Chapter 18: Regina's Prince Charming
Daniel Mills had just punched a man in the face. A man who was pretty much a complete stranger to him; albeit, a rude one.
However, he had insulted his wife. And something to Daniel told him he should be upset with the man, who was currently holding up a handkerchief towards his nose and was cursing.
"Daniel?" Mary Margret said.
"I—" He said before turning to the man. "I'm—"
"Don't say you're sorry," The man hissed. "Luckily, I don't think you broke anything."
Daniel wasn't so sure he could've sworn he heard cartridge cracking. "You should still get yourself checked out."
"Oh, believe me, I will. And dearie, I wouldn't go that far. I'm still pressing charges."
"Pressing charges?" A voice Daniel didn't recognize said coming from behind him. "What—who punched you, Gold?"
"Daniel Mills." He said. "Seems like Mr. and Mrs. Mills are both going to be sharing a cell tonight."
"That is ridiculous," Mary Margret said. "Daniel shouldn't be arrested for—"
"Hitting me? I did nothing to provoke him." Mr. Gold said. "That is a crime and a tort, expect yourself to be served Mills."
"Now, Mr. Gold."
"Don't lecture me. I am not a character on a television show. You can see from the hospital footage and Ms. Blanchard's statement that Daniel hit me."
Graham sighed as he looked at Daniel. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to take you in."
"Really, Graham, Daniel just got released."
"I know," He said. "But if Mr. Gold was punched, then he has ever right to press charges. Some people don't seem to listen to reason."
"Oh please," Mr. Gold snapped. "Have you found my clients' child yet?"
"I've—I've been busy." He said
The man gave him a dirty look, "Before Regina got herself knocked out on pain meds, she mentioned he was at home. Wouldn't be the logical place to look?"
"I'll have to get a warrant," Graham said.
"Well, get one. After you arrest Mr. Mills for assaulting me."
"Why do you want to search Regina's house?" Daniel asked.
None of this made sense to him.
He had met Regina. She didn't seem like she was the type to have done anything wrong like this Gold was accusing her of.
"For the intellectually impaired, I'll reiterate. There is a child who needs to be with his parents. Not a deranged barracuda and her idiotic boy toy."
"Huh?" Daniel asked still confused.
"He's talking about HJ, Daniel." Mary Margret explained. "He represents HJ's biological parents who have filed a lawsuit against Regina for custody."
"What?"
"Your wife," Gold hissed as he held up his now soaked handkerchief to nose. "Has a TRO issued against her and she violated it."
"She's Henry's mother though. You can't take her child away from her."
"She is hardly fit to raise a child, let alone a goldfish." Gold muttered. "Are you going to get the warrant or not?"
"I'll make a call," Graham said with a sigh. "Though, we won't need to if Mr. Mills would be willing to cooperate. I'm sure he would—you know, if you let these silly assault charges slip."
"I'm bleeding," Gold said.
"You said you doubted that your nose was broken." Mary Margret said.
Gold glared at her. "We'll get a warrant Humbert, so there's really no point."
"I'm sure your clients would like their son returned faster to them. Come on, man, there's no reason to lock up Mr. Mills. Your getting what you want with Regina."
"He assaulted me." Gold said.
Daniel sighed, he really didn't care if a deal was made or not. Though, he'd rather stay out of jail. "I'll let you have access to the house."
"See, so will you drop the charges?"
"The charges maybe," Gold snapped. "But not the civil case. AND I'm going with you to see if the boy is there. I will personally deliver him to his mother."
"I'm sure you will," Graham said. "And you can give Emma my best."
Gold scowled at Graham.
Daniel couldn't help but feel that name "Emma" seemed familiar; a lot of things seemed familiar like Mary Margret. But of course, that didn't make any sense. It was Regina he should remember.
Dr. Whale told Daniel that Regina would probably be unconscious the rest of the night. She had quite the dosage of pain medicine which made finding his home difficult.
Thank God, Mary Margret decided to drive him.
"I feel like I should know this place." He told her. "It' my home. Regina said I helped design the place. That I used to own a design business, I'm an architect."
Mary Margret nodded. "Yes, I do remember you were quite successful at building things before the accident."
"Funny, you didn't mention that before."
"It just popped into my head," She said. "How odd is that? Guess you're not the only one who's having a memory issue."
He laughed.
Oddly enough, Daniel felt comfortable around her. More comfortable than Regina, who was his god damn wife.
He frowned at the thought. He hated it, not knowing that he had been married missing out when his wife had adopted a child. A child that seemed to be in the process of being taken from her.
