Trigger Warning for panic attacks and depression.
` "…he wants to see the queen."
Those few words packed enough of a punch to send her mind reeling. She clutched at the counter top, and swayed. She must've looked as sick as she felt, because two concerned boys were at her side in moments. She sat down in the closest chair she could find.
"Neal stay here with my mom. Elizabeth, we're going to the town line," Henry ordered, taking charge of the situation immediately. He was every bit the pirate prince he was raised to be, and his little sister, despite wanting to argue, understood the gravity of the situation, and grabbed her brother's hand. She transported them back to the town line. Regina stayed in the chair, trying to keep calm. She took deep breaths, and closed her eyes, but nothing seemed to be working. A strong hand grasped hers.
"Regina," Neal whispered, loud enough to get her attention. "You're having a panic attack." His revelation only made her heart beat faster. Her head hurt, and her stomach flopped.
"Regina I'm going to calm you down okay?" he asked gently. She nodded. It was one thing Neal could do that Emma never really perfected. They called it mood magic. The boy took a deep breath, and a pleasant warmth rolled over Regina's body. Another wave hit her, and then another. Her breathing slowed and her headache eased, though it didn't subside all together.
"Thanks," she uttered. The boy nodded. A puff of smoke erupted in the living room. Elizabeth and Henry stumbled out of it, one of them coughing, the other one smirking.
"God I hate traveling by magic," Henry mumbled to himself.
"Henry tell her!" Elizabeth urged him. Henry looked at his mother warily. She recognized the look. She had seen it fifteen years ago when she announced her pregnancy. She had seen it the day Robin left. It was the look he got when he wanted to protect her. And by God, she wasn't having it, not today. She stood up, ignoring her spinning vision.
"Let's go," she growled. And so they did.
At the Town Line
Emma's senses alerted her to the arrival of her daughter, her brother, her son, and Regina. She turned, and briskly walked towards them, a frown on her face.
"I told you two she shouldn't be here," she growled.
"Mom I tried," Henry started.
"The hell you did Henry," she spat, her anger and frustration at the situation evident by her tone of voice, and the look on her face.
"Swan, it was not his choice whether I become involved in this situation or not, nor is it yours. I'm here, now show me this mystery man," Regina ordered, the epitome of a cool and collected queen, not someone who was scared out of her mind at what was to come. Emma sighed, as her husband walked up.
"I'm afraid it's not much of a mystery, lass," he said dully. The couple lead her through the small bunch of people, which parted for them anyway.
"I know you're there! I want to see the queen!" the man shouted. He had curly, dark hair, and beautiful brown doe eyes and he wasn't tall, but he wasn't exactly short either. His jaw was chiseled, his shoulders broad, and his muscles evident. He wore brown leather work boots, blue jeans, a plaid shirt, and a dark brown leather jacket.
"Well now I understand why you knew he was asking for me and not Snow," she mused, her eyes trailing over the boy, who had aged fifteen years since she last saw him. Even so, his identity was unmistakable.
"Belle, you brought the book I assume?" she asked over her shoulder, the question directed at the small band of people clustered behind her.
"The items to perform the spell too," the librarian called, rushing to her side.
"How much juice is it gonna take to get one person across?" Regina inquired, her eyes never leaving the boy—no the man, the man on the other side of the line.
"You and Emma should do just fine," Belle replied.
"Okay leave everything here please," Regina asked politely. Belle did, and quickly scurried back into the crowd, which had shrunk away from her. It was bad if she was being polite, everybody knew it.
"Everybody leave but Henry, Emma, and Elizabeth," Regina ordered. The crowd took a few steps back, but one woman surged forward.
"Regina we can help—" Snow started.
"I SAID GO!" Regina's voice boomed into the forest, and even the man outside the barrier looked astonished. The people rushed away, David and Neal pulling a rather distressed looking Snow behind them. The man on the other side started shouting again.
"I won't leave until I see her!" he screamed. Regina picked up the book Belle had left behind, and leafed through it, until she found the right page. Henry, Emma, and Elizabeth were silent as she lifted her finger, and traced letters onto the force field that separated her from someone she had had nightmares about seeing again.
"Why?" the message read. The man gaped at the three letters in astonishment.
"I—I need to see her," he repeated. Regina patiently tapped the barrier, and the message flared bright on the other side.
"It's important, please," the man pleaded. Regina sighed, and stepped back, flipping to the next page in the book. As she read, and mixed ingredients, she gave instructions to her companions.
"Elizabeth, I want you to poof back to the diner and keep Daniel there for as long as possible okay? He doesn't need to know what's going on. As a matter of fact, he can't know. See to it," she ordered. The teenager eyed her mother warily, and when Emma nodded, she was gone, a puff of blue smoke, and a faint smell of the ocean, the only indicators that she was there in the first place.
"Are you going through?" Emma asked. Regina shook her head.
"No. I was hoping Henry would," Before Emma could object, Henry stepped between his mothers.
"I can come back right?" he wanted to clarify. Regina smiled, but it came nowhere close to reaching her eyes.
"Of course. You do have a wedding to go to after all."
It only took a quarter of an hour to fully prepare the spell. Henry stepped up to the barrier, but faced his moms. Regina and Emma waved their hands, and their son was encased in white light.
"There, that means you should be able to cross over and back," Regina stated matter of factly, dropping her hands to her sides.
"But how are you gonna hear what we're talking about? It's not like we can yell the whole conversation," Henry asked. Regina cursed under her breath, but Swan came to the rescue.
"Here ya go kid. Your dad left his walkie talkie," she said, handing the gadget to Henry.
"All right, I guess I'm all set then," he stated. His mothers nodded. "Here goes nothing," he breathed. He stepped through the barrier.