"You can't go in there."
"That's my daughter, I damn well can."
Regina snatched her arm away from the doctors and nurses. Without giving it a second thought, she ran. She felt sick. She had felt sick since she had found out her daughter had not just gone missing, but that she was in the hospital. She only paused when she realised she had not called to check in on her son. She reached for her mobile, only to find she had not stopped to pick it up at home. Two things she could have (and part of her believed should have) done before rushing to the hospital were stalled. Henry. Was he okay at home? The thought came and went so quickly it almost wasn't there at all. She pushed through the doors, and people until she was in the ICU. More protests from people around her. She could barely hear them. She startled when she saw her daughter through the glass. Lynn. She was tied to machines, and had an oxygen mask on her face. Her mother almost screamed again. She could not. She pushed through the doors and into the room, running over to her daughter. She did not care, for once, that she was crying, and fought through to see her. By the time she reached the side of the hospital bed, she was shaking badly. It was too much. No. This could not be happening.
The first face Lynn saw after she had come back to was that of the doctors. Then she had stared at the ceiling. The next face she saw was her mother's. She started to cry the second she saw her. Her arms tied to the machines, she weakly reached the best she could for her mother's hand. Regina moved the second she noticed to hold onto her daughter's hand without her having to move much. Lynn stared at her. She hadn't been quite sure what she had expected when she saw her mother. The only thing that proved to her she had not died was that her mother was not the queen. She was the mayor, and almost painfully so. It was hard enough to tell what she could feel. She tried to squeeze her mother's hand. Regina squeezed hers for her. The medical staff still anxiously fluttering around her, Lynn held onto her mother. It was the only thing she felt she could do. And she was terrified if she let go that her mother would disappear. She tried to speak. She started coughing a bit. The doctors and nurses started murmuring among themselves again. She coughed a bit more, and then, her throat terribly raspy, managed to speak:
"Don't leave momma."
Regina tightened her hands around her daughter's. "I won't," She promised. "Not unless I have to."
Lynn tilted her head slightly, letting out a short cry of pain when she tried to nod.
"Be careful not to strain yourself," A doctor told her. "You're going to be in here for a while."
Regina glanced to them. "For how long?"
"We don't know. She went unconscious for about two or three hours, which you, of course, had witnessed part of. She had a blood transfusion, and stitches just about up and down her body."
"No," Regina stood up, letting go of her daughter's hand to come closer, brushing the back of her hand lightly against Lynn's cheek. "Oh, God, Lynnie, what happened to you?"
Lynnie.
She almost started crying again. Her mother hadn't called her that since she had been a toddler.
"Aria," Lynn weakly got out. "She stabbed me."
I'm going to kill them. If they thought they've seen the worst thing ever, they have never met me. Not in the way they're going to.
"We have yet to retrieve her mobile, but that's in progress. With the scene of the crime being photographed."
Regina raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"The sheriff brought her in. He is currently at the crime scene to document and photograph it while also retrieving her mobile phone. According to him, she called him around three, four in the morning and told him her friends had stabbed her with the intent to kill her and left her out in the woods to die."
Regina flinched. She looked back at her daughter when she crossed her arms.
"We thought, at first, she had been shot."
Regina narrowed her eyes. "Is that supposed to make me feel better?"
Silence.
"We don't know much more about what happened, but he had to drive about half an hour out of town on interstate ninety five. She was in a bright red car that the sheriff recognised as belonging to Ruby Winchester. When Lynnetta was brought in, she was wrapped up in makeshift bandages, either made of clothes she had brought with her or clothes that were left in Winchester's car."
Regina looked between them and her daughter.
"I'm so glad you're safe," She turned back to Lynn. "Whatever you need, I can get it for you. No matter what."
Lynn managed to half smile through the oxygen mask. "I love you momma…" She whimpered.
"I love you too," Regina paused, trying to figure her way around the machines, and then gently pressed a kiss to her daughter's forehead. "Henry does, too."
"He probably shouldn't come to see her quite yet," One of the doctors put in. "If only because this is…a very drastic situation."
Regina hesitated. "It sounds like it," She finally said. "You said she needed a transfusion? Is she going to need more?"
"Possibly. We had an unexpected donor. We tested the blood as soon as it was drawn. It was the same type and appeared clean, so we gave her that after what little of her blood type he had. But, yes, if she needs more, we would ideally take it from you if you have the same blood type."
"I do," Regina fell silent again for a moment. "Who was this donor?"
"We didn't get their information. They left almost the second the blood was out of them. Again, we didn't follow procedure, but we were working as quickly as possible to save her life."
"Cora," Lynn whispered when she was sure only her mother would hear. "I think it was Cora."
Regina nearly fell over, and quickly sat down, feeling sick again.
That's impossible. It has to be…doesn't it?
The second she pulled up in front of the manor, she nearly jerked to a stop in shock.
It was a prospective job, yes, and the clients had said they were willing to pay her over a million dollars if she were able to do everything they asked. Seeing the home they had asked her to meet them at was something else entirely. It had an expansive driveway that her car had almost skidded on. It was almost too smooth. She sighed. It was so damn weird. They had reached out over the phone, rather than email, which had surprised her. Why? Why had they scouted her down, too? Her mobile started buzzing in her pocket. She pulled it out, muting it without reading the texts or calls she had missed. Then, she took a moment to lean back in the seat. It had been an exhausting drive up from Boston, too. The pink haired woman and her wife performing at that bar in Boston had been the last enjoyable part of her day. The rest of it had been driving up to New Hampshire. When she had woken up and gone to the bar, it was about 3:30AM. It was now 12:32PM. She glanced back at the dashboard. Finally, she shut off the ignition and pulled out the key.
