"You're back, and you don't look like you're hurt," Mary Margaret said as she ran a careful eye over Emma. "How'd it go?"

"Better than I thought it would, but worse than I'd like for it to have gone." Emma huffed as she pulled her jacket off and hung it before walking to the small kitchen island to take a seat. "She's got a lot of anger."

Mary Margaret snorted. "Understatement of all time." She handed over a glass of water as she took a seat next to the blonde. "Your father and I still think it was a bad idea for you to go over there."

"Someone has to step up," Emma answered, not bothering to look at the other woman as she spoke. "Regina nearly died saving us from that deathtrap she and Gold placed on the well. She didn't have to do that. She could have let us die."

"If she hadn't booby-trapped the well in the first place, she wouldn't have had to disarm it, and she wouldn't have risked her life," the brunette countered.

"She was trying to keep Cora from crossing over to this world, and, I mean, you've met the woman. Can you blame Regina for not wanting her here?" Emma gave a shudder. Finally looking over at the pixie brunette, she added with a smirk, "Regina might be the Evil Queen, but she looks like a teddy bear compared to Cora. God, can you imagine if Cora was here? In Storybrooke?"

"It'd be very bad," the older woman conceded. "Still, there are other ways to protect us from Cora other than risk killing you and me in an attempt to stop her."

"You really think so?" The blonde shook her head in disagreement. "I'm not so sure." She glanced around the loft. "Where's Henry?"

"He and David went out for a sword lesson." With a proud smile playing in her face, Mary Margaret gave a little shrug. "Henry's getting good at it. He's a natural."

"Of course he is." The sheriff rolled her eyes. "While he can't eavesdrop, there's something I want to ask you. It's something Regina said while she was shouting at me before she kicked me out this morning."

Steeling herself, Mary Margaret gave a nod of her head. "Okay."

Emma took in a deep breath and then rushed through the question. "Regina said she had your father, my grandfather, killed. Is that true?"

Mary Margaret's face shut down and her body stiffened. "Did she tell you why she had him killed?"

"No, we really didn't get that far into the conversation before she threw me out, but," the younger woman's eyes pleaded, "I need to know this story. What happened? What,exactly, happened between the two of you?"

"We could never prove she had him killed." Mary Margaret's voice was small, as if her mind was suddenly elsewhere. "There was a man in the court who was guilty of the actual assassination, but we always suspected Regina was the one to put the wheels in motion. After the man disappeared before he could be tried and Regina did very little grieving for the death of my father, it seemed evident that she had orchestrated the entire event." Sighing heavily, the brunette stood to make a pot of coffee.

Emma chewed on her bottom lip. She wasn't certain how far to push this conversation. "She said she was 18 years old when she was forced to marry him. Is that true?"

"Forced? Is that what she said?" The smaller woman whipped around from her task, eyes glowing with anger. "My father adored her. He loved her, and she repaid him by having him killed."

"But," Emma knew she was on shaky ground, "she was 18, and you told me yourself about Daniel. She would have married someone closer to her own age if he'd lived." She paused for a beat. "Regina told me exactly how he died, by the way. That's just messed up."

"Don't." Mary Margaret's voice was full of warning. "After everything she's done to this family and to this town, do not feel sorry for her. Emma, she doesn't deserve it. The evil she's done, the horrible atrocities she's commit cannot be forgiven. Do you know how many times she's tried to have me killed?"

Emma frowned, and the words, though quiet, were out of her mouth before she could stop them. "You betrayed her trust."

"I was a child!" Mary Margaret bellowed.

The sheriff fought back just as hard. "You were 11! You knew better!" Emma was up off of the stool and in front of the other woman in a matter of seconds. "At 11 years old, you know what it means to keep a promise and why you shouldn't break a promise. Hell, Henry's 10 and he's smart enough to know the difference and save an entire town from a curse that would never have happened if you'd kept your mouth shut!"

"Things were different in the other world. We weren't as worldly as the children are here at the same age. I had lost my mother," Mary Margaret's voice shook slightly but the rage was growing with each passing second. "I didn't want Regina to lose hers because she lied to her. I thought I was doing the right thing!"

"You didn't want Regina to leave you." Emma was on a roll. "You wanted her to be your mother, so you turned her in to stop her from running off with her true love because you knew your father would probably propose to Regina."

"How dare you!" The older woman's voice echoed in the small loft. "How dare you accuse me of being that level of selfish. Emma, I was a child! I didn't…"

"To hell you didn't." The blonde stepped back and ran a hand over her face, mentally counting to ten. In a much quieter voice she said, "I have no idea what I'm doing." She closed her eyes, shaking her head. "You're right. It doesn't matter what started this. She had choices. She didn't have to turn out to be the Evil Queen."

Mary Margaret blew out a long stream of air as she tried to calm herself down. "Do you really think so little of me?"

"No," Emma shook her head slowly in the negative. "I just understand Regina's point of view. I get it. I get her, and I think I'm having a hard time with the fact that everyone else doesn't seem to see what I see."

"And what would that be?" The person looking at her was Mary Margaret, but the tone was all Snow White.

With a heavy heart and look of conflict on her face, Emma answered the question as best she could. "I see that she's trying to be the woman she could have been. I see that she wants to be a better person for our son." At the word 'our', the brunette raised an eyebrow, but remained silent as the sheriff continued. "I see how and why she's made a lot of the choices she has, and, though it doesn't excuse them, it does put them in perspective. I don't know." Emma began to pace. "Maybe it's because the only world I've ever known is this one. Maybe it's because I never knew the Evil Queen or Regina when she was younger, or whatever, but I know this Regina, and I know she needs help."

She stopped pacing to look at the other woman again. "Look, I'm not saying she doesn't deserve some kind of punishment for all the crap she's done. But what I am saying is that, if we are to ever have a time where none of us have to worry about being killed, destroyed, or cursed, then we really should be encouraging Regina to come back from the dark side. She's a powerful person, regardless of anything else you might say about her. Wouldn't you rather her be on our team than the opposing one? Aren't you tired of fighting her all the time?"

They were quiet for a very long time, eyes locked in a silent battle of wills. Mary Margaret broke first, eyes flicking to the side before coming back to meet Emma's again. "What if she's just trying to get on our good side so she can get close enough to hurt us again?"

"I won't let that happen," Emma soothed, voice soft but firm. "If she's being dishonest, I'll know. But someone has to take the first step, and I'm taking it. Like I told you before I went over there this morning, Regina needs support if she's going to break her addiction. I'm going to give it to her whether she wants me to or not."

The brunette gave a mirthless chuckle. "Always our White Knight, Emma?"

The sheriff rolled her eyes. "Apparently."