Pursing her lips as she sits on the bed, Regina waits impatiently for the Sheriff to return. She knows she shouldn't be feeling as irritable as she does- that she was, in fact, the one to push Emma into agreeing to talk with the idiot Gold forced them to track down in the first place - but experience has taught her that when she gets caught up inside her head the way she is now, there's very little she can do about it but accept it and wait it out.

She wants things to have gone well for the blonde.

But, it's hard to remain selfless when it hasn't come naturally to her in a great many years.

Brow furrowing as she continues to brood, she straightens her back when she catches a low thud from down the hall as a set of fire doors open and close, followed by footsteps heading in the direction of her room.

Of course, there are several rooms in this direction - and a whole other hallway attached to the back of own - but still, she knows it's Emma.

From the other side of the door, she senses a brief pause, before a low knock beats out against the wood. Willing the lock to click open with the dull clunk the Sheriff has grown accustomed to, she teases her hair away from her face and watches silently as the younger woman slips into view.

"Hey."

"Hello..."

She replies with a smile, but her attention lies elsewhere; trying to catch a hint from Emma's body language and expression as to what transpired between her and Neal, but it's as though, suddenly, the younger woman has become a closed book to her. The notion leaves her feeling incredibly uncomfortable - Emma nowadays usually so easy to read - and she frowns, watching the blonde unzip her jacket and toss it onto the dresser.

"It's fucking cold out there!"

The Sheriff gripes, rubbing her hands vigorously over her upper arms and making her way over to the bed. Perching on the edge of the mattress, she studies the brunette curiously; not used to spending this much time in the same room as the darker woman without receiving a light scolding for her mannerisms or the method of disposal of her jacket. Taking in the caged pull to full lips as a beam of winter sunlight bathes the Mayor's face with a warm glow, Emma sighs and moves so that she sits shoulder to shoulder with the Queen; leaning against her ever so slightly.

"Hey..."

"How did it go?"

Regina inquires cautiously, and the blonde answers in a carefully neutral tone.

"Good, actually... I'm glad you convinced me to go and speak with him."

"Hmm."

The brunette responds noncommittally, and the Sheriff frowns, playing with her hands in her lap as she presses a little more of her weight against the Queen.

"He explained why he did it... I listened..."

"Did you?"

"Well... Yeah?"

"And it was good, was it?"

"To be given a chance to ask for answers?... Yes, it was."

The blonde's tone has taken on a slight stoniness, and Regina looks over at her moodily. With the sunlight offering them a kind spotlight, she notices the faint tear tracks staining the younger woman's cheeks and the lingering pinkness to her eyes. She takes in the various lines and indentations across the Sheriff's face that she has come to know so well, and suddenly wonders why on earth she had found Emma so hard to read a moment ago.

A trick of the light, perhaps.

Or a trick of the mind...

A trick of the heart.

Sighing, she softens her rigid position to allow the blonde to slouch into her and continues with a little less ice to her tone.

"I'm glad... I'm glad it went well for you."

"... But, you're not happy that I went."

The Sheriff prompts cautiously; low and patient.

"I was the one that told you it would be a good idea to do so in the first place."

Regina counters irritably, but the blonde doesn't hold much weight in this answer.

"True... That doesn't mean you can't have second thoughts on it now... Are you mad?"

"No... I'm not mad. It's just-... You were so angry with him, Emma. So angry! As you well should be!... I know that perhaps I'm pushing several boundaries here - this is both a touchy subject, and I myself have been on the receiving end of your forgiveness - but... I just didn't imagine you would come back with the news that it went well... I'm sorry that I feel that way, but I can't help it."

She tenses up, unsure how her admission will be received, and adopts an expression of pure confusion when the younger woman chuckles lightly.

"Hm. Well, I guess it is kind of your fault."

"I beg your pardon?"

Regina snaps incredulously; not one to enjoy being left out of the loop, and right now she feels as though she might as well be out of whatever damned universe the blonde inhabits.

Smiling gently, Emma moves so that she sits facing the brunette and brushes aside an errant wisp of dark hair with unusual tenderness.

