The window is just a hair out of reach, but Emma's been climbing trees for most of her life and it's child's play to swing along the branches to land in a crouch on the sliding roof of the convent. Still, she's performing just a little, and she scowls when she trips and hears the snicker above her. "Keep it down, farmgirl."

"You sure you don't need a lift?" Tamara clicks her heels again and teleports to the next-highest roof of the building. Her arms are folded and her face is smug and Emma really dislikes her.

"You know, you talk a good game about magic being the root of all evil or whatever, but you still won't take those shoes off, will you?"

Tamara shrugs. "Have to even the odds somehow, don't I?" But she looks troubled at the question. "I will take them off. When this world is finally rid of magic, they'll be the last thing I burn. But for now…" She waves her hand at the convent. "We have work to do."

"You have work to do. I haven't decided if there's a we yet." Tamara's nighttime invasion had done nothing but persuade Emma to scope out the convent, and even that had been reluctant. "You tortured Regina."

"It was all Home Office-mandated." Tamara shrugs, not looking very sorry at all. "I do my job, Swan. And she had magic." She pauses, thoughtful. "What I do find interesting is that the Home Office informed me I was coming back here days ago. Zelena's being played here and someone else is feeding us her info."

Emma ignores her excuses. "You know that as soon as we get off of this roof, I'm going to Regina, right?"

"No," Tamara says immediately.

"Yes!" Emma says, disbelieving. "Listen, I don't know what you're trying to accomplish here, but if you think I'm going to fall into the trap of keeping secrets from Regina this soon into the rest of our lives–"

"No," Tamara says again. "You don't understand." Her face is taut with tension, her arms still folded but more tightly now. "Listen, if there's a war here, it's going to be between magic and non-magic. I was engaged to Neal once. I know all about you. And I know we have the same feelings on magic."

"Your information is outdated." But Emma shifts as she climbs, uncomfortable. Yes, they probably do have the same feelings on magic. Emma's desire to restore Regina's magic has always been exclusively about trusting Regina in spite of it, not because of it. Magic supersedes the needs of the many for magic-users' selfish purposes, and Emma would only mourn it for Regina's sake.

"This will become a war to defeat the witches of this town," Tamara repeats. "Us against Zelena. Do you think Regina will allow us to stop her?"

"I don't know. But she'll–"

"Do you want to put her in that position? Where she has to choose between her sister and you?"

"I want to give her choices," Emma says wearily. "Can we just…?" She motions to the window and slides down, smug at last at a position that Tamara can't click her heels and follow. Tamara lies flat at the edge of the roof, peering over the edge into the window.

The Blue Fairy is moving about inside the main auditorium, a flurry of other fairies bustling around behind her. "Ready the rooms," she orders another blue-garbed one. "Make sure that it stays in this room. Safety is our primary concern." She sweeps out of the room, the other fairies following, and Emma fiddles with the window opening with little luck.

"Aren't you supposed to be a thief?"

"Aren't you supposed to shut up?" Emma catches the latch with her lock pick, unscrewing the hinges of the window as Tamara reappears inside the convent. Tamara grins, mouthing suit yourself as Emma drops carefully into the room.

And then they both look around and their eyes widen. The view from the window hadn't made clear what can be seen hovering against the walls of the room, and Emma had only seen colored walls and thought that it had been a mural.

It isn't a mural.

The whole room is shrouded in fairy dust, enough that it hangs thick from the ceiling and adds layers to the walls around them. It's an explosion of color around them, fine and magical and Tamara flinches as Emma gapes.

"Well," Emma says finally. "If you wanted proof that Blue's up to something…" She knows the fairies store their dust but in such huge quantities it can be volatile. It's why it's mined underground, spread out over large caverns, and only tiny pockets of it stay with the fairies. "It's been…what, five days since we got here? No way all this dust was collected in just five–"

There's the sound of voices outside and Tamara grabs her by the arm and clicks her heels, the room fading out of sight just as Blue stalks back in. Emma blinks and they're in a nursery, not unlike the one Henry had had as a baby.

