Emma could hear Henry and Regina downstairs, but couldn't bring herself to join them. She knew that once she entered the room Regina would insist on learning what memories she had gotten back this time, and she herself wasn't even ready to process what she knew.

Once again, she had interacted with Avery and still had done nothing. Emma could only assume that Avery had kept sending the doves several times throughout her kidnapping, which meant that Emma had known the status of her wellbeing. Had a dove shown up when Avery had died and she just didn't remember?

Emma jumped as Regina knocked on the doorframe of their room. "Way to give me a heart attack."

Regina laughed at Emma's dramatics before coming into the room and sitting on their bed. "You seemed like you weren't going to come upstairs, so I came to you."

Silence stretched between them as Regina waited for Emma to say something, while Emma was fighting with herself. She had a question that she wanted to ask, but she wasn't sure how Regina would even react to it. Would she bring up bad memories?

Eventually she just decided to give up and ask.

"How do you do it?"

Regina's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Do what?"

Emma's eyes shifted to the ground as she clarified. "Move on everyday and continue living knowing that you were responsible for someone's death."

"Did you remember something else that makes you think you're responsible again?" Regina asked. "Because I thought we had talked about the issue and decided that you weren't at fault for what happened to Avery."

Emma shook her head. "You decided, I just listened."

"I decided that because it's true," Regina said strongly. "You are not responsible for what that monster did to her."

"You didn't answer my question," Emma said, ignoring Regina's response and turning to look out the window. Silence continued to stretch between the two of them, and tension continued to rise as Emma waited for Regina to give her some sort of clue. Risking it, Emma glanced over her shoulder at Regina and immediately wished she hadn't.

Regina was looking down at the floor, her hair shielding her eyes. Emma knew that she did this when she was trying to hide her face, usually when she was crying and was trying to get her emotions under control. She had her hands clenched into fists, her nails digging into her palms, another technique to make her brain focus on something other than the thoughts in her head.

Emma's heart hurt seeing her in so much pain.

Moving slowly to give Regina time to stop her, Emma moved until she was directly in front of Regina and reached out, taking her hands one by one and uncurling her fingers before kissing her palms where her nails had left marks behind. She continued holding onto them as she sat on the floor at Regina's feet.

Regina watched her do this through blurry vision, wondering when their places had been switched. She had been coming in here to offer comfort, not the other way around. She swallowed past the lump in her throat, finally answering Emma's question with, "I don't know."

Emma looked up at her, concern and confusion written all over her face. "Don't know what?"

"How to move on, continue living," Regina replied, pulling her right hand out of Emma's to wipe the tear tracks off of her cheeks. "God, Emma I don't know."

Emma suddenly found it hard to breathe. "Regina-"

"I did unspeakable things to other people. Innocent people. And the difference between you and I, is that I did kill them. Crushed their hearts, burned their villages to the ground. I don't even know how many lost their lives because of me and my quest for revenge. So no, I don't know how I did it to be perfectly honest with you. There's still days where I wake up and wish that I was dead for what I did. I'd deserve it."

"No you don't," Emma said, her voice cracking. She reached up and gently wiped more tears off of Regina's cheeks, almost crying herself when Regina closed her eyes and leaned into the touch.

Before Emma could say anything else though, Regina had opened her eyes, cleared her throat, and slipped her mask back into place. "I'm sorry," she said, with a self-depreciating chuckle," we were talking about you and this case." She went to pull away from Emma to stand up, but found herself unable to with the force Emma was using to keep her on the bed.

Regina tried to pull her hand out of Emma's but Emma had her locked in an iron grip, a look of determination on her face. Regina felt her stomach drop at that look. She wasn't getting out of this one that easy. "Let it go," she pleaded.

"Not a chance."

"Emma please, I can't-"

"You can," Emma said gently, shifting so she was kneeling in front of Regina. Their eyes were level now, and Regina struggled as she felt her mask begin to slip.

"Stop it," she pleaded, breaking eye contact and looking away from Emma.

"You stop," Emma teased softly, before reaching out and grasping Regina's chin and gently bringing their eyes back together again. "We're a team, in case that wasn't clear by now. You hurt, I hurt. You're safe here, I promise. So let go."

Several seconds passed before Regina's face crumpled and she collapsed into Emma's arms. Emma held her tightly, running her hand up and down Regina's back and whispering soothing words in her ear as she clutched Emma and finally let go.

"Elsa would be upset," Emma said, hours later. They had both managed to get it together after their emotional afternoon, and had finally made their way downstairs to eat dinner with Henry before spending time together and sending him off to bed.

"What?" Regina asked.

Emma smiled at the pure confusion on her face. "Let it go. That's her thing."

Regina groaned before grabbing one of the pillows on their bed and throwing it at Emma, hitting her in the face. They both laughed, enjoying the brief moment of peace.

"We never did talk about earlier," Regina said, sobering up the mood. "About what you remembered."

The smile dropped from Emma's face. "Can we just-"

"Let it go?" Regina finished, smirking. "No, we cannot." She walked forward and wrapped her arms around Emma, their roles from earlier reversed. "I'm not going to force you to tell me, but just as I am safe with you, you are safe with me."

She felt Emma nod against her shoulder and breathed a sigh of relief that she was understood. They stood there like that, locked in an embrace, until Emma finally drew back from Regina and began to pace around the room. Regina let her, knowing it was what Emma needed right now.

"I've seen the doves before," Emma started. "I had one sent to me by Avery and honestly Regina, I'm terrified that she sent me one when she died and I just blacked that out too."

Regina bit her lip before carefully saying her next sentence. "We don't know enough about Avery's death to know the details about that."

Emma turned around to face her. "But?"

"But if we knew how long she was dead we could figure out whether she died and sent you something while you were in New York, or if she tried to send something here."

"So what do you suggest that we do, My Majesty?"

Regina rolled her eyes, but couldn't stop the smile that spread on her face. "I suggest, dear, that we take a little road trip to investigate Avery's side of this case further."

Emma looked distinctly uncomfortable at the idea, and like she would rather do anything else, but she nodded. "Let's do it. I owe this to her. Let's find this son of a bitch before he hurts anyone else."

I'm determined to finish this story now that life has calmed down a lot and I actually have free time to write! Also I just really missed writing and figured this was the project that needed completing. Bonus points to anyone who can find the reference in here to a Season 4 blooper.