A/N: Sorry for the wait! I did really want to get this completed before Christmas, but then I ended up writing a Christmas fic (A CHRISTMAS WISH), and changing my mind about a few elements of this story, so... We're getting there, I promise! I hope you enjoy this chapter and the ones that will follow :) Reviews would be lovely as I have been spending most of my time working on my own, non-fanfic writing, which feels a little like pouring my soul into the abyss at present!

(Also, thank you to OneWorldW... - sorry, it wouldn't let me reply/ PM you- for your comments on the previous chapter. I somewhat felt I'd written myself into a corner with how I'd previously described the mirror trick working, but you were right that things shouldn't be so cut and dry, and it gave me a push to try and do something a little different here after all that I'm feeling much happier with, so thanks! :D).

"So, what? Are you just refusing to talk to me now?"

"Huh? I'm talking to you?"

"You're not, that's my point."

Regina frowns as she drives them towards the hospital. Glancing to her side, she sighs as she catches Emma studying her hands with an uncharacteristically morose expression.

"It will be fine. We agreed this was what was best."

She reminds her companion tersely.

"No, we didn't."

"Emma..."

"I don't think it should be you that gets mixed up in all this, Regina. I appreciate your reasoning, but, with all due respect, it's bullshit."

"Yes, well, that's your opinion."

The brunette hisses irritably, and the younger woman shakes her head as she preempts what comes next

"It's not just my opinion, and before you apply that statement much more broadly than you know full well that I meant it, I'll remind you that I'm usually happy to go along with whatever you feel is best in these situations."

"We've never been in this situation before."

"No, but who knows what situations we might face in the future!"

"I told you, I-"

"-Yeah, you told me you trust me to take care of things, but what if I have my doubts on that front? You can't just decide that I'm capable for me, that's not how it works."

"I haven't decided anything. I merely stated a fact. You are capable, you've given me countless migraines as you've proved the fact again and again."

"But-"

"-Emma, I'm already mixed up in all of this. It was my decision to do what I did. Without that foray into misfortune, we wouldn't even be doing this right now."

"... We wouldn't be doing a lot of the things we've done recently..."

The blonde mutters as she looks out the window at the passing scenery.

"Perhaps not... Still. There isn't any other way, dear. Either I sacrifice a small portion of my magic opening a portal for Hyde, or you do, those are our options, and I refuse to let you step in and take on a burden for me yet again. You say it's your turn, but it wouldn't be anyone's turn if the Queen hadn't gone rogue and played dirty with you... Very dirty."

"Mm."

"You took on the dagger in my place, Emma. It's my turn. I've accepted the fact, and that's the end of it."

Regina states firmly.

"Why is it only ever the end of it when you say so? How come that doesn't work the other way around?"

"You tell me! You're just as much responsible for the way our relationship has fallen into place over the years as I am."

The brunette shrugs, adopting a small smirk as she catches a deep sigh from her right that suggests the Sheriff knows she's onto something.

"I still don't like this."

Emma grumbles as they pull up outside the hospital, and Regina parks her Benz before turning to face the blonde with a commiserating expression.

"I know. But unless you can think of a third, fantastical option wherein we send Hyde home and go on with our lives without a hitch, it's the way it has to be. Now, come on. Stop moping."

"Only two visitors in at a time. You know the rules."

Nurse Ratched informs Regina sternly, offering the Mayor a barely-hidden glower as the darker woman rolls her eyes impatiently. Turning to the Sheriff, she gives up all pretence and glares at her openly when Emma asks

"Who the hell would want to see Hyde other than us?"

"I still don't know why you two wish to spend time with the man."

The nurse counters primly, readying herself to remind the others of the fact that she's bound by doctor-patient confidentiality when the door to the narrow hallway behind her gets pushed open and a peaky face comes into view.

"Dr Jekyll."

Regina acknowledges the man that steps out into the basement lobby.

"Madame Mayor. Sheriff."

He nods, his complexion startlingly pale, and rather than approach the women for further conversation, he slips past them hastily with his head down.

"What was that about?"

Nurse Ratched frowns.

"He must have gotten what he came for."

Emma replies cryptically, raising a brow at the brunette inquisitively and earning herself a nod in agreement.

"Quite. And, I believe, now that he's left, we may be permitted to see the prisoner."

"Patient."

Ratched corrects, swallowing when the Mayor holds her gaze calmly in a way few around here dare to do.

"Is he?"

Regina counters silkily, before making her way past the nurse without waiting for an answer.

"Thanks."

Emma offers awkwardly, before following at Regina's heel.

"She's so cagey."

She hisses as they head down the hallway to Hyde's room.

