"You broke our deal." Regina accused Gold. The twisted little imp was many things, but Regina had never thought of him as a liar before. The anger (and relief, oddly enough) she felt right now rivaled that of when Regina had first discovered that her curse could be broken.

"I brok one deal in my life, dear, and it certainly wasn't this one." -Can we just stop for a minute and admire the great acting chemistry Lana and Bobby have? This scene was brilliant. Okay, fan girl moment over. You may continue. Nothing to see here.-

"Kathryn was supposed to die, and Mary-Margaret was to get the blame." The idea of Kathryn dying actually sounded better than her being in such an awful situation. Death was far better than being trapped someplace you'd been brought to unwillingly, no matter how lavish it was and how often people kept telling you that the king was a good man... Wait, what? Snap out of it, Regina.

This is about how I am going to make Rumplestiltskin pay.

"Yeah, murder seems so much worse here, though, doesn't it? You can't just turn someone into a snail and then step on them, can you? You didn't say "kill her." We agreed that something tragic should happen to her. Now, abduction is tragic."

"The intent was perfectly clear."

"Oh, let's not talk about intent. Intent is meaningless."

"Intent is everything!"

"Please. If intent is everything, you would've forgiven Snow White by now. She had good intentions."

"This is going to raise all kinds of questions about where she was and how the test results were faked." Regina said very slowly. She raised her hands in exasperation, not believing how reach less Rumple had been.

"Oh, yes. And, um... Who put the key in her cell."

"It's all going to lead to me, isn't it? You bastard. This doesn't make any sense. You an I... We've been in this, together from the start." Rumple hadn't been reckless. He'd been cold and logical, playing her like a chess piece, just as she'd played Kathryn. She was no longer the queen. She was no longer the most powerful piece on the board. Not while Rumplestiltskin was awake.

"Oh, have we?" He asked innocently.

"You created the curse for me, the curse that brought us all here and built all this." Regina led him up to her next question.

"It's about time you said thank you." He was an infuriating man. She could see why her mother liked him.

"Why did you do it?"

"Well, you're a smart woman, your majesty. Figure it out." The dark one turned away from her, signally that the conversation was over.

XXX

Regina was lost. In all of her years manipulating and scheming, she could've never come up with a plan as elaborate as this. If it had been happening to anybody else, she would've congratulated a Rumple on his immaculate planning and execution. He had an amazing brain.

Sadly, this was not an outside looking in kind of situation. This was a locked in the house as it burned to the ground situation. She could see no way out, no escape, and the flames were making it hard to think. She was so royally screwed.

"Marisa, where are you when I need you?" She whispered exasperatedly.

"You called your Majesty?" Marisa said making Regina jump. How these kids did this was still a mystery to Regina, but right now she didn't really care.

"Fix it. Come up with something ingenious, and fix it."

"A bit demanding, aren't we?"

"Oh, come one! I know you've got something cooked up in that brain of yours!"

"Patience, your majesty. Take a moment to go over you notes."

"What notes?"

"Well, I can't help you there." Marisa said before disappearing. Regina was about to scream when she noticed a folder that was left on her desk. She approached the packet cautiously, almost afraid of what could be in there. One never knew when it came to Marisa. Written in the top was:

Thought you might need this.

Best of luck,

Marisa and Zorana.

P.S., Zo wants you to know that we don't support your decisions to murder your only friend who isn't under the age of 20, and that we only put this together because we kind of need you to not be in prison right now.

She gasped when she poured out the contents of the folder. There were maps, diagrams, plans, instructions for what she had to do, instructions for what she had to tell Sidney, keys to the house, and even a replica of Kathryn's fingerprint. It seemed like Marisa amd Zorana had been planning this for weeks.

Regina was suddenly very glad that she had a group of teenagers following her everywhere she went.

XXX

Regina sat on the Sheriff's desk in a way that could only be described a teasing. She didn't know why she did it, but once the thought popped into her head she couldn't ignore it. She could've easily picked one of the chairs, but the desk was so much more fun. Maybe not having a friend over 20 was messing with her head. She'd never thought of such things before (She conveniently forgot that the kids showed up around the same time as Emma Swan.)

"Congradulations, Sheriff Swan. There's about to be a big break in your case. You just got yourself a confession. But I want you to listen to the whole explanation so you understand why this happened." She gracefully slid off the desk, not bothering to fix her skirt like she usually would.

