"Remembrance of things past?" Gold said walking into Regina's office two weeks ago.
"What do you want?" Regina said with a hint of anger, quickly putting the ring she had been fingering back underneath her shirt.
"I need a favor."
"You need a favor from me?
"Well, not exactly. I want you to swear not to go near my children. Now I could always just ask really nicely, but I think you'd be more open to the idea of not double crossing me or trying to weasel your way out of or around it if your were getting something out of it."
"And what do I get out of it?"
"Help, with your Mary Margaret problem. You see, I've noticed that no matter how hard you seem to try to stop them, she and her 'charming' friend just keep finding ways to be together."
"What are you suggesting?"
"If you want to inflict pain… Then you must inflict pain. If something tragic were to happen to David's wife, and if Mary Margaret should take the blame."
"She'd be ruined."
"And you'd have your victory, at last."
"A trial could be very messy."
"A trial? Who said anything about a trial? Really, the art of subtly is lost on you. Now, once Miss Blanchard has been incarcerated, you can plant one of your lovely skeleton keys in her cell. And, once she tries to leave Storybrooke, well… We all know what happens to people who attempt to leave town."
"Give me one good reason why I should trust you."
"Because I always honor my agreements, which is more than can be said for you. So why should I trust you?
"Because double crossing a man who can ask me to choke myself to death is not wise."
"Well, I never accused you of being wise, and the thought that I would show such a lack of creativity in killing you is hurtful, but the point is valid." Gold said smiling before reaching out his hand. "Do we have a deal?"
"Emma. Hey." David said running to catch up to her as she left Granny's.
"David, I don't have time." Emma said trying to run away, but being 6, almost 7 months along was not helping.
"No, I-I understand. It's Mary Margaret. How's she doing?"
"How do you think she's doing?"
"Well, I think the last time we spoke; she didn't quite get what I meant."
"Oh, you mean that you basically told her you thought she might be guilty?
"Look, it's this situation. It's been confusing and horrible for everyone. But, Emma, I don't think she's guilty. I need her to know that. Can I see her?"
"She doesn't want visitors."
"You mean me. She doesn't want to see me."
"Honestly, David. I'm sure your heart is in the right place, but the last thing she needs right now is words of encouragement from you."
"What does she need?"
"A miracle. One I don't even know if Gold could pull off."
Mary wasn't having a very good day either, when she woke up to the very horrible sight of Regina watching her.
"They say only the guilty sleep in prison."
"What are you doing here? Where's Emma?"
"She hasn't arrived yet. I just wanted to stop by to offer you a chance. A chance to spare yourself and this town the messiness of a trial, the chance to confess."
"But I didn't kill Kathryn. Why won't anyone believe me?"
"The murder weapon was found in your apartment, your fingerprint was on the box containing Kathryn's heart… Shall I go on? Why not, for once, make it easier on everyone? Because confession or not, you're leaving Storybrooke."
"And you'd like that. Why? Why do you take such pleasure in this? What did I ever do to you to make you hate me so much?" Mary said crying, but all Regina did was leave.
"A pretrial interview with the prosecution? Explain to me how that is a good idea."
"The D.A. merely wishes to ask Miss Blanchard a few questions."
"She's done answering questions. And why are we kissing up to the D.A.? Why aren't we going after Regina? She's the one who's setting up Mary Margaret."
"And what proof do we have of that, Sheriff?" Gold said making sure to remind Emma just were she stood in all this. As the one that had to provide proof and could lose big if she didn't. "Just because you found the Mayor's skeleton key in the cell, doesn't mean we can prove she put it there."
"So, what's your plan?"
"I believe our best chance of winning this case is to employ our most valuable asset."
"What's that?"
"Well, that's you, dear. A sweet, kind, elementary school teacher who tell children to make bird houses be homes and not cages, a woman incapable of harming a fly. Doesn't exactly fit the prototype of a killer, now, does it?"
"That's how you're going to get her acquitted? By using her personality?"
"Perception is everything, not just in the courtroom, but in life, how do you think I got you to marry me. As such, I'm sure you can imagine how the jury would perceive Miss Blanchard, if she agreed to cooperate with the District Attorney. These things engender trust. It shows the jury she's at least trying."
Sidney then entered the room. "Emma? Oh, I'm sorry to interrupt. I just, uh, came by to drop these off. I thought they might brighten the place up."
He then walked into her office. "Flower's? Should I be worried about you cheating on me?" Gold said good-naturedly.
"With Sidney? No. With the hot pawn shop owner, maybe."
"I knew I hated that guy for some reason." Emma then left to go into her office.
"What did you find?"
