As Regina opened the door, the first thing Emma noticed was that it was cold. Regina clearly hadn't been home since Emma's front yard accusation, and it felt it. Even Evil Queens made their lairs feel lived in, but now the mayoral mansion sat perfect but empty. It felt even colder without Henry's presence. Too big for a lonely woman. Yet another gilded cage.

Regina had recognized all the same feelings but barely hesitated. At least she was back, with a fully functioning kitchen and shower and windows—a gilded cage was still better than the gilded dungeon of her family crypt. But now the Swan was here, and in terms of it being better or worse—it could go either way. Best to be efficient before things devolved and Regina ended up in a jail cell.

She was all business leading Emma up the stairs, pointing her to the guest bedroom, the towels, the bathroom.

Emma was a little more hesitant, recognizing she was now fully in Regina's domain. She was going to stay in her home—she had never seen the guest bedroom let alone expected to sleep there. Plus she had forced her way in, and while Regina may have acquiesced under fatigue, there was always the possibility that she'd rage at being stuck with the blonde for another day, no matter how well things had been going since their return.

And then there was Cora.

"Regina," Emma probed, "Will Cora know I'm here? Will it be a problem for convincing her that I still think you're guilty—or bad, or whatever?"

Seeing Regina's features harden, Emma took a wild shot at what Regina had read into her questions.

"Even if it does, I'm staying. I just need you to tell me how to play this. You know better than me."

Regina sighed. How Emma had guessed she was worried the blonde would wriggle away from their arrangement was one thing. The fact she had been worried was way more troubling. Instead, she focused on the original questions, no subtext involved. Her mother likely already knew everything. As she always had.

"If by some chance she doesn't, I will claim house arrest. It may fool her."

Emma didn't find much comfort in Regina's less than confident answer, but she took it all the same.

"Okay."

She knew that they were going to have to talk about, well, everything, but at that moment, they were both struggling to keep their eyes open, so instead, as the brunette turned from her in the hallway to head to her own room, she said simply, "Goodnight, Regina."

It was soft but genuine. Regina couldn't help but reply in turn.

"Goodnight, Emma."

She woke up with a gasp.

Despite her bone-crushing tiredness, she had not slept well. That was to be expected. Her nightmares were almost constant anyway, and considering what she had relived in the past day…Sometimes they were a jumble, but sometimes they were as clear as the memories from where they drew their inspiration. Tonight's was in fact quite clear, as she imagined it would be. But she was surprised to find that her worry about her mother had trumped any flashbacks of her time with Leopold.

More surprising was Cora standing at the foot of her bed.

Regina skittered back to the headboard. No one had the power to make her do that. No one but her mother.

"Mama!"

"Hello, darling," Cora purred. "Are you surprised to see me?"

"Yes! I…but, no, Mother." She caught her breath, determined not to show weakness. "I knew you were here."

"But surely you were surprised when you found out?" Cora was cooing like she had dropped by for a surprise afternoon tea, not magically appearing in her daughter's room at the end of her bed in the middle of the night. Regina stayed pressed up against the headboard, waiting.

"Yes, Mother. I was."

"Because you expected me dead, or because you thought I wouldn't make it to this world of yours?"

"Both."

Regina was a grown woman and she knew she shouldn't be afraid of her mother's wrath, but she was, desperately. She was afraid of everything, anything. Anything her mother could do. But Cora apparently was determined to keep her off kilter and didn't even bat an eye at her response.

"Well, darling, it's alright. I forgive you."

Regina gaped. Cora did not forgive. Not like this. Her tension was ramping. Something had to be going on. This was some part of her game.

"I do, darling. For the portal, the pirate…I'm so glad your little plan fell through, because I heard everything you said as you cried over my coffin."

"You did?" Regina thought back to that day, when everything had changed. Could her words possibly have gotten through?

"Yes, I did." Cora had moved from the end of the bed to be closer to Regina, her soothing tone drawing her daughter in in spite of herself. "You were only trying to follow my advice, which is all I ever wanted you to do, really. Even if you managed to botch it again, it does not matter, because we can be together now. A family."

Regina fought to stifle a gasp. This couldn't be real. It had to be another dream. Or one of Cora's manipulations. Her mother knew she loved her and was using it to her advantage. Whatever that would be.

"Is that what you want, Mother? Is that why you're here?"

"Why, Regina, are you not glad to see me?"

Regina was split between believing her mother hurt and believing that this would be the moment she would finally lash out and Regina would be on the end of some very unforgiving magic.

"Of—of course I am, Mother!" Regina hated her stammer, just another reminder of being young and afraid. She took a deep breath before continuing, determined to converse with her mother just as she would anyone else. "I just don't understand. Why you faked the cricket's murder, stole my files?"

Cora sat on the edge of the bed as if she were tucking Regina in.

