"Do you think we should have said something?"
The blonde's inquiry rouses the Mayor from a state of what had almost been sleep, and she frowns.
"Hmm?"
"About leaving... To Gold I mean."
"Oh... No, I don't see why that would have been necessary. You told him as much this morning, after all."
"Yeah, I guess... It just feels strange is all."
Pushing herself upright in her less-than-comfortable seat and wincing at a twinge in her lower back, Regina regards the Sheriff thoughtfully. The younger woman sits slumped against the side of the coach, watching the flickering lights of passing cars sleepily; their bickering over the brunette's distaste for this method of travel dying down in the last hour or so to an amicable silence.
"You would rather have discussed the matter with him?"
"There's not much to discuss. We told him we were going, and we left. I just-... I don't know."
"Feel strange."
"Yeah."
The blonde nods, and Regina frowns pensively as Emma stifles a yawn. In all honesty, running the news of their departure by Gold had never even crossed her mind; their part of this mess already taken care of. The pawnbroker and his son hadn't been around as far as she could tell when she'd slipped back into her clothes while the blonde had remained sat cross-legged, naked, on the bed scrolling through Greyhound departure times on her phone, so they had simply packed up and left.
She wonders if it's really Gold that sparks the Sheriff's uncertainty.
"Well... If he takes issue with the fact, which he shouldn't, I suppose he'll let us know when he returns to Storybrooke... If he decides to take Neal along with him, then-"
"-Neal's not coming back with him, he's already decided."
"I see... Would you-... Would you have liked to tell Neal that we were leaving?"
Regina keeps her tone light, but Emma turns to her with a knowing glance and shakes her head, before turning fully and curling up in her seat so that she faces the Queen.
"No, we said goodbye when I left his apartment. Whether we'd left today or tomorrow, that part was done. Gold, though... I guess that part's done, too, and that's what feels weird... I mean, it kind of feels as though this has been going on forever!"
"Well, it's been a very trying week, and you've suffered the brunt of it, dear."
"No... Well, yes, it has... But, I meant more, like... I think in some way there's always been this thing with Gold for me, ever since we made that fucking deal. Not because I understood what it meant and how crazy it would all get, or how interwoven this all was, but more just-... I think that was one of the first times I understood that things were different in Storybrooke. Not how Henry said they were - I couldn't think of it like that - but, the way that Gold spoke to me that day in the hospital... I remember thinking that it wasn't normal. I mean, I scoffed at the notion of a 'deal' so far in the future, and so-... I don't know..."
"Elusive?"
"Yes, that's exactly it! It was a strange and slightly disturbing conversation, but it seemed harmless all the same because it wasn't a concrete deal, it was just this weird little man telling me he'd hold me in his debt in a way that was so cryptic, it bordered on amusing. I kind of just figured he was the town nutjob, and yet... Gold popped up unexpectedly almost as often as you did after we had that discussion, only his motives seemed to change every five minutes. With you, I knew you just wanted me gone, out, dead-"
"-Don't."
"You didn't want me in town. With Gold, it was like it was some kind of crazy dance, which, really, I guess it was. It's just strange now to know that all of that's finally over... Unless he comes home and then wants something else, in which case-"
"-He won't. Gold got what he wanted out of you - what he created you for - and, as obscure as it may be that we'll still be a part of his life by mere locality, I imagine he'll want to leave the two of us very much alone. That's my wish, anyway... And you know, having spent these last few days in his company, I imagine it will be granted. Whether the man is capable of feeling guilt or not, I have my doubts, but he knows what he did to you back in that apartment, Emma, and what happened wasn't at all to his plan. I believe the experience has left him shaken - just a fraction, mind - as so little ever falls outside of his control... That, and though it pains me to say it, there has been a shift in power back in Storybrooke."
"How do you mean?"
"I mean that the Dark One may well possess more magic and greater power than any other person that has ever lived - at least to my knowledge - but he's still as you've seen him. Mortal. He isn't a God, Emma. A great deal of his power lay in the fact that he favoured and excelled in the art of manipulation, and that those he manipulated were also in possession of great power. For as long as Gold has worked his magic over any of us, your mother and I have been at war..."
Regina pauses abruptly to glance over her shoulder to check that their murmured conversation isn't being overheard and thins her lips distastefully at the pair of youths that sit in the adjacent seats, each with headphones blaring and their nose plastered to their phone. Turning back to Emma, she rolls her eyes when she catches a small smirk, and the younger woman whispers impishly
"I sense a 'but' coming... You and Mary Margaret were always at war, but...?"
"Oh, I would curb your enthusiasm, dear; she and I are never going to be friends... But, I don't plan on returning home and demanding that she decide on a course of fight or flight, either... To be honest, I'd rather just avoid her entirely."
Regina sniffs irritably, a scowl crossing her features as the Sheriff chuckles quietly and mutters something about finding solace in the normality that lies in the clash between parent and partner.
"There is nothing 'normal' about it. I'm happy for you that you've found your parents, but that doesn't mean that I myself don't find them to be, at best, a wretched little sneak, and a village idiot in a crown, and that, in my opinion, the only worthwhile thing those two ever did was reproduce."
She supposes by now she shouldn't be surprised when this irritable grievance garners her nothing more than a simple chuckle in return, and she sighs and pulls the thin blanket she'd packed out of her bag; throwing it over both herself and the blonde as she leans in with conspicuous intent.
"Tease..."
She hisses accusingly when Emma allows her to brush full lips against her own a few times before the younger woman swipes at them promisingly with a sweep of her tongue. A sharp intake of breath, and the younger woman chuckles huskily before regaining her wits and addressing the Queen sombrely; stroking her thumb over the wool covering the latter's knee.
"I am but what you make me..."
Smirking, the brunette shakes her head.
"No. Much as I'd welcome such praise, I doubt that's true. I imagine you were always a tease, dear, and if not, I'd ask that you not crush that particular mental image..."
Pink velvet as Emma's tongue flickers cheekily into view, before sharp teeth nip her bottom lip in a smile.
"I wouldn't dream of it, Your Majesty."
"... See, my assumptions were correct: a tease... And you know full well I can't do anything about it on this hateful coach."
Green eyes flash with dark humour, and the blonde feigns innocence
"Do something about it? Whatever do you mean Madame Mayor?"
"Emma..."
"Yes?"
Shaking her head, the darker woman sighs before shimmying back in her seat and closing her eyes.
"Shut up."
She mutters. Catching an irritable huff to her side, her lips stretch into a self-satisfied smirk, and she raises her hand to shove at the Sheriff's head blindly; savouring the silence.