A/N: Thanks once again for the continued reviews and support! Your words of encouragement mean the world to me! Also, please bear with me as far as Regina's lack of magic is concerned – all will be revealed in due time, I promise! Finally, the next update may take a few days longer than the others, as I'm returning back to work this week. Vacation was fantastic and allowed me to indulge fully in my Swan Queen feels…wish I could ship them like it was my full-time job, haha! Don't we all? That being said, ENJOY! :)

Chapter 3

The cold, hard brick wall of the jail cell was beginning to create a dull ache in Regina's lower back as she sat propped up against it, legs sprawled before her on the thin, standard-issue cot. She glanced down at the hands resting on her lap, wrists still bearing red indentations from the bite of the handcuffs she'd been forced to wear earlier, and closed her eyes, imagining instead that she was lying in the confines of her king-sized bed – anywhere but here. And yet, she knew she was powerless to do anything about her imprisonment.

As the Evil Queen of the old world, she had been the highest ruler in all the land, having anything available at her disposal whenever she dictated it. She had taken pleasure in the fineries she surrounded herself with – everything from the ornate sculptures and paintings that decorated her palace, to the lavish clothing tailored to her every curve, and even the simple Honeycrisp that she had nurtured since her childhood into the majestic, towering tree that was known to produce the most delicious fruit in the entire realm. Her magic had ensured that she never wanted for anything, no matter how great or small, and she could have it all with a flick of her wrist. The reaches of her power had been limitless, extending not only to material possessions, but to her reign over each and every individual in her kingdom. Her reputation as a merciless, sadistic monarch had guaranteed her the fealty of all, lest they become the unwitting target of a dark spell, or worse.

Dark eyes glaring down toward the clasped hands in her lap, Regina's thoughts moved to her present predicament. She tried in vain to squash the feelings of self-loathing that washed over her. Weakness was not a part of the obstinate woman's vocabulary and had not been for as long as she could remember – well, almost. Still to this day she remembered with burning clarity the crushing blow she had been dealt when her mother had discovered her plans to elope with Daniel, the one and only true love she had ever known, and had ripped the beating heart out of his chest, squeezing it into dust right before her eyes. Her mother had told her that love is weakness, and that the only enduring thing in this or any world is power.

And yet, Regina realized in that moment, her mother could not ever have known just how wrong she was. The events of the last few hours had shown her that nothing in life is truly permanent, not even power. Her Dark Curse had crumbled away into absolute nothingness, leaving her instantly bereft of her stature. For reasons unknown to her, the return of magic to Storybrooke had restored power to all but her, and though it pricked at her very soul to admit it, a growing part of her was starting to accept that perhaps this was the price she was destined to pay for all of her cruel, twisted deeds. Completely bereft of power, the only thing left inside her was the weakness of a condemned soul.

Regina's eyes shifted then to the blonde Sheriff sitting at her desk across the room. Emma sat stiffly in the chair, eyes cast downward, though not apparently focused on anything in particular, the pencil in her hand tapping a furious rhythm against the desk. It made for a strange sight; she hadn't ever recalled seeing the so-called Savior so ruffled by anything before. And that was saying quite a lot, considering all the misery she'd delighted in putting her through in the past several months.

"Penny for your thoughts, Miss Swan?" Regina asked, breaking the silence.

Emma's face shot up, startled by the sudden interruption. "What's it to you?"

"Well, I suppose nothing at all," Regina volleyed. "Just trying to make conversation before the inevitable happens."

Emma nodded and replied a bit more evenly, "I'm not looking forward to this any more than you are."

"And why is that?" the brunette asked, swinging her legs around the side of the cot to face the other woman directly. "I would have thought you'd be jumping for joy about my imminent destruction."

"Maybe I am, in some ways," Emma admitted, standing from her chair. Stepping around the desk, she slowly approached the couch outside the cell and sank down on its arm, mere inches away from the bars. "But it's not that simple."

"What do you mean?" Regina asked, hands curling around the bars as she shifted down toward the end of the mattress.

"I mean that," Emma started, searching to find the right words, "Look, you're a complete and utter bitch. And that doesn't even begin to cover it. You've destroyed countless lives – my friends', my family's, and really, mine too. You are the reason I grew up without my parents. And for that, I want you to suffer."

"But?" Regina prodded, a bemused smile flitting across her features.

"But," Emma continued, reluctantly, "you have also been the mother to my son. You took him in and provided him with everything that I couldn't when I had him. I owe you for that."

Regina's chin inclined, a single eyebrow arching at the last comment. No doubt suppressing a smart-ass comment, Emma thought. But the other woman remained silent, encouraging her to continue.