"Why are they doing this?" He found himself asking out loud.
"Doing what?" Mary Margret asked.
"Taking Regina's, I mean our son away."
Mary Margret sighed. "It's a complex situation. I don't know the details, it would probably be better if you asked Regina."
"Mary Margret," He said. "You know more than you let on."
He could see it on her face.
"It would be better if Regina told you. I just—the story has multiple sides. I can see why Emma and Harry would be concerned."
He raised an eyebrow. "But really taking a child away from the only mother he knows?"
"Yes. And yes, I know how that sounds. But Regina and HJ have always had a strenuous relationship. And then after HJ fell out that window when Regina left him alone, I can sort of understand Emma and Harry's concern. Though I do think there would be a better way to handle this mess."
"Regina left him alone? Isn't he like ten?"
Mary Margret nodded. "She has been under a lot of stress though, and I can understand why she thought HJ was okay. Though, she should've never giving him that sleeping medication."
"Sleeping medication?"
Just who had he married?
Mary Margret seeing his alarmed face said, "I shouldn't have said anything. Besides, I'm sure HJ is fine."
She then turned onto a street and parked the car in front of a stately looking white mansion.
Daniel whistled.
"Impressive, isn't it?" Mary Margret said with a smile.
"I designed that?" He said sort of surprised.
She didn't get to answer as a black Cadillac SUV came up behind them. Instead she groaned and said, "Seems Gold's already here. God, I hope Graham gets here soon enough, that man creeps me out."
Daniel nodded his head.
"I can't believe it." Daniel said a few hours later, as Mary Margret got him a cup of tea from the kitchen.
"He's going to be okay, Daniel." She said. "I got off the phone with Emma, other than being a little drowsy HJ was fine."
"He was locked in a room, Mary Margret." He said. "With bars on his window. And the kid is claustrophobic. He was having a panic attack."
"The bars were to protect him," She said. "Regina didn't want him to fall out again."
"Did you see the look on that kid's face?" Daniel asked.
Mary Margret nodded. "He hates being locked up. Regina should've known better."
Daniel shook his head. He was disgusted. "There's not a decent explanation for this. Not after what Gold told me what happened the first time, he's going to have the parents press charges against her, Mary Margret. I know it. And as much as the guy annoys me, I can't blame him for recommending them that, that little boy was scared."
Mary Margret sighed. "Regina isn't a bad person."
"You're defending this behavior."
He was surprised. There was nothing right about what Regina had done. She had locked a little boy who was obviously claustrophobic in a room for God knows how long. Enough where Henry seemed slightly disoriented, Gold mentioned that the boy needed to be checked out at the hospital Daniel had to agree.
He honestly thought that Mary Margret would've saw how deplorable it was.
She looked at him shocked that he called her out for defending Regina's behavior. "I—I—can't judge."
He shook his head. "I'm sure you never did anything as bad as locking your claustrophobic child up in a room all day with no food or water. Thank God, there's a bathroom connected to him room. That's the one humane thing about Henry's situation."
"You're married to her." Mary Margret said.
He shook his head. "It doesn't excuse what she did, and you know it's wrong."
"Like I said, I can't judge." She said with a sigh. "I need to get going anyway. Those papers won't grade themselves."
"I'm not mad at you, Mary." He said.
She shook her head. "I know, it's just—it's been a long day, Daniel. And I think you need some time alone."
He ended up going over to the Potters house, thinking that he would check on the boy. He had even attempted to make some cookies to give to them. He didn't remember a lot about baking, but the instructions for the bake and break that he found in the refrigerator were simple enough.
Ford Gold answered the door, to say the least Daniel was a little surprised that he was there. While Ford was still wearing the suit he was wearing earlier, he had forgone the jacket and tie. He looked almost normal, save for the quasi evil/creepy look on his face.
What surprised Daniel the most, was that his nose seemed to be almost healed. He thought he had busted it, clearly he hadn't. He would be surprised if there was a bruise there in a day or so.
"What do you want, Mills." He said.
"I'm here to check on Henry," He said. "I am his father after all."
Ford eyes instantly narrowed. "You aren't. Harry Potter is the boy's father. Even in the cockamamie adoption that Regina did, you were never named in the papers. You have no legal ties to Jaime. You didn't even meet him until today."
Clearly, he overstepped his bounds.
"I'm sorry," Daniel said. "I—Regina told me I was the boy's father. But regardless of what my relationship is with him, I wanted to check on him."
"Emma called your girlfriend, surely she told you he is going to be okay."