"Why couldn't you just get us in that way in the first place?" Oh, right, because Emma had insisted on it. She winces. "Where are we, anyway?"

"We're…" Tamara looks vaguely nauseated. "Do any of the fairies have kids?"

"I think their kids hatch from flowers or something? Not like us. Why?"

Tamara stares around the room again, tracing the edge of a crib with her knuckles. "Because we're still in the convent."

Henry's school is a busy little building just outside the center of town, far enough that he has to take a car– no, bus– to it but not so far that he can't walk back with Emma at the end of the day. "What did you do all day now that Mom's back at work?" he asks curiously, swinging their joined hands between them as they walk.

She keeps her answers vague. "I followed up on some leads from before the curse." Tamara is with Mulan and Lancelot now, under their watchful eyes up until the moment she has enough and clicks her heels and goes. Emma rubs her temples, exhausted at the thought of another fight so soon after the last one. She just wants to… "Hey, kid. How about we drop by Regina's work and bring her something to eat?"

Henry brightens. "Donuts. She likes donuts. Okay, I like donuts. But she likes us."

He smiles winningly and she ruffles his hair, affectionate. "What's a donut?"

A donut is another food worth casting curses over. "What is it about this place? Why is everything so good?" Emma demands, her mouth full as they depart Granny's. "Is it some special property of this realm?"

"It's electric mixers," Henry says matter-of-factly. "I bet your dough was all lumpy." He points at the dramatically towering building up ahead. "There's town hall."

"Right." Emma checks the box to make sure they've left a donut for Regina and squints up at the building speculatively. "Listen, Henry, why don't you go ahead? I'll meet you up there. Take your time."

Henry gives her an odd look but shrugs and takes the donuts from her, heading for the entrance. Emma circles the building, finding a good tree and making her way up to the roof. Whatever she might say about this town, they're rather fond of trees decorating their buildings in a way that no full-fledged village back home could handle structurally.

Regina's window is already open, and Emma begins to slide down to it when she hears a familiar voice wafting out over the trees. "I'm not asking for your help," Zelena is saying.

"I'm not offering help," Regina snaps back. "I just want to make sure that the people I love are safe. And you– You have done nothing but make us all unsafe."

"Regina," Zelena breathes, and Emma can imagine Regina's face as she softens and folds, as she gives her sister far more leeway than she deserves. And in fact, when Emma peers over the edge of the window, Zelena's arms are around Regina and Regina is standing stiffly in her embrace until her shoulders droop and she closes her eyes. "I thought you were dead," Zelena whispers. "I gave Emma Henry, didn't I promise you that? I won't punish you anymore, I swear."

Regina says, "And if Glinda wills it?" and there's a knock at the door. Zelena vanishes in a puff of smoke and Henry pushes the doors open.

"Mom!" He beams, setting down the donuts and dropping into her office chair. "We thought we'd come pick you up from work."

Regina kisses his cheek, absentmindedly leaning against the desk opposite him. "We, dear?" She looks at the door, frowning. And then, with dawning realization, at the window. "Emma," she says, her eyes on where she's crouched on the sill.

And it's another moment where Emma can't grasp what it is that has Regina take a second breath, hard and quick, and stride across the room to help her into the room. Emma slides down from the window and into Regina's arms, and Regina gives her a breathless kiss, soft laughter in her eyes and throat. "What is it?" Emma murmurs, searching her eyes.

"It's…so self-indulgent," Regina mutters, but she's still smiling. "I just…there were so many times when I'd imagine you doing exactly that, breaking into my office during work like it was my balcony in the castle, and…" She runs her fingers through Emma's hair, settling it back down. "You're here."

