Chapter 11
For the second time since waking from the curse, Vivien opened her eyes to an unfamiliar room and felt a spike of adrenaline stab through her system. This was way nicer than any room at Grandma's Inn. She rolled her eyes around and took in painfully tasteful décor in understated monochrome. That could only mean one person. She started to sit up and immediately felt nauseous. Ok. You win. No moving. There had definitely been some bad magic. She eased her head back against the couch cushion she was stretched upon. It was almost disgustingly comfortable and she didn't mind not being able to lift herself for the moment. She detected the dull presence of a looming headache that was sure to be a migraine before long.
On cue, a breeze of movement made her open her eyes again (forgetting they'd closed on their own) and she found a manicured hand holding out an ice pack. Vivien started to reach for it but Regina deftly maneuvered past her clumsy fingers and pressed the coldness against her jaw.
"Don't try to move for a while. You were unconscious for a solid 10 minutes and asleep for another hour." Regina pulled an ottoman over to the side of the couch so she could sit and hold the icepack in place. Vivien had the distinct suspicion that the mayor was being extra nice because she felt extra guilty. What had happened? She'd been at the library. The books. There had been books everywhere. She'd been crying and angry and . .
"What did you do to me?" Lake tried again to grasp the ice with her own hand but still couldn't get her fingers to follow orders properly. It felt like she was trying to command her body under the ocean. Regina batted her flailing fingers away.
"In the language of your profession? I caused a sudden acceleration and deceleration of your head, causing your brain to suffer impact within the cranium and temporarily paralyzing your nervous system." The brunette lifted the ice to inspect her handiwork on Vivien's face. The PT couldn't help but smile at the elaborate technical description of a knockout punch, even if smiling hurt like hell.
"Very good. Have you been practicing that?" she couldn't tell if her speech was as slurred as it felt. Her tongue felt too big for her mouth.
"The punch or the explanation?" Regina allowed herself a tiny smile which grew when Vivien chuckled. The ice moved back onto her cheek and she was starting to feel the cold burn that comes before numb.
"You look awfully serious." Lake murmured, eyes still wanting to close sleepily.
"I was beginning to think that you were in worse shape than I expected." Regina admitted with a nonchalant tilt to her chin.
"After one punch? You have an awfully high opinion of your strength." Vivien doubted her smirk was visible under the ice. Even with the cold eating into her face she felt warm and relaxed. Someone had thrown a blanket over her. She managed to slit one eye open again and saw a hint of red receding behind the couch. Ruby.
"I'm more concerned with everything that led up to my having to punch you."
"Led up?" Lake wanted to continue the conversation; to remember just what had happened and see if she couldn't piece together how she'd wound up on some piece of Regina's furniture. Unfortunately, the rest of her body wasn't cooperating. She'd been feeling anxious and tired and exhausted for too long. Right now - undoubtedly suffering some kind of concussion - she felt relaxed and safe and her consciousness was bleeding away like rain into dry earth.
"Rest. We'll talk later." Regina counseled, the gentle concern in her voice tempered with just enough authority to make it clear that both statements were absolute commands.
Regina watched Vivien's eyes gradually fall into the recognizable pattern of twitches and flutters that accompanied hesitant dreams. She pulled the icepack away from the bruised face and rested it on her own knuckles. Her right hand had been throbbing ever since throwing that punch and the last thing she needed was a swollen fist testifying to this latest bout of dramatics. She didn't want to have to explain any of this to Henry.
The thought of Henry made her glance at the clock. Gold wanted to meet her at the shop after dark to discuss Emma and Snow's disappearance. She wasn't sure what his angle was going to be but she definitely needed to find out how he was trying to work it to his own advantage. Because he always was. It was still several hours to evening yet. She had time for more than one mystery.
"Should she be sleeping after that blow? She could have a concussion." Ruby strolled into the study sipping a glass of water. Regina felt a momentary surge of irritation that the girl had presumed to wander around the kitchen and help herself. Heaven knows what she might've broken or how much of a mess she made. If there were water spots on her counter . . .
"She doesn't have a concussion. She's drained from the magic expenditure." The Mayor gave a clipped response. She hardly expected a werewolf to understand such things. The amount of magic Vivien had used in the library would level any ordinary enchanter for days. It had caused a small seed of suspicion to begin growing in the back of her mind.
"When will she wake up?" Ruby came and sat in one of the comfier chairs facing the couch. Regina bit her tongue to hold back words demanding she dust herself off first. The white upholstery would show anything that the waitress had on her clothes. Dust, kitchen grease, fur, semen . . .She forcefully pushed down her revulsion before it could show on her face.
