"I don't like this," Emma said for what was probably the 30th time that day.

Lily, who was looking out the hotel window waiting for the car that Regina was sending to pick her up, didn't bother to acknowledge Emma. It had been like this all day – Emma trying to talk her out of going on this little adventure with Regina.

"Your mother will hunt me down and kill me if anything happens to you because I let you do this," Emma continued.

"First of all, you aren't letting me do anything," Lily said, deciding it was time to end this debate. "It's my choice to do this. Secondly, I'm pretty sure if anything happens to me at Regina's hand, my mom will be hunting her down, not you."

"My point is that we don't know what Regina will do or is capable of," Emma said.

"And we didn't know what she was capable of when we came down here. Hell, we didn't even know if she was down here, but we came anyway," Lily responded. "We need to get this show on the road, and if this is the way Regina wants to play the game then we have to play the game her way for a little bit at least until we figure out what she is doing here."

Lily's phone beeped. "Car is a couple of minutes out, I better get down here," Lily said. "Just stay here and don't do anything stupid."

"Fine," Emma said.

"I know you don't like this," Lily said. "But trust me and trust that Regina isn't going to hurt me."

Lily exited the room, and Emma took her perch over by the window to watch. She would at least see what kind of car that Lily was going away in. She wanted to trust that Regina wasn't going to hurt Lily, but wasn't sure she was capable of it. Regina wasn't the same person she thought she knew back in Storybrooke.

It had taken a long time for her to get to a good place with Regina or so she thought they had gotten there. And then that damn letter that Regina had left for her.

A black sedan pulled up to the front of the hotel and Lily looked back up at the window at her before getting in. Emma pulled the curtain closed and hoped she could trust Regina.

…

Lily was more than a little surprised that Regina wasn't in the car when she got in. Instead, a man was sitting there who handed her a beer.

"We didn't know what your preferred beverage was," he said to her. "If you let us know, we can make sure you get what you want."

Lily wasn't sure what was going on, but she opened the beer bottle anyway and took a big drink. "I like lagers," she said, afterward. "for future reference."

"Noted," he said. "The queen wants you taken care of."

"The queen? You mean Regina?"

"I would stick with the queen, if I were you."

"Noted," Lily replied. "So what's your name."

"Daryl."

"Daryl. And what do you do for the queen?"

"Anything she asks of me, just as you will."

"Is that so?"

"Yes. You will find that the queen protects her own. You join her kingdom and you will fall under her protection."

"Shouldn't it be a queendom?"

Daryl smiled at her. "You and I are going to get along just fine Lily."

Lily smiled in return and took another drink while trying to figure out just what was going on. They drove a while, the city passing by the window until the shining lights of the metropolis began to dim. Lily hid her concern by drinking the rest of her beer. It was finished by the time the car pulled into what appeared to be an abandoned industrial complex of some sort on the outskirts of the city proper.

She exited the car at the same time as Daryl. "What are we doing here?"

"We are here to party," Daryl said.

Lily gave him a strange look even as she accepted his arm to accompany him. As soon as the door opened to admit them she could hear the booming music. "You weren't kidding about a party," she said as they entered to what appeared to be a rave.

"Do you want to dance?" he asked.

She nodded and allowed herself to be lead about to the dance floor.

….

Emma was flipping through the channels, trying to keep her mind off of whatever Lily was doing right now. There was a knock at the door and Emma turned off the television and then cautiously made her way to the door and peeked out of the peephole. Opening the door quickly, she found Regina standing there.

"Where is Lily?" she asked.

"Relax," Regina said as if she was disinterested in the question. "Lily is out enjoying herself. I thought I might stop by and chat with you for a bit before joining her. Do you mind if I come in?"

Emma moved out of the way to let her in. Maybe this would be her chance to get Regina to see reason and come home with them, she thought. Regina entered and glanced around the room. "You know if you want better accommodations while you are here, just say the word and I will arrange an upgrade."

"No thanks," Emma said. "Plus, we don't plan on staying long."

"Is that so? And why is that?"

"We need to get back home. You know, to home too."

Regina laughed. "I have a new home now," she said before making her way over to the bed and taking a seat. Emma couldn't help but think Regina made even a hotel room look a little more regal with her in it. Regina was wearing a dress, a red one that clung to her body, and was completely un-mayor-like compared to the clothes she used to wear.

"And did you choose this new home because you can do magic here?"

Regina smiled at her – an expression that looked more like the kind that she used to get from Regina when she first came to Storybrooke. "I had almost forgotten you had been getting better at magic," she said. "But yes, the magic is a bonus. Also, the climate agrees with me."

