and closed her eyes. Mrs. Cooke did too. Dr Hopper and Geppetto standing next to each other. One at a time, like dominoes, eyes closed, breathings slowed.
"I'd like to tell you a story about a girl. A girl with black hair and hope for the future. Go on. Picture her. Picture her smile when she thinks of the future. A home with the man she loves, the prince of her heart. The babies they will have, the things they will do together, the horses they'll raise, the children that will run around them. A future where she won't have to fear her mother. Where she won't need to pray to the fairies because she will be protected from harm by a man she loves and who loves her with all his heart.
Suddenly, a horse gets spooked. She saves a little girl from death. She tells that little girl about true love and how it is magic, the most powerful magic of all. And then she's sold in marriage to an old king for her troubles. She tries to run away because being queen means nothing. But her mother- her own mother- kills the man she loves. She sticks her hand through his chest and rips out his heart. She is left to bury him. Alone.
Then comes the marriage. She is taken to her marriage bed by a man that does not know her, does not love her. Whom she does not love. A man who feels entitled to her body, like chattel. No fairies come to her aid.
When she conceives a child, she is happy because at least that part of her dream she could still have. But the mother that sold her in marriage thinks she knows best. The baby is a girl. The king already has a daughter and does not need another. He needs a son. So her mother kills her baby inside her. And with that baby, any chance for the young queen- eighteen, she was eighteen- to ever bear children.
It seems that- that broken rag- was just the way she was needed. Rumplestilskin needed her just like that - broken, every smile erased from her, every hope systematically killed. He needed her like that because she was the power he needed so that he could find his son. So when she was not ready to be his monster, her gave her the one final push: he eliminated her one residual hope that magic- the magic he had promised her was power- could bring back her true love. He left her with nothing.
And when a genie with a wish came into her life and when she had once again hope of being free from her loveless marriage, her husband ensured his queen, his chattel, remained firmly in its place. And not even her father was strong enough to help her.
So imagine how her life tightened around her like a noose. Can you feel that noose tightening around you? Her love killed. Her child killed. Her hope dead. And her body refused to give up. Her heart refused to give up. She refused to live like all the other girls that were sold in marriage to men they did not love. She refused to live like all the other women that were married off to men they did not want; like all the other women that were taken to beds they never intended to be in just because that was the way of the land. Imagine how it felt like to be that resilient, that strong that you will not just die but are still trapped by the custom and the tradition and the expectations of others. It breaks something inside you.
So can you see her? That hopeful, innocent black haired girl, broken by her mother's will until there is not a single smile left in her, ignored by the family she married into, by the girl that chose her like you choose a doll, her body barren, her heart crushed?
Can you see her?
I want you to picture that black haired girl… Got it?
Now, imagine her name is Snow White."
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The crowd remained silent though eyes snapped open and there were startled, beguiled gazes that snapped between Regina and Snow.
"That would be called empathy." Emma's voice resonated though the walls of Regina's prison, through the hearts of people standing there. "That's what's been missing all along. And that's what makes us good."
Behind the bars, Regina sat, all strength had left her. Emma saw her and understood the feeling. If her default was not to keep standing, she would have done the same. For a moment she felt like a deer caught in the headlights, unable to move, unable to determine whether to go backwards or to go forward. She did not know whether this was enough of not, whether it would do them any good.
The Snow called her name. "Emma."
"Yeah?"
"Is there anything else you'd like to say? Is the defense…"
"No…" She shook her head, mostly to clear the fog from her thoughts. "No. The defense rests." And why was it that she felt like crying now? She wished they would all leave now. She wished all these people would go on their merry way and just leave them alone.
Snow cleared her throat. She needed to do this now and there was no easy way to do it. So she stood and addressed the crowd. "I thought, in the beginning, that I could do this. That I could remain objective and impartial. That I could be fair. That I could be back in the frame of mind of back then. Forgive me. That was arrogant. As we approached the end of this trial I have come to realize that am not at all confident in my own judgment. There is too much between the defendant and I… Regina and I. Too much that I would not be able to see past. I don't think that's fair. So I am opting for the fairest option that I could think of. I am reconvening the council. The decision, in the end, will be mine. Because that is in my job description. So whatever happens, let it be known now that the cost of that decision, the weight of it or the lightness of it, will rest on my shoulders.
When the council reaches a decision, we shall reconvene here and make it known to everyone. Until then… may I please remind you that Storybrooke does not exist in thin air. We need people to return to their jobs. We need bread and we need newspapers. We need doctors, fishermen, janitors, teachers. Children need to return to school and parents need to return to work. Please."
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The crowd thinned reluctantly. This was the time where the after began. The curse was broken, court hand been held and the criminal tried. And now it was up to them: to return to what they were supposed to live. Everything had changed. And yet, it all remained the same.
Granny bumped Ruby's shoulder and walked to the exit. "Come on, Ruby. That diner is not gonna manage itself."