"Oh, I'll hang on to every word you say."

"Sidney? You can come in now." Emma's face automatically changed from triumph to confusion. Sidney Glass stepped through the doorway into the Sheriff's office. He looked terrified, but his resolve to protect Regina from anything, even the law, would always win. He believed whole-heartedly that she would get him out of this.

"Tell her what you told me." Regina nodded at him discreetly, to show him that everything would be alright, that she loved him, and that he wouldn't be locked away for long. At least that's how he saw it.

"It was me. I confess. I abducted Kathryn and I held her in the basement of an abandoned summer home by the lake. I bribed a lab tech to get me the heart from the hospital, and I used the same person to doctor the lab results." Sidney forgot the last bit.

"And the other thing."

It would seem suspicious if he didn't mention it, but it was even more suspicious to Emma that Regina remembered better than he did the crimes he was confessing to.

"I borrowed some of the skeleton keys from Regina and... Planted the knife in your apartment." He looked away from Emma to Regina, just to remind himself why he was doing this.

"My keys. Can't help but feel personally violated by that part."

"I am supposed to believe you did this for why now?" Emma forced Sidney to look away from Regina, his queen, back to her.

"I was going to find her after the conviction. Be a hero. Then get the inside track on the biggest story to ever hit this town. I'd get my job back. Plus a novel, and a movie, and.. I don't know it sounds crazy now."

"I don't know about crazy, but false, yes. False as hell." There she went again, making him look away from Regina. Why did she keep doing that?

"I have maps to where the house is. You'll find chains in the basement, lots of fingerprints, I'm sure. Hers and mine. But I didn't hurt her." Since she was going to be incessant about this whole "Look at me thing." Sidney finally decided to look away from Regina. He just wanted to ingrain her memory into his brain before they took him away, so he'd never truly leave his side.

"The man obviously suffered rom some kind of mental break. He clearly hasn't been himself for a while." It hurt to hear her speak those word, but he knew she was just acting. She had to, so she would survive this.

"Yeah. It's like his words aren't his at all."

"Wow. You are so sold on your own rush to judgement that you can't even see the truth anymore." Regina was a much better actress than Sidney. It was no wonder Sheriff Swan didn't believe him, but this could still be saved. Regina could out lie anyone.

"A word in the hallway, please." Emma barked, once again leaving before Regina could agree.

Left with no choice, Regina followed the mother of her son into the other room.

"Well, that's the biggest load of crap I've ever heard." Regina hoped she didn't talk this way in front of Henry. She didn't want him turning out to be some sort of hooligan.

"I'm pretty sure that's not true." Regina knew that Emma was a bail-bonds person. She must've heard more than her fair share of crap."

"That poor man. I know you are behind all this. I understand that you own the game. And that you've set the board so that no-one else can win, but I am about to start playing an entirely different game. I don't care about what happens to you. I don't care about what happens to me. All I care about is what happens to my kid. And you are going to leave him alone." Emma threatened.

"Am I?"

"Uh-uh. I'm talking. You're a sociopath, lady. You tried to take away someone that I love, and now I'm gonna take away someone that you love. I am taking back my son."

"One question, Sheriff Swan. How exactly do you plan to do that? What proof do you have that I'm behind all of this? Do you really think Henry will just go with you and never look back? Sure, we're going through a rough patch right now. We have been since he found that damn book. But until he is 21 years old, I will have more experience taking care of him than you, and by that time, he'll have moved out of the house.

"Do you know how to calm him down after a nightmare? The only song that will actually out him to sleep at night? His favorite flavor of soda? If he even likes soda? What will you do if he gets in a fight with another kid? Does he even call you mom yet?" Regina smirked as Emma searched her brain for the answers. When her mind came up blank, Regina smirked.

"Warm milk and a scented candle if he has a nightmare. He always falls asleep if you sing him old 30s music. Doesn't matter what song, just that genre. He hates soda, but loves hot tea with lots of honey. Henry is a natural born pacifist. The only time he ever got into a fight was when another kid insulted me. No TV for a month solved that problem.

"Don't you see, Emma? These are things you can only learn after years! You can't just decide to be a mother and then be one! You have to be ready. At first, you need help. You don't strike me as the type of person who would be willing to ask for help."

Emma stood stunned as Regina clicked her way out of the Sheriff's office. The Mayor didn't even throw a "Goodbye, Miss Swan." Over her shoulder before leaving.