"Miss Swan!"

Emma stopped dead in her tracks when she heard Regina call out her name. The furious tone of the woman's voice confirmed her suspicions that Regina wasn't done with the conversation they had had in the diner. She should've known.

"He's our son, and you can't make that kind of decision without talking with me first! Has it happened to slip your mind that the life I gave you is the reason you want to go to back to New York in the first place?" Regina queried. Emma turned around to face the woman who was holding Henry's storybook.

She sighed. Regina was right, of course, but she still felt like she had a point as well.

"Look, it's not like I have it completely figured out yet, but we had a good life in New York. It was home, and I miss it. It was safe and there were no witches or the Dark One or… Peter Pan to fight. It was in the real world. All these stories, they don't feel real to me. Henry deserves -"

Regina didn't seem to want to hear what she had to say. "I think we both know that Henry does not want to go back to New York, Miss Swan. He just said so himself. He has two mothers who are more than capable of protecting him, especially if we continue your training." Regina paused. "And as for the good life in New York… Well, there's no point thanking me, I guess."

By that point, she couldn't even look Regina in the eye anymore. The woman's posture was confident, whereas Emma found herself fidgeting with the sleeve of her jacket, feeling uncomfortable and embarrassed. She inhaled, and her eyes met the former Queen's.

"Regina… I…" She didn't finish her sentence, and her eyes shifted from Regina to the sky behind her. "What the hell is that?"

Regina turned around and her mouth fell open. "That's… an open time portal. That doesn't make sense..."

Emma was running the next second, determined to find out what was going on. She heard Regina was on her heels, following and cursing her choice of shoes for the day.

"Emma, wait!"

"We have to go check it out," Emma breathed out as she turned to face the woman falling behind. Regina walked up to her and shook her head. The brunette grabbed Emma's arm and they were soon surrounded by purple mist. The next thing Emma saw was the source of the light that seemed to be coming from a farmhouse.

Emma's phone was ringing, and she looked at the screen. David. She didn't have the time to answer, though, because at that moment, the doors of the barn opened. She and Regina were swept off their feet by the portal pulling them into its center. She saw Regina try to stop the pull with her magic to no avail. When Emma was dangerously near the beam, Regina took her hand and tried to pull her away from it. She saw Regina had grabbed a rope and was holding onto it with a pained yet confused expression on her face.

"Regina! I can't hold on much longer," Emma yelled before it would be too late. "Just tell Henry I love him and- " she wasn't able to finish her sentence as the pull of the portal made it impossible for her to speak and the image of Regina was blurred by different shades of orange.

*

Emma opened her eyes and saw she had been thrown in the middle of a forest. She took a deep breath. Traveling through a portal hadn't become any nicer after the last time. Suddenly, she heard a loud thud behind her and turned her head. Regina had come with her.

"You could've chosen not to take my hand and try to get away yourself, you know." The Savior saved by the former Evil Queen. This wasn't in Henry's book.

Regina swept her hands on her pants and rolled her eyes at Emma. "Well, I could hardly tell our son that I let his other mother fall through a portal and did nothing to stop it, now, could I?"

Emma didn't look directly at Regina but just shook her head. "So now he has no mother to tell him anything because we're both stuck here. Great," she sighed.

"We are in the Enchanted Forest, by the way," Regina pointed out to her. "But when, I can't be sure."

Emma got up and turned around. Her mouth fell open as she saw something on one of the trees surrounding them.

"Does this happen to be your design by any chance?" she asked Regina, already knowing the answer.

Regina turned to her direction, and Emma saw Regina's expression change as the woman saw a wanted sign for Snow White. For crimes against the Queen. MURDER, TREASON, TREACHERY. Regina closed her eyes and exhaled slowly.

It must've been hard for Regina to be thrown back to her darkest days after trying to redeem herself for Henry. Emma waited for the woman to open her eyes, and when she did, she let out another impatient groan. Emma held out her had, and, surprisingly enough, Regina took it, letting her pull her up.

