"Do you think we should have said something?"
The blonde's inquiry rouses the Mayor from a state of what had almost been sleep, and she frowns irritably.
"Hmmm?"
"About leaving... To Gold I mean..."
"Oh... No, I don't see why that would have been necessary... You told him about as much this morning, after all."
"Yeah, I guess... It just feels strange is all..."
Pushing herself back upright in her less than comfortable seat and wincing at a twinge in her lower back, Regina regards the Sheriff thoughtfully. The younger woman sits slumped against the side of the coach, watching the flickering lights of passing cars sleepily; their bickering as to the brunette's distaste for this method of travel, and then just their simple chatter having died down in the last hour or so to an amiable silence.
"You would rather have discussed the matter with him?"
"Nothing to discuss really, we told him we were going, you're right. I just... I don't know..."
"Feel strange."
"Yeah."
Regina frowns pensively as Emma stifles a yawn. In all honesty, running the news of their departure by Gold had never even crossed her mind; their part of this mess having been taken care of. The little man and his son hadn't been around as far as she had been aware when she had slipped back into her clothes while the blonde had remained naked, sat cross-legged on the bed scrolling through Greyhound departure times on her phone... So they had simply packed up and left.
She wonders though, if it is really Gold that sparks the Sheriff's question.
"... Well... If he takes up issue with the fact- which he shouldn't- I suppose he'll let us know when he returns to Storybrooke... I... If he decides to take Bael- Neal with him, then-"
"-He won't. Neal's not coming back with him, he's already decided."
"... I see... Would you... Would you have liked to tell Neal that we were leaving?"
She keeps her tone light, but Emma turns to her with a knowing glance and shakes her head, before turning fully and curling up in her seat so that she faces the Queen with a tired smile.
"No, we said goodbye when I left his apartment; whether we left today or tomorrow or whenever, that part was done... Gold, though... I guess that part's done, too... That's what feels weird... I mean, it kind of feels like this has been going on forever!"
"Well, it's been a very trying week, and you've suffered the brunt of it, dear."
"No... Well, yes, it has... But I mean more like... I think in some way there's always been this thing with Gold for me, ever since we made that damn deal. Not because I understood what it meant and how crazy it would all get- or how fucking... interwoven this all was!- but more just... I think that was one of the first times I understood that things were different in Storybrooke. Not how Henry said they were- I couldn't think of it like that- but, the way Gold spoke to me then... I remember thinking that it wasn't normal. I scoffed at the notion of a 'deal' so far in the future, and so... I don't know-"
"-Elusive? Intangible?"
"Yes, that's exactly it!... It was a strange- and slightly disturbing- conversation, but it seemed harmless just the same. Because it wasn't a concrete deal... And yet... Gold popped up unexpectedly almost as much as you did, only, his motive seemed to change every five minutes. With you, I knew you just wanted me gone, out, dead-"
"-Don't..."
"... You didn't want me in town. With Gold it was always like it was some kind of crazy dance... Which I guess it was. It's just strange now to know that all of that's finally over... Unless he comes home and then wants something more-"
"-I doubt that will be the case. Gold has what he wanted from you- what he created you for- and, as obscure as it may be that we shall still be a part of his life by mere locality, I imagine he will want to leave you and I very much alone. That is my wish, anyway... And you know, having spent these last few days in his company, I imagine it will be granted. Whether the man is capable of feeling guilt, I still hold my grievances and doubts, but he knows what he did to you back in that apartment, Emma, and what happened wasn't at all to his plan. I believe this has left him shaken- just a fraction, mind- as so little, it seems, ever falls out of his control. That, and once back in Storybrooke, though it pains me, there has been a shift in power."
"How do you mean?"
"I mean that the Dark One might well posses more magic, and greater power than any other person that has ever lived- at least to my knowledge- but he is still as you have seen him. Mortal. He is not a God, Emma. A great deal of his power lay within the fact that he favoured and excelled in the art of manipulation and that those he manipulated were also in possession of great power. For as long as Gold has worked his magic over any of us, your mother and I have been at war-"
She pauses abruptly to glance back over her shoulder and check that their murmured conversation isn't being overheard, but then merely thins her lips distastefully at the pair of youths that sit in the adjacent seats, each with headphones blaring and their nose plastered to their phone. Turning back to Emma, she rolls her eyes as she catches a small smirk, and the younger woman whispers teasingly.
"I sense a 'but' coming... You and Mary Margaret were always at war, but-"
"-Oh, I would curb your enthusiasm, dear; she and I are never going to be friends... But... I don't plan on returning home and demanding she decide on a course of either fight or flight... To be honest, I'd rather just avoid her entirely."
Regina sniffs irritably, a scowl crossing her features as the Sheriff chuckles quietly and mutters something about finding solace in the normality that lies in the clash between parent and partner.
"There is nothing 'normal' about it. I am happy for you that you've found your parents, but that doesn't mean that I myself don't find them to be- at best- a wretched little sneak, and a village idiot in a crown, and that, in my opinion, the only worthwhile thing those two ever did was reproduce..."
She supposes that, by now, she should be less than surprised when this irritable grievance garners her nothing but a simple chuckle in return, but she sighs and pulls the thin blanket she'd packed out of her bag regardless; throwing it over both herself and the blonde as she leans in with conspicuous intent
"Tease..."
She offers, when Emma allows her to brush full lips against her own a few times, before swiping over them promisingly with a swift sweep of her tongue. A sharp intake of breath, and the younger woman chuckles huskily, before regaining her wits once more, and addressing the Queen sombrely; one pale thumb brushing over the wool covering a delicately bent knee with gentle reverence.
"I am but what you make me..."
Smirking, the brunette shakes her head.
"No, I doubt that. I imagine you were always a tease, dear, and if not, I'd ask that you not crush that image..."
Pink velvet as Emma's tongue flickers cheekily into view, before sharp teeth nip her bottom lip in a smile.
"Wouldn't dream of it, Your Majesty..."
"See, my assumptions were correct; a tease... And you know full well I can't do anything about it on this hateful coach..."
Green eyes flash with dark humour, and the blonde feigns innocence
"Do something about it? Whatever would you mean Madame Mayor?"
"Emma..."
"Yes?"
Glowering purposefully, the darker woman sighs before shimmying back in her seat and closing her eyes.
"Do shut up."
Catching an irritable huff to her side, full lips stretch into a self-satisfied smirk, and the Queen raises her hand to shove at the Sheriff's head blindly; savouring the silence.