Chapter 7

If you had asked Regina Mills a week ago where she saw herself the following Friday, "camped out in Snow White's guest bedroom" wouldn't have even registered, and yet here she is, curled up on the couch beside Henry's bed as the boy sleeps. She watches the methodical rise and fall of his chest and thinks that this isn't how things were supposed to be. She should hardly be surprised, though. Nothing in Regina's life has ever really gone according to plan. Wiping the sleep from her eyes, she swings her legs off of the couch and tiptoes down the stairs to the kitchen, careful not to wake the dozing child who worries far too much for a boy his age.

She is surprised to find David already seated at the kitchen island, despite the fact that when she glances at the clock it reads 5:15am. The floor creaks beneath her feet and he whips around, hand flying to the holster he never seems to part with anymore. Regina's hands fly up in return, and her eyes widen. "It's only me."

David sighs, in annoyance or relief she can't tell, and his posture relaxes. He reaches for the coffee pot and hands Regina a mug. "What has you out of bed so early?" he asks as she adds cream and sugar to the steaming cup.

Swirling the hot liquid with a spoon, she takes the seat next to him. "I could ask you the same question."

He is quiet for a moment, before looking at her seriously. "It's been three days. Every day that she's out there we're in danger, all of us. I, for one, am tired of walking on eggshells. "

Regina and the prince may not see eye to eye on many things (on anything, really), but on the subject of Cora she agrees wit him, if only for Henry's sake. This town may not be Regina's home any longer, but it is still her son's, and she won't leave him until she knows with absolute certainty that he will be safe in her absence. "So what do you suggest?" she asks finally.

With one look she knows what his answer is without him having to say it. She can see it in his eyes, the way they gleam with a mix of regret and determination.

"No," she whispers, her face contorting into a look of utter revulsion.

"Regina-"

"No." This time she says it a little more forcefully. "Do you have any idea what you're saying? You're talking about murdering my mother," she hisses.

"Oh come on. You've never been one to shy away from capital punishment. She's a monster, Regina. She'll tear this town apart if we let her."

"Rumplestiltskin is a monster, and yet he lives and breathes," she counters angrily, leaning in close "So unless you want to establish a particularly bloody precedent, I suggest you forget the thought ever even crossed your mind."

But Charming is stubborn. Just like his wife, Regina thinks. "I can't just rule it out, not when the fate of the town hangs in the balance."

"Then you're a fool," she says angrily, getting up to leave, but before she does, Charming grabs her by the arm roughly.

"I think we both know that this isn't going to be pretty, Regina, and sooner or later, you're going to have to make a choice. You're going to have to decide just whose side it is that you're on."

Pulling her forearm from the Prince's vice-like grasp, she gives him the most menacing glare that she can manage at such an early hour. Her furious rebuttal, however, is over before it can even begin as Regina becomes faintly aware of the soft padding of feet on the stairs behind her.

"Mom?" She takes a calming breath and turns to face her son, who is rightfully concerned that his mother may be ready to rip his grandfather to shreds at any second. Again. "Is everything ok?"

"Everything is fine, Henry," she lies through her teeth, as she moves through the kitchen to pour him a bowl of cereal. Frowning at the selection (Coco puffs, honestly?), she decides on the Rice Krispies. She hands the bowl to Henry wordlessly and makes a mental note to do her own grocery shopping later.

"Sooo…why are we all up so early?" the boy asks, eyeing the adults warily.

David taps his cellphone. "Your mom and I were just talking, but I actually got a call about fifteen minutes ago about some noise out by the town line. I'm going to check it out." As he gets up to put on his jacket, Regina stands to do the same.

"I'm coming with you." It isn't a question, and he knows it. Damned if Regina is going to let the town she'd worked so hard to build crumble to dust under its naïve new management.

The ride to the town line is mostly silent. Regina passes the time staring out the window at Storybrooke in the early morning mist. As hard as it is to admit, she has missed this place.

"Whoa," David says suddenly, stopping the car so abruptly that it throws Regina forward against her seatbelt. Leave it to Prince Charming to give her whiplash.

She turns to see just what it is that's caught his attention and gasps. A car, terribly disfigured, it wrapped around a tree just inside the Storybrooke border. Both the Prince and Queen scramble out of the truck to survey the wreckage.

"What happened here?" Regina wonders aloud, running her hand along the driver's side door, which has been thrown open haphazardly.

"Massachusetts plates," Charming calls from behind her. "Definitely not a local."

Regina cocks her head as she peers into the interior of the car. "Wonderful. Where is our driver anyway?" It's then that she notices the small black box sitting in the passenger's seat and her eyes widen. Not good. Not good at all. "David!" she calls, panic rising in her voice. "We have to get out of here!"

The deputy's brow furrows in confusion as he comes to stand beside her. "What? Why?"