"I'm here," Emma says, kissing her swiftly. She's smiling like an idiot, she knows it, and she doesn't care at all. "And hey– if that's your poison, I am fully prepared to pick up where we left off." She spreads her fingers open, revealing earrings she'd just snatched right out of Regina's earlobes.

Henry watches them with fascination and a healthy amount of teenage embarrassment. Regina says, "You really need a day job. Also, to let me teach you about what a post-barter economy means for thieves in this day and age." She says it gravely, and Emma has to search before she finds the amusement gleaming in her eyes.

She leans against Regina's shoulder for a moment, staring outside as Regina fiddles with some papers. "So I've spoken to the sheriff about your missing men, but no sign of them yet– Sheriff. You should be sheriff."

Emma eyes her for a minute to gauge her seriousness. The last time she'd been around a sheriff, it had been the Sheriff of Nottingham back during the years she and Regina had been avoiding each other and she'd made a fool of him a dozen times before he'd slunk off away from the Enchanted Forest. This may be…different. "Who's the sheriff now? This Graham person?"

"He was one of my most trusted lieutenants back in the other realm," Regina says. "I sent him to cut out Snow's heart, actually." She grins to herself in fond remembrance.

Emma arches an eyebrow. "Runs-With-Wolves? You've been counting on Runs-With-Wolves to police your town?" She makes a face as though she hasn't resented him since the words most trusted lieutenant had left Regina's mouth. "What, does he bark real loudly when there's trouble?"

"Emma!" Regina says reproachfully. She shakes her head in disbelief. "Wolves howl."

"I thought you said that Ma lived in the woods," Henry says, eyeing Emma with deep-rooted disappointment. "Don't you know Ruby?"

Emma rolls her eyes at both of them, growing serious again. "So how does that work? Do you just dismiss him as sheriff and give me the job? Does he have a family to feed?" she says, suddenly worried.

"There's an election next spring," Henry says, flipping through a calendar. "Do you know about democracy?"

Emma sets that aside– is democracy a kind of building? Maybe a dessert?– and says, "Next spring is a long time from now."

"We'll be here," Regina says firmly. "All of us." Emma reaches for her wrist and loops two fingers loosely around it. "There's money in the budget for another deputy, at the very least. You can see if you like it."

It's dizzying, being with family and planning for a future. Emma's stability until now has only been in confidence in her skills and her men, in knowing the woods and the kingdom and knowing how to make a home anywhere. The idea of coming to a house at the end of the day– of having the same work to go to each day, guided by structure instead of her whims–

It's astonishing how appealing it sounds now.

She hasn't thought about living that kind of life in years, not since Henry had been a baby and Regina's castle had been home. When they'd lived there during the missing year, it had still felt transient, a home base instead of an actual home. But now that she has a family who is incontrovertibly so, she's beginning to dream of domestication all over again, of breakfasts together and lazy afternoons and days where the world doesn't have to change for her.

As long as they can overcome whatever final battle it is that Tamara keeps hinting at, and Emma remembers Zelena with her arms around Regina as Regina closes her eyes and accepts what she's saying. "So, what did I miss today?" she says brightly. "Anything interesting happen at work?"

"Nothing at all," Regina says, and her eyes flicker down as Emma's face falls.

It's not that she has to know everything about Regina's life. They keep some things to themselves by nature- they're both at their core private people who complement each other, and sometimes it takes time before they show all their cards.

But it's been under a day since they'd shared a true love's kiss and remembered how far they'd come. It's been just moments since the promise of a future together. And it burns just a little that Regina is lying to her already.

And maybe that's why she excuses herself from her family as they walk home, citing a promise to Mulan to catch up with her. Regina eyes her like she knows she's lying, which…good. She chews at her lip and silently vows that they're going to get to the bottom of this soon.

There are a half dozen little cabins in the woods outside of town, dotting the surroundings and fully stocked by the curse. Only three are occupied now that so many of the Merry Men are still under Zelena's spells– Mulan's, Lancelot's, and their guest's.

