NOTE: I do not own OUAT or its characters
Regina wasn't sure why she was nervous for Emma to show up at lunch time. It wasn't like she was the one who had lied. Emma knew something more about what had happened at the stables. She was sure of it.
Yet, she was the one here nervously pacing, waiting for the sheriff to get there.
Emma had called her already to let her know she was running late.
She had spent most of her morning going back through her mother's journals to see if she had written anything in connection with the word – destiny.
She had only gotten through a couple. She didn't want to hurry and accidentally miss something. She knew there was someone she could ask, but she wasn't ready for that and didn't know if she ever would be.
Emma arrived a few minutes later and Regina let her in.
"Are you ready to tell me the truth?"
"Why do you think I am lying about something?" Emma asked.
"Because you have to be leaving something out."
Emma sighed, "why don't you tell me what happened in the hospital?"
"Emma …"
"Just tell me, ok. I am concerned about you. You weren't yourself after and I … I would like for you to tell me what happened in there."
Regina felt touched by the concern in Emma's voice, although she wasn't going to give up on finding out what happened at the stables.
"I had another, I don't know memory I guess. It was more intense than the last time. It wasn't just me hearing voices; I saw it like I was there, like I was experiencing it."
She proceeded to tell her all that she had experienced.
By the end Emma was pacing.
"Rumpelstiltskin," Emma said. "He was involved in this?"
"If what I saw is real, yes."
"But you believe it to be real?"
Regina nodded, unsure she could say it out loud.
"We have to go talk to him then," Emma said.
"I don't think that is the best course of action."
"Why not? If he made some sort of deal with Cora to do … to do whatever this is then we need to find out."
"We don't know that he or my mother did anything," Regina said. "All I know is I have had two I don't know episodes while undergoing an MRI …"
"Which is why you were all gung ho to go back to the hospital for more tests next week," Emma finished for her. "You can't honestly think that is a good idea. You had a seizure. You can't risk yourself like that for what, the off-chance it will happen again? If you think I am going to let you do that, you are crazy."
"I'm sorry, let me," Regina said. "You don't have any say in the matter."
"The hell I don't. I am not going to let you do this. Think for a moment, if something happened to you where does that leave Henry?"
"With you, which is apparently what you prefer anyway. You don't have to pretend like you give a damn about me or what happens to me because Henry is upset with you right now. He will … he is getting over it. He was scared is all, and he shouldn't have treated you like he did, but he didn't know how else to act. You two will be fine. Your relationship will be fine therefore you can drop the act that you care about me."
"But I do care," Emma said, quickly with a look of surprise on her face like she was unsure she had said it out loud.
Even Regina was taken aback by the way she said it. It wasn't in a forceful tone, or loud, it was a simple, declarative statement that exuded more emotion than if she had yelled it.
The two women stood there looking at each other, neither seeming to be willing to be the first to break the silence.
"I need to know if what I saw is true," Regina said finally. "I need to know if my mother bargained away the future I was supposed to have. You heard what I said; he said my destiny would have been a simple one. I was going to meet my true love and leave my mother behind. That is what Daniel and I had planned out. What if Rumple did something to me and that is why things went the way they did? What if all of this, me becoming the Evil Queen, my feud with your mother, the curse, you growing up without your family, what if it all could have been avoided? That is why I need to do this."
"Then what is wrong with going to talk with Rumple? Surely, that is an easier option than risking your life."
"And if he did do this, do you really expect him to just come out and say it? He could have mentioned it at any time in all these years, hell, you would think he would have enjoyed taunting me with that information," Regina said. "No, I don't want to speak to him, especially if I don't have proof. You still don't get it; he is the most dangerous person alive."
"You are afraid of him?" Emma asked, sure that Regina had not been afraid of him before. Just how much had this memory affect her, she wondered.
"You should be afraid of him too," Regina said. "You have no idea what he is capable of."
"He's changed. Belle helped him change. They are married now. If anyone can get him to tell you the truth it's Belle."
"No," Regina said.
"Damn you're stubborn," Emma said.
