Once Upon A Time ~ Book 1

Chapter 117 - Lonely Regina

David and Regina sat at the table in the luxurious dining room of Regina house, finishing the last bit of lasagna.
David put his knife and fork down and wiped his mouth with his napkin.
Regina watched him, a glass wine in her hands. "How did you like it?" she smiled.
He chuckled. "Best lasagne I ever had. You really know how to work some magic." he got to his feet. "Here, let me get the dishes."
"Oh, no, David." she argued.
"No, no. It's the least I can do." he said, collecting the dishes on the table.
She laughed. "You saved me from having to call a tow truck today and now you're doing my dishes? Doesn't seem right."
He carried some of the plates to the kitchen next door and Regina followed him.
"Please. The last couple of weeks haven't exactly been easy for me, and you've been there the whole time." he put the dishes inro the sink and ran the tap.
"Well, I can't help it. I feel responsible for you. Ever since I found you." she leaned agaist the counter next to the sink.
He turned off the tap and dried his hands with a tea-towel. "You know, after all this time, no one's ever told me the story."
"What story?"
"About how you found me."
She smiled. "It's probably because I'm the only one who knows it."
He smiled inquringly and she chuckled, staring at him as she began to speak.
"I was working late.... It was a cold night. It must've been ten below. And on my drive home, I realised I'd left my phone at the office. I remember thinking just to forget about it and I didn't really need it...... But something inside me told me to turn around and go back."
"And that's when you saw me?"
Regina's face fell a little. "You were on the side of the road. Unconscious. So cold you felt like ice. The doctor said if I'd found you ten minutes later, it would have been too late."
He sighed and looked down at the ground, shrugging his shoulders a little.
"It's amazing, isn't it? If I hadn't forgotten my phone, I wouldn't have been on the road at that time."
"Yeah, it's almost......." he looked back up at her, a little smile on his face. "Almost like the universe wanted you to find me."
She gazed into his blue eyes with her dark brown one's, then leaned forward, her eyelids gentle closer.
David shrugged away. "Uhh...." he said, surprised, baffled at what to say. "I'm sorry. I hope...... you didn't get the wrong idea."
"Oh. I'm sorry. I just got caught up in the moment and........" she said, disappointed.
"You don't have to apologise. I just....... We...... This is great like it is." he said, staring at her as her eyes darted awkwardly around the room.
She smiled and he shrugged his head in the direction of the door. She hesitated and followed, her glass of red wine still in her hand.
David pulled on his coat in the hall as Regina walked towards him.
He turned to her. "Thanks again for dinner." he smiled and walked to the door and left the house, leaving Regina staring at the door with a smile hiding her sadness and disappointment.
She walked to the mirror hanging on the wall in the hall with a gold frame and stared at her reflection as she took a sip of her red wine. Then she held it below her mouth, her anger retrieving and threw the wine glass at the mirror, smashing her reflection, shattering the mirror accross the room and splattering red wine accross the cream coloured wall.

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The Evil Queen's carraige was pulled quickly down the road, followed by her dark gaurds, the purple smoke of the curse chasing them.
The Queen leabed forward and peered out of the window, smiling at the sight of the curse beginning.

Snow screamed in pain, in her bed, giving birth, Charming holding her hand next to her.
"No!" she screamed in agony.
"Doc, do something." Charming said to Doc, standing next to the bed.
"It's okay. The wardrobe's almost finished. Just hold on."

"Circumstances have changed." said the Blue Fairy, fluttering into the nursery to Geppetto, Jiminy and Pinocchio, who were finishing the vessel.
Geppetto looked yo at her. "What do you mean changed?"
"Snow White is going to give birth early. The saviour will be born at any moment."
Geppetto walked towards the Blue Fairy, his face down.
"Pinocchio can't go. Snow White must accompany her daughter or all will be lost. She must be protected. This is a land with no magic. She will need someone to guild her. Someone to make her believe in her destiny. Who better than her mother."
"But we had a deal."
"There is no time to argue. The curse is almost upon us, and I must return to the fairies to make final preparations. It is vital that you tell Snow White what I just told you. Her child is out only hope. She's the only one who can save us."
"And my boy? What will happen to him?"
"

