Mother Superior glowered at her from across the table, hands folded tightly on her lap. Regina returned the glare with equal fervor. If the sewing machine situated between them were capable of conscious thought, it would be trembling in fear.

After Emma had left, Regina took her time to prepare for the day. She painted her face with dark eyeliner and blood red lips, a little more Evil Queen than Madame Mayor. Her dramatic turtleneck sweater and gray wool suit helped her feel more herself, her nerves annoyingly riled at the prospect of leaving the relative safety of her home. Of course, she wouldn't let anyone see that weakness.

Lunchtime came and went quickly. Then a little after one o'clock Emma showed up as promised in her puttering Volkswagen to collect her. The sheriff had put more effort into appear official, leaving her red leather at home in favor of a brown bomber jacket and a pale blue button down tucked into dark jeans. The two women had been quiet and pensive on the short ride over and when finding the head nun's office. Regina had gotten some satisfaction out of the shrill and incensed greeting the fairy had given her upon finding her outside her door. Emma settled her down and the nun insisted they find a more secluded place to talk, which was how they ended up in the empty craft room.

Bolts of fabric and sewing machines laid about on long tables for the nuns to make quilts or clothing. Baskets of yarn lined the walls, speared with knitting needles waiting for nimble hands to return. High windows showed blue skies and puffs of white clouds, the blanket of gray had receded and allowed warm yellow sunlight to shine through. The Blue Fairy toyed with her stiff scalloped collar, "I still don't think she should be out. Does your mother know about this?"

Emma rolled her eyes. "No, since I'm an adult and the sheriff it didn't occur to me to run it by her."

The woman insisted, "She's dangerous."

"What do you think she is going to do?" The blonde asked impatiently.

"She could... rip out your heart!" She proclaimed impassionedly.

"Could you?" Emma looked over at her curiously.

Regina shrugged. "I don't know. I haven't tried in quite some time."

"Right… Regina do you promise not rip out anyone's heart?"

"Sure." Her manner was cavalier in a way that horrified the nun.

"Regina." The blonde said sternly but Regina could see the disguised amusement in her eyes.

She smirked and held up her hand sarcastically as if taking an oath. "I promise not to rip out any hearts."

"Great. You see. She promises." Emma acted as if the matter was settled. "Now we have questions about-"

"Starting without me?"

"What is he doing here?" The Blue Fairy jumped from her seat, backing away from the sharply dressed man standing in the doorway.

A glance at Emma showed that she was as surprised by his appearance as Regina was; her posture tilted forward defensively and brow lowered in disapproval. The brunette tensed but maintained her imperiously bored expression. He walked further into the room, his cane clacked lightly with each step, "Sorry to drop in unannounced but I thought I'd come say hello."

"You've been a hard man to find Gold." Emma said tersely.

"Yes, well I've been catching up with an old friend. Perhaps you know her Regina?" He baited.

But Regina just sniffed disinterestedly, "You'll have to be more specific."

"I'll give you a hint. You had her locked away for 28 years." His voice ended in a growl.

"It's not like I killed your precious Belle." Regina dropped her pretense and reminded him. "And it was your curse that made her an amnesia patient with violent tendencies. It was almost like you wanted to forget all about her."

"Watch yourself Regina. You don't know what you're talking about." He warned lowly.

"Oh don't I? You had a lot of reflective surfaces in your home Rumple and if you remember I've always been quite proficient with mirror magic." It had been a favored method of spying on her enemies.

"I protected my mirrors. You wouldn't have been able to use them."

"Ha! I didn't need mirrors. A polished candelabra, a glass clock face, the shine of a tea cup…" Regina watched the fury stacking darkly in his eyes. "You were the one who wouldn't let go of your darkness for her. You turned her away."

He grit his teeth. "You'll regret this. I promise you that."

"Threaten her again and you'll regret it. I promise you that." Emma threw back his words and drew his attention to her.

"Ah, Ms. Swan." His beady eyes roamed over the blonde, entirely nonplussed by her warning. "The triumphant Savior who broke the curse and slay the dragon. I must say I didn't see this coming and normally I see everything."

He wagged a finger between Emma and Regina. The older woman cast her gaze to Emma. The blonde was ready to meet her eyes expectantly and they shared a contemplative look. Without speaking Regina knew what she was considering; whether it would be prudent to talk about their true love with the man present, the same thought turning over in her mind. Emma swung her legs around the institutional plastic chair so she faced Regina. She leaned in and murmured quietly in her ear, sending an unintentional shiver down her spine, "Do you trust him enough?"

No." Regina whispered flatly though continuing with a sigh, "But I don't trust her either."