She dropped it in her pocket with her mobile and got out of the car. The bright yellow car she had stolen at fifteen. It was the first time she smiled all day.
Walking up to the mansion doors was an absolutely nerve wracking moment. She felt sick, but wrote it off to not have eaten more than a granola bar all day. Her hands shaking, she rang the doorbell. It did not take more than a few seconds for the doors to be opened by some servants. She awkwardly nodded and walked in. Quickly, she was escorted up the stairs. She took a look down at herself, briefly wondering if it were too obvious what she was here for. Red leather jacket, blonde hair messily pulled up in bun, a white tank top, jeans, and flip flops that were about to fall apart. She tried not to think too hard about that. She had left her gun in the car. Was that a good idea? She tried not to think too hard about that either. More doors were opened. Down halls, up stairs. Eventually, they reached what was probably the meeting room. One of the servants stepped into the room first, before motioning her in. She let out a low whistle in awe, finally meeting the gazes of the two people who had called her there.
"I'm Dr. Leah Watson," The woman said, motioning for her to take a seat. "And my husband, Stephan Watson. We're so relieved you were able to come here. We have something…we need you to take a look into, something that happened a few days ago."
"Hi," She grimaced when Leah frowned at the way she sat down. She straightened up her posture, having all but dropped into a cushiony chair. "I guess we're skipping formalities?"
Stephen sent his wife a pointed look. "We're being abrasive, Leah," He turned towards the woman seated in his wife's home office. "Thank you for meeting with us. What's your name?"
"Emma Swan," She said, nervously looking around. "So, what happened? What do you need a bounty hunter for?"
"We've hired many PIs over the years, and they haven't been particularly effective," Stephen said. "Which is why we've turned to alternatives."
Emma raised an eyebrow. "Okay…" She chewed at the inside of her cheek. "What were you trying to get the private eyes to find?"
"Information on someone whose daughter has harassed ours over the years," Leah said, glancing at her mobile. She set it down quickly. "But that is not what we need you to do for us now."
"Got it," Emma paused when the two did not say anything more. "Uh…I'm sorry if I keep pressing the issue, but you offered me over a million dollars for what you want from me and you haven't told me yet. I thought you would want to be quick to the point."
Leah and Stephen stared at each other for a moment.
"Oh, God," Emma grimaced. "You guys aren't asking me to run drugs, are you? I did that once, and let me tell you that I never have -"
"It has nothing to do with drugs, do not worry," Leah put a hand to silence her. "Nothing we are asking of you has anything to do with drugs, or anything along those lines."
Emma raised an eyebrow. "So, to be clear," She started tugging at her hands and held them up to appear intentional when she listed: "No drugs, no guns, nothing that to do with spies, INTERPOL, MI5 or MI6, the CIA, the FBI, Homeland Security, Department Of Defence, Department Of State -"
"You have nothing to worry about," Leah said kindly. "Please, calm down."
Emma leaned back, rubbing at her neck. "It's hard to do that when you aren't telling me what you want."
"There are a couple of things," Stephen said, crossing his arms. "First, we need you to wreck a car."
Emma suddenly sat up straight, almost jumping into the position.
"When you say wreck a car…"
"A lamborghini," Leah specified.
Emma's eyes lit up a bit. "Does that mean I get to hit it around with golf clubs? Or -"
"Whatever it takes to get the car totaled and prime for compaction," Stephen said, sharing an annoyed look with his wife. "But we have a couple more things we need you to do, and they aren't as 'fun' as that. If you call destroying an expensive car 'fun' that is."
Emma sighed. "Okay, so what else?"
"We need you to comb through local and state news reports to find information about a person dying off the side of the I-95," Stephen went on. "The event happening in Maine."
Emma eyed them strangely. "You said drugs weren't involved. Are you setting me up to have to face a Sid and Nancy situation?"
"Absolutely not," Leah sharply put in.
"After finding those reports., we need you to source the autopsy and death certificate while they're still being decided," Stephen said, far calmer than his wife. Emma tried not to shiver at his voice. "And ensure the cause of death be listed as accidental and because of a car accident due to the person being a runaway."
"This person is a teenager, too," Leah added.
Emma stared at them. "Why on earth would you need me to do that?"
"Because we will not have our daughter blamed for this death," Leah said. "It would ruin her."
Emma stood up, a hand slipping into her back pocket to latch onto her mobile and keys.
"Should she be blamed for it?"
Silence.
"I've heard enough," She shook her head. "I'll be leaving you to find someone else."
"We'll pay you as much as it takes!" Stephen called after her.
Emma paused in the doorway, turning around.
"I have spent the last six years collecting money people owe, and a couple of other odd jobs here and there. I get paid for that. I'm not going to accept money if it means I might be ensuring someone can get away with murder."
Replies To Reviews:
barrattajennifer: they have no idea how angry Regina is, or what wrath she has. and, the girl they tried to get to help them has no idea she has had her first interaction with people she won't meet for another two years…
jasouatfan: no one deserves what happened to Lynn, and whatever upset and wrath Regina has for that is completely understandable. as for how many members of Lynn's family know what happened to her and are in town, that is [redacted]
Sammii16: if they thought they were risking provoking the evil queen in their life before, they have no idea what she will be like in their current life.
The White Shell Mermaid: they weren't aware of what Aria and Cindy were doing that night, or who they were with, but they were in on it after the fact.