"Nothing." Sidney said sadly, and Emma was shocked, Sidney was the best at what he did. "I-I'm sorry, Emma. I tried, I really did. I looked into her phone records. I talked to the people at the Toll Bridge. But look, what can I say? Regina knows how to cover her tracks."
"What about the murder weapon? You find anything tying her to that?"
"From what I can tell, she never bought or owned a hunting knife. I don't even think she's ever owned a weapon like other then a kitchen knife"
"That's all you were able to uncover?"
"Don't worry – I'm going to keep digging. And I won't stop until I do find something. I'll see if the paper has any old stories, maybe I can at least get you someone who also didn't like Kathryn or Mary." And then he left.
And Emma went back to Gold and Mary. "I'm going to do it. I'm going to talk to the D.A."
"Are you sure?"
"Mr. Gold's right. I know I have nothing to hide, but no one else does. I need to let people see me for who I am."
"Excellent decision, Miss Blanchard. My name is Spencer. I'm the District Attorney. Shall we begin?"
"Yeah." Mary said, trying to hide her slight fear, and Emma had to admit, warm and fuzzy were not the feelings she was getting when it came to this guy.
"After she learned about your affair, Misses Nolan, the deceased, came to your school to confront you. Is that correct?" Albert said to Mary Margret in the interrogation room.
"She was hurt, and she felt betrayed." Mary Margret said easily. She was feeling better knowing that not only was Gold sitting next to her, and wasn't that a new idea, but that Regina was in the other room with Emma, far away from her.
"She struck you… In the face, was it?"
"Yes, but…"
"That must've made you angry."
"You… You don't have to answer that." Gold said, trying to convey just how much he wanted her not say anything stupid.
"No, it's okay. I was not angry. I was sorry for all the pain I had caused her."
"Miss Blanchard, this is not a courtroom. I'm not here to judge you. You can be honest with me."
"Shall we end this?"
"I am being honest with you."
"The wife of the man you loved humiliated you in a public forum. Surely, you must have felt some anger towards Kathryn?"
"Yes, I was angry…"
"And did you ever think about acting upon that anger?"
"Of course not."
"I have a hard time believing that."
"Wh… Why?"
"Because you wanted Kathryn Nolan gone."
"I never said that."
"Alright. My client is answering no more questions for the day." Gold said, swearing he could hear men outside digging a hole for Mary Margaret.
"Your client agreed to this interview because she claimed she had nothing to hide."
"I don't have anything to hide."
"Then, what is your answer? You wanted Kathryn gone, didn't you?"
"No."
"Even after she tried to keep you and David apart? After she slapped you in public? After she made you a pariah in your own town?"
"Yes, of course I wanted her gone. She was the only thing keeping us apart. So, yeah, I wanted her gone. Is that what you want to hear?" The second she said it Mary wish he could've taken aback. Her eyes went wide with horror. The DA looked like he was ready to go open a bottle of champagne. Gold wanted to put his head through the nearest solid object made of concrete. Regina was trying very hard not to dance around. And Emma was debating whether or not she should punch her fist to the glass try and strangle the DA, or just strangle Regina because she was standing next to her.
"Well this is just great." Gold said pacing in Emma's office. "I mean, short of saying that she had actually killed Kathryn I can't think of any way that could've possibly ended worse."
"Yes, and it was your idea that she do that."
"The point was for her to look cooperative, to make her appear cute and fuzzy and the DA to appear to be a moron, or the very least an insensitive jerk. The point was not for her to go stand up and say please fit me for a noose right now, I'm pretty sure I'm a size 3."
"Okay, how do we come back from this?"
"We don't."
"What?"
"You heard me, there is absolutely nothing I can think of that could possibly save us right now. Short of Katherine walking through the door or you finding photographic evidence of somebody killing Katherine and then taking a picture with the body, and then hiding the knife and Mary Margret's apartment, we haven't got a prayer."
"Oh come on, surely you of all people must have some way of turning this around."
Gold stood silently for a moment. "I might. But you remember that deal we made at the beginning of all this."
"The one where I promised to allow you to explain before I killed you for anything crazy you might have done in trying to get Mary Margaret off?"Emma said.
"Yes, that one. You were being serious yes; it wasn't just the pregnancy hormones talking?"
"Yes I was."
Gold then took a breath. "Well, I might have one or two harebrained schemes." He then walked to the door. "And for your sake that's all I'm going to say." And then he left.
Emma was currently sitting at a here, munching on chili fries with mustard and garlic, when August walked up. "What you doing?"
"Grasping at straws and satisfying cravings. It's amazing how much more enjoyable pregnancy is when you're not in prison."
