A/N: I know this ends on a bit of a gloomy note, but bear in mind this is not the end by a long shot! :p Please review! :)


"-I do, however, have a phonecall I need to make first..."

Placing her knife and fork together on her plate- a few pieces of bread still remaining- Regina pushes herself up from her chair and stalks over to the counter and leaves them to be washed up. Finding her bag and rummaging around inside, she retrieves her cell and glances up at Emma who nibbles patiently on a wedge of apple.

"Is there anywhere I can go... It's private."

She asks, and the younger woman points towards the door.

"If you go just outside the front of the building, no one really uses that alley."

Voicing her thanks, the Mayor lets herself out and hurries along the musty hallway and down the stairs. The fresh air when she makes it outside is a blessing when compared to the dark shadows of the communal hell of the building, and she catches the door as it swings shut behind her and props it open with a small rock.

Deeming the alleyway to be empty but for the hard rays of the sun, she glances up to spy a large, open window and supposes the blonde might still be privy to her side of the imminent conversation.

Not that it really matters.

No, she had just needed to get out of there.

She had needed to call home.

Placing a call to her mansion, the phone rings three times before being answered by a polite drone.

"This is Sydney Glass, currently presiding over the Mayor's residence?"

"Sydney."

"Madame Mayor!"

The glee in the reporter's voice is tangible as well as predictable, but she finds a sense of appreciation for the fact that has previously been lacking.

"Indeed."

"It's good to hear from you. I am wondering as to your plans?"

"As am I... They are yet to become entirely clear to me."

"Are you alright?"

Dripping with concern.

"Yes, I've merely hit a bit of an unexpected obstacle, but all is well... How's Henry?"

She asks with a little more emotion, and she feels her heart jump as she catches a low grizzling in the background on Sydney's end of the line.

"He's fine. Whatever fever or illness he suffered a little before you left seems to have cleared nicely. He's been good as gold."

"... Is that so."

Regina muses; recalling the way her son's fretting had stilled once passed over to Mary Margaret to hold and pursing her lips. Glancing up at the window, she tells herself not to look too deeply into such things.

The boy had been sick.

Had to have been.

And that's all there is to it.

"May I speak with him?"

"...Madame Mayor?"

"Hold the phone to his ear, Sydney, I want him to remember my voice."

She snaps irritably, and she catches a rustling sound accompanied by brisk footsteps as the reporter complies. Picking up the quiet murmuring of her son as he fusses in his crib, she speaks to him quietly, as her lashes become inexplicably wet.

"Henry... Hi, Henry... Hi, Sweetheart, it's mom... Hi, Henry..."

A low gurgle in response followed by a hiccup and she sighs as she finds herself suddenly desperate to go home.

To go back to her family.

Wiping her eyes as Sydney speaks tentatively down the phone, she snaps at him irritably.

"Madame Mayor... It's me."

"I know that, you moron."

"Will you be coming home today?"

"I... I'm unsure. I would hope so."

"... Are you sure everything's okay over there?"

Looking up at the open window the brunette sighs.

No. Things are far from okay over here...

"Everything's fine. I will call in later, Sydney. Good day."


When the Mayor reenters the small apartment and closes the door, she finds Emma helping herself to a second cup of coffee with a curious expression gracing pale features.

"Who was that?"

"What makes you believe that it's any of your business?"

She snaps irritably, before tensing up uncomfortably as the younger woman leans in towards her on her way back to the windowsill and brushes a finger gently against her jaw. Holding up intricate whorls glistening with salt, the blonde shrugs and takes her seat.

"You were crying."

She states simply, as though merely looking for some sort of explanation rather than passing judgement or concern, and the Mayor sighs as she takes up her own seat once more in the armchair and laces her fingers neatly together in her lap.

"Nothing to worry yourself over."

"I wasn't... Are you homesick?"

Emma asks tentatively, and the darker woman raises an eyebrow in surprise. Understanding she is being called out for eavesdropping, the blonde splays out her palms and shakes her head.

"I wasn't trying to listen in or anything, you just didn't sound angry, and you don't look sad... I-"

"-Yes. I am homesick... I miss my son."

It's the younger woman's turn to look surprised- almost comically so- as she cocks her head to the side and studies her guest curiously.

"You have a son?"

"You sound shocked."

"Well... I guess I am a little."

"Why?"

"... I don't know..."

Emma replies uncomfortably, not missing the baited annoyance in Regina's question. Smiling, she pushes her hair from her face and takes a sip from her coffee, attempting to clear the air.

