It had been two weeks since Cora first arrived in Storybrooke and Regina had been acting strange. Emma went to the mayor's office to talk to her. She found Regina and Cora listening to a conversation on a tapped line. "What the hell?"

Regina jumped up from her chair, "Emma!"

"What are you doing?"

"I can explain."

"Explain what? How you and your mother placed an illegal tap or how you're helping your murderous mother?"

"Like your mother is so innocent," Cora said.

"Regina, tell her to leave."

Regina looked at her mother in fear and Cora gave Regina a warning look, "I can't."

"Then you leave me no choice." Emma turned to leave the office.

Regina rushed around the desk, "what are you going to do?"

"What I have to do." The blonde left without explaining anything else.

"Let her go," Cora said, "you can do better."

"I love her, mother."

"No, you don't. You just think you do. Now, be a good girl and help me finish this. Don't make me kill again." Regina returned to her desk and gave up on trying to get out of this. Her mother had her and that was that.

When Regina returned home that night, Emma and the boys were gone. There was a note on the front door that read, "I did what I had to do." That's what Emma meant.

Regina called Snow, "are Emma and the boys with you?"

"No, why?"

"Look, if they are then that's fine. They're safer away from me. When you see Emma tell her that I'm doing what I have to do as well. Just like I did with the curse and the portal."

"Okay," Snow said confused. The two hung up.

"What did she say?" Emma asked her mother.

"That she's doing what she has to do the same way she did with the curse and portal. I don't know what she meant."

"I do," Emma said.

"What?"

Emma took a piece of paper and wrote down, "Cora is threatening me so Regina is being forced to help her."

Snow read the paper and wrote back, "well, then we have to stop her."

For the next few days, Emma and her parents only communicated in writing. They burned every note and kept the ash in a lockbox so that it couldn't be restored with magic. Emma sealed the box with blood magic so that Regina and Cora couldn't open it.

Emma and David hated having to fight Regina and Cora. The man knew why his daughter's girlfriend was doing this, but it didn't make things easier. Regina ended up using magic to choke Emma. When the mayor wasn't paying attention, Emma turned the tables and held a knife to Regina's throat. In the midst of the fight, Regina was thrown into Cora and over a counter. Emma and David both began to panic. They went back with Gold and sealed the doorway. Cora sent Regina to her vault to get her heart when she felt someone messing with it. Snow was the one in possession of Cora's heart. She lied to Regina about bringing it to her. After putting her mother's heart back, Cora collapsed and died in Regina's arms. She knew exactly who killed her mother...Snow White.

Regina took her mother's body to her crypt and then went to the hospital to make sure the baby was alright after that fight. Luckily the baby was fine and she went about getting revenge on Snow. When Regina stormed into the loft and saw the state Snow was in, she changed her mind. "I'm not going to hurt you," she said.

"Why not? I deserve it," Snow told Regina.

"I can tell how much this is eating you up and honestly I don't have the energy for revenge. I loved my mother but she wasn't a good person. She wasn't a good mother. I loved the idea of her finally accepting and loving me once she had her heart. I felt...feel cheated out of that, but who knows?"

"I'm so sorry," Snow cried.

Regina took her former stepdaughter into her arms, "I know and I forgive you."

Emma and David walked in, "everything alright, Snow?" David asked.

"Yeah, Regina forgave me."

David looked at the mayor a bit skeptical, "it's true, but I understand why you are hesitant to believe me."

Emma approached Snow and Regina. She looked at her girlfriend, "did you have a doctor take a look at you and the baby?"

"Yes, we're both fine."

"We're sorry about that," David said, "things got out of hand. We had no intention of you or the baby getting hurt. We didn't even want to hurt Cora. Our goal was to stop her."

"It's alright," Regina said. "I better get going. The doctor did tell me that I should rest."

"Are you alright if the boys and I come too?" Emma asked.

Regina smiled, "I'd love nothing more."