"Thanks for meeting with me."

Emma clasped Regina's hand on top of the table.

". . . Madam Mayor."


Regina's eyes widened. "You-you remember?" she gasped. "How …"

"Hook," Emma revealed. "He had a potion that brought my memories back."

Regina tried pulling her hand back, but Emma only latched onto her wrist tighter. "What's wrong, Regina?" she quietly taunted. "Not so eager to hold my hand now that I remember you?"

"I—I ..." Regina stumbled out. She couldn't wrap her brain around what was happening. She thought about Emma's earlier comment about having a good poker face. "When did you know? Last night?"

"No. I called you as soon as I took Hook's potion." Emma leaned forward, continuing to hold Regina's wrist in a tight, unrelenting hold. "Why are you here, Regina?" she demanded. "And how did you find me?"

Regina's head spun with too many of her own questions to think about Emma's. "Does Henry … does he remember, too?" she asked.

Emma finally dropped the other woman's hand. "No." She leaned back in her chair, aggression melting from her body at the mere mention of Henry. "There was only enough memory potion for one person."

"Of course," Regina stiffly replied. "Because that would be my Fate."

"You still haven't told me why you're here."

"I wanted to see Henry." Regina felt her lower lip tremble. She bit down on it to keep her emotions contained. "I tried keeping my distance. But neither of you were supposed to remember me, so it shouldn't have mattered if I got too close."

"You were—what—stalking us?" Emma nearly shouted. She was mindful they were in public, and she didn't want to draw unwanted attention to their conversation in case someone overheard words like Magic, Curse, and Evil Queen.

"I was observing, Miss Swan. Nothing more invasive than a traditional stakeout, I assure you."

"Okay, so you wanted to see Henry. I get that. But how are you even here in this world? Hook said you'd all been cursed again. Is that true?"

Regina brushed her long bangs away from her forehead. "The pirate didn't lie; Storybrooke is back. But none of us know who cast this new curse, and we can't remember anything about the year we were in the Enchanted Forest." She frowned deeply. "The last thing I remember is watching you and Henry driving away in that horrible little car of yours. And then I was waking up in my bed in Storybrooke, not in my castle."

"How unpleasant for you," Emma scowled.

Regina slammed her clenched fist on the table, causing their water glasses to wobble. "Don't you dare be cavalier about this, Miss Swan," she hissed. "There are a great many people who gave up a great deal so you could be in this place with Henry with your new life and your new memories."

"I never asked for these fake memories!" Emma hotly protested. "That was all you."

"Because I didn't want you to be in pain anymore," Regina snapped.

"Me or Henry?" Emma shot back.

"Both of you. I didn't want Henry to miss what he'd had in Storybrooke, and you had already suffered enough by my hand because of the original curse."

Emma tried to ignore what Regina was revealing. Kindness—even compassion— coming from Regina Mills, was something to which she was not accustomed. She raked her fingers through her hair, still wild from a morning of not being properly brushed. "How crazy is it that we have to differentiate between curses?" she shakily laughed.

"I know," Regina solemnly agreed.

"So, uh, what now?" Emma had met up with Regina to confront the other woman, and now that she had, she didn't know what the next step was.

"I don't know about you, but I'm starving." Regina retrieved the menu she had previously been looking at. "How about lunch?"

Emma snorted. "Really? Lunch?"

Regina pursed her lips. "I'm not avoiding the elephant in the room, but I'd rather deal with it when there's food in my stomach."

Emma fiddled with her water glass. "What's the elephant?"

"If you're going to keep your memories."

"What? Of course I am!" Emma protested. "Why the hell wouldn't I?"

Regina carefully closed her menu. "You're going to be able to continue living in this city knowing we're bumbling around in Storybrooke?"

Emma scratched at the back of her neck. "Oh. I, uh, I thought I was supposed to help you guys figure out the curse and what happened in the missing year. I'm the Savior, aren't I?"

"Indeed." Regina made a humming noise. "But maybe this second curse requires a different kind of Savior, dear."


Killian Jones looked far too comfortable on Emma's couch. Those were the first thoughts that came to Regina's head as she entered the apartment Emma and Henry had turned into a home over the past year.

The eager look on the pirate's face was replaced with distain when he realized Emma hadn't come home alone. "You brought her?"

Emma held up a hand. "Don't start with me, Hook."

Regina looked around the apartment. "Where's Henry?"

"He's at a friend's house," Emma said, slipping out of her winter jacket and throwing it over the back of a chair in the living room. "Which reminds me, I have to see if Mrs. Cuse can check in on him while we're gone."

"Wait—you're planning on leaving him here?" Regina gaped. "In New York?"

"He's old enough to babysit himself," Emma explained. "And who knows how long this second curse mystery is going to take? I can't just uproot him from his school and his friends."

Regina gave Emma an incredulous look. "I sent you away with our son with a new set of memories so he'd never be alone. Now you want to entrust him to a stranger's care?"

"Mrs. Cuse isn't a stranger," Emma defended. "She's been my neighbor for the past year."

"We have no idea how long it will take to figure out this second curse," Regina said, her ire rising. "And since you insist on tagging along and playing hero—"

"Okay, fine," Emma interrupted before Regina could go on another rant. "Henry can come. I just thought maybe it would be easier for you."

Regina raised an eyebrow. "For me?"

