The Second Hand Unwinds (Part 12/?) - Once Upon A Time - Regina/Emma
Title: The Second Hand Unwinds (Part 12/?)
Fandom: Once Upon A Time
Rating: Hard R for the entire story
Pairings/Characters: Emma/Regina (eventually), Henry, Mary Margaret, all of Storybrooke
Summary: What if when Sidney cut Emma's brakes, the accident hadn't been so minor? And how will one little incident cause everything to unravel?
Spoilers: Up to 1x11, then goes decidedly AU
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Please don't sue.
Author's Note: Yep, my head canon has been totally Jossed. But I'm sticking with it. Hope you continue to enjoy it!
Mary Margaret felt her heart skip a beat when David's voice came over the phone. "Hello?"
"Hello, David. It's Mary Margaret." She did her best to keep her voice steady.
"Mary Margaret. What's wrong? Why are you calling?" David sounded worried.
"Nothing's wrong. I'm just calling for Regina actually. She won't be able to pick up Henry tonight and was hoping that he could stay with you and Kathryn. If you didn't mind."
"Of course he can stay." David assured quickly. "But is everything alright with Regina?"
Mary Margaret swallowed. The truth was that nothing seemed to be right with Regina, but she couldn't exactly tell David that. "Yes, everything's fine. It's just getting to be late and she wanted Henry to be able to get a good night's sleep and not have to stay up late or be woken up in the middle of the night."
David chuckled a little. "Yeah, he's been fighting sleep for a while now. I think he may have actually conked out on Kathryn already. Tell Regina not to worry. He's more than welcome to stay here and I'll make sure he doesn't run away."
The words struck Mary Margaret. "Run away?"
"Oh, you know, it was just a joke," David lowered his voice, "because of him running away to find Emma before. But on second thought, you shouldn't tell Regina that. It'll only worry her."
"Right." Mary Margaret nodded, but her mind was already going a mile a minute. "Thank you, David. Good night."
"Good night, Mary Margaret."
Mary Margaret disconnected the phone and sank down on the couch. "Henry can leave." She whispered to the darkness.
She stood up, ready to head up to check on Regina and go to bed, when her eye caught on the book still laying open on the coffee table. She looked down at the picture and chewed her lip slightly. "It's all true?" She asked no one. "How can that be?"
She scooped the book up into her arms and headed for the stairs.
**
She could hear the sobs that Regina wasn't even trying to muffle as soon as her feet hit the second floor landing. The sound tore at her heart. She'd never held a particular fondness for the mayor, but she'd never wish pain on her, and after hearing Regina's story - no matter how unbelievable it was - she knew that not only was the woman in pain, but that a lot of that pain had stemmed from something she had done, however unintentionally.
Regina's words came back to her as she stood outside the door. "You stayed with me all night. You held me and whispered stories to me and tried to soothe my pain. And I believed you and I loved you all the more. In the morning, you left my chamber and went straight to your father. You never returned to my side."
Tonight, Mary Margaret decided, would be different. She gently pushed the door open and walked into the room quietly. Regina was curled into the fetal position, sobbing against the pillow for fair. Mary Margaret placed the book on the bedside table, and sat down on the bed, reaching out and running a hand carefully through the dark locks of hair.
Regina flinched at the touch and Mary Margaret watched as she tried to reign herself in. "Hey, don't. It's okay. Just let it go." She whispered, continuing to stroke the mayor's hair.
Regina looked up with tear filled eyes at her, searching as though for some kind of ulterior motive. Mary Margaret made sure her face was as open as she could make it, trying to show that she had no motive at all, except to offer comfort where Regina so obviously needed it. Regina must have seen that too, or else was too emotionally drained to fight it, because her shoulders slumped again and she continued crying.
Mary Margaret wasn't sure how much time had passed until Regina had finally cried herself out, but she knew that it was quite a while. After the sobs had finally passed, she removed her hand and spoke quietly. "You should change out of those clothes. They can't be comfortable. I'm going to go to the bathroom, get you some tissues and a warm washcloth for your face. Why don't you put on a pair of pajamas while I'm gone? Then you can go to sleep."
She got off the bed carefully and watched from the bathroom doorway until Regina also moved, as though on autopilot, over to the chest of drawers. Then she pulled the door shut to give the woman her privacy.
She moved through the bathroom and into her room, changing into her own pajamas and grabbing a box of tissues, before moving back to the bathroom where she ran a wash cloth under hot water and also grabbed a bottle of aspirin and a glass of water. Once she had everything together, she knocked lightly on the bathroom room. "Regina? Can I come in?"
"Yes." The mayor's voice was hoarse, probably from all the crying.
Mary Margaret moved back into the room to see Regina in the middle of the bed, a pair of flannel pajamas on, her hair incredibly mussed, and her makeup smudged beyond repair. She looked so small and broken - nothing like the strong, powerful woman she knew Regina as, or the evil villainess Henry tried to paint her as - and Mary Margaret wondered if this was the picture of the woman that Snow had seen on the night she miscarried. Her heart ached for everything that had happened to lead Regina back to this place, hurting and broken with only her for comfort.
"Here," she said softly as she sat back down on the bed, handing over the box of tissues and wash cloth. "This should help you clean up a bit."