"You do realise that's exactly how you used to act towards me when we were first acquainted?"

Regina chuckles, and the blonde rolls her eyes as she argues

"Not true. I was perfectly pleasant that first night. You were the one that drugged and incarcerated me and made everything weird. Sorry if I wasn't a giggling delight after that."

"Apology accepted, although that's fun to think about."

"Me giggling?"

"Oh, I know what that looks like. It's the delight part I'm curious about."

"Mm."

"Mm."

Regina mimics, glancing over her shoulder with a sly smile, before letting them into Hyde's holding room.

"You."

He greets them, sounding as vexed as he looks.

"Us."

Emma agrees, before taking a swift step back when Hyde lashes out.

"Watch it..."

Regina warns, although she studies the man curiously; noting that he seems at a loss for what he'd actually been hoping to achieve in grabbing for the blonde's wrist as he subsequently recoils away from her and takes a seat on his bed.

"You spoke to Jekyll?"

The Sheriff asks, rather unnecessarily as she moves to stand against the far wall.

"I did."

Hyde hisses, thunder heavy at his brow, and the women share a loaded look before Regina probes further.

"And? What did he have to say? He seemed uncertain whether or not he wished to speak with you at all, but I'm hoping, for both of your sakes, that you concluded any unfinished business."

"Unfinished business?! Our entire relationship - my existence - is unfinished business! The man's a coward; a shell of who he could be, and I made sure to tell him so."

"Well, I'm sure that made his decision easier."

Emma muses blandly, earning herself a dangerous scowl that grows petulant when she stares back, unmoved.

"You have no idea what it is that you're doing."

Hyde mutters, and Regina offers him an easy, confident smile that the blonde remembers vividly from the days when the darker woman had clung to her disguise as nothing more than the Mayor.

I wasn't lying earlier when talking to the kid. That whole aesthetic was pretty fucking confusing. Intriguing. Hot-

"-Yes?"

The brunette interrupts her train of thought, glancing to her side as she catches a curious expulsion of air from the Sheriff, and Emma simply shrugs, grinning.

"Getting cold feet?"

Hyde sneers accusingly, and the blonde shakes her head and assures him coolly

"No. The opposite."

Before offering Regina an apologetic nod that she should continue with the matter at hand when the Mayor flashes her a confused frown.

"Yes. Well... Contrary to Miss Swan's strange but ultimately expected mannerisms, I can assure you that we know full well what we're doing."

"So do it, then."

The man goads childishly, offering the Queen a moody flash of his teeth.

"Patience is a virtue."

She teases him silkily, relishing the surly scowl she coaxes from the man she believes set her up to fail.

Or, at the very least, saw me as nothing more than an experiment.

"I've been patient."

Hyde snaps, gesturing pointedly at the walls of his cell, and the brunette shakes her head as she disagrees with him somberly

"I don't think you even know the meaning of the word."

"It's been weeks!"

"So? Try twenty-eight years. Try almost three decades waiting for your fated demise, only to be met with utter insanity and chaos. Try waiting a year to see your son again knowing he has no memory of who you are. Try months upon months of confusion... Of waiting for things to make sense, for them to go back to the way they were - for them to go back to being safe - while at the same time wondering if that's really what you want... You may have existed within Jekyll, and you may have felt trapped within the moral prison of another man, that much I'll accept. The fact that you two separated yourselves to such a drastic extent raises all sorts of questions, and perhaps, in that sense, you have been patient. But do you know what? I don't care. Because I refuse to believe you know how truly terrible waiting - really waiting - can feel, and do you know why? Because I don't need to. I don't need to spend another second of my time thinking about you. Worrying about what you might do. Trying to unpick the mystery of whether you led me on with malicious intent, or whether you simply saw me as a lab rat and those I care about as entirely dispensable. It doesn't matter. Not to me, not to Miss Swan, not to any of us here. Because we're done with you."

Regina finishes, narrowing her eyes to match Hyde's tempestuous study of her before she turns to the Sheriff and commands her simply

"Emma, go get a mirror."

"... Huh?"

The blonde frowns, wondering if she's misheard the Mayor as she'd been busy listening to her sermon with her lips parted in a small smile.

"A mirror, dear. Go get one."

"Where the fuck am I supposed to get a mirror from?"

Emma's brow furrows deeper, supposing that it should have occurred to her that they'd need one to complete their objective, but thrown by the last-minute request.

And the totally rational tone it was delivered in...

"Upstairs, on the third floor, there are a couple in the rehabilitation suite mounted on the wall. One of those should do."

