The Life We Left Behind

You can stay at the mayor's mansion

„Shut up! You were WHAT?!", Emma couldn't believe what she had just heard.

„Why are you looking so surprised? I was a bartender, and a bar owner, so what?"

„... and the best in the Heights", Henry declared proudly.

Ella nodded. „She made the meanest Long Island Ice Tea."

„And she was a super cool rock chick!", said Lucy.

„My my", Emma nodded in admiration, „I have to say, she sounds way more fun than you, Madam Mayor. What was her name again?"

Regina and Hook said in unison: „Roni."

„Right...", she lifted her glass, „To Roni!"

„To Roni!", the others replied.

„She was a special lass", said Hook, smiling, but to whoever cared to look closely, it was easy to see that there was sadness in his smile.

Eventually, the large group dispersed into many smaller chats, while Emma got a hold of Regina. „Hey!"

She turned around and looked at her, Emma raised her glass. „Welcome back! Happy to see you again."

„Likewise!", Regina smiled and hugged her.

Then Emma pulled her aside and asked in a hushed voice: „What's wrong with him?"

She nodded in the direction of Hook, the other Hook.

„What do you mean?"

„He seems off, somehow. I don't really know him well, I only met him once, briefly, and he was half dead."

„Well, can you blame him? He's never been here before, he doesn't know any of you..."

„But that's the same for Henry's family?"

„Yeah, but then also, there already is a Captain Hook here. No wonder if he feels left out! But he's okay, trust me. At least he will be. He's with his daughter now! Alice. It's all he's ever wanted. And with a new heart... Rumple's heart, he can finally be with her."

Emma looked over to the man who looked so eerily familiar to her – but was still a complete stranger. „I don't know... I just don't want any trouble here for once. Unlike all the rest of you, he looks sad to be here. Disappointed. Especially when we were talking about your cursed identities... like your Roni."

Regina sighed and looked down at her glass. Barely audibly she said: „Can you keep a secret? I mean... not like your mother, but, for real?"

„Of course!"

„I don't want this to become the talk of the town, I want to give him the chance for a fresh start."

„What happened?"

„Well, the reason why he might get emotional when it's about Roni, is... Roni and Rogers, his cursed character, they had a thing, for, like, a few weeks. Well, for a few weeks they had been dating, they had been together, romantically, a real couple, but for much longer than that they had been... we... well..."

„Oh my God, you were sleeping with him?"

She nodded. „We had an affair, as our cursed selves. Eventually it turned into something more serious. We... they... Roni and Rogers... were really happy together. She... or I", she took a deep breath, this was all so complicated and utterly confusing, „my gosh, how to say this, Roni was deeply in love with him. She was secretly dreaming of a future together. And, I think, it was the same for him. As soon as I was awake and remembered, I immediately ended our relationship. He was devastated, he didn't understand, of course! But I told him he will. And now he does, but still. I'm sure it feels weird. It feels weird for me too."