Regina dabbed at tears and blew her nose before she finally scrubbed her face with the warm wash cloth. She frowned at the makeup stains on the white wash cloth but Mary Margaret took it back from her before she could mention it. She then handed the mayor the aspirin and glass of water. "I thought you could use these, too."
Regina swallowed the pills and then drank the rest of the water quickly. "Thank you." She finally said and Mary Margaret smiled at her. "You're welcome. Now, why don't you get under the covers and try to sleep?"
Regina watched as the younger woman got up from the bed and went back to the bathroom, only to reappear a moment later, pushing the covers back and climbing into the bed.
"What are you doing?" Regina tried to sound angry, but to Mary Margaret it sounded almost panicked instead.
The teacher just shrugged. "I'm staying with you." Her tone brooked no argument. "Get some sleep, Regina."
Mary Margaret smiled to herself as Regina didn't fight her, but instead slipped under the covers on her side. She rolled so that her back was to Mary Margaret. The teacher watched her for a moment, until her breathing began to even out, and then picked up Henry's book. She was going to watch over Regina tonight and finally read the book that had started this whole mess. The book that she had possessed, but never read.
**
Mary Margaret spent a good portion of the night reading the book, but she really didn't glean much new information from it. The beginnings were all of the usual stories that she'd always known, but she did find herself wondering who was who in regards to the town. It was towards the end where things began to pick up, with The Queen casting the curse, but the pages that she really wanted - the pages that dealt with the breaking of the curse and specifically with Emma - were gone.
She knew Henry and Emma had pulled them out and gotten rid of them and if she wanted any more information there was only one place she could really go. If what Regina said was true and Henry had been right about everything, then that meant he had also been right about Emma being her daughter - and the one to break the curse. Now Regina wanted Emma to come back, but she didn't know who or what Emma was. Would she still feel the same way if she knew? And how exactly was Emma supposed to break the curse? If it meant destroying Regina, was that really something that Mary Margaret wanted, now that she knew the woman's story? And how would Regina react if she told her that Henry could leave to go get Emma?
She was broken from her thoughts by movement on the other side of the bed. She looked over to see Regina rolling towards her, blinking against the light that had started coming through the window. For a few moments, Regina looked confused. "Snow?" She whispered, her voice still hoarse.
Mary Margaret offered her a smile. "Close."
Regina's eyes went wide and she sat up quickly, clutching the covers to her as though they could protect her. "What are you still doing here?"
"Staying." Was all the brunette said before she turned to the bedside table and handed Regina a mug. "I just made a fresh pot of coffee." When the older woman hesitated, Mary Margaret gave her another smile. "It's not poisoned, I promise."
Regina took a large sip and then eyed the woman beside her again. "Of course not. You made it, not me."
At the joke, Mary Margaret smiled even wider. While Regina seemed to be in a semi-good mood with her walls still lowered, Mary Margaret decided to broach what she knew could end up being a touchy subject. "I was thinking that I could go pick up Henry from the Nolans this morning."
She watched as Regina instantly transformed back into her hard self. "So that you can warn my son away from me?" Her voice was icy.
"So that you have time to go home and get cleaned up. I didn't think you'd want him - or anyone else - to see you like this."
Regina said nothing, just kept staring at her. "Regina, I know that you don't have many reasons to trust me, especially after what you told me last night, but I promise you that everything that went on last night is between you and me only. You came to me for a reason, you let me in for a reason, and whether you think so or not, I know how huge that was. I won't betray your trust. Not again."
Regina swallowed hard. "If you don't have him home in half an hour, I will call Sidney and have you arrested for kidnapping."
She'd hoped for a little more time than that, but she also understood Regina's reluctance and knew that she needed to take what she could get. "Of course, Regina."
"Fine."
Mary Margaret gave another smile and then climbed out of the bed. "I'm going to go get ready. I'll use the bathroom downstairs, if you'd like to use this one. Feel free to take your time though. Enjoy your coffee."
Regina watched her go, still feeling uneasy and unsure after what she'd revealed the night before. But Mary Margaret seemed to be treating her as though nothing was that different - except perhaps the teacher's feelings for her, which seemed to have become more positive rather than less as Regina had expected.
Could it really be that simple? Could August have been right? Was redemption possible even for the most evil, if they truly wanted it? Regina was starting to think that maybe - just maybe - it was.
**
"Mary Margaret." David was surprised to see her standing in his doorway.
"Hello, David." She smiled at him, trying her best not to think about the fact that he was apparently her Prince Charming. She swirled the ring around her finger in nervousness. "I, um, I'm here to pick up Henry."
"What?" Henry's voice sounded from inside the house.
Mary Margaret peeked around David to where Henry was standing, looking shocked. "I'm here to take you home, Henry." She smiled at him.
"Why?" A frown marred Henry's face. "Is my mom okay?"
And no matter how much he tried to act indifferent, in that moment Mary Margaret could see the love and worry clearly spelled out across his little face. "She's fine, Henry. She just had a late night last night and I volunteered to come pick you up because I actually wanted to talk to you about something."
Henry relaxed, although he still looked worried. "Am I in trouble?"
Mary Margaret laughed. "No, of course not." Then she turned to David. "Regina really did send me. You can call her if you'd like."