"You'd make a good mom, I reckon."

"Is that so?"

"Sure... How old is he, your boy?"

The blonde asks, and Regina regards her thoughtfully as she catches just the faintest hint of discomfort still lacing the younger woman's tone.

No... Not discomfort... Force.

She's forcing herself to ask and be friendly.

She doesn't want to know.

She doesn't want to hear about your child.

Her child.

Thinning her lips as she reminds herself that the girl smiling at her had abandoned an infant without a care, Regina answers curtly.

"Almost nine weeks now."

The emotions that cross the blonde's face in response are complicated, but she is unable to hide the initial distress that causes her mouth to fall. Bringing herself swiftly back under control, Emma reapplies her smile and nods genially to the brunette's svelte frame.

"Well... You look pretty good for it..."

I wish I could say the same for you, dear.

"Yes... Well."

Raising a brow as piercing wails recommence from beyond the wall- talk about timing- the Mayor watches with interest as the younger woman grimaces and bounces her knee with something akin to nervousness. Cass mewls to announce her own displeasure at the interruption and climbs into her mistress's lap.

"... You don't like children?"

The brunette inquires quietly, and Emma looks up at her in confusion as she pets Caskett wearily.

"Huh? No... I mean, yes, I do... I just... I do."

She frowns, and Regina nods and drops the subject with a small sigh.

"Well, dear, you said you had some questions... Perhaps you would like to start."

"Um, ok... I... Well, I guess I still don't really know what you're doing here. I don't really know how you know me, and how much of what you said before was true, and like... What do you want with me, other than to keep me away from someplace I've never even heard of?"

Steeping her fingers beneath her chin as she studies the blonde silently, the Mayor frowns as she supposes she is now a little less sure as to the answer to these questions.

Is, in fact, now a little unsure about her reason for coming here.

"I came to find you... I was telling the truth when I said I knew your mother and that she and I are family through marriage... Just as I told you the truth when I explained that she and I have little to say to one another and that there is no love lost between us... As you well know, however, I never came to visit you in Phoenix, nor anywhere else... The last time I saw you, you were minutes old... That is also the last time that I spoke with your mother."

Regina explains carefully; surprised that she elects to tell the young woman a version of the truth, but thrown when Emma looks up at her angrily.

"You... You were there? When she... She didn't want me?"

"... Yes."

"But I... She... What she did to me!"

"...What did she do to you?"

"What did she do to me?! She fucking left me! She fucking... She didn't ask them to take me away... None of that... She left me... She took me out to the woods and she left me there!"

"... I see."

"You didn't know that?!"

"...No. "

".But you knew she got rid of me?"

"I did."

"How old were you?"

"... Old enough to understand the situation... Not so old as to have become involved..."

Regina replies cautiously; wary of tallying the years in her head and getting anything wrong.

"Then why have you come to find me? Why now?"

"I only just found out where you were. Who you were."

"You've been looking for me?"

"Not a day has gone by that I haven't thought of you..."

Regina murmurs truthfully. Catching the complicated look the blonde offers her, she sighs and continues on matter-of-factly; a little disconcerted to find that she feels any level of empathy for the product of deceit sat before her.

"But understand also that I have had my own life to live. With no name to go off and a town to run, it was only through a chance discovery of your name on some official documents that I was coerced into broadening my search... Somehow, I just knew Emma Swan was right... That may sound curious, but one must never discard what they feel in their gut."

"... Is that why you were so evasive? You were trying to figure out if I was who you thought I was?"

"Indeed."

"What, uh... What official documents?"

Pursing her lips as she supposes she has no plausible reason for why she might have come across any such papers, Regina goes on to explain the 'what' but not the 'how'.

"Pertaining to your incarceration... You spent some time in jail?"

"... Yeah."

The blonde growls, seeming suddenly entranced in the brindle hairs colouring Cass's right leg.

"Then, I suppose my question to you might be why that was?"

"...I stole a bunch of watches."

"And that landed you in jail?"

"They were expensive watches. We were going to sell them."

"We?"

"Me and... And a friend of mine. We were going to sell them and get out of town."

"And you got caught."

"I did."

"Your friend?"

"No. I never said anything."

"Why?"

"What would have been the point? I was wearing one of the watches when the cops showed up. Nothing would have changed."

"Well, but if it was both of your idea..."

"It wasn't my idea at all... But that's life."

"... Quite."

That's life... Some rise and some fall. It doesn't have to be fair.

The brunette sighs; gaze wandering about the apartment gloomily.

"So what now?"

