Emma could hardly believe what she was seeing as Regina stepped into the hall.

"The storm isn't the only thing that is unnatural," Regina said.

"Regina?" Emma said coming closer. "Is that you?"

"Yes, it's me," Regina said. "Rather it was me. I don't know. All I know is one minute I was me and the next moment I'm a …"

"Teenager? Are you teenager right now?"

"Yes," Regina said. "Ok, I'm teenager and I don't know why."

"But you remember who you are. It's not like my mom?" Emma said.

"I remember yes, but I feel … I feel out of sorts."

"How so?"

Regina shrugged – a gesture that didn't seem to fit the Regina that Emma knew. "I don't know," Regina said. "I just feel … weird."

"Ok, ok, we'll figure this out," Emma said. "Do you think this has something to do with the storm?"

Again, another shrug.

This was definitely not like the Regina she knew, Emma thought. Where was the confidence the other woman normally exuded? If anything, Emma thought Regina looked scared.

"Are you sure you're ok?" Emma asked.

This time instead of a shrug, Regina started to cry. "No."

….

Emma made it out to the search party Ruby was leading in the woods, only after dropping Regina off at the mansion with Henry.

Things were getting weirder and weirder by the moment. The storm seemed to be calming down, but it was still drizzling. They still hadn't found Snow and Emma had absolutely no explanation for why Regina was now a teenager.

Despite having her memories, Regina was not acting like herself, which made Emma wonder if this was what she was like before she became queen. If anything this Regina seemed more timid and shy.

When she had first started crying she ended up hugging Emma, which was more than little awkward for Emma. A few hours ago she had shared a kiss with the woman and now she felt like she better maintain some distance with the teenager version.

While she drove her home Emma couldn't help but glance over at her and wonder what age she was exactly. Was this before she married the king or was this Regina from right after the marriage – at the same time as young Snow.

And was she now young because it would take a young Regina to speak with a young Snow? All of the thoughts swirling around in her mind was giving her a headache.

There was something else – Regina's magic was also not working. Or rather, when Emma asked her about using her magic to locate Snow there was confusion on Regina's part like she didn't understand what she was supposed to do. She ended up telling Emma she couldn't.

Emma thought it would be best if she took Regina home and she also called Gold, hoping maybe he could check on her and see if he could figure out why she was now a teenager and what was happening with the storm. It required her to tell a lot more to Gold about her and Regina than she really felt comfortable with – including that last ill-fated kiss.

While she hated to have to leave her, Emma had no choice but to get back to the search for her mom.

Plus, Henry was overly intrigued at his now teenage mother. Although, again Regina seemed strange around him. While she recognized Henry as her son, she seemed uneasy at interacting with him – at least interacting with him as she normally would.

"What took you so long?" David asked, when she finally met up with him and search party.

She proceeded to tell him about Regina and what little she knew about it.

"It has to be connected to Snow, right?" David asked.

"Yeah, but why now? If this is because of my wish, why didn't she turn young when mom did?"

"I don't know," David said. "It would be a strange coincidence if it wasn't connected though."

"Let's just concentrate on finding mom and then we will deal with our other problem," Emma said.

…

Regina sat on the edge of her bed, staring into the closet. She had come up here to change clothes, but now that she was here, she got this overwhelming feeling that this was all wrong in some way. It was like the clothes, even the room, didn't belong to her, although in her mind, she knew they did.

She had wanted to go with Emma to go find Snow, but Emma had told her it was best if she stayed here. But she was worried that Snow had been gone so long. She shouldn't be out there all alone in a storm like this.

Something kept telling her she should be doing something to find her.

Yet, here she was because Emma told her to stay here because Gold was coming over to check on her, although she also wasn't clear as to why. Like with the clothes, her mind was telling she knew Gold, knew all about him, but yet there was an overpowering feeling that she didn't actually know him.

It was the same with Henry – something she was loathe to admit.

She knew Henry was her son. Remembered the day she brought him home. Somehow, she felt detached from those memories, like they happened to someone else.

It was a still several moments before she got off the bed and gathered some clothes to change into.

Once dressed – in a pair of jeans and a shirt that again felt odd to her – she went downstairs where Henry was speaking to someone in the doorway. There were actually two people standing there, a man and woman – and the man made eye contact with her. Part of her knew this was Gold, the other part of her wondered who this strange man was.

