The sheriff's station was blessedly quiet. After the morning she'd had with Regina and the confrontation with Mary Margaret, Emma was happy to settle down to paperwork, coffee, and a day old bear claw. It occurred to her as she sorted through the pile of papers on her desk that it was actually a little silly for her to do it at all.

The only person at this point who would care about the paperwork being properly filed was the mayor, and the town really didn't have a mayor. They had a two princes and two princesses, who didn't know nor care about the inner workings of how a small town in this world was run.

She scrunched her nose up. That wasn't exactly true. She cared about the town not falling apart or attracting unnecessary attention from the outside world, and her parents simply didn't know how to run a city. They knew how to run a kingdom, but the two are intrinsically different.

She signed off on one stack of papers, stapled them, and moved them to the 'to be filed/submitted' tray before moving on to the next set. She was careful of her work, mindful of the details. Regina had drilled into her head when she first started as sheriff how important it was to accurately detail all events for which the sheriff's office was involved.

Regina, she mused, was actually a rather good mayor when she wasn't trying to run people out of town. She was efficient, accurate with her records, and not any more or less corrupt than most American politicians.

Emma shrugged to herself. Maybe the brunette was right when she said the town should let her be the mayor again. What could it really hurt? Besides, someone needed to do the job, and she was the most qualified person on any account to do it. In addition, it would give Regina something to do that would keep her busy and out of trouble.

"What has you so deep in thought?" David's voice pulled Emma from her ponderings.

"Regina," she said without really thinking about her answer. Quickly glancing up to gauge his reaction to her unfettered response, she could tell he was perplexed.

He gave a little shake of his head as he rounded her desk and leaned against it. "How did that go this morning?"

"Could have gone better." She shrugged. "Could have gone worse. I take it you haven't talked to Mary Margaret yet?"

Crossing his arms, he glanced around the room with a thoughtful expression on his face before he answered. "I just got back from the apartment. Your mother isn't very happy with you right now."

The blonde rolled her eyes and took a sip from her coffee. "The feeling's mutual."

"Emma," his tone left no question that he was trying to be patient with her, "I can understand wanting to help someone when you feel like you understand or sympathize with what they're going through, but…"

"Don't." Her voice left little question that he was treading on thin ice. "Regina made it clear that I have no idea at all what she's been through or what any of you have been through, for that matter. And you know what?" She set her coffee down and leaned back in her chair. "She's right, but, frankly, none of you know what I've been through, and no one's beating down my door to ask me what my life was like before I rolled into this God forsaken place."

"You know we would listen if you wanted to talk." David's frown deepened. "We've never wanted to push you. We respect your privacy, and we know that you've been through a lot. I can't tell you how much we wish that wasn't the case, how much we wanted to be with you as you grew up, but we couldn't do that, and you know why."

"Because of Regina." She let out a sigh, letting her shoulders slouch down as her eyes left his to stare at her desk. "I know; I know."

"Some people can't be saved, no matter how much you'd like to try to help them. They're irredeemable, and the best you can hope for is that one day they'll give up and fade away." He reached out to place his hand on her shoulder. "Your mother has already been down this road. She tried. She gave Regina a chance at redemption, and, in return, Regina tried to kill her with nothing more than a dagger and her own two hands. If it hadn't been for magical intervention, your mother would be dead."

They were silent for a moment as Emma let that new piece of information soak in. After a time, her eyes brightened in thought. "What kind of magical intervention?"

David straightened. "She made a deal with Rumpelstiltskin. He placed a magical protection spell on us that prevented Regina from harming us or our kingdom, and, in return, we agreed to not put Regina to death for her crimes."

The sheriff narrowed her eyes in thought. "That seems like a really light deal for Rumple. Don't his deals normally involve someone getting screwed over?"

"Well," he gave a half shrug, "yeah, normally. But this one turned out fine for us."

"Really?" She stood up and began to pace the small space in the office. "It turned out fine for you, so who got screwed over, then? Because someone had to. Rumpelstiltskin doesn't make deals without someone getting the short end of the stick."

With a shake of his head, he answered in a baffled tone, "I hadn't really thought about it. Your mother and our kingdom were safe, and that's all I really cared about. Where are you going with this, Emma?"

"If you didn't get screwed, and Mary Margaret didn't get screwed, and your kingdom didn't get screwed, then who the hell got screwed? Think about it for a second." She stopped pacing and crossed her arms as she waited.

"If you're saying it was Regina, then I think you need to think again." He grunted in frustration as he tried to hold his anger in check. "Rumpelstiltskin and Regina work together. They're a team. Of course he'd want to free her."

"Are you serious?" Emma threw a hand in the air out of her own frustration. "Have you seen how they interact with each other? Regina hates his guts, and there has to be a reason for that more than they had a 'bff fight'. I mean, that kind of hate doesn't just happen overnight, and the only reason they get along at all is because Regina is trying to reform and Belle keeps Rumple in check. Otherwise, I'm pretty sure the entire town would have gone up in flames by now."

She ran a hand over her face and took in a deep breath to calm herself down. "Look, I think it's obvious that Gold has his own agenda, and the only person who knows what that agenda is would be Gold. If he wanted Regina alive, then it wasn't because they were pals. It's because he needed her for some other purpose, something he couldn't get anyone or anything else to do for him. The only person he's ever done anything for out of love or kinship is Belle."

"Regina's not a good person, Emma." David shook his head in irritation. "You don't know all the things she's done, all the pain she's caused, but you have to trust me and your mother when we tell you that she's just working an angle. She's not going to change, and she's not going to rest until she's crushed us all and destroyed all of our hopes and dreams. You need to believe us. Regina is far more dangerous than you think she is. You have no idea what the woman is capable of."

Emma blinked at his last few words. They ran around in her mind because she'd heard them before from the woman in question. At the time, she thought Regina was blowing smoke. Now, however, she realized Regina had been entirely accurate. David, on the other hand, was wrong. Now Emma really did know what Regina was capable of, and, though it scared her, she was determined not to let it deter her.

"Stay here and watch the station, deputy," she said through a clenched jaw as she pulled her jacket on and headed to the door. "Call me if there's an emergency."

"Emma," David called after her. "Wait! Where are you going?"

"To pick up Henry," she called over her shoulder as she walked out the door and away from an argument she was quickly growing tired of.


How am I doing?