With the chill in the evening air, Regina decided it was a perfect night to light a fire. She was curled up on the sofa with a book when she heard footsteps on the front path. She didn't need to look out the window – she'd recognize those footsteps anywhere. Her solitude was about to be interrupted by Emma and Henry.

The front door burst open, and Emma and Henry both came charging through the door. Regina liked to believe that she'd been responsible for most of Henry's character traits, but in some ways, he was very much Emma's son. They both entered a room like a stampeding elephant.

"I'm in here," she called, and Henry and Emma appeared in the doorway. "What are you doing here?" Regina asked.

"Mom wants to talk to you," Henry replied, "and I'm hungry."

Of course he was. Both Emma and Regina shook their heads.

Henry headed to the refrigerator, and Emma plopped herself on the couch next to Regina. "We need to talk," she said abruptly.

"What's wrong? Is it Lily?

"No, no, nothing like that. It's just…I had a phone call today."

Regina raised her eyebrows. "And?"

Emma sighed. "It was Robin. He needs us to get him out of New York. I told him I'd call him tomorrow to tell him what we're going to do."

Regina nodded. She should have known that Robin wouldn't sit idly by, waiting for them to get around to getting him away from Zelena.

"Come with me," she said, and led Emma back to her office.

Emma studied the papers in front of her, trying to make sense of Regina's hasty scribbles. "You want to give me the Cliffs Notes, here?"

Regina crossed her arms. "I've been trying to figure out how to get her back to Storybrooke. She won't come willingly."

Emma raised an eyebrow. "I'd think that's exactly what she'd want, to rub your face in it."

"She's not that stupid. She wouldn't want Robin within a mile of me."

Emma tried to play dumb. "Why not?" she asked casually.

Regina ignored the question, kicking herself for giving Emma an opening like that. She picked up the spell book sitting on her desk. "We can't have her fully conscious when she crosses the town line. I don't know if she still has that pendant, but she must have some magic to have been able to pull off what she did in the Enchanted Forest."

"Sleeping curse?" Emma asked.

"Too strong," Regina replied. "It would knock her out for good, but what about the baby? If something goes wrong with the pregnancy, it's not like we have her true love just sitting around waiting to kiss her and wake her up."

"Magic binding cuff?"

"That will only work once we cross the town line. We need to have it on her, but how do we keep her from ripping it off on the way? Hog tie her?" Actually, that idea had merit, but Regina didn't favor the thought of getting thrown in jail for having a woman tied up in the backseat on the off chance they got pulled over for speeding.

"So, we're back to the frying pan, then," Emma said.

"Don't get too excited. I'm sure there are other, less interesting potions to knock someone out. I just have to find one."

Emma frowned. "Once you find it, how are we going to give it to her? I can hardly see her sitting down for a cup of tea and a chat with baby sister."

"One problem at a time, Emma," Regina said, flipping through the pages of her mother's spell book. "Wait a second-" she said, leaning in closer to the text.

"What? What did you find?"

She handed the book to Emma. "Seriously, Regina? Elvish?" Emma snapped and pushed the book back to Regina.

"It's a potion to skip time." Regina's brow furrowed. "This might work."

"Skip time?"

Regina nodded. "It's sort of like hitting the fast forward button on a movie. My mother used to use it on my father whenever she was doing something she didn't want him to know about. He'd just…sit there quietly for several hours and when he came out of it, he had no idea that time had passed." Regina pushed the memory of her oblivious father out of her mind. "It's not a particularly strong or long-lasting potion, but it might buy us enough time."

"Let's do it, then. We can be back in New York tomorrow."

Regina hesitated. "Maybe you should be the one to go. Zelena might sense me coming." She kept her eyes firmly on the spell book, but she could feel Emma's eyes boring into the top of her head.

"Nice try, Madam Mayor."

Brown eyes met green. "What?" Regina asked, the picture of innocence.

"He wants to talk to you. And you want to talk to him, even if you won't admit it." Emma paused. "Look, I'm on your side, but I'm not going to help you hide from Robin. No matter what happens, you have to deal with him. Now is as good a time as any."

"I'm not-"

"Don't even try to tell me that you're not trying to avoid him. I know when you're lying, and you, sister, are lying. Now, what do we need to get this potion made?"

It was after 2am, and Regina couldn't sleep. She stood in the kitchen, staring at the small glass vial on the counter. After they'd finished the potion, Emma and Henry had gone straight from her vault to the loft, with Emma calling over her shoulder that she'd be back at 9am to head to New York. Regina had tried to protest, but it seemed that Emma was just as good as Henry at ignoring her when it suited her purposes. So, her overnight bag was packed and sitting by the door, and she was going back to New York in the morning, whether she wanted to or not.

Regina shifted her attention to her Blackberry. She scrolled through her text messages to find the one she wanted – she'd meant to delete the message from Robin, but she hadn't been able to force herself to do it. Before she could lose her nerve, she typed in a reply.

We'll be there tomorrow afternoon. Be ready.

Four hundred miles away, Robin's phone vibrated. He dug the phone out of his back pocket, looked at the screen and smiled.