"Yeah… Deputy duty this morning, though, Granny."
"Always something…."
Leroy approached Snow, Nova in tow. "Hey sister, can we have a word? Private one."
"Huh… one of those…" Snow fidgeted
"And better make is snappy, sister."
"Leroy, the council is gathering this afternoon. Can it wait? I would just like a minute now. Just a moment to…"
"Sure. If you're willing to risk it."
"Okay. Are we dropping Nova somewhere first?"
"No. Nova goes where I go."
"That's a new development. Nova, how are you feeling? Do you know what happened to Blue?"
"No. I…" The more Nova tried to concentrate on the question, the worse the headache became, to the point it was only a flash of pain that made her eyes roll, to the back of head. And then she was out and falling on the floor had it not been for Leroy who picked her up before she was down.
"Yeah, this happened yesterday. And every time I asked her about that other one, this happens."
"You don't like Blue much, do you, Leroy?"
"Define like."
"She's on our side."
"And what side is that, Snow? 'Cause I was looking when your kid pulled the queen's scarf out. I'm no expert, but I was gonna swear that had the shape of that dog collar she put on the queen every day."
"She had to be contained, Leroy."
"Yeah. Sure."
"Leroy!"
"Save it, Snow. Where was she gonna go? The town is the size of an egg and no one can get in or out."
"She could have hurt someone."
Leroy nodded sagely. "Did you know what that was doing to her?"
"No…"
"Would you have approved it?"
"Well… no…"
"You don't sound too sure, sister."
"Leroy… whose side are you on?"
"That must have hurt, Snow. The way it looked, it hurt like a bitch. I don't know about you, but that's not what I signed up for." He picked Nova up and carried her out of the cave.
"Come on, princess, let's get you out into the fresh air."
"Was that what you wanted to talk about?" But Leroy didn't turn back to answer.
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When Snow trailed after Leroy, the cave was finally empty with the exception of the three desks and chairs and the new torches burning on the walls, making the light brighter. Henry and David were by the wall where they had spent the morning.
"Aren't you going with Snow?" Emma queried. "Isn't the council going to do their powwow or something?"
"In the afternoon, yes. We're not deliberately delaying things, Emma. But all the members of the council have things to do and arrangements to make to be there. "
"I didn't see Blue today."
"She was shaken by what happened."
"Shaken?" Henry screeched. "How much you wanna bet she's lying?"
"Henry! She is a trusted friend. An old ally and advisor. You should not say such things."
"I can and I will when they're the truth."
"You can't know that!"
"I saw it on her face, Grandpa. I saw it. She was lying and I could tell. Why won't you believe me? Emma, come on, tell him. You have your superpower."
"Oh, kid, it was never super anything."
"Don't you believe me, Emma?"
"I do."
"No, you don't. But I'm gonna prove it to you. I'm gonna get her and I'm gonna get you out of here, mom. You'll see"
"Henry, please, don't get yourself into harm's way. Please do not make me worry like this. I can't do anything from here and… god, please, Henry!" Regina grabbed at the bars trying to reach for Henry, desperate to keep him with her and knowing she could not- would not- bring her child into this hole with her.
"I'll tell you what, Henry," David placated. "Let's go find her. Together. Let's go talk to her and…"
"And let her lie to you again? You'll believe everything she says."
"David… please… don't let her close to Henry." Regina was using the last shred of energy she had.
"That thing on your neck, Regina… was it her…"
Regina pulled at the collar of her shirt and tried to close it, tried to hide it from view. She hated pity and could see nothing else on David's face. Her face burned with shame and her legs were threatening to give out under her. "Don't let Henry close to her."
"She will not hurt him, Regina. She's a fairy, she's_"
"Please, David."
"Then tell me about that on your neck." Emma was about to intervene. She was between David and Regina and regretting having exposed that wound to the crowd. Regina had endured it for the length of the trial in order not to look weak and she had made a mess of things. Again. "Why does it look like a burn?"
"Because it is." Henry placed himself between his mother and David and pushed him further back. David allowed the child to push him backwards.
"Regina. Tell me. Please."
"Why do you want to hear it from her?" Emma spoke with her back to David, solely concentrated on Regina again shrinking into the now non-existent shadows.
"Regina!" David pushed.
"Stop bullying my mom."
"It is a burn, David. The iron of the collar is cursed."
"Yes, it stopped your magic."
"Yes, it did. But it did not have to burn me to do it. That was just a bonus."
"Blue said it was enchanted."
"Enchanted does sound better than cursed." Regina's voice was fading. She clutched at the edges of the collar of her shirt and held them closed.
David took a step forward, towards the bars. "Regina, look at me." He did not really expect her to comply. That was not the woman he knew. But she did. She looked at him and there was still defiance in her gaze, a pathetic little stubborn shred of defiance but it was there. And he was surprised to find that a good thing. David was not a man who appreciated change. "I'm going to get Blue. But let me tell you one thing: you are not alone anymore. It doesn't mean that I am ready to forgive and forget, but you are not alone anymore and you don't have to suffer alone."