"I don't know. It could be another hour or she may rest all night. You hardly need to wait up." The veiled suggestion was probably too subtle to make her point.
"I want to make sure she's ok." Ruby rested her glass on an end table and leaned forward. She hadn't even tried to use the coaster. Regina felt her irritation and weariness come to a head.
"She will be fine, Miss Lucas. I'm sure your grandmother is wondering where you are, as must half the men in the restaurant. I won't detain you any longer." The small brunette rose, grabbed the glass and forcefully set it on the coaster two inches from where it had left a water ring. The noise made Vivien stir slightly. Her mouth didn't move but she made a vaguely irritated humming noise from behind closed lips.
"How do I know she'll be safe here?" Ruby rose to her feet, easily a head taller than Regina but somehow not as intimidating as she usually would like.
"I think I might know a bit more about magic fatigue than a waitress with pole-dancing ambitions." The mayor's lip curled into the disdainful smirk that so often accompanied her scathing judgments.
Ruby was obviously regretting having called Regina into the situation but it was too late to undo. Offensive and aggravating as the words were, there could be no arguing that the smaller woman was right. Granny was going to be furious over being left alone in the diner for over two hours and Ruby knew about as much about magic as she did medicine. Hell, if Regina wanted to kill Vivien the waitress wouldn't have a clue until it was already too late to stop. But being right didn't make her any more endearing.
"You're a bitch, Regina." Ruby finally pronounced, backing away from their challenging stance.
"A bit ironic coming from you, dear." Regina's snarling smile settled into a more triumphant expression.
"I'll see myself out." Ruby grabbed the water glass, drained it and then deliberately set it back down on the table. It was small and petty but it helped her feel better about losing.
Regina waited until she heard the front door slam behind the waitress before grabbing the glass and throwing it into the fireplace, the exploding shards almost as satisfying as a fireball. The succession of noises drew Vivien closer to consciousness but she still didn't wake. Her fingers and eyelids fluttered and twitched, melding stimuli from two worlds into her sleep.
"Stupid." the mutter was barely understandable through her slightly parted lips. Regina looked down at her in surprise and sat on the ottoman, leaning close.
"What?" she asked quietly, hoping that Lake was a sleep talker.
"Hmmm." The next sound was too quiet to discern.
"What's stupid, Vivien?" Regina kept her tone low and soothing, knowing she had to insinuate her words into the sleeper's dream without waking her; without being noticed. She'd done the same with Henry was he was small, using words to protect his dreams.
"Hmmm. Humans," Vivien slapped her hand in the air, like she was driving away an insect, "Stupid, stupid humans."
Regina leaned back. The seed in her mind had now taken root, grown into a large plant and was flowering into full-blown conviction. She had counted at least nine active spells in the library today. That was too many for mere human magic.
Regina had never tried more than five – her battle with Maleficent had only required three. Even her mother at her most powerful could barely sustain six spells at a time, let alone after 28 years out of practice. Not to mention trying to maintain that many would put her in a state of consumed trance that left her completely unable to communicate or defend herself. Rumplestiltskin and his dark powers might -might - be able to carry seven and still answer basic yes/no questions. But nine? And she'd barely even been aware of some of them. She'd been talking and yelling and crying as though she didn't even know she was flinging magic around like a child with toys.
"Bloody, stupid humans." Vivien muttered once more for emphasis. Regina smirked a little. Stupid indeed. Until now.
Vivien was vaguely aware of an enticing smell from nearby. The faintly sweet, smoky and sharp smell that accompanied many of the most delicious sipping beverages. She slit one eye open and spotted the glass of amber liquid on the coffee table in front of her. Everything in her vision was sleep-blurred but she could still see the sweat on the glass and the gently floating ice. Reaching out tentatively she was relieved to find her motor control had returned.
Once the glass was near her nose she placed the familiarity of the smell with the room. Regina's apple cider. The kind that makes Calvados sit and weep from an inferiority complex. She lifted her head slightly, feeling the throbbing pain in one temple but took a long swallow and waited for the pain to dull. It took mere seconds for the liquid heat to course down her throat, through her muscles and coil around the headache, numbing its grip.
"Feeling better?" The casual, authoritative voice edged with humor had almost the same effect as the alcohol. Vivien finally consented to open her other eye (the two had trouble synchronizing for a moment) and found Regina lounging in a wingback chair across from her with legs crossed and cradling her own crystal glass of amber relief. Regal as ever.
