Tell Your Heart to Beat Again || Outlaw Queen

5|| An Old Aquaintence

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Robert Gold sat down across from a man sitting alone in the corner. After all these years, they were finally reunited. His assistant, Milah Korsan, and his bodyguard, Killian Jones, stood awkwardly off to the side, ready for the meeting to end. But it hadn't even begun yet.

"It's been a while," Gold's 'acquaintance' said softly, not wanting anyone to hear.

"Indeed it has," the actor agreed. "Tell me, how are your wife and son? Do they even know about me?"

The mystery acquaintance responded with a seemingly irrelevant question of his own, "Is Grandad still mad that I left Scotland?"

"Ah," Gold pressed his lips together, understanding the answer very well.

The man lowered his voice even more, so the assistant and bodyguard couldn't hear him. "So how'd you manage to convince them to let you meet me here?"

"I put it on the schedule myself. You should feel lucky; I don't go against Milah's wishes for just anyone."

"Good thing we're cousins, then. So why did you really want to talk to me? Surely you wouldn't have accepted this movie role unless it was important."

Gold's voice was barely audible. "It is important, I assure you," the seriousness in Gold's voice was freaking the man out a bit. Gold was hardly ever so serious. "Someone acting in this movie is not who they claim to be. Someone is a fraud, and I am going to figure out who." Gold stood up. "Meet me on set, if you want to help." Gold dropped a folded up piece of paper on the table, and the man's hand quickly shot out to grab it. "See you around, Neal," Gold said as he walked away. Milah and Killian glanced at each other, sharing confused looks, before following Gold out of the restaurant.

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two days later
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Regina trudged into the office building where she worked. Mondays were always the hardest, because she had to be at work by 7:30 in the morning, and after staying up late with Belle, who was suffering from morning sickness, this Monday was especially hard. Not to mention that she still had Arthur's question hanging over her head.

She pushed the thoughts of Arthur from her mind as she stepped into the elevator. The doors closed behind her and she rode up to the third floor, where she worked, and prepared herself for another week of work. At least she could look forward to seeing Zelena afterwards.

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When Neal entered his house, he knew he was in deep trouble. Emma was sitting at the table with Robert Gold, and both of them had cups of tea sitting in front of them.

"Guess who I met today," Emma said casually as Neal dropped his jacket on the ground. "Your dear cousin. Also known as the actor, Robert Gold. We had a nice chat about all of the things you kept from me."

The thing that scared Neal most was not Emma's steely calm tone; it was the fact that Henry wasn't there to lessen Emma's blow. "Where...where's Henry?"

"At Violet's." Emma took a sip of her tea. "Now, is there anything else you would like to confess while we're dealing with deep, dark, secrets?"

"No," Neal heard himself use a small voice, but he didn't care at the moment because he was waiting for the moment when Emma snapped and started yelling at him.

"No?"

Neal frantically shook his head.

"Well then," Emma turned to Gold, "you may leave." She then faced Neal again, "You, however, may not."

Gold excused himself from the table while Neal stood still, unsure what was going to happen next. As soon as Gold shut the door to the Cassidys' house, Emma snapped. "Why didn't you just tell me?!"

"I thought--"

"No, Neal, listen. I trusted you to tell me about your past when I told you about mine. We had a deal, and you lied to me. Not only that, you lied to Henry!" Emma sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "I just need some time to myself. I think we both do. Violet's parents said Henry could stay with them for a few days."

Neal felt his heart shattering as he watched Emma walk towards the door. He was sure she was going to tell him to get out, but instead, she grabbed her jacket and opened the door. Before she walked out, she glanced back at Neal. "The house is yours."

Neal stood still, paralyzed by the shock of what had just happened. "Emma, wait!" Neal lunged towards the door, but he was too late. Emma slammed it shut and a few moments later, Neal could hear the engine of her yellow Volkswagen bug as she started her car.

Neal swung the door open to see Emma pulling out of the driveway. "EMMA!" Neal shouted as loud as he could. But it was no use. She was already gone.

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When Regina arrived home, Belle and Merida were already in her apartment, looking through the fridge. Regina sighed. It was times like this when she questioned her decision to give Belle her spare apartment key.

"What are you doing?"

"Belle was having cravings," Merida answered. "Also, I finally got fired from the library today!" Merida was grinning, as if getting fired was a good thing.

"And you're proud of that?"

"I hated that job."

"Hey!" Belle exclaimed. "They let you stay months longer than you deserved, have a little respect please."

"They only did that because of you," Merida replied. "If they weren't scared you'd leave with me, I would have been fired a long time ago."

Belle shrugged, unable to argue with Merida. "Do you wanna watch some Grey's Anatomy while I help you search for a new job?" Belle offered.

"Duh." Merida and Belle waltzed out of Regina's apartment. "Bye!" they chorused as they left, shutting the door behind them. Regina sighed and sat down on the couch. Her phone went off, and Regina checked to see who had texted her.

I have an offer for you. I'll explain details tomorrow morning –Zel💚

Regina rolled her eyes. Zelena always had a way of being overdramatic. But speaking of offers... Regina still hadn't given Arthur an answer. She should probably figure out if she was going to allow him to marry Zelena or not. She started typing out a message to him when she was interrupted by a knock on the door. Belle or Merida must have forgotten something.

Regina set her phone down, the text still half finished, and opened the door. On the other side was a blonde woman who looked far more than five years older than Regina remembered her.

"Emma?"

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A/N: Thanks to oncerupxnatime for Milah's last name (from when I asked for ideas on instagram a month ago😂)

I'm so sorry this update took so long. But I've already started the next chapter and the story is going to pick up from here, I promise. There will be plenty more Outlaw Queen and WickedKing and you'll get to see how things play out with Rumbelle and SwanFire. And Snowing is going to show up soon😏