Writer's block is HORRIBLE! Jeez, there should be a shot to prevent that thing lol I'm so sorry for the wait but I just couldn't put pen to paper. I got this up as soon as I could between the WB and all my other responsibilities so please don't crucify me! *Fixing typos later, if there are any to be found* And it's another long chapter so yay, hopefully it makes up for the wait :) Big thanks to P-A and enjoy another installment of ItD!

-iiwasalwaysthequeen

The air is sober when she leads the red beret clad werewolf back into the station. The hyperventilating has ceased and the tears have stopped, leaving her with a blank features, hiding the grimace behind her mask. She cannot break down. She will not breakdown. She must will herself to believe that Snow White is not dead, that the heart is not her heart, that her best friend is still alive. The tears threaten to begin again and all she can do is pause in front of the interview room where her friend stood, eyeing him icily.

Perhaps if he had waited to drag Mary Margaret into this mess until after the curse broke then maybe, just maybe, there wouldn't be a heart sitting on a cold slab in a lab waiting to be tested. Ruby had to pull herself together, for her sanity, she had to believe that the woman sitting behind the glass window wouldn't have killed her friend minutes after expressing her respect for their relationship. It just didn't make sense.

David acknowledge their presence with a solemn nod, understanding what had to be done next. Before his daughter could object to him being the one to do it he was already walking through the door. Emma watched through the one-way glass as the dark-haired Mayor sat back in her chair, seemingly done with the situation. As if she had checked out, as if she didn't care.

Her indifference towards the possible death of her mother, her best friend angered the blonde but she held her peace and watched as David took a seat across from the indifferent, infuriating Queen.

"Are you going to tell me what's going on or are you just going to keep staring at me?" Her tone is soft, lacking the usual brash that she had reserved for him in the passed couple of weeks but it retains the annoyance of being forced to be at the Sheriff's office.

His eyes fell away from hers and she dipped her head to meet him, to gauge a reaction from the depths of his expression but he gave her nothing, averting his eyes to everything but hers. "It's a one way glass Regina, you can't see what I'm doing behind it."

"I don't have to." Her head tilted to the side in mock thought, eyeing him closer than he realized. "I know you." She gleans more than he knows from his face, from his body language. "David, what's going on?"

He is unresponsive and the only retort he gives is involuntary: the filling of his eyes. He wanted to believe her, truly he did, but they found a heart and if the tests showed that it belonged to who they thought it did, then all signs pointed to Regina having gotten what she had wanted for decades.

Snow White's heart.

"You don't believe me, do you?" Her question is ignored, met with the turning of his head. "You think that I killed her?" She pondered what had changed between her falling asleep with him watching her and waking up with him avoiding her. It was him, after all, and his fight with Emma that had disrupted her short slumber; the slam of his and against a desk being the sound that jolted her awake.

"The evidence is piling up." The conflict is clear in his voice and he musters the nerve to look in her eyes, to meet her brown for blue. Despite everything that had transpired between them, the hate that bubbles beneath the love and the love that is shaded by the hate, her eyes are sincere. He can't deny that.

"What evidence?" What could have caused the shift in the atmosphere, the tears in his eyes?

He exhaled shakily, leaning into the table so that his hands could gather atop of them, inches from hers that laid flat against the wood. "We found a heart..." It's beginning to eat at him that he can't tell if she's hurt or not, that he can't tell if she's alive or dead. When she fell into the sleeping curse, he knew, he felt her slip from the grasps of his heart and now-he felt nothing. He would trust the lack of feeling as knowing that she was alright if he didn't know that the love he had for another might be clouding their love that had faded. "Regina if you need to tell me anything, tell me now before things get out of hand."

At his request, the slim fingers that were inches from him began to recede away from his presence, seemingly burned by his words. She met him eye for eye and tear for tear and she smiles. She smiles because the little sliver of trust she had placed in him was barely finished forming before he stomped on it.

"You know, for a second, I almost thought you believed in me." Not that he believed that she was telling the truth, but that he believed she wouldn't do something like this.

Not now.

"Regina that's not fair," he cleared his throat, "...What am I supposed to think when there's a heart sitting in a lab waiting to be tested!?"

"You're supposed to know MY heart." He is supposed to know that the woman he loved, the woman he laid beside, the woman who bore his children wouldn't be guilty and she had given him no impression of otherwise. "But I don't know why I expect that of you when it seems like you don't know me at all."

