When wishes come true for onceuponaland
Title: This happy ending is not meant to be...
Summary: "Lost Memories" - Regina discovers that Daniel is alive and living in Storybrooke. She attempts to renew her relationship with him, but he has no memory of her. When she turns to Mr. Gold for help, he demands a price Regina isn't certain she is willing to pay.
Genre: Angst
Characters/Pairings: Regina, Daniel/Philipp Colt, Mr. Gold (mentions of:) Emma Swan, Henry Mills
Words: 1487
Rating: G
Disclaimer: I don't own any rights of Once Upon a Time, I just have them do my bidding because that's what Evil Regals do, live with it. XD
This proved to be a lot longer than I intended to... XD
Regina was waiting for her non-fat latte at the classy coffee shop just before the City Hall on her way there while she looked outside absent-mindedly; a million things were crossing her mind almost at the same time, today’s scheduled meetings, Emma Swan’s annoying presence, Henry’s progress at school, Mr. Gold’s bolder attitude and then again back to the meetings and paperwork waiting for her back at the office...
But still no coffee... she drew a deep breath and as she was about to scowl at the barrista serving her, she caught a familiar figure with the corner of her eye.
She snapped back... it couldn’t be! She looked again but he wasn’t there. Regina rushed outside and looked around. He had crossed the street and was heading away, away from her.
She run after him, flushed, desperate, almost in panic as the thought kept ringing in her head “it must be him but how?”. Should she dare hope?
No. Absolutely not, she couldn’t afford that.
She got closer, barely a few feet away and called out to him:
“Daniel?”, her heart stopped... but nothing else happened.
The man she was after continued walking seemingly unaffected.
Regina was getting nervous and short of breath.
“Daniel?” she called out again louder in case he hadn’t heard her before.
This time she didn’t wait, she got closer and grabbed his arm:
“Daniel?”.
It felt to Regina that suddenly everything was happening in slow motion following the tempo of her heart as the beats slowed but never lost strength as her heart kept pounding in her chest and drummed in her ears.
The soft touch of his coat in her hand registered first and the rest followed, the cool morning breeze on her face, the wetness on her eyes, the world turning hazy and distant as he stopped startled and turned to face her -that was the moment that everything paused, the last moments before she saw his face as the light reflected off his hair causing it to shimmer and there he was.
Regina swallowed hard as the reality again hit her and everything resumed its normal speed, she breathed his name again.
He looked at her puzzled.
“Madame Mayor?”
Seeing that she didn’t respond he went on “Is there something I can do for you?”
Regina was in shock, she could not believe it.
She had spent countless nights with tears in her eyes and his name on her lips hiding away from King Leopold; she had visited his grave and spent hours on end over there for so long; and now he was standing right in front of her gazing into her eyes.
Suddenly, the realisation hit her... this wasn’t Daniel... this wasn’t her Daniel. The memories weren’t there. She could see his mouth moving, he was saying something but her brain resisted processing anything real.
“Madame Mayor, are you feeling okay?”
He was now holding her by the shoulders.
“I am fine... I think” she heard herself saying. “And you are?” She didn’t even know how that came out of her mouth.
“My name is Philipp Colt. Do you want me to take you somewhere, you don’t look very well.The City Hall is right down the street.”
His kindness was sincere.
Regina was finally getting over the shock as the reality sank in. She smiled embarrassed at him, touching her forehead with the back of her hand.
“I am terribly sorry to disturb you Mr. Colt. I saw you passing from inside the coffee shop and I mistook you for someone else.”
“Daniel?” he asked.
It took all of her strength to hold her tears back...
“Yes... but don’t you worry about it. Thank you for your kindness and your concern. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m late for work.”
Philipp Colt was a bit startled by how fast the mayor seemed to bounce from utter shock back to complete control.
“Ms Mills!” He called after her and Regina swallowed once more before she forced a smile and turned around.
He hurried towards her and took out a card.
“Ms. Mills, excuse my boldness but... here is my card. I own a horse farm and I know you have a young son, so if he likes horses or the outdoors, you should really bring him one day.”
Regina was dumbfounded but she couldn’t allow herself to show it. She smiled again.
“Thank you very much Mr. Colt. I will see if we can fit it in his schedule. It would be our pleasure.”
His shoulders seemed to relax a bit as he bid her good day and went on his way.
Regina went back to the coffee shop, got her coffee and headed to her office in a big hurry as she had an urgent phone call to make...
~~~~~~*~~~~~~*~~~~~~~
“Did you know about it?” Regina was furious! It was a good thing the phone at the Mayor’s office was wireless otherwise she would have ripped it right off the wall.
“Know what, your Majesty?” Gold’s voice came over the phone. “That the curse you enacted would bring back the dead? Is that what you’re asking me?”
Regina was really losing patience.
“Yes, I suppose I am. Did that curse have any kind of such magical properties? How can he be here?” She didn’t feel very comfortable discussing this with Gold, especially now that they were on a real-name basis.
“Does it even matter? Is that what you really want to know?”
No... that wasn’t what she really wanted to know.
“How do I undo it?” Her voice was cold and to the point.
Mr. Gold breathed deeply...
“Undo what exactly?”
Regina’s eyes became barely visible slits even if Mr. Gold could not see her. She kept her voice consistently cold and business-like with a threatening edge that only the evil Queen knew how to command in its full potential.
“Stop playing and tell me what I need to do for Daniel to get his memories back.”
Gold didn’t let a single moment pass...
“Let Emma Swan have Henry.”
Regina could barely hold it together so she let a moment pass to gain her composure.
“And how does that accomplish anything?”
“The curse requires balance so it won’t collapse in on itself. If you want to maintain the current status quo, and I assume that you do, you need to give away Henry to your opposite counterpart, your enemy.”
Regina went white.
“But this world was my doing, how can I not have him? Daniel is part of my happy ending!”
Mr. Gold breathed out slowly to make his displeasure quite obvious.
“Daniel was dead and was not taken remotely into account when you brought us to this world. Your finding him here has been an improbable fluke. Unless you’re willing to do something to balance the magical nature of things, or better yet the magic-less nature of things here, it is going to certainly backfire. Simply put you need to exchange one big piece of your happiness with another or else Daniel’s presence -if he were to remember and revert from Mr. Colt to Daniel- will break the curse. And this is where I will stop as I am not remotely inclined to explain this any further to you.”
Regina sensed that even though that made quite sense there was something else Mr. Gold was keeping from her.
“Listen to me, Gold, you are going to explain this further because we are in this together and...”
“No. I am not. I have a job to do, your Majesty, and you’re keeping me from it. We may be in this together but you did this. Now, I have work to do so, please, don’t ask me about Daniel or Mr. Colt again. Enjoy your coffee...”
Regina was left holding the receiver even as the tone kept ringing in her ear. Mr. Gold had just hung up on her right in her face but that wasn’t what left her speechless. It was what Gold said but also the implications of what he didn’t.
She felt her heart break to a million little pieces as the consequences crashed upon her. It was all about balancing the curse... even if she did give up Henry, something that she didn’t even want to consider to begin with, Philipp would get his memories back but what these were other than his tragic death?
What Gold didn’t want to tell her was that even if she did allow Philipp to become Daniel, he would die once again since he was already dead before the enactment of the curse and this could not change. On the other hand, if she didn’t allow for this restoration, she could never pursue Philipp Colt without giving away Henry because this would unbalance the curse.
Regina set the receiver down slowly and walked to her window. She didn’t realise how but she found herself touching Daniel’s ring over her lips... this happy ending was not meant to be...
