Emma stumbled as Regina's spell ended. "Regina …"

Cradling her mother's body, Regina looked up, her face uncharacteristically unguarded.

A second later, the front door flew open, and David and Snow burst in, the latter turning a horrible shade of grey when she saw Cora's body.

Before anyone could say anything, Regina waved her hand, and she - and Cora - vanished in a puff of purple smoke.

"David …" Snow began, her voice shaky.

"Regina knew what it would do," Emma said, her voice sounding foreign to her own ears. "I warned her."

Snow closed her eyes, her expression pained. "I should …"

"No," David and Emma said in unison.

"She won't thank you for it," David said. "You know that."

"I'll go," Emma said. "Let me deal with things here, and I'll go and make sure that she doesn't … I'll make sure she's okay."

Snow gave her a weak smile. "Thank you, Emma. I know after everything, I shouldn't care, but …"

"I get it," Emma said. "I think Ruby and the others are going to need a hand up." She took a step closer to David as Snow left the shop again to check on her friends. "She's not okay."

"Regina?" David asked.

Emma frowned. "Well, obviously she's not. I meant Snow. She's going to blame herself, isn't she?"

David sighed heavily. "Yes."

"Take her home," Emma said. "She did what she had to do to protect us. Cora had to be stopped."

"I know," David said, watching his wife through the window. "It's not going to be easy getting her to believe that. Did you get what you needed in New York?"

Emma gave him a small smile. "He's with his father."

"Are you okay?" David asked now, turning his gaze to her.

Emma hesitated, but nodded. "Better than I thought I would be."

Leaving Snow in his capable hands, Emma returned to the back room.

Gold was sitting up now, looking far stronger, and Belle was fussing over him, her face streaked with tears.

"Feeling better then?" Emma asked.

"Cora?" Gold asked in response.

"She's dead," Emma said, somehow not entirely surprised when a faint glimmer of remorse flickered momentarily in his eyes. "So you should be okay now, right? Belle told me how the candle worked."

"I'll be fine," Gold said. "Bae …"

"We'll talk," Neal said. "We will. But …" he looked at Emma. "I'd really like to meet my son."

Emma smiled and nodded. "Come on then."

Down on the beach, August and Henry were sparring with the wooden swords David had dug up from somewhere.

"Play nice please," Emma said, as soon as Neal saw them.

"Did he know?" Neal asked.

"That I was pregnant?" Emma asked. "Not until he got here a few months ago, no. And he didn't tell you to leave, Neal."

Neal sighed. "I know."

Henry caught sight of them at that moment, dropping his sword in favour of running over to them.

Emma opened her arms just in time to catch him, feeling his now-familiar warmth collide with her.

"Hey kid."

"You're back early," Henry said, his voice muffled by his shirt. "Is it because of Cora?"

"Cora's gone, sweetheart," Emma said, stroking his hair. "But there's someone I want you to meet."

Henry immediately pulled away from her, his gaze falling on Neal.

"Neal, this is Henry," Emma said. "Henry, this is your dad."

Henry's face lit up in a smile and he jumped forwards to hug his father. Neal didn't hesitate to wrap his arms around him, whispering something to him that made Henry laugh and nod.

Emma moved away to give them some privacy, meeting August halfway. "Next time I say I'm going to drive to New York, tell me to take a plane."

August chuckled. "Noted. Gold?"

"Gold's going to be fine," Emma said. "Cora's dead; I need to go and find Regina." She glanced towards Henry and Neal. "I'm going to leave Henry with Neal for a few hours, but I don't want to just … leave them. Can you …?"

"Keep an eye on them?" August finished. "Not a problem."

"Just be tactful about it," Emma said.

"Mom?" Henry called. "Can I show Dad the town?"

Emma smiled. "Of course. How about we meet at Granny's for dinner?"

"You sure that's okay?" Neal asked.

"I trust you," Emma said. "Besides I need to speak to Regina; Henry, if your mom was really upset, where would she go?"

"The family crypt," Henry said immediately. "There's a secret tunnel under Grandpa's coffin. She doesn't know I know about it. I think that's where she keeps all her magic stuff. Is she okay? Should I come with you?"

