"REGINA!" Emma shouts as she bangs on the door, "open up!"
After a minute or so the door swings open, and Emma only just manages to stop the momentum of her fist as she had prepared to bang on the door again.
"Miss Swan! What the hell do you think you are doing?!" exclaims Regina, as Emma just pushes past her, jogs up the stairs, and straight into the kitchen, as if she owns the place.
Regina, baffled and more than a little angry, closes the door and follows her into the kitchen, where she finds Emma pulling out her hidden bottle of whisky from the top cupboard and 2 glasses.
"Where's Emma?" Asks Emma, causing Regina to pull up in shock.
"What?! What do you mean, 'where's Emma'? You're right here! Have you hit your head?"
"We're both gonna need a drink for this conversation," Emma tells her, pouring them both a rather generous measure of the amber liquid, and then pushing a glass towards the other woman.
"How did you know where my whisky was kept? Have you been in my house, while I'm not here? I told you I didn't want you to spend time with Henry without my prior knowledge," she admonishes the younger woman.
"I know a lot of things, Regina, but that's not the important thing right now. I need your help."
"Why the hell would I help you, Miss Swan? You wouldn't need help if you had done as I asked and just left town. Henry would be better off without your influence in his life."
"Oh. Right. You still hate me. Well that's going to make this fun," she says to herself, before turning to Regina, "Ikindoffellintoaportal!"
"What?! I don't understand what you just said?"
"A portal. I fell into a time portal, your sister's actually and here I am, with you… Fighting. .Again." Emma says dejectedly, before sitting on the stool at the counter and dropping her head into her hands.
"Miss Swan! Are you feeling ok? You're not making any sense. I don't have a sister, for a start and that's not the only thing wrong with what you have just said. Surely you can't tell me you believe in time travel?" Regina asks.
Secretly, behind a well hidden mask, she feels a sliver of ice cold fear, creeping through her chest, as she wonders just what it is that Emma is implying. She had heard rumours of time portals when in the Enchanted Forest, but surely, surely Emma can't be telling the truth. That would mean her curse had been broken and magic had been brought to Storybrooke. That's not even possible, her plan was fool-proof. The saviour was sent to this world as a baby, and would have no knowledge of the curse.
"I'm fine, Regina. I don't believe in time travel, or at least I didn't believe in time travel, I really didn't. I always wanted a hover board though, Marty McFly was so cool" she remarks wistfully, before adding, "Sorry, off topic."
"You have 30 seconds to explain yourself, Miss Swan, before I call Sheriff Humbert and have you removed."
"Grahams still alive?" she asks Regina, with excitement in her voice.
"Of course he is. You're not making any sense, Emma," Regina says, in a frustrated tone, dropping her guard for just a moment.
Emma looks slightly panicked at this, "shit," she mutters under her breath.
"I hope you don't use that language in front of my son, Miss Swan? He doesn't need to grow up talking like a jailbird."
"Our son, Regina. He's been ours for a long time, and nice, throwing that back in my face. You know why I was in jail."
"You've never told me actually. I only know what Sydney found out, about your time in prison."
"Illegally," mutters Emma.
Emma refills their glasses, looking as distressed as she feels. "This is all so messed up," she laments.
"You burst into my house, help yourself to my best whisky, start rambling nonsense and don't even have the courtesy to explain yourself. Please just talk to me. Tell me what's going on, because honestly, I'm worried about you," she says, before quickly catching herself and adding, "for Henry's sake, of course."
"Of course," agrees Emma.
Emma sits quietly, looking deep in thought and Regina can tell she is not about to like what comes out of Emma's mouth.
"The thing is, Regina, you're my friend. Maybe not now, but in a couple of years time you will be. So I need you to just try to imagine that, and listen to me now, without interrupting, as if you are my friend, ok?" she asks her, urgently and with visible stress on her face.
Feeling more confused than ever, but seeing Emma's distress, she agrees.
"I can't imagine a single realm in which I would ever choose to be friends with someone like you Miss Swan, but I will try. If nothing else, I would like some answers."
"See?! That! Right there! That's as good a place to start as any. Realms! When I fell into the portal, I was expecting to land in the Enchanted Forest, in the past, but instead, I'm here. I can't work out why.
Emma looks over to Regina and can see absolute fear in her eyes, and her face has literally gone as white as a ghost. She momentarily wonders if those are real too, before mentally shaking herself and getting back on track.
"Regina, it's ok. Please don't panic," she says softly, "Where I'm from, or should I say when? Then… When… The curse broke a long time ago and everything is better now. Henry loves you, your family loves you. You're going to be ok." She tries to reassure her, reaching out to grasp her hand across the counter. To her surprise, Regina doesn't pull away and allows herself the small amount of comfort that is being offered.
Regina is silent, but her mind is a whirlwind of turbulent thoughts as she tries to figure out how the hell this could have happened.
"Come with me," is all she says, before picking up both her glass and the bottle, and leading them into the living room. She unceremoniously plonks herself down on a sofa, in a manner that reminds Emma so much of Henry, and not at all of the usual grace and poise Regina is known for conducting herself with. She pours herself another drink, before pushing the bottle across the coffee table to Emma who has settled on the opposite sofa.
"I think you'd better start at the beginning, Miss Swan," she drawls.