When Mary Margaret Blanchard stepped out of her apartment building, she had expected to find the local mailman pausing in his daily deliveries to have a cigarette.
She had not expected to see the mayor.
The moment her eyes met Regina's, something in her body began to tell her to run. Her hands trembled around the strap of her purse, and, in her anxious, incoherent thoughts, one came to mind which sent a chill through her entire being. Are you here for me? To rip my heart from my chest? She swallowed hard, pushing the thought away. Why am I being so irrational? Why did I call Chloe by the name Fenella? I've never heard of anyone with that name before. Why do I think Regina could rip my heart out of my chest? None of…none of it makes any sense. I'm not like this, not usually. And…why did I kiss him? Why did I kiss the John Doe after reading to him in hospital? Mary Margaret jumped back a few steps when the irritated clicking of Regina's heels interrupted her thoughts. Forcing herself to meet the other woman's gaze, Mary Margaret tried to give her a small smile, but she couldn't. Almost as though she were frozen, all she could do was stare at Regina. Herself feeling more irritated by the second, Regina coldly watched every move Mary Margaret made until, after a few minutes, the woman seemed to regain at least some of her composure.
"I…how long have you been out here?" Mary Margaret finally said. "Is something wrong?"
"Well, I suppose that depends," Regina said, beginning to walk with Mary Margaret alongside her. "I heard something rather shocking this morning, regarding our local John Doe. The man who has been comatose for over a decade seems to have woken up."
Mary Margaret chewed at the inside of her cheek. "That's…that's great news."
"Yes, and I'm sure his wife will be happy to see him when she arrives in town," Regina raised an eyebrow when Mary Margaret flinched. "You didn't hear? After he was able to be asked a few questions to assess his condition, he requested to see someone. A woman from New York City named Catherine Nolan. The police tracked her down and, it turns out, she's his wife. Poor woman thought he had been dead all this time. I can't even imagine how she must feel."
"So he's…" Mary Margaret stammered. "He's been identified?"
"There's going to have to be some legal verifications to ensure everything is accurate, but, yes, it seems he has his identity back," Regina said, eyeing the elementary school teacher closely. "But that's not the only thing that's come up. According to hospital staff, you had only just left when he woke up. I'm curious: why were you there?"
Mary Margaret bit her lip. "I wanted to read to him," She said, almost embarrassed. "I heard it could help, and I…I just try to be a good person."
"As we all do," Regina said shortly. "But I wouldn't say a good person would be accused by hospital staff of repeatedly kissing an unconscious man."
Mary Margaret stared at her, aghast. "How…how do you know about that?"
"I had the misfortune of overhearing them reporting the incident to the sheriff," Regina replied. "And, to put it lightly, I was shocked you would do something like that. You do understand he could not have consented to you doing such a thing, don't you?"
"I…I…" Mary Margaret lost what little colour her already pale skin had. "Regina, I…I didn't think. I don't know why I…"
"You not thinking seems to be a bit of habit, doesn't it?" Regina said sharply. "To be perfectly honest, I don't care much about that. What I do care about are the things you've been saying to my son."
"Is this…about his storybook again?" Mary Margaret tightened her hands around the strap of her purse, almost as if she would fall without it. "Regina, I haven't done anything but try to be there for Henry. He's so young, and has already been through a lot. Not knowing why he was adopted, living through his sister being nearly murdered…I can't even imagine what it's like for him. All I want is to help."
"If that's true, then tell me," Regina said, her eyes narrowing. "Why did you tell him I'm a – as he told me – horrible and controlling person?"
"I never meant for him to hear that," Mary Margaret blinked back tears. "I was angry about being called a liar, and told I'm wrong for having some motherly feelings towards him."
"Really? Interesting," Regina said, her voice taking on a dangerous edge. "You would do well to remember you are not – and will never be – anything close to his mother."
"Regina, if…" Mary Margaret hesitated, trembling again. "If that's how things really are, why does he confide in me? Why was I the one he turned to first when he found out his sister was in hospital?"
"Likely because he heard something had happened to her while he was at school and didn't have anyone else to talk to," Regina snapped. "And if you think a young child who is frightened for someone in their family wouldn't turn to the nearest person who would listen, then you have lost your mind."
"So," Ruby winked and pushed a cup of coffee towards Emma across the counter. "Want to tell me why you've been looking at a certain someone a bit different these last few days?"
Emma eyed her strangely. "What are you talking about?"
"Awe," Ruby smiled. "I'm talking about Regina! Something about the two of you seems different."
"We're just trying to…work things out," Emma said, a bit uncomfortable. "If I'm going to be a part of Henry's life going forward, then I can't constantly be fighting with her."