"Probably not," Emma said. "However horrible Cora was, she was still her mother. If she's really upset, though, she won't want you to see that. Stay with your dad, okay?"

Emma had fully been expecting to have to search for the secret tunnel, but when she arrived at the mausoleum, the door was open and the coffin pushed back, revealing a stone staircase leading down into the gloom.

Tentatively, she made her way down, one hand on the wall to steady herself, emerging into what looked like some kind of chemistry lab, except the ingredients were strange and unfamiliar.

And there, in the next room, was Regina, sitting against the wall, staring at her mother's body, laid out on a stone dais.

"So this is what Graham was looking for," Emma said.

"I think he was looking for what was behind that curtain," Regina said flatly. "I'm not in the mood for a hope speech."

"Good, because I'm terrible at hope speeches," Emma said, sitting down beside her. "I brought booze though."

Regina's lips quirked in a close approximation of a smile and she took the offered bottle. "Not my usual."

"I can't afford your usual," Emma said. "Just drink. I'm sorry about your mother."

"You were right," Regina said, taking a healthy gulp. "She was a manipulative bitch."

Emma shrugged. "Yeah. Doesn't make it easier though."

"This sounds like a hope speech," Regina said, handing her the bottle back.

"No, if it was a hope speech," Emma said, after her own swig, "I'd be telling you that you did the right thing and everything will work out, but we both know that means fuck all right now."

Regina rolled her eyes. "Tell me you're not here to make sure I don't curse your mother again."

"I'm not," Emma said. "Okay, I'd really rather you didn't. But I really did just come down to bring you alcohol and make sure you were okay. Not 'not going evil again', but okay." She pushed the bottle back into her hand. "You need this more than I do."

Regina snorted. "Not going evil again. You make it sound like I stopped."

"If you were evil," Emma said, "you wouldn't have opened a neonatal wing of the hospital a month before I arrived knowing full well that time had stopped and there wouldn't be any babies anytime soon."

"Gold's still whispering in ears," Regina said bitterly, "reminding people of everything I've done, like he didn't practically create me."

"Yeah, well, he's an asshole," Emma said. "We know that."

Regina sighed. "I'm not going after your mother," she said after a few moments. "I'm not actually angry with her - for once. Besides, her own guilt is going to eat away at her more than anything I could do." She glanced over at Emma. "And I kind of owe you for believing in me. And keeping Henry believing in me too."

"He's a good kid," Emma said. "He just got … confused and mixed up and …

"And I didn't help," Regina said heavily. "I know."

"You're a good mother, Regina," Emma said. "I wish I'd had someone like you when I was growing up."

Regina gave a humourless laugh. "You do realise I'm the reason you needed someone like me when you were growing up?"

"Yeah, I know." Emma picked at the hem of her jeans for a second, before asking one of the two questions that had been bugging her. "So who was he?"

"Who?" Regina asked.

"You said to Cora about Daniel, Leopold and him," Emma said, copying the inflection. "Who was he?"

Regina hesitated. "I don't know. I was told once, a long time ago, that there was a man … who would love me … but I never met him."

Emma nodded. "And … what you said … about protecting your child from Cora once …"

"She tried to trick me," Regina said softly, "into having a child. She said she wanted me to be happy, but I knew the truth. She'd lost all ability to gain power through me, so she wanted to try again with my child. I'm sure I would have met with some terrible accident as soon as the baby was born."

"What did you do?" Emma asked. "Sorry, ignore me. That's none of my business."

Regina didn't answer for a second, then took another long swig of alcohol. "Let's just say there was a reason I chose to adopt and leave it there. I don't want to talk about it," she added, before Emma could say anything else.

Emma nodded. "Fair enough."

"Please tell me Henry was nowhere near the shop," Regina said.

"August took him down to the bay," Emma said.

"He's with him now?" Regina asked.

"In a manner of speaking," Emma said. "He wanted to come and check on you, but I figured if you were really upset you wouldn't want him to see you like that. I know I wouldn't."

"What do you mean 'in a manner of speaking'?" Regina asked, ignoring the second half of that.