"Than what?" Her tongue and lips were working as a team now – particularly since they'd been so enlivened by the cider but her voice sounded raw as sand paper. Her brain was quickly coming back to life, synapses booting up and firing like the circuit board of a much abused computer.
"Well, better than in the library for a start." Regina leaned forward, chin poised in her hand studiously.
"Before or after you punched me? Because I'm pretty sure I didn't have a bruise before that." Vivien wanted to be sitting upright for this conversation but she knew she didn't dare move too soon. Just lifting her head to sip the cider had made everything spin. She could feel the bruise when she smiled.
"I do apologize. It seemed necessary at the time." The way Regina's eyes shot to the side for a moment bespoke a combination of irritation and sincerity. She was irritated about having to be sincere. Or possibly just sincerely irritated. Vivien felt like her thoughts were trying to play a game of tag and hide-and-go-seek all at the same time.
"Why?" The only thought that wasn't chasing its own tail leapt out her mouth.
"You were rather close to doing severe harm to a number of somewhat innocent bystanders. As well as to yourself, although I think that damage may already be done. Much as I abhor direct, physical violence it was the only obvious solution." She didn't look like she'd abhorred it that much.
"No, I mean why- ," Vivien pushed herself halfway up and closed her eyes against the violently lurching room, "Why did you come help me? You should've cleared everyone out and gotten away."
Lake wasn't even sitting fully upright but she steadied her gaze hard on Regina, determined to watch for the slightest tell. Today had not gone as planned. She couldn't remember everything too clearly but she knew she hadn't expected to wake up here. She hadn't intended to wake up at all.
Regina set her glass down on the end table, hitting the coaster dead center without even looking. She folded her hands in her lap and met the penetrating gaze without even a flutter of the eyelid. Apparently she had also been pondering the same question. She had to have known it would be coming. Any sane person – particularly any villain – knows how to survive. Which is almost always a case of cutting losses. Assess the situation, calculate the cost, sacrifice what you must and get out alive.
"You were waiting outside Hopper's." Regina offered the minimal explanation. Her eyes didn't slide away but they softened a shade. Lake had to pause her train of thought and back track just to remember what the woman was talking about.
"I hadn't heard from you all day." The memory from the previous week came into focus. There were a lot of gaps; things Regina had never shared or explained. Lake had just known something was wrong.
"A lot happened and I had nowhere else to go. I must've been in with that damn shrink for two hours." She scowled at the memory, at the vulnerability it revealed. Vivien didn't know what had driven Regina to go to Hopper for help but it had been a turning point. The Evil Queen seemed less evil by the day.
"I just know it was well after 10 when you came out." Lake recalled staring at her watch as the minutes ticked over into hours.
She hadn't even been sure what she was doing there. When she'd realized it was 8pm and she hadn't gotten a reply from the Mayor all day – not even to some of her more sarcastic jibes – she'd grown worried. It had taken the better part of an hour and a lot of phone calls and texts to track down anyone who'd seen Regina or knew where she was. She'd almost been willing to talk to Rumplestiltskin but at the last minute decided to ask David instead. It was the right call; Charming hadn't told her anything specific but had suggested that Regina might have needed to talk to someone. It was all the clue Lake needed.
"You were waiting when I came out. You didn't say anything, didn't ask any questions; you didn't even let Hopper see you." Regina smiled ever so slightly at that, pleased at the high regard Vivien had shown for her privacy. That hadn't been hard to figure out – Lake had scoured the block for Regina's car but didn't find it; which meant that the reclusive, dignified Mayor didn't want anyone knowing she was there. It also might have meant that she'd come the whole way on foot, too upset to even drive.
"I wanted to make sure you were okay." She had been able to see that Regina had been crying and swore to herself she'd never let on that she could tell. The former queen had been shocked to see her, angry for a moment and even frightened that anyone would know she'd been weak. Except she was in no shape to maintain facades. Vivien had just held up her car keys and led the way out without a word.
"So did I." Regina concluded her answer. Vivien hadn't realized that they were talking about the past and present at once. There was a stretched moment of silence as both of the women dealt with the discomfort of the mutual understanding. Friendships are few and far between in the life of magical megalomaniacs. They also usually end in tragedy.
Vivien took another sip of the liquor and sized up the woman on the other side of the coffee table. She was pretty sure Regina could handle the risks of being considered her friend. Most of them. All but one, anyway.
