"Does anyone want to explain what the hell is going on?"

Emma groaned into her coffee as she sat down on the sofa in the loft apartment and massaged her temples in the hopes of warding off a burgeoning headache. Her parents were before her, looking expectantly from her to the mayor who stood beside the sofa. David's arms were crossed over his chest while Mary Margaret glowered at the two women with hands on her hips. Henry stood beside his grandparents, brow furrowed in an expression that was nearly identical to his birth mother.

"Please, don't use the 'mom' tone," the Sheriff said back to her mother, resting her elbows on her knees. "It's been a long enough day already, and I am exhausted."

"We're sorry, but this is a little hard to wrap our heads around," David responded. "So... Regina accidentally split herself and brought her past selves to Storybrooke. One of which is the Evil Queen. Am I on the right track?"

"Yep," Emma nodded. "That's pretty much what happpened."

"How are you going to get rid of her?" Mary Margaret demanded. She was visibly upset at the idea of coming face-to-face with the Evil Queen again, which they all understood. After all, if Queen Regina would come after anyone in town, it would be the woman she blamed for ruining her life.

"We're not sure yet," Regina sighed. "I've been looking through my spell books for a solution all day."

"Hopefully, you're looking through them a bit more carefully than before," the blonde muttered, and Regina cut her eyes at her in irritation. "We've both been trying to figure out how to handle this. No dice so far, but we'll find something. Eventually."

"And what damage will the queen cause before then?" Mary Margaret maintained.

"None," Emma snarled. "She's not going to do anything, and if she tries, we'll stop her."

David frowned doubtfully. "You don't know her like we do, Emma."

"She's not going to hurt anyone," Regina stated in a hard voice, "because I won't let her. I caused this, and I'll end it."

"This isn't your fault, Regina," Emma sighed.

"I never said it was," the brunette returned, and Emma rolled her eyes. "But I'll handle it all the same."

"I officially have a migraine," the Savior grumbled, pinching her brow, and took a sip of her coffee. "And I really need something stronger than this."

Henry sat down beside of her and gave her a teasing smile. "Alcohol is not a healthy way to deal with your stress, Ma."

"Hey, who's the parent here?" she said back, elbowing his side. "If I want to drown my problems in liquor, then I will."

Mary Margaret looked at her sharply. "He may not be your parent, but I am, and I might have something to say about that."

"I'm kidding!" Emma rolled her eyes as she stood. "God, you guys are so serious all the time; lighten up." She headed for the kitchen.

"Where are you going?" Her mother called after her, still not convinced her daughter wasn't going to drink herself into a comatose state.

"To get some Aspirin, if that's alright with you," the Sheriff snapped back in annoyance as she made her way to the pantry.

David placed a reassuring hand on his wife's shoulder before looking back to Regina. "So, if the Evil Queen is one of the versions of you running around, who's the other one?"

"Emma!" The squeak sounded out as Emma had her hand on the cabinet door, and she was nearly knocked off her feet when two hands were thrown around her. Eyes wide, she looked down at the younger Regina before glancing back at the others, who gawked at the two of them.

"Hey," she said uncertainly to the girl whose face was nuzzled into her neck. "What's up? You're supposed to be asleep."

"I was," she nodded. "Then, I had a nightmare. It was so scary. I woke and... and you weren't there." Though she hid her face, Emma could tell by the thickness in her voice that she had been crying. "I thought you'd left me."

"I told you I wouldn't do that," Emma sighed, hugging the girl back hesitantly. "You're alright now. It was just a dream."

"It felt so real," Regina said and looked up into the Sheriff's eyes. Emma saw the teartracks on her cheeks and how her eyes were red and puffy. "I was alone and that... the Evil Queen was there. My mother was there, too. They were trying to kill me." She sniffled. "I screamed for you, but you never came to help me."

"Well, obviously, it wasn't real since I'm here now," the blonde assured her with a small smile. "Now, maybe you could let go of me before my ribs begin to crack?" The young woman smiled before unwrapping her arms from around Emma's waist. "There. How do you feel?"

"Better," she said. "Better with you." Her head rested on Emma's shoulder tenderly.

"What the hell?" It was David who finally voiced the mutual confusion shared around the room. Emma shrugged her shoulders while the younger Regina acknowledged them all for the first time.

"Who are these people, Emma?" She asked, and her hand immediately found the Savior's fearfully.