"Don't be dramatic, Charming." Regina quipped but it lacked bite.
"I mean that. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a council to get ready for." And he left, rushed but sure footsteps that reminded Regina so much of Emma. Henry followed him and for once, Regina did not worry because she could see the purpose in Charming, a purpose that was not wholly centered on Snow White and actually seemed to care about others around them.
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"Are you okay?" Emma pulled her chair and sat by the bars. She felt tired and depleted of everything. Regina leaned against the bars to touch her. She put her arm through it and touched Emma's hair. She loved the feel of it, the softness and strength of it. That was her Emma. She smirked to herself. Her Emma. (How strange to have someone to think of like that.) Her Emma was strong and brave but she had tender spots in her that bruised easily.
"Strange as it may seem, yes. I really am." Her hands pulled strands of hair to her and her fingers slid down the golden locks. And when she reached the tip of that strand, she would pick another and do the same and again and again and it soothed her. "I would not have thought, after all this time, that I would feel okay again. You must know, Emma, and you must believe me: no matter what happens now, no matter what they decide, no matter that these bars never open again, I'm okay."
"How can you say that?" There, the little spot that bruised so easily in Emma.
"What you said… today, what you told them… never…"
"Please don't cry."
"I'm not…" When a tear slid down her cheek, Regina wiped it clean with her fingers and studied with a half smile. "Well, I guess I am. Emma… no one ever thought about how I felt. And it is a strange thing to feel happy about but I do."
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Snow left David's truck where it was right at the entrance of the mine and walked. She needed to clear her head and needed the time to do so. She had not seen Regina's marks, but she had seen the looks on Granny and Ruby's faces, and she had seen in the way they had then looked at her for a fraction of a second that they believed she knew something about it. She had seen Henry's hurt face and David's shocked one and she could only imagine what it was that they were looking at.
No. She did not know anything about it. And no, she would not have guessed that Blue could do something like that. And she could not even believe that Blue knew what it would do. Just like she did not want to believe that this was a card that Regina had refused to play masterfully. She could not believe the best about that woman. Too many years between them, anticipating what Regina would do if given half a chance.
Nothing could or ever would excuse what Regina had done. Nothing would ever excuse her father's death. He may not have been as great a husband as he was a father, but he did not deserve to die. Graham did not deserve to die. And not even old Henry deserved that, from what little she knew of the man. The truth was, Regina may have had her reasons but nothing could excuse murder.
Imagine her name is Snow White.
Snow felt sucker punched again. She sat on a tree stump on the road into town because she could not breathe. Regina was a murderer. They had nothing in common. NOTHING. There was no way Snow could ever put herself in Regina's shoes because…. Because… she couldn't.
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"Henry, I have a favor to ask of you." David buckled up and ensured that Henry's seat belt was secure before he found the courage to engage the boy directly. "I know what you believe of Blue. I saw that mark on your mom's neck. But I need to ask you to not say a word when we pick up Blue. I need you to lie to her if needs be. We need to get her to the council. We need the council to hear from her what we heard from Regina."
"Why?"
"Because, Henry, what Emma was saying about empathy is all very well, but some people need more of a push than others. We, you and me, we are going to make sure that we give them a push in the right direction."
"I'm not a kid, Grandpa. Please don't lie to me."
"Look at me, Henry. Look at me in the eye and see if I'm lying." There was a moment where Henry fought desperately to hear or see a sign of deception, David's clear gaze unwavering. Emma was right, it was anything but a superpower. But in the end, Henry chose to believe.
"Okay."
"You need to understand, Henry: Blue saved Emma from the curse. We owe her that. So I am still hoping she will show me that she didn't know what that collar was doing. But I promise you Henry, on my daughter's life and happiness, that I am prepared to see that a close friend, one that one that I trusted my child's life to, could have lied to me. Could have knowingly done something so cruel."
"And if she did?"
"And if she did, I will want to know why, Henry. So please. Promise me that we can go get her and take her to the council and hear from her there."
It took Henry a very long second to agree. "I promise."
"Okay." He turned the key and started the engine. "We do this as a family, Henry. He do it together. That's the way we're going to beat evil."
"Grandpa?"
"Yeah?"
"Stop being so dramatic!"
~SQ~SQ~SQ~SQ~SQ~SQ~SQ~SQ~SQ~
The council was supposed to reconvene at the town hall, but Snow could not quite muster the strength to go there, to be there. The mayor's office was still all Regina in its clinical, grandiose décor and Snow could not quite stomach the idea of that space when they were discussing the future of the person that had made it, literally, from scratch. It felt a lot like shame.
So she made her way to school, to her classroom and sat at her desk now covered in dust that had accumulated during their three week abandonment. She felt safe here. This had always been her little haven and even with the distance that she now had from Mary Margret, she felt the love for what she did here, for the children entrusted to her, for this safe little corner of their world.