Regina must've seen the inward flicker of Vivien's thoughts because she lifted her drink, took a sip and then picked up something off the end table.
"I answered your question. Now it's your turn." she was making a request but in a tone of voice that would brook no refusal.
"I'll try." Vivien leaned forward, braced for the barrage of questions and already thinking how to best deflect them. What would be the first question?
What did you find in the library?
Why were you so upset?
Where did all that magic come from?
Who are you and where the hell are you from?
Vivien's mind was back in gear and moving smoothly through a litany of answers that would skirt the truth. Sadly, lying always took less thought than any kind of honesty.
"Catch." Regina broke the chain of thoughts with a flick of her wrist and Vivien found something small and dark hurtling at her face. She caught it easily, the burst of adrenaline fine-tuning her motor control. It hit her hand hard enough to sting and she examined the object curiously. It was a chess piece from the decorative set that adorned on of the accent tables. A queen. Of course. It was almost black and the feel of its weight in her hands told Vivien it had to be solid metal. Wrought iron?
"You know you could put someone's eye out playing like that." She chastised Regina, completely confused about where this game was heading. Anything that postponed interrogation was nice.
"So, you're not an Elf. They can't abide the touch of iron. I ruled out Fey earlier as well. Too tall for a dwarf, too nice for an imp and too groomed to be a wolf."
"Regina . . ." Vivien tried to find a rebuttal but the words on her tongue had all gone in reverse. Her carefully marshaled thoughts and deflections had shattered as surely as if the sculpture had hit her brain. She hadn't been anticipating this avenue of conversation.
"Don't try it, Lake," Mills' playful tone took on a little more bite, "You aren't human. I should've seen it sooner. You were lucky. I've been preoccupied with Henry and lately a bit distracted by other tedious affairs."
"Like Soul Eaters and then Emma and Snow disappearing." Vivien couldn't quite wrap her mind around such things as merely 'tedious.' It was one of Regina's many euphemistic turns of phrase that bordered on purely ironic.
"But I'm no longer distracted. In fact, you have the whole of my attention at this moment."
Well, THAT sounded like a threat.
"Are we still in the warm, fuzzy, 'I'm happy you're ok' conversation? I feel we've shifted a bit." Vivien instinctively glanced at the windows, looking for her escape path. It was an old survival instinct - like always having a secret tunnel out of your lair and preferably two or three trap doors.
"You wrecked absolute havoc on the library today and I daresay a fair number of businesses on either side. Which was a mere game of tiddlywinks compared to what you were preparing to unleash before I intervened,"
(There was another one of those tactful euphemisms. 'Intervened' sounded so much better than 'laid you out flatter than a witch's tit.')
"You have the potential to cause tremendous harm and what I saw today makes me doubt your ability to control such powers. You need to start convincing me you are not a threat to StoryBrooke. Fast."
Regina had kept her gaze riveted on Lake, her expression getting harder with every word until her eyes had turned to shards of glittering flint. It was the kind of stare that would normally accompany an attack, an emotional invasion, some violent penetration of the brain that would leave all excuses and motives laid bare and trembling. She hadn't plunged the invisible daggers in. Not yet.
"What do you want me to do?" Vivien met the gaze full on and leaned forward, bracing her elbows on her knees. She rubbed her thumb over the carved edges of the queen in her palm. The message seemed clear now: your move. She'd only get one.
"Tell me who you are." the nonchalant gesture of Regina's hand was a lackadaisical command, a vestige of her days of royalty. It summed up equal parts invitation, dismissal and edict.
Vivien's sharp, bitter laughter was an instinctive reaction.
"That is the last thing that would ever convince you I'm harmless! Believe me, I read the stories – I know what everyone thinks they know. No one in their right mind would trust me, not even you."
"Then I suppose you're out of luck." Regina's hard glare turned to stone, impenetrable and apathetic. She rose to her feet, no doubt to issue orders for immediate execution. To be followed by a nice pedicure.
"Wait! I can meet you half way. I can tell you what I am. I can tell you my story – the parts the books didn't know or couldn't get right. Let me explain that much and then you can decide!" Vivien extended her hand with the chess piece in it. The black queen stood serenely in her palm, gazing at Regina without eyes.
The final move is yours, Your Majesty.
Regina lingered in deliberation longer than Vivien would have liked. Then, finally, the Mayor resumed her seat. She crossed her legs, folded her arms and settled back in the manner of a judge hearing opening statements. The message of her body was clear: Vivien could take as long as she wanted to get the story right, because she was only going to get one try.