Let me know what you guys think..
The drive quickly revealed that her mother framing her had been filled with malice and not at all because she just wanted them to be a team, and Regina knew it was low, even for her mother, to have Henry's art project used as a tool in that little plot reveal of her mother's. Even worse were the manipulative words Cora used on her, and yet, Regina found herself aching for them, longing for the words to be true. She parked the car, allowing her mother the belief that she was soothing her, when really, all Regina wanted to do was banish her from Storybrooke and never see her again. Still, it might not be bad to have someone on her side for once. So, despite wanting to clear her name immediately, she took her mother to her house under the cover of magic, and then headed for the Charmings' apartment on her own.
When David answered the door, she could feel her heart beat just a little bit faster, despite the pain he had caused her. She still was uncertain if she believed that he'd only been trying to help, and protect his daughter when he'd stopped her. She wished they'd never been dragged to the Enchanted Forest together, at least that way she would still be fine with his betrayal, with the way he'd so quickly stood by Snow's side and left her alone. She should never have let herself fall for the married prince.
"Hello. I'm sure I'm not wanted here, but I have to tell you, I didn't kill Archie." She kept her tone indifferent, her face clear of any emotion.
"Uh, yeah… we know. We were about to come look for you," Snow said, coming to the door.
Regina feigned innocence, furrowing her brow. "You were? You… know?"
"Yeah, your mother did it. She's here."
"My mother?" Regina looked around. "Well if she's here, I need to protect Henry. Can I see him?"
David looked at Snow, at a loss for words. "Uh… he's with Emma in New York."
"And nobody told me?"
Snow gave her an uncomfortable smile. "Well, we couldn't find you. And I don't think she really needs your permission."
Regina was fuming, every ounce of blood in her body boiling in her anger. Instead of acting on it, she glared at David and controlled her temper, nodding. "No, I suppose she doesn't." With that, she turned away to leave.
David knew Regina better than that. He knew she was too passive about Snow saying Emma didn't need her permission to take Henry out of town, and he knew Snow knew better than to say that. Curse or no curse, birth mother or not, Emma didn't have a single legal right to Henry, and they at least owed Regina that ounce of respect that telling her would have offered. But his daughter and wife were at war with Regina, and David knew better than to put himself too deep in the throes of it, otherwise he would be no good for helping Regina, and no good for gaining a relationship with his daughter.
Looking at Snow, he sighed and grabbed his coat. "I guess I'll look after the station while Emma's gone. I'm going to head down there and sit awhile, see if anyone calls with any weird complaints or reports that give us a clue about Cora's whereabouts."
"I'll come with you."
David shook his head quickly. "You should stay here in case anyone comes by. They know you live here, and everyone will likely be looking at you as their leader again, and they may come to you.
Snow frowned. "David, did I do something wrong?"
"Not at all." Forcing a smile, he kissed her cheek and pulled his coat on. "I'll see you in a few hours. I may drive around, too, if I can figure out how to forward the station calls to my phone, see if I can find anything that looks suspicious, check out that pirate's ship again or something."
She nodded. "Okay. Give me a call in a little bit, okay?"
"Sure thing." He headed out, pulling the door closed quickly behind him and hurrying down the stairs. He wanted to see if Regina was still anywhere in sight. She wasn't, so he decided to head to the station to forward the calls to his cell phone. After that, he would get to the bottom of whatever Regina was up to.
Within the hour, David was headed to Regina's house. He pounded on her door, waiting for her with his hands on his hips. She opened the door just barely a crack, only enough to show her face to him. Furrowing her brow, she looked behind her, and then stepped out onto the porch, closing the door behind her.
"What do you want, David?"
"I know you better than that, Regina. I'm sure you still think I'm stupid, but I'm not. And I know you well enough to know you wouldn't ordinarily let that Henry thing go without a fight, so tell me, what are you hiding?"
She folded her arms across her chest, glaring at him as she tilted her chin up just slightly to look him in the eye. "If you think I trust you after you showed up with your stupid, precious, princesses, on my doorstep to arrest me for a murder you weren't one hundred percent certain I'd committed, you're even more of an idiot than I thought you were."
"I wasn't here to arrest you! They were, yeah, but I was here to make sure no one got hurt. I sent you a message to warn you. I didn't believe for a second that you did it."
She faltered, but only for a half a second before giving him another glare. "And let's pretend you're not lying. My friend wouldn't have let my son be taken from town without even a warning. Where was your message then? Where was your standing up for me? Don't give me your garbage. I told you everything would go back to the way it was when we returned and you insisted I was wrong. You said you'd be my friend, that you'd be on my side, too. Clearly, I was an idiot to even consider believing you. Now get off my porch." Regina turned, pushing open her door and slipping in. She shut it as he took a step forward, making it clear she wasn't going to listen to his excuses.
He sighed, shaking his head and scrubbing his hand over his face. This whole thing was a mess, and he had no idea how he'd make Regina believe him, or trust him again. But he needed her to. He needed her to, because having Regina angry at him and not talking to him was twisting his gut and causing him so much pain he could barely handle it. He missed her. He hadn't been able to relax and be her friend really since the dinner at Granny's. The welcome home dinner that had initially been meant for just him, but he'd made it about himself and Regina, because she meant enough for that to him, she meant enough that he wanted her there, too, to celebrate how she got them back from the Enchanted Forest.