"Don't be shy, it's more than wanting to be near you son!" Ruby exclaimed. "You have a crush on her!"
Emma grimaced. "Even if I did, there's no way in hell that'd work out. Regina barely tolerates me at best most days."
"She's just not good at the whole romance thing!" Ruby waved her hand dismissively. "Regina hasn't been in a relationship with anyone since her husband died. Daniel Winters. He was a nice guy. A little too stiff for my taste, but he let his guard down around her. What really sucks is he died shortly after Regina found out she was pregnant with Lynn, at least, that's what granny told me. I was a kid when all that happened, but I remember seeing him a few times around town. Only person I recall ever hating him was Gold. But, let's be honest: Gold hates everyone."
Emma laughed a little. "The man has no people skills or, if he does, he's hiding them for when he can finally get his own private island or whatever the fuck rich shits like him do with their money."
"It's called insider trading," Ruby joked. "But you're so right. Gold is nasty piece of work. He once threatened to throw me and granny out of our apartment just because she told him off for being rude to some people who passed through town on their way to Canada. All they wanted was some sweets and coffee for the road, and instead they got the unpleasant taste of Abraxas Gold."
"You want to talk unpleasant?" Emma shook her head. "He asked me for a lock of my hair shortly after I arrived in town and wouldn't explain why when I asked. I gave a man a concussion one time for trying to date rape a friend I was with at a bar in a club in Boston. Honestly, he deserved it, and getting to test my brass knuckles on someone who deserved it made listening to this pretentious 'metal' band made of some rich kids from a music college a little better, but Gold still somehow managed to creep me out more than a piece of shit like that."
"There's something off about Gold," Ruby agreed. "He's definitely not a piece of shit like that, rapists are on their own level of evil, but Gold's more…I know people way overuse it, but he strikes me as a sociopath. If one day we find out he's a serial killer, I won't be shocked."
"Me either," Emma admitted. "But my first impression of him? I was probably just way too hungry at the time, but he seemed like the kind of person who would walk past someone eating and take some of their food for himself he wanted to the first time I saw him."
"Fun fact, he's actually done that," Ruby rolled her eyes. "Poor Mary Margaret was just trying to eat some fries with her soup one time, and Gold just walks by and takes a few of her fries without a word! Everyone was so shocked they didn't even know what to say other than to give him what he wanted when he asked granny for a slice of pie!"
Emma laughed. "I'll keep that in mind. No one takes my food and gets away with it."
"See, I knew I liked you!" Ruby playfully elbowed her from across the counter. "We're two ass kicking, sometimes hangry women!"
"You got that printed on a shirt somewhere?" Emma teased. "Or is that just you coming up with things on the fly?"
"Just something that came to me," Ruby said cheerfully. "But I do have some random things printed on shirts. I was really drunk about a year or two ago, and made the mistake of going online shopping. Anyway, one of the items told me I had to put in text to be printed on it, and all I could think to write was 'I am a badass. I am a war criminal. I am clinically insane' on it. When it came, I didn't know what else to do and didn't even remember buying it. So, I decided to be Harley Quinn for Halloween and everything worked out."
Emma chuckled. "You, a war criminal? In what world?"
"In at least one," Ruby said, laughing too. "If all those eggheads who talk about things like the 'many worlds theory' and 'quantum physics' are to be believed, that is!"
"Guess I'd have to be somewhere in the background wondering what the hell is going on, then," Emma said jocularly. "God knows I'm not a fucking leader. And, thanks to Regina, everyone in town knows I'm an ex-con."
"Let me clue you in on a little secret," Ruby said, leaning towards her conspiratorially. "Pretty much everyone in town agrees that you're incredibly cool for that. Especially because of the stealing cars. Girl, listen. If I could do that, I would sell all the rich people cars I could on the black market and then book a permanent flight to Paris to live out my days as multi-billionaire. Well, if I could ever make myself leave town, that is."
Emma raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"I don't know if you've noticed, but the only people who ever leave town either don't live here or are just a small handful of people," Ruby sighed. "I guess the rest of us just don't know what's out there and don't want to, not when it comes down to it. Honestly, it might as well be a fucking curse."
"A curse?" Emma repeated, a sinking feeling beginning to overtake her. "What are you talking about?"
"Oh, nothing, it's just a figure of speech," Ruby said, pausing when she saw all the colour had left her friend's face. "You alright, Emma? You look like you've just been told by the creepy ghost girl in The Ring that you've only got seven days to live."
"Yeah, sorry," She said, shaking herself out. "This is why I need coffee," Emma nervously joked. "Not enough sleep, you know?"