David shook his head. "I believe you, Mary Margaret. I know you wouldn't lie."
"Thank you." Mary Margaret smiled at him, then purposely turned her attention to Henry. No matter who David may have been in his past life, in this life he was married to someone else. And until she got more of a handle on the situation, Mary Margaret knew she needed to leave him alone. "Henry, you ready?"
"Sure, Miss Blanchard." He smiled. "Bye, Mr. Nolan. Bye, Mrs. Nolan." He called in the direction of the kitchen where Mary Margaret assumed Kathryn still was.
Kathryn's voice mixed with David's as they both wished him goodbye.
"So, what do you need to talk to me about?" Henry asked, as they started walking toward his house.
Mary Margaret checked her watch and then looked down at the boy with a smile. "It's actually about your book. I was wondering if you'd found it yet?"
Henry frowned. "No. But it's not like it really matters anymore."
"Why not?" Mary Margaret pressed, even though she knew what the answer would be.
"It doesn't matter. You don't believe."
Mary Margaret stopped and gently placed her hands on his shoulders. "Henry, tell me. Please."
Henry shook his head and shrugged off her hands, moving past her. "It doesn't matter because Emma's gone and she's the only one who could break the curse. Without her, we're all just stuck."
"What did your book say about Emma?"
Henry looked conflicted between wanting to talk about Operation Cobra and knowing that Mary Margaret wouldn't believe him. "She's the savior. She's the only one who can break the curse. Snow White and Prince Charming knew that, which is why they put her in the magic wardrobe - to send her here to save us."
"But The Queen, she didn't know that?"
"No. She had no idea what the baby would do. Only Snow White and Prince Charming knew."
"But how did w-they find out?" Mary Margaret corrected herself quickly, glad when Henry didn't catch the slip up.
"I don't know. The book just said that she was the savior and they knew and that's why they had the wardrobe made. They were planning on sending Snow through while she was still pregnant, but the baby was born before they could. So they knew they had to send her by herself."
"And your book told you all this?" Mary Margaret asked.
"Yes. It said that they had to put her in the wardrobe to send her here, to our world, so that she could grow up and find us and break the curse when she was 28."
"And you believe that Emma is that savior. And that I'm Snow White."
"You are!" Henry sighed. "And Mr. Nolan is Prince Charming. He was wounded when he was trying to get Emma to the wardrobe, which is why he was in the coma until Emma got here. She changed everything. But when she left, it all stopped."
"So if Emma were to come back…" Mary Margaret let the sentence hang, waiting for Henry to fill in the blanks.
"Then she could destroy The Evil Queen and break the curse."
Mary Margaret frowned just slightly. "And that's what the book said? That Emma had to destroy the Queen to break the curse?"
"Well, no. Not exactly." Henry kicked at the sidewalk before he looked back up at her. "But the book said she was the White Knight, the one who would break the curse, and how else could it break, but by destroying the one who caused everyone to be cursed in the first place? Good has to defeat evil."
Mary Margaret looked up, seeing the mayor's house come into view. She knew she didn't have much more time to talk to Henry. "What if there was another way to break it? A way that didn't involve destroying The Queen? Could that be possible?"
It was Henry's turn to frown. "Like what?"
"I don't know. But - what if The Queen wasn't really evil?"
"She is, Miss Blanchard." He said it with such conviction. He truly believed that The Queen - and by extension, Regina - was evil. Mary Margaret remembered Regina's tears the night before and the way that she had cried over Snow and Henry's indifference towards her. Her heart clenched.
"What was her name, Henry?" Mary Margaret found herself asking, her voice shaking and Regina's words from the night before echoing in her head. "Far easier to hate me if I have no name."
"What?"
She cleared her throat and spoke more clearly this time. "What was her name? What was her story?"
"She's The Evil Queen. She doesn't have a story. She tried to kill Snow White and she cursed everyone. That's the story."
"What if it wasn't?" Mary Margaret stopped. They were just outside the mayoral mansion now. She knew she needed to get Henry into the house, but she couldn't let the conversation end like this. "What if that wasn't the whole story? What if something happened to make her behave the way she did? And what if she wanted redemption now?"
Henry looked at her, puzzled. "Miss Blanchard, you're not making sense."
Mary Margaret sighed as she watched the door to the house open and Regina step out onto the porch. She looked exactly as she always looked - perfect and pristine, put together and in charge. As Henry started towards the door with a frown, Mary Margaret grabbed his arm to stop him.
"Henry, why could you leave?" She asked, quickly. "You said no one could leave, but Emma did and you did."
Henry shrugged. "We weren't there when the curse was cast. The rules don't apply to us."
Mary Margaret nodded and then released Henry, walking behind him to the porch where Regina was waiting.
She raised an eyebrow at the teacher as she looked at her watch. She tried to sound hard, but Mary Margaret could sense the hint of teasing as she spoke. "I was about to call Sidney."
Henry pushed through the door and went straight for the stairs. Mary Margaret watched him go before turning to take in the wounded look in Regina's eyes. "I have no doubt."
