The Queen's Thief

Chapter 44: Power of Fear

*28 years old*
*Story Brooke*
~Sam's pov~

After last night I woke up in bed alone.  I had guided a drunk Ruby home long after Snow had left us alone.

Knowing Ruby she will be asleep until noon since she doesn't work today. At least that's what she said last night.

I found myself running again.

"Sam?"  I stopped running once I heard the broken voice of a woman I never expected to be up at 3 in the morning.

"Regina?" I questioned before I caught my breath.

I looked over at her and I saw  her cheeks were stained with tears and makeup. She was sitting on a bench covered with morning dew.

"Come on let's get you cleaned up." I said as pulled her to her feet.

As soon as she was standing I could smell alcohol on her breath.

"Hold on to me." I said before I picked her up.

She continued to cry and mumble things as I carried her.

I was about half way to her house when I was stopped by David in the patrol car.

"Sam?" He looked at the crying woman in my arms. "Is everything ok?"

"Yes. Everything will be ok. I need to get Regina home."

"Do you need a ride? It will be faster."

"No..." Regina moaned out as she buried her face into the crook of my neck.

"I think she wants the fresh air." I stated to David.

"Ok well be safe."

It didn't take as long as I thought to bring Regina home but I was surprised the door was unlocked.

"Hey we need to eat something before you go to bed." I whispered to her since I wasn't sure if Henry was here or not.

I sat her down at her dining table before I looked around her kitchen.

"Am I your friend?" I heard her ask as I found some bagels.

"Of course you are." I put the bagels in her toaster before I sat down next to her. "Why do you ask?" I asked as I wet a dish towel.

"You went to the cricket for help instead of me."

"Well he lied about why I went there." I sighed. I knew I had no way out of this now, because I don't want to lie to her.

"Why? Oooh..." She over exaggerated her response.

I wiped some of the make up from her face and she surprisingly did not protest.

"He was covering for me because I have been seeing him to help me with my issues." I heard the toaster ding so I got up to retrieve the bagels. As well as some jam.

"Oh." She sighed as I placed a bagel I front of her.

"I know that doesn't make it any better." I moved back to the kitchen and grabbed a glass of water for her. "This isn't one of the things that are easy for me to talk about."

"Especially to you." I thought instead of saying it out loud.

"I get that Robin left to be with lady Marion. The mother of his son." She burst into tears again. "He said he had a duty to her since he married her."

"I'm sorry." I was at a loss of words so I just pulled her into a hug.

I pulled her back and saw the remaining make up getting caught in her tears.

I made her look at me so I could continued to clean off her face.

"The world's not fair... It makes us love people who aren't options." I spoke softly as I wiped away her tears and the remaining makeup. "It is supposed to make us stronger, but instead sometimes it breaks a part of us."

While I was talking I noticed her lean closer as if she were to kiss me and I quickly turned my head away. I covered my actions with a stretch and yawn.

She ended up planting a kiss onto my cheek.

"Regina I can't. I love you, I do but I know you aren't doing this from love." I sighed from how much this hurt me to say this. "You are hurting and I can't be someone to cover up your pain. It's not good for either of us."

I looked over at the drunk woman and she was asleep in the chair.

"You won't even remember having done that." I let out a soft laugh as I picked her up and carried her up the stairs.

I removed her shoes and jewelry before I covered her up. I walked around the room and found a trash can and placed it next to her bed before heading back down stairs and cleaning up the mess left on the table.

"I told her love is weakness."

I looked up to see Cora leaning against the kitchen counter drinking a glass of blood red wine. She had the same evil smirk on her face that she always does.

"You don't even know what love is so how do you know it's weakness." I stated as I finished putting things away. "Without love I'd be dead."

"No it was fear that kept you alive."

"Fear isn't something that kept me alive when I was six and abandoned in the forest. Fear isn't something that lead me to your daughter and keep her alive even when I could have just let people kill her. It hasn't done anything for me except have Rumpelstiltskin abandon me and my mother give me to him." I stepped towards her. "There is a difference between the power love has and the fear you have of love."

She remained silent as if she was in shock.

"That's a special thing I can do. I can find what people fear. The things they don't want to hear or have other people know about." 

She looked like she was pissed off and scared of me now.

"You know why it hurts people, because they know it's the truth." With that being said I turned around and left her in the kitchen.

I heard her summon her cloud and when I heard a glass shatter I saw she was gone and her glass of wine shattered on the kitchen floor.

"Great more to clean up."