A/N: Sorry this took a little while - it's a busy time of year for art commissions and requests at the moment, and I had one of my favourite people (who I actually met on AO3!) come to stay for a few days, so that was nice! :). I'm planning to get back to quite quick updates with this now as I would still like to complete it before Christmas (I know I said that last Christmas too... Awkward!) and looking at my schedule at present, that should be doable :). This is a bit of a short one as it had been a little while and I needed to create a lead into the next chapter which will be ACTUAL PLOT! WOOO! I hope you like it, and reviews would be lovely :)


Looking up from the vial she works on, Regina lays it carefully on its velvet pouch in order to answer the door.

"How did it go?"

She asks Emma as she leads her back into the kitchen; the blonde's reply muffled as half of her face remains wrapped in thick folds of wool.

"Cold."

"Really? Granny's rarely miserly with the heating. Are you coming down with something?"

"We didn't go to Granny's, we went to the beach."

"The beach!? Well... I'm afraid I have very little sympathy in that case. For you, that is. Poor Henry."

"He enjoyed it."

"Of course he did."

"What does that mean? Why the tone?"

"It means you could offer to take that boy to go and play with plastic bags in a junkyard and he'd still jump eagerly at the chance provided it was your suggestion."

Regina sighs, pointing to the coffee being kept warm in the machine as she reclaims her seat at the kitchen table.

"But it went alright?"

She probes for a more informative answer, and Emma nods as she fills up a mug and takes it over to the corner to stand with her backside pressed against the radiator.

"Yeah. Honestly, he was more just set on telling me how great you and your car are."

The blonde removes her scarf in order to sip at her drink, rolling her eyes.

"Nothing you don't already know."

Regina muses, meeting the younger woman's unimpressed glower with a shrug.

"He asked if I was coming over later. He implied doing so would make it a date."

Emma confides in a purposefully bland tone, watching the Mayor carefully for her reaction, but the darker woman simply looks back down at the vial on the table.

"Well? Are you coming over later?"

"Um. Yeah. Sure."

"Fine."

"Fine... What are you doing?"

The blonde pads over to the table to take a closer look at the vial; keen to change the subject as she can feel her chest tightening uncomfortably.

"I'm waiting for the contents to reach the right temperature."

Regina replies, picking up the vial and holding it gently between her hands as the Sheriff takes a seat across from her.

"The right temperature for what?"

Emma asks, her brow furrowing when rather than answering her, the brunette raises the vial to her lips.

"...Should you really be drinking that?"

She asks dubiously, wrinkling her nose at the rather viscous liquid contained within the glass, and Regina stills in order to offer the younger woman a withering look, pointing out silkily

"I shouldn't think so, no, given that the blend includes a fair helping of foxglove and some dried hemlock pollen... Or perhaps my unpleasant death is what you were going for?"

"No, but I'm not the one putting deadly plants so close to my mouth, so I don't think your expression is warranted."

"I know what I'm doing, dear."

"Okay. Care to share with the rest of the class?"

"The toxins are just part of the recipe, they're not for consumption nor malice in this case. They merely help to stabilise the rest of the ingredients."

"Ingredients for what?"

"This."

Regina replies cryptically, once more raising the vial to her lips and closing her eyes.

"... Did you just spit in that?"

Emma frowns, watching as a silvery substance escapes the darker woman's mouth to turn the contents of the vial a dark green.

"No!"

The Queen hisses, pulling a face at the very notion, before corking her strange concoction and slipping it back inside its velvet pouch.

"No, I purged a memory. Hyde's memory. What he saw - what I saw - when forcing him to picture a mirror back in his land. I doubt he means to play along when asked to cooperate later, but with this, he won't have a choice."

"But if it's poison, then..."

"Fear not. The mixture is to be used on the mirror, not the man. If I douse the glass, it works the same way as it would if Hyde were to conjure the image himself. Better, perhaps, as he lacks magic."

"Oh... That's actually kind of neat."