Regina shifted almost uncomfortably in the doorway. "Miss Blanchard -"
"I'm pretty sure you can call me Mary Margaret now." The teacher smiled. "Or, you know -"
"No." Regina shook her head. "Mary Margaret perhaps but the other - no. Not when anyone could overhear."
Mary Margaret nodded. Regina may have confessed all to her, but she still wanted - and in fact needed - everything to remain unaffected.
"Can I talk to you?" She implored the other woman, knowing that she would probably be shot down. "I just have a few things that I need to discuss and then I'll leave and not mention it again if that's what you want, but -"
"Fine." Regina moved aside. "In my study."
Mary Margaret waited until Regina had closed and locked the door before she spoke. "There's something I don't understand. After everything you said last night, I understand why you did what you did. But the curse - the curse doesn't make sense to me. Banishing us all here - what was your plan? Why did you do it?"
Regina sighed as she sank down on the sofa. "I wanted my happy ending. And I thought I could have it here. Ruling over all of you, with none of you having any memory of the past, changed into meek little versions of your former selves. I planned to -" She stopped.
"What, Regina?"
"When I found out that you were pregnant it was like your husband had actually succeeded in throwing his sword through my heart. Once again, you had everything and I had nothing. But the curse could change all that. The curse could take away all your happiness and give it to me." Regina looked up and met Mary Margaret's gaze. "But you foiled me again."
"How?"
"The child got away." Was all that Regina would say.
Mary Margaret frowned. Henry said Regina didn't know that the baby was supposed to break the curse, so why would it foil her plans if they child disappeared or not? Wouldn't it be better for Regina, knowing that Snow would more than likely never find her child again? "But why would you care if -"
Regina raised one eyebrow, and suddenly it clicked. "You were going to take her."
"I sent my guards in to find the child, to bring her to me before the curse took over, so that when we arrived she would be with me and you would have no memory of her. What better revenge could I have than taking your child and your lover from you, when you'd done the same thing to me?"
"I didn't take your child -" she started to protest, but she saw the fire and then the sadness in Regina's eyes.
"Not my biological child, no." Regina whispered and Mary Margaret realized that she had been talking about her - about Snow. Then Regina cleared her throat and shook her head, pushing the memories back. "But whatever you did, whatever magic you used, you got her away. And so even the fruition of the curse was tainted by you."
"Regina -" Mary Margaret had so many thoughts and questions swirling in her head and she had no idea what to say to the woman. Finally, she managed to grasp onto the one question that she felt safe asking. "Why do you want Emma to come back?"
Regina laughed and it sounded bitter just like it had the night before. Had it really only been the night before? It seemed like a lifetime ago.
"I honestly don't know. I just know that that woman is haunting my thoughts and my dreams and I find myself… bored without her." Regina sighed. "But it doesn't matter, because as I told you, she is out of my reach."
"What if she wasn't?"
Regina looked up at Mary Margaret quickly. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, what if she wasn't out of reach? What if you could bring her back? Would you?"
"Yes." Regina appeared to be just as surprised as Mary Margaret by how quickly she had answered and how sure she had sounded.
"Even if she was my daughter?"
Those words seemed to freeze Regina. "Wh-what?"
"Would you still want to bring Emma back if you knew she was my - Snow's - daughter?"
"N-no." Regina shook her head, but Mary Margaret couldn't tell what she was saying no to. "She - she isn't. She can't be."
Mary Margaret reached out and squeezed Regina's arm. "According to Henry she is. Emma and I never believed it because we didn't believe he was right about the fairy tales but -"
"No." Regina pulled her arm away, moving toward the window. "Henry just wants to believe that."
"He hasn't been wrong about anything else yet." Mary Margaret's voice was soft.
"How does he know?" Regina asked, but her mind was already whirling to the pages that had been torn out of the book. The pages that had more than likely been torn out to keep her from finding out that Emma was the daughter of her sworn enemy. Henry had torn them out to protect Emma, to save her from Regina.
"Regina -"
"How does he know?" She spun around, fire in her eyes.
Mary Margaret flinched back just slightly, but Regina took no joy from the reaction as she normally would have. "He told Emma that it was in the book - that the baby girl's name was Emma and that she was sent through to this world by magic, to keep her safe." Mary Margaret kept the part about Emma being the so called savior out, knowing that if she mentioned it, Regina would never try to bring Emma back. But she might not try now either, she realized with a sinking heart. "Emma was found abandoned by the side of the road and Henry believes that it wasn't because her parents didn't want her but because they'd - we'd - wanted to save her from you." She finished softly.
"There are hundreds, probably thousands of girls named Emma -" Regina found herself saying.
Mary Margaret nodded slowly. "You're right. And Henry could be wrong. But if he isn't, would it change things?"
"I -" Regina faltered. She didn't know the answer to that question. Would it change things if Emma was Snow's daughter? Of course it would. But would it change Regina's desire to bring her back to Storybrooke? That wasn't so easily answered. At least not now.
Mary Margaret closed her eyes, wondering if she was doing the right thing, before she opened them again and looked at Regina. "It's your decision - your choice - Regina. But… there is a way to get her back."
"What?"
"Emma isn't the only person who can leave Storybrooke. Someone else can." Mary Margaret caught Regina's gaze. "Someone else already has once before."
And suddenly Regina realized exactly who Mary Margaret was referring to. "No."