"Ford?" A woman's voice said coming from the back of the house. "Is that Regina, if it is tell her that I'm calling Graham she is technically in violation of the order (again)."
They weren't happy. He wouldn't be either.
Gold sighed heavily. "It's just Regina's husband, love. The one who punched me in the nose. Unfortunately, I don't have a restraining order on him—yet."
"I came to check on Henry." Daniel called.
"His name," Gold growled. "Is Jaime. How many times do I have to tell you that?"
The woman walked closer to where Gold was and Daniel could clearly see her. Like Mary Margret, there was something familiar about her that he couldn't quite pinpoint. She was fairly tall, and had long blonde hair and would've been quite pretty save for her sallow complexion and the ugly pink fuzzy robe she had wrapped around her.
"Emma," She said noticing him. "I'd shake your hand but I'm dealing with a bit of a bug right now."
"Daniel Mills." He said, "I…uh, made some cookies. I'm sorry about what happened today. Is Jaime okay?"
"He's resting," Emma said. "Regina put him through quite the ordeal."
"I'm sorry about that."
"Sure you are," Ford snapped.
"Ford," Emma said. "Please."
He sighed heavily, "You should get back to bed, love, you look ghastly."
She did. There was something odd about those two, Daniel thought. He almost would've thought they were the couple but Emma was apparently married to a guy named Harry Potter.
"You really should rest, Mrs. Potter." Daniel said. "I just wanted to check on Henry and drop off these cookies. They're break and bake."
"Goody," Ford said. "And to think, I made homemade shortbread from scratch this evening. But store bought cookie dough is tons better."
"Ford," Emma said. "Really?"
"He decked me earlier, I can be somewhat disgusted with him. But yeah, thanks for the cookies, Mills."
"For what it's worth," Daniel said. "I agree with you that Regina was wrong, and I agree that you should press charges."
Ford raised an eyebrow. "Really, even though you're married to the banshee."
"Ford," Emma said. "Thank you, Mr. Mills. I appreciate that."
He nodded, "Well, I'll let you get back to bed then. You do look pale."
He tried to sleep that night in his room—his room and Regina's. He thought maybe looking at some of his old things might help him remember, but there wasn't a trace of him at the place.
The room smelt—he guessed like Regina. It was a ridiculously sweet smell sort of like apples. Both of the closets were full of Regina's things: business suits, strappy shoes, evening gowns, the occasional cocktail dress, and he frowned when he saw an elaborate looking costume that could only be described as a medieval looking gown.
The dress was gorgeous and intricate and it was the only thing about the room that felt familiar, but something about the dress seemed so tainted. Tainted enough to make him leave the room and end up sleeping on the sofa.
When he woke up the next morning he had a crick in the neck, but he didn't care. He didn't want in that bed. He didn't want anything to do with his wife. He shook his head, telling himself he was ridiculous as he went upstairs. He would have to re-wear the clothing he had on since it was quite obvious that Regina had gotten rid of his things.
He didn't even see a picture of them together; it was like his existence had been whipped out. As far as he knew it had, his business was long gone—sold apparently—and while he might've been told that he was an architect nothing about that career felt familiar.
He frowned heavily, as he someone knocked at the door.
It was Mary Margret. Any of the awkwardness yesterday was gone; she was smiling and had a couple of bags in her hand.
"What's all this?" He asked.
"I brought you some clothes," She said. "It's been so long since the accident, I didn't think Regina had any around."
He nodded his head. "Thanks."
"Daniel—"She said, "About yesterday, I'm sorry. You're right what Regina did was deplorable. I just, I really can't judge. There are things in my past that I'm not proud of either."
"You have to admit what you saw yesterday was horrible," He said.
She nodded. "It is, but like I said I am really in position to judge. I hope you can accept that."
He nodded. "Okay."
What else could he say? At least Mary Margret acknowledged that the behavior was poor, and wasn't trying to condone it like she was the other day.
She sighed heavily. "Thank you, I know it's a lot to ask."
"It's not," He said. "I can't effect your opinion, but it seemed like you were condoning what Regina did yesterday."
"That's ridiculous," The pixie haired teacher said. "I can't condone what she did to Henry, I just—she probably has her reasons. And like I said, I'm really not one to judge."
He gave her a look. "You wouldn't lock a kid up in the room for hours upon hours alone."
"No," She said. "I—I—did something far worse."
She was crying now, there was nothing he could do but hold out his hand, which she didn't take.
"I can't." She said, "I can't take your hand Daniel, because I don't deserve your comfort. I killed my baby."