"Henry's giving Neal a tour of the town," Emma said. "Neal, before you ask, is Henry's father."

Regina closed her eyes, her head falling back against the stone wall. "You said there wasn't a father I needed to worry about."

"There wasn't," Emma said. "I had no idea where he was."

"How did he find Storybrooke?" Regina demanded.

"He didn't," Emma said. "I went to get him. Turns out he's Baelfire. Gold's son."

Regina stared at her. "And you left Henry with him?!"

"He's been separated from his father since he was fourteen," Emma said defensively. "By all accounts, Gold's been trying to find him ever since. That's why he wanted the curse cast, Belle said. Neal's not his father, Regina; that's not fair. And that's why August is with them."

"Still, you went to get him?" Regina asked.

"Henry wanted to meet his dad," Emma said. "And I owed Gold a favour; I wanted to get it over with. I'm due to meet them for dinner in a bit."

"You said Henry wanted to see me?" Regina asked.

It wasn't exactly what Henry had said, but Emma nodded. "He was concerned."

"Maybe …" Regina hesitated. "Never mind."

"Go on," Emma said.

"Maybe you two could come over for dinner tomorrow," Regina said. "That is, if your parents let you out of their sight."

Emma smiled. "I'm sure I can talk them round."

"How did it go?" August asked, as she approached.

He was seated at one of the tables outside the diner with a coffee, but Neal and Henry were nowhere in sight.

"They're inside," he added, seeing her expression. "I didn't want to hover."

"Not joining us for dinner?" Emma asked.

August pulled a face. "I don't think rubbing that in Neal's face is a good idea."

Emma frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I told him to back off because you could do better," August said. "And now you're with me, which isn't that much of an improvement."

Emma rolled her eyes. "You did not steal me; it was a decade ago. And I love you."

"Love you too." August rose from his seat and kissed her. "Besides I'm going to Papa's for dinner."

"Is everything okay?" Emma asked. "You two have seemed a bit … awkward."

"We're …" August sighed. "We're okay. We're just trying to figure out where we stand with each other now. He's not adjusting to an adult child quite as well as your parents have."

"Well, they only had me for five minutes," Emma said. Movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention; Michael Tilman closing the hood of a car outside his shop.

Except …

Emma frowned. "I don't recognise that car."

August glanced over his shoulder. "Oh, that's Greg Mendel's."

Emma raised an eyebrow. "Who?"

"He crashed into the town sign last night not long after you left," August said. "He's in hospital."

"He's … not from here?" Emma asked. "I thought outsiders couldn't find Storybrooke."

"He didn't," August said. "People brought him in. They couldn't leave him to die."

"Well, no," Emma said. "But still …"

"It's a quiet, boring town," August said reassuringly. "Michael will have the car fixed up in no time; Whale's confident the guy will be out of hospital within a few days; and then he'll be gone. Gold's already put some magic on the town line; as soon as he leaves, he'll forget all about us."

"What if he sees something?" Emma asked in an undertone.

"The only people with magic now are sensible enough to keep it under wraps," August said soothingly.

"Okay, but Captain Hook is still on the loose," Emma said, "and presumably still trying to kill Gold, so something tells me he's not going to be quiet about it."

"We're a small town with nothing going for it," August said. "He's not going to stick around long enough."

Emma sighed. "I hope you're right." She pulled him in for another kiss, letting herself melt into him a little, before letting him go to meet his father.

"Do we need to mobilise?" Granny asked as she walked in. "You look worried."

"No, don't worry about it," Emma said. "Cora's no longer an issue."

"I've heard," Granny said. "Is Regina going to be a problem?"

Emma frowned. "No. She's grieving, but she'll be fine."

Granny tutted. "No idea why she's grieving. By all accounts, her mother was worse than she was."

Emma couldn't help hesitating at the counter. "You knew her?"

Granny gave her sharp look over her glasses. "Never met her. But I remember the day Regina married King Leopold - your grandfather. Poor girl looked terrified."

"I knew Cora arranged the marriage," Emma said softly. "But that sounds more …"

"She was the Child Queen before she was the Evil Queen," Granny said, shaking her head. "Any decent mother would never have allowed it to happen."

