A few days went by since the night Cora captured them, and the two were ready for their next encounter. Emma had arranged for Henry to stay the night with his grandparents with the excuse of having official city hall work to do with Regina. "Be good, kid." She said tousling his hair and ignoring his smirk.

Regina paced her office waiting for Emma to show up, while going over their plan in her head.

"Darling, stop frowning, wrinkles aren't attractive." Came Cora's voice from the doorway.

Snapping her head up, Regina looked to the door froze. "Mother?"

"Who else would it be, dear… unless you were expecting someone else?" The older woman said, looking around before taking a few steps toward her daughter.

"Uh. No. I'm just…" Regina began, watching as Cora slowly moved toward her. "I-I thought you were gone…" she managed.

Laughing dryly, the older woman stepped right up to her daughter and ran her fingers down her cheek before forcing Regina to look at her. "I always come back, you know this, Regina." Keeping her grip around her daughter's face, Cora continued speaking in a low voice. "Now. What is this nonsense of you teaching the Savior how to use magic?"

Stuck in her mother's grasp, Regina dared not move from it. Feeling as if she were a child again she stared back at her mother and tried to find her words.

"I'm waiting…"

"Mother… I'm just helping her. As mayor of this town it's my job to-..." Regina began before her mother silenced her by forcefully letting go of her face, her nails leaving scratch marks along her jaw and cheek.

"It is your JOB to be QUEEN." The witch snapped.

Regina shook her head, "I never wanted to be Queen, Mother! You forced me into it when you killed Daniel. Why can't you just understand that I no longer want to be feared?"

Cora straightened and looked to her daughter. "You're right. I made you into the Queen you were… and I'll do it again. Maybe this time it'll be permanent." She drawled, smirking at the thought. "I killed the farm boy you thought you loved… I'll just have to do the same again… with the Shepherds daughter." She finished, ignoring Regina's protest as she disappeared in her navy cloud.

Emma was in her office rummaging through her desk drawer as the door opened. "Hey I was just about to ca-..." she started, her face falling when she realized who had walked in.

"What's the matter dear?" Cora said, walking into the middle of the room. "Am I not who you were expecting?" She added, watching as the blonde stood slowly, her fists clenched at her sides.

"What do you want?" She said, disregarding Cora's question, while backing slowly away.

Regina ran, her mind racing as she sprinted up the steps to the blondes apartment only to find it empty. Running her fingers through her hair, she thought of where Emma could be.