Emma couldn't bear the pain reflected in Regina's eyes and had to drop her gaze. "I'm sorry."

Regina held up a hand. "No need, Ms. Swan. But, as you can see, ending the curse is quite out of my hands."

"Wait, this doesn't make sense." Emma paced back and forth. "I had to be here to break the first part of the course, but my being here makes it impossible to break the second part of the curse? That's crazy."

"That is magic, dear. It always comes with a price."

The resignation in Regina's voice was heartbreaking. It wasn't something Emma could handle. "There has to be some way around this, some way for everyone to get their happy endings."

"Sweet sentiment, but this is Storybrooke, not Fairytale land."

"Right, this is!" Emma grabbed Regina's arm. "And who's to say we can't come to some kind of agreement." Regina's gaze shifted to Emma's hand, and she dropped it. "Sorry."

"You say that quite a bit, Ms. Swan."

"Sorry... I mean, well, never mind. We're both intelligent women. We aren't the first parents who had to share a child."

"Happy endings are not purchased by legal contract." Regina shut her eyes and took a deep breath. "Happy endings come when someone loves you, more than anything and anyone else. From true love." She opened her eyes, with a sadness so deep Emma reached out to her again, before dropping her hands in the useless gesture that it was.

"Haven't you ever wanted that for yourself, Ms. Swan?"

It was Emma's turn to look away. "Wanted, yeah. Ever had? Not really."

Regina smiled. "Then perhaps we have more in common than we thought. Meanwhile, for what it's worth, I'm sorry as well. A town full of angry people is not the gift I thought it would be."

"What about Gold? You said he gave you the curse, can he break it, or fix things?"

Regina's gaze burned into her. "He's not to be trusted, Ms. Swan. Magic comes with a price, but with Mr. Gold, that price is always too high. If you learn anything about magic from me, learn that most important lesson."

Emma grinned to lighten the mood. "More important than that disappearing in a puff of purple smoke trick you taught me last night?"

#

"Golden light, if I recall." Regina matched her grin, remembering the feeling of being transported in Emma's arms from the town hall back to the mansion. If only life could be that simple, sometimes. But Henry stood between them, as did a town splitting itself apart. Her smile faded. "Gold has nothing in his magic bag to help here. It's my fault for trying to grasp what's not meant to be, for me. I should have realized I was setting up an impossibility."

"Regina..."

Emma's consolation was cut short by the insistent ring of Regina's phone. "If you will excuse me, Ms. Swan."

Emma backed out of the office as Regina tapped her earbud. "This is Mayor Mills."

Doctor Whale's voice assaulted her instantly. "She gone!"

There was only one 'she' that mattered. "How long has Milah been missing?" Regina tried to imagine what a newly-awoken woman would do in a town that looked nothing like the land she was used to. Head for the woods, maybe? Familiar territory. Or perhaps the docks.

"I'm not sure. I left her last night, locked in the lab. I just went in there to bring her a late breakfast. The door was broken and she's gone."

Regina watched Emma's yellow bug disappear down the road. For a moment, she considered getting her back to help search for the missing woman. Emma was good at that, but Regina didn't want to have to explain who Milah was and how she came to me. To be honest, she didn't want to face the disappointment in Emma's face that Regina had been toying with magic to distract Gold. Now that Emma knew the rest of the curse, Milah's resurrection seemed just a waste. If Emma knew, Gold knew, so Milah was just one extra distraction no one needed.

She turned her attention back to the phone. "Head to the woods. I will check the docks. They are the only areas that might look familiar to her. And Doctor, it's imperative she be found by us and not someone else." Regina couldn't take back what she set in motion, but she could keep it from getting worse.

Milah hadn't loved Gold in the end, so after the initial shock that she were alive again, both she and Gold should be able to move on. He had Belle after all. Regina grabbed her purse and blazer and rushed out the door to her Mercedes. Any other mayoral work would have to wait until she fixed this latest mess.

#

Emma went about the day in a haze. A couple of traffic stops broke up the monotony, as did passing Regina's black Mercedes, but she hadn't managed to catch the Mayor's eye. She did see Gold and Belle in their usual afternoon stroll through town. She hadn't spent much time with Belle, but anyone who could keep Gold on a leash had to be a good egg in her book. And Belle was reopening the town library, probably the only time the woman ever left Gold's side.

