She sent me after Pongo. Long story. Please check he's okay. I'm in.
Emma read the text under her family's gaze. "Well?" David asked.
A frown crossed her forehead, "Everything's fine. She made her go after Pongo. She passed the test."
"Pongo? I was expecting…" Snow started and Emma raised her eyebrows.
"I know, but at least she's in."
Snow's eyebrows knitted together, "I still think people should know." But Emma shook her head as an answer once again.
"No. I've told you; Regina doesn't want anyone to know besides us. It makes it more credible."
Her parents threw a look at each other, but Emma knew what they were thinking. Maybe if Regina didn't want anyone else to know it was because this wasn't a plan and she was actually rooting for the darkness inside her.
Emma was in no mood for another speech about it, so she just stood up and left them, her phone tightly clutched in her hand in case Regina texted again. She peered inside Henry's room and saw him staring at the ceiling.
He looked at her as she heard the shuffle of her boots approaching him, and she sat up in bed. "Did she say anything?"
Emma took the time to sit on the bed next to him and nodded, "She's okay."
"What…what did she have to do?" He asked as he tried not to flinch. The Sheriff's lips pursed and she stared right into his eyes, but before she opened her mouth, his eyes were hard, like if he suddenly was 10 years older.
"I can handle it, Emma. I know it's okay."
She still struggled and found herself thinking what Regina would do in her place. And she decided she would tell him the truth. "You know she had a plan b, using a potion to not to kill anyone. But Maleficent chose Pongo."
Henry's deep eyebrows furrowed, "Pongo?" Emma nodded and he opened his mouth, "That's…"
"Yeah."
"I guess she was trying to hurt me."
It hadn't crossed Emma's mind. Of course, Henry was strangely attached to that dog. He probably sat at his legs while Henry had her sessions with Archie. And Regina definitely knew that; she would've realised that sooner than Emma did. She started to wonder how it had been for Regina, thinking about if the potion would work. If Henry would hate her if it didn't.
Henry's voice suddenly crept through her thoughtful haze, "Will he be okay?"
Emma honestly didn't know the answer to that, so she just shrugged and reached for his shoulder, placing her hand there. Then, he looked up at her. "Will she be okay?"
She barely managed to mask her own fears that spread like a cloud across her face, but still offered a smile she hoped reflected her own hope. "She will."
He launched forward and buried his face on Emma's chest. IT was a reflex for her to hug him back, and as she thought about Regina's plan, she tightened her arms around his tiny frame.
Regina eyed Maleficent and held back a grimace. They had been at her old vault for hours, pouring one drink after the other in celebration for Regina's return, but while she had managed to only drink one glass, Maleficent had drained more than 4. Regina had lost her count in the fifth.
"You joining me has been an upgrade I must admit," Maleficent managed to say. "I've been just jumping around but with your vault we finally have a den."
Regina raised an eyebrow and placed her glass in front of her. "Well, I thought by now we would be planning on something. Maybe we could use what you had on me against them."
Maleficent poured herself another drink and laughed, "You were always so impatient." She tried to throw a seductive smirk at Regina, but it turned more like a grimace before she drowned her drink.
"Well I was expecting you to help me get my son back, rather than drink ourselves to death before that happens. Is this some kind of way to take your revenge against me?"
"Oh my God Regina, relax." She pushed Regina's glass towards her as she took a gulp of her own. "If I had known you had become a whiner I wouldn't have asked you to join me."
Regina bit her lip and took a tentative sip from her glass to concede, and she felt the strong alcohol burning her throat. She could see herself feeling that taste rolling her tongue while she sat on the shower plate for so many nights, not longer being able to tell the difference from her own tears and the water splashing her face.
She shook her head at the memory and tried again, rolling the glass in her hands as she leaned back on the sofa they were, "So tell me. You've been back for a few days and I haven't seen any of that dragon you hide."
Maleficent threw a glare at her, "Well, I spent 28 years being a dragon. I deserve a rest from it, don't I?" Regina rolled her eyes at it in response and Maleficent leaned back on the sofa, her face close to hers.