"So I want to make sure that you are treated fairly. No child deserves to lose a parent, and I'll be damned if that child is Henry."

"But Henry doesn't–" Regina's response was cut off by the sound of shouting and heavy footsteps echoing down the hallway toward the Sheriff's office. Her eyes locked on Emma's, then, meeting there in the green depths the same wide-eyed apprehension that she felt clenching at her insides.

Emma stood up abruptly from the couch, moving to the door with grace in her stride – truly remarkable, considering what faced her on the other side. She pulled it open to see a group of townspeople that stretched from the door to about ten feet down the narrow, dimly-lit hallway. Within the crowd were faces both familiar and unfamiliar – Leroy and Mr. Clarke, the town pharmacist, heading up the front, with Granny and Ruby, Marco and Archie filling in the ranks behind them along with several other faces Emma had seen before but couldn't put names to. Standing at the very back of the disgruntled mob was David Nolan – Prince Charming, Emma's estranged father, who wore a mirthless, tight-lipped scowl on his face but said nothing. She noted that her mother, Snow, was not there, and she hoped that meant she had kept her word and stayed behind with Henry.

"Where is she?" Leroy barked, glaring at Emma with narrowed eyes. There were whoops and hollers throughout the crowd echoing his demand.

Oh boy, here we go, Emma thought with dismay. Determined not to let her face betray the vast array of emotions she was feeling beneath the exterior, she spoke to the mob.

"Okay, everybody just calm down!" Emma commanded, projecting her voice so she could be heard over the shouting. "I've apprehended Regina and she will remain in custody under my watch."

"She'll pay for what she did to us!" Granny shouted, chin quivering in fury while Ruby clapped her back in a show of solidarity. With that, the group began to surge forward collectively, bloodlust raging in their hardened eyes.

Swallowing, Emma put her hand out to stop them. "Wait! I know what she did to you – to all of you, and she will be made to pay for the Curse. But we have to allow due process of the law to–"

Emma was cut off by Leroy. "No way, sister. Forget that! She tried to ruin us! She took us from our homes and our families and made us suffer! Now it's time for us to take back what we lost and make her pay!" Once again, the enraged citizens shouted and cursed, charging directly at Emma with hands extended to push her out of the way.

Rage lodged itself painfully in Emma's chest, rising up to her head so fast that she nearly went dizzy from it. "I said STOP!" she bellowed, moving her hands to her hips. The impact of her voice rippled through the crowd and momentarily stilled them, the anger on their faces giving way to slack-jawed shock.

Thinking on her feet, Emma spoke to them again. "Think about what you're going to do! It's no less evil than anything that woman in there ever did to you. Remember all you've lost – your families, friends and loved ones. If you murder her, you will lose all of them again, but this time the only fault will be your own."

The noise of the crowd ceased nearly completely, save for a few stray murmurs, as all eyes watched her intently. Sensing that the tide was beginning to turn, she added, "Don't stoop to her level. Don't play her game. The only ones who will lose will be all of you, and you've already lost too much."

"She's right," David Nolan, the man formerly known as Prince Charming, declared to the gathering of people that had once been his royal subjects. He moved forward through the crowd with a gentle, though regal bearing as he spoke and came to stand at Emma's side. The sight of it tugged at her emotions as she locked eyes with the man she knew to be her long-lost father. He looked into hers deeply, smiling at her with a small nod of encouragement. Emma's lips formed a tight smile even as she felt the tears beginning to sting her eyes. In Storybrooke, she had known David to be a man with good and true intentions, though misguided into adultery by the love that not even Regina's curse could destroy. He had never lost his loyalty to Snow, so it was no wonder that he came to stand beside his daughter in a unified front.

"We cannot take an eye for an eye to correct the wrongs that have been done to us," Charming declared. "The crimes that the Queen committed were carried out in our land, not in this one. But the truth of the matter is that we are living in a place where the laws are very different than they were in our time, and we must decide on an ethical form of justice that befits both worlds."

"Banish her!"

"Put her to death!"

The shouts rang out immediately following Charming's decree, all voices of the crowd joining in the fray to create a cacophony. Emma cringed and glared down at the floor, fighting back the urge to scream at them all as she realized that the vast majority of the voices were crying out for a death sentence. Turning to her father, who was also visibly upset, she mouthed, "What do we do?"

He held up a finger to her, his features beginning to settle a bit as he formulated his next move.

"If I could have your attention, please!" Charming's voice rang out above the crowd, the chatter slowly dying down once again to hear him speak.