"Where you dream of Regina?" Ruby gently teased. "You're going to kiss her one day, Emma, and, I promise, it will be everything you dream of and more."
Emma awkwardly smiled. "Yeah, yeah, I…I'm sure it will be."
How much do I just not know about the curse?
How can Ruby possibly know I've been having dreams about Regina?
If his mother had known where he was going after school before heading home, she would have stopped him. Thankfully for her son, he knew she would be with Emma and preoccupied with whatever it was they had to discuss instead.
His storybook tucked safely in his backpack, Henry Mills found himself shivering when the wind began blowing again. A storm had passed only an hour before during his class's language arts lesson, followed by their independent reading time. The entire time, all he could think about was the storybook. From eavesdropping on his mother, he had learnt the mystery man previously comatose in the Storybrooke General Hospital had woken up, and very shortly after Mary Margaret had kissed him. Yet the curse hadn't shifted, not even a little, let alone have been broken. Knowing that unnerved him to the bone. True love's kiss from his wife had awoken him after a over a decade. Charming and Snow were at the precipice of reuniting and remembering who they were. But nothing else had happened, nothing but sparking irritation and a hint of anxiety in Regina. Knowing that had made her son anxious too, though not for the same reason. From everything he had seen and read in his storybook, the curse should have been broken. It was that anxiety which had brought him to the shop of the seemingly most mysterious and aggravating man in town. After a moment of hesitation outside the doorway, Henry let himself in, and walked up to the counter behind which a bemused Abraxas Gold was watching his every movement as a predator observes their prey.
"Does your mother know you're here?" Gold said, a critical note to his voice. "I can't imagine Regina would be particularly eager for you to come to my humble shop."
"She doesn't," Henry admitted. "That's part of why I'm here. I need to talk to you. Alone."
Gold laughed. "What in the world could you have to ask me about that you wouldn't want Regina to know about?"
"The curse," Henry said. "I know you helped her cast it…you're the dark one. And I know your real name, too. It's in the book. And your real name isn't Abraxas Gold. It's Rumpelstiltskin."
"Ah, yes, your storybook," Gold frowned. "But none of that explains why you've come to me. Unless, of course…" A devious look which made Henry take a few steps back. "You have something to discuss with me that her majesty would so deeply disapprove of."
Henry nervously smiled. "How long have you known? I mean, the curse –"
"What kind of man would I be if I hadn't forced your dear mother to do me a favour for helping her learn she needed to kill her father to make the curse possible?" He shook his head. "I have played my cards well. I sincerely doubt Regina herself knows. When she's ready to request my…shall we say, assistance in any matter, I am sure she will come to ensure I know who she really is."
"So, the curse is weakening? For sure sure?" Henry stared at him with wide eyes when he nodded. "Why didn't Snow kissing Charming break the curse? They're each other's true love!"
"They are," Gold confirmed. "Yet their love is not the one which can break the curse. That love must come from someone else."
Henry shivered at the man's words. "What do you mean?"
"I think that's something you should figure out for yourself," Gold replied. "You're a rather perceptive young boy. After all, how else would you have figured even a little bit of this out for yourself?"
"Because it's the truth," Henry said simply. "You can't hide the truth forever."
"Ah, the wisdom of a child," Gold frowned. "And also the naivete. Have you considered the implications of the curse being broken?"
"It'll save everyone," Henry said, giving him a funny look. "That's the point of breaking it!"
"It will allow everyone to remember who they really are," Gold corrected him. "But they have all been cursed by one person, your mother. And I imagine, when they remember who she is, and what she did to them, they will be looking for blood."
Henry began to tremble. "They…no! They can't! They can't do that, they won't! They're the good ones! They wouldn't do that! They'll find another way! She's going to atone, she's going to redeem herself! She's not beyond saving, she can't be!"
"Do you think they'll be thinking clearly when they remember?" Gold countered. "I can only imagine how upset they will be to realise their entire lives in this world have been a lie. If that wouldn't blind people in anger, I don't know what will."
"But isn't the truth what will remind them to be good?" Henry whimpered. "They'll see she's not as bad as she was then. She's a better person…she's going to be. She has to be."
"Henry, have you considered at all the skeletons that have piled up in your family's closet?" Gold said with an unsettling calmness to his voice. "They are many, and I don't just mean the literal ones. Have you considered what letting them out may do? After all, in letting the skeletons out of the closet, you are letting them have the opportunity to speak. Are you prepared to hear what they will say when they come out? Perhaps, then, it would be best to leave them in the closet. You cannot know what they will say when they come out."