"Aren't you being hunted by Zelena or something?" Emma demands when she stalks into the cabin, raring for a fight.

Tamara rolls her eyes. "Zelena isn't much of a hunter when her prey can fight back." She flicks her remote again– taser, Regina had called it last night– and Emma glares at it and doesn't back up.

"It's almost like she has some kind of traumatic history with your methods or something," she says sarcastically, feeling oddly defensive of a woman who'd proven to be more than a menace to them. Still, Zelena loves Regina in whatever twisted way she can, and that means something more than Tamara does. "That potion–"

Tamara laughs. "Oh, she gave you a sob story, didn't she? Of course she did," she answers herself, and eyes Emma calculatingly. "You know, we're not that different."

"You and Zelena?"

Tamara scoffs. "You and I."

"Yeah, yeah," Emma says, unimpressed. "Because I'm not magic's biggest fan?"

Tamara opens the fridge and pulls out a pair of apples, tossing one to Emma. "We were both little orphan girls thrust into the company of a witch," she clarifies, and there's something in her eyes that's too knowing for a stranger she's only just met. "Innocent, longing for a home, utterly infatuated." She laughs at Emma's expression. "I was meant to be her enemy and instead I would have followed her anywhere. Sound familiar?"

Frighteningly so. "Who told you…?"

"Your friends talk." Tamara nods toward the other cabins. Those traitors. "When Glinda let it slip that my ruby slippers were my ticket home all along– that Zelena knew it and kept it from me?"

Emma is taken back for a moment to the stables, to being trapped in a storm while Regina and Zelena talk and to Zelena's admission. I didn't tell her what the shoes could do. I didn't want to be alone again.

"I could have been home– been home and back to Oz again, as many times as I'd wanted– if she hadn't been so determined to keep me," Tamara says. "So I hurt her. I hadn't wanted to. And I left Oz with the Wizard and my ruby slippers. I thought…I'd thought that we were from the same place, but we weren't."

"What do you mean?"

"I came from this land. The Land Without Magic." Tamara waves her hand around the room. Her face is pained as she speaks, every emotion careful as she allows them to emerge, and maybe Emma's being manipulated but she still sees the truth in Tamara's eyes. "He was from the Land Without Color."

(And another memory, this one less clear than the last, of a girl in a crystal ball wearing bright colors in a dim world. Dorothy Gale, Regina had read off a paper in the Dark Castle.)

"When we got there, it became quickly apparent that Victor hadn't brought me home at all. And so I tried using the shoes over and fucking over until I was jumping realms so fast that I'd be bleeding from the pressure of it. I just…I wanted to be home." She laughs tiredly. Emma bites into her apple and studies Tamara as she speaks. She's always thought she's been good at reading people, and while there's none of Zelena's unrestrained bitterness in Tamara, there's still quiet agony.

"It took me years," Tamara says. "And when I came home, I discovered that my extended family had been murdered on the night I'd left Oz. I was a prime suspect. Turns out the cops don't really give you the benefit of the doubt when you're a runaway black kid in Kansas. So I changed my name, clicked my heels, ran off to the big city." She leans forward. "I didn't know until I found out she was still alive. But now I get it. Zelena murdered my family because I poured a little bit of water on her head.

"So don't tell me this isn't justified," she says fiercely. "Don't tell me there are two sides to this story. When Victor called me when the curse broke here, of course I came to destroy magic and destroy selfish witches who fuck up everyone and don't care. And if the Home Office says that there's a war on, you can bet your ass that I'm going to fight to wipe out magic. And you should too."

She holds up a hand before Emma can speak. "And I get it, I get that you want to keep your wife safe." Emma's eyes widen a crack at that title for Regina, but she doesn't comment on it. "I can work with you on that if you're with me. But I won't budge on Zelena. Do you understand what she's capable of now?"

"No," Emma says.

Tamara scowls. "Don't be naive."

