Emma stormed through the front doors, five guards trailing her.
"We've got it," she announced, holding up the locket for the queen to see.
Regina instantly jumped up from the table, rushed over, and stared at the object, making sure it was the real one. Regina held out her hands. Emma slowly handed the item over, letting her touch linger just a little too long, distracting Regina from her task as she shivered.
"Thank you, Miss Swan," the queen said, sincerity flooding her eyes.
"Is this the prize you were looking for?"
Regina nodded, her eyes watering. Without thinking, she threw her arms around Emma and squeezed, holding her in the embrace. Emma reached up, her hands hovering behind Regina's back, but she didn't touch her. Instead, she waited for the moment to end. When it didn't, when she felt her chest tighten, she finally rested her hands against the woman's back, pressing their bodies just a little closer together.
"You're... You're welcome," Emma stammered.
"How can I repay you?" the queen asked, finally pulling away, her muscles tensing and her back straightening.
Emma marveled at just how regal she looked in the dress she was wearing - an elegant combination of a deep blood red and black. Before she could stop them, her eyes fell on the woman's breasts, the low cut of the fabric showing off her cleavage. Emma felt her mouth water, but shook off the wave of warmth that flooded her body.
"Let me see my son, Regina."
"I can't do that. But I can give you anything else that you want..."
Emma took a step forward, bravely challenging Regina with her body language, but Regina surprised her with a move she never would have expected. As Emma inhaled a breath and prepared to speak, Regina leaned in and just barely touched her lips to Emma's cheek.
"Thank you," she whispered, moving away slowly. When Emma didn't say anything, she continued with, "This means so much to me."
"Why did you kill him?"
"Because I'm selfish, and love is weakness," Regina admitted, her voice void of feeling and regret.
"If you didn't love him, you wouldn't have had me go search for this."
"I do love him, but that doesn't change that it's a weakness."
"Love is strength."
"Love is weakness," Regina retorted fiercely, but Emma didn't react.
"You're wrong."
Regina raised her hand and slapped the blond across the face. Emma flinched from the sudden pain, not because of fear or surprise. She had always expected Regina to abuse her. It had only been a matter of time.
"You're insolent. Do you know that?"
"Yes," Emma said defiantly.
"Ugh," the queen groaned. "You're pathetic."
Emma thought of the kiss on her cheek. Something so tender, and yet, all at once, the queen's next move was cold and painful. How could Regina change so much in just a few minutes? She was unpredictable, but Emma had never expected such a soft touch from the queen.
"Why are you doing this?"
"It's who I am, Miss Swan," she answered coldly. "It's who I am."
"It doesn't have to be."
"Don't make me hurt you," Regina warned.
"I'm not afraid of you," Emma told her. "Deep down, you just want to be loved, like anyone else."
The brunette scoffed and said, "You should be."
She grabbed Emma's arm in an iron grip until she bruised and dragged her towards the door to the hallway, throwing her in front of a few of her guards.
"Take her to the dungeons."
"What about our agreement?"
"I've simply changed my mind, dear."
"You bitch!" Emma screamed as she was dragged away.
The queen said nothing as the blonde was hauled away to the dungeons. She went up to her son's room and knocked on the door.
"Henry?" she called.
"Yeah, you can come in."
When she did, he was sitting on the floor playing with some of his toys.
"Make sure you clean up your mess when you're done, okay, sweetie?"
"Uh-huh."
He didn't look up.
"Henry?"
"Yeah."
"Do you hate me?"
"A little," he told her. "I miss Emma."
"I know," she said, nodding weakly.
She wanted to apologize, to take his anger away, to relieve his pain, but she knew she couldn't - not without giving him what he really wanted, which she refused to do.
"It's not my fault that she doesn't want you."
"That's a lie," he said simply, still refusing to raise his gaze from the toys he continued to half-heartedly play with.
"Come down for supper when you're ready, alright?"
"I don't feel like eating."
"Come downstairs anyway. I'd love your company."
"Do I have to?" he asked sadly.
"Yes."
Regina went downstairs for dinner and ate very little, pushing her plate away after a few short minutes. The turkey tasted bland and flavorless, as did the beans and potatoes. Her conflicted heart was too preoccupied with frustration to think about food. She rose from the table and left the large, elegant dining hall, and entered the candlelit hallway. She descended the dark staircase down to the dungeons, squeezing the locket tightly in her hands as she thought about the way her lips had touched the savior's cheek. When she reached Emma's cell, she found the woman on the floor doing push-ups, covered in dirt and straw.
"What are you doing?" the queen said, laughing.
"Passing the time," Emma replied, kneeling and facing the queen. "What do you care?"
"You can go."
"What are you playing at?"
"You can go," Regina repeated softly, looking down at the blonde.
"I'm not leaving without my son."
"I figured you'd say that. It's never going to happen. You're never going to see him."
"Regina, please," Emma sighed. "Don't you have any mercy? Anything?" She paused and continued after a moment of the queen's silence, "I know you feel something. I know there's room in your heart to feel some sympathy. You showed me gratitude today when you kissed me."
"I didn't kiss you," the queen retorted. "I simply pressed my lips to your cheek in an expression of thanks."
"You felt gratitude."
"Shut up, Swan. Take advantage of my offer. Just leave. I know you want to see your family again."
"I don't, actually. Not now, anyway. I love them, yes, but I can't let them control me anymore."
"Really?"
The queen's tone of surprise caught Emma off guard.
"Yes, really. I've no interest in seeing them."
"Where would you go if you did leave?"
"I'm not leaving without Henry," Emma said defiantly.
"Where would you take him?"
"Anywhere but here."
Pain showed in Regina's face.
"I can't lose him. He's the only one who loves me."
"Have you considered that maybe I care for you? When have I ever rejected you, even since before we left for Neverland?"
The queen paused and thought about this, unable to think of an example of a time Emma had actually turned against her after their initial disagreements over Henry. Since then, Emma had always seemed to be on her side. As she pondered this, she got lost in her thoughts, remembering the times that Emma had stood up for her, and almost forgot Emma was there.
"Regina?"
"Huh? Oh. Yes. Um, no. No, you haven't," she replied. "Wait... What?"
"I care for you, Regina Mills."
"You couldn't possibly," she scoffed. "No one does, and that's a cruel joke."
"Shut up," Emma said. "It's not a joke. Because I do."