This was not the old council room with its maps and grandiose engraved table and armed guards at the heavy doors, but it would do just as nicely. She pushed tables together and cleared books and papers, drawings and pencils out of the way. If Regina had wanted to punish her so badly, how come she had been given this? Surrounded by children and a safe environment where she was happy… They hated each other so much and Regina had given her this.
She had not even asked Blue how the collar worked, how it took magic from Regina. She had not even asked if it would hurt her, if there was any other way. That collar looked so much like something you put on dog… She sat looking at the blue bird houses she had built with the children and for some reason, she felt like crying because everything could have been so different. She felt like crying because when had they, Regina and her, stopped being mother and child?
So when Ruby made her way in, in her Deputy Sheriff uniform, Snow was at once grateful for the interruption and hit by how things changed. There was no palpable difference between Ruby and Red. Ruby was still the same Red from back home, only at peace and confident.
"Have you been here long?"
"No… long enough. Ruby… I didn't…" Ruby mired her and waited for what Snow had to say but when nothing came out, Ruby sat on the small chair next to her best friend. "You didn't know that the collar would do that to her."
"No, I didn't. I… I mean… when we… with Rumplestilskin…"
"I remember. I love you, Snow, you're as close to me as any sister would be, but… when Blue put that collar on her… there were no questions asked, were there? Not just you. All of us. I mean… we all sat there, next to her- next to them- while that was happening and none of us noticed anything. So… you know… Maybe we just didn't care enough to ask those questions."
"How were we to know, Red?"
"We weren't. Not in the beginning, anyway. But Snow, I think we just didn't want to know, 'cause… do you remember Rumple? Why not do the same? That spell that he could not move. There were no collars, no shackles, he just did not move. Why not use the same thing? I just have this feeling that, in way, we wanted to see her like that. We wanted to make sure that we were in control of her. With not a little humiliation as a bonus."
"Rumplestilskin was different…"
"No, Snow, he wasn't. He was a cornered animal, just like Regina. Or maybe even worse. Because you knew already that Regina and Emma were together. She was not going to go anywhere. But you know what bothers me? Is that I chose not to notice anything. It was burning through her skin. I should have felt the smell in the air. I should have smelled the pain. I should have known. But I can tell you one thing now. Those bars are not the same since we had good ol' Rumple in there. They have been modified too."
"What do you mean?"
"When Emma showed that burn today, when I couldn't pretend that I had not noticed it, I smelled it, the burning of skin. You know, there is nothing quite like that smell, Snow. It's like death coming slowly. And then I realized that I felt that smell before. When there was just Regina and me in that mine. I felt the smell of burning flesh. And for my money, Snow, the same thing she did to the collar, Blue did to the bars, because every time Regina touches them, they burn her skin."
"It's not possible."
"Henry bought a burn ointment the other day. Do you want to ask him what that was for?"
"Blue would not do that. That is…"
"Cruel? Unacceptable?"
Snow had no reply.
Imagine her name is Snow White.
"What's cruel and unacceptable?" Granny walked into the little school room.
"Take your pick, Granny."
"Ah, that. Now, you look at me Snow. You look at me and tell me that you had no idea of this."
"I…"
"You didn't care enough, isn't it, Snow?"
"I never thought… I don't believe Blue knows what it did. That iron."
"That may be true for the collar, but the bars? They were modified, child. Back when Rumple was kept there, he never had any problem touching them."
"But she is one of us, Granny. She was always there for us."
Granny sighed. "I hate to be the one to tell you this, Snow, but if you can still believe that after what you heard in this trial…"
"What does she have to gain? Nothing. Absolutely nothing."
"Snow, I love you as my own, but sometimes I want to smack you on the upside of the head. Switch on, will you? Have you not lived long enough to know that sometimes there is no reason for evil? Haven't you believed that of the queen all along? Maybe you are not totally wrong and some people are capable of evil for evil sake…"
"So you're on her side."
"Don't you press me, Snow White. This is not about sides. You are not her adversary any more. Her life is in your hands. So you better get off the path of stupid, cowgirl."
~SQ~SQ~SQ~SQ~SQ~SQ~SQ~SQ~SQ~
Henry was proud of himself for his behavior with Blue. Though he remained stubbornly seated shotgun- when he knew very well his mother would have told him that he should have given his seat to Blue- even if merely on the grounds of age- he also remained quiet and only shot her murdering glances when she was not looking at him.
By that point, Henry had almost convinced himself that he was going into the council room and be a part of it. He would speak for his mother and would defend her as eloquently as Emma had done and it would all be okay. He was rehearsing his lines in his head when David parked the truck outside his school.
"What are we doing here?"
"Snow called the council to come here. So the question is, do you want me to drop you off at home or do want to go back to the mine?"