"No," Emma repeats, a little louder. "Zelena didn't kill your family, Tamara. You poisoned her. She was half-dead for ages after that day and she lost her powers after that. She wouldn't have made it to the Land Without Magic after what you did to her."

Tamara is silent, dark eyes brimming with resentment. Emma says, her mind working quickly, "Maybe you were right. Maybe there is someone playing Zelena. And we know that the fairies are connected to her and those two babies."

Tamara looks unconvinced. "Yeah? Who?"

"Glinda, Tamara." And Emma knows with sudden clarity who she'd seen hiding upstairs in the farmhouse yesterday. "Blue is working with Glinda."

Snow and David come for dinner with news about the town and the chase that's still going on. "Zelena just…popped into my classroom," Snow says, shaking her head with marked annoyance. "A few of the children recognized her and it disrupted the class for an hour."

"That's my sister." Regina sounds very pleased about it and earns a reproving glare from Snow that swiftly fades into fondness. Emma twitches and doesn't say a word.

Henry and David are in comfortable sync with each other, filling them in on their year together as Regina leans in, eyes bright as she drinks in every word. Emma drums her fingers against her knees, struggling to listen as more pressing thoughts weigh down on her.

Finally, it's too much to endure in this brightly lit room where her family sits around and laughs like the worst is over. Emma's head is aching and she stands without speaking and slips out of the room. No one seems to notice except David, who touches a solicitous hand to her back as she moves past his chair, and then returns to his story.

It feels as though all she's been doing lately is climbing on roofs, and she rolls her eyes at herself and makes her way onto the balcony in the master bedroom and up to the roof above it. It's quiet up here in the dark, the sky above her gleaming with the same stars as at home. Lying on a roof and staring up at the sky, there's nothing about this world or the people within it that feels foreign or untouchable.

She makes one decision while she's outside. No matter what– if Regina's hiding Zelena from her– she isn't going to do the same. She won't play this game of secrets and lies, not when she's afraid it'll all come tumbling down. Not when she wants Regina to know what Tamara's up to and to be prepared with her. She'd thought they'd be a team now, not two people living in the same house and worlds apart.

She sits up, pressing her hands to her feet and staring out at the road below, and there's a slight wind behind her and then the sound of shifting as Regina sits down beside her. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah." She lies back again, seeking the peace of the stars. "Just feeling a little claustrophobic."

A pause, and then Regina is tugging off her formal work jacket and joining her, back against the roof and her feet slipping out of their heels. "I was worried you might have that issue. You've always loved your freedom. Green fields and long trips and everywhere to go, right?"

So had Regina, before it had all been taken from her. Emma licks her lips, uncomfortable. "Not like that. I like this town, I do." Regina exhales in a soft breath. "Just…it's nothing."

"Okay," Regina says, and doesn't question her further, instead leaning over to kiss her, long and rich, until Emma has a hand at the nape of her neck and her toes are curling and they're probably going to fall off the roof. "Snow is doing homework with Henry," Regina breathes. "I can soundproof and lock our room."

Emma sucks hard at her jaw in response and they slide off the roof together, hands entwined as they stumble down to the balcony and then into the master bedroom. Regina gives her a little shove back onto the bed and Emma lounges on it, watching with hungry eyes as Regina peels off her shirt and slacks to reveal red lace and smooth warm-toned skin beneath it.

"I can–" Emma says, reaching for her jacket, and Regina puts a foot on the bed, squarely between her legs. Emma licks her lips and runs her fingers up along her calves, drawing out tiny sighs from Regina. "Or not." She strokes her thigh, achingly slow, and brushes soaked fabric with the tips of her fingers as Regina groans.

Her fingers linger for another moment and Regina says imperiously, "Lady Swan, if you don't do something about that, I swear I will–"

"What?" Emma says, a thrill rising through her. "Punish me?"