Gold came forward staring at her as she came down the rest of the way.

"When the sheriff messes up, she doesn't go small," Gold said, circling her.

Regina didn't like the way he was looking at her and she wished suddenly that he wasn't there or that she was not there. She didn't like being under his scrutiny.

"Do you know why this happened?" Henry asked.

Belle, who had accompanied Gold, was openly staring at the young Regina.

"Clearly, this is an affect of your other mother's desire," Gold said. "As strange as that may seem. Odd, however, because why did it take this long to happen? And the sheriff did say you retained your memories, correct?"

Regina nodded. "I remember."

"What do you remember exactly?"

"Everything, I guess," Regina said. "I don't know. I'm still me."

"That remains to be seen dearie," Gold said.

"We don't have time for this," Regina said. "We should all be out looking for Snow."

"Emma is working on that," Gold said. "I think it's best if we stay here and figure out why you are now young, yet still with your memories intact. If the magic needed you to be young, why do it this way and why not at the same time as Snow?"

If he expected her to answer, Regina wasn't sure and she certainly didn't have any answers. All she knew was that they needed to make sure Snow was safe – that is what mattered, not whether she remembered who she was or not.

"The sheriff also mentioned something about your magic," Gold said. "Now, I can sense the magic in you, but why don't you do something with it so I can see if there is anything amiss."

Again, Regina understood what he was saying – that she had magic, but she didn't understand exactly what that meant. She could recall doing magic, recall learning magic from this man, but she also knew she couldn't do magic.

"Perhaps start with something simple, like a fireball," Gold suggested when Regina just stood there.

Regina looked down at her hand, and then back at him. "I … I can't."

"Why not?"

Regina bit her lip as she tried to think of a way to verbalize what she was feeling. The truth was, she didn't want to do magic. She didn't want any part of magic. Magic was what her mother did, however mother exerted her control and Regina didn't want any part of that.

"I don't want to," she ended up saying.

"Be that as it may, it's important that you do, so be a dearie and do it," Gold said.

"No," Regina said, and she backed away from him. She didn't want to do magic. She didn't want to go down that path. She saw what it did to her mother and she swore she would never use magic like that.

Gold was about to take a step toward her but Belle put a staying hand on his arm.

"She's scared," Belle said. "Look at her. She's scared."

"That's not possible. I don't think I've seen her scared since …" Gold stopped as a particularly loud rumbling of thunder happened. It actually made the house shake slightly. Gold studied Regina again as Belle had gotten closer to her, telling her it was all going to be ok.

"No, it's not," Gold said. "We're all in danger if we can't fix this."

"What are you talking about?" Henry said.

"The sheriff, she said this storm started right after Snow ran away, right after she and Regina kissed. From what I gather, that did not go over well with Snow, which means that her and Regina reconciling their past is unlikely at this juncture. The magic will do anything to give the sheriff what she wants," Gold said. "That means there is a purpose to making Regina young again. And Emma said her own magic wasn't working, right?"

"Yes, but what does that have to do with my mom being a teenager?" Henry asked.

"I'm not entirely sure," Gold said.

"But you have an idea?" Belle said.

Gold took a step toward Regina. "Do you know how to do magic?"

"Of course, she does," Henry said.

Regina shook her head no.

"But you do," Henry said to her.

"She does and she doesn't," Gold said. "Teenage Regina didn't know how because I hadn't taught her yet."

"But she has her memories," Belle said.

"Yes, but those memories won't do her any good if she doesn't know how to practically do something. Say Regina and I never met in our world and she never did magic," Gold said. "Perhaps she never wars with Snow, never seeks revenge, never casts the curse then Storybrooke would never exist."

"Yes, but those things did happen," Belle said.

"Storybrooke was created by her magic," Gold said. "In a way, it's her magic that sustains it, so if she doesn't know how to do magic or is reverting to a time when she didn't know magic, then our entire existence could be at stake."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that storm out there is some sort of manifestation of what is happening to her," Gold said. "Our reality could be unfolding before us if we don't course correct it. The fact the sheriff can't do her magic could be indicative of her never learning to use it. Because if Regina and Snow were never at odds then it all changes. I think our sheriff's desire has created a paradox that threatens us all. For the magic to give her what she wants, it will destroy this reality in order to create one where she gets what she wants, unless we can find another way."