"It was only meant to be temporary, darling. I wanted you to be happy, Regina, and to see your boy taken from you without a fight? To see you yield to this town of imbiciles? I had to do something. I had to show you what these people truly think of you. "

Cora reached out a hand to her daughter, but Regina resisted. As much as she longed for her mother's love, she couldn't reward her—she couldn't fall exactly where Cora wanted her. Not without some struggle.

"They would have arrested me without a thought if he had not escaped—if I had not run! You made an airtight case against me." Regina got out of bed, hoping some distance would help her resolve, but she instantly felt vulnerable in her silk pajamas with little sleep. No doubt why her mother had made her move at night.

"Darling, I would have revealed the truth before any harm befell you. But it needed to be done—I couldn't have you reject me again before we had the chance to talk."

"You wanted me desperate."

"I wanted you to know whom you could turn to for help. Whom you can always turn to."

Regina crossed her arms and closed her eyes. It was harder to resist, but she was also angrier. Her life may not have had many healthy relationships, but she knew this was not how it was supposed to work. She spoke slowly but firmly, her years as Evil Queen lending her more strength than she had typically possessed in her conversations with her mother.

"Mother, I am trying to be good. For Henry. It is the least he deserves from me. And if you do truly want to start again, I deserve it from you."

"Of course, Regina, I'm sorry. But now that the truth is out, can we begin again?"

The words were out before Regina even realized.

"I'm sorry, Mother, but I don't know that we can."

Cora began to lose her temper and her patience. It was hard enough acting as though all had been truly forgiven without Regina pushing her. The nerve of the girl. She clearly had gone too many years without discipline. This would not do. She imagined at the base of her problems was the blonde sleeping down the hall. Though she wasn't quite sure of the arrangements yet, she knew the Sheriff had been particularly reluctant to believe her daughter the murderer. Cora had been especially pleased when Rumple of all people had helped change her mind. The cricket's escape had put a damper on things, granted, but Cora had still had hope when Emma had refused to acknowledge she had been in the wrong when Regina confronted her in the station, stubbornly clinging to any justification as to why she hadn't "followed her gut." But while she had been enjoying their argument over this reaction from afar, she had seen them go through the portal and return in the blink of an eye. And now, everything was different. Cora thought she'd try pursuing this instead. A change in tactic.

"Whatever happened in the world you traveled to today, darling? To make you think that that blonde could ever believe you?" This time the sweetness in her tone was overtly cloying, the edge barely hidden beyond layers of false pleasantry, as Cora smoothed the edge of the comforter.

"I don't—"

"Don't lie to me, Regina." The words were as harsh as the punishment that used to follow them when she was a child. Cora stood and stalked towards her daughter.

"I know you've fallen for her little plan. Keeping you docile until she discovers a way to separate you permanently from your darling boy. I can't imagine what could have happened to convince you—though you have always been so easily deceived."

"Mother—"

Seeing Regina falter under her harshness, Cora switched back to her original tack. She would win the naïve girl with honey. And a little guilt. "I am sorry, Regina. I hope you'll see that someday. And I want you to know that when your little friend stabs you in the back, I will be there for you, darling. Mother will always be there. Because all I ever wanted was what was best for you."

She took the final step forward with her most powerful weapon.

"All I ever wanted was for you to be happy."

Of course Regina had heard it all before, but somehow, even after all she had been through, hope for happiness continued to survive deep within her soul.

"You did?"

"Of course, darling. And now, all I want, the reason I'm here, is for us to be a family again. Us and your boy. I want to help you get your son back from the people who have stolen him from you." Cora could see Regina's defenses crumble under her skilled assault. She added a dramatic sigh to seal the deal. "When you see that, call for me. And I will come running."

As she said her last words, she brushed her fingertips down Regina's cheek, holding her chin before disappearing in a dark poof.

Regina wanted nothing more than to collapse on the floor from where she stood. Instead she remembered that Emma was there. And Cora had been here, and nothing had happened between her and Emma. She settled herself as much as she could and opened the door.

Emma wasn't there. She wasn't anywhere in the hall. Granted, they hadn't been that loud, but Regina felt that Emma would just know. Besides, she suspected the Sheriff was used to waking at the slightest noise. Especially when she was on self-appointed guard duty.

So Regina padded down the hall to the guest room, beginning to regret not putting on her robe or maybe a full suit before going in search of the blonde, when she saw the door cracked open. So she was up. Or maybe Cora did do something. Regina couldn't decide whether she was more worried that she had or that Emma may have run back to her room to hide that she had been listening the entire time.

She slowly pushed open the door to find Emma sitting straight up against the headboard, fully awake.

"She's gone?"

"Yes." So she had known. But it looked like she had been sitting there a while. "You didn't—"

Emma cut her off.

"Not again, Regina."

Regina stared momentarily at her, considering the solemnity of her statement before abruptly walking out of the room. Emma was shocked still. Had she made a mistake in reminding Regina what she had seen? Or was Cora still a threat? She needed information. She needed communication, and she was hopping out of bed to run after the brunette when her phone vibrated against the nightstand.

It was a text from Regina.

