"What do you mean, it was a trap?"
The brunette enquires for what feels like the tenth time. She notes irritably the fact that both the waitress and the schoolteacher still wear their muddy shoes as they sit in her drawing room and hates herself for worrying about such things given the current situation.
She is still suffering from a mild case of shock as to the fact that both young women currently reside within her home at all; never thinking she would see the day where she and Mary Margaret would sit opposite one another sharing a beverage.
And yet, here they are.
The younger two women had come hurrying out of Gold's shop into the frigid night air, and she had followed them both swiftly; demanding they tell her what they had found. Their harried footsteps had been headed automatically in the direction of the raven headed woman's apartment, but the Mayor had soon come to a halt, worrying about leaving her son with the reporter given the events of the day. At her ill-ease, Ruby had simply turned to face her and asked if she would be alright if she and Mary Margaret came by in the next half an hour.
If I would be alright?...
She suspects it had been the complete madness of the waitress's suggestion that had stopped her from refusing such an intrusion then and there. Still, when her doorbell had chimed just as she had finished removing her coat and shooing away Sydney, she had been surprised to find the two young women standing on her doorstep.
"We already told you..."
The schoolteacher mutters irritably, her face paler than usual and her lashes wet as she shakes her head fretfully. Stilling when the young brunette places a slender hand at her knee, Mary Margaret rests her head in her hands and lets the waitress take the stage.
"It was just a space behind Gold's office. There was a lantern in there which created the light I saw, and greaseproof paper over a crack in the wall... The wind blowing against it made a whining noise and I just thought... Emma... I don't know. It could have been a trap. It could have just been our mistake. She's not there, though..."
"You're sure?"
"Positive."
"Oh god..."
"Maybe we have this wrong, though... I mean... What would Gold even want with Emma? Do you know something we don't?"
The Mayor balks at the question defensively, but there is no accusation in the waitress's tone, merely a simple hope that something can be explained. Something can be made clear. Shaking her head, Regina regards the empty hearth miserably, wishing desperately that its ashen logs were once more ablaze and that is was the blonde in her magnificent black dress sat opposite her.
Beautiful. You were always beautiful, and I should have told you so. I have no doubt you've heard it a hundred times before, the same as I wanted to argue at the time that you must have been called a hundred worse names than a whore... I didn't mean it, though. I think I knew that then, but I didn't realise that I knew it... Does that even make sense? What others have called you in the past means nothing, because this is now, and now you're mine, and I hope you understand that I don't mean that to be cruel, I mean that because... I need you. Don't leave me here with just these people I loathe so and have grown weary of conducting... I may bitch and gripe about having you about something rotten, but I hope you realise that without you... Well, it'd be so hellishly boring without you, dear. Dull and peaceful and everything I wanted and yet nothing I want anymore.
Please.
I need you.
"No. I don't know anything more than you do."
Her heart skips a beat and she hopes she isn't being foolish by telling the younger two women such a thing, but she fails to see what other option she has. After all... It's not as though she can explain the technicalities of the curse to them. No more so than she could explain the apple to Emma. It is a burden she must carry alone. One shared only between herself and Rumplestiltskin and...
No.
Out of the question.
Surely...
Frowning, the brunette regards her present company warily before rising and gesturing primly towards the door.
"I'm afraid I don't know anything more, and I'm growing tired... It's... It's been a long day, and I would like to get some rest. I have a young boy who I need to look after right now... Should you... Should you think of anything... Let me know."
Ruby and Mary Margaret nod in unison, taking their cue to leave and heading silently for the door. Watching them go, Regina sighs, following the younger women out into the grand hallway.
"Thank you- both of you- for... Well, for trusting me. This isn't how I wanted this night to end, and I'm not just referring to Henry's birthday. I... I really thought we'd find Miss Swan... Emma... In the shop... I... Well, I suppose a part of me hopes this all really was a case of cold feet after all. A part of me hopes she's sitting in your kitchen- sheepish and shamefaced- when you get home, Miss Blanchard."
"Emma wouldn't miss Henry's birthday."
"No. I know that... But I don't know what else there is to say..."
"Tomorrow."
"Excuse me, Miss Lucas?"
"Tomorrow. We'll carry on looking tomorrow. And the next day. And the next day. This... This isn't some horror story... There's only so long the Sheriff of a town can stay missing, right? Only so long Gold can go without being seen in town? I'm sure if this was a fairytale story or something, it'd be different, but... She'll be okay. I know Emma, and... She's not gonna take shit from some old man with a cane, I'll tell you that much. She'll show up."
"You sound so sure..."
"I am."
"Oh?"
"She... She just has to."
"... I hope you're right."