"Baby?" He said.
Mary Margret nodded, "When I was fifteen…I got pregnant. I was messed up. I know it doesn't seem like it now, but at that age I was into everything. And I went to party got drunk, and obviously didn't use protection. I ended up terminating. I didn't want my parents knowing, so I went to a doctor that wasn't in the best part of town. Because of that—I can't have anymore children and it's all my fault. I deserve it because I'm a baby murderer."
She was borderline hysterical. "Mary Margret," Daniel said.
"No," She said. "No, I do not deserve your comfort. What's done is done. I deserve the consequences. I know that's what everyone thinks, Regina said as much when I told her about what happened."
"What?" David said shocked that someone could tell someone apparently as traumatized as Mary Margret that she deserved to be barren because of a botched procedure she got as a scared teenager.
"Regina said things happen for a reason," Mary Margret said. "And maybe she's right. I knew what I was getting myself into, I knew the risks. After what I did, I'm not cut out to be anyone's mother, let alone that baby's."
"That is just ridiculous," Daniel heard himself saying. "You were a scared kid when you got an abortion. You had every right to get that procedure, getting it didn't make you a bad person."
But Mary Margret shook her head. "I took a life, Daniel. Regina gets that, I deserve to be—well, be the way I am."
He sighed heavily. Honestly, he didn't know how to respond. He just knew that what his wife had done to this woman was horrible which was why he took her hand and squeezed it.
She sighed heavily. "You know, it's ironic the thing I want more than anything else now is a child, but it's something I know I can't and don't deserve to have. I have even looked into fostering and adopting. Oh, God, why am I doing this we barely know each other. I shouldn't be telling you any of this."
"It's okay," He said. "It's going to be okay. We're friends, feel free to unload on me anytime you want. God knows, I have my own drama."
"You'll remember your life soon, Daniel." She said, "I'm sure."
"I'm not sure if I want to remember," He found himself saying. "I can't believe I would ever marry Regina. Not after what I've seen, after what I heard."
"She's not that bad," Mary Margret said.
Not that bad, did Mary Margret realize the crap that she'd been filling in her head. Daniel sighed. "I—I need to think through things."
"Please, tell me it's not because of me." The woman said.
"What?" He said.
"I know that Regina told me to keep my distance, that you didn't need any confusion but—"
"That is ridiculous," He said. "I do not need you keeping your distance from me at all."
If anything, he wanted to be closer to her, which was ridiculous since he barely knew the woman.
"You're confused," Mary Margret continued.
"No, not confused. I just don't have my memory, but memory or not I know that there are lot of things about this situation that aren't right."
He ended up visiting his "wife" later that day right before she was taken to lock up. While she was not drugged out of her mind like yesterday, she was a bit of a mess. But when you were handcuffed to a bed with a broken nose, he guessed you really weren't going to look the best though he did notice that his wife sort of needed to wax. There was some aggressive hair growing above her upper lip.
"What are you looking at," Regina hissed though it sounded more nasal than usual.
"I came to check on my wife." He said.
"Oh, right. How sweet of you, Daniel, darling."
"You know I was really worried about you yesterday."
"I'm sure you were," She said. "An obnoxious mouse broke my nose, don't worry everything is going to be fine. I had Graham haul her scrawny ass off to jail. You're in normal clothes, have you been released?"
"Yes," He said. "Yesterday. I had to let the police in our house, Regina."
"Damn it," She said. "They have Hen—Jaime don't they?"
"You violated a court order which is bad enough, but you had a claustrophobic ten-year-old locked in a room alone all day."
"To be fair, he wouldn't have been locked up if he didn't run away AND it wouldn't have been for that long had that mouse not broke my nose."
Daniel shook his head at her.
"Oh, don't be so sanctimonious," She hissed. "You're no saint either. I've seen the way you've been making googly eyes with Mary Margret. You're married to me, damn it. Not to that whore."
He glared at her, "That was uncalled for. Especially after what you did to that girl."
"After what I did to that girl?" Regina said, "What being the only friend she has? She's the town pariah, Daniel, and with good reason."
"Because she made a difficult decision fifteen years ago. One that she regrets, but one that she had every right to make."
"Oh, she had every right to kill her baby?" Regina asked.
"She had the right to an abortion, Regina. It was her private decision, you shouldn't judge her on it."
"I'll do what I want, damn it." She said, "Did she tell you whose baby it was?"
"She didn't remember," Daniel said. "It doesn't matter anyway."
"I think it does, darling," Regina said. "Since that baby she aborted was yours."