Regina regards Gold venomously as the little man's attention returns yet again to the counter of the small rest stop where they've decided to eat lunch. All too aware of her murderous scowl, he addresses her casually as his gaze remains fixed on the far corner.
"If looks could kill, Regina... I assure you, it's not Miss Swan I have my eye on, but rather what the good Sheriff deems a suitable choice of sandwich."
He smirks as he speaks, but in reality, he spares very little interest in the blonde who stands with her hips cocked against the counter. It had been by silent agreement that Emma had been the one to head up and place their order, and he can't help but feel the beginning twinges of trepidation as he looks around the unflatteringly lit cafe and understands that this is neither his domain nor the Queen's. Dark gaze roaming over foreign branding and unfamiliar faces, his attention returns again and again to two men arguing heatedly behind the counter - subsequently ignoring the blonde in a fashion he considers highly rude, but by which she doesn't seem perturbed in the slightest - over the happenings between their opposing teams the previous evening. He knows enough of this land they've called home for the past twenty-eight years to understand the men refer to sports teams, but their pent-up aggression and crass language over such trivial matters - especially in front of a young woman - isn't something he's able to find peace with easily.
That's what she's here for; why you brought her along in the first place. She knows how things work here...
Sighing as the brunette clears her throat pointedly, he finally casts his full attention back to her with a shake of his head.
"Emma won't thank you for playing her bodyguard. She doesn't need one."
"Who are you to say what she does and doesn't need?"
"An observer, dearie... But more than that; the recipient of a rather spectacular headbutt from a horrifically injured young woman... The Sheriff can hold her own and she's proud of the fact, that much is obvious. I, however, neither meant her harm when I took her, nor mean her harm now. She means one thing to me, Regina; a means of getting my son back."
"You're suggesting I should have just sat back and let you whisk her off to New York? After everything?"
"It would have been preferable, yes, but I'm unsurprised by the turn of events given how things stand between the two of you."
"Our relationship is none of your business."
"Nor do I wish to make it so. But as you are here with us - and so clearly opposed to me having the slightest thing to do with her - I merely hasten to remind you that Miss Swan is simply making good on her part of our deal... Allow her the space to do so, and this whole situation stands to be fairly painless for all those involved."
"I'm supposed to believe that once Emma tracks down your boy, we'll never hear from you again?"
"If neither of you makes any further arrangements with me, then I don't see why I would seek you out. You have already unwittingly played your part to aid me in my interests, have you not?"
"How dare you?! I-"
"-Once Emma does the same, I have no use, nor interest, in either of you."
"...You'll have to forgive me for finding that hard to believe."
The brunette's retort tapers off into a displeased hiss as the Sheriff reappears in front of their booth with three plates and packets of chips balanced in her hands.
"You would be well suited as a waitress, Miss Swan; most impressive."
Gold commends her, and Emma rolls her eyes as she slides onto the vinyl-upholstered bench next to the brunette, reaching for a decidedly murky-looking jug of water and a paper cup. The Queen, however, adopts a thunderous expression; the term unknown to her before arriving in Storybrooke all those years ago. She had intended for the Curse to transport its victims into a position befitting their status and persona, and she has since concluded that a better role for Red would have been hard to find. To have it suggested that the blonde might be of a similar calibre vexes her; conveniently choosing to overlook the months spent following the younger woman's arrival when she would have expressed much the same.
"Been there, done that."
The blonde grunts, and the Mayor raises an eyebrow in surprise. She supposes that apart from Emma's description of her previous position as a bail-bondsman, and her vague yet rather distressing mention of what she has translated in her own frame of reference as 'tavern work', she knows very little in terms of the Sheriff's previous employment.
Of her former life in general.
"Your choice of lunch is less inspiring."
Gold interrupts her train of thought as he plucks at processed bread and plastic cheese with open distaste; deciding that at least the ham looks vaguely edible.
"I told you to pull over two stops back; there was a McDonald's and a Starbucks. This is what you get when you stop at a roadside diner."
Emma shrugs, before catching the small frown Regina adopts in response to this statement and clarifying with forced patience; finding the way the others are reacting to the outside world a little disconcerting. She had told herself to expect it... But it still feels as though she's stuck in some awful B-movie rerun on the sci-fi channel.
"Diners aren't generally like Granny's... They're more-... Well, see for yourselves."
"It's ghastly."
Regina hisses, and the Sheriff chuckles wickedly as she takes a generous bite of her sandwich; amused by the regal note to the brunette's voice.
"It's reality."
She counters.
"Yes, well... Your obnoxious, sour tendencies are starting to make a lot more sense."
The darker woman muses as she pours herself some water. The blonde rolls her eyes, and Gold observes with genuine curiosity the way such an admonishment from the Mayor has the Sheriff fighting off a smirk rather than chewing the other woman out for her insult as he would naturally expect.
Returning his attention to the dismal offering on his plate, he proceeds to shake his head when the younger woman pushes herself up from the table - having finished her own food with startling alacrity - before enquiring after any requests from the candy stand at the back of the cafe to take with them on the road. The brunette responds in kind, and Gold allows just the smallest hint of a smile when he catches Emma muttering something that sounds suspiciously like 'your loss' before she disappears in search of sugar.
"... I can only give you my word."
He states quietly, looking back up at the Queen.
"Pardon me?"
"There's no physical way for me to prove that I'll leave the two of you be once Bae has been found; only my word. You'll either accept it or you won't, but it will do you no good fretting over the fact now."
"And yet, I shall continue to do so anyway."