"My family," Emma answered and walked the hesitant girl up to Henry, who gawked at a form of his mother he'd never even imagined could exist. The mayor kept one hand on her son's shoulder possessively. Emma couldn't help but smirk at the idea that she would be insecure about anyone coming close to Henry-even someone who was technically herself.

"This is Henry," the Sheriff introduced, and the younger Regina gasped. "Our son." Emma gave him an encouraging smile when he looked at her uncertainly.

"Uh, hi," he said awkwardly.

"Hello," Regina smiled at him in wonderment. "Henry." She blinked away tears. "He... He's so beautiful."

"Handsome," Emma corrected with a wink to the boy. He blushed bright scarlet, and she grinned. "And these are my parents." Emma looked to the pair and found them both gaping at the girlish version of Regina in shock. David, much like Henry, looked as if he could never have guessed the harsh and angry Madame Mayor had been so young and timid once before. Mary Margaret, however, felt as though she'd been flung back in time. Back to when she was a little girl. She remembered that day when this very same Regina had saved her from a rampaging horse. And she remembered the day when she'd betrayed her terribly.

"I-I'm Charming," David floundered out, then shook his head. "David, I mean. I'm David." The young Regina gave him a small smile and courtsied, which made the mayor groan and Emma snort with laughter. When she looked to Mary Margaret, though, her smile fell.

"Snow," she said, looking the pixie-haired woman up and down with a frown. "You're... all grown up."

"Regina," Mary Margaret choked out, a wave of emotion overcoming her. "I... I'm sorry."

"Mom," Emma scowled, shaking her head. While this Regina might have seemed harmless, she'd seen the anger that flashed in her eyes when she'd mentioned Daniel's death. The darkness that lay dormant inside of her. One Regina already wanted her dead; the last thing Mary Margaret needed to do was anger this one as well.

"You're sorry?" The young Regina snapped. "For what? For betraying me? For getting my True Love killed? For turning me into a monster?"

Mary Margaret glanced over at the mayor uncertainly, who stared at her younger self with the first flicker of recognition since finding her. She didn't know the young, scared girl she'd seen before, but this burning rage-this she was more than familiar with.

Mary Margaret had nothing to say in her defense, so she simply bowed her head in shame. "Yes."

"You should be," Regina growled. "You cost me everything I ever cared about all because you couldn't keep a simple promise. And look at you now. Here you are with your family and your happy ending. It isn't fair!"

"Regina." Emma placed hand on the younger woman's shoulder gently, and she looked back at her, the vengeful fire in her brown eyes dimming. "I know you're angry with her, and you want her to pay for what she did. Believe me, though, Snow White has more than suffered for what happened."

"How?" She demanded.

"The curse ripped her away from her entire family," the blonde replied, and Regina's face fell. "It separated her from me and my father for twenty-eight years. And the worst part of it all was that she didn't even know it-she just felt it. The emptiness. The feeling of missing something very, very important. No matter how hard she tried, though, she couldn't figure out what it was. She tried to fill the hole with other things. Anything at all to make the pain go away. Nothing worked, though. She spent all those years in a haze, searching for something that she didn't even know she missed."

The room was silent as Emma stood there, eyes glued to the floor. She'd had no control of what she'd said. The words had spilled out of her without her permission, and she was helpless to stop them. The only person in the room who seemed to not understand her true meaning was the young girl by her side, whose brow was knit.

"I-I'm sorry." Green eyes shot up and connected with brown intensely. The mayor stared at her, arms wrapped around her own stomach as if she might be sick, and her mouth hanging open slightly. She blinked away the moisture that burned her eyes. The guilt that collapsed on her chest at Emma's confession was unbearable. She'd known she caused pain-hell, that had been her purpose in casting the curse. She'd known her actions had hurt those around her, but she hadn't known the extent to which she had damaged Emma Swan. She hadn't considered the scars that the Savior bore, interally and externally, because of her curse. Now, she was standing face-to-face with them.

A weak shadow of a smile crossed Emma's face as she looked back at the mayor. "I know. It's alright." She rubbed uncomfortably at the few tears that managed to slip from her eyes. "I'm alright now."

"You're crying," the younger Regina said, staring up at the blonde beside her. "You're sad." Her eyes darted over to the mayor as she acknowledged her older self for the first time, and her face was twisted in protective wrath. "You did this to her! You hurt her! How could you do that?"

"Regina." Emma's voice was low. She placed a finger under the girl's chin, forcing her to look back at her. Her eyes held a warning. "Don't. Don't talk to her like that."

She frowned. "Why not? She made you cry."