All we can do is have faith that one day the saviour will restore all that we have lost." she glanced one last time at them and with that flew out of the colourful, stain glass window.
Geppetto sighed sadly.
"Shall we tell Snow White?" asked Pinocchio, breaking the deadly silence.
"No." he said after a moment. He turned to his son. "Get into the wardrobe, my boy."
"Geppetto, you can't." protested Jiminy, standing on the vessel. "Things have changed. The saviour needs her mother."
"No, she needs someone to protect her. To make her believe in her destiny. My boy, he can do that."
"I don't understand, Father, she said......." said Pinocchio.
"I don't care what she said. All that matters is you are safe." he said, bending down to his level.
"But you told me to be honest, Father. You tole me not to lie."
Geppetto went down on his knees in front of Pinocchio. "Sometimes, we have to lie to protect the people we love." he held his little arms. "You must look out for the child in this new land. You must protect her."
"I don't want to go. I don't want to leave you."
Geppetto threw his arms around his son and held him close to him, tears filling in his eyes. Then he broke away, looking into his little eyes. "Pinocchio, you must remember what the Blue Fairy said. In twenty-eight years, you must make sure the saviour believes. Promise me you'll do that. That is the only way we'll see each other again." he smiled.
"I promise." he said after a moment.
"Good, good. Here." he took his little fed hat from his head and pulled off the little apron he wore.
"There will be many temptations in this new world, Pinocchio." said Jiminy. "But as long as you remain brave, truthful and unselfish, you will not fail."
Geppetto got to his feet. "Here. Here, here." he muttered, opening the decorative, wooden doors of the vessel.
Pinocchio crawled inside and sat up against the wood, sadness on his little eyes as stared up at his father for the last time.
He stared down at him, sadly. "You'll find me again." he smiled. "And on that day, I will look at you with pride."
The little tears that had been filling in Pinocchio's eyes slowly and gently rowled down his freckled cheeks.
"You will be a great man, my son." he kneled down and put his little red hat on his head and Pinocchio threw his arms around his father, the tears now streaming down his face. Geppetto then sat him down in the wardrobe and kissed his forehead. Then he stood up and slowly shut the doors of the wardrobe, staring at his beautiful boy for the last time with tear stained cheeks. Pinocchio cryed silently in the vessel as the doors shut and the light dissappeared.
As Geppetto shut the door, it rumbled ferociously. Then when it had died down, he opened the wooden doors and peered inside to see it empty. The tears streamed down his face and he turned away, sobbing to himself.

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August drove on his motorcycle with Emma behind him in the dark now, on a man road, his headlight guiding the way. He slowed down when he reached an interstate and down a little quite road through the forest. He slowed down and stopped outside a little, lit up diner, with lights around the roof, people sitting outside and an American flag hanging down.
Emma looked in shock at the diner then around at August, turning off the engine. She jumped from the bike and pulled off her helmet, gazing up at the diner. "What the hell is this?"
He pulled off him helmet. "Last I checked, it was a diner."
"No more screwing around. I am not a character in one of your books. What the hell are we doing here?"
He stepped off his bike and walked towards her and stared at her furious face. "I think you know." he said, reading her thoughts. He took from his leather coat pocket a newspaper article. He unfolded it and held it up in front of Emma to show the same article Emma had with the caption Seven Year Old Boy Finds Baby On Side Of Road. "You've been here before."
Emma looked at the article, still furious, then up at August.
"This is the diner you were brought to when you were found as a baby."
"So, you found an article about me. So what? I thought this trip was supposed to be about you."
He followed the newspaper cutting again. "It is. This us my story."he held up the folded article. "And it's you're story."
"And how is that?" she said, frustrated.
"That seven year old boy who found you.........that was me." he smiled a little.
Emma stepped back and stared up into his face, the fury leaving her face as she stared at the little boy from her past.