Ten Years- Once Upon A Time- ON HOLD

Promise Me

Regina was sitting at the desk in her black and white office one evening, trying to get through some paperwork, when a man strode in holding a small card. Regina looked up and, recognising the man, smiled at him.

"Ah, Jefferson. You got my message?" She said, standing up and walking around the desk.

"Of course I did," Jefferson snapped, "You know I watch her."

"Yes, and how is your daughter?" Regina asked, striding over to the small table by the door that she kept her bottles of cider on, "Paige, is it?"

"Grace. Her name's not Paige, not really." Jefferson said.

"My apologies." Regina said as sincerely as she could manage, "Would you like a glass?"

Jefferson merely shook his head, "What do you want, Regina?"

"I need your help." Regina said, taking a sip from her glass and walking back to Jefferson.

"Then ask someone else because I'm not interested." Jefferson said, turning to walk away.

Regina grabbed his arm stopping him in his tracks, "I can't ask someone else. You're the only one who can help me."

Still standing with his back to her, Jefferson mumbled, "The last time I helped you I lost my daughter. Why would I make that same mistake again?"

"Because, in return, I can bring her back to you. I could wake her up and you could be a family."

Jefferson turned to the mayor, seriously considering the offer.

"I see that got your attention. Don't worry, you don't have to decide now." Regina assured him, "I'm still debating on what to collect from our land."

"Our land? What business do you have there?" Jefferson queried.

"I need something from there. Something to defeat the saviour."

"The saviour? She's here?" Jefferson asked, momentarily distracted.

"Yes. She's in Storybrooke, and I need to stop her from breaking the curse early." Regina said.

"How?"

"I can't kill her, because that would result in the curse being broken. Which is why I'm targeting her true love."

Jefferson sighed, "I'll consider it."

"That's all I needed to hear." Regina smiled at him.

Saying nothing more, Jefferson turned on his heel and left the office. Regina finished her drink in one go, took one look at her paperwork and decided to leave it for the morning. She would hate herself for it later, but there was no way she would write anything sensible now.

Setting her glass down on her desk, Regina picked up her bag and strode out the door, deciding to go and see Graham.

~~~~

Emma and Neal kept to their agreement over the next few months... sort of. They still argued, a lot, but Emma kept her side of the bargain and didn't leave, and Neal tried his best not to yell.

He was struggling more than Emma with his part of the deal. He was constantly stressed and distracted by the man who ran the pawn shop, Mr. Gold. Because he recognised him from a very long time ago, hundreds of years in fact.

Neal didn't want to see him, not yet. It was just too much. But he just couldn't keep it from Emma, and the minute he told her that he thought his father was in town she insisted that he visited him.

"Neal, you have to go! He's your dad!" Emma said, sitting on the bed next to him.

"He left me, Emma, why would I want to see him?" Neal mumbled, avoiding her stare and instead focusing on his shoes.

"Look at me, Neal," She put her hand under his chin and lifted his face to hers, "You finally found him. I would give anything to find my parents, even if it was just to find out why they left me on that road 18 years ago. Please, just promise me you'll talk to him."

"Emma-"

"Promise me." Emma said, firmly.

Neal nodded, "I promise. I'll go to his shop tomorrow."

"Good."

~~~~

Jefferson followed Regina through the graveyard and to the stone building standing in the middle of it. She led him inside and downstairs, to her vaults.

"So this is where you keep it all." Jefferson said.

Regina had been carrying a hat box with her, which she now set down on the floor in the middle of the room.

"Have you decided what you want?" Jefferson asked.

"There's a potion in my palace which should be perfect for this." Regina said, opening the box and taking the hat out. She kicked the box out of the way.

"A potion? I thought sleeping curses were more your style?"

"Usually, yes, but if I only put Neal under a sleeping curse Emma could wake him up with true love's kiss and break the curse. Him being asleep will just make her love him more." Regina browsed the shelves lining the walls of the room as if she were looking for something specific, "If he dies, she'll be heartbroken. She'll move on, hopefully."

"Sounds like a great plan, but we need magic to get the hat to work." Jefferson said, pointing to it.

"Way ahead of you." Regina said, taking a box down from a shelf and rattling it, "I've kept a few little things from our land."

She opened the small box and emptied the contents into the hat, but nothing happened. Jefferson stepped forward and took the hat.

"Empty." He said, "You're going to need something more powerful."

"Like what?" Regina asked.

"Maybe that ring. It has magical powers." Jefferson nodded to the ring Regina wore.

"No it doesn't!" Regina said, hurriedly concealing the ring.

"It was glowing, Regina. If you want to get the hat to work, you'll need to make some sacrifices."

Regina sighed and reluctantly slipped the ring off her finger. Jefferson took it from her and, putting the hat on the floor again, dropped it inside.

~~~~

Woo! Another update! And it only took me less than two days to write, so I'm proud of that. I actually started this on the train yesterday on the way home from a race (2 1/2 miles in 25 mins with a bad ankle= torture) so I'm honestly amazed that I got any wattpading done.

Anyway I'm not going to be able to update this often for the next couple of weeks because I have 2 weeks left to update my original story or I've failed at my New Years resolution already :(