"It is. Magic comes with a price, but it's also fascinating. Perhaps if you were to desist being so averse to learning and clinging onto your tiresome insistence to act as though you've been lumbered with a curse devoid of any beauty, you might find yourself surprised."

Regina baits her companion, and Emma sighs as she leans back in her chair and points out

"I find myself surprised on a daily basis hanging around with you, Madame Mayor... And I did alright going up against you, I think. I'd say I got pretty creative!"

"You did, that's my point. Think how much potential you're wasting merely coasting by."

"Are you offering to teach me?"

"Perhaps. Although it hardly seems fair."

"How do you mean?"

"Well, I had to suffer through lessons with Rumplestiltskin, who, while knowledgable, was also infuriating and somewhat unappealing..."

"Ah, whereas you're just infuriating?"

"It takes one to know one, and I'm a lot more besides."

The brunette smirks, watching as Emma looks away with a telling nip of her lip. Revelling in the clear truth of the matter for a moment longer, finally, she sighs and continues in a less sultry tone.

"Actually, now might well be the time for a lesson. A discussion, at least."

"Okay?"

"We have a method to force the location offered by the portal as recently discussed, but to create it in the first place requires blood. Magic blood."

"Oh. Well, I guess it's my turn. That's fine."

The blonde shrugs, and Regina shakes her head, reminding the younger woman firmly

"It's not merely a question of pain, Saviour, but one of power. When I went through the mirror to rescue you-"

"-Help me. Don't use the R-word."

"When I went through to help you, I played by the rules. I brought us back in time and thus sealed the portal behind me, relinquishing its hold over me... That's not an option this time. It must be the blood of one with magic used to open the gate between realms, but none of us with magic plan to follow. We plan to break the seal as soon as Hyde crosses over... We plan to fail on purpose, but to do so, a price must be paid."

"Right."

Emma sighs, studying the coffee grounds peppering the bottom of her mug. Hitching her shoulders as she turns her attention to the bare branches of the apple tree outside, she reasons pensively

"Well, like you just said, I'm not exactly a pro at a lot of this stuff either way. Hell, a couple of years ago I didn't even have magic, so it seems only fair that-"

"-I think I should pay it."

Regina interrupts, nodding when the blonde frowns at her uneasily.

"You?"

"Indeed. Call it a contingency plan... The Evil Queen placed in proverbial shackles after all."

"We agreed that wasn't necessary... That you could handle it, and I you."

"We did, and I believe in our abilities whole-heartedly, if you will pardon the pun, else I wouldn't have agreed to do what I did... But it doesn't hurt to add an extra level of security."

"What if it does, though? How serious is the cost? How much magic remains in play if we cheat the system?"

"I don't know."

"Well, then-"

"-I don't know, and neither do you. We're going to have to take a risk and find out."

"But, then I should take it. You know more than I do about all of this stuff. You shouldn't dampen that."

"My dear, even if I were to lose my magic altogether, I would still know more than you... It can be tiring, you know?"

"Being so knowledgeable?"

Emma scoffs, and Regina nods seriously.

"Yes. I have spent the latter part of our relationship trying to help you and your family- recent events aside- and doing so can be tiring. Having to offer my hand in aid, in punishment, in spite, in jest... It's tiring. Of course, I say this speaking mostly as the Mayor as I am somewhat torn over our current dilemma, as would be expected. A part of me has always lusted for power, and that part remains. The rest is a little done-in, to put it bluntly, dear. I'm tired of always playing the final hand. Of others expecting that from me, whether they do so filled with hope or filled with fear. You said it yourself while cuffed to your bed, Miss Swan; you always beat me. Ever since you came to town. Ever since you discovered your powers, you've sparred with me and it's been nothing short of a blood sport. It's dangerous, and I'm not going easy on you when I play my turn. I'm scrapping in the proverbial dust with you every time because you match me... You're not more powerful than I am, not quite, but there's very little in it, and I've been practising for a great many years. I can teach you anything you need to know should the drain on my power prove significant, and I trust you to step up and do what must be done should this town need you. You've never failed them before."

