Chapter Six; The Offer

Neal hadn't moved since Emma had left him alone in their house. He wanted to call Henry, but he decided against it. No one knew why Neal had kept Robert Gold a secret, and Neal was beginning to wonder if it was even for the right reasons.

Finally, Neal forced himself to sit down and call his cousin. Gold picked up on the second ring, "Hello?"

"Why would you do that?"

"Do what?" Gold feigned innocence.

"You know what," Neal snapped. "Emma left me because of your surprise visit! Yesterday, I had a wife and a son. Now I'm not sure either of them will ever forgive me. Had you given me a few more days, I would have come clean."

"We don't have a few more days!" Gold argued, "The first read through for the movie is tomorrow. I need you to be there, and act as one of my agents. And I needed your family to know because this is going to be much more dangerous than I originally thought.

Neal's anger diminished when he heard Gold's explanation. If Emma and Henry were both angry at him, they wouldn't be as hurt if something bad were to happen to Neal. That may not have been Gold's thought process, but at least now, Neal could cope with the gaping hole Emma had left in his heart. But there was one thing that was still bugging Neal, "Why is this case going to be so dangerous?"

"Five and a half years ago, a man moved to this town because he swore to hurt a citizen as much as he possibly could. No one knows who he was targeting because he ended up killing someone in a car crash dismissed as a drunk driving accident. He ran before authorities could catch him, but my sources say he's back in Storybrooke using this movie as a cover. Anyone who has been living in Storybrooke for over five years could be this man's target. And we don't know if the car crash was purposeful or actually just because he was driving under the influence."

Neal felt as if his blood had been turned to ice. This mysterious criminal could be after Emma or Henry, for all he knew. After all, Emma had been living in Storybrooke ever since she moved out of her parents' house at eighteen.

"So, are you still in? Because if you want to back out, I wouldn't blame you."

"I'm still in," Neal said firmly. If this man wanted to hurt someone in the town Neal called home, Neal was going to make sure that at the very least, he had to crawl through hell to get there.

After a lot of crying on Emma's part, Regina was able to figure out the gist of what had happened. Apparently, Robert Gold - the same Robert Gold that Belle had a crazy infatuation with - was Neal's cousin. However, Neal had neglected to share that information with Emma. In fact, he had lied about a good portion of his past all together. So Emma had sent Henry to spend some time with his girlfriend of the past two years while Emma had stormed out, not even knowing where she was headed.

Once Emma was done with her tearful venting, the apartment was silent for several moments. Finally, Regina spoke, "You can spend the night here, if you'd like. But I'm meeting my sister for breakfast tomorrow." It was true, Regina hadn't wanted to ever speak to Emma again. But for some reason, Emma had chosen to go to Regina instead of her other friends, which warmed Regina's heart.

Emma nodded and wiped the tears from her puffy eyes. "Thank y-you, Regina."

Regina pursed her lips, debating on whether or not to say the words bouncing around in her mind. Finally, she decided to just let them go and see how Emma would react, "You can't stay mad at him forever, you know."

"I know," Emma whispered, "I just need a bit of time to think. ...What time do you need me to leave by tomorrow?"

Regina had an internal battle with herself. She thought catching up with Emma would be full of awkward silences and texting Zelena as an excuse to not talk. But when it came down to it, Regina wanted what she had always wanted for Emma while they were friends; for her to be safe. "You can stay here while I'm with Zelena," she offered, pushing back the part of her that wanted Emma to leave as soon as possible. "Just know that Belle and Merida might stop by to raid my fridge or something because Belle has my extra apartment key."

"Are you sure?" Emma didn't want to invade Regina's privacy, especially since this was the first time they had spoken in five years.

"Of course! ...But there's one thing I want to know."

"What is it?" Emma looked up at Regina and frowned.

"Why me?" Regina asked the blonde. "Why not Mary Margaret and David? Why did you come to me?"

"Do you remember the promise we made each other in college, when we first became friends?"

Regina nodded, the memory rushing back to her;

Regina was walking around on campus after dark, trying to figure out the best way to sneak into the office that belonged to one of her teachers when she heard the revving of a chainsaw. She felt herself walking towards the sound, though she wasn't sure why.

When she found the source of the noise, she rolled her eyes. "Emma, what are you doing?" Regina had first met the blonde a few weeks before, on the first day of school for the year. It was Emma's first year at college, and she was already cutting down an apple tree.

"Getting revenge," Emma responded. "Kitsis called me out today for something Killian was doing, and the little delinquent got away with it. I confronted Kitsis about it after class, and he told me I should be okay getting in trouble for Killian because we're dating." Emma rolled her eyes. "I'm so close to breaking up with him."