"But…" Henry looked at the school building and had the measure of his misconception at that point. Of course he was not going to be a part of the council. "Here is fine."
"Hey!" David stepped out of the truck and headed Henry off. "You know better, Henry. You told me you're not a child, so here's your chance to prove it. Stop sulking. I'm sure Emma and your mom would appreciate some lunch at this point. Don't stay home alone, okay? And don't go off making them worry." Henry stuffed his hands in his pockets almost all the way to his elbows.
"'Kay…" He was about to turn on his heel and make his way home to grab something for lunch when Leroy and Nova appeared around the corner, each with shoulders shrunk and tense.
"Sister Astrid. You were not at the convent for evening meal!"
It was funny how Nova seemed to have trouble looking at Blue. Henry lost every thought of grabbing lunch and just stood rooted to spot. "Sister Astrid! I asked you a question!"
"Well, technically, that was not really a question!" Henry could not stop himself from interjecting and it earned him a concerned look from David. He should have apologized but it simply did not come out. Funny thing was, Nova looking at Blue and her eyes glazing over. Her shoulders lost all tension and yet, something about the whole thing told Henry that was not a good development.
"I'm sorry, Mother Superior."
"Go on back to the convent, Sister Astrid and may I suggest that you reflect upon your actions. You had me worried sick."
"She's not going back there. Come on, Nova, let's go in."
"I beg your pardon!"
"Nova goes where I go. You got a problem with that?"
"Indeed I have problem! Your Majesty! The council is not a youth club or open to invitations! There is one representative for the dwarves, one representative of the fairies and the two should not mix. That's preposterous!"
Nova simply stood there, unable to move either way, neither to go to the convent nor to follow Leroy who had started to walk into the school. He looked back for her and called her but Henry could see clear as day that her eyes were glazed over and unfocused. He moved to her side and took her hand. Nova seemed to go back into herself at that moment.
"Can you come with me, then?" Henry seized his opportunity as he saw it.
"Sister Astrid must return to the convent!"
"I'll walk her there." Henry bit the inside of his cheek because he was not supposed to lie, he hated it. He hated it when his mother did it but needs must. "I'll walk her there." And in his mind he added when I'm good and ready and smiled at the fairy, in a way that would not have been out of place on Regina's face.
Leroy approached Henry and spoke eye to eye. "You better know what you're doing, Your Highness!" Henry put out his hand and shook Leroy's when the dwarf did the same.
"I do." Leroy gave Henry a measuring look then turned to Nova.
"If you need anything, anything at all, just call me."
Nova nodded and walked off with Henry, unsure of why she had could not quite remember why it was so important not to go back to the convent. The more she tried to think about it, the more her head hurt to a point it felt like someone was scrambling her brain as if it were eggs.
~SQ~SQ~SQ~SQ~SQ~SQ~SQ~SQ~SQ~
Snow leaned against the window entranced by the blue bird houses she had placed with the school children on the trees outside. The birds sang with abandon as if nothing could ever be as important as their song. A bird flew to the window and landed on the parapet, studying her, its head tilting to one side and then the other. Snow did not move, knowing a simple shift in her position would scare the little thing away. Back home, they'd been her best friends, confidents for some reason she could not understand. David had told her back then that they recognized goodness in her. She liked that. David was a romantic. The poor little birds converged to her as if they could sense something about her. Carried her messages, reported them back to her. She snuck a look at David, sitting there between Blue and her empty seat. Patient and true. Goodness indeed.
But she knew better. She knew that an empty heart was a dangerous heart. And the stupid little birds should have known better. If they came to her out of a genetic attraction to her kindness and goodness, than evolution and survival of the fittest was a joke. They should have known that Snow of the blackened heart, the Snow that did not hesitate to try and smash one of them simply because the way the sun reflected off its deep blue feathers was too much beauty to take in. They should have known that there was a time when the simple beauty and happiness of their song had drove her to hating them to death.
And if they came because news of her kindness had not reached them, well, then they were genuinely bad message carriers. Stupid little birds. Stupid Charming, believing she could no wrong.
Now, imagine her name is Snow White.
Not having someone you love can make you do unspeakable things. All she could feel was the emptiness, the darkness that no light could brighten, no song could fill. She had taken a broom to a bird, an axe to soldier, an arrow to a mother.
A tear slid down her face.
Oh this was all so fucked up.
Now, imagine her name is Snow White.
~SQ~SQ~SQ~SQ~SQ~SQ~SQ~SQ~SQ~
"Well, sister, we're all here. Shall we get this show on the road?" Leroy surveyed the people around the table and crossed his hands over it because the situation required gravitas. The last time the council had gathered, there had been a distinct belligerence in the air and he was ready to swing his axe at the queen's head. He had been ready for battle let alone war, not even knowing that he could not really fight anything of what was about to happen. Mercifully, today, the Blue Fairy was sitting well away from him, tucked safely between Charming and Dr Hopper. Which was probably a good place for her to be because, though he could not quite point out why, his main urge was to pluck out her perfect coiffed hair with tweezers, strand by strand. He cracked his knuckles and rotated his neck. Snow was taking her bloody sweet time starting this shindig and he was a man of action. And men of action resent being seated between old Geppetto and young Ruby doing nothing but waiting. Especially when Nova was outside.