The rest of the town seemed like strangers to her and each other. She'd nearly run over one disheveled woman near Gold's shop that she could have sworn she'd never seen before. "Too may fairytale characters to keep straight," she mumbled as she pulled into the parking spot in front of the Sheriff's station.

Ruby was already in the station, getting ready to take over for the night shift. "You look beat," she said.

"Thanks." Emma stretched her back. "It's been a long, dull day."

"How'd that hunch go?" Ruby asked.

"Hunch? Oh, this morning." Emma shrugged. "Nothing useful." She didn't want to let anyone know the curse was still in effect. The town had isolated Regina enough as it was. She didn't want to deal with a lynching if they knew Regina was in any way responsible for the petty fights going on now. Hell, she was as much to blame as Regina if she thought about it.

She slumped down into her chair. "So, why did you end up with Granny?"

Ruby stared at her. "Is it random question time?"

Emma laughed. "Humor me."

"Not much to tell, really. When push came to shove with the whole werewolf thing, Granny was there for me. She accepted me and loved me, no matter what."

Unconditional love. Like Mary Margret and David. Like Regina and Henry, before she came to town. "Do you think everyone deserves a happy ending?" she asked.

Ruby leaned against the old desk. "Sure."

"Even Regina?"

Ruby frowned at her. "Yeah, I guess even her."

Emma rested her head in her hands on the desk. There had to be a way. Granted Ruby wasn't the most critical person, but if after everything Regina did to them all, someone else thought Regina deserved a slice of happiness, then there just had to be some way.

The dispatch radio crackled to life. "Smoke reported from the old library. Fire truck dispatched."

Ruby and Emma looked at each other. "You want to drive or should I?" Emma asked.

"I'll drive. Your shift's supposed to be over, remember?"

They hopped in the cruiser. Emma flicked on the lights and siren while Ruby pulled out and raced down the street. Once they turned the corner, Emma could see the black smoke surrounding the clock tower atop the library. "Didn't that get hit by lightening a week ago?"

"Yes." Ruby kept her eyes on the pedestrians heading toward the same fire, and leaned on the horn to get them out of her way. "Seems like the Powers That Be have it in for that place."

They pulled up adjacent to the fire truck. Emma hopped out and was assaulted by her son.

"I saw it first," he said. "I called it in right away."

"Good job, kiddo." She ruffled his hair as she gazed at the growing blaze. The firemen had the hose on the first floor, but smoke still billowed out the upper story.

Regina's Mercedes cut through the crowd without so much as a beep from the horn. Emma watched her approach, wondering what brought the Mayor out in such a rush.

"Have you seen anyone inside?" Regina asked as she ran to Emma's side.

"Who would be in there?" Emma knew the answer even before she heard Gold shouting from the back of the crowd to get out of his way. "Belle."

She turned back to the building. Regina was already at the Fire chief's elbow, pointing to movement on the second story, by the broken clock face. The firemen raced to get a ladder in place.

"Belle!" Gold pushed forward, limping heavily with his cane. Emma wondered if he'd all but ran from his shop four blocks away.

She put a hand on his shoulder to keep him from distracting the firemen. "Let them do their work, Mr. Gold."

Regina turned to them and her face paled but Emma couldn't guess why. Seconds later, glass shattered around the clock face, drawing everyone's attention up there. A woman's head appeared. Emma frowned. That wasn't Belle.

The woman dragged someone else forward. The long brown hair definitely belonged to Belle, but something was wrong with her.

"Shit!" Emma said, ignoring Henry at her side. "That woman's got a gag on Belle."

The woman stared down at Gold. "How does it feel, Rumplestilskin? How does it feel to know the love of your life won't live out the day?"

Gold broke loose from Emma's grasp and pushed past her. "Milah? You're dead."

The woman shook her head. "Not yet, but I will be soon, and so will she!"

Both heads disappeared back into the clock tower. Gold shook his head and then looked around until his gaze locked on Regina. "You. You did this!"

Emma didn't like the look on his face when he stared at Regina. She stepped forward but not fast enough. The tip of Gold's cane shot up and a blast of blackness shot at Regina. Regina lifted both hands and a wall of purple held back the black.

"No!" Emma shouted. "Stop it, both of you!"

Gold ignored her. "I'll kill you for this, Regina, you and everyone you love."