It was a heart, possibly the heart of Mary Margaret; her signature was hearts and she hated Mary Margaret. He knew all that he needed to. "It's all pointing to you."

"It's called a FRAME JOB!" Her voice had risen passed it's prime and cracked at her exclaim, sending the moment to it's close. A soft rap sounded on the door and he lifted his head towards the sound, not really wanting to move. He wanted to stay, he wanted to believe her but his mind wouldn't let him. Perhaps it was a frame job, but his emotions were too involved to entertain the thought.

He removed himself from the room, leaving her to weigh her feelings as he stepped outside. What caught him was the balding man with a briefcase standing beside Emma, watching the window. Ruby was understandably put off, knowing his history with Snow and out of good conscience, stepped away.

"You called him?" He directed his question towards Emma and she shrugged as if her actions were predictable.

"We have a murder investigation on our hands." Her notions are confirmed when Albert Spencer moves passed the man as if he was mere air to be walked through, opening the interview room as he and Emma stepped in, walking away from the emotionally involved Sheriff.

The tears in her eyes immediately dried up upon setting her sights on her old rival, just one of many. "Hello, Mayor Mills or Mayor Nolan-What do you go by now?" He sat down in the seat that David had vacated and put his briefcase on the table, popping it open to take out a tape recorder. He pushed it towards her and she leaned back, making her stance known. "Do you have anything to say before we get started."

She pushed herself off the back of the metal chair and pressed a manicured nail to the sidewards triangle, speaking when she heard the soft rustle of it's static. "Not. Guilty," she enunciated before pressing the button once more, ending the record.

He smirked at her actions, setting his hands in front of himself as he looked her over similar to a predator and it's prey. "Why don't you just do us all a favor and confess, " he smiled vindictively, "..save us the trouble?"

Perhaps he had forgotten that she was a predator as well. She leaned forward without a stitch of fear in her eyes as they sized out, announcing that she was in no mood to be intimidated or to be propagated like a piece of meat, punished for something that she had no choosing in. "Why don't you put away the tape recorder so we can have an honest conversation, George?"

He pursed his lips to keep from responding to her, seemingly pondering her request. With a tight-lipped expression, he nodded and set his briefcase and the tape recorder aside. "Very well then...Your majesty."

The pretenses were done with and the familiarity was back. There was no reason to hide now, it was all out in the open and the tension between the two nearly suffocated the blonde Sheriff that watched, intrigued in the corner with her arms folded over her chest.

The former monarchs eyed each other, a stare down being more than just pupil to pupil and ego to ego. There was something deeper there, something far more sinister than either of them knew. They had been pitted against each other, working as enemies with jealousy and power rooted at the thrones of their heart, his heart really.

"Why'd you do it?" His question leaves her with furrowed brows and lips curved into a smirk, feeding off of the immediate insecurity that hides behind his faux bravado as he sits before her, the King of penury, unable to maintain his own kingdom. "Oh, don't play dumb Regina, it doesn't suit you,." She snorts at his remark, barely impressed by his attempts to cut her off at the knees to make himself tall.

"Nor does your balding head suit you dear but alas, " she flashed a charming smile, "...to each his own."

Indicative of her attitude, he knew that he couldn't extract anything from her and the only way was to lay it on the table and have her claim it. "You killed James."

"I believe you're mistaken; the last time I checked, I wasn't a sweaty knight with anger issues-"

"You know what I am talking about!" His hands met the table in an abrasive front as the jugular in his neck bulged with his scarlet color change. "You bankrupted my kingdom and my son had to put his life on the line-his blood is on YOUR hands."

Her eyes were unmoving, trained on his as they tuned to hers. She could be nothing but calm, knowing that it would all be settled in the end. "Is that why you're doing this to me?" She was beginning to see it now, the deception, the trickery. "Did you set me up to avenge a kingdom you mismanaged and a whoring son you propagated for gold?" She shrugged. "Seems a bit extreme."

She was baiting him and he knew it, he wouldn't bite. His mouth opened to retort and he clamped it shut before easing back into his chair. Too much information gave her too much power and at his point, he needed her as weak as he could get her. His need to get her weak turned out to be his weakness, it was the light that shown in his eyes that gave him away, gave away his plans. She knew that look, the stare of vengeance, when you can taste it on the tip of your tongue and barely feel it pressed against the print of your fingers; the glean in your eyes as their despair passes your thoughts once more.

She knew it all to well.

