"What do you mean, it was a trap?"

Regina demands for what feels like the tenth time. She notes distractedly that both the waitress and the schoolteacher still wear their muddy shoes as they perch on the sofa opposite her in her drawing-room, and hates herself for paying this any mind given the circumstances. In truth, she suffers a mild case of shock that Mary Margaret and Ruby have let themselves into her home at all; never thinking she would see the day where she and Snow would sit opposite one another sharing a beverage.

And yet, here we are.

Less than an hour ago, Mary Margaret and Ruby had come running out of Gold's shop into the cold night air, and she had followed them nervously; demanding that they tell her what they'd found. The younger women had been headed automatically in the direction of the schoolteacher's apartment, before the Mayor had come to a reluctant halt; unwilling to leave Henry under Sydney's care for too long, given the events of the day. At her ill-ease, Ruby had simply turned to face her and asked if she would be alright if she and Mary Margaret came by in a little while.

If I would be 'alright'...

She suspects it had been the complete madness of the waitress's suggestion that had stopped her from refusing such an intrusion then and there. Still, when her doorbell had chimed just as she had finished removing her coat and shooing Sydney off home, she had been thrown to find both young women standing on her doorstep.

"We already told you..."

Mary Margaret sighs in response to her repeated demand for information none of them seem to have; her face paler than usual and her lashes wet as she shakes her head. Stilling when Ruby squeezes her knee in an attempt to comfort her, she bruries her head in her hands and lets the waitress explain further.

"It was just a space behind Gold's office. There was a lantern in there, which explains the light I could see through the wall, and some greaseproof paper that had was taped over the a crack... The wind blowing against it must have made a whining noise, and I just thought... I don't know. It could have been a trap. It could have just been our mistake. She's not there, though."

Ruby laments.

"You're sure?"

Regina pushes for a better answer, although she knows neither woman would lie to her about what they'd seen.

"Positive."

The waitress nods.

"Oh..."

"Maybe we have this wrong, though... I mean, what would Gold even want with Emma? Do you know something we don't?"

Ruby frowns, looking up at her host, and the Mayor baulks at the question defensively, although she notes that there's no accusation in the waitress's tone, merely hope that the strange events of the day might be explained. Shaking her head, she averts her gaze to the empty hearth miserably, wishing desperately that its ashen logs were once more ablaze and that it were the blonde in her magnificent black dress sitting opposite her.

Beautiful. I thought you looked beautiful, and I should have told you so. I have no doubt you've heard it a hundred times before, the same as I wanted to argue at the time that you must have been called a hundred worse names than a whore... I didn't mean it, though. I think I knew that then, but I didn't realise that I knew it, does that make sense? What others have called you in the past means nothing, because this is now, and now you're mine, and I hope you understand that I don't mean that to be cruel or manipulative, I mean that because I need you. Don't leave me here with just these people I loathe so and have grown weary of conducting... I may bitch and gripe about having you around something rotten, but I hope you realise that without you... Well, it'd be so hellishly boring around here without you, dear. Dull and peaceful, and everything I wanted, yet nothing that I want anymore.

Please.

I need you.

"No. I don't know anything more than you do."

She replies quietly. Her heart skips a beat, and she hopes she isn't being foolish by telling the younger two women such a thing, but she fails to see what other option she has. After all... It's not as though she can explain the technicalities of The Curse to them. No more so than she could explain the apple to Emma. It is a burden she must carry alone. One shared only between herself, Rumplestiltskin, and...-

No...

Out of the question.

Surely?!

Frowning, Regina addresses her present company wearily as she pushes herself from the sofa and gestures towards the door.

"I'm afraid I don't know anything more, and I'm growing tired. It's been a long day, and I would like to get some rest. I have a young boy who I need to look after right now... Should you think of anything, would you please-... Would you let me know?"

Ruby and Mary Margaret nod in unison, taking their cue to leave and heading silently for the door. Watching them go, Regina sighs, following them out into the hallway.

"Thank you- both of you- for... Well, for trusting me. This isn't how I wanted this night to end, and I'm not just referring to Henry's birthday. I... I really thought we'd find Miss Swan... Emma... In the shop. I... Well, I suppose a part of me still hopes that this really is a case of cold feet after all. A part of me hopes she's sat in your kitchen- sheepish and shamefaced- when you get home, Miss Blanchard."

"Emma wouldn't miss Henry's birthday."

Mary Margaret shakes her head.

"No. I know... But I don't know what else there is to say."

"Tomorrow."

"Excuse me, Miss Lucas?"

"Tomorrow. We'll carry on looking tomorrow. This... This isn't some horror story. There's only so long the Sheriff of a town can stay missing, right? Only so long Gold can go without being seen in town? I'm sure if this was a fairytale story or something, it'd be different, but... She'll be okay. I know Emma, and she's not going take shit from some old man with a cane, I'll tell you that much. She'll show up."

"You sound so sure."

Regina muses.

"I am."

"Oh?"

"I mean, she has to, right?"

"I hope so. I hope that you're right."