"It's a good thing... You're right. I should maybe still be angry. I mean, I could be... But why? I've forgiven everyone else, and you have only yourself to blame for that, Regina."

Watching as thunder crosses the Mayor's face, she shakes her head, offering a warm smile that throws the Queen off of her imminent fury

"I don't want to stay mad about something that happened to me ten years ago... Not when I have so much to be happy about now."

"But he... Emma, the man betrayed you!"

"He did... And he had his reasons for doing so."

"What possible reason would suffice to explain-"

"-I never said it did."

"Did what?"

"Suffice... Not to me... But it did to him. He did what made sense to him... It was stupid, and moronic, and it caused me a lot of pain... But he thought he was doing the right thing. It wasn't malicious. Don't you see?... If he'd hurt me simply because he wanted to, I couldn't forgive him for that... But, Regina... If I don't forgive Neal for the choices he made, then I don't know where to draw the line anymore... He left me because he believed he had to do so as it was part of the damn curse - Gold's fucking prophesy, or whatever - and he claims he didn't know any better... Tell me how that's all that different to what my parents did?"

"Your parents believed it was for the greater good, and they were right."

Regina sniffs irritably as she adds in this last part, but still, the blonde continues to offer her a kind expression, and she tries to figure out just how the hell it can be possible for someone to seem so misleadingly moody when she knows that this version of Emma exists underneath.

As if reading her thoughts, the Sheriff shakes her head.

"I guess they were, but I could choose to question that fact... I could choose to remain angry about the fact that in doing what they did, I was alone for most of my life when it would have been possible for us to just be a family... They were right, but so was Neal when he followed Pinnochio's warning of the exact same nature..."

"Your parents tried to make it work. Neal took the advice of a stranger on a whim that it meant something."

"My parents put me in a fucking tree and hoped for the best!... When you really come down to just solid facts, that's what happened... But that's not the point."

"No?... Oh, yes, we were getting to how this is all somehow my fault... Elaborate, dear, please..."

"Regina... I went over stuff today that I never wanted to think about again. Stuff that caused me more pain than I can put into words... And in a way, the fact that Neal had an explanation - I'm not going to argue as to whether it was a good one - but any explanation at all... It kind of threw me a bit... I-... I didn't do anything wrong... After ten years of trying to figure out where I failed, it turns out I didn't... Turns out he's just human.

Flawed.

I've been so angry for so long. Way before Neal, though not quite in the same way... Regina, I wanted to find my parents, but I also hated them. I hated the other foster kids. I hated the kids at school because I was always moving from one place to the other and I sucked at making friends. I hated going there - to school - and I hated coming home. I was just so angry all the time. Only, I was also unwilling to let go of that last little bit of hope. And I believed in some childish place in my head that it would get better... And Neal was better. For a while... And then, poof... Gone.

And then I met you, and though I never properly hated you, it came pretty damn close!... But then, everything changed, as you know, and suddenly everything was good for once. I mean really good! I was happy - I am happy - for the first time in so long... Regina, I was happy with Neal, but the thing is... You never left me... Hell, you went against warnings and prophecies and whatever else just to keep me! And you've told me things, and explained stuff to me... Maybe not all the time, and maybe not everything you should have done sometimes, but you did when it was needed... I know you're not just going to disappear on me... And I hope you understand that for me to truly believe that... It-... Well, it isn't-... It's not-... It-"

"-It's not something to take lightly."

The brunette finishes quietly, and Emma nods, before pulling away when the darker woman leans forward with clear intent. Taking the Mayor's hands in her own, she strives to finish what she has to say while refusing to drop her gaze as she is so accustomed to doing.

She needs to make sure Regina gets this.

"No. It's not... And, when I say that my forgiveness is your fault, what I mean is that I'm done being angry. Because I have everything I want now, here, at this time... I love you, Regina, and I want to focus on that... On you, and me, and Henry, and just enjoying what I have... I want to forgive my parents, and I want to try and build whatever kind of relationship there is to build after all this time. I want to move on with them, and I want to remember Neal as the guy who taught me the names and shapes of the constellations and how to pour a beer so you don't get all the foam. Because, in the end, everything worked out... And it was all worth it."