"I didn't set you up." He was calm in his claim, making direct contact with her eyes. "You kidnapped Mary Margaret. You killed her and you carved her heart out-You did that." Before she could respond, he cut her off. "But contrary to what you may believe, I'm on your side...Had I been woken up earlier you wouldn't be in this sorry state."

"What does that mean?"

"Well you'd be just as barren as that Amalekite Snow White."

"What are you talking about? Snow has a child." She waved her hand at Emma carelessly, beginning to get irritated with the redundancy of the conversation.

"Oh c'mon Regina, surely you can figure it out." She quirked a brow and he leaned forward, a sly smile on his lips. "Magic." She stiffened at the mention, leaning back to maximize the space between them. "With that being said, if the potion were to fall in my hands again I wouldn't hesitate to use it." He stood with his briefcase in tow. "We're done here."

Both women were left confused but one more than the other. Emma offered him a nod, not really seeing any progress. He was supposed to offer her a plea bargain, perhaps help her get a confession but all he seemed to do was attempt to assert his power, maybe even vaguely threaten her. Henry's book failed to mention anything about her mother being barren, supposedly unable to carry children.

But of course, Henry's book didn't mention a lot of things.

The Sheriff, seemingly out of the loop, pushed herself off of the wall to watch as the Mayor leaned back on the chair, arms crossed over her stomach. The identity that she usually shields herself with has begun to thin and the worry is shining through.

Seeing this, she attempted to extract what she can while the woman's guard was seemingly faltering. "I don't know what your deal is with D.A. Spencer", her hand rose to prevent Regina from interrupting, "...and I don't want to know about it. I can tell that you don't trust him like the other lawyers around town." Regina rolled her eyes, she didn't trust anybody. It was obvious to her that he had something to do with things; why didn't anyone else see it? "Regina, just come clean will ya? Besides David and a 3 year old, theres no one else to vouch for you. And your records aren't that sparkly clean if Henry's book is anything to go by."

"Did I stutter earlier? Or maybe you need to get your ears checked, Ms. Swan. I did not-" She paused, seeing the wall in front of them vibrate, as if it had been struck by a blunt object. Emma began to step backwards, peeking her head out of the door before running towards whatever was causing the commotion.

"DON'T," They are broken screams. "...HURT," They are barely comprehensible. "MY FAMILY," They are the yells of a man whose heart has made a decision that he was not yet ready to make.

Outside, Emma attempted to aide Ruby in restraining the angered Prince but the grasp that he holds on the District Attorney is far too great. By the lapels of his jacket, the man is slammed against the wall as though he is meat, fit to be pounded. He sees red and for a few moments there is only silence, punctuated by the alternating breaths of those excited by the commotion. The silence allows for eyes to meet and exchanges to be made, threats to be declared. He looks into the eyes of the man that tried to take everything from him and he makes his threats clear. The monarch looks into the eyes of a man that he blames for his loss of everything and accepts his challenge.

In the silence, it becomes somber; it becomes real.

"David." It is her voice that plants his feet on the ground, that cools the steam in his ears. Her voice, stern yet gentle, worn yet strong enough to get through to him.

The grip he has on Albert's jacket loosened and the man snorted in response, unimpressed by his quick recession. "Weak to a woman that's not even your real wife?" His upward inflection was met with a grunt as he was slammed up against the wall and pained into silence.

"David, ignore him." She sends an involuntary calm his way but he can't help the question that burns in his mind.

"What did you do to her?"

Albert smirked in response, straining his neck passed being pinned up against the wall. "I poisoned her." He bared his teeth, smirking when the man paled. "And the sacrifice that was paid to lift her curse?" He leaned in closer, nose to nose with his faux son. "Your mother."

The minute the words were spat at him, David let go. Had he held on, he would've probably killed the man that stood in front him, perhaps even choked him until his blood ran cold. He had to walk away. He had to leave that hallway.

Watching the emotionally drained man go, she had the urge to follow him but of course, there were some things that she just couldn't do; walk passed Emma Ruby and Albert to go to a man that neither of them considered to be her husband was one of them. The disgruntled King stood to his feet and pulled his weight off of the wall, picking up his discarded briefcase before walking out of the door with a smirk painted on his face.

Ruby walked out to see about David and the first words that stumbled out of the Mayor's mouth weren't planned. "You are aware that he framed me, right?" Emma's eyes widened and her mouth flapped for an answer.

