The Other Swan Sister

Chapter 15

"Sweetheart?" Your mother calls softly across the room.
You're sitting at the kitchen counter drinking your 4th cup of coffee today. It's 1 o'clock.
"Mhm?" You reply, slightly out of it.
"Would you drop this to your father at the station, please? I'm so stacked up with papers to grade."
"Sure, Mom." You smile politely and take the bag of food from her.
"Thank you, darling. Is everything okay?"
"Yeah. I'm fine." You shrug it off as you busy yourself with putting on your shoes & jacket.
"Okay." She replies, frowning at you, clearly not believing it.

You arrive at the station and notice it's pretty much dead. Your father had to do an extra Sunday shift because Mr Gold got thrown into the cell last night for some reason. Obviously, Emma didn't want to do it.
As you walk down the hallway toward the room with his office, you hear distant voices.
Frowning as you approach, you slow down to try to make out the conversation.
"I don't know what you're getting at, Madame Mayor." You hear Gold taunt.
Shit.
Of course she's here.
"Listen here, 'Gold.'" She spits. "Your little game doesn't work on me. You should know this by now."
You frown even harder, what the hell are they up to?
"What is your name?" She slowly barks it out at him.
You open the door widely to signal your entrance, just to see their reactions as you interrupt their secret conversation.
They both turn to you abruptly, Gold with an expression of smugness and Regina with shock.
"Oh." You stop yourself from apologising. "Mr Gold, where's my father?" You ask cooly, completely ignoring Regina's presence; although you feel her eyes on you the whole time.
"I believe he went for a walk, dearie." He politely replies with a nod.
You smile sharply and nod as you drop his lunch on his desk and swiftly walk to the exit.
"Ivy..." you hear Regina weakly call.
You don't turn back, pretending as if she was never there.
You stop at the other side of the door, hiding as you hear the voices continue.
"It appears you can't always get what you want, Regina." He teases in a sing-song voice.
"One more word from you, you little imp!" She rages back to him, it's clearly a threat.

You get back home and see your mother still grading papers at the dining table.
"Thank you for doing that." She smiles as she looks up briefly from her pile.
"Hey, Mom? Can I ask you something?" You try to act as casual as possible, sliding into a chair opposite her.
"Of course. You know you can ask me anything." She gently replies, giving you all her attention.
"Why is Regina so isolated?"
She frowns slightly and shakes her head with a slight chuckle.
"Why do you ask?" She's acting weird.
"Well... since technically she's now my boss, I just wondered what you think of her."
"Oh." She smiles again.
Covering something up for sure.
"Regina is a very strong woman..." she's choosing her words carefully. "She keeps to herself and always has. I don't think she likes to socialise with the town. She can be quite hard to reach... but she loves Henry very much."
"He's all she has." You mutter, somewhat in a haze.
"She's trying. To be- better." Your mother urges, still carefully choosing her words. "I think both her and the town have a hard time letting her in."
"But why?" You urge.
What could she have done that's so bad?!
And why is no one telling you?
"Mom?!" Emma interrupts the conversation.
"Yes, Emma?" Your mother happily avoids the question.
You give up.
Knowing you'll have to figure all of this out on your own.
"Where did you put my uniform?" She calls from the bedroom.
"Emma, you're 28 now. Can't you look after your own clothes?" MM returns, still sounding as gentle as ever.
"Yeah, yeah. I get it, I'm an adult now. I wish I weren't." Emma mutters to herself as she frantically buttons up her sherif's shirt. "I have to be quick, Gold's in the cell with no supervision. God knows what he could pull."
You frown to yourself, suddenly you get an idea.
"I'm just gonna head to the store." You announce as you begin back toward the front door.
There's only a small time frame for you to make this work.
"Okay, sweetheart." Your mother calls out.
You rush out the door and bump into your father returning from work.
"Woah woah woah, kiddo!" He grins at you. "Slow down, soldier."
"Sorry, dad." You smile as you brush past him, practically running to your car.

"Mr Gold?!" You call out as you open the door to the large office room.
"Ahh, what a surprise!" He smugly announces. "If it isn't the other 'Swan' sister."
"I want some information and I've heard you're the one to go to." You declare firmly.
He raises an eyebrow and pauses for a moment.
"And what makes you think I'll give that away for free, dearie?"
"What do you want? Emma told me you make deals."
He scoffs as he shakes his head.
"Ah ah." He wags his finger. "I don't name my price."
"I want to know what's going on with Regina."
His face curls into a sly smirk.
"Well, well, well." He looks excited, which makes your stomach turn. "What would you like to know?"
"Everything."
"Your wish is my command." He bows dramatically and you frown.
As you open your mouth to question you suddenly feel the entire station whirling around you, as if you're in the middle of a hurricane.
You go to shout but no words come out.
Suddenly the wind around you turns purple and you see the building begin to disappear behind the overflow of purple cloud.
This must be a dream.

You suddenly wake on top of a hard surface. You wince as you pull your aching body up slowly and glance around. It looks like a rainforest surrounding you.
You look to your left and see your mother and father beginning to wake and frown. Then to your left you see Emma waking slowly, and that guy from the bar a few feet away from her. And of course, ahead of you, it's Regina.
Abandoned on an island with your family and ex lover; this better be a dream.
"Ivy?" You hear Emma gasp slightly, rushing over to you.
"What's going on?" You ask in a state of panic.
"I don't know." She smiles sympathetically.
"Are you both alright?" Your mother asks softly as your father immediately rushes over to you.
"I'm fine." You nod alongside Emma.
Then almost in sync you all turn to Regina, who purses her lips and rolls her eyes.
"Just my luck to get stranded on an island with the Charming's." She groans.
You're the only one completely lost by her comment. You frown at her, maybe it's a nickname she came up with?
"Did you do this?!" David starts toward her fiercely.
Regina is unbothered and only rolls her eyes once again, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Oh, please. Do you really think if I was responsible for this I would have put myself here? It was obviously Gold. I know he's up to something."
"Gold." You mutter under your breath, yet somehow everyone seems to snap their attention to you.
"Ivy... did you make a deal?" Emma asks with more fear in her voice than you've ever heard before.