He was going to have to sit Nova down and try to get to the bottom of this leaving the convent thing. He tried his hardest not to think of his little boat mooring in the pier, hitching, as he was, to go on an adventure. Any adventure. Any adventure with Nova. He cracked his knuckles again just to be able to break the cycle of his thoughts.
"Snow, come on." Ruby was, it seemed, as impatient as he was. He patted her hand and even though she was wearing the Deputy Sheriff uniform, he could still see the Red of before, antsy from the inaction. He could also see her pupils narrowing. He knew jack shit about the phase of the moon, but he was willing to bet that the first full moon after the curse had broken must have been looming.
Now that was adventure he could get behind: roaming the woods at night, doing nothing but being free from what others expect of you. "How close is it?"
"What?" Ruby whispered back. Leroy shrugged and pointed towards the sky in a fashion that meant something like you know, the moon and Ruby smiled. It made her eyes look wild and wolf like. "Close."
"How does it feel? Out there?"
"Like I am in one piece. Free."
Leroy thought again of that little ugly boat that needed more repairs than he could ever afford. Maybe it was true and some were not born to be free. Maybe some were born to be roots while others were born to be clouds. But, damn it, he was tired of being rooted to ground and Storybrooke had come to give him hope. He was trying to give Ruby a genuine smile without any envy when Snow finally broke her silence and addressed the council.
"I know this is not the whole lot of us. There are two very dear friends missing. The General and his Lieutenant are absent. They have fallen fighting the queen's troops the day the curse devastated our kingdom. But between those of us who are here I hope we can… decide on a fair outcome… You are my most trusted advisors. Together we have weathered many storms. I am hoping that you will help me reach a fair judgment…"
Snow's words fell into a void. There was a time lag where none of the members of the council spoke. It fell to Leroy; he felt to break the silence which was stretching beyond the uncomfortable now.
"Well, then, stop the grand words and let's get down to it." But even that could not really jump start events or council members into action. Just like his cry for battle had not been heeded a lifetime ago. "Oh, for the love of god! I'll tell you what I think of this mess and if you want to beat the shit out of me for it at least then we can get started. Y'all know that back there I would have been the first one to make a run for her head on a pile outside the castle gates. Back then, I was right… I think. Back then I'm pretty sure she would have skinned me if I had stood between you and her, Snow. And you know… we're family. Or I like to think of you as family... so I would have… But now, it's different. I've had time to cool off and so did she. 'Sides, It's not like she was totally unjustified or anything. Or like I don't know how it feels… Shit, Snow- pardon my language- to have your heart trampled on or so empty you're not even yourself." He directed a hooded look at the Blue Fairy and he wondered again why Nova wanted to leave the convent. "So…"
"So what are you saying, dwarf? That we should let her walk free among us? That she should be allowed to live among good people, polluting us with her poison and her anger and her resentment?"
"Careful there, sister. You're starting to sound a lot like the Prosecutor."
"Maybe he is right."
"Yeah, isn't he one of those that tried to kill Snow, though?"
"Just because he acted inconsiderately does not make him wrong on this matter."
"Does not make him right either." Granny looked up from her knitting but her fingers continued, nimble on the knitting needles. Her restlessness manifested in the knitting. It was a good way to stop herself from fidgeting which was not in agreement with her age. Her glasses perched at the tip of her nose defied the fairy to push the point. The fairy was wise enough to go no further.
"His name is Leroy, though. I think we should adhere to names, rather than titles." Dr Hopper spoke from where is face was buried on his chest. He owed the fairy his freedom. Even if, against his debt of gratitude, the things that Rumplestilskin and Emma had said in court were starting to make sense. He shrunk when she fulminated him with a pointed look.
"Leroy." The fairy amended and there was an undertone of bitterness to her sweet tone. "But I think she is dangerous. We have had sufficient proof that she is dangerous, unbalanced. And that the best intentions usually produce the worst results. You should know, Your Majesty. I regret bringing such a subject back to discussion but when you could have ended all of this by ordering her destroyed, you gave her one more chance. And it turned out to be the chance that ended with all of us here, exiled, lost and separated from each other for 28 years. She cannot be trusted."
"Blue… she is not an animal to be destroyed." Snow argued, her tone whiny.
~SQ~SQ~SQ~SQ~SQ~SQ~SQ~SQ~SQ~
Oh, she was done and tired of Snow's tender sensibilities. It seemed that she would have to forever, push everybody in the right direction. Why could they not just be the nice little puppets that they were supposed to be?