Regina could smell the alcohol on her breath against her face as she spoke, "I was planning on just killing little Henry and that blondie of yours and what a better way to do it as the dragon you trapped me in."
"And what happened?" Regina prompted her to continue, watching Maleficent's lips getting closer to hers.
"I just couldn't."
Regina frowned, "You couldn't?"
Shrugging, Maleficent looked at her under her eyelashes, "I can't. I need a potion to make it work, and I know you were always good with potions."
"That's why you wanted me to work with you?" Regina inquired raising an eyebrow.
Maleficent's smirk hovered over Regina's lips, "That's not the only reason."
Regina swallowed; she knew what Maleficent was trying. She was testing her again. If Regina rejected her, it would mean she actually had feelings for Emma, that she still was faithful to her. She stilled, letting a smile dance at the corner of her lips as Maleficent's eyes burned hers, watching her very closely despite her drunkness.
Their lips brushed and Regina felt her chest heavy, wanting to lean back, but she still didn't move. It wasn't until the very last moment when Maleficent pulled back, smirking and raising an eyebrow, "Can you make the potion then?"
Regina forced a devious smile on her own, her eyes challenging, hiding the relief she felt on her chest. "Who do you think you're talking to?"
It had been a week already, and Regina had managed to stretch the making of the potion, excusing herself behind her work. She still lived her usual life, going to her office in the morning and doing paperwork, the only difference was the absence of Emma and Henry, replaced with Maleficent's breath on her back every time she asked about the potion.
"If we want to go low, I have to do my job so no one suspects I'm with you planning to murder the beloved family," she muttered, pretending to be focused on some papers. She turned the page although she hadn't really read it to seem busy under Maleficent's eyes.
"I know. You've already said that," she said, raising her legs to rest on Regina's desk. The Mayor threw a look at it, pursing her lips, but said nothing. "I just thought you could work faster. You've lost your touch."
"My touch requires patience. Things don't just appear by magic." Maleficent raised an eyebrow at her and Regina rolled her eyes, "…in a manner of speaking."
"When will you have it done?"
Regina turned another page. She was trying to come up with a backfire on the potion, something to make it not work, but it was hard when she couldn't get Maleficent off her side. She barely had time to text Emma tiny updates of it. She raised her gaze to meet her old friend, "Soon."
"I thought you wanted your son back as soon as possible."
"I don't want to kill him in the process," she answered holding her gaze.
Maleficent pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes, "Tomorrow will be finished."
"I'll try," Regina said turning her attention back to the papers, but the other woman leaned on her desk, her hands falling on the surface.
"No. It will be finished."
Looking back at her, Regina bit back, "I'm not your slave. I'm doing what I can."
"Then do it faster, or I'll handle your son on my own."
Regina fought the urge to just throw a fireball against her, to strangle her only for the mention of hurting Henry, but she gritted her teeth and looked down. "You'll have it by tomorrow."
Maleficent smiled satisfied, "That's better. Now I have to rush dear."
"Somewhere else to be?" Regina asked trying to hide the curiosity from her words.
"Anywhere but here. Watching you paperwork is making my head hurt from the boredom. See you later, Gina." She winked and disappeared into green smoke. Regina let herself wince at the nickname, one that she had given her so many years ago. However, she waited a long moment before reaching for her phone, pulling it out from her purse. She typed quickly, trying not to sound too worried, but knowing Emma would read between the lines.
Deadline's tomorrow. I've got nothing on the potion, I'm sorry.
She hadn't left the phone on her desk when Emma's answered arrived.
Don't be. We'll fight. Together.
She read it and a smile tugged at her lips and she hoped that it was enough, that they would defeat her like Emma already had. But her knowledge in magic made her aware that Maleficent would be stronger than ever thanks to that potion, and that they would need a miracle to be victorious.
Regina shook her head and closed her eyes, letting herself believe for a moment that it was possible, and that she would be reunited with her family.
A/N: I just wanted to thank you all for keep going with this story. The follows, favs and reviews make my day!