Pulling up outside her mansion, Regina leaves the Benz's engine running as she looks thoughtfully down at the steering wheel, the wipers moving methodically back and forth to clear the windscreen of the quickening rain. Pulling out her cell, she brings up Henry's number, before reconsidering and scrolling up to find the Charming's landline and pressing 'call'. Mary Margaret answers her on the sixth ring, sounding a little out of breath, but otherwise merry.
It's right for some.
"Hello?"
"It's me."
She replies, catching the sound of Neal grizzling to himself in the background.
"Regina. What can I do for you?"
Snow greets her properly, muttering something to the baby who responds by beginning to wail.
"Not again..."
The Fair Queen groans, and the brunette laughs as she teases
"Peaceful morning?"
"I wish. He's been up since five."
Mary Margaret yawns, and Regina muses upon this as she watches a large crow land on the asphalt, recalling her suspicion when the blonde had suggested the use of brandy to quieten down her baby brother. Of course, it had turned out this wisdom had belonged to the Queen, and Regina sighs as her situation comes crashing back down on her heavily.
"That's no good."
She commiserates, and Snow chuckles in weary agreement.
"It's nothing new. Henry's been a great help actually, keeping him occupied, and Ashley's coming over in a bit which will mean Neal has another little one to chatter to. I would ask Emma to lend a hand, but... You know. Not that I've heard anything from her or have a clue what she's up to, but that's also nothing new.
"She's helping me with something."
Regina replies pleasantly, wondering when Snow plans to stop expecting the blonde to respond with anything other than an excuse or silence when asked to pitch in with baby-duty, and supposing the answer is likely never. She imagines that the Charmings' brief revelation over the fact that their eldest might find the situation uncomfortable had been put down to her momentary stint as the Dark One and nothing more, and if she's honest, she can't really blame them.
What else are they supposed to do?
Considering the unblemished flesh of her finger where the Saviour had cut deep enough to expose bone, she looks up to watch the rhythmic dance of the wipers.
"Really? Before lunch?"
Snow interrupts her musing with another wry chuckle, and the Mayor reciprocates and insists
"Amazing, but true. Is Henry there?"
"He is, he's helping Charming paint Em-... Neal's room."
Mary Margaret corrects herself, and Regina considers commenting on the fact but refrains, asking instead
"Can I speak to him?"
"One second."
Snow rests the phone on its side and calls up to Henry, and a couple of moments later, the boy takes over the line.
"Mom! Finally! What were you doing last night?"
He greets Regina curiously, and she runs her finger over the leather of the steering wheel and replies casually
"I just had to help Miss Swan with something, and you know I don't like leaving you on your own after dark."
"I'm not a baby."
Henry grumbles predictably, and she laughs and assures
"I know, but you're stuck with me being frightfully boring and protective either way."
"Mm. You're alright."
The boy replies dutifully, chuckling to let her know that he's teasing, before asking curiously
"What were you guys doing?"
"Just sorting out a few loose ends. Nothing interesting, I'm afraid."
She yawns, glancing up at the house where her dark-half remains drugged and bound.
"Oh."
Henry replies, sounding disappointed, and she rolls her eyes.
"I just thought I'd call to check-in. We have a couple of things to finish off here, so maybe you'd prefer to stay with Snow, or spend some time with Violet?"
"Are you trying to keep me out of the house?"
Henry asks suspiciously, and Regina nips the tip of her tongue gently, before lying seamlessly
"I'm trying to keep you and Emma from distracting each other so that we can get things finished."
"I'm not distracting!"
"Mmm, debatable. And it's not you that I'm worried about."
Laughter at this which she joins in with a little glumly, wishing her lighthearted mood wasn't merely a guise.
"Alright, let me know when you're done. I'm painting, anyway."
"I heard. That's very kind of you."
"I know."
Henry agrees, eliciting a more genuine chuckle from his mother in light of his blatant lack of humility.
"Have fun, dear. I'll talk to you soon."
"Okay- oh, Mary Margaret wants to know if you're still planning to come over for coffee today?"
"Probably not. Ask her if it's okay to reschedule."
"Sure... Tomorrow?"
"That sounds fine. I'll see her then. Bye, sweetheart."
She hangs up, sincerely hoping that's a date she's going to be in a position to keep.
Looking forward to coffee with your once sworn enemy... What has the world come to?!
She smirks, getting out of the car and hurrying up the drive to the door in order to check in with her other once sworn enemy.
Oh god...
Shaking her head, she finds the source of her bemusement sat on the kitchen counter staring out the window.
"Your parents are redecorating your old room. I hope you got rid of anything interesting in the bedside cabinet."
