A/N: Please review. I would like to know what you think of the story.

Regina was walking down the main street. She had almost reached the woods by now. It seemed to her that she had left the mansion hours ago and she still couldn't fully comprehend what Whale had told her. She ran every single detail she remembered about that day in the Enchanted Forest through her mind for the hundredth time and she still couldn't believe that it was one big lie. A scheme to turn her into the Evil Queen. It had seemed so real then. The sympathy written on Whale's face when he had told her that the procedure had failed and Jefferson's hand on her shoulder while he had been trying to comfort her.

Jefferson. Whale hadn't mentioned him but as Regina considered it there was no way that he hadn't known about the deal. He had been the one who had told her about Whale and he had brought him to her. That and the fact that they had met in Rumple's castle was proof enough that he had known.

Anger started bubbling up in her when she remembered how Jefferson had pretended to be one of her victims. She was one of his. And yet he had the insolence to blame her for ruining his life.

Regina decided that she needed to speak to him. She thought of using magic to teleport as the idea of walking to Jefferson's house did not appeal to her but she had promised Henry not to. She already felt guilty that she had almost used it to kill Whale. She didn't want to add more to that feeling. Besides, the walk could calm her so she continued towards Jefferson's mansion.

When she arrived there an hour later she was even angrier thanks to her thoughts that had refused to leave her mind even for a second. She knocked loudly on the door. A minute passed and there was no answer. She knocked again. Jefferson finally opened the door and froze when he saw her.

"Is Grace here?" Regina asked. Despite everything her maternal instinct was stronger than the urge to kill him. She wanted to spare the girl her father's dark past.

"No," Jefferson mumbled when he finally regained his ability to speak.

"Good." A loud noise followed when she slapped him across the face. "We need to talk." She walked past him and entered the house.

"What the hell?" he asked as he followed her into the living room. "You come to my house at this ungodly hour and…"

"I know what you did." Regina interrupted him as she turned to face him.

"What are you talking about?"

"Back in the Enchanted Forest. When you brought Whale to me. I know you had made a deal with Rumplestiltskin."

"So what? That was years ago." His irritating confidence had returned.

"Yes, but your pathetic attempt to kill me by making Gold do the whole job was only a few days ago."

"I had reasons. You certainly understand that," he replied smugly.

"Your reason was that I tricked you…"

"Again."

"…which would have never happened if you hadn't helped turning me into the Evil Queen."

"Of course," Jefferson sneered. "I should've known what this is about. You are searching for someone to blame for your mistakes."

He expected a tantrum or a snarky response but neither of those followed. Only a sad whisper.

"Why?" Suddenly she was not the Evil Queen anymore. He was looking at the brown eyes of the sorrowful inconsolable girl who had lost every hope of being reunited with her true love. "What did you get in exchange?" She sounded so broken that it made him cringe.

"Does it really matter?"

"I just want to know what you traded my love for." It was quiet, almost a whisper. But the accusation in her tone was so loud that it almost made him deaf. It enraged him. There she stood, looking all twenty and innocent again, blaming him for all of her mistakes. As if he were the one who had killed so many people, as if he were the one who had cursed an entire realm and she was only a victim of the cruelty of the world.

"I didn't trade anything. He was already dead," he snarled.

"You toyed with my feelings as if they were meaningless," a single tear escaped her left eye.

"You have no right to blame me after everything you've done to me and everyone else."

"None of that would have happened, if you hadn't deceived me like that." Her eyes were now dry again and the bite in her tone had returned.

"Really?" Jefferson asked and she gave him a menacing look. One that only encouraged him to go further and bring out the Evil Queen in her. "We both know that you would eventually turn into a monster even without anyone's help. It's in your DNA." Regina opened her mouth to object but he didn't give her the chance. "I know your mother. She uses everything she has to accomplish her goals. She kills people in cold blood if it will get her what she wants." He was coming closer and closer as he spoke until he was only inches away from her. "You are just like her."

Rage was radiating from her. She raised her hand to slap him again but he expected it this time and caught her wrist, pulling her towards him. In the next moment his lips were on hers. He wanted to infuriate her enough to destroy the innocence she had somehow managed to salvage after everything she had done. He ravaged her mouth with his tongue, leaving her breathless. Before parting completely he bit down on her lower lip violently, drawing a whimper and even a little blood.

When he finally let go of Regina he realized that what he had just done would probably cost him his life. He looked at her, expecting to see an outraged Evil Queen at her full capacity, only to be surprised again. Instead of angry she seemed hurt as if the kiss had caused her physical pain, which it actually had but he knew that was not the reason for the look in her eyes. He had tried to take something from her again. For the second time that night the queen in front of him transformed into the innocent and vulnerable girl she had been more than thirty years ago. He reached out for her not fully aware of his own intentions but she quickly moved backwards. She turned around and left without so much as another word.

The weight Jefferson felt in his chest was excruciating. He hated Regina but more than anything he hated that evil innocence of hers that would always be there to remind him that no matter what sins she had committed she would always be better than him.