Regina switched off her computer and looked up at the clock on the wall. She had completed all of the work she could with ten minutes to spare. There was no point starting something new because she would get caught up and then end up working late. Again.

"Hey." Emma stuck her head around the door to Regina's office. "Do you mind if I finish up early? All the mail's sorted and I've topped up the paper in the printers for Monday."

"It's Friday, go ahead. I'm just packing up myself."

"Thanks." Emma smiled as she remembered the other thing she had come to say. "Oh, and you've got a visitor."

"Ask them to come back Monday."

"He said you'd want to see him. His name's Sydney something." Emma paused at the look on Regina's face when she mentioned the name. "I'll ask him to come back…"

"No. Send him in."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, go and enjoy your weekend."

Emma winked at her before widening the door to let Sydney into the room. He closed the door and stood by it, clutching a briefcase nervously in his hands.

"Take a seat Mr Glass." Regina told him, watching Emma's shadow in the greyed glass on the door.

Once she was gone, Regina turned her attention back to the man in front of her. He looked thinner than the last time she had seen him and his grey hairs appeared to have multiplied. Of course that shouldn't be possible, not in Storybrooke, but then again…

"Madame Mayor, I…" His hands fiddled with the clasp on his briefcase as he spoke, though his eyes never left hers. "I did as you asked. I have begun to increase my contacts with people living outside Storybrooke, using the Internet to connect with them."

"I assume you came here because you have something important to tell me."

"Yes… yes, I did the background checks on the two people whose names you gave to me. A lot of the information is still hidden by legal red-tape, perhaps if I had more time I could find someone to help me understand how the protections on those systems work and…"

"The information, Sydney." Regina reminded him, plastering a smile of her face when she used his name, and feeling sick at the way he looked back at her.

"Right, yes here they are. I've typed up all the information and put it in these folders for you." He passed over two blue files, neatly typed and labelled, before closing his briefcase.

"That's wonderful. Now, I need you to make sure you delete all of this information from your files."

"What?"

"I want these to be the only copies and I don't want anyone else to come across this information by accident."

Regina slipped the files into her top drawer. She would take them and read them tonight, but she didn't want him to see her put them in her handbag. That would let him know how important they were to her.

"Oh I use passwords to protect all of my work. I can assure you…"

"I don't care. Delete all the files, shred any paper copies and forget I even asked you to look into it."

"I'm still waiting on some information…"

"Good, any new information should be brought straight to me."

"But…"

Regina's eyes narrowed as she glared at him. She was pleased to see the fear in his eyes; it meant he would obey her instructions. It was the sort of power she hadn't had in a long time. Then she remembered that Sydney worked much more effectively when she used a softer approach. When she was angry with him, he tended to drink and cause havoc. When he believed her to be pleased with his work, it made him work even harder. So she softened her glare and smiled again, watching him relax and smile back at her. She gave him a few more words of praise and thanks before hinting that it was time for him to leave.

Once she was sure he had gone, she took out the files and tucked them into her handbag. They were too important to leave lying around, either at the office or at home. There was only one place safe enough to hide them.

Regina curled up onto the sofa and opened the first file. She stared at the photograph for at least ten minutes, searching the face for traces of the little boy she had known. It wasn't Owen. She wasn't sure how to feel about that. Perhaps she should get Sydney to run another search for him, to make sure that he was all right. She still felt guilty for the way she'd acted, but back then she had been fresh from her life as the Evil Queen, some habits were hard to break. He would be all grown up now; he might have forgotten Storybrooke.

Regina shook her head. No, he might have forgotten exactly where it was, but he would remember Storybrooke, remember her and remember his father. That was the price of love. Painful memories stick in the heart, some as small as pins, others large enough to rip it in two. Each one contains a memory and they were impossible to remove.

She wouldn't interfere in his life, but she wanted to know how badly the loss of his father had damaged him. Had she turned him into a monster, the way she had when her mother took away Daniel?

There were tears in her eyes as she moved past the photo of an adult August Booth. She had planned this before Kathryn's advice. Although Storybrooke was supposed to be cut off from the outside world, both August and Emma had made it past the barrier. That meant that either they were lying about living outside of Storybrooke before she applied for the job, or they had found a way to avoid the magic.

Her eyes scanned down Sydney's information. Orphanage, runaway, managing to avoid the authorities and never returning to the foster system. Then he'd reappeared as
an adult, with money, obviously from questionable sources. No real background or any details of his real parents. Nothing to say where he came from. A list of suspected activities which were never proven. Sydney needed to be more thorough. How did Emma even meet someone like this?

Regina closed the file without finishing it and turned to the other one. She bit her lip as she contemplated what she was about to do. She was risking her relationship with Emma, breaching her trust, but if she didn't look she would still have doubts. Her mother had made sure that lesson stuck.

Regina opened the folder. She smiled at the picture of a much younger Emma and ran her finger across it. Would could this file tell her about Emma that could change the way she felt? She didn't want to know, but she began reading automatically.

Halfway down the first page, Regina frowned and ran her eyes back up the text. There it was. A familiar name. She opened August's file. There it was again. So that was how they had met, they had the same first foster carers. Then her eyes noted the dates. If August had left when Emma was still a baby, was it just a coincidence that they met again when they were both older? Why would August abandon her and how would he find her again in such a large country?

Regina began looking back through August's file. There was nothing showing why they had been sent there on the same day. Were they related? No evidence of a DNA test. She let out a sigh of relief when she realised that their paperwork predated the arrival of Storybrooke. At least they hadn't started out here and found a way to leave. The secret was still safe.

Regina scanned through Emma's file and let out a sigh of relief. Nothing in her past to suggest that Emma was lying about her feelings. A bit of a loner, maybe, but no record of wanting power enough to hurt other people. No scandals, no drug addiction. Of course it was just a basic check, if she wanted more details of past relationships she was sure Sydney could find them for her.

She closed the file, stood up and tossed it into the bottom drawer of the desk as she checked the time. Tomorrow she would get Sydney to look into August further. He had a way into Storybrooke and she needed to find a way to fix it.

She didn't notice the small newspaper clipping dislodge from August's file and float under the desk. If she had, she would have seen the familiar style of clothes he was wearing. She might have recognised the hat, or the little boy. It was the only photo of August as a child in the file.