She's probably watching.

Emma froze again, waiting for instructions. The phone buzzed.

Act angry with me. Downstairs den, 10 minutes.

Freaked by the admission, Emma resisted the temptation to run and tried to use her actual anger and confusion, laying down as if to go back to sleep, but bursting up at the end of a long 10 minutes, actually feeling like a roped-around Sheriff when she finally busted into the den.

Regina was already there, pacing, looking nervous, which paired with how Emma had managed to startle her slightly meant that this was not going to be good news.

"You weren't this agitated the whole time, were you?" Regina scowled a little more than she had been.

"No, Regina, I played the part, but you've got to fill me in here. She's watching? Why? How? Why here?"

"Good to see your inquisitive nature is still holding strong."

Regina may have cocked her eyebrow, but it was not a jab. She was still unsettled, but this was an acknowledgement of what they went through. It was an acknowledgement that it had meant something to her that Emma had not listened in this time around. Accepting that, Emma waited for her to continue.

"I made you wait because as much as my mother likes to know everything that is going on, her time is precious, and if she feels nothing is going to happen, she grows impatient. I asked you to be angry with me because it is in line with... her perspective of things. I told you to come here because if for any reason she kept watching, this room is already cloaked and wouldn't have raised as much suspicion. Satisfied?"

Regina's energy had completely died out over the course of her explanation. She sunk down into the couch, dropping her normally flawless posture in favor of nursing the tumbler of cider she had already started.

"Yes. Thank you." Emma continued to work out her nerves standing. She didn't know how to broach what they had talked about. Cora had been in Regina's room a lot longer and a lot more quietly than Emma had expected. "So. What's her angle?"

Regina looked up, too tired to hedge or hide. Too tired of having no one to tell.

"She wants me back. She wants us, and Henry, to be a family. She wants to get Henry back for me."

Emma was suddenly uncomfortable with how close this was to what Regina actually wanted. She perched on the edge of the couch, hoping not to be the one who would push Regina back over to the dark side.

"…Is…is that it?"

"No." Regina paused, determining how to answer. "She didn't say anything else, but there is something. I know there's something."

It was unclear whether she was trying to convince Emma or herself. Because despite it all, she felt it stirring within her. She was still tempted.

Emma decided to take it for what it was and push things further. Dealing with Cora would always be a threat for a good number of reasons. But a plan of action could help keep things from going too far astray.

"Okay. What's the plan?"

Regina was thankful for the question. Logic and focus could help keep her from the treacherous emotions that were beginning to hold sway. She considered the possibilities, as limited as they were.

"…Keep the focus on me. Directly. Keep monitoring her as best we can, while hinting that I may be open to joining her "as a family" if she can convince me. Perhaps most importantly, start working on your magic."

"I don't like this, Regina."

Regina's spine instantly straightened, her posture returning in response to the perceived threat. "Oh, really. Then please, Savior, tell me your plan. Tell me how you want to deal with my mother."

Emma knew where the anger was coming from and was not about to rise to the bait.

"Regina, I trust you."

All she got in return was a loud scoff, but that in itself was progress to Emma.

"I know you're not going to go back to her, Regina." She did know…She was like 90% percent sure. "I just don't like the waiting for her to act first. I don't like the idea of casualties in her efforts to win you over. And I really don't like relying on my untrained magic to go against her, the most powerful witch since you left the position."

"You think I do? Do you think I want our chances to rely on a novice? But we cannot make our move until we know what game she is playing or this whole town could become a casualty." Her response was still snippy but underlying it all was understanding. This wasn't exactly ideal. But it was the only way.

Emma reluctantly accepted that she was right. Or at least more than Emma would ever be. "Alright. Tomorrow then. We visit Henry. We tell my parents what's going on. We start figuring out what else she's up to when she's not popping in on you in the middle of the night. And we start magical boot camp."

"Fine."

"Okay."

"Goodnight." Regina stood and drained what was left of her glass before turning to the door.

Even with the hour and the tone of their conversation and all the shit they had gone through and were sure to continue tomorrow, Emma didn't want to leave it like that.

"Regina," she asked softly, "Are you okay?"

She didn't know why she stopped. She didn't know why she turned to face the blonde still balanced on the edge of her couch. And she didn't know why she answered. Perhaps she was processing aloud. Perhaps she was struck by someone caring enough to ask.

"She's different. Maybe it's because I'm an adult, or because she did get what she wanted, but she's different."

Emma saw in Regina what she had felt every time she was sent to a new home. And it hurt more thinking that Regina would have to face reality yet again when Emma had finally got a family who loved her. Her real family.

"It's an act, Regina."

"I know," Regina snapped, her mood instantly returning. She wasn't going to fall for her mother's tricks. And she wasn't going to let the blonde pretend to know her, or her mother.

Emma still wouldn't fall into a fight. Regina may be pushing back, but Emma was smart enough to see it for what it was. The woman needed a friend, more than ever.

"Okay. 'Night."