Capture and Release

The ride home was silent.  Regina sat in the darkness.  Every now and then Charming could catch a glimpse of her face in the moonlight.  When they reached the castle, she ignored him as he attempted to help her out of the carriage.  He made his way directly to the parlor.  She followed behind him.

            “Red wine or white?”  He looked over at her from where he stood in the doorway.  The butler was outside, awaiting his instructions.

            “It doesn’t matter.”  Regina was standing near the mantel, with her back to him.  “But red, I suppose.” 

            “Red.”  He nodded to the butler, who gave him a quick nod before disappearing into the hallway. 

            They remained in more uncomfortable silence.  Regina stood with her back intentionally to him.  Charming knew he’d get nothing from her until the butler had left.  So when the man returned with the bottle and glasses, Charming took them and dismissed him instantly. 

            He poured them each half a glass of wine, handing one to Regina.  Regina took hers and seated herself in a chair in front of the empty fireplace.  She leaned back in the chair, her arms resting on the chair’s arms and her wine glass dangling by the bowl from the fingers of her left hand.  Charming took the chair across from her. 

            “Well, did Rumpstiltskin answer all of your questions?” 

            “Rumplestiltskin talked in circles and expected me to figure out his games.”  Regina looked up at him. 

            “And did you?” 

            Regina said nothing for a moment.  Instead, she swirled the wine in her glass, watching the liquid slosh the sides of the goblet. 

            “You’re in love with me….and you gave up Snow White…for me.”  Charming shrugged. 

            “I guess that’s one way of looking at it.  I didn’t really give up Snow, I never really wanted her that seriously.”

            Regina glared at him.  Charming sighed, deciding that now was a bad time to try to lighten up the situation. 

            “But you’re right: I am in love with you.” 

            “You can’t be.”  Regina murmured, talking more to the wine glass than him.  “It’s wrong.” 

            “Regina, I don’t care.” 

            “How?”  Regina’s head shot up, meeting his eyes.  “When did this happen?  How did this happen?  And a warning, I will settle for nothing less than the truth.” 

            “You’ll get nothing less.”  Charming sighed.  He took a sip of his wine, looking down at the floor for a long moment.  He had to think where to begin. 

            “I don’t know why I fell in love with you.  I don’t think we’re supposed to understand who we love, that would take the specialness and the magic out of it.  When…I don’t know exactly.  Maybe a year ago, maybe a little over.” 

            “So this isn’t new?”  Regina arched an eyebrow at him.  Charming shook his head. 

            “No, most certainly not.” 

            “How did it start?”  Her questions were not stopping until the full story was laid out in front of them.  She gave a faint smile, shaking her head in her own amusement as she spoke: “Which of my murders caused you to fall so madly in love with me?” 

            “Well, it certainly wasn’t that aspect of you.”  Charming shifted his wine glass into both hands.  “The Evil Queen had sex appeal no one could deny, but loveable was not one of her qualities.  I feel in love with the woman you were, once before.” 

            “You don’t even know who I was.” 

            “I have a good idea.” 

            “How-?”  Regina stopped herself, sighed heavily.  “My father.”  Charming nodded. 

            “I don’t know exactly how, why or when it happened,” Charming began to explain.  “Have you ever found yourself so caught up in someone that you absolutely should never be?  That they’re consuming your thoughts when they’re the last person who should be there?  That’s how it became with you.  Maybe it was because I spent so much time thinking about you for other reasons, I started to wonder what made you who you were, how a woman could become that truly evil.  I was…with…Snow at the time and she was always talking about the woman you were when she met you.  I knew there was someone else in there, so I became consumed with trying to find out who she was.” 

            “So you went to my father?”

            “Yes.  Secretly.  On my own.  Away from everyone else-not with Snow.” 

            “How?  He was in my castle at the time.”  Charming shrugged. 

            “Did you keep track of his every move?  I’m sure you didn’t.  He was the one person you trusted.  I’m sure you weren’t worried about what he was, or was not, doing.  I can tell you that he was slipping out of the castle to meet me.”

            “How did you even get him to agree to it?” 

            “If it’s one thing your father does,” Charming looked up at her, “it’s love you.  He got an offer to try and save his daughter, so he took it.  You’d have to ask him for his full reasons behind it.” 

            “Did you tell him you were in love with me?”

            “At the time?  No.  Because I wasn’t so much in love with you as I was obsessed.  But he told me all about your life, and that’s when I started to fall in love with you.  He believed as much as I did that she was still in there…somewhere.”  

            Regina’s eyes flicked off of him, looking down at floor.  She raised her wine glass to her lips and took a drink, swallowing harder than necessary. 

            “What about Snow?” 

            “What about her?” 

            “Did she know any of this?  Were you in love with her at the time?” 

            “I was never really in love with her, not the way she wanted me to be at least.  But we had to play the game of it for you, didn’t we?”  At her expression, he shrugged, “you had to believe I was in love with Snow White.  If you hadn’t, I would have lost my appeal to you.  And….” He hesitated for only a second.  

“I mean, let’s face it, Regina,” he looked at her and smirked, “can you imagine Snow having the sex we’ve been having?  You know she’d never experiment like that.  I enjoy a good love making session...but you know what turns me on.  She’d never even consider that aspect.  That would have ended our relationship faster than my being in love with you.” 