"Yes, well, I think you just hit the nail on the head," Emma said. "She wasn't decent." She made her way over to where Henry and Neal were sat in one of the booths, still chatting away.

"Gentlemen."

"How's Mom?" Henry asked immediately.

"She's fine," Emma said, sliding in beside him. "Upset, but fine. She's not going to go 'Evil Queen' on us again."

"Did you think she would?" Neal asked.

Emma sighed. "Not really, no. Did you do the full tour?"

"I took him to my castle," Henry confirmed. "The castle was the headquarters for Operation Cobra," he added to Neal.

"Henry's plan to break the curse," Emma said, seeing Neal's bewildered expression. "He was the only one who had any faith. Speaking of faith, if you left the Enchanted Forest several hundred years ago, why aren't you ancient?"

"I ended up on Neverland for a period of time," Neal answered. "Before you ask, Henry, the stories about Peter Pan are very heavily amended."

Henry pouted. "Really?"

"Let's just say he's not one of the good guys," Neal said quietly.

Henry looked like he wanted to ask more, but Emma could still read Neal well enough to know that he really did not want to talk about it, so she quickly changed the subject to New York.

It was obvious that Neal was hoping that Henry could come and visit, something Henry was certainly eager about, but Emma was still concerned about Regina - she wasn't sure what kind of chance Neal would have in a custody fight since he wasn't on the birth certificate, but she was sure that he'd try it if she - or Regina - tried to keep Henry away from him.

How would split-custody work if Henry was travelling between a magical town and a land without magic?

And how would they explain any of it to the unknown fiancée?

She was not prepared for that conversation though, certainly not in front of Henry, so she tried to keep the discussion light through dinner, until it came time for her to take Henry home.

"I'm going to take a room at Granny's," Neal said, when they got up to leave. "I assume that's upstairs?"

Emma smiled. "No - there are function rooms upstairs and I'm fairly sure Ruby has an apartment up there, but the B&B is a few streets away. I'm told there's a short-cut, but it's a family secret apparently."

It was out of their way, but Emma indulged Henry's wish to walk his father to the B&B, meeting Ruby just outside the door.

"Hi Aunt Ruby," Henry said. "This is my dad."

Ruby raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Neal Cassidy," Emma said, "this is Ruby. She would have been my godmother, so now she's Henry's."

"Welcome to Storybrooke," Ruby said, a little tentatively. "Um, Emma …?"

"He was born in the Enchanted Forest," Emma said.

Ruby relaxed immediately. "Oh, good."

"How are you after … earlier?" Emma asked.

"Good as new," Ruby said with a smile. "Bit of a nasty bump on the head, but nothing too bad. You need a room?" She asked Neal.

"If you've got anything," Neal said.

Ruby laughed. "Well, until Emma, we didn't get visitors, so yeah, we have room."

Emma caught her arm as Henry dragged Neal inside. "If you can put him as far away from August as you can, that would be great."

Ruby frowned. "He does know, right?"

"August knows about Neal," Emma said, "and Neal knows August. It's just complicated and I'd rather not court trouble."

Ruby narrowed her eyes. "You've never once mentioned Henry's dad."

"Let's just say it didn't end in the best way," Emma said.

Ruby pointed at her. "We're going out at some point."

"Yes please," Emma said tiredly. "I need to get very, very drunk if I'm going to deal with all of this."

Ruby laughed, giving her a hug. "You got it. Right then, let's get you set up."

"Mom," Henry said. "Can I stay with Dad tonight?"

Emma hesitated, unprepared for the pang of rejection in her chest.

"It might be best to do it another night, buddy," Neal said gently.

"Mom?" Henry asked, a little pleading.

"I would say yes," Emma said slowly, "but your grandma's had a bad day."

Henry frowned. "Why?"

"Because she started the magic that allowed us to get rid of Cora," Emma said gently. "And she feels bad about it."

"But Snow White's a hero," Henry said. "Heroes don't kill."