Meanwhile, within the four walls of the Sheriff's office former friends stood opposite each other without being able to speak. What could they say? If Snow was really dead, Ruby couldn't exactly say that she would be able to have David remain blameless in that. He was guilty in part of this, he had to be. Perhaps if had approached the situation with enough grace to wait until the curse had lifted to pursue her then Snow wouldn't have been a target.

However, for some reason she didn't think that Regina was the culprit. The evidence made sense but then again it didn't. It was a heart and yes Regina had a penchant for ripping out hearts but then where was the body and what could she possibly think this would solve?

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Did you know?" His eyes flipped up at her accusingly and she shook her head vigorously, denying whatever he thought.

"Snow never told me about any of this..." She dipped her head to see the confusion in his eyes, trying to piece together Albert's words. He didn't know the story and all he was left with were bits and pieces of a broken tale that included the cursing of his wife and the death of his mother. But in the end, Snow's curse was lifted and his mother stayed dead.

"You can ask Snow about it when we find her-if we find her." Her tone had suddenly changed, no longer comforting or sensitive to what he was going through.

"Are you trying to blame this on me?" He stood up straight and Ruby crossed her arms over her chest. "Are you serious Red?" He called her by her name, her original name and watched as her defenses fell.

"Maybe if you didn't have the constant need of being with someone then we wouldn't be here."

"We are NOT here because of me." His face was just calming from the red that had painted him mere moments ago before he was beginning to meet that shade once again. "You don't know what the hell has been going on!" His voice began to raise and Ruby backed up, ready to hear his side of the story.

She had been getting bits and pieces just like he had and she failed to see his point of view, that she knows. But now she's open to it.

"Do you really think that I don't feel guilty for what's happened? You think it doesn't eat me up? The fact that not only did I love my cursed life-I don't regret it!" He turned, a hand running down his face as Ruby felt the brunt of his anger. "If I could choose, I know who I'd want and that-that kills me." She was speechless, unable to form words that could sum up her conflicting feelings. "But when Snow wakes up, I have to go back to her." The conviction in his voice was evident, giving Ruby the floor when he let out a shaky breath.

"David, you don't have to go back to Snow." Her voice was small but sure. She couldn't be biased in her opinions or her advice, she had to give him the truth and let him decide what it meant. "You just have to stop hurting these women." With that, the waitress gone deputy turned to leave the hallway and left the man she once considered a great friend but now she couldn't recognize him. She couldn't recognize herself either, dressed up in a modern costume of garbs that she didn't recognize, that she didn't ask for.

She couldn't criticize him for wanting his cursed life back, for not wanting to wake up, because she wanted the same thing. If she could just forget, wipe her memory clean of a past stained with the blood of innocent people then she would. She would throw herself into a cursed life that she didn't ask for because it did more for her than the life that she was originally given.

"Regina, who framed you? D.A. Spencer?" On the other side, Emma's hand propped on her hip as if she was dealing with a lying child, ready to be punished.

It was a gesture that the Mayor immediately picked up on, stepping back when she realized that it didn't matter what she had to say or what she could prove, she was guilty. The blonde's mother had possibly been murdered and she was the scapegoat, she was the obvious choice. When she really wanted to run, she just pushed the opposite door open and walked to the cell that had been designated for her. Eventually those fools would have no choice but to figure out the truth and when they did it would all blow over.

It had to.

Not that she had that much faith in them, but she knew the workings of the judicial system and they couldn't prosecute her without a body. And honestly, she didn't think there was one. By the way King George was talking, not only was he out for her but he was out for Snow as well and knowing vengeance, his was not the kind that could simply be done away with by murder. He sought suffering and misery, similar to what he had experienced. Where had he gotten the heart? Perhaps the man that woke him from the curse in the first place.

Emma followed behind her, watching as she maintained the prideful strut that she always had, without fail. "Why'd you do it?"

Regina entered her cell and sat down on the cot, at first believing that she would ignore the blonde's question. After seconds of deliberation, she cocked her head to look at the woman that stood in the opening, keys in her hand. "Are you referring to my cursing thousands or the belief that I murdered your mother?"

"Really, Regina? There's a freaking heart!"

"And yet you haven't cried." She shrugged and the Sheriff's eyes darkened considerably, her mouth setting in a thin line.

"You don't know what I've done." Her tone was low, instantly changing from the screeching of mere moments before.

She had hit a nerve.

"If you really thought she was dead then you would be mourning her. Or does that have to do with the fact that so many people have left you, there are no tears left to cry?" She isn't mocking the woman, but she seems to be speaking from experience. Their eyes met and the blonde wanted to retort and tell her that she is nothing like her, that they share nothing but the air they currently breathe but she couldn't.