"Yes." The teacher said softly. "Henry can leave Storybrooke."
Fandom: Once Upon A Time
Rating: Hard R for the entire story
Pairings/Characters: Emma/Regina (eventually), Henry, Mary Margaret, all of Storybrooke
Summary: What if when Sidney cut Emma's brakes, the accident hadn't been so minor? And how will one little incident cause everything to unravel?
Spoilers: Up to 1x11, then goes decidedly AU
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Please don't sue.
Author's Note: Yep, my head canon has been totally Jossed. But I'm sticking with it. Hope you continue to enjoy it!
Mary Margaret felt her heart skip a beat when David's voice came over the phone. "Hello?"
"Hello, David. It's Mary Margaret." She did her best to keep her voice steady.
"Mary Margaret. What's wrong? Why are you calling?" David sounded worried.
"Nothing's wrong. I'm just calling for Regina actually. She won't be able to pick up Henry tonight and was hoping that he could stay with you and Kathryn. If you didn't mind."
"Of course he can stay." David assured quickly. "But is everything alright with Regina?"
Mary Margaret swallowed. The truth was that nothing seemed to be right with Regina, but she couldn't exactly tell David that. "Yes, everything's fine. It's just getting to be late and she wanted Henry to be able to get a good night's sleep and not have to stay up late or be woken up in the middle of the night."
David chuckled a little. "Yeah, he's been fighting sleep for a while now. I think he may have actually conked out on Kathryn already. Tell Regina not to worry. He's more than welcome to stay here and I'll make sure he doesn't run away."
The words struck Mary Margaret. "Run away?"
"Oh, you know, it was just a joke," David lowered his voice, "because of him running away to find Emma before. But on second thought, you shouldn't tell Regina that. It'll only worry her."
"Right." Mary Margaret nodded, but her mind was already going a mile a minute. "Thank you, David. Good night."
"Good night, Mary Margaret."
Mary Margaret disconnected the phone and sank down on the couch. "Henry can leave." She whispered to the darkness.
She stood up, ready to head up to check on Regina and go to bed, when her eye caught on the book still laying open on the coffee table. She looked down at the picture and chewed her lip slightly. "It's all true?" She asked no one. "How can that be?"
She scooped the book up into her arms and headed for the stairs.
**
She could hear the sobs that Regina wasn't even trying to muffle as soon as her feet hit the second floor landing. The sound tore at her heart. She'd never held a particular fondness for the mayor, but she'd never wish pain on her, and after hearing Regina's story - no matter how unbelievable it was - she knew that not only was the woman in pain, but that a lot of that pain had stemmed from something she had done, however unintentionally.
Regina's words came back to her as she stood outside the door. "You stayed with me all night. You held me and whispered stories to me and tried to soothe my pain. And I believed you and I loved you all the more. In the morning, you left my chamber and went straight to your father. You never returned to my side."
Tonight, Mary Margaret decided, would be different. She gently pushed the door open and walked into the room quietly. Regina was curled into the fetal position, sobbing against the pillow for fair. Mary Margaret placed the book on the bedside table, and sat down on the bed, reaching out and running a hand carefully through the dark locks of hair.
Regina flinched at the touch and Mary Margaret watched as she tried to reign herself in. "Hey, don't. It's okay. Just let it go." She whispered, continuing to stroke the mayor's hair.
Regina looked up with tear filled eyes at her, searching as though for some kind of ulterior motive. Mary Margaret made sure her face was as open as she could make it, trying to show that she had no motive at all, except to offer comfort where Regina so obviously needed it. Regina must have seen that too, or else was too emotionally drained to fight it, because her shoulders slumped again and she continued crying.
Mary Margaret wasn't sure how much time had passed until Regina had finally cried herself out, but she knew that it was quite a while. After the sobs had finally passed, she removed her hand and spoke quietly. "You should change out of those clothes. They can't be comfortable. I'm going to go to the bathroom, get you some tissues and a warm washcloth for your face. Why don't you put on a pair of pajamas while I'm gone? Then you can go to sleep."
She got off the bed carefully and watched from the bathroom doorway until Regina also moved, as though on autopilot, over to the chest of drawers. Then she pulled the door shut to give the woman her privacy.
She moved through the bathroom and into her room, changing into her own pajamas and grabbing a box of tissues, before moving back to the bathroom where she ran a wash cloth under hot water and also grabbed a bottle of aspirin and a glass of water. Once she had everything together, she knocked lightly on the bathroom room. "Regina? Can I come in?"
"Yes." The mayor's voice was hoarse, probably from all the crying.
Mary Margaret moved back into the room to see Regina in the middle of the bed, a pair of flannel pajamas on, her hair incredibly mussed, and her makeup smudged beyond repair. She looked so small and broken - nothing like the strong, powerful woman she knew Regina as, or the evil villainess Henry tried to paint her as - and Mary Margaret wondered if this was the picture of the woman that Snow had seen on the night she miscarried. Her heart ached for everything that had happened to lead Regina back to this place, hurting and broken with only her for comfort.
"Here," she said softly as she sat back down on the bed, handing over the box of tissues and wash cloth. "This should help you clean up a bit."