"Thank you," he continued. "It's fair to say that nobody is in the right frame of mind to make this decision right now, while the wounds are still fresh. We need time and perspective. We must form a council, as we did in our land, to decide the proper course of action."

The townspeople considered it, whispering and turning to one another with questioning looks in the eyes of all.

"Okay," Leroy relented, speaking once again for the group. "When?"

"Let's meet three days from now. This will give us all time to reunite with our loved ones. When we meet next, I expect that all will have a cool head and be focused on the task at hand. Emma will keep watch over Regina tonight and throughout the days ahead. Now please, let us return to our homes," Charming commanded, waving the group away with his hand.

Reluctantly, the prince's subjects began to retreat from the hallway. Stunned, Emma watched them shuffle away. Her father stayed behind.

"That," Emma breathed, struggling for words, "that was amazing! Thank you."

"Just goes to show you I still got it," Charming said to his daughter, a broad smile stretching across his face that lit his eyes. "You did pretty good, yourself, Emma."

"Thanks," she replied, casting her eyes downward as a flush began to color her face. So this was what it felt like to be the child of a proud parent. "Guess now I know where I get it from!"

Charming laughed easily, smiling down at her with admiration. Then, his arms came up awkwardly at his sides and he hesitated.

"Can I–?" he began to ask, but his intent was already clear to Emma.

"Yes," she replied immediately, reaching out her own arms to him and stepped in for a hug. They held each other there silently for a moment, and though it was genuinely a heartfelt gesture, Emma could not help but feel somewhat strange in the arms of a man not much older than herself, and yet, was truly her father.

Slowly extricating herself from his arms, she stepped back and met his beaming smile again, noticing that his eyes were misting over as hers had just moments ago.

"We have a lot to catch up on," he stated, simply.

"Yeah, that's putting it lightly!" Emma agreed.

"All in due time, of course," Charming replied. The smile slowly faded from his face and his brow furrowed as he looked at her. "Can I ask you something?"

"Uh, sure," she replied, caught off-guard by his change in demeanor.

"Why were you so quick to come to Regina's defense?"

Emma frowned as she considered how to go about answering his question. She had several reasons, though her mind was at war over them and she hadn't yet had the time to process the conflicting feelings she'd been experiencing. When she finally spoke, she gave voice to the one reason that she had reiterated over and over in her mind as her prime motivation. She prayed that this was something her father would understand.

"It's Henry," she began. "That woman may have been the most evil, despicable creature in your world. I'm well aware of what she has done to all of you, and also to me. But I saw the way she looked at Henry when the Curse was broken. She looked so desperate. I think she truly believed that she had lost him forever. I saw her cry at his bedside and beg him to believe that she loved him."

"And she was telling the truth?" Charming asked, earnestly.

"Yes." Emma had always had an uncanny ability to discern lies from truth, and this was something she was absolutely certain of. If Regina could love no one else, she most definitely held love in her heart for her son, their son.

She continued. "And Henry was affected by it, too. He was afraid for her. She's his mother, he needs her."

"Emma, you are his mother," her father asserted, speaking gently but firmly.

"I am," she agreed, "but Regina is, too, whether we want to accept that or not. I was in no position to take care of a baby when I gave birth to him, so I had no choice but to put him up for adoption. She's been the only mother he knew until he found me."

Charming considered this carefully, a frown gracing his features. Then, after a few moments, he spoke. "So you want her to live?"

Emma nodded, but said nothing. Silence passed between them again as he processed this. "You know that the Council's decision will be final. I cannot overturn their vote should they choose execution."

"I know," Emma said, sadly.

"But I will do my best to see that they choose differently."

Gratitude overwhelmed her as she felt the tears burning at her eyes again, only this time she made no attempt to hide them. Voice constricted, she mouthed, "Thank you."

Emma felt the eyes of her father studying her closely, and for an agonizing moment she couldn't discern his expression. Perhaps he really thought she was out of her mind. But then his eyes softened and he reached out to hug her again. Pulling away slowly, he took Emma's hands into his own.

"Keep an eye on your charge, Sheriff," he commanded, although not without affection.

"I will," Emma promised.

She saw her father offer her a wink before he turned his back and began walking away from her down the hall. Though a small gesture, it warmed her heart and she began to feel that she already missed him as she watched his retreating figure disappear around the corner. She withdrew a sharp intake of breath to steady herself, then turned back to the door of her office where she knew the woman whose life depended on her was waiting on the other side.

Shivering, Emma crossed her arms over her chest and walked back inside the darkened room to face Regina.