There was a lot to do the next day as Regina got up early and made her rounds to the barriers to check the water levels. At her first stop, she was surprised when the volunteers on duty out there clapped as she approached. By the time she got to the third barrier it was no longer surprising. Her magic truly had made the water recede faster than expected. Where there was once water, there were now tracts of mud and debris but it looked like the volunteers had already gotten started on the clean up of these newly cleared areas.
Of course on her first stop, she was asked almost immediately if she was there to use her magic again. She hated to tell them no, but she assured them that the no was a temporary one. She did her best to explain that she needed more rest before she could do magic of that magnitude.
Despite their disappointment, she saw they also seemed to accept her answer. Even if they didn't understand she needed to rest her magic, they took her at her word that it was needed. Besides, she told them, doing it this way would allow them time to clean up these areas first and then they could move on to a new area.
When pressed for a time of when she would do the magic, she told them two days.
Emma had already given her the ultimatum of a couple of days of no magic, and she was sure that if she indeed didn't use magic in that time she would be up to the task at hand. She wanted to be able to give this to the people of the town – give them a touch of good magic so they didn't always associate her with being the Evil Queen. She didn't think that Emma quite understood how much it would mean to her to be able to do this. To use her magic for the good of all the town, not just a few, it would go a long way toward her own redemption.
She continued around town, checking water levels, speaking with people and organized a clean up plan. Some of the clean up had started in the area she cleared but it wasn't as efficient in her mind as it should be so she re-organized the clean up teams a little and put them to work. By lunchtime she had already been all around town and every where she stopped people had asked her about doing the magic again. She felt bad every time she told them that it would have to wait a couple of days.
The truth was, she could do it now – use her magic in such a manner – and with Emma's assistance she was sure their combined power could clear most if not all the water based on what she had done the first time. But resting was the wiser choice. For her to have slept like she had, the magic had drained her considerably.
If she rested now and then performed the magic, she could possibly not be as tired and not lose another day to sleep when she should be working.
Robin had not called her phone at all the day before while she rested. It was the first thing she checked when she had it back in her possession. She figured he was giving her time to adjust to the idea of him bringing Zelena and Vincent back with him. Today though, she needed to know where he was at, so she knew how the mission was going and when she would need to bring the barrier back down.
She made the call after getting a bite to eat at the shelter with Henry.
"Hi," he answered.
"Hi," she said. There was several seconds of awkward silence. "How are things going out there?"
"Good," he said. "We almost have what we need. Should be back day after tomorrow or the next."
"Good," she said. "How is Vincent handling being on the road?"
"He must think we are on some grand adventure because he seems to be enjoying himself."
Regina could hear a lightness in his voice when he talked about his son – either of his sons brought that tone out in him.
"I'm glad he's having a good time. How is Zelena?"
The question caught him off guard as he didn't answer at first, or Regina thought Zelena was right there as he was speaking.
"She's …she's a little nervous about coming back."
"That is understandable. But I meant what I said, she and Vincent are welcome in my home if that is where they choose to be. Even if she doesn't feel comfortable with that, I will be here to help her and my nephew in anyway I can," she said. "They are family."
"She hasn't said one way or another what she wants to do when we return," he said.
"Well she still has a couple of days to think about it. Now I should get going. I will call you tomorrow for an update."
"Ok," he said. He paused like he wanted to say more but then told her goodbye and hung up.
She didn't really know what she was going to say to him when he got back. Or how soon she would say it. She had been so angry when he had called the other day to say he had Zelena with him and she was coming back. The anger was so much that she was able to use her magic to clear so much water. It wasn't the first time she had felt anger like that and used it to her magical advantage.
But it had been a while.
And she hated that she had done it. She thought she was done with such things – done giving into anger, yet she had done it.
That kind of anger should have no place in her life anymore. When Zelena returned with Robin, she needed to make sure it didn't.
She didn't know what to expect in regards to her sister. They didn't know each other really at all and yet they were family and that had to count for something.