David wanted her there because he wanted to see her. He wanted her near, and he wanted to know she was safe and doing okay. And now… now he needed to find a way to get her to talk to him and to stop being mad at him, because he needed her in communication with him. He needed to constantly know that her mother hadn't gotten to her, that Cora hadn't found Regina and hurt her. He needed to know she was safe. But he'd screwed up, made her mad at him, and now he was going to be forced to spy like a creep or to not know that this woman… this friend was safe. That wasn't something he was certain he was comfortable with. He preferred it when she was talking to him.
He didn't hear from Regina or see her around until the next day. He saw her car in town, in the parking spot she'd always used as Mayor, and she technically wasn't supposed to be doing that job anymore (not that he had agreed with that decision, either). Pulling up next to the Mercedes in the patrol car, David headed inside and up to her office. He knocked at the door, hearing muffled voices, then a soft come in. Pushing open the door, he looked around and raised his eyebrows, finding Regina alone, standing in front of her desk.
Regina rolled her eyes when she saw him. "What do you want?"
"Who were you talking to?" he countered.
"Myself. The only intelligent conversation I can find in this town. What are you here for, David?"
Clenching his jaw, he sighed. "I saw your car. Regina, I… I shouldn't have let Emma go and take Henry without you knowing. It… Gold came, told Emma he was taking her up on the favor she owed him, we found out Cora framed you for killing Archie, which meant she was in town, and you were missing and not answering my texts. So we got Henry out of town to keep him safe."
"He is my son." Regina glared at him. "He is my son," she repeated, a little more desperation in her voice. "I raised him. I changed every diaper, soothed every nightmare, tended to every illness and cut, every fever and sore. I helped with his math, read to him at bedtime, taught him to read on his own."
David walked toward her, nodding slowly as he watched her on the verge of breaking down. He gripped her upper arms in his hands, looking down at her. "I know. I do, I know he's yours. I know it doesn't matter to you that Emma gave birth to him. You're his mother. Except that Henry wants Emma in his life. I know that probably doesn't seem fair, and it probably kills you a little bit on the inside, but it's what he wants."
Regina looked away, looked toward the far wall so she didn't have to look into those blue eyes and ache that he wasn't hers, either. "I want my son back. I want him so badly, David."
He nodded again, pulling her closer and wrapping his arms around her shoulders. "I'm going to help. They'll be back from New York before we know it, and I'll bring him by for another visit. I promise."
She wrapped her arms around him after a long moment, nodding against his chest and closing her eyes. "Thank you."
David pressed a soft kiss to her hair, pushing her back then so he could look her in the eye. "You need to tell me what you're hiding."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Regina answered automatically, gaze shifting away for only a short moment, before focusing on his once more.
"Regina, I know you better than that. You forget how much time we spent together." She snorted at those words. As if she could forget. Those moments stayed with her constantly. "I know you're keeping something from me, and I need to know what."
"You can't tell your wife. You can't tell anyone, David. I mean it. If you do…" Regina shook her head, rolling her lips together. "You can't. No one."
"I swear it," he promised. "Please?"
"My mother… I knew she was here, she came to me, she manipulated me. She's trying to get me to take over the town and kill you and Snow, get everyone to submit to us as rulers in this town."
"Are you insane?" His words were too loud, his reaction too intense, and for all he knew, Cora could be listening. "Well are you?"
Regina shook her head. "But she thinks so. I'm just trying to keep everyone safe, I'm trying to buy my time until I can figure out what to do. Gold made a deal with her that I'm hers, basically meaning he won't interfere, so I can't get his help. I'm just trying to figure out what to do. I don't know how to defeat her, David. You know that."
Nodding, David let his hand drop to take hers, squeezing her fingers in an attempt to reassure her. "If anyone can, it's you. You'll work it out, I know you will. And I'll have my phone, so the second you need me for anything, get ahold of me, okay?"
She nodded, but she knew she wouldn't involve him as long as she could avoid it. "I just need you to keep Henry safe once he's back. For now, Cora is staying at my house, because that way I can keep an eye on her. I need you to trust that I'm going to handle her. No one can know. If you tell anyone and people start coming after her, they will be killed. She will not hesitate, and then the town will blame me, just like they always do when something goes wrong."
"Don't worry. I won't tell anyone. Just keep me posted, okay? I know you don't owe me anything, but I like the thought of you being alive and well, so just send me a message sometimes to just let me know Cora hasn't locked you up or tortured you or anything."
Licking her lips and looking away, Regina gave a quick tip of her head. "I'm… there's another thing. She interrupted us back in our world. She'll use that if she thinks you and Snow are a threat. Or if she thinks it'll hurt someone. So just… keep that in mind."
David let out a sigh and scrubbed a hand over his face. "Yeah, all right. I'll be on my toes."
"Good."
"Good. Then uh, yeah, just keep me updated every so often, and we'll plan something when Henry's back, yeah?"
"Thank you, David." Regina realized her fingers were still tangled with his and she pulled her hand away. "I'll talk to you soon."
He backed up toward the door, nodding. "Take care."
Once he was gone, Regina leaned against her desk and crossed her arms over her stomach, trying to will away the gut-wrenching pain at the thought of her mother doing anything to Henry or David. She needed to figure out how to get rid of Cora. Soon.