"Not true... My darkness-"

"-Is part of your power. And, incidentally, you've played against a part of me that was pure evil - pure ego - and barely lived to tell the tale. Imagine if you'd let that threat beneath the surface taste the ominous force of the dagger... The others might not see it, but I do. You helped them as well as myself in choosing the path you took that night, dear, and if needs must, you will help them again... Between you and I, though, I'm hoping this conversation proves pointless. We're sending Hyde home in a bid to free ourselves of the burden of yet more misery and possible danger. Off the top of my head, I would say that I've faced most of the demons from my past. If I'm mistaken, you'll help me, I have no doubt, but maybe this time we can draw a line once and for all under the drama that so frequently rears its ugly head... Maybe I won't need to rely on magic, but rather just enjoy it."

"Maybe, but all of that would be true if reversed, also. You're not the Dark One, I am, and you don't need a drain on your energy, or magic shackles or whatever to pay penance for who you used to be. Magic is part of you, it matters to you."

Emma points out, her expression grave, and Regina surprises her as she affects a small smile in response.

"It does, you're right. It matters to me. But I tried to do something, and it backfired tremendously... I don't see choosing to bleed for the cause as penance in this instance though, Saviour. I see it as another means to do what I wanted to do. I wanted to be happy and perceived as good... Now, your opinion of me matters to me a great deal, and it pains me terribly to admit that it pretty much always has. Similarly, I appreciate that your parents and those closest to me see me in a positive light these days. It's my opinion that matters most, however. I wanted to do something profound, and in a strange way, choosing to make this small sacrifice soothes the sting of my failure somewhat."

"But you didn't fail. You were likely deceived, or suffered a stroke of terrible luck at the very least... And what if it isn't a small sacrifice? What if it's more than that?"

The blonde argues uneasily, drumming her fingers on the table as she comes to the conclusion that Regina has already made up her mind, and that they toe a thin line between discussion and argument.

So, she's stubborn. That makes two of us...

"Mal really didn't make it sound as though it would be more than a minor inconvenience."

"Oh, because she's so trustworthy?"

"Hardly... But, it wouldn't have benefitted her to lead me on. She's indifferent towards you, and she likes me. She's one of my oldest friends in spite of everything. She needn't have shared her knowledge at all if she were wishing to lead me astray, thus I consider her mention of the price to be paid as one of courtesy, not wishful thinking. Don't forget, her instructions at the time were for your benefit. Any trickery would have seen her fall foul not just of myself, but of Lily, too... I truly believe the toll will be minimal, Emma."

"You say that like you've made up your mind..."

"I have, and I've done so for my own benefit, not yours, just so we're clear."

Regina shrugs, meeting the blonde's stare intently; daring her to bite back. In the end, Emma simply rolls her eyes and teases grumpily

"Fine... Well, now I feel much less special."

"Because you're not the hero?"

"Oh, please, that's a bit of a jump from 'mildly inconvenienced', Your Majesty."

"I-"

"-No, I'd just felt all warm and fuzzy inside when you admitted to bleeding for me. Now, you're telling me you'd do it for just any old person to help save face."

"... Thin ice, dear."

"Yeah?"

"Very... But don't worry. I'll show you some of the things I'm willing to do just for you once we've dealt with less pleasant matters."

"Oh, really?"

"Of course. We have a date later. You insisted."

The Mayor smirks, flashing her teeth when the younger woman shakes her head in irritable despair.

"Come on. Let's get this over with."

She sighs, pushing herself up from her chair and pocketing the velvet pouch containing the vial.

"Fine. Hold on."

"What are you doing?"

She raises a brow, watching as Emma fiddles with her phone.

"Suggesting to Henry that my parents would probably appreciate some help with Neal tonight..."

"It's a school night!"

"It is. Do you want me to delete it?"

"... Just remind him he needs to do his homework before delving into the box of terrible movies you left over there."