"You'll forgive me if I take your word for it." August said sitting down. "Still trying to find a way to prove your friend's been framed?"
"Yes. And if this is going to be an attempt to hit on me, be forewarned that I am not against punching you in the face right now."
"Well if you're going to do that, at least give me time to switch to a business suit, heels, and black wig. At least then when I'm sitting in the hospital in horrible agony, I'll be able to laugh at the picture of you punching who they think is Regina, I can only imagine the very amusing story. Especially the next day when Regina makes a public statement saying that it wasn't her."
Emma must have been very hormonal at this point, because she couldn't help but laugh. Then she went and looked down the file she had reading. "Every time I go down a path I think leads somewhere, it ends up being a dead end. I used to think I had these great instincts… superpower. Ah, I don't know."
"It sounds like you got a case of writer's block, only without the whole writing part."
"Maybe."
"You know, when I get struck by a block, I usually reread what I've done, rather than plow ahead blindly. Sometimes, I find there'll be a little nugget of inspiration left behind."
"You mean start over?"
"I mean, when I start writing, I usually have one idea. And then, in the middle, I may get another idea, and things are different."
"So, your perspective changes."
"Exactly. When you started this investigation, what was it about?"
"A missing person, and then, it became a murder, and then a cover-up."
"If you knew that then, maybe you would have approached things differently."
Emma thinks for a moment. And then grabbing her lunch and the file gets up and begins walking away. "Where you going?" August's asks running up behind her.
"Scene of the crime." Emma says going towards her car.
"I'll drive." August yells.
"No, I'm fine."
"No, you're not. You haven't slept in days, you're pregnant, and eating something that I'm pretty sure should be outlawed. And, let's be honest – it was my idea."
"You just want to drive my car because you think it's cool." Emma said.
"Well, it's definitely not cooler then my motorcycle. But I have always wanted to drive a tank, and this thing does come pretty close." August said smiling.
A few minutes later they were off, somehow August had managed to actually get into the driver's seat with the keys. Although Emma never managed to figure out how.
"Ruby found the box with the heart right over here, just by the shore." Emma said slowly moving down to where the box was dug up and found. But as slowly as she was moving due to her advanced pregnancy, August somehow managed to move even slower. When he finally got down he grimaced in pain. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"It doesn't seem like nothing. Here, let me look."
"No, it's okay. It's just a shin splint. Just…let me walk it off. Sorry. I know this must be hard on you, having to worry about your friend, your children, and now a slightly crippled writer."
"Yeah, that's an understatement. But you're no worse off than Gold after a bad rainstorm. I tell you after that monsoon we had, he might as well have been made out of wood he couldn't move anything." Emma said lightly chuckling, August grimacing at the joke.
"I don't know you that well, but, it seems to me, that aside from Henry and Mr. Gold, Mary Margaret's the closest thing to family you've got. It's okay to admit it."
"August, look." Emma said looking down at the dirt. When August looked he did see something that wasn't quite rocklike. "Can you pull it out?"
"Sure." August said managing to get down his knees without much trouble. But he couldn't tell what the heck it was he pulled out of the ground. "What is it?"
"It's a shard, from a shovel. Must've broken off when it hit a rock. If we can find the shovel that it broke off of, we can prove that Mary Margaret didn't bury the heart. We can prove that she's innocent."
"And I'm going to guess you know exactly whose shovel it is."
"Let's say I have a small hunch. And this time I'm driving."
Regina went upstairs to check on Henry, she was starting to think she might just have to inject him with a tracking device in order to keep tabs on him. But when she opened the door all she found was the young boy sleeping peacefully. So Regina closed the door. "Maybe I can manage to take a 30 minute shower and not find out he somehow managed to make it to New York this time." Regina said to herself.
But what she didn't know was at the moment the door closed Henry opened his eyes. He then ran over to the door and listened to the sound of the water to turn on. When it did he went and got his walkie-talkie. "The eagle is in the nest, and the package is secure."
"Henry. I left the code book at home."
"She's getting in the shower and the keys are under the mat." Emma heard, Gold translate.
"Gold, what are you doing on the walkie-talkies?"
"Henry thought I should be kept in the loop considering we were going out with that troublesome wife kissing moron." Gold said. "No offense, August."
"Oh non-taken."
"And unlike you I actually memorized the code book. Speaking of which, little bear, the great King wishes to see you in his tower, around where the knights stand tall and back to back."
"Sure thing dad. Good luck Emma."