"I beg your pardon, Your Majesty. Of course not." And there were days like this where the sweetness in her own voice gave her the hives and a need to annihilate them all. "Nonetheless. I urge you to learn from history. You have spared her before. Look where your mercy has brought us. There is no going back. If you show her such kindness again, there is no telling what will happen, what the cost might be."
~SQ~SQ~SQ~SQ~SQ~SQ~SQ~SQ~SQ~
Nova was funny in that way nuns have. Or at least the nuns Henry knew from Storybrooke: she had these small but quick little steps and an eagerness about things, a happiness which was something like the happy happy cartoons his mother had let him watch when he was four and could not use the TV remote by himself. Except at that moment. Right there and then, Nova seemed to be in a sort of trance that made him want to shake her to get her out of it. They had made it to Snow's apartment and she had said nothing.
"Are you scared of Blue?
"Mother Superior? No… No… I..."
She wasn't. Sister Astrid wanted to say that she wasn't afraid, that it was not a very nice thing for a little boy to ask but, come on, what was wrong with her, her head hurt so much because it was like there was another voice coming from very deep that said yes, yes very much so except there it was again, that thing that made her want to rip her skull open just so that she could make it stop.
Nova cleaned her sweaty palms on her hand me down jeans and felt bile rise within her and it hurt enough to match her headache. "I'm not feeling very well, Henry."
"Do you think it's something you ate?" Nova looked at him and for a moment she could only think that, no, that was not it, but please shut up, do not talk anymore and then Henry went and asked what she had now learned to dread. "Or did Blue do something to you?" And just as she feared, the question was like a sharp knife to her head. She swayed and fell as the world exploded into a blinding white and then pitch blackness.
~SQ~SQ~SQ~SQ~SQ~SQ~SQ~SQ~SQ~
For the first time in her life, Emma had a nesting instinct. It baffled her but she had to do something while they waited away for the council to re-emerge. So she pushed the desks and two of the chairs out of the cave they and pushed at the litter with her booted feet. She had half a mind to find a broom and a dust rag when she finally managed to stop herself. This was in no way permanent. No way she should act like it because Regina was all too ready to accept her fate as it was and Emma was getting pissed off at the whole thing: at Regina, at her mother and father and at herself for not ditching all of the pretense and just… doing something.
"Stop, Emma."
"What?"
"Whatever it is that you're doing. Come, sit with me for a little." Emma took one final look at the heavy wooden desks and pulled the mattress Henry had used the previous night next to the bars. She sat, her shoulder against the bars. Regina mimicked her on the other side, a pillow between her and the bars.
"I don't like waiting." Regina smiled in understanding. "It makes my teeth hitch."
"Why don't you go for a walk? You should go check on Henry."
"He's eleven. He likes the idea that he can fend for himself."
"Well, he can't."
"He's more your son that you imagine, Regina. He can and he does. He got Michael Tillman to come over."
"He did?"
"Yeah. He takes after you. You should get some sleep, you know?"
"I'm not a child. I don't need to take naps."
"You're acting like one, though. Look at you. You can barely keep your eyes open. Take a nap, Regina. And then when you wake up, we'll be ready to get out of here."
Regina pulled back from her leaning position and looked at Emma, something firm and queenly that made Emma shrink a little. "You understand that the things I've done, Emma, are not the kind of things you just apologize and promise never to do again. My life so far, save for very brief periods, has been as dark as it gets and my deeds dark enough to match it."
"So what are you saying?"
"I'm saying that I can do this. I'm prepared for it. I can be standing when they come for me, whatever they have to say. Or do. Because that's what I've always done. But not if you keep on making promises like that. Promises we both know cannot- and should not- be kept. Please, Emma. Don't work yourself up into a frenzy for a foregone conclusion."
"But I want you out of here. I want us to… god! Do you realize the things we have not done? The things that I want to do? Without these bars between us and without the fear? I'm in here with you, Regina. I'm in here and I've had enough of prison cells to last me a life time."
"Miss Swan… You have been… amazing thus far and_"
"Is that like a default position with you? I piss you off so you go back to Miss Swan? Christ, Regina… do me the courtesy of using my first name. Please."
"Emma, then. Emma. The things you have done for me… in such a short time… Do you understand that I lived a very long life without anyone ever doing a fraction of what you have done for me in the last what? Month? You have done more for me in this last month than I've ever had from everybody else around me my whole life. But that should not… your feelings should not… You need to be reasonable, Emma. What do you think it's going to happen? Are we going to be pen pals for the rest of my life however long that might be? You heard the prosecutor asking for my head. Don't be stuck here with me. You have done more than enough saving for one lifetime. Don't be greedy now."
"You're doing it, aren't you?"
"What?"
"That best chance crap."
"Crap?"
"Crap. Henry told me what that bitch told you."
"Henry really must learn some discretion."
"And you should learn to have people on your side."
"Emma, please, be reasonable."