"We'll figure this out, Regina, okay? We fight, and we get back home to Henry, and it'll be okay," Emma said, trying to convince not only the woman in front of her, but also herself.

Regina let out a mixture of a laugh and a sigh. "If only it were that easy, Miss Swan."

"I know you're mad at me and everything, but could you maybe call me Emma again?" she tried.

Regina raised an eyebrow and was probably fighting the urge to say something rude to her. After a short moment, which felt like ages for Emma, she finally spoke. "Fine… Emma. But after all this is over, you better not think taking Henry to New York is even a remotely plausible option."

"Look, I'm… I'm sorry about that," Emma started. She wanted to say so much more. Regina was Henry's mother who had given them the life in New York in the first place, and Emma hadn't even thanked her. And now she had planned to take him away from Regina without her knowing and without Henry's consent. She couldn't get the words out, and kept fidgeting with the sleeve of her jacket again. "I really am."

Regina's expression softened. Emma almost couldn't see it, but just a small hint of a smile at the corner of the woman's mouth betrayed Regina when she nodded. "Okay." Regina didn't say more, so they stood there in silence, only hearing the singing of the birds.

"So…" Emma started, "is your magic working? It didn't near the portal, right? That was weird."

Regina opened her palm and Emma expected a fireball to appear, but nothing happened. Regina let out a loud frustrated sigh followed by a few curse words that made Emma jump. She wasn't used to the Mayor using profanities when losing her temper, and this reaction made panic rise inside Emma. If Regina didn't have any magic, they truly were stuck in the past with no way of getting back. Unless…

"Rumpelstiltskin," Emma said in a small voice and cleared her throat when Regina turned to face her. "I think we need to ask him for help."

"Rumpelstiltskin? Right. Because his promises have always given me great results with no additional price whatsoever." Regina ran a hand through her hair and sighed again. "This can't be happening. It makes no sense for my magic to disappear like that. Without my magic…"

Emma didn't have time to respond to that because the singing of the birds was interrupted by the sound of hid behind a tree quickly and yanked Emma behind her. They looked at the nearby road, and Emma could hear Regina groan. Four black knights were riding their horses fast past them.

*

"Emma, I don't think this is a good idea," she could hear Regina whisper as she kept approaching the sounds she heard in the forest.

"Well, I think we should know as much as we can about the time we're in now, right?" Emma responded to the woman who sighed disapprovingly in response. She stopped walking and crouched down, peeking through the branches of the bushes when Regina moved just beside her.

The clearing in front of them was full of people circled around a woman dressed in red and black. The woman turned around, and Emma saw the same face that was beside her. Only the expression on the face was different: Regina in the clearing looked cunning and malevolent, and the one next to her anxious and tense.

"…nothing compared to the pain and misery I can inflict if I leave here unhappy."

"That's you," she pointed out. Regina didn't seem to be bothered to answer right away because it was more than obvious they had crossed paths with the woman's past self.

"Yes, dear, that's the Evil Queen for you."

"You're even worse without the sensible pantsuits," Emma said in an attempt to lighten the mood.

Regina snorted and shoved her lightly. The last hint of playfulness the brunette had had in her shove disappeared soon, though, when the guards removed a hood from a prisoner's head.

"Who wants to be next?" the Queen asked and laughed. Emma moved and was ready to intervene when Regina grabbed her arm.

"You can't'," the brunette hissed, her expression serious.

"She's innocent. We can't just let her -" Emma tried to reason with the older version of the Queen, but Regina stopped her.

"You can't go there… I would hurt you," Regina said with a sad smile. Her hand was still on Emma's arm and she was stroking it, probably unconsciously. Then Regina shook her head and pulled her hand away as if she had shown too much emotion already. "Besides, you would change history. We cannot interfere like that," she added more objectively.