"Henry doesn't know who you really are," Emma unnecessarily reminded her. "I thought . . . I thought maybe that would be really difficult. I didn't want to make this any harder on you than it has to be."

"While I appreciate your concern, Miss Swan, I'm perfectly capable of schooling my emotions."

Emma cocked her head to the side. "Why do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Call me 'Miss Swan' whenever you get pissed."

"Then I must never use your first name," Regina mused.

Emma's cell phone rang in her hand. She made a face when she looked at the flashing screen. "I have to take this call. I'll be right back." She looked between the pirate and the former evil queen. "You two … try not to kill each other while I'm gone."

Regina turned on her heel when Emma disappeared into her bedroom to answer the phone call. She stuck a manicured fingernail into the center of Hook's chest. "You have a lot of explaining to do."

Hook looked startled. "What? Me?"

"Memory potion?" Regina spat out. "How the hell did you get your fish hook on one of those?"

"Would you believe me if I said a little bird?" Hook looked mildly amused. "It found me on the Jolly Roger after I left you and the other sad sacks. It had the potion and a note that I needed to find Emma."

Regina's brow furrowed. "A bird?" she repeated. "That sounds like Snow's work. Wait," she said, realizing something. "How do you remember any of this when the rest of us can't remember what happened in the last year?"

Only then did Hook look uncomfortable. "I guess the curse skipped me." His smile looked uneasy. "Lucky me."

"What do you know?" Regina demanded, instantly suspicious. None of this was making sense, and what little patience she had was rapidly unraveling. "Did you do something, pirate?"

"I'm in the dark like the rest of you about this curse," Killian insisted. "I can remember the last year, but nothing about what happened to you and the others. We were on our way to your castle when I decided to take off on my own."

"Back to your ship I suppose."

"Aye," he confirmed. "I'm sorry I can't be more helpful."

"I bet you are," Regina huffed.

Emma returned to the living room, and, ignoring the apartment's two other occupants, she strode purposefully to the kitchen and pulled open a cabinet over the refrigerator to produce a bottle of whiskey. She twisted off the cap and took a quick swig from the bottle. She sighed and set the bottle on the kitchen counter. The bottle knocked noisily on the granite.

"You mind, love?" Killian questioned with a gesture towards the alcohol.

Emma grunted and slid the glass container towards the man. He caught the bottle as it threatened to pass and brought the whiskey to his lips with one smooth motion.

"Your Majesty?" he said, offering the bottle to Regina next.

Regina wrinkled her nose. Her stomach still churned from her overindulgence the previous night. "No thank you."

Emma's laughter sounded like a machine gun. "Don't tell me you're off of the bottle forever because of last night?"

Killian arched an eyebrow. "Last night? What did I miss?"

"Nothing. Who was on the phone?" Regina asked, changing the subject. It was embarrassing enough that Emma had seen her like that without Killian Jones knowing about it, too.

Emma dropped the taunt at the tip of her tongue. "Walsh. I told him what was happening, and he wants to come with."

"To Storybrooke?" Killian asked.

Regina's eyes widened. "You told him? Everything?"

"No! Of course not. I told him you had a job for me in your town."

"And he wants to tag along? Why?" Regina was instantly suspicious.

"Because he's my boyfriend," Emma reasoned, "and he'll miss me if I'm gone for that long."

"He told me to stay away from you," Regina revealed.

Emma's features scrunched in confusion. "He did? When?" She had no reason not to believe Regina.

"When he showed up unexpectedly at the hotel bar that night." Regina let the story end there. She didn't need to tell Emma that she had lured the man there purposefully. "He told me to stay away from you."

Emma continued to look perplex. "I'm sure he had his reasons."

"And what reasons might those be, love?" Killian implored.

Emma's eyes involuntarily flicked over to Regina in her high-heels and impeccably tailored outfit. Beneath the raven-haired woman's wool trench coat she wore a grey pencil skirt and dark nylons. Emma's thoughts lingered on the memory of the tight abdomen hidden beneath Regina's navy blue blouse. Her eyes focused on the third button that strained to contain two creamy white breasts. What if Walsh had somehow sensed her attraction to the other woman? What if that had been the catalyst for the possessive response?

"Listen, there's no agenda with Walsh. He's a good guy," Emma defended after clearing her throat. "He doesn't know me as the Savior, or the kid of Snow White and Prince Charming, or whatever; he only knows Emma Swan. And that's kind of nice."

"Nice," Regina repeated with distain.

"More like boring," Killian snorted.

"Driving arrangements?" Emma asked, changing the topic.

"I've got the Mercedes," Regina noted.

"And I've got the Bug." Emma turned to Hook. "Where's the Jolly Roger?"

The muscles in Killian's jaw flexed and clenched. "I'd rather not talk about it."

"Walsh and Henry can go in the Bug with me," Emma planned. "So that leaves—"

Regina and Killian spoke at the same time: "No."

Emma rolled her eyes. She could have predicted this would happen. "Oh come on, you guys. If we're going to get to the bottom of this, we've got to put aside old grudges. We've got to work together, and that means riding in a car for a few hours together."

"Fine. The pirate can come with me," Regina reluctantly agreed. "But we have one more person to pick up before we can begin our road trip."

"Who?" Emma asked.

"You might have heard of her," Regina said with a small smile. "Her name is Ursula."


TBC

Next chapter: ROAD TRIP!