Regina instructs, and the younger woman opens her mouth to check whether the brunette is serious, before closing it again and simply turning for the door with a sigh. She doesn't want to give Hyde the satisfaction of showing her surprise, but she cusses the Mayor out irritably as she makes her way down the hall.

"Go get a mirror? Seriously? We couldn't have prepared one earlier or magicked one over?"

Pausing in her tracks as she considers attempting the latter option, she supposes she doesn't wholly trust herself not to cause more damage than good in summoning a large pane of glass she's never seen before down to the basement and slips past Nurse Ratched with a bemused sigh.

What the hell did I do to deserve Her Majesty springing things on me today?

She bristles as she makes her way to the elevator, although she knows that under different circumstances, she would actually find her current quest rather amusing in its obscurity. It's the rest of what they've discussed this morning that's causing her head to ache something rotten and her nerves to crawl.

If Regina wants me to get her a mirror, I'll get her a fucking mirror, but if she wants me to be okay with her blindly gambling with her magic, it's just not going to happen.

Emma frowns as she presses the button to take her to the third floor, considering the brunette's analogy back in Hyde's cell of likening herself to a lab rat with a growing sense of unease.

Should have put your foot down...

She nibbles her lip, knowing it's not that simple. She doesn't agree with Regina's reasoning for putting herself forward as collateral damage in their current plot in the slightest, but she knows the feeling would be mutual the other way around. It's complicated, and she's wary of refusing the brunette her feelings on the matter when she's aware that recent events have left the darker woman rather raw, but it's hard when Regina's reason for stepping up directly contradicts with her own take on the situation.

She's already proved herself. We discussed trust and power at length. We can handle each other... If I accept a drain on my magic, it's proof that I believe in her. It supports every conversation we've had since tying the Queen to her bed...

Sighing as she's fully aware that Regina has talked herself out of seeing things that way, she knows there's a lot more to it from each of their perspectives and that neither one of them is going to agree on the matter when it puts the other in jeopardy.

Still... That doesn't mean it's over...

She rolls her eyes, knowing that Regina's insistence over the fact invariably means exactly that.

Stepping out of the elevator, she makes her way down the hall towards the rehabilitation suite where her mother - then roommate - had once spent many guilty hours offering comfort and company to a man she'd believed she was wrong for caring about.

AKA, dad...

Knocking on the door before trying the handle, Emma finds the room predictably empty, much like the rest of the hospital these days. Approaching the four glass panels attached to the wall, she hones in on the one furthest from the door and assesses the fixings used to hang it up.

She's halfway through wrestling the second screw loose with her keys when it occurs to her that she could go about things a little more efficiently.

See! I really feel the drain should fall on me!

Emma shakes her head as she uses her magic to pull the mirror free, before considering her reflection in its three cousins with a bemused expression; wondering how the hell she's supposed to explain the fact that she's walking around the hospital with a giant pane of glass.

"That's why Regina sent you to do this part, you know that right?"

She mutters to herself as she tries to find the best way to grip the mirror to avoid crashing into anything. She's almost certain that the darker woman could have summoned the dratted thing downstairs herself without causing the least bit of carnage, and she glares at her reflection in the remaining three panels as she finds herself grinning helplessly.

Bitch.

Manoeuvring carefully through the door, she spies a nurse watching her dubiously from the other end of the hallway and adopts a stern expression; daring the young woman to question her totally reasonable, not in the least bit strange behaviour. When the nurse simply looks away and slips into the staff room, Emma lets out a low breath and heads for the elevator; telling herself that the young woman had minded her own business because she's the Sheriff, and not simply because such behaviour is expected from her.

Pressing the button that will bring her back to the basement, she sighs as the elevator comes to a stop after descending just one floor; the doors parting slowly to bring her face to face with Dr Whale who offers her a fairly lengthy once-over before stepping carefully past her to stand in the corner of the car.

"Afternoon, Sheriff."

He nods, making no mention of her cargo, and Emma sighs as they descend in silence to the first floor, offering the doctor a wan smile as he departs before rolling her eyes.

Waiting for the doors to close again, she frowns when they remain ajar; the first floor corridors deserted but for the diminishing squeak of Whale's shoes.

"Come on..."

She hisses, checking to make sure she isn't holding the glass pane in the way of any sensors, but she's used the hospital elevators enough times to know that they take no issue with trapping coats, scarves or fingers in their jaws, and so, it would appear something else is amiss.

"Huh."

She raises a brow, spotting a sign on one of the doors towards the end of the hallway on the left. And, while she doesn't believe in fate- no, thank you, magic is quite enough to contend with!- she gets out of the elevator with little surprise when the doors close behind her without a hitch. Making her way down the hall, she approaches the door she remembers seeing once or twice in the past that she'd eventually asked her mother about, back when Snow was still just Mary Margaret. Back when they would make margaritas and discuss what the schoolteacher might wear if she were to share a room at Granny's with Mr Nolan, which, of course, she wouldn't, but... Just in case.