But there is no time to explain. Part of Regina has no qualms whatsoever about leaving the ignorant fop to die, but other more rational part of Regina knows that this is not an option. He is Henry's family, she reminds herself, as she grabs his hand and takes off at a sprint into the forest.

The explosion that occurs mere moments later knocks them both to the ground and sends bits of earth flying in all directions.

"What the hell was that?" Charming shouts, as Regina scrambles back to her feet.

"Think of it as a magical booby-trap," she replies, dusting herself off and frowning at a small tear that has emerged in the hem of her jacket. "Come on, we might still not be clear of it."

They take off again, this time in the direction of town, weaving through the trees and carefully avoiding protruding roots. Regina has never been more relieved not to be wearing high heels than she is at this moment. Finally, she slows down, stopping to lean against a snow white birch tree. "I think we should be ok," she says, turning around to look at David.

But he isn't there.

"David?" she calls, turning in a circle and finding neither hide nor hair of the prince. She is so preoccupied with having inadvertently lost her sworn enemy that she doesn't hear the footsteps behind her until it is too late, and everything fades to black.

Regina wakes with a spitting headache. Her eyes focus slowly in the dim lighting. Where is she? Slowly, she pulls herself up and finds that she knows exactly where she is: the hidden room in the Mills' mausoleum. But how did she get here? She was in the woods, and then? Nothing. She can't remember a thing.

A faint moan penetrates the silence and Regina's head whips around, searching for the source. She finds herself completely unprepared for the sight before her. "Russell?" she whispers, crawling (she finds herself slightly too woozy still to stand] to the man on the carpet behind her. "Russ?" Her hand trembles as she brushes her fingers against his cheek, which is bruised a deep purple. She takes note of little scrapes on his arms and the bit of blood in his matted hair.

"Regina?" he whispers, squinting up at her.

"Hey." She scoots closer and pulls his head into her lap, running her hands through the tangled mess of his dirty blonde hair. He braces himself against her to sit up against the wall. "Easy," she murmurs. "You probably have a concussion."

"I'm fine," he stubbornly assures her, his gaze turning to one of concern as he takes in the scrapes on hands and the dirt on her cheek. "What happened to you?"

She shakes off his question. "It doesn't matter. How are you here? How did you…?" She struggles to make sense of his presence in Storybrooke.

"When I went to pick you up from the airport three days ago and you weren't there, I got worried. Tried calling you and couldn't get through, said your line was disconnected or something. My buddy Miles, you remember Miles, he's with the LAPD and he owed me a favor, so I had him run your credit card, last swiped at a diner in a place called Storybrooke, Maine two days ago."

"The car at the line…that was you." She covers her mouth with her hand, horrified now by the memory of the crash wreckage.

"I drove up from Boston this morning. It was misty out, could barely see the road in front of me. I just made it past the town sign and then…there was this woman in the middle of the road, just standing there. I swerved so I wouldn't hit her. Must've hit a tree instead…" He looks around them at the lavishly decorated room, filled with gowns and finery from a life left behind. "But how did I get here? What is all this? Where are we?"

Regina shakes her head. "We don't have time for me to explain. Can you stand?" He looks at her like she's crazy, so she cups her face in her hands. "Listen, you have to trust me. You have no idea of the danger you're in here. We have to go, we have to run before-"

"Regina darling!" The words send a shiver down her spine, and her heart practically leaps out of her chest as the door swings open and Cora strides in, coming to stand before her daughter and the man on the ground. Regina is struck at once with a sense of deja-vu, a most unpleasant memory. Cora extends a manicured hand to her daughter and smiles brightly. "I see you've met our guest."

Regina simply nods. "Mother, I-"

"We've no time for long winded apologies darling. Now come along and clean yourself up. There's much to be done and time is of the essence."

Whatever Cora is up to, Regina certainly doesn't want to be a part of it. Mother's plans never seem to work out in Regina's favor. And yet, with Russell and Henry to worry about and magic still beyond her grasp, she finds herself with no other option but to play along. "Yes. Yes, of course."

As she moves to stand, Russell takes her hand. "Don't go," he says softly, sitting up so that they see eye to eye.

The spark of recognition in Cora's eyes makes Regina's chest tighten. "Do you two know each other? Does he mean something to you?" she asks, head tilted thoughtfully to one side.

Regina can scarcely breathe. Behind her eyes the memories come in flashes. Daniel's ring on her finger. Mother's hand in his chest. Daniel's body in her arms.

So she does what must be done to protect the man she loves.

"No," she says flatly, rising to stand beside her mother. Looking down at the wounded man on the ground, she says, "He is nothing to me." She turns then to follow her mother out of the hidden chamber, the hurt and confusion on her lover's face a burning image in her mind.