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He quietly crept into the room and removed the book from Emma’s hand and took the blanket from the end of the bed and gently covered the sleeping pair before dimming the light a little lower and leaving the room.

Chapter 44

Regina closed her book as she heard the sound of walking assisted with a crutch making its way up the corridor. She smiled and waited patiently for the sound to get closer and closer until someone entered her room.

She sighed and rolled her eyes, “oh, it’s you.”

“What a greeting,” Gold smiled at her, “and I thought you’d be thanking me for saving your life.”

When Regina made no move to answer that he closed the door behind him and sat in the visitor’s chair, “so, nearly dying to save the Saviour? Didn’t see that one coming,” he raised an eyebrow.

“What do you want?” Regina asked with a bored tone.

“I heard you were awake and wanted to see how you were doing,” Gold said, “isn’t that what friends do?”

“Neither you nor I are good at being friends,” Regina pointed out.

“That is true, Dearie,” he said as he plucked a grape from a bunch that had been placed in a bowl beside her bed. He popped it in his mouth and looked at a particularly flowery get well card that adorned the table, “Miss Blanchard must actively seek out the most hideous cards she can find.”

Regina gave a small smile, “why do you think it’s facing the door and not me?”

He nodded his agreement with the placing of the card and looked at her again, “you are feeling better?”

She nodded, “I’m due to go home this afternoon.”

“Have you tried your magic?” Gold questioned with interest.

She shook her head, “no,” the rest of the sentence was mumbled, “I can’t even feel it yet.”

He nodded, “to be expected.”

“You don’t know that,” she chided him for his lie, “neither of us has experience of this.”

“And yet you did it anyway, why is that?” Gold was curious about this area of magic he had never dared to explore.

Regina pursed her lips for a moment before replying, “I’d read about magic drainage, I felt I had enough of an understanding to survive.”

“I’ve known you to be reckless in your pursuit of revenge,” he commented calmly as he picked off another grape, “but never reckless with your own life.”

Regina shook her head, “not reckless, calculated.”

He ate the grape and they looked at each other silently for a few moments before she spoke again, “thank you, for starting the restoration process. I realise you could have left me to die.”

Gold shrugged, “that’s not a part of our new deal though, is it? We’re in this together, isn’t that what you said to me?”

She nodded and watched as he looked around the room uncomfortably, “you didn’t have to come here, you know,” she told him.

“I’m unfamiliar with how friendships work,” Gold stated with a stark laugh, “is Grace well?”

Regina’s face lit up with happiness, “yes, she’s with Emma until I am able to look after her again myself.”

“And Henry?” Gold asked, knowingly.

Regina sighed, “I remember.. everything.”

Gold nodded, “you will do, ten days without the potion will have reversed the accumulative effects.”

Regina nodded her own agreement and took a deep breath.

“What will you do?” Gold asked her.

“I don’t know,” Regina admitted honestly.

Gold plucked another grape and threw it into his mouth and chewed it thoughtfully, “you know,” he swallowed, “it occurs to me that you were right in something you said. You told me that you believed that this world was different from the old realm and that in a world of so many shades it was possible for a villain to have a happy ending if they were truly repentant and willing to change.”

Regina looked down at her hands which were covering her book and nodded silently.

“At the time I believe I laughed and called you naïve,” he smiled at the memory, “however, your words and indeed your actions have stayed with me. And I do wonder if things are, as you claim, different in this world. Maybe we are wrong to use old world solutions to new world problems?”

“What are you saying?” Regina looked at him in confusion.

“I’m saying that maybe it doesn’t have to be so black and white,” Gold mused, “maybe you can remember Henry and have him in your life and be happy, without the need to be his legal guardian.”

Regina raised an eyebrow, “Rumple, I do believe you’re going soft.”

“You softened long before I did, Your Majesty,” he grinned at her before looking distractedly away from her gaze, “Belle.. has.. well, Belle and I are to be married.”

A large grin formed on Regina’s face and she nodded sincerely, “congratulations, I was wondering when the day would come, I’m pleased for you, for both of you.”

“We have yet to make an announcement,” he sighed and waved his hand at Regina, “Belle thought it would be bad timing while you were perceived to be dying and all that.”

“Apologies for disrupting your schedule,” she smirked, “though I am now well and you can tell the town of your happy impending nuptials.”

“I will leave that to Belle,” he announced sourly.

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