"How do you mean, dear?"

"Now that you've found me, what now? Why were you so scared I would come looking for you when I don't even know who you are?"

"... I was afraid you might be angry... I would look down at my son and I would remember that you were out there somewhere. It was a strange concern- unfounded- that you might somehow come looking for me... But..."

"... You went with your gut."

"I did... To what end, I am unsure... I just..."

"Sated your curiosity."

The younger woman sighs, and the brunette nods silently as she comes to the slow realisation that all of the questions that have been plaguing her these last few years have been answered not by the blonde's words, but by what she has seen while staying here.

Emma isn't dangerous.

She isn't going to come sniffing after her.

She isn't the righteous, demanding young woman she had been expecting.

She is not the Saviour.

She is simply a very hardened, underfed young woman with a mask in the shape of a smile and no hot water.

"I am unsure what more to say now..."

"Don't be."

Emma replies with a tone of surprise, pushing Cass from her lap and walking over to the sink to wash up her mug.

"I kind of thought you were here because you meant to, like, shit, I don't know... I almost felt like you were here to kill me or something."

She giggles shrilly, before turning back to her rather disgruntled guest with a shrug.

"I know that's crazy, and I can't imagine you'd want to get blood all over yourself- even if you are wearing my shirt- but it was just..."

"A gut feeling?"

Regina replies with a sneer.

"Something like that... I read a lot of horror though, so..."

"You see ghosts wherever you go."

"Skeletons."

"Excuse me?"

"Skeletons. Ghosts are a thing of the past. Skeletons are unfinished business."

"Is that right?"

"Maybe. Maybe not. It's all a bit poetic for the truth. I see strangers wherever I go."

Emma offers simply, and the darker woman swallows, before pushing herself up and confiding quietly.

"That makes two of us."

"But, you're the Mayor? Don't you have a bunch of people working with you, and people in town and stuff?"

"Oh, there are people I see every day, Miss Swan. My town is simply brimming with people..."

"...But none that you truly know."

"None that truly know me."

"I guess that must be lonely."

"It can be."

"You're lucky then... To have your boy... You'll be his first word and his first conscious thought. You have someone."

"... I suppose I do."

Regina agrees quietly as she extends her hand between them.

"Well... I really should be getting home to him... Thank you for your hospitality last night, dear."

"You're leaving?"

"I am. You asked me what I came here for, and I was unsure. Until now. I came to answer several questions about who you might have become..."

"And?"

"... And, I am pleasantly surprised. That is the honest truth."

"Then I'm dying to know what in the hell you were expecting!"

"The past can poison us... I could sit here and ask you more about yours, but for what purpose? It can make us ugly... You are not ugly."

Swallowing as she feels an obscure wealth of emotion threatening to overwhelm her, Emma smirks and chides throatily

"Maybe you are trying to get into my pants after all..."

"I'll stick with the shirt for now. I'll send it back to you, don't worry."

"I'd tell you to keep it, but I imagine I'll get more use out of wearing it, than you will with it kept as a spare duster..."

"I would imagine so, too."

"Regina... Can I ask you one more question?"

"By all means."

"My mother... Did she hold me?"

"... I can't answer that; I don't know... Would it make a difference?"

"Yes. It would to me."

"It wouldn't change what happened."

"No. But it would change how I felt about it."

"You would find solace in her having held you before making the decision she made?"

"No... I would hate her for it."

"I presumed you might have hated her either way."

"... I tell myself she must have had a reason."

The blonde whispers, her tone somewhere between anguish and anger. Thinning her lips as she finds herself struck with unwanted sympathy that reeks of danger, the brunette summons up a memory of Henry lying sweetly and contently in the cot she has provided, in the house she is now willing to share, and she replies cruelly

"If that were true... Why take you into the woods? Why discard you like that?"

Her words hit their mark, and the younger woman blinks as though slapped, before visibly shutting down and offering a tight smile.

"Who knows why anyone does anything... Shall I see you out?"

"No need."

"Well then... I suppose it was nice to meet you."

"And you, Miss Swan."

"Do you want me to pinky swear I'm not about to show up on your doorstep?"

"I'm not sure what that means, but I think I can live without finding out... Here."

"What's that?"

Emma asks curiously as Regina makes her way over to the table and reaches for the note bearing the blonde's messy scrawl. Picking up the pen and adding a small embellishment at the bottom of the page, she reapplies the lid of the ballpoint and shoulders her bag before turning to leave.

"That number will come directly through to my home telephone. If you ever need to use it... Please do so."