Emma nodded slowly. She knew Regina was right. "So what do you think about finding Go- Rumpelstiltskin?"

"I don't… I really don't know, Emma," Regina said and shook her head. "I guess there's nothing else we can do."

*

"I look ridiculous," Emma said as Regina turned to look at her. "Is this really necessary?"

They had found clothes someone had left to dry in the woods, and they were now both wearing something Regina had described as peasant clothing. Emma came to the conclusion that her dress showed way too much cleavage when Regina broke the silence.

"You're the one to talk. Everyone here knows my face," the woman groaned and tried to hide behind her hood. "I still can't believe my magic isn't working, I could just cast us both a disguise. You might need one too since we don't want anyone remembering you before you arrive to Storybrooke."

"You would remember a glimpse of a face thirty years from now? What, I have such a memorable face or what?" Emma couldn't resist making a joke. There was be no way Regina, or anyone else for that matter, would remember her. Emma turned her gaze to Regina who put a hand on her hip and rolled her eyes.

"Ha ha, very funny, Miss Swan," Regina said. "I think walking around in such a horrendous leather jacket would leave an everlasting impression on anyone."

"You like my leather jackets," she continued teasing. Regina rolled her eyes… and, no. Emma could've sworn she saw a tint of red making its way on Regina's cheeks. "Oh my God. You do like my leather jacket. Haha! After so much complaints about my non-existent fashion sense you actually find me rather… charming, don't you?"

Emma didn't know what had happened to her filter, and she started to wonder if humor had always been her way to cope in life-threatening situations, or was this something she had only recently started doing.

"Please be quiet, Miss Swan." Regina snorted. "This is hardly the time and place to discuss leather jackets or your… questionable charmingness. We need to make sure we don't interfere with the timeline and do something irreversible."

Emma smirked before putting on the most serious expression she could manage. Regina didn't seem to be too mad at her anymore. Emma started to walk towards the forest road, hearing the woman's footsteps behind her.

*

They were walking down the road when Emma suddenly heard something approach them from behind.

"Quick, we can't be seen," Regina said as she grabbed Emma's arm and pulled her in the bushes with her.

A white carriage stopped near them.

"Worry not. It's but a fallen tree."

Emma gaped at the person who had descended from the carriage.

"Is that-" she started to ask, even though she already knew the answer. It was her father in his fairytale land clothing. A sword was hanging from his belt, and his posture was somewhat different from what Emma was used to. Just as she had said these stories weren't real for her, she was actually seeing them with her own eyes in the land of Henry's book.

"Yes, that seems to be your father, and I'd assume that's princess Abigail in the carriage, so we should really stay out of the way."

She knew Regina turned to face her, but she was too busy gazing up on a tree now. She could feel a smile break all over her face as she saw the person climbed up. It was Snow.

"Emma…" Regina started, drawing her attention away from her mother. "I'm sorry."

Emma furrowed her brow, confused by the former Queen's sudden apology. "About what?"

Regina broke their eye contact and looked at her hands as she spoke. "Everything. I let my vengeance for your mother hurt so many people. Collateral damage I can never take back. More than anyone, the curse hurt you. The one person I actually had nothing against. An innocent baby."

Emma hadn't expected her reaction to Regina's words to be this strong, because she was pretty sure her face showed about a dozen emotions by now, and she was more than aware of the tears on her cheeks. As Regina turned to look at her, the woman seemed completely dumbfounded for causing this reaction. Emma moved to change her posture.

"Regina, I-" But Emma didn't get to tell Regina what she was about to say because when she moved, she cracked a branch of wood in half. Snow, who was still clinging on the tree, seemed to be disturbed by that, because the sound was followed by Emma's mother falling down from the tree.

Emma and Regina saw how Charming and his knights realized they were ambushed, how Snow ran away, and how the carriage eventually continued its journey. She looked at Regina, the seriousness of the situation dawning on her when she saw the brunette's concerned expression.