Regina jerks forward, her center slamming into Emma's knuckles, and climbs fully onto her bed. "Oh, yes," she purrs, her tongue sliding along the shell of Emma's ear ever-so-lightly. Emma shudders and slips her fingers past crimson lace at last, and Regina is still as responsive as she'd been the night before, keening with the touch and twisting desperately against Emma.

It's all a blur after that, sharp words and sharp teeth and Regina above-below-above again and Emma's claustrophobia is fading into vague unease that she ignores as best as she can in favor of touching, touching, too many years and too much time alone making them both crave each other more deeply. Last night had been laughter and release but tonight is sweat-drenched and needy, again and again and again until Emma's body feels limp like jelly and Regina is curled up against her, their foreheads bumping and their legs wound together.

Their gazes are locked and Emma peers in Regina's and sees only peace in them, only love, glowing with decades of growth. She struggles to recall why she'd been upset but can't seem to figure it out, not with Regina's thumb painting circles against her hip and her eyes sleepy and warm.

And then Regina says, "There is something I wanted to talk to you about, now that we're alone. I didn't want Henry or Snow to get wind of this."

Right. Emma strains to keep her voice even. "Oh?"

"Zelena came to see me today," Regina says, and Emma expels a breath with such relief that she can feel the force of it burning at her eyes.

"I know," she murmurs, forgetting her filter completely. "I saw her with you."

"You didn't say…" Regina's voice trails off, her brow furrowing as the afterglow begins to wear off. "You thought I was keeping it from you. Are you testing me now?"

Emma shakes her head with quiet vehemence. "No! No. I thought you'd tell me, that's all."

And Regina knows her too well, as she always has. "That's why you were up there hiding from everyone. You've been upset about this." She takes a breath, freeing irritation from her voice until it's soft and even. "Emma, I know we have…a lot of history, but you need to have some faith in me or we'll–" She cuts herself off.

"Lose each other again?" Emma finishes, voicing the fears that Regina won't speak. "Yeah," she murmurs, an admission to something neither of them have said. "Me too."

Regina laughs softly, her fingers trailing down to run along her stomach. "It was simpler when we knew that we were doomed, wasn't it? I was going down…the path I'd chosen and you were hiding Snow away from me, and we never even dared think of the future because there wasn't going to be one."

"I can see us being happy," Emma whispers. "I can see a future. I don't know…" She laughs too, high and a little frantic. "I don't know how to believe it's real."

Regina leans forward, pressing her lips against Emma's. "We'll take it one day at a time, okay? If we survive whatever it is that Tamara has planned–"

"Total annihilation of magic," Emma puts in. At Regina's look, she says, "What, you think you're the only one getting roped into conspiracies?"

"And you were going to tell me this when?" Regina looks as suspicious as Emma had before, equally disappointed in Emma's secret.

"Now." Regina quirks an eyebrow. "I was! Tamara thinks that Zelena's being manipulated."

"Tamara tortured me."

"And Zelena crushed your heart!" Emma sighs, curling her fingers into Regina's hair in apology. "Listen, I know that they're both…questionable. But you're going to trust Zelena when I don't think she's the one calling the shots. And we know that she'll hurt you if you get in her way."

"She kept her promise about Henry," Regina says stubbornly.

"She cut his hand open and used him for her spell. Don't tell me you're okay with that."

"I'm not. I am…the opposite of okay with that. But I have no reason to trust Tamara, either."

Emma raises Regina's hand from her hip and brings it to her lips, kissing a path down Regina's wrist. "Then trust me," she says. "When you were poisoned back home and Zelena and I were working on your cure, I found fairy dust in my old cabin. I confronted Blue and she admitted that she'd taken Henry before the curse."

"Ah." Regina doesn't sound surprised. Emma frowns at her and goes on.

"And then she loaded me up with fairy-kindness and told me we were terrible for each other and I believed her. Regina– I think she took my courage away. And Tamara and I went to the convent today and they're storing fairy dust everywhere, and they've set up a nursery. A nursery! I don't trust Tamara either, but I do trust that Blue is up to something."