Because it wouldn't be true.

"You know, just as I do, that Mary Margaret is alive. The evidence says one thing but you know otherwise." She smirked, not minding that the woman was standing and she was sitting; the control was still in her hands. "Tell me, what did you find in my home that you won't tell the others? A butcher's knife? Machete?"

"Under Charlotte's bed."

Regina's mouth stops mid pause, leaving it open with no words to come forth; for the first time, Emma sees the Mayor speechless. She turned away when her eyes widened, knowing that the fear in her heart would reflect in her eyes and Emma would probably think that it was fear of being found out rather than actual terror for her children.

"He was in my house?" It came out as a whisper of disbelief, one that the Sheriff didn't expect. "And you-you thought I would put a machete under my child's bed, what the hell is wrong with you?!"

"It was a carving knife, Regina you know that."

"Stop!" She jumped from the cot, standing to her feet. "You will not pin this on me just to have closure because you're too messed up to cry about it!" The blonde was silenced as the Mayor entered her personal space, something that had a tendency to be violated that day. "I would NEVER put my children in such blatant danger-And if you think otherwise than you're just as naive and stupid as your mother, may she rest in peace." Her tone was dripping in sarcasm but the blonde probed anyway.

"I thought you said she wasn't dead-"

"Well around here, we believe what we're told rather than what we know and since you found a knife, I guess that means a body is sure to follow." She spat her words at her adversary before reaching in front of them and pulling the cell closed, causing Emma to jump back in surprise. She leaned against the bars, hands gripping them as she got as close to the Sheriff as she could. "And if any harm comes to Charlotte or Henry, David and Ruby will find a body," her head shook with a snarl, "..but it won't be Mary Margaret's."

Emma's mouth opened at the threat and Regina backed away from the bars, seeing Ruby and David enter the room. Hearing footsteps, Emma's head dropped as she turned around with a yearn to finish their conversation. Slow steps took her to where the other Sheriff and Deputy stood, both just as drained as she was.

"Emma, I hate to be the one to say it, but I don't think it all makes sense. First of all, who is the person that puts Regina near Granny's around the same time I was with her?"

Emma stuffed her hands in her pocket with a stare that seemed to go right through Ruby. "I wanna verify it before I put it into evidence."

"No." David shook his head, holding a hand up. "You aren't in charge here.." Emma paused at his aggression, looking him up and down as a hand snapped to his hip. "You need to tell us everything you know so that, as a team, we can find Mary Margaret."

"David you're too emotionally involved-"

"That's bullshit and you know it! We're all too emotionally involved but we're all working together and in order to do that we can't hide anything from each other so unless you want me to take your badge, I suggest you tell me what you know."

Emma blinked wordlessly at his candor, so used to the soft side of David that she forgot there was a brash Prince beneath him that occasionally slipped out. "Sidney Glass."

"Sidney? The guy that has the hots for.." Ruby trailed off, feeling David's eyes burn into the side of her head. "Jeez, you know it's true..."

"And I searched the house." David rolled his eyes. He knew that she was the type that liked to work alone but hiding information wasn't going to get them anywhere. "There was a carving knife under Charlotte's bed."

Both women looked to David, gauging his reaction. He paused, looking away as he crossed his arms over his chest, probably in an attempt to keep his cool. After a moment of silence, he looked up with wide eyes of realization that neither of them could decipher "She didn't do it."

"What? How do you know?"

After accusing her of intentionally trying to hurt their children, he would never make that mistake again. He knew whats she was capable of and putting a knife under Charlotte's bed wasn't a part of that. "It doesn't make sense! Someone had to have planted the evidence, I mean of all places...Charlotte's bedroom? It's almost as if someone is trying so hard to be Regina that they're over doing it...She would never put a knife under our child's bed."

The similarities in their defenses were uncanny and Emma shrugged, seemingly unconvinced. "I still don't trust her."

"Well we don't have enough to hold her-We need to let her go."

"But what if she did do it and this is just an elaborate rouse to send us on a wild goose chase?"

"That's slim to none and with such small chances, I'm not letting her stay here overnight for something she probably didn't do." In the face of new evidence, it seemed that his faith had been restored but perhaps it was too little too late.

"Fine, since you're in charge, you stay with her."

"What?"

"Take her home and stay with her. That way, you get what you want and I know that, regardless of her involvement, she's with law enforcement. After all, she's 'your wife'." She threw his words back at him and tossed the keys into his hands before walking away, most likely, to go cool off.