She greets, wondering belatedly if her teasing is perhaps a little dangerous given that she might incur a response she's not quite equipped for, but she receives neither a smirk nor crass innuendo; Emma simply nodding as her attention remains fixed on the rain.
"Henry's helping, so that should give us the place to ourselves for most of the day... To sort things out."
The Mayor tacks on hurriedly given the way her statement might be taken, but again, the younger woman refuses her the distasteful quip she would ordinarily expect.
"... I didn't mean to make light of them redoing your room."
Regina tracks back uncertainly, worried that she might have hit a nerve.
"It's fine. They should have done it sooner, I've been out of there a while."
"Yes, well, I don't think it's any easier for Snow than it is for you."
The Mayor muses gently, frowning as she notes that the bottle of wine resting beside the blonde isn't the same one Emma had opened this morning, and she studies the Sheriff uneasily, increasingly aware of the tension between them.
"... It went fine, by the way."
She snaps when she gets bored of waiting for the younger woman to ask, referring to her conversation with Gold, and this finally earns her the blonde's attention as Emma offers her an apologetic smile laced with something else she can't quite read.
"What did he say?"
"He said he'd keep quiet, and I believe him. He told me how to do it. I have to-"
"-Regina. She's awake."
The younger woman interrupts to warn, and the Mayor falls silent, startled, and glances up at the ceiling.
"She's awake?!"
"Yeah."
"How?"
"She said the dust you used was old."
Emma replies, negating to mention the Queen's suggestion that it had been her presence that had aided her to return to the land of the living.
"You spoke to her?"
"You left me on lookout."
The blonde shrugs, and Regina frowns as she considers the Sheriff's rather odd mannerisms and the merlot colouring her lips.
"...You can't let her get to you, Emma."
"Mm. All due respect, but I'd appreciate it if you didn't coach me on how to deal with a situation I've been handling longer than you have."
"Noted, although I hope you can extend that same respect and acknowledge the fact that I've been dealing with this situation most of my life."
"I just meant-"
"-I know what you meant, and I didn't mean to sound patronising... That said, I'm about to do it again; please slow down on the wine."
"I'm fine."
Emma replies automatically.
"I don't doubt that, but I need you right now, and I need you with your head on straight... Well..."
The brunette allows a small smirk, before once more adopting a frown when Emma simply nods distractedly. She considers calling the younger woman out on her change of mood, but supposes the blonde has already given her an answer in her admission that she's spoken to the Queen.
Don't worry, dear. This ends now.
"I need you."
She reiterates quietly, and Emma offers her an expression she struggles to read, before slipping down from the counter and moving in so that they can discuss matters in little more than a whisper; knowing it's an unnecessary precaution while the Queen remains incapacitated, but it feels safer to do so nonetheless.
"What do we have to do?"
She asks, studying familiar features with a sickly feeling in her stomach; recalling the way dark eyes had widened with shock, with fear, and with rage in response to her recent cruelty.
She'll know everything.
She'll know.
How do you think she'll feel?
How will she feel when she knows what you did?
What you did to her.
"It's actually surprisingly simple."
Regina confides, nodding when she misinterprets Emma's wariness for uncertainty.
"I know, I was shocked too."
"It's never simple."
The blonde mutters unhappily.
"This time, it is. Shockingly so, but, as Rumple stated, the emotions and turmoil behind the decision aren't simple in the slightest."
"No."
Emma agrees miserably.
"I have to do it, though, you were right... You usually are, but if you ever bring up the fact that I said so again, I'll have to kill you."
The brunette teases.
"I'm so fucking wise."
The younger woman grins bitterly, clenching her teeth until her jaw aches, and Regina shakes her head with an affectionate chuckle that stings, before continuing seriously
"I have to merge our hearts; the Queen's and my own. If there's only one heart, there can only be one vessel; one body."
"What happens to the Queen?"
"I don't know. I just know that she can't exist independently if our hearts are one. If I'm whole."
"If you're whole..."
"Yes... See! For once, it's easy."
Regina smiles with exhausted relief, squeezing the blonde's arm gently in the hope to dispel the strange melancholy evident in the younger woman's demeanour.
She's probably exhausted, and after Killian's visit earlier, and everything that's happened over the last couple of days, it's not especially surprising that she's not jumping for joy right now.
"It's over, okay?"
She pushes softly for a response, and Emma forces a smile and nods.
"It's over."
She repeats the darker woman's relieved statement, hoping that the words aren't as final as they feel.
"Come on. Let's finish this."
Regina beckons, feeling really rather exhausted herself.
"Let's do it."
Emma resigns, taking a generous swig from the bottle of merlot on the counter before wiping her mouth on the back of her hand and following the Mayor upstairs.