Sorry for not posting yesterday, I forgot that I had to work!

It had started off as a car chase, and finally Emma managed to cut Lily off. Emma was quick to get out of the car, and Lily got out of hers. Seeing her begin to walk away, Emma ran and grabbed her as Regina got out of the car.

"Hey! Hey!" Emma shouted, blocking Lily's path. "No. You know everything. Did you know when we were kids?"

"Of course not," Lily said.

"Now?" Emma asked.

"Yeah," Lily said. "I learned it all."

Emma's eyes widened. "How?"

"Does it really matter?" Lily countered. "It doesn't change anything. You screwed me over before we were even born."

"I had no more say in what happened than you did," Emma protested.

"But your parents did," Lily said. "And the minute I get to Storybrooke-"

"You lay a hand on them and I'll end you!" Emma shouted, shoving Lily to the ground.

"Emma, stop!" Regina called. She had chosen to stay back by the car, not wanting to get involved with the tension between Emma and Lily.

"Yeah?" Lily asked. "And how are you going to do that without your magic, Savior?" She got to her feet and punched Emma in the face.

The headlights on the bug exploded, and a storm started brewing above them. Regina looked up at the sky in concern.

Emma turned back to Lily and wiped the blood from the edge of her mouth. She didn't even notice the storm that had suddenly appeared.

"Your parents are monsters, Emma," Lily said. "They banished me and threw you in a wardrobe. And now here you are, ready to die for them because you're so perfect. The Savior. Well they deserve to be punished. And there's only one way to stop them and you know it."

She reached out to push Emma, but Emma grabbed her arms. Emma spun them in a circle before throwing Lily to the ground and pulled out her gun, ready to shoot.

Lily huffed out a laugh from her knees. "Of course it ends this way. It just makes too much sense."

"I'm just trying to stop you from doing something you'll regret," Emma said, her face showing no emotion.

"You can't," Lily said. "Thanks to you, I'm hardwired for bad decisions. So come on, just put me out of my misery. You know the truth. We both know my life isn't worth saving. And if you let me go, I will destroy everything. It's what I do. So come on, be the hero, and end this right here before it even starts."

Emma stared at her, gun unmoving. While Lily had been saying all of this, Regina had slowly begun to walk forward, her hands at her side slightly faced up to show that she wasn't a threat to Emma.

Lilly threw her arms out to the side, exposing herself completely to the gun. "Come on Emma."

Emma shifted her grip on the gun. "Swan," Regina said. "Put the gun down."

She kept walking closer, and Emma's arms dropped slightly. But her aim was still at Lily's heart. "If you pull that trigger, you will be the one who ruins your life this time," Regina said. "And Henry's, and your parents', and everyone else's."

"I have to protect them," Emma whispered.

"Then lower the gun," Regina said strongly. "Your parents need a hero, not a murderer."

"I'm already a murderer," Emma countered.

"Cruella was an accident," Regina said. "But if you cross this line, the journey back isn't easy. Trust me, I know. This is what Gold wants you to do, so don't."

Emma kept her gun in place, staring at Lily. Lily stared right back, waiting for death like it would be a gift.

"Emma," Regina said. "You're better than this."

Several more beats passed. Finally, Emma put down the gun, causing Regina to sigh in relief. Emma wasn't going to be a murderer today.

Regina sighed as she thought of how complicated things were. Her sister was now in town pregnant with Robin's child, and Robin was back in town and wanted to be with Regina.

Only problem? Regina had found a way to move on. And it was Emma Swan.

Their road trip together had proved it to her, and had made her realize that it had been a long time coming. Being with Robin had just been her way of combating Emma with Hook.

Stopping Emma from killing Lily earlier that day hadn't been out of anything but her love for Emma. She knew what it was like to kill for the first time, and how every time after that was more and more satisfying. She didn't want Emma to go down that slippery slope.

Regina ran her fingers through her hair and groaned. Of course things were complicated. That's just how it worked for her.

Just as Regina was about to go to the living room and pour herself some kind of alcohol, the doorbell rang. She sighed and went over to open it, looking in surprise at who was on the other side.

"Hi," Emma said. "I know that this is unexpected."

"Very much so," Regina said. She stepped to the side to grant Emma access into the house, which Emma took with a smile.

Regina closed the door behind Emma before walking to the living room, Emma closely behind her. She realized with a start that it almost seemed comfortable, as if Emma was meant to visit more often. Or stay.

"Are you okay?" Emma asked. "You look like you're spacing out, and you almost just ran into the couch."

Regina chuckled before sitting down. "Sorry. I was distracted there for a moment."

Emma just smiled and sat down. "So, I'm guessing you're wondering why I'm here instead of protecting my parents."

"It crossed my mind," Regina said.

"I just wanted to thank you," Emma said. "For stopping me today, I mean. If you hadn't been there, I most likely would have killed Lily. Which we both know wouldn't have been good at all."

"Why did you stop?" Regina asked. "Most of the time, people don't stop when they're determined to kill someone."

"Speaking from experience?" Emma teased.

Regina rolled her eyes. "Answer the question."

Emma sighed. "I stopped because you were right. I didn't want to ruin my life, or anyone else's."

Regina looked at her curiously. There was still something that she was hiding; Regina could see it in her eyes. "What's going on?"

"What do you mean?" Emma asked. "I'm fine. I just wanted to come thank you for keeping me from doing something that I knew I would regret."

"That's not what I meant," Regina said. "There's another reason why you stopped today. What is it?"

Emma sighed. "I knew that if I killed Lily in front of you, you would never look at me the same way again. Plus I'm sure the town would have found some way to blame you for it."

"I would never have judged you for killing her," Regina said. "It's not like I haven't killed people before."

"But this was different," Emma said. "If I had killed Lily, I would have been ignoring your advice. You know what it's like to go down the path of darkness and fight for your way back. If I had ignored you, I knew that there was a good chance you would have never talked to me again because I had ignored you and killed someone."

"And that worried you?" Regina asked in surprise. She hadn't realized that her opinion meant so much to Emma.

"A lot," Emma admitted. "I didn't want to lose you over something stupid that I would have done. So I didn't pull the trigger."

Regina reached out and placed her hand over Emma's. "Do you know why I stopped you?"

"Why?" Emma asked, her gaze still stuck on Regina's hand over her own.

"Because I care about you too much to let you give into the darkness," Regina said. "Sometimes it is the easier way out, and it takes a true hero to reject that."

Emma turned her hand over and intertwined her fingers with Regina's. "I'm glad that I didn't pull the trigger today."

Regina smiled at the feeling of Emma's hand in her own. It felt right. "So am I."