"No more so than you," Regina responded. "Now, I've told you what happened; I think it's time for you to come clean with me. What happened in those stables? I know you lied when you said someone called into the station to report a suspicious person."
"I did lie about that, but how did you know that?"
"I don't know. I just knew as soon as you said that it was a lie. It was like a little alarm went off in my head and I just knew."
Emma was surprised by the answer. Regina had described what it was like when she instinctively knew people were lying.
"Has that ever happened to you before?"
"No."
Emma sat back down. "No one called the station that night. I was out in my car and this is going to sound weird, but I felt like I needed to go in the direction of the stables. I swear I didn't know you were there or that I would find you there. It was an overwhelming feeling that I needed to get there. When I arrived I got out of my car and I heard you crying out. I thought I heard you say something like 'please don't go' or 'please don't leave,' but when I actually got into the stable there was no one else there but you."
"Could someone had been there and you didn't know?"
"It's possible. I wasn't really paying that much attention to the place because you were in so much pain."
"But why did you lie?"
Emma shrugged. "I can't explain why I went there and it wasn't something I really wanted to think about."
Silence.
"Look, if you are determined to explore these memories," Emma said. "I will help if I can. I will even go speak to Rumple alone if you want so you don't have to, but can you at least promise you won't undergo another MRI."
Regina exhaled, "I will promise to think about it, but that is all I can offer at the moment. Now if you will excuse me, it's time for me to take my medication and it tends to make me sleepy so if you can show yourself out."
"Yeah, sure," Emma said.
She left the mansion and got into her car. She sat there a moment before slamming her palms onto the steering wheel. When Regina was telling the story of what she had seen it was like Emma could feel the fear and uncertainty rolling off of her in waves. Regina was scared, not just of Rumple, but of what may have been done to her. And Cora, how could she do that to her own daughter.
But Regina was dying, could have died – was a curse a better option than death?
As soon as Regina had said the word curse, Emma felt a shiver that went beyond chilling her bones – it chilled her very soul. When Regina had kissed her and the magic was released – it must have broken the curse Regina was under. But what did that mean exactly?
She could have told Regina the truth – told her about the kiss. She didn't know how she felt about it though – Regina as her true love? The two women barely tolerated each other most days. The idea that they could be destined for each other – she paused in her thinking. Destined? But what did that mean if Rumple had somehow managed to change Regina's destiny?
All of it was giving her a headache.
Finally, she pulled away, determined to find some aspirin.
…
As soon as Emma left, Regina reached for her pain medication. She had a headache. She opened the bottle, and cursed silently. She was almost out. She had probably been taking too many but she hadn't found them to be that effective.
To get more though would mean contacting Dr. Whale.
This didn't fall under Emma's admonishment about the hospital. She wasn't calling to set up an appointment, just to get another prescription. She reached for the phone and called the hospital. She was put on hold and expected to be patched into Whale's secretary, so she was surprised when he answered.
"Regina, how are you feeling today?"
"I'm ok," she said, still not used to Whale being so casual with her. "I was wondering if I could get another prescription for the pain medication."
"Have you used the pills already?"
"Not all of them, but I am about out. Maybe you could prescribe something a little more powerful because whatever this stuff is, it makes me lethargic, but doesn't do a whole lot to ease the pain, at least not for long."
"Can you come in this afternoon and we can talk about it?"
Regina paused, "Yes I can."
"Good, I will see you this afternoon. Just get here when you can and I will make sure the nurses know to get me."
…
Whale couldn't believe his luck in getting Regina to come back to the hospital. Ever since reviewing the latest MRI scans he had been trying to figure out a way to get her to agree to more. The latest scans showed an increase in brain function before her seizure. It spiked and then went back down again.
Still it was no where near the levels of the scan he took when she in the grips of the fever and was hallucinating.
He needed to see a brain under those conditions again.
He walked over to the wall safe he kept behind a framed map of the world. He worked the combination lock and opened it, reaching inside and taking out the metal box inside before returning to his seat behind his desk. He opened up the box – inside there were five vials. Each contained the same thing – the isolated virus of the Skiver Fever. Another box in the safe contained the antidote. No one knew why Regina had gotten sick – so why would anyone question if she got sick again?