The Life We Left Behind

Up for a road trip?

He kept staring into his beer until it felt like he was drowning in the golden, sparkly liquid. He should be over the moon right now. He found her, the girl he had been obsessed with finding for all those years. Eloise Gardener was free. To many, he was a hero. But he didn't feel like a hero himself. Yes, he was incredibly relieved, happy and proud to have solved this case after all this time, but as it so often went: when you're striving for something for so long, and so obsessively – once you reach your goal, the feeling very rarely compares to what you might have imagined beforehand. He felt empty now, useless. As if finding Eloise Gardener had been the only thing tethering him to the world, as if she had been the only person who had needed him. And now... who needed him now? And then, of course, there was that other woman who apparently had no need for him anymore, and even after sleeping on their breakup for a few nights, it hurt no less. Quite to the contrary. Speaking of...

„What are you sitting here all sad and pouty?", she had finally made her way over to his table, and in a weird way, he was happy to see her. Even though it was an almost masochistic move of him to come back here so soon. Or, at all. „You should be all rainbow kisses and unicorn stickers, you found your Eloise Gardener! You saved her. Congratulations!" She smiled.

He just sighed. „Yeah? Well, would have been great to celebrate this achievement with my girlfriend, but, you know, she dumped me, so... this face is all I can give you tonight. What YOU can give me though, is a glass of rum. And make it a double."
„No!", she said decisively, „Just because I dumped you, as you so gentleman-ly put it, doesn't mean I don't care about you, Rogers. What you can have is another beer, just one more, or one single tequila shot, at usual. But if you want to get wasted, I recommend you Murphy's Irish Pub down the road. Not gonna happen here... love."
She turned around and was just about to walk away when she heard his voice again. „I don't know what to do, Roni...", she turned around, „I don't know where to go from here. You know?"
He looked at her, pleading as if she was able to present him with all the answers he was looking for on a silver plate. And ironically – she was! Only she couldn't, not now.

She sat down at his table opposite of him and reached for his hand, looking him deep in the eyes, but didn't respond.
„I somehow lost both people who meant the most to me in this world within just a few days. Eloise Gardener, by finding her... and you. And now? Who am I now? What am I supposed to do, who am I supposed to care for? Who still needs me at all?"
„There will be others. I'm sure of it! And there's still an incredible amount of shit going down and danger in this town, and we need you, Detective! We need you clear and sober, and we need that same tenacity that helped you find your missing girl."
... Even though that ‚thing' you set free made everything just so much worse, she thought.

„You know, I have the feeling that the more I learn about what's going on around here, the less I know. Remember your ‚You don't understand it yet, but maybe one day you will' speech? Weaver just gave me a very similar one today. What the hell is going on here? Do you know anything? If you do, you need to tell me."
So... Weaver, huh? That little bugger was always up to no good.
„I know some things. But not enough. Not yet", she got up from his table, „I have to get back to work, I'll bring you another beer."

***

As much as she wanted to help Hook, she couldn't, at least not right now. She needed help herself. So Weaver was speaking to him in riddles? No doubt, he was awake. Somehow he was always awake.

She braced herself for the sight of her ex boyfriend once more when she opened the door and stepped into the police station. It wasn't long until she found him sitting at his desk. He looked up to her in surprise and... anticipation?
„Hey... What can I do for you?"
„Hey. I'm actually looking for Weaver. Is he around?"

He wasn't. And much like yesterday, he didn't much like the thought of his senior partner. Regina took a good look at him while he was talking. Sure, she still recognized the handsome, smart, funny and kind man she had been with for a few weeks and so many nights before. And deep in there somewhere she also saw Captain Hook, the man she had known and fought side by side with for many years in another realm before the curse was cast. The man who was so desperately trying to be with his daughter Alice. His daughter, created from magic, with none other than his precious ‚Eloise Gardener', ironically. If only he knew... His daughter who he never even wanted, but still mattered more to him than anything else, more than his own life. Much like Henry for herself. They did have a lot in common after all.

Here, in the land without magic, his poisoned heart shouldn't be a problem, just like it wasn't for Henry – so far. Here, nothing prevented father and daughter to be together... but what if they broke the curse somehow, without her being able to prevent it? Who knew how close they could become how quickly?

„Anything else?", he asked, by now a little more impatiently.
Finally Regina took a deep breath. „Yesterday you were talking about having no one left who needs you. I think you're wrong. Henry told me about how Weaver used that girl, Tilly... You know, people only let themselves be used when they don't have any other option. So maybe you can give her one."

When she left the police station, her legs were shaking. Had she just made a grievous mistake? Though at the same time, she was smiling. He deserved to be with his daughter. At least here, where he could, for as long as he still could. That other Captain Hook from the Wish Realm had once intended to take the original Hook's place by Emma's side, but had refrained from following through on his plan when he learned that they were expecting a child. He would never come between a father and his child. And neither would she.

***

„Really?", she said with a sigh, „First I have Rogers sitting here looking like three funerals, now you too?"
Henry attempted a smile, but failed miserably. She could instantly see in his eyes that were looking right through her that he had already been served quite a few drinks before she had started her shift just now.
„Are you... drunk?", she asked with just the right pinch of motherly disappointment such that it went unnoticed.
„You were right breaking up with Rogers! Why do people fall in love anyway? It's supremely masochistic, it's a colossal waste of time and, it's stupid."
„I know you don't believe that. Also, that's not at all what I said! I said Rogers and I weren't right for each other. But I didn't mean to say that love was stupid in general. When two people really, truly belong together... love's the strongest magic of all. One that exists even here, in the real world. Not just in that fairytale book of yours."
A shiver ran down her spine as she saw a face in front of her, just for a split second. Robin... how many times, how many minutes, hours, nights had she spent gazing into his beautiful blue eyes, smiling along with him. It was so long ago that she had lost him. But it still hurt just the same.

She barely noticeably shook her head to clear her mind from those memories and focus back on Henry, pouring out his heart to her about Jacinda. Each one of his words felt like a stab in the chest to her, knowing all too well that it was her fault he was suffering right now, her own son. She was the one who talked Jacinda out of giving him a chance. But it had been the only way! True love's kiss would kill him. She needed more time to find a cure. And she needed help. Help she wouldn't be getting from Detective ‚Rumple' Weaver, that much was clear.
So she knew what she had to do and where she had to go: San Francisco. If she could only wake up Zelena, her sister would help them.

„So, Henry Mills... what do you say? Up for a roadtrip?"