Regina dabbed at tears and blew her nose before she finally scrubbed her face with the warm wash cloth. She frowned at the makeup stains on the white wash cloth but Mary Margaret took it back from her before she could mention it. She then handed the mayor the aspirin and glass of water. "I thought you could use these, too."
Regina swallowed the pills and then drank the rest of the water quickly. "Thank you." She finally said and Mary Margaret smiled at her. "You're welcome. Now, why don't you get under the covers and try to sleep?"
Regina watched as the younger woman got up from the bed and went back to the bathroom, only to reappear a moment later, pushing the covers back and climbing into the bed.
"What are you doing?" Regina tried to sound angry, but to Mary Margaret it sounded almost panicked instead.
The teacher just shrugged. "I'm staying with you." Her tone brooked no argument. "Get some sleep, Regina."
Mary Margaret smiled to herself as Regina didn't fight her, but instead slipped under the covers on her side. She rolled so that her back was to Mary Margaret. The teacher watched her for a moment, until her breathing began to even out, and then picked up Henry's book. She was going to watch over Regina tonight and finally read the book that had started this whole mess. The book that she had possessed, but never read.
**
Mary Margaret spent a good portion of the night reading the book, but she really didn't glean much new information from it. The beginnings were all of the usual stories that she'd always known, but she did find herself wondering who was who in regards to the town. It was towards the end where things began to pick up, with The Queen casting the curse, but the pages that she really wanted - the pages that dealt with the breaking of the curse and specifically with Emma - were gone.
She knew Henry and Emma had pulled them out and gotten rid of them and if she wanted any more information there was only one place she could really go. If what Regina said was true and Henry had been right about everything, then that meant he had also been right about Emma being her daughter - and the one to break the curse. Now Regina wanted Emma to come back, but she didn't know who or what Emma was. Would she still feel the same way if she knew? And how exactly was Emma supposed to break the curse? If it meant destroying Regina, was that really something that Mary Margaret wanted, now that she knew the woman's story? And how would Regina react if she told her that Henry could leave to go get Emma?
She was broken from her thoughts by movement on the other side of the bed. She looked over to see Regina rolling towards her, blinking against the light that had started coming through the window. For a few moments, Regina looked confused. "Snow?" She whispered, her voice still hoarse.
Mary Margaret offered her a smile. "Close."
Regina's eyes went wide and she sat up quickly, clutching the covers to her as though they could protect her. "What are you still doing here?"
"Staying." Was all the brunette said before she turned to the bedside table and handed Regina a mug. "I just made a fresh pot of coffee." When the older woman hesitated, Mary Margaret gave her another smile. "It's not poisoned, I promise."
Regina took a large sip and then eyed the woman beside her again. "Of course not. You made it, not me."
At the joke, Mary Margaret smiled even wider. While Regina seemed to be in a semi-good mood with her walls still lowered, Mary Margaret decided to broach what she knew could end up being a touchy subject. "I was thinking that I could go pick up Henry from the Nolans this morning."
She watched as Regina instantly transformed back into her hard self. "So that you can warn my son away from me?" Her voice was icy.
"So that you have time to go home and get cleaned up. I didn't think you'd want him - or anyone else - to see you like this."
Regina said nothing, just kept staring at her. "Regina, I know that you don't have many reasons to trust me, especially after what you told me last night, but I promise you that everything that went on last night is between you and me only. You came to me for a reason, you let me in for a reason, and whether you think so or not, I know how huge that was. I won't betray your trust. Not again."
Regina swallowed hard. "If you don't have him home in half an hour, I will call Sidney and have you arrested for kidnapping."
She'd hoped for a little more time than that, but she also understood Regina's reluctance and knew that she needed to take what she could get. "Of course, Regina."
"Fine."
Mary Margaret gave another smile and then climbed out of the bed. "I'm going to go get ready. I'll use the bathroom downstairs, if you'd like to use this one. Feel free to take your time though. Enjoy your coffee."
Regina watched her go, still feeling uneasy and unsure after what she'd revealed the night before. But Mary Margaret seemed to be treating her as though nothing was that different - except perhaps the teacher's feelings for her, which seemed to have become more positive rather than less as Regina had expected.
Could it really be that simple? Could August have been right? Was redemption possible even for the most evil, if they truly wanted it? Regina was starting to think that maybe - just maybe - it was.
**
"Mary Margaret." David was surprised to see her standing in his doorway.
"Hello, David." She smiled at him, trying her best not to think about the fact that he was apparently her Prince Charming. She swirled the ring around her finger in nervousness. "I, um, I'm here to pick up Henry."
"What?" Henry's voice sounded from inside the house.
Mary Margaret peeked around David to where Henry was standing, looking shocked. "I'm here to take you home, Henry." She smiled at him.
"Why?" A frown marred Henry's face. "Is my mom okay?"
And no matter how much he tried to act indifferent, in that moment Mary Margaret could see the love and worry clearly spelled out across his little face. "She's fine, Henry. She just had a late night last night and I volunteered to come pick you up because I actually wanted to talk to you about something."
Henry relaxed, although he still looked worried. "Am I in trouble?"
Mary Margaret laughed. "No, of course not." Then she turned to David. "Regina really did send me. You can call her if you'd like."