Emma wasn't sure if she should find that to be extremely endearing, extremely weird, or just downright wrong. "Don't touch a thing." Emma said as they entered the garage, both looking around in the dark for anything resembling a shovel. Luckily it didn't take Emma more than a few moments to find it. "Hey." Emma put the shard of the shovel up to the broken one she found in Regina's garage. When they matched perfectly she was completely unable to withhold the smile of satisfaction.
"We got her." August said in triumph.
Emma was walking on sunshine, or at least as close as she could considering one of the kids had woken her up early this morning by dancing on her bladder. She walked right up to Regina's door with a smile on her face, trying to resist years to do a little dance after she knocked on the door.
Regina came and opened it herself. "Can I help you, Sheriff Gold?"
"Yes. I need you to unlock the garage for me."
Regina gave her a look that obviously said that she thought Emma had lost any sanity she might have. "And, why in the wild, wild, world of madness and ill logic would I do that?"
"Because I have a search warrant that says that you have to." Emma said once again trying to not jump for joy when she handed Regina the paper.
"On what grounds?"
Emma then held up the bag containing the metal shard. "I found this near where the heart was buried. Figured whoever buried it might have left something behind. Then, I got an anonymous call from someone who said they saw you digging near the Toll Bridge the day the heart was found."
"An anonymous call?"
"Yeah. Well, I can't control the fact they didn't leave a name. I suppose they didn't want to risk pissing you off."
"Hm."
"Now, open the garage or I'll find a way to do it myself."
Regina reluctantly led Emma to the garage. But when the door opened the first thing Emma saw was a shovel, that was brand-new and in one piece. "Where is it?"
"Where is what, Sheriff?"
"You knew I was coming."
"How on earth would I know that?"
"Mary Margaret is a good person. She doesn't deserve this."
"Miss Blanchard is a liar and a murderer. No matter what accusations you throw my way, that won't change. She's going to pay for what she's done. That woman has destroyed the last life she is ever going to destroy." Regina said smiling. "Now I trust you know how to leave." And with that the Mayor left.
Emma was currently in a spiral, wondering if this was what Alice felt like when she fell into Wonderland. She just couldn't fathom how it is Regina could've possibly known she was coming. That is of course until the only logical answer hit her like a ton of bricks. "August." She said with a voice conveying absolute malice.
Emma barged into the inn, and went up the stairs like there were two hell hounds following her. She then banged on the door with an inch of its life, and when granny came around little while later she could have sworn she would have to replace the door due to how many fists shaped indents there were. "Hey."
"How could you do this? How could you do this to me? To Mary Margaret?"
"Whoa. Slow down. Do what?"
"The shovel was gone when I got there. Regina knew I was coming for it."
"You… You think that I told her?" August said. And if Emma wasn't so angry she would've realized just how genuine his surprise was.
"You were the only other person who knew about it."
"I would hope that you would have enough faith to know that I would never betray you."
"Why should I? How do I know you're not lying about this? About everything?"
"I'm not a liar."
"That is exactly what a liar would say." Emma said angrily before she stormed back down the stairs.
"Hell may have no fury like a woman scorned. But I wonder what they say when you add a pregnancy on top of that?"
Regina was still smiling when she entered the Sheriff station, and saw Mary Margaret sitting in her cell with her head in her hands, crying. "Having a bad day?"
"What are you doing here?"
"I wanted to see you while I can."
"What does that mean?"
"Simply, that the trial starts tomorrow, and it be won't a long one. And, you'll be sent out of Storybrooke for good, and I will never have to see you again. Oh, I want to enjoy this while I still can."
"Enjoy what?"
"Justice."
"Justice? Watching an innocent suffer?"
"You've always seen yourself that way, haven't you? Innocent."
"I am innocent! I don't know what this is about! I don't know what I ever did to you, but whatever it was, Regina… I'm sorry. I truly am."
"Apology not accepted."
"Please. Don't do this to me. I don't deserve this. I did not kill Kathryn."
"Oh, I know." Regina said with all the caring and love of a devoted mother. Reaching bars and stroking Mary's face before she grabbed her chin. And while the words Regina had said before didn't cause much of a reaction, the hatred that Mary could swear she felt coming out of Regina's hand made her eyes go wide with terror. "But you do deserve this." Regina said laughing before she left. "Have a wonderful trip."
Later that day Emma felt completely helpless. She watched as two officers put her dearest friend in handcuffs and were about to lead her away. "Mary Margaret…" She said pleadingly, hoping her friend would understand that she did everything she could try and save her.
But Mary Margaret was let out the room without even saying a word, just looking at the ground.
Emma suddenly full of rage whirled around and looked at Gold with a very cold glare. "You told me you could fix this, that's why I came to you. So that you could make sure Regina didn't win."
