The sound of heels clicking across the hard, cement floor of the sheriff's office caught Ruby's attention, and she looked up from her harlequin romance novel in time to see Regina Mills stop in front of the desk she was occupying.

Dropping a small bag on the desk and placing a cup down next to it, Regina said with a haughtiness to her tone, "I would have brought a steak to distract you, but I thought bacon would be a better choice. Now, why don't you do yourself a favor and stay while I speak with your prisoner?"

"I was never very good at being trained," Ruby retorted.

"Nor being housebroken, I would imagine," Regina responded in turn.

Ruby rolled her eyes as she pulled the bag and cup toward her and gave them both a sniff. "Bacon, egg, and cheese muffin and French vanilla coffee?"

Regina looked down her nose at the younger woman. "I do pay attention, dear. Isn't that what you normally order for breakfast when you're not working the morning shift?"

Ruby frowned and gave a little affirmative nod as she pushed them away. "You know this won't work. You can't distract me so you can be alone with Mary Margaret."

"You know I could kill you with a motion of my hand," Regina countered coolly.

"But you won't," Ruby said in a calm voice. Standing, she glanced over to the prisoner, who was quietly watching the exchange. "You're not here to kill anyone."

"What makes you so sure?" The former mayor narrowed her eyes. "You're all too aware of what I'm capable of."

"Because Mary Margaret would already be dead, and you wouldn't be trying to bribe me with my favorite breakfast order." The waitress turned acting deputy said with a sliver of humor in her voice, "Why are you here, Regina?"

"You're very confident, Ms. Lucas." The other woman took in a deep breath and let it out in a huff. "But you're right. I have no desire to hurt you, though I will if you stand in my way."

The younger brunette stood and walked toward the cell, and Regina followed behind her. Ruby stopped at the bars and turned to lean against them, crossing her arms in front of her as she regarded her visitor. "If you're going to talk to Mary Margaret, then I'm going to be here to watch you."

"This is ridiculous," Regina groaned as she came to a stop nearby and her eyes fell on Mary Margaret where she sat on the only bed in the cell. "I could send you away to the other side of town right now, and there's not a thing you could do about it."

Ruby rolled her eyes. "You could also do the same thing with Mary Margaret. I'm not fooling myself. I know I can't stop you if you really want to get to her. But I have to do my duty, and I'm going to stay right here while you two speak."

"I don't want her out of this cell," Regina hissed, and then quickly closed her mouth when she realized she'd said more than she meant to. Pulling her mask of self-control back on, she added, "Ms. Blanchard is exactly where I want her to be."

"Yeah, I kind of figured," Ruby said with a shrug. "You know I don't think you were doing anything hinky with Emma, don't you? I'm not going to say that I'm on your side but…"

"Yes, I'm aware of what you think," the other woman cut in. She finally looked over to the acting deputy and her eyes held a hint of respect for her. "It's important that I find them as quickly as possible."

"I know," Ruby nodded. "And I get it. A few us do, but I'm not leaving the room," Ruby said as she pushed off the bars. Turning to her prisoner, she added, "But I am going to let her talk to you. I'll be right there," she pointed at the desk she had just left.

Mary Margaret gave a small nod of understanding and stood to walk to where Regina stood. With nothing but the steel bars between them, it was a stark reminder of another time when they had been in this exact physical position.

In a cold and detached voice, Mary Margaret asked, "What do you want, Regina?"


"That should do it." Emma grunted as she stood from where she knelt on the ground to wrap Regina's ankle. "It's twisted pretty bad. You should probably keep it propped up for a couple of days, and, you know, try to stay off of it as much as you can." She shrugged.

"Thank you for your help," the younger woman said with a gracious smile. "My mother is away for a few days on business," she began. Her voice held an edge of anxiousness as she mentioned her mother. "So she cannot give Daniel permission to escort you. However," she looked at the stable boy, "I will do so in her absence."

Emma watched the unspoken exchanged, understanding quickly that there was clearly some sort of risk involved in Regina making the offer she just had. "No, that's okay." The blonde waved her hand in the air to brush aside the offer. "Henry and I will be fine, thanks."

"Let me at least thank you for your help," Regina said with a glance to her wrapped foot. "Let me have the cook wrap a bundle for you?" Her eyes pleaded. "It's the least I can do, and you…" Her voice trailed off as her dark brown eyes fell upon Emma's shirt. "You are favored of the Queen?" Regina's voice was full of surprise and admiration.

"What?" Emma's own eyes grew wide with confusion. She tried to follow Regina's line of sight, and she realized the other woman was looking at the pin on her shirt. "Oh, I, uh…"

"They were a gift," Henry stepped in, "from my grandmother who said they'd been in our family for a really long time." He pointed to his own pin.

Regina gave a slow blink. "Oh, I see. As a favored family of the Queen, we are obliged to help you in any way that we can." Her eyes brightened. "In fact, it would be highly frowned upon for us to not ensure your safety. The Queen would be very displeased if she found out we hadn't sent an escort with you back to your home."