Regina pulls away abruptly, shrugging on a robe as Emma sits up in confusion. "Come with me," she says, and Emma has barely enough time to start buttoning Regina's blouse over her bare legs before purple smoke surrounds them and they emerge in some kind of cave.

No– a vault. They're underground and Regina busies herself with pulling out containers and potions from shelves, waving a hand so the room is lit by candles. "Where are we?" Emma asks.

"My secret lair," Regina says, straight-faced. She laughs at Emma's expression. "We're in my family mausoleum. My parents are buried upstairs. There's also…" She hesitates. "Well. You can go see."

Emma walks up the stairs, shivering in her half-dressed state and peering around in the dimly lit room, and then she catches sight of it. It isn't quite like a tombstone, not like the graves where Henry and Cora Mills are interred, but there's her name carved in stone and a small table built into it, and candles flickering in front of it as though they've been enchanted to never die.

The weight of Regina's love hits her like a ton of bricks. Regina loves her, had loved her when she'd been taken from the curse and had loved her ever since. Regina had been mourning her while she'd been loathing Regina, and while Emma would still defend that resentment as justified, knowing what she had then, she's still gaping in awe at this…memorial in Regina's family crypt. At the idea of having been a part of Regina's world even when she'd been realms away.

She walks back downstairs, a bit shaky on her feet, and Regina presents her with two little square vials of something ice-blue and smoking. "This is an old remedy," she says, propping them between her fingers. "Passed down from my mother and Rumplestiltskin. Try it."

"Your mother?" Emma repeats suspiciously.

"My mother trusted fairies as little as you do," Regina clarifies. "This is meant as an antidote to fairy-kindness. Drink up," she orders. Emma swallows, feeling warmth spread through her veins, ridding the last bits of sluggishness from her. "One should be enough, but hold onto the other one in case you're still feeling the aftereffects."

Emma gulps down the last few drops of the potion and pockets the other. "Thanks."

"The Blue Fairy can't be a villain," Regina says when she's done. "I wish…I think it'd be easier if she could. But whatever happened with your courage, it couldn't have been intentional."

"Really?" Emma demands disbelievingly. "She kidnapped Henry!"

"And neither of us are surprised about that," Regina says patiently. "She also misled you into believing there was only space in that wardrobe for one." Emma's eyes widen. "But we'd thought it was her all along. We know her motivation– to break the curse. That has nothing to do with Zelena."

"And the fairy dust? The nursery?"

Regina shakes her head. "If you hadn't left so soon, you'd have heard at dinner. After we told Snow and Aurora about Zelena's plans, they asked Blue for help. As much as it pains me to admit it, there's nothing suspicious about any of this."

"Regina–"

"Emma…" Regina looks reluctant to say what she does next. "I know that you have this…thing with Blue, and I do understand where you're coming from. I'm on your side!" she points out. "I'd squash that pesky little fly with my bare hands if I could."

Emma can't believe this, can't believe how easily Regina's dismissed every one of her concerns. And the more she speaks in that reasonable tone, the more cracks begin to form in her theory. "But I do think that it leads you sometimes to…really idiotic conclusions," Regina says, incapable of being patient for too long. "Emma, Zelena threatened me and we spent a week in Agrabah because you were so caught up in Blue's insistences about our relationship that it never occurred to you that you could be Zelena's bait."

"You believed it too!"

"Because of the spell, yes. Not because I didn't think you might be the one Zelena had been talking about." She reaches for Emma and Emma dodges her grasp, still staring wide-eyed at her. "I just…we know who the mastermind is, don't we? Isn't it time we focused on her?"

And there's something in her voice, an odd note that has Emma frowning and scrutinizing Regina's face. And then, slowly and reluctantly, she nods. "Yeah," she says, deflating. "Yeah, okay."