"You should," Regina advised. "He's a complete Panini Head if you ask me."

"What does that mean?" Emma turned her attention from the apple tree and looked at Regina, "What's a Panini Head?"

"Ask your boyfriend; he is one. So why are you cutting down the apple tree to get revenge on Kitsis?"

"He's been growing it ever since he started teaching here, twenty years ago."

Regina smirked. "Oh, you are amazing. But what if we do more than just cut down his apple tree?" Regina stepped closer to her potential partner in crime, "What if we sneak into his office and screw everything up? I have duck tape and post it notes."

"What did Kitsis do to you?" Emma asked, making sure Regina wasn't going to just end up selling her out.

"He gave me a D on my paper because I asked my sister for help on it. It's not my fault my sister is smart than he is," Regina shrugged. "So what do you say? Partners?" Regina held her hand out for Emma to shake.

"Sounds good to me." Emma shook her new friends' hand.

After they sawed down the apple tree and defaced Kitsis's office, they snuck back out through the window and ran for the dorms.

"That was probably my greatest achievement!" Emma exclaimed, adrenaline still rushing through her veins.

"Kitsis is going to kill us if he ever finds out," Regina warned Emma.

"Oh, who cares? We make great partners in crime! Let's go after someone else next week."

"Let's go after your Panini Head of a boyfriend," Regina suggested. She and Emma stopped running once they reached the dorm building. they were both out of breath and their cheeks were red from running and from the cool September night air.

"Let's not. He might actually kill me."

"If that's the case, you should probably break up with him," Regina advised.

"Maybe."

"Hey, if you ever need away from Killian or any other boyfriend you may have, you always have a home with me," Regina promised. "I'll keep you safe, I promise."

"Ditto," Emma agreed. "I'll be there for you, no matter what."

"So...friends?" Regina asked, a smile on her face.

Emma nodded. "Friends." The two shook hands, sealing their friendship.

"Well, I was absolute crap at keeping my end of our deal, but I was hoping maybe you would still be willing to keep yours," Emma said, almost guiltily. "I mean, you don't have to, but-"

"Why wouldn't I?" Regina asked. "I'm at fault as much as you are, Swan. I could have gone to you for support, but I didn't. We both made mistakes, but maybe instead of blaming ourselves for them, we should just leave them in the past."

Emma smiled at Regina. "So...friends?"

Regina grinned. "Friends," she promised. She shook Emma's hand, and the broken friendship the two had let fall through seemed to heal instantaneously.

↣ ↢
the next morning
↣ ↢

Regina sat down in the seat across from Zelena. They were at a table in the back corner of Misthaven Café.

"So what is this 'offer' you have?" Regina asked.

"Alice Lowe was hired to be a minor character in this movie that Robin and Robert Gold are filming. However, she and Jefferson Hatter have a touchy past and she dropped the role last-minute, when she found out that he would be in it with her. The director was desperate for a replacement and I told him I had another client who would be willing to take the role."

"You don't have another client..." As Regina's voice trailed off, she realized what Zelena's offer was. "Oh," Regina whispered softly. Regina pointed to herself, "...Me?"

Zelena nodded. "There's only three scenes for the role, and I don't know what you have against Robin, but he's not in any of them."

The no Robin factor was a good thing to point out, because that meant Regina wasn't going to have to pretend to like him. She wasn't sure she even could pretend. Still, Regina wasn't convinced about taking the role, "Zelena, I work in an office. I don't act."

"You used to," Zelena protested. "I'm not asking you to become a movie star, I just need someone to take this role or I'll get in trouble and end up getting fired or getting Robin taken out of the movie!"

"That sounds like a personal problem," Regina built her walls up the moment Zelena mentioned Robin's role being in danger. Why should Regina care about the person who pulled her sister across the ocean?

"Regina, please," Zelena was practically begging. "Just come to the read through tonight, and if you don't want to do this, I'll find someone else."

Regina sighed. "Zelena, I've only ever performed in a school play. This is an actual movie."

"I know, I know," Zelena assured her sister. "But please. I know you won't do this for Robin, I get that. I don't know why, but you're stubborn and secretive and that's not the issue right now. But please, Regina. Do it for me."

"Do it for me."

"Okay," Regina heard herself say. "I'll do it. For you."

"Thank you." Zelena exhaled deeply, finally smiling. "Can you be at the readthrough by 6:30?"

Regina nodded, still only half-conscious of what she was doing. "Yeah. Yeah, I'll be there." She pulled her phone out and sent a quick text to Arthur;

Meet me outside of the hotel five minutes before Zelena leaves for the readthrough.