She spared the haughty fairy another glare over Emma's shoulder. Keeping their heads bent together Emma asked, "I mean, what could he do if he knew about the tavern-in-the-woods guy?

"I wouldn't want to find out…" Regina's lips were nearly brushing against Emma ear. "He might know something though and the playing field is more even here."

"Come, come ladies enough with the secrets." Rumple said peevishly. "Let's get on with it."

The women drew away from each other and Emma nodded to her in support. Regina shifted in her seat, crossing her ankles before beginning. "In the Enchanted Forest the Green Fairy helped me-"

"An action that lost Tinkerbelle her wings. She had not business helping you." The Blue Fairy cut in.

"Tinkerbelle was the fairy that saved you? Like from Peter Pan?" Emma's voice rose with incredulity. "But that's not even a real fairy tale."

"You'll find Ms. Swan that there are many realms besides our own. Pan, Frankenstein, Sherlock, Greek Gods, they may just be stories here but someplace else they're a reality." Mr. Gold said.

"If I could continue…" Regina paused for further interruptions but the room fell silent. "Tinkerbelle used pixie dust to help me. We followed it to find a man in the woods, glowing as if he were my True Love. It was definitely not Emma."

Emma asked the nun, "Could Tinkerbelle have been wrong?"

"As inept as Tink was, pixie dust is fool proof. I've never seen it be wrong and I can't imagine it was wrong then."

"So we're not True Loves?"

"Oh I wouldn't say that." Rumplestiltskin stared at them unnervingly, his eyes twitched between the two of them like they were rare birds he'd trapped in a cage, "Your kiss wouldn't have broken the curse if you weren't. It appears you've restrung fate. Quite an impressive bit of magic Ms. Swan."

"I don't know how to do magic."

"Maybe not but you're teeming with it." He narrowed his sights on Emma. "I can sense it, so powerful, so enticing…"

"Don't even think about it." Regina hissed and stood from her seat, a ball of fire igniting in her hand creating a small roaring sound of the flames consuming oxygen. She'd seen that glint in the man's eye before, nefarious and wanton for something he wished to possess. "Touch a hair on her head and I'll end you."

He giggled. "I think you believe that."

"Okay, Regina, relax. And can you put that out until we're somewhere less flammable." Emma glanced around the room at the dust motes and starchy, dry piles of fabric, and then nervously back at the angry fire she held. Closing her fist, it extinguished with a flourish of grey smoke and she settled back into her chair with a scowl. The magic she performed was little more than a parlor trick but she could feel her power building back up though different than the darkness that she had been addicted to in the other realm; both of those things comforted her.

"So how could I have done magic with knowing how?"

"As Regina and Blue can tell you, magic is emotion. And it would seem you've got some very strong emotions regarding our fair Queen." Rumple said.

"Emma chose me as her True Love and her magic made it so…" The mayor considered this. Altering destiny and threads that tied soul mates together, would take an almost impossible amount of magic. She looked at Emma who couldn't fully comprehend the scope of what she had done.

Rumple tapped into her thoughts. "Don't sell yourself short your Majesty. I don't think she could have done it alone. I assume you're magic would have equally chosen the Sheriff here."

"Do you think all of this is possible?" Regina directed her question at the nun.

"Love is the most powerful and mysterious magic. Nothing is impossible in regards to it." Blue stated with wary resolution.

"I still don't understand how." Emma muttered raking her fingers through her hair.

"Sometimes magic is just that Ms. Swan: magic." He spun his cane. "Well this has been illuminating but I must really be going now."

"Wait I have questions about what you did to the town." Emma protested.

"Worry not. The magic I brought came from true love. Your parents' true love as a matter of fact. It's not at all harmful."

"But why?"

"That is for me to know and you to find out when I cash in my favor."

Regina bristled, turning sharply to Emma. "I told you not to make any deals with him."

"It was before the curse broke. I didn't know." Emma said defensively. "I thought he'd want me to get rid of a few parking tickets or something."

"I'll be in touch. And remember what I said Regina." He departed, leaving the sinister implication to hover in the room. Emma rested her elbows on her knees and rubbed her forehead. The brunette remembered her normally strong frame crumpled on the floor of her foyer and the overwhelming urge to comfort the blonde. She imagined that magic was still difficult for her to accept. Regina reached out and placed her hand gingerly on her slumped shoulder. Emma didn't look but she placed her hand over Regina's, squeezing it lightly.

"I think it's time you get back her back to that house." Mother Superior suggested coldly and with one last withering stare she primly walked out into the hall with brisk little steps.

"We should go. I left Henry with Ruby at the diner. I need to pick him up soon."

Regina nodded as they stood and headed toward the exit.