He greeted her with an exhausted smile when she opened the door and entered his hospital room, all the realizations slowly but surely bubbling up to the surface inside his mind.
„Hey there! How you holdin' up, captain?"
„I've been better... I've been worse. I'll probably pull through."
„Thank God! That's great. Really."
„What's with the cake?"
He looked over to the carrot cake she had just set down on his nightstand before sitting down on the chair next to his bed. „Oh well, I wasn't really sure if you were a flower bouquet kind of guy. And I still owe you a cake for throwing the one Gothel made you into the paper bin, so... or what was her name? Eloise Gardner?"
He sighed and scratched his head. „I can't even wrap my head around it, it's just all too crazy. I... I feel like my entire life has been a lie."
„Well, that's because it has."
„But then again, it's only been like, what..."
„... a year? Maybe slightly more? But yeah, I get what you mean. It was also my first time being cursed with a new identity and I can now say from experience, being cursed is more fun than both, being the only one awake as well as waking up from it. But it doesn't matter now. The most important thing is that we all got to pull through it."
„How's Alice?"
„She's doing well. Getting her strength back. She's missing you, a lot! She's so sorry that you're here because of her. But she's also enjoying her time together with Robin", she smiled, „Isn't it crazy that they found each other, even as their cursed selves?"
„Aye. I guess, if you're meant to be together, you're meant to be together. In whichever realm, time or life. It's a soothing thought."
Both smiled and nodded in agreement, still trying to ignore the obvious elephant in the room. Finally, Regina was the first to break the silence: „So, do you understand it now? Why we couldn't continue being together... Why I had to break up with you, well, Rogers?"
„I guess I do. I mean, that's... that's a crazy, crazy story!"
„It is!"
„The two of us, we really, I mean, we really went for it."
She blushed and lowered her gaze to look down onto her hands. „Oh yes, we did."
„And... often!"
„I know."
„Even on your bar counter..."
„Alright, alright, I get it! Yes, Roni and Rogers had... quite the torrid affair."
„It's just so strange to think that that we really..."
„Well, we didn't really, I mean, not REALLY. It wasn't us. It was our bodies, yes, but two completely different people."
He thought about it, nodded, then he said: „Well, Regina Roni Mills, I still want to thank you. For making my time as my cursed self that much more fun, exciting and overall enjoyable. You made Detective Rogers discover thoughts and feelings he'd never thought to be capable of. You gave him hope... Well, and then you broke his heart and threw him into the abyss, but before that you had given him hope."
She laughed. „Sure. Alright then", she pushed herself up from the chair, „I should head back to the bar."
„So what now? Will we all just... stay here? Will you continue running the bar? What's next?"
„I don't know, to be honest. For now, we're just trying to recover and settle in, figure it all out. But eventually, to be honest, yes, the bar is fun and all, but I do miss Storybrooke and our friends and family there. It's been so long since I left it behind to be with Henry... Eventually, I'd love to find a way back. But first, we need to get you back on your feet and out of here."
„What would I do in Storybrooke? There already is a Captain Hook there."
„So what?", she shrugged, „There can be two. Not that one isn't enough already to get on my nerves, but... you wouldn't want to come?"
„I don't know. All I care about is Alice. I want to be where she is. Even if I can't be close to her."
She nodded. „We'll see, okay? We'll figure something out."
She gently stroked his arm, then turned around to leave, but before she could open the door, she heard him say: „Regina... Roni and Rogers... they were really happy together, weren't they?"
She turned around and gave him a sad smile. „Yes, they were."
„And, for what it's worth, Rogers wasn't a man of many words and big emotions, but, he really loved her."
She had to swallow hard. Even her cursed identity had a more fulfilling love life than she did.
„I know. She loved him too."
They looked into each others' eyes once more, then she left him alone.