David shook his head. "I believe you, Mary Margaret. I know you wouldn't lie."
"Thank you." Mary Margaret smiled at him, then purposely turned her attention to Henry. No matter who David may have been in his past life, in this life he was married to someone else. And until she got more of a handle on the situation, Mary Margaret knew she needed to leave him alone. "Henry, you ready?"
"Sure, Miss Blanchard." He smiled. "Bye, Mr. Nolan. Bye, Mrs. Nolan." He called in the direction of the kitchen where Mary Margaret assumed Kathryn still was.
Kathryn's voice mixed with David's as they both wished him goodbye.
"So, what do you need to talk to me about?" Henry asked, as they started walking toward his house.
Mary Margaret checked her watch and then looked down at the boy with a smile. "It's actually about your book. I was wondering if you'd found it yet?"
Henry frowned. "No. But it's not like it really matters anymore."
"Why not?" Mary Margaret pressed, even though she knew what the answer would be.
"It doesn't matter. You don't believe."
Mary Margaret stopped and gently placed her hands on his shoulders. "Henry, tell me. Please."
Henry shook his head and shrugged off her hands, moving past her. "It doesn't matter because Emma's gone and she's the only one who could break the curse. Without her, we're all just stuck."
"What did your book say about Emma?"
Henry looked conflicted between wanting to talk about Operation Cobra and knowing that Mary Margaret wouldn't believe him. "She's the savior. She's the only one who can break the curse. Snow White and Prince Charming knew that, which is why they put her in the magic wardrobe - to send her here to save us."
"But The Queen, she didn't know that?"
"No. She had no idea what the baby would do. Only Snow White and Prince Charming knew."
"But how did w-they find out?" Mary Margaret corrected herself quickly, glad when Henry didn't catch the slip up.
"I don't know. The book just said that she was the savior and they knew and that's why they had the wardrobe made. They were planning on sending Snow through while she was still pregnant, but the baby was born before they could. So they knew they had to send her by herself."
"And your book told you all this?" Mary Margaret asked.
"Yes. It said that they had to put her in the wardrobe to send her here, to our world, so that she could grow up and find us and break the curse when she was 28."
"And you believe that Emma is that savior. And that I'm Snow White."
"You are!" Henry sighed. "And Mr. Nolan is Prince Charming. He was wounded when he was trying to get Emma to the wardrobe, which is why he was in the coma until Emma got here. She changed everything. But when she left, it all stopped."
"So if Emma were to come back…" Mary Margaret let the sentence hang, waiting for Henry to fill in the blanks.
"Then she could destroy The Evil Queen and break the curse."
Mary Margaret frowned just slightly. "And that's what the book said? That Emma had to destroy the Queen to break the curse?"
"Well, no. Not exactly." Henry kicked at the sidewalk before he looked back up at her. "But the book said she was the White Knight, the one who would break the curse, and how else could it break, but by destroying the one who caused everyone to be cursed in the first place? Good has to defeat evil."
Mary Margaret looked up, seeing the mayor's house come into view. She knew she didn't have much more time to talk to Henry. "What if there was another way to break it? A way that didn't involve destroying The Queen? Could that be possible?"
It was Henry's turn to frown. "Like what?"
"I don't know. But - what if The Queen wasn't really evil?"
"She is, Miss Blanchard." He said it with such conviction. He truly believed that The Queen - and by extension, Regina - was evil. Mary Margaret remembered Regina's tears the night before and the way that she had cried over Snow and Henry's indifference towards her. Her heart clenched.
"What was her name, Henry?" Mary Margaret found herself asking, her voice shaking and Regina's words from the night before echoing in her head. "Far easier to hate me if I have no name."
"What?"
She cleared her throat and spoke more clearly this time. "What was her name? What was her story?"
"She's The Evil Queen. She doesn't have a story. She tried to kill Snow White and she cursed everyone. That's the story."
"What if it wasn't?" Mary Margaret stopped. They were just outside the mayoral mansion now. She knew she needed to get Henry into the house, but she couldn't let the conversation end like this. "What if that wasn't the whole story? What if something happened to make her behave the way she did? And what if she wanted redemption now?"
Henry looked at her, puzzled. "Miss Blanchard, you're not making sense."
Mary Margaret sighed as she watched the door to the house open and Regina step out onto the porch. She looked exactly as she always looked - perfect and pristine, put together and in charge. As Henry started towards the door with a frown, Mary Margaret grabbed his arm to stop him.
"Henry, why could you leave?" She asked, quickly. "You said no one could leave, but Emma did and you did."
Henry shrugged. "We weren't there when the curse was cast. The rules don't apply to us."
Mary Margaret nodded and then released Henry, walking behind him to the porch where Regina was waiting.
She raised an eyebrow at the teacher as she looked at her watch. She tried to sound hard, but Mary Margaret could sense the hint of teasing as she spoke. "I was about to call Sidney."
Henry pushed through the door and went straight for the stairs. Mary Margaret watched him go before turning to take in the wounded look in Regina's eyes. "I have no doubt."
Regina shifted almost uncomfortably in the doorway. "Miss Blanchard -"
"I'm pretty sure you can call me Mary Margaret now." The teacher smiled. "Or, you know -"
"No." Regina shook her head. "Mary Margaret perhaps but the other - no. Not when anyone could overhear."