"It is certainly different than Maine weather," Emma said. "But I doubt you came here to chat about such things, so why did you come here?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing," Regina said. "What are you doing here Miss Swan? I told you, I'm not coming back, which means your continued presence here in my city must mean you believe you can convince me to return. Believe me, when I say, you aren't that charming."

"Is that so? Then why are you even bothering to talk to me now?"

"Because I'm that sure you aren't going to convince me to come back and I felt I should give you a reasonable amount of time to get out of my city. You are here now because I'm allowing it. You challenge me on that and you will find just how much magic I can use against you."

Emma crossed her arms, "You know I remember not that long ago when you also told me to get out of your town. It didn't work then, it's not going to work now."

Regina stood up and invaded her personal space rather quickly. "It was my mistake not to end you on sight all of those years ago. I won't make the same mistake twice."

"Really? And if you end me, what will you tell Henry?"

She saw a slight softening of the rigid features that Regina was displaying but that quickly disappeared. Regina moved around her to the door.

"You've been warned, Miss Swan."

"Wait," Emma said. "What are you doing here really?"

"I told you, I wanted to chat and make my position clear."

"No, I don't mean here in my hotel room, I mean here in Miami. Why are you here and what are you doing?"

Another smile graced her face. "That my dear is none of your business."

She walked out before Emma could say anything else. Emma took a seat on the couch even more confused as to what that was about.

….

Lily was on her third beer and still trying to figure out why she was even there. Daryl had chatted her up for a while but he had disappeared about 10 minutes ago to take a call he said. She finished off the beer, figuring this was a bust and probably some sort of weird practical joke on Regina's part.

"Don't tell me you are bored," came a voice behind her. She turned to find Regina standing there.

"Bored, no, just trying to figure out why you had me brought here."

"Oh I thought we might have a chat," Regina said.

"Kind of a noisy place for that," Lily said. The music was so loud they were both standing close to each other and practically yelling at each other in order to hear.

"Yes, it is," Regina smiled. "Come, why don't you do me the honor of a dance, and then we can talk business."

By the time Regina took her hand and pulled her out onto the dance floor Lily was wondering what the hell was going on.

….

This time when there was a knock at the door, Emma stepped aside as she opened it as she knew it was Lily. She had gotten a text from her to say she was on the way back and would come straight to her room. What she wasn't expecting was Lily to be so quiet as the other woman merely took a seat on the chair at the desk.

"What happened?" Emma asked when Lily kept silent.

"I'm not entirely sure," Lily replied. "It was all really, really strange." There was a long pause.

"I'm going to need you to elaborate."

"Well, I'm fairly certain that Regina is a criminal mastermind who is running pretty much every criminal organization in this town. How did she do it? I'm going to go out on a limb and say it was half and half taking people's hearts or straight up seducing them. I mean this guy Daryl, he is flat out in love with her. He would probably deny it if you asked him, but he looks at her like she is the sun in the sky," Lily said. "And Hector, he doesn't speak much and I think he might be someone who makes people disappear for a living, but I also think he would lay down his life in service of her majesty. That is the other thing. People here call her the Queen. Not Regina. Just the Queen or your majesty. I called her Regina and I thought this pipsqueak lackey of hers, whose name was either Simon or Carl, it was kind of loud so it's hard to say what it was, anyway, I thought he was going to pass out when I called her that. She just laughed it off and I swear if those guys didn't have hard-ons for her before that moment, they did when they heard that sound coming out of her mouth. And then there was the Queen herself. I don't know her well at all so when she asked me to dance I didn't know if she was leading my death or hitting on me."

"Wait, you and she danced?"

"Yes. It was weird. It wasn't a slow dance or anything and the Queen does have some moves let me tell you," Lily said. "And she said I remind her of my mom, which given that I had just finished dancing with her, I wasn't quite sure how to take that comment."

Emma took a seat on the bed. "Maybe you should start from the beginning and tell me everything."

Lily told her about the drive out to the abandoned industrial complex which was being used for some sort of rave and how when Regina did show up she asked Lily to dance and after several songs they retreated to what must have been an old foreman's office up above. It was decked out much like Regina's office above the club was – and whether it was magic or really good soundproofing, Lily could barely make out the music playing below.

"You should know that I went to see Miss Swan before coming here," Regina said as she took a seat on the couch and indicated that Lily should do the same. "Don't worry, she's fine. I only wanted to reiterate my position with her which is that I'm not returning to Storybrooke and my desire for her to leave soon. I have other matters to attend to and I don't need Miss Swan interfering because that is what she does, makes a nuisance of herself. But you Lily, you I've decided to extend an invitation to."

"Why me?"