Studying the brunette nervously as she finishes, she bites her lip as Regina sighs haughtily

"Then you are a rare breed, dear..."

But, despite the Mayor's irritable behaviour, the blonde isn't fooled; Regina squeezing her hands gently and regarding her with dark coals that both cherish and chide. Adopting a shy grin, the younger woman reasons lamely

"Well... I'm the good guy, so..."

Finally, this garners a more natural show of emotion from the brunette; the tentative dance spurred on by the man they had come here to seek, wordlessly over and done with. Chuckling, she moves back up the bed invitingly and rests against the pillows, raising a brow with a lazy smile when the blonde climbs up to straddle her lightly.

"Well, dear... I don't know how you do it, but yet again your graceless rambling has left me rethinking and questioning myself... A feat few have ever accomplished."

"Hey, I don't think I did too badly just now!"

"You were adequate."

Smirking as the younger woman rolls her eyes, Regina runs her hands up strong thighs before bringing them to a halt at the button of the blonde's jeans.

"I'm glad you think the way that you do, Emma... About me, but also, just that in its very simplicity: I'm glad that you think the way that you do."

"So, you don't think I'm foolish?"

"My dear... I have hated you, liked you, loathed you, and loved you, and not once have I ever not thought you to be a fool... But a wise fool... And those are the most dangerous yet desirable of all, I have come to believe."

"Oh yeah?"

Emma offers with a raised brow, circling her hips teasingly as she senses a change in atmosphere as the darker woman unbuttons and unzips her slowly.

"Yes."

"Prove it."

Shooting the Sheriff a look of warning that she plans to take her up on that particular request, the Mayor smirks as she begins to wrestle with tight, black denim.

"Gladly. Without that ghastly jacket, you look as though you're some sort of undercover agent in all this black. I would almost find myself unsettled, were I not aware of what happens when you open your mouth."

Laughing at this, Emma strips herself of the Queen's borrowed sweater, studying the brunette humorously.

"The jacket could just be a part of my cunning disguise..."

"Hmm. In that case, I propose you at least use the blue one."

"The blue, huh?"

"It's preferable... As far as garishly dyed slain cattle goes, in any case."

"Noted... What is your favourite colour, anyway?"

The blonde asks suddenly with a frown, and Regina raises a brow as she stops halfway in her task of unhooking the former's bra.

"Um... Purple, I suppose."

"Really?"

The Sheriff offers with genuine interest, and the darker woman rolls her eyes as she tosses aside black lace, but her lips form a small smirk.

"Yes, dear... And my favourite animal is a horse, my favourite season is spring, and my favourite food is linguine carbonara."

"Huh... Wouldn't have figured the last one."

"Why? Is pasta not quite elegant enough?"

"Oh, I have only good things to say about pasta. I guess I just figured it'd be some kind of like hog meat or something... Palace stuff."

"Palace stuff?"

By now, the brunette's smirk has evolved into a full-blown grin, and the younger woman sighs dramatically while ridding herself of the jeans webbed between her knees.

"Well I don't know, do I?"

"No, I suppose not."

"That's weird though, if you think about it... I feel as though I know you better than I know anyone, yet I had no idea all I needed to do was wear the blue jacket to seduce you and have you grovelling at my fee- Ah!"

The blonde laughs huskily as Regina flips her roughly for her insinuation; smiling as the Mayor goes briskly about removing her own clothing in a purposefully sensual fashion.

"Let's not get carried away, dear, I merely despise one hideous garment a fraction less than the other... I prefer the blank canvas."

The brunette murmurs as she strips away scant underwear and climbs on top of the blonde.

"But, yes, I would have to agree that it is a little peculiar that I don't even know what you like to do in your spare time."

"Well, you know who I like to do..."

"Evidently, the answer to my question isn't the study of poetry."

"Not likely... Oh well, we have a whole coach trip in which to find out we can't stand each other."

Emma grins, and the brunette rolls her eyes before laughing darkly when the Sheriff lets out a small whimper as she enters her roughly.

"I somehow doubt that..."

"Good... And hey, at least we know the sex is great either way!"