Mary Margaret nodded. Regina may have confessed all to her, but she still wanted - and in fact needed - everything to remain unaffected.
"Can I talk to you?" She implored the other woman, knowing that she would probably be shot down. "I just have a few things that I need to discuss and then I'll leave and not mention it again if that's what you want, but -"
"Fine." Regina moved aside. "In my study."
Mary Margaret waited until Regina had closed and locked the door before she spoke. "There's something I don't understand. After everything you said last night, I understand why you did what you did. But the curse - the curse doesn't make sense to me. Banishing us all here - what was your plan? Why did you do it?"
Regina sighed as she sank down on the sofa. "I wanted my happy ending. And I thought I could have it here. Ruling over all of you, with none of you having any memory of the past, changed into meek little versions of your former selves. I planned to -" She stopped.
"What, Regina?"
"When I found out that you were pregnant it was like your husband had actually succeeded in throwing his sword through my heart. Once again, you had everything and I had nothing. But the curse could change all that. The curse could take away all your happiness and give it to me." Regina looked up and met Mary Margaret's gaze. "But you foiled me again."
"How?"
"The child got away." Was all that Regina would say.
Mary Margaret frowned. Henry said Regina didn't know that the baby was supposed to break the curse, so why would it foil her plans if they child disappeared or not? Wouldn't it be better for Regina, knowing that Snow would more than likely never find her child again? "But why would you care if -"
Regina raised one eyebrow, and suddenly it clicked. "You were going to take her."
"I sent my guards in to find the child, to bring her to me before the curse took over, so that when we arrived she would be with me and you would have no memory of her. What better revenge could I have than taking your child and your lover from you, when you'd done the same thing to me?"
"I didn't take your child -" she started to protest, but she saw the fire and then the sadness in Regina's eyes.
"Not my biological child, no." Regina whispered and Mary Margaret realized that she had been talking about her - about Snow. Then Regina cleared her throat and shook her head, pushing the memories back. "But whatever you did, whatever magic you used, you got her away. And so even the fruition of the curse was tainted by you."
"Regina -" Mary Margaret had so many thoughts and questions swirling in her head and she had no idea what to say to the woman. Finally, she managed to grasp onto the one question that she felt safe asking. "Why do you want Emma to come back?"
Regina laughed and it sounded bitter just like it had the night before. Had it really only been the night before? It seemed like a lifetime ago.
"I honestly don't know. I just know that that woman is haunting my thoughts and my dreams and I find myself… bored without her." Regina sighed. "But it doesn't matter, because as I told you, she is out of my reach."
"What if she wasn't?"
Regina looked up at Mary Margaret quickly. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, what if she wasn't out of reach? What if you could bring her back? Would you?"
"Yes." Regina appeared to be just as surprised as Mary Margaret by how quickly she had answered and how sure she had sounded.
"Even if she was my daughter?"
Those words seemed to freeze Regina. "Wh-what?"
"Would you still want to bring Emma back if you knew she was my - Snow's - daughter?"
"N-no." Regina shook her head, but Mary Margaret couldn't tell what she was saying no to. "She - she isn't. She can't be."
Mary Margaret reached out and squeezed Regina's arm. "According to Henry she is. Emma and I never believed it because we didn't believe he was right about the fairy tales but -"
"No." Regina pulled her arm away, moving toward the window. "Henry just wants to believe that."
"He hasn't been wrong about anything else yet." Mary Margaret's voice was soft.
"How does he know?" Regina asked, but her mind was already whirling to the pages that had been torn out of the book. The pages that had more than likely been torn out to keep her from finding out that Emma was the daughter of her sworn enemy. Henry had torn them out to protect Emma, to save her from Regina.
"Regina -"
"How does he know?" She spun around, fire in her eyes.
Mary Margaret flinched back just slightly, but Regina took no joy from the reaction as she normally would have. "He told Emma that it was in the book - that the baby girl's name was Emma and that she was sent through to this world by magic, to keep her safe." Mary Margaret kept the part about Emma being the so called savior out, knowing that if she mentioned it, Regina would never try to bring Emma back. But she might not try now either, she realized with a sinking heart. "Emma was found abandoned by the side of the road and Henry believes that it wasn't because her parents didn't want her but because they'd - we'd - wanted to save her from you." She finished softly.
"There are hundreds, probably thousands of girls named Emma -" Regina found herself saying.
Mary Margaret nodded slowly. "You're right. And Henry could be wrong. But if he isn't, would it change things?"
"I -" Regina faltered. She didn't know the answer to that question. Would it change things if Emma was Snow's daughter? Of course it would. But would it change Regina's desire to bring her back to Storybrooke? That wasn't so easily answered. At least not now.
Mary Margaret closed her eyes, wondering if she was doing the right thing, before she opened them again and looked at Regina. "It's your decision - your choice - Regina. But… there is a way to get her back."
"What?"
"Emma isn't the only person who can leave Storybrooke. Someone else can." Mary Margaret caught Regina's gaze. "Someone else already has once before."
And suddenly Regina realized exactly who Mary Margaret was referring to. "No."
"Yes." The teacher said softly. "Henry can leave Storybrooke."