"I don't want to be reasonable. I have used all my reasonableness for this effin' trial. I am done with reasonable. Now I just want out of here. Okay, prison time. We can do that. We can have conjugal visits and I can pass you shiv on a cherry cake, go to parole hearings but not this. Not this. I am done being reasonable."
"You need to get laid."
"Yeah, badly. But unless we get you out of here..." Emma let the thought hang in the air and Regina relented then. Mostly because it fed her ego in a way that nothing else ever had. And she was tired. Bone deep tired. She leaned against the pillow again and felt the comfort of Emma's presence. She wished she could be less selfish, she wished she could shoo Emma away just so that whatever sentence they passed did not have to be for both of them. But the trouble was, her nature made it very difficult to be selfless. And to fight against herself and Emma was something she did not have enough energy to do. "Sleep, Regina."
"I don't want to."
"You're afraid of the nightmares." She did not answer. There was no point lying to Emma. "Sleep. I'm right here. If it comes again, I'll wake you up. I promise." Carefully, Emma pulled the pillow between Regina and the bars and set it on the mattress. Regina curled into a tight ball and Emma covered her with the blanket. She smoothed out locks of hair from an oddly serene face and managed not to show any surprise when Regina held on to her hand. Sleep conquered the woman faster than Emma expected possible, her breathing evening out and her chest raising and falling softly. Emma leaned against the bars and watched over that precious sleep. When the thrashing started and when the breathing became pained ragged huffs of breath, Emma was there to sooth her sleep.
.
.
She stood and paced. The pain abated when she walked the short length of her cell. Soon, she had the rhythm right. The pain hit, she would stop, hold on to the bars and breathe through it. A few more paces- increasingly less, she noticed- until the pain hit again. So she would stop and hold on to the bars and breathe through it. And then again. And again. The cycle was tightening, less paces between each wave of pain. And all she wanted was Emma. She wanted to bury her face on the crook of her neck and breathe her in because when she did, things had way of becoming better, less fraught, less threatening.
But Emma was gone and she was in here. Alone.
Pacing, she ran her hand through her belly because it felt less lonely when she did. Soon. The baby would be here soon. And then she wouldn't be alone any longer. Again: stop, hold on to the bars, breathe. And pace again. Very soon now.
"You can't keep her, you know?"
She knew. Of course she knew. Snow would never let her keep her baby. Retribution, it was called. "You took my baby from me, so I'm going to take your baby from you."
"Emma won't let you. She won't let you take our baby from us." It was token resistance, nothing more.
"Don't be silly, Regina. Why should Emma care? Hasn't she saved you enough?"
"It's our baby. She won't…" Stop the pacing, hold on to the bars, breathe through the pain. Resume pacing.
"She doesn't believe you, Regina. Why do you think she's not here? You've hurt her again. Haven't you done enough of that from the moment she was born?"
"It's true! Why doesn't she believe me?" Stop the pacing, hold on to the bars, breathe through the pain. Resume pacing.
"She doesn't. It's time, now, Regina."
No. No. No. She crossed her arms protectively around her belly but there was nothing she could do. Her baby was coming and Snow was going to take her away. She fell to her knees unable to stop it. And Emma was not here. She wanted to scream but no sound was coming from her throat.
Snow materialized inside her cell and helped her lay down. "It's time, now, Regina."
"No, please, Snow. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry…"
"This is the price for redemption, Regina."
"I'll be good, Snow, I promise. Please."
"Yes, you will. But no one cares anymore. Now be a good girl and push."
She did because there was nothing else she could do. And then the baby was out, a squirming little thing that Snow bundled up in a cloth and held to her, rocking the baby gently until the crying stopped. "Huh… she does not look a thing like you. There is hope for her."
"Her? It's a girl…"
"Isn't that appropriate, Regina? An eye for an eye…" And Snow's form dissipated in the air, taking with her her baby. Her baby girl. And when Snow was gone, she was alone in the dark. Dying.
.
.
She couldn't do this. She couldn't just sit and wait for whatever her parents in their magnanimity would see fit to do with Regina. She was done with expecting the best out of these people she barely knew. She was done with it all and she was going to take matters in her own hands. She was going to get them out of here and pack their shit and just ride the bug until that little piece of crap that was the only possession she'd ever had to her name dropped dead by the side of some godforsaken road. She was going to take her kid and the woman she… the woman she, well, fuck, she was going to take Regina out of here and stop moving only when they got to some shore with palm trees on it and it was summer all year.
And then miss what she'd found here. Shit.
But Regina was whimpering I'll be good. I promise and Emma could all but smell the fear from where she was standing, trying to get some bars on her phone in this god forsaken mine and she'd just about had it. She couldn't. This was not what she had signed up for. She adjusted the ratty blanket around Regina's unquiet form, smoothed the hair out of her face and whispered quietly, shh, I'll make this shit go away and then stood and marched outside where she could get some reception on her crappy phone.
"Mr Gold? Yeah… I know it's early… or late but I need a favor."