Regina replies coldly.
"Then, there's nothing more I can say."
Gold sighs, and Regina narrows her eyes; thunder heavy at her brow as she considers her long-ago mentor. Finally, unable to take the silence, she hisses at him furiously
"You know what she looked like when I found her. You know the damage that you caused, and you left her like that! I then had to sit and listen to the girl talk about redemption and change! I had to sit there and needle out the subtext, which is that a woman you almost let die in that crummy apartment of yours is terrified of being considered a hypocrite! She doesn't want to 'mess up', because she knows she's in at the deep end with everything the Curse has rained down on her. And all this time, I'm listening to her speak in this odd, new, calm manner, and I'm looking at her wrists, and I'm seeing the blood that covered her like goddamned paint! The thought of Emma having to sit in that car with you, just-"
"-Note how it is yourself and not Miss Swan that's getting worked up over this?"
Gold interrupts uneasily.
"She should be getting worked up about it! It should have been her coming after you back at the shop, not me!"
"I agree, yet she seems adamant to act as though nothing has happened."
Rumple points out.
"No... She simply won't put herself in a position where she might crack. After all, as you so cleverly deduced; she's proud. She may have a hard time holding her tongue, but I imagine she's decided that if she doesn't start anything, she won't wind up struggling to finish it. She hasn't just let what you did to her go... I'd take good care to remember that if I were you."
"I'm sorry?"
Gold frowns.
"You don't know Emma like I do. Just because she hasn't come looking for answers or to pay you reprimand, doesn't mean she won't."
"I see... So I, the Dark One, am supposed to live in fear of a little blonde girl scorned?"
"... She's the Saviour, and she's Snow's blood, raised in this ant's nest of hate, desperation and mindlessness you see festering before you... I would if I were you."
Regina's tone is dark and low; aware that this isn't a conversation they want to be overheard by the sorry patrons of this wretched establishment. Gold allows her a small nod and assures her curtly that he'll bear her words in mind.
He does not, in fact, think of Emma as a little girl scorned, but he's growing tired of dealing with the disgraced Queen when the only person he needs to keep sweet is the Sheriff herself. He understands Regina's point but doesn't believe her threat... Emma neither has the power, nor the innate need for revenge that would instil any true fear in him, and he had long ago discarded the trepidation that she might try to screw him over on their deal in another way.
It serves her no purpose, and the blonde is much smarter than she can sometimes come across.
Taking up his cane in defeat, he moves from the table stiffly; something in the air in this new and unknown world causing his leg to ache and his bones to creak. He moves towards the peeling sign for the restroom posted to their left; smart dress shoes squeaking on cheap linoleum.
As Gold pulls open the door to the restroom, it is entirely by accident that he collides with its previous occupant. Cane slipping on damp tiles, he registers its tip connecting with flesh, before his vision is obscured by a mass of curls and his ears fill with an almost primal growl.
"I'm sorry, I-"
"-Get away!"
He lets out a low croak as he's pushed roughly into the door which has swept silently closed; shutting him and his assailant inside the tiled prison.
"Emma-"
"-Don't even think about touching me!"
Despite the choked delivery of her words, there is no trace of fear in her tone, but rather an animalistic anger, and when he gathers himself and looks up at her, he's faced with hard lines of rage etched across her face behind the damning end of a silver barrel.
"Miss Swan-"
"-Ah! You move, you'll regret it. What do you want with me?"
"Nothing! I came to use the restroom!"
The pawnbroker stammers uneasily, keeping obediently still. Green eyes narrow suspiciously, before the Sheriff lets out a low sigh and whips the gun back into the pocket of her jacket as though such an act comes naturally. Shaken, Gold takes a tentative step away from the door with his hands raised in a sign of peace.
"I came to use the restroom and accidentally bumped into you. I didn't even know you were in here."
"Why should I believe you?"
"What other choice do you have?"
"I-... Listen. You try anything - anything - and I'll-"
"Why would I try anything? As you said yourself, I need you. I have no intention of causing you any harm, Emma... I never did!"
Gold explains carefully, but he finds himself reflecting on the Queen's warning as the Sheriff simply proceeds to rest her backside against the flecked enamel of the sink and regard him with an intensity both alarming and alluring.
"So you say."
She challenges.
"I do."
"Words are easy. Cheap."
"Miss Swan, I apologise for-"
"-Don't. I don't want you to apologise to me. I want you to stand by your word that you don't plan on doing anything to mess with me again."
"I just told you I-"
"-And I just told you talk was cheap!"
"Then how do you-"
"-Actions. You see me and Regina through this little trip, and you make sure we don't end up getting fucked over, because I will tell you this much... I know who you are, and I know what you could do to me, but don't believe for a second that this time I won't be ready to give you at least a parting shot... You may be powerful, Gold, but you try anything with either Regina or me again, and I will have a bullet in your head before you can do any of your wizardy shit, or die trying."
He wants to laugh at the blonde for her term of phrase - at her grandiose threats and stone-cold mercenary act in general - but reading people is something he has mastered over the years, and a single look at the hard ice of her eyes informs him that however fanciful her warning may be, she means every word of it.
"I don't want to hurt you, Emma. Or Regina."
"Time will tell."
She shrugs, and it's as though the gesture serves to throw off the bitter exterior - no... Interior. That wasn't an act. It's what she's been hiding- of her anger, and she simply pulls a hand through her hair and makes her way casually to the door. Turning to watch her leave, Gold speaks up quietly.
"... Does she know you have that? Regina? Does she know you have a gun?"
"She never asked."