Ruby eyed David carefully, stepping in front of him before following behind Emma. "Remember what I said, " he looked up at her and she gave him a small smile with the hope that perhaps Mary Margaret was alive and Regina didn't play a part in a faux homicide.

The air was beginning to clear and maybe, just maybe there was hope. At this point they were fearful of hope though, an intangible feeling that has the ability to knock the wind out of you if it fails to deliver. He was hopeful that when he walked in her cell, she would accept his gestures, she would accept his presence. He took a seat on the cot beside her and she looked away, crossing her arms below her chest so that he could make no moves towards her hands.

"I know you didn't do this..."

"Wow.." She sniffled as a discreet hand wiped under her eye. "What a difference an hour makes."

"Regina..." He moved to touch her back but she scooted away at the contact, wanting nothing to do with him.

"Would it be too much to ask for someone to be on my side, for once?" She held herself, tight around the middle as she spoke with a shaking tone. In her mind, when no one believes you can do better, you're doomed to do worse and in her experience, when you do worse you become nothing more than your deeds. They follow you, they become you, they are you and that's what everyone sees. Her only wish was that someone, if only one person believed in her enough to know that she wouldn't do certain things than perhaps the dark side wouldn't seem so welcoming.

"Can you give me the benefit of the doubt? Regina, there was a heart."

"Can you EVER give me the benefit of the doubt?"

"I have, believe me, I have."

"Believe you? Why should I believe you when all you've done is look at my past and point fingers at me because it made SENSE." She turned away from him, giving her his back to talk to. She hated that even when he had turned his back on her, she still wanted to comfort him. Even after he accused her of murder, when she saw the hurt shining in his eyes, she wanted nothing more than to hold him close. They were tied to each other, it was undeniable, but at times it seemed like she was tied tighter than he was.

"Regina, that's not true-"

"Is it now?"

"Yes, a carving knife, maybe, but in Charlotte's room, you wouldn't do that."

She scoffed, still feeling the stings of his early accusations. "Oh, so now you know me?"

"Regina, don't do this.."

She sighed, leaning back so that her back hit the wall. She could barely sit up, too done with the situation to even care about how he perceived her body language at that point. "I am so tired of you telling me what to do.." It was a low rasp that took him by surprise because it sounded like the woman he knew, the woman that he had hurt. "You left me.." She is guttural with her words, shaking from the unshed tears building in her throat. "And yet you have the audacity to act as though you have the right to tell me what to do. 'Regina, you can't do this', 'Regina, you don't get to do this', 'Regina, don't do this-"

"Regina-"

"Shut. Up." He is silence by her tone, cutting him at every turn. "I am tired of you coming to me just to leave me. I am tired of you holding me just to drop me, I AM TIRED." She shook her head, letting the sole tear that escaped run down her face. "I don't care that you believe me now, it makes no difference. The fact is, when things got rocky the first thing you did was ask me for a confession."

What could he say? The more he wanted her, the more he pushed her away. It felt as though she had gone so far, he wasn't sure he could reach her anymore. "Something tells me that you won't care for an apology."

"Well look at that." She pans with a sarcastic monotony, no longer looking at him. "...first time you've been right all day.

He stood, understanding that she probably wanted him to leave but that was going to be pretty hard considering their current situation. "We're letting you go on the condition that an officer stays with you at all times."

Her eyes finally batted up at him and she shook her head in defiance. "No."

"Regina, you'd rather stay in a cell all night than let me come home with you?"

"Do you think this is some kind of game?" She leaned forward, barely able to contain her anger. "I don't want to see you right now."

"Well then close your damn eyes!" He raised his voice and she recoiled at the volume. "But I'm not letting you sit here alone all night because if we're right and someone is framing you then you need to be watched regardless and I can't stay here because someone needs to watch Charlotte. You hate Emma so I doubt you want her around Charlotte or watching you and we both remember what happened the last time Ruby watched Charlotte." She rolled her eyes and he sighed, matching her fury for fury. "You're angry? Fine, be angry but I'm not going to let you put your safety at risk just because I pissed you off-"

"Fine."

"Fine?"

"Fine." She pushed herself off of the cot and stood, stepping towards him so that they were toe to toe and rage to rage. "But stay out of my way." And with that vaguely venomous threat, she pushed passed him and he swallowed, following behind her.

Whilst the air is still sober and the coming days are destined to be quite interesting.

TBC