            “So I’m better than Snow White because of the sex?  Please, that was obvious from the beginning.”  Regina rolled her eyes, leaning back in her chair. 

            Charming wanted to keep the conversation as sincere as possible.  It was so hard to express these feelings.  He wished simply telling her he loved her was enough, but he knew it wasn’t. 

            “Snow knew I loved you.  Most…everyone did.” 

            “Who’s ‘most everyone’?” 

            “Aside from your father and Snow?  Her dwarf friends, Red Riding Hood, Jiminy Cricket, the Blue Fairy.  Pretty much everyone who was in on your capture.”  Regina gave him a dark look he didn’t really understand.  “Believe me,” he continued, “they were not impressed.  You have no idea how many people tried to talk me out of this.  Everyone tried to “reason” with me.  They all swore to me they’d never hurt you, but that my undertaking was too much…insane…ridiculous.  I went against a number of people I considered friends for this, Regina.” 

            “With no idea how it would play out.”  Regina sighed.  “So your plan was to capture me, stop my magic, bring me here…and make me fall in love with you?” 

            “I don’t think I’ll have to make you.”  He propped one elbow on the arm of his chair and pillowed his head on it.  “I think I can appeal to the woman in you.  I think I have already, you’re just not willing to admit it.” 

            “Nice try.”  Regina made a face.  “You still haven’t told me where me where Snow White is.” 

            “I don’t know where she is, and that is the truth.”  Charming leaned in closer to her.  “She knew what was happening, she knew what my plan was.  I think she only went along with convincing you that she and I were together because she thought I’d have a change of heart at the end and go off with her.  After we captured you, she came to me a last time to try and convince me how mad this was.  I told her I wasn’t interested, that I had cared about her but that I couldn’t love her.  She told me she would always be there if I changed my mind…and then she left.  I haven’t seen her since.” 

            Regina was looking at the floor, thinking.  She set her glass down on the small table beside her. 

            “So she couldn’t have her prince….so she left.”  Charming nodded slowly. 

            “She loved me, Regina.  Truly loved me.  And I couldn’t give her the same.  So since she had saved her kingdom, and she couldn’t have her love, she left the kingdom.” 

            He disliked the smug smile that settled over Regina’s face.  He knew what it meant: she’d decided she’d won.  It made him angry.  He’d given her so much, told her his feelings, and Snow White was still her number one concern. 

            “Look,” he tried to keep himself from completely losing his temper with her, “if Snow White is the appeal for you, fine.  You have what she wanted: you have me.  You’ve won.” 

            “But that’s the thing….”  Regina looked up at him, her dark eyes burning into him.  “I don’t want you.  I don’t love you, I’m not even sure that I really like you.  You made your choices, and your decisions.  It’s not my fault if you made them for the wrong woman.” 

            “Give me a chance.”  Charming made his appeal.  “Just try.  Regina, we can connect.  Neither of us came from backgrounds to be royalty.  We’re both simple people inside.  I can give you so much.  And I will, if you just let me.” 

            Regina was silent for too long.  The tip of her tongue pressed against her front teeth.  When she finally did look up at him, he saw the first bit of sincerity he’d seen yet. 

            “Don’t think I’m not grateful for saving my life.  I know full well the rest of your party would have killed me.  But I don’t love you…or want you.  What’s happened between us has just been sex.  That’s all.  And that’s all I can give you.” 

            “So you say now.”  Charming murmured.  “You’re not the only stubborn one in this conversation, Regina.  I will not give up on you.” 

            “You know, I never played you for being so arrogant.”  Regina gave him a look that almost held respect-almost but not quite.  “You never thought this plan would fail?  It didn’t occur to you that you couldn’t manipulate my emotions into your little game?” 

            “Oh, I thought of that, and I had a plan if it truly fell through.  But it’s not going to.” 

            “What happens if it fails?”  She was too interested.  But Charming had sold himself on telling her the truth. 

            “If this arrangement doesn’t work to both of our standards, then I banish you from the kingdom.  You can go back to your father’s estate, live out your days there.  If you try anything again, you’ll find yourself in a cell similar to Rumplestiltskin’s and you will die in there this time.  I’m giving you a second chance, Regina.  I don’t want to deem you unsalvageable because I don’t believe it’s true.  But I won’t give you a third chance.”

            “You should have given Snow another chance.”  He absolutely hated the look on her face, and the tone in her voice. 

            “Trust me,” Charming grumbled, swallowing almost all of his wine at once, “a woman capable of murdering entire villages wasn’t my choice either.  But Snow is so…good.  And good can be….”  He paused, not expecting her to answer. 

            “Boring.”  Regina licked her lips.  Charming looked up at her, nodding. 

            “Boring.” 

            Regina smiled faintly as she rose to her feet. 

            “Anything else I should know?” 

            “No,” Charming shook his head as he stood as well.  “Not at all.  Regina-.” 

            “Don’t.”  She shook her head.  “I can’t give you what you want.” 

            She turned, sweeping from the room leaving him to wonder if he’d truly made the right decision…and if this actually would work the way he wanted it.