"Of course she would be," Emma grumbled. "Look, we'll just keep it between ourselves, okay? No one ever has to know that we were here, and the Queen won't get mad if she doesn't know."

The young brunette raised an eyebrow in a way that so much looked like her older self that it left Emma feeling weak in the knees at the memory. "You want me to lie to the Queen?"

Trying to shake the feeling at the memory, Emma cleared her throat. Where had that come from? "No, I just don't think it's going to come up, so you don't have anything to worry about."

Daniel reached down to offer his hand for Regina to use as she stood. He glanced over to his guests and gave an almost apologetic smile to them. "I think you'll find that Regina is very good at getting what she wants when she puts her mind to it." He glanced to the woman on his arm. "It's one of the many unique things about her."

"Oh, I think I know what she's capable of," Emma responded with a roll of her eyes.

Henry's stomach took the chance to make itself known in the silence that followed, and Regina's eyes danced with the victory she knew that sound had just secured. "You two can have lunch with me while the cook makes a bundle for you to take on your journey." The young woman grinned, eyes shining with her winning moment. "I insist."

"Fine." The blonde tried to hold her irritation and frustration at bay. She and Henry began to follow the other two toward a larger structure in the distance. Even as a younger version of herself, Regina was infuriatingly good at getting Emma to do whatever she wanted. It was endearing but frustrating. The thought stopped the sheriff in her tracks. How long had she been okay with that fact?

"Ma?" Henry tugged at her shirt sleeve. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, kid, everything's just great," she answered in the most sarcastic tone she could muster. Her son frowned and turned to start walking again as his stomach gave another growl.


"Regina?" This time, Mary Margaret's voice was less cold and more alarmed. Despite herself, she was suddenly concerned for the abrupt stillness and quietness of the woman on the other side of the cell door. Regina had gone from fully present and extremely guarded to suddenly mentally away and completely unguarded.

The older woman blinked rapidly a few times and shook her head to clear it. "What the hell?" She mumbled mostly to herself. Her gaze dropped down, and she seemed to be mentally composing herself. "It's still happening," she said in a somewhat pained and confused voice.

Mary Margaret narrowed her eyes. "What is?"

"Nothing that concerns you," Regina shot back as she pulled her head back up to meet the other woman's eyes. "Tell me everything you can remember from the months prior to our first meeting."

"Why should I?" Mary Margaret's voice was defensive. "Why do you want to know?"

"Tell me or suffer the consequences," the other woman threatened in a low, raspy voice.

"Like what, exactly?" The pixie haired brunette crossed her arms and gave a smug look. "You're going to take my heart?"

"I could just kill you," Regina answered in a nonchalant tone.

Mary Margaret shrugged. "But then you wouldn't get the information you want."

Regina tilted her head to the side and gave a smirk. "You're right, but I don't have time for these games. I'll be back, and you'll tell me everything that you know." She disappeared in a puff of purple smoke.

"Why not just tell her?" Ruby asked after the smoke cleared out.

"Because this has something to do with Emma and Henry, and I'm not about to willingly help her find them before we can," Mary Margaret answered before plopping back down on the bed in her cell.

The deputy finished up the last of her coffee and threw everything away in the can underneath her desk. "You're still stuck on the idea that she's trying to hurt them?"

"How can you think otherwise, Ruby? I can't believe you're even entertaining the idea that Regina is trying to save them. She hasn't changed. I think she's proven that, don't you? She has my heart."

Ruby gave the other woman a long, considerate look. "We've been friends for a long time, Mary Margaret. You've seen me at my very poorest, and you know how many people I've hurt or worse." She held up a hand to stop the other woman from talking. "And I know what kind of person you are. You have a good heart and good intentions. But what I saw you do today to Henry and Emma was not the person I know. That was manipulative, and it was deceitful. I think Regina was honestly trying to change, and I think Emma and Henry were helping her with that. I don't understand why you wouldn't want to be supportive of that. I would think that you, of all people, would want peace in this town. If you could support me knowing all the horrible things I've done, why not try to do the same thing for Regina?"

"This is different," the petite woman countered. "You're not an evil person, Ruby. You couldn't help what you did, and, once you could control yourself, you didn't choose to go out and hurt or murder people. You certainly weren't trying to control my daughter or my grandson."

Ruby pursed her lips in thought. "Is that the only concern you have?"

Mary Margaret tilted her head. "What do you mean?"

"I think you know," the deputy answered. "We can't help who we…"

"Don't," Mary Margaret quickly cut in. "I won't even hear that remark. Regina is Emma's step grandmother."

Ruby's eyebrows went up, and her face clearly said she thought the other woman was being naïve, "I really don't think Regina considers you her daughter."

"I'm not having this conversation," Mary Margaret said as she turned toward the wall to stare at it.

"Don't have the conversation," the other woman said, sarcasm lacing her words, "but not talking about won't change it."

The sheriff's office fell into a tense, uneasy silence, and Ruby gave her friend a look of pity before turning back to her book.


We'll be revisiting this thought a bit later in the story, just so you know. Also, for those of you asking, yes, this will eventually be Swan Queen. It's just a slow burn.