"She hasn't, yet."
"Well, she's going to. And now, my friend is going to pay for me trusting you." The moment Emma said it she regretted it. The crushed look on Gold's face was enough to make her almost sorry. "Oh, Gold I didn't mean..."
"I know, and I know that this is an emotional time for you Emma, but it's also not over. You must have faith. There's still time."
"Time for what?"
"For me to work a little magic." Gold said smiling. He then looked at Emma straight in the eyes for a moment to two. "Did you know I was raised Catholic?"
Of all the things he could've said this one shocked Emma the most. "You, Catholic?"
"Hard to believe I know, after being around for a little while and having a distinct hatred of the nuns in this town, you might say I kind of lost the faith. But there was something the preacher once said to me, something that before I became the great and powerful Mr. Gold meant a great deal to me. When something looks hopeless, that's when you get down on your knees, swallow your pride, and tell God that he needs to step in and save the day."
"You think God would help me." Emma said trying not to laugh.
"He's helped worse people for stupid reasons. Preachers said you should go to God, and don't say please father, please father, please, father. He said God is your father, and whenever a child wants something from their parent they always become the best negotiators you'll ever meet. That's what you do, go pray for Mary Margaret, and admit that it's completely out of your control and in his hands now. Then start negotiating, tell him all things you tried to do to get her off, convince him that it's in his best interests to save her; tell him that if it's not in his will, he should make it be his will, and that you tried everything you can but you know you need his help. And since he is a parent, I've yet to meet one that says no to a child after they've done everything in their power to try and fix something. And then who knows, maybe an Angel will come down and break Mary out of prison like the Saints of old." And with that Gold left the station.
So Emma did just what Gold had told her to do. She sat down her office and for the next 20 minutes tried to convince someone she was never sure was real that Mary Margaret needed to be saved.
But after she did this she didn't feel much better, so she decided that the vase of flowers on her desk needed to be smashed into a billion pieces.
And this did calm her down, and then the ice water really hit when she found the bug in the wreckage, and not the six legged type.
When she saw it Emma couldn't help but give a halfhearted laugh. Thinking God may work in his own time, but she was thankful he decided to work within hers for the moment.
About to an hour later Emma is standing outside of Granny's diner, waiting for August to come out. When he did she walked right up to him and said. "Hey. I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"For doubting you. I made a mistake." She said showing him the bug.
"What's that?"
"Evidence. Evidence that proves that I've trusted all the wrong people. I should have listened to you and listened to my husband. This bug was from Sidney."
"The newspaper guy?"
"I should've seen it. And the worst part is this means when I get home I have to tell Gold about it, and he is going to dance around the room singing I told you so."
"Well, don't beat yourself up about it, Emma. Sometimes, it's hard to see what's right in front of us, but I knew you would."
"I'm trying." Emma said. And for that one small moment everything felt right with the world.
But of course the world never liked making itself right for her, because she suddenly heard Ruby scream from the alleyway. A moment later she and August were running down the alley to see if she was all right. "Ruby! What's going on?"
"She… She… She's in the alley." Then hysterical waitress said.
"Who, Ruby? What happened?" August asked trying to get her to focus on him. But after a moment he realized it was pointless and so dragged her away.
Emma moved closer to where she saw a bag of trash had been dropped. Ruby had probably just come out to throw it into the dumpster. She then heard someone moaning. "Hey, you alright?" Emma said.
But what she said next would convince most people to probably convert, because if this wasn't a miracle sent by God, she didn't know what was.
Because at that moment she was staring at the face of a very lively Kathryn Nolan.
Thank you as always to my fabulous reviewers. Twyla Mercedes of course, Skyeward MusicLover, lozzy035, and of course my dear beta Grace5231973.
And just in case anyone wants to jump me about continuity or cannon or whatnot. I am allowing Gold be raised Catholic because one, Mr. Gold is of Scottish descent so what else would he be raised as, and two, they have a person who appears to be a Bishop at Snow White and Prince Charming's wedding. And so I thought Emma could use some small emotional support or something in that rather unfortunate moment.
Oh and as an afterthought, you all have to wish me happy birthday. I am now.
*Looks at the calendar and gasps. Jaw hits floor. Counts the number of gray hairs.*
Dear heavens to mercy, I'm that old! With a full five gray hairs to prove it!
*Here sarcastic laughter in the audience.*
Hey, quiet you out there; I'll have you know I earned every single one of them. Besides the cane adds at least 10 years the age, the walker another 20 at least.
*I then proceed to with a level of maturity becoming of my old age, stick my tongue out*