"Because she is you," Emma said in a softer tone. "You made a mistake that hurt a lot of people, but you're not that person anymore. You're better-good-and you've fought like hell to get to where you are now. We've all been through a lot, and we've all had to learn hard lessons. We've all had to learn to let go of the past and move forward." She swallowed. "I don't blame you, and I'm not angry. Not anymore. I used to be. I was really, really fucking mad at you for a long time over it, but now I've let all that go."

"How?" The younger Regina asked. "How could you forgive that?"

The blonde smiled. "Because, if it hadn't been for you and that curse, I never would've had Henry." She looked over at her son lovingly, and he smiled back at her. "All the pain in the world is worth him." She took a deep breath, stepping back from the girl. "Well, that got awkward fast. How about we focus on figuring out how to reverse this spell?"

"What about Mr. Gold?" Henry suggested with a shrug. "He's the only person who knows magic as well as my mom. He might know a way around this."

"That... is actually genius," Emma said, and looked over at the mayor. "Why didn't we think of that sooner?"

"I think we've all been rather stressed out, and it's clouded our reason," she answered, then grimaced. "Are we sure there's no one else who could help? I'd rather not visit that headcase if I can help it."

"We don't have a lot of choice here," the Sheriff sighed. "We should go."

"Go where?" Emma looked down at the younger Regina with a frown. "Where are we going?"

"Emma and I are going to see the Dark One," the mayor informed her past self with a cocked eyebrow that made her irritation with the young girl well known. Not necessarily because she was so clingy, but because of who she was clinging to. "You're going to stay here."

"What?" She exclaimed in a panic. "No! I-I can't! Emma, you promised!"

"We can't stay attached at the hip all the time," the Savior reasoned with the frenzied girl. "Why don't you spend some time with Henry?" She looked pleadingly to her son, who nodded in acceptance of his role as babysitter. "Maybe you two could go to the stables and ride?"

"That'd be fun," Henry smiled, and the young Regina looked at him. "Besides, if you want Emma, I'm pretty much the next best thing."

"We're basically the same person," the blonde agreed with a nod, while the mayor rolled her eyes.

"I-I suppose I could do that," the girl finally nodded, then looked back up at Emma. "You won't be long?"

"You'll barely even miss me," she assured her. "You're going to be alright?"

The young brunette hesitated a moment, then nodded. "Yes. I'll be okay."

"Good." Emma took a step away from her, and then hugged her son. "Thanks, Henry. I appreciate this."

"No problem," he shrugged back at her with a smile. "I'm actually looking forward to getting to know her." He looked back over at the unfamiliar version of his adoptive mother. "It's so weird seeing her like this. It's like, she's Mom, but then... she's not."

"Trippy as hell, right?" She smiled at him, and he nodded in agreement. "Take good care of her. I'll see you soon, kid."

He gave Regina a farewell hug as well, and the two women left the apartment together.

"Man, feels good to be able to breathe again," Emma sighed, stretching her arms out. "No offense, Regina, but younger you is a total clinger."

"She's certainly taken a liking to you," Regina sighed. "She appears to be me just after Daniel died." She frowned. "I was extremely emotional at that time. My True Love had just been murdered before my eyes by my own mother, and I was being forced to marry a man three times my age as well as take on a stepdaughter who I hated." Her eyes narrowed at Emma. "What did you say to her when you first met anyway? How did you convince her to trust you?"

The Savior shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. I just told her I wasn't going to hurt her and explained everything as well as I could. I was honest with her, and she seemed to value that. Then, she just kind of... latched on."

"She's lonely," the mayor frowned at the sidewalk. "You offered to be a friend to her, and she jumped."

"Well, she might be a little annoying, but I like her. At least she's nice to me."

Regina glared at her. "And I'm not?"

"Not typically, no."

"I'm plenty nice to you, Miss Swan."

"You called me an idiot five times yesterday alone."

"That's because you are one."

"Yeah, I know," Emma said with a lopsided grin, "but I know you like me anyway."

Regina side-eyed her, lips pressed in a firm line to keep from smiling. "I most certainly do not."

"Really?" The blonde turned to face her, hands on her hips. "Because you certainly seemed to like me a few days ago when I spent the entire night between your legs." The mayor frowned. "In fact, the way you were screaming my name sounded like you liked me a whole lot."

"You're crass and juvenile," Regina frowned, turning and continuing walking. "And I will not encourage your antics."

Emma laughed out loud and followed behind her, eyes trained on the curves of her backside. "Your presence alone encourages my antics, Madame Mayor."