"Now, now, Lily, don't tell me you have forgotten that I was there when Miss Swan went looking for you in the first place; that I know what Miss Swan's parents did to you and how you were separated from Mal for all those years. You are a special person to have survived on your own and a person who isn't afraid to get their hands dirty. I could use someone like you – someone who isn't going to make self-righteous moral judgments upon others," Regina said. "Offering you a job and a chance to get out of that town up north is the least I could do for all you have been through. Hell, I will even extend the invitation to your mother if you wish her to join you down here. I know Mal isn't interested in judging others."

"Alright, if this is a job offer, what exactly is the job?"

"I don't want to get too far into the specifics just yet," Regina said. "You see, I have a dilemma. I can't be everywhere at once despite what people may think. Ever since I consolidated operations here in Miami it is taking a lot more of my time to keep things running than I would like to devote to it. I need people I can trust to take some of this burden off my shoulders. I believe you could be such a person."

"What operations have you consolidated?"

"Don't do that," Regina said. "Don't pretend that you and Miss Swan haven't been researching what you can about what I'm doing here. Feigning ignorance doesn't suit you."

"Fair enough," Lily said. "But that doesn't mean that I know what you have going on here. I can tell you what I learned, which is that the authorities think your club is the epicenter of all sorts of criminal activity, yet they can't find a single shred of proof of that being the case. If I believed all the speculation the cops have then I would say you have your hands in a lot of things from drugs to gun running. You are a mastermind if I were to believe all of that, yet, no one outside of those around you seem to know who you are and even these people you surround yourself with don't know who you are. My point is that the authorities don't have a single clue as to your existence. That club, which you control, isn't in your name, and on paper, you probably don't exist at all out here in the real world. Now how close did I get?"

Regina clapped her hands a few times as she smiled at her. "You are so close," she said. "For all intents and purposes, I run this town. Very little of importance happens without me knowing about it, and if I disapprove of it, it's taken care of rather quickly."

"So, you admit you are running drugs and guns through the city?"

"Me, personally no. The people who were doing it before I arrived here are still doing it. You could say that I'm managing the situation however and reaping rewards from it. You see before I got here, there were all these petty arguments between rival gangs, drug dealers who were in constant competition and wasting resources on a game of one-upmanship. I came in and organized it. Now everyone concentrates on the business and not on the stupid distractions."

"Then you are some sort of kingpin type figure," Lily said.

"Simplistic but not entirely inaccurate. Are you interested?"

"Perhaps," Lily said. "But before I agree to anything, I'm going to need some specifics."

"That can be arranged."

Lily then told Emma how she was going to be picked up again the next day by Daryl during the day so he could show her around a bit.

"And what is Regina going to be going while he is taking you around on tour?" Emma asked.

"Don't know. She didn't say and I didn't ask. I thought the best play right now was to go along with this little charade until we get some more information on what she is doing here."

"I don't know that we have a lot of time for you to play undercover," Emma said.

"Do you have a better suggestion?"

"If she isn't willing to come back on her own, maybe we will have to force the issue."

"You mean kidnap her."

"We can't not bring her back with us."

"I get that," Lily said. "Which is why I'm going to again suggest that we just be honest with her. What is so wrong with telling her that the town that she built from her magic is under siege and crumbling? I know you think she won't care, and she may not, but don't you think she should at least have all the information so she can make an informed decision? My mom and Zelena can only do so much with their magic."

"Fine," Emma said. "But I want to be the one to tell her. Do you think you can get Daryl to arrange a meeting with her?"

Lily sighed. "I don't think that is a good idea."

"Why not?"

"One of the conditions for me taking this job, whatever it is exactly, is that my first official task is to ensure you leave the city and don't come back," Lily said. "She doesn't like you."

"She has good reason not to like me," Emma said. "I destroyed her happiness."

"Robin's death wasn't your fault."

"Wasn't it?" Emma said. "I'm the one who drug my family and Regina to the Underworld to get Killian back. I did that. No one else. I even took my son there. What was I thinking? And now this. If Storybrooke falls it will be my fault and you can say it's not all you want, but we both know that if I hadn't gone to the Underworld none of this would be happening now."

"There was no way you could have known."

Emma thought once more about the letter she kept with her. She may have not known exactly what was going to happen, but Regina had warned her and she ignored that warning and now everyone was going to pay the price if she couldn't find a way to get Regina back to Storybrooke.

"Look, just ask Daryl to arrange the meeting. Tell him that if Regina agrees to meet me one-on-one and hear me out that I will leave town afterward if that is what she still wants."

"In other words, you want me to lie to him because we both know you aren't going to leave town."

"Oh, I will leave town," Emma said. "But she is coming with me one way or another."