"That's … not quite true, Henry," Neal said tentatively, his eyes darting to Emma as though checking with her that he was allowed to take this one. "Heroes protect people. And sometimes the only way to protect people is to kill the bad guy. Your grandmother feels guilty because she's a hero. The bad guys don't care who they hurt. But I think your mom's right - your grandmother needs you right now."

Henry nodded.

"I'm not going anywhere right now," Neal said. "I will be here for at least a few weeks."

"And then you're leaving?" Henry asked quietly.

"I don't know," Neal said honestly, crouching down to meet his eyes. "Whatever happens though, wherever I am, I will only ever be a phone call away, alright?"

Henry nodded again, hugging him.

Emma waited patiently, while Ruby pretended to be busy with paperwork behind the desk.

Finally Neal rose again, giving Emma a hug that she returned automatically. "Thanks for bringing me back."

"Thank you for listening to me," Emma said. "We'll see you tomorrow."

"Goodnight Emma, Henry."

"Goodnight Dad," Henry called over his shoulder.

As they walked back to the loft, Emma wrapped an arm around her son. "Good day then?"

"It was brilliant," Henry said with a grin.

Emma nodded. "Your mom invited us over for dinner tomorrow night. Are you up for that?"

Henry hesitated. "Grandma and Grandpa won't like it."

"Probably not," Emma agreed. "But I don't think Regina is a threat to me, and she's definitely not a threat to you. So if I can talk them into it, would you like to go?"

Henry nodded. "Yes please." He shifted so he was holding her hand instead. "I've been thinking about what you said, about Mom."

"Yeah?" Emma asked.

"You were right," Henry said. "Mom could be strict, but … It was only once I found out I was adopted and about the curse that she freaked out. I thought it was because she'd just been pretending until then, but … she was scared, wasn't she?"

"I think so," Emma agreed. "Did you ever talk to her about it?"

"Of course," Henry said, sounding a little affronted.

"Did you?" Emma asked. "Or did you just make accusations and refuse to listen?"

Henry was quiet for a few minutes. "Maybe I did that."

Emma squeezed his hand. "Let's see if we can move forward then."

When they got home, David met them at the door, his worry etched into his brow.

"How is she?" Emma asked quietly.

David glanced back at the curtain that separated his and Snow's bedroom from the rest of the sleeping area. "She's not talking."

"Should I try?" Henry asked.

Emma hesitated, her eyes fixed on the curled up form of her mother. "I know what your dad said, kiddo, but … I don't think she's up for it right now."

Henry nodded. "That's okay. Can you tell her I love her?"

"Of course," Emma said. "David, are you okay tucking him in while I give it a try?"

David nodded, his hand settling on Henry's shoulder. "No problem."

Emma shed her jacket and shoes, before wandering over to the bed, hovering beside it with an acute sense of deja vu.

Back then she had been dealing with Mary Margaret's broken heart.

Now she was looking at her mother, who was feeling guilty for killing a woman who was threatening to destroy everything they held dear.

"Want to talk?" Emma asked.

"No," Snow answered quietly, still facing away from her.

Emma nodded. "Want to be alone?"

"No," Snow admitted, even quieter.

Emma settled down on the mattress beside her, staring at the ceiling, her side pressed against Snow's back so she could take comfort in the contact.

In that, at least, Snow and Mary Margaret were the same.

"You did the right thing," Emma said after a few minutes. "If Cora was still alive, she'd be the Dark One and we'd probably all be dead."

"Regina …" Snow began.

"Regina knew what it would do," Emma said. "Yes, she's grieving. But she doesn't blame you."

"She will," Snow said with certainty. "You don't know her."

Emma raised an eyebrow. "I like to think I know her pretty well. I went to see her, to make sure that we weren't going to get a relapse. She admitted that she doesn't blame you for once. And that, even if she did, she wouldn't go after you, because it would lose her Henry."

Snow drew in a shaky breath and Emma thought she might get up, but then her body began to shake with tears.

Hesitating just a moment more, Emma shifted so she was tucked up against her mother's back, her arms wrapped around her middle.

Snow didn't stop crying, but her hands moved to grip Emma's tightly.

"It's okay," Emma murmured. "It'll be alright."

She could bring up Regina's dinner invitation tomorrow morning.