"You realize being sheriff means nothing to them now?"

Emma Swan's eyes slowly moved from the window inside of the police station to settle on the prisoner locked in her cell. Regina Mills was calm, though her eyes held a different emotion entirely. Emma wished she could place it.

"They're still here," Emma said mindlessly. "They haven't gone back. They're still in my territory."

"You're territory?" Regina asked incredulously, bracing her palms against the bars that trapped her. "You mean my territory. Their territory. You're just as bad as I, in their eyes, if you don't open that door."

Emma glanced back out the window at the gathering crowd, all screaming for Regina's blood. Literally. The various renditions of "Burn the witch!" and "Bleed the wicked Queen!" had done something to Emma's state of mind, and all she wanted was for them to leave until she got her head straight and figured out what she was going to do.

So the curse had been real. So Emma really was Snow White's daughter. So Regina really was the Evil Queen.

So what?

"Where's Henry?"

It took Emma a moment to realize Regina had changed the subject. When she did, the blonde stepped away from the window, moving to sit in a chair several feet away from the cell. This was getting too complicated. Emma thought she preferred the first few hours of this, when Regina sat silently, closed within herself and the memory of her actions. Anything but this interrogation.

"The hospital's keeping him for a while," Emma replied, her throat going dry at the thought. "Making sure the poison didn't leave any aftereffects."

Regina's eyes filled with pain, and Emma wanted to slap it into nonexistence. "Don't you dare look at me like you're sorry."

"I'm not sorry for you," Regina snapped immediately. Her tone of voice was harsh, but the look on her face hadn't changed. "I'm beyond caring if you believe me or not, Miss Swan."

"You don't care about him."

Regina practically threw herself against the bars, a wild look in her eyes. "I do!"

"Enough to poison him."

"It was meant for you! I told you it was meant for you!"

"Are you fucking blind?" Emma exclaimed, slamming the flat of her hand down on the wooden arm of her chair. "You hurt me, you hurt Henry! The kid is ten years old, and he went out of his way to find me and bring me here! You want on his side? You accept that I'm in his life. You don't try to push me out of it."

Silence followed this outburst. Regina stood slumped against the cell bars, her eyes averted to the floor. She appeared to be hyperventilating; upon closer inspection, Emma realized she was trying not to cry. Regina loved Henry. Emma was loathed to admit it, but she couldn't ignore something staring her right in the face. Emma just couldn't stand the way she chose to go about expressing that love.

"I just want him to be mine," Regina whispered, so softly that Emma didn't catch it right away.

"It doesn't matter anymore," Emma replied after a few moments. "You can't stay in this world. Not if you intend on living."

"I won't leave without him," Regina mumbled, pushing off of the bars and dropping onto the small cot bed. "Or you."

Emma's head snapped up from where her eyes had been studying her knee. "What?" she asked, thrown off guard. Even Regina looked surprised, like she hadn't even realized she'd said it until it came out of her mouth. Despite this, she didn't try to cover herself.

"He loves you," Regina said. "You're there for him. For us. I can't separate you two now. It would kill him."

"Yet you tried to poison me with a cursed apple turnover," Emma deadpanned, earning her a signature Regina-glare. "Well, you did. You think it would have been any easier on the kid had I died?"

"It is easier to move on with knowledge of the impossibility of seeing someone again, than it is knowing they are still out there somewhere."

Emma's eyes narrowed. "Right."

Regina wasn't telling Emma something. Did this have anything to do with why the Queen had made this world in the first place? Emma wouldn't put it past her. Hell, she wouldn't put anything past Regina right now. When it came down to it, though, there was nothing she could do. She was locked in a cage, Emma's last hope of keeping the woman out of the hands of a bunch of enraged fairytale characters that were more real than she could have ever imagined.

They sat in silence for almost an hour, neither looking at each other. Emma knew she should have been trying to come up with some kind of plan, but her brain just wasn't accepting any of this. All she could think to do was to send Regina back wherever she came from, but it would require magic. A lot of magic, according to Regina, and apparently there was none left. What else could they do? What else could Emma do?

Emma didn't notice Regina lift her head and watch her for several long moments. When she spoke, her voice startled Emma. "Why are you protecting me?"

Emma's eyes snapped to the woman, and for the first time in several hours, she got a good look at her. Regina had stripped her blazer off and tossed it on the other side of the cot, leaving her in a short sleeved white button up blouse and a black skirt that climbed above her knees in a sitting position. Her hair was tousled, a stark difference from the usual perfection it was usually placed in, and her makeup was smudged down her face. Damn, she looked so human. Emma hadn't been entirely sure that was even possible until now.

"I don't care what you've done," Emma said finally. "I won't let them turn themselves into monsters just to get rid of you."

Regina's eyes flashed with something akin to disbelief. She could see right through that one, Emma was sure. But she wasn't going to say it out loud. Though she couldn't see either of them getting any satisfaction in this situation, she wasn't going to risk it.

"Just let them in, Miss Swan. Get it over with."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I said so."

Regina huffed and rolled her eyes. "That is not a reasonable answer."

"I don't care what you think a reasonable answer is," Emma replied, getting out of the chair and pacing towards the window again. "No one's coming in, and you aren't leaving, until I figure out what to do."

A heavy sigh sounded from behind her. "Come here."

Emma didn't move.

"Emma…"

Emma's head turned for a moment, not quite meeting Regina's gaze, before she turned and slowly walked over to the cell. She focused her attention on one of the bars, her eyebrows drawn into such a tight frown, her face hurt.

"Look at me."

No.

"Emma, look at me."

Regina, no.

Regina's hand slid through the bars and grasped Emma's chin, pulling her head up until Emma's eyes met her own. The absolute surrender in Emma's gaze seemed to throw Regina off a bit, but she held the look, her grip on the Sheriff's chin firm.

"You already played Storybrooke's hero, Miss Swan. You weren't meant to play mine. Whatever happens to me, I want you to swear you'll take care of Henry. Don't abandon him, Emma. Not again."

Tears streamed out of Emma's eyes before she could stop them, and her hand came up to grasp the wrist of the hand holding her chin. "I promise," she choked out. "I promise, Regina."

They both knew Emma couldn't keep Regina hidden forever.