Regina had gotten used to the steady stream of unwanted visitors in her office, but the person sitting in her chair when she arrived was the last person she'd expected to see.

"Gold. What are you doing in my office?"

"I came to talk to you, dearie."

"I'm not in the mood," she snapped. "Get out."

He held up his hands. "I'm here to make amends. And to help you."

Regina scoffed. Help her? Gold only wanted to help her when it helped him in return. "I've had enough help from you to last a lifetime. Whatever it is you want, get it somewhere else."

His eyes grew colder. "You owe me, Regina. After what you did to Belle-"

"After what I did to Belle?" she interrupted. "First of all, she's fine. Secondly, she agreed to help me. And third, the only person who's done any real damage to Belle recently is you."

He was silent for a moment, considering. "I know I've hurt her," he said finally, "and I want to make it right. Just as you want to make things right for your thief. That's why I'm here."

She didn't respond, just crossed her arms over her chest and cocked an eyebrow at him. Waiting for him to get to the point.

"The author," he said. "He can help us both get our happy endings."

She gritted her teeth. "You don't care about my happy ending. What do you want, Gold?"

He tapped his fingers idly on her desk. "Magic always comes with a price, dearie. And I can't pay the price for this particular magic. Someone else will have to."

Emma. "I already told you, I won't let you turn Emma into a monster."

He smiled, and Regina knew what was coming – he always had a carrot to dangle in front of her, a way to find her weak spot and force her to knuckle under to his demands. "Not even if it means rescuing Robin from your sister? From making that baby just," he waved his hands, "disappear?"

Regina studied Gold, feeling like she was truly seeing him for the first time. She had always been in awe of his power, and more than a little afraid of him, but this time…this time she was just done with him. Done with the little games and the riddles and the power struggles. Done with the shifting balances of power that always managed to leave her the loser. She finally realized that the only way to win was not to play at all.

"No."

At that response, she saw something else in him that she'd never seen before – a flicker of fear across his face. "I need that happy ending. I won't survive without it."

She laughed. "So, that's what this is about. You need to save your own skin, and you're trying to manipulate me into helping you do it. Well, guess what? You could have called me from New York and told me that Zelena had Robin, and I would have moved heaven and Earth to help you, but you didn't. You had to assemble your little bad girl posse and come in here trying to ruin everything I've worked to build. Well, it didn't work, and now you get to learn the lesson that's been crammed down my throat for the last three years. You made your choice – you deal with the consequences."

"I need your help, Regina," he said quietly. He was more humbled than she'd ever seen him, but she wasn't about to fall into that trap.

"No," she said. "You need me to do your dirty work for you. And I'm not going to do it this time."

"Holding a grudge, are we? That's not very heroic."

She shrugged. "I said I was a hero. I never said I was a saint."

The old Rumpelstitskin gleamed in his eyes. "You are who I made you, and who you will always be."

She closed the distance between the two of them, leaning down so that inches separated their faces. "I am who I made me, and I have work to do. Now get out of my chair and out of my office."

He stood slowly. "You'll regret this, dearie," he said evenly.

"Well, add it to the list." She sat in her chair and opened her day planner. "I've got things to do."

Regina was studying the city budget when Emma, Snow and David arrived. Utility repairs were needed, due to a clumsy, low-flying dragon named Lily taking out several power lines on the outskirts of town. She missed the days before the curse was broken when all she had to worry about were potholes and the occasional drunk and disorderly dwarf.

"We got your call," Emma said. "What's up?" She handed Regina a coffee from Granny's, apparently still unable to enter the mayor's office empty-handed. Regina was grateful for the caffeine, and for the consideration.

"Gold stopped by. Wanted to enlist my help in making sure our Savior went to the dark side." Three faces stared back at her, mouths agape. Regina could definitely see the family resemblance.

"What did you tell him?" Snow asked.

"I told him no," Regina said, a little bit miffed that Snow even had to ask. "Told him he could wallow in his own mess for a change."

"I bet that went over well," Emma muttered.

"Like a ton of bricks." Regina smiled smugly. "He did say something interesting, though. He said that if he doesn't get his happy ending, he won't survive."

"What does that mean?" David asked.

"It means he's getting desperate," Snow answered. "We need to find the author."

"We need to do more than that," Regina said. "We need to figure out why it's so important that Emma turns to darkness. The author can change the story. Why should it matter what Emma does?"

"I don't know, but I know someone who probably does." Emma said. "I'm calling August."

Regina sighed. Great, she thought. A new outfielder for the Charming softball team.

August arrived within the hour, looking none the worse for wear from his encounter with the queens of darkness. He hugged Emma, and then threw a piercing look at Regina that left her a little bit unsettled. She shook it off and asked him before he even had a chance to sit down about the author.

"I don't know much about the author," August said. "I only know that he was imprisoned in the book for changing the story."

"Well, why does it matter what I do? Gold has the author, so why can't he just rewrite the ending?" Emma asked.

August smiled. "The author was only supposed to record the stories. He was never supposed to change them. When he did, he lost his chance at writing that book."

Regina shrugged. "So?"

"So the only way he can write a new book is if something changes. If what's already written somehow becomes untrue. Like, for example, if the Savior tries to destroy the heroes."

Regina sat back in her chair. So that was the plan.

"Well, then we're fine," David said. "Emma isn't going to turn dark, so there's no opening for the author."

Snow patted his arm gently. "Sweetie, it won't be that simple. Gold won't let a technicality stop him."

"We still need to get to the author, then," Emma said. "Get him out of Gold's clutches before he comes up with a plan B. Regina?"

Regina looked up, finding four expectant faces turned toward her. "What?" she asked.

"We need your help. How do we play this?" Emma asked.

Regina sighed. She really wasn't in the mood to be the mastermind for this particular operation, but she didn't have much of a choice. These people were counting on her, and she found she couldn't let herself let them down.

"I have a few ideas," she said, and then launched into the plans she'd been roughly sketching out in her mind.