Her phone buzzed and she looked down to see a text from Emma.
"How are you doing?"
"Fine," she responded.
"Any chance you have taken a break yet?"
"I had lunch with Henry a little while ago."
That response earned her a smile emoticon.
"My father would like to speak to you privately when you get the chance," Emma texted.
Regina read it twice to make sure she was right in what it said. She typically didn't have a lot of occasion to talk with Charming – at least not without his wife or daughter present, so the text threw her off. Had Emma said something to him about whatever it was that was going on between them? She honestly couldn't think of any reason why Charming would want to speak to her.
"Why does your father want to speak to me?"
"He has some concern he wanted to run by you," Emma replied. "He is over on Emerson Avenue."
Whatever he wanted, Regina figured she should get it over with sooner rather than later, so she told Emma ok and then told her she would see her later. Getting in her car, she ran through all the things she could think of that Charming might want to speak to her about privately and nothing was sticking out in her brain except it having something to do with Emma. She was really not up for a lecture from Emma's father about his thoughts concerning his daughter's love life.
Hell, she and Emma hadn't even really talked about it. They had done a good job of talking around it, but in her mind at least there was nothing to talk about until she resolved things with Robin. Even when that was taken care of, she wasn't sure she would be ready to jump into something with Emma or anyone else. Throughout her lifetime dating hadn't exactly been something she had done a lot. She never even dated the king, she merely married him.
Her relationship with Robin was seemingly always being interrupted by something – the return of who they thought was Marian, Zelena and her pregnancy and their quest to break the Dark One's curse. It was full of starts and stops.
It was like she could never quite catch a break – really it had been that way since the day Emma came to Storybrooke.
When she reached Emerson, she saw Charming next to the barrier – she had been there earlier in the day and knew that was one area where the water was receding quicker for some reason.
"Glad you are here. We have an issue," he said, and he guided her around to the far left and pointed. She looked and now she knew why the water was receding quicker there.
"How badly do you think the road has been washed out," she asked, seeing the sinkhole that had formed near the edge of the road.
"No way to know until the water is gone," he said. "But if it happened here, it could have happened to other areas. Even when the waters recede, we can't let people into their homes until we are sure this is just isolated."
"I agree," she said. In her mind she wanted to swear – they really couldn't catch a break. "Was that all?"
"No," he said. "Let me walk you back to your car."
Warning bells went off in her mind – a Charming escort back to her car couldn't be a good thing.
"I'm concerned about your plan to use magic to make the water recede. Rather I'm concerned about Emma helping you do it."
"Why are you concerned about that?"
"Since the Dark One's curse left her, she hasn't really used her magic much, at least not in any big way. I gather what you have planned to make the water evaporate involves a lot of magic."
"It does," Regina said.
"Do you think Emma is capable of it?"
"Yes, her magic is very strong."
"I know, but I meant, do you think using magic like this will affect her adversely. She did things as the Dark One with her magic and while we haven't really talked about it with her, I just need to know my daughter is going to be ok."
"She's not just strong in magic; she's the strongest person I know. She can do this. If I thought she couldn't, if I had any reservation at all, I wouldn't let her do it," she said. "You have my word, if at any time I think this or any other magic use would be detrimental to her, I won't let her go through with it. But there is going to come a time, some time soon where whether you like or not, she's going to have to learn how to do magic. It's inside of her and it's not going away and the best thing for her is to learn how to wield it. When she was the Dark One, she had all that power, but she lacked real knowledge of how to use it and I suppose in a way we should be thankful for that or she would have been more dangerous. It doesn't change the fact she needs to learn so she isn't a danger to herself or others because of her own ignorance of magic."
"Have you spoken to her of this?"
"Yes. She seems willing, after all of this is over, to finally take it seriously and learn."
"Ok," he said. "I can't say I care much for all of this magic stuff, but I do understand what you are saying and I trust you to help her."
Regina was so shocked by that she didn't say anything.
"Thank you," he said. "Not just for this, but all of it."
"You're welcome," she stammered out.