"And Henry thinks he has it so hard..."

Emma mutters, leaning the mirror carefully against the wall and bending and flexing her cramping fingers. She'd been surprised when Mary Margaret had told her the hospital offered a quiet room for prayers and reflection until it had occurred to her that the unlikely presence of the nuns might have something to do with it.

Still need to get a straight answer from Her Majesty about all of that...

Sure, she's seen similar rooms in larger hospitals in the city, but here in Storybrooke where everyone had been stuck more or less in limbo, it had seemed a little odd, even back in the days when she'd absolutely refused to believe that was the case.

Pushing the door open now with a sense of confusion as to why she might feel the need to do so, she receives her answer as soon as she steps inside.

"Hm."

She nibbles her lip, looking from the empty seats adorned with ugly cushions and a few dusty bibles to the table by the window set up for prayers and remembrance with a small stack of tea lights, a box of tissues, a creepy looking crucifix and an unlikely bowl of individually wrapped mints. Recalling what Regina had told her of her trip between realms, she stands for a moment in the centre of the room as she tries to make up her mind.

"Unless you can think of a third, fantastical option wherein we send Hyde home and go on with our lives without a hitch, it's the way it has to be."

Shrugging her shoulders and approaching the table, she picks up one of the wax tea lights and slips it inside her pocket before turning around and exiting the room. Collecting the mirror, she takes it back to the elevator and suffers no surprise in the slightest when the doors close and the buttons obey her command.

Exiting the car once it reaches basement level, she avoids Nurse Ratched's gaze as she passes her with the mirror clutched in front of her; somewhat hindering her ability to see where she's going.

"What on earth are you doing with that!? You can't take that in there, you-"

"- I can. Mayor's orders."

"You can't! She has no right to demand such a thing!"

"Alright. Sheriff's orders."

"Miss Swan! This is my area of the hospital, and-"

"-And you've received a visit from the Saviour and the Queen trying to sort out a potential mess. Now, shut up."

Emma hisses, turning around so that she can open the door behind the counter with a hard shove of her backside, and she drinks in utter shock at being spoken to in such a way written across the nurse's face.

"Look, I'm sorry, it's just-"

"-Did you get lost or something, dear?"

Regina calls from the other end of the narrow hall leading to Hyde's cell, and the blonde rolls her eyes before offering Ratched an awkward shrug to the best of her ability given her burden and making her way over to where the others are waiting for her.

"Honestly, I was beginning to think you'd gone rogue, you took so long. Did you take this off the wall manually?"

The Mayor demands as she steps aside to let Emma through with the mirror.

"No..."

The Sheriff hisses, keeping the fact that she had indeed started out that way to herself.

"So why the delay?"

"I'm here now, aren't I?"

Emma deflects, helping the brunette place the mirror against the wall of the cell with a cursory glance over her shoulder to check on Hyde. The querulous man offers her a withering look in return but remains sat on the edge of his bed, and the blonde imagines he's fully aware that any funny business will put him on the wrong side of the Queen's temper.

"Alright, that seems like it will stay."

Regina steps away from the mirror, before earning herself a gasp from each of her companions when she pulls a delicate silver butterfly knife from the pocket of her coat. Raising a brow at Emma, who must surely have foreseen this part of their plan, she teases her quietly

"Still ever so slightly nervous around me, Saviour?"

"Always, but... Well, that little move incited a few other feelings, too..."

"Oh?"

The Queen smirks, before the expression hardens when Hyde clears his throat pointedly.

"I just wasn't expecting it."

Emma elaborates, her tone suddenly bland. Still, she watches intently as the brunette lays the knife beside the mirror and pulls the vial she had been expecting from the same pocket and releases the cork with a tug of her teeth.

"What are you doing?"

Hyde demands, watching as the Queen douses the glass with the viscous concoction inside.

"Oh!"

He breathes, his brows knitting together as the mirror appears to shimmer, and suddenly the room reflected back at him isn't the cell he's been confined to for the last couple of weeks, but his office back home. The one the brunette had tricked him into showing her when she'd latched onto his neck and threatened to send him mad.

"Perfect."

Regina murmurs to herself, before removing her coat and laying it carefully over the back of one of the folded chairs in the corner. Pulling back her sleeve, she bends down and picks up the knife; offering a quick flick of her wrist to release the blade and shooting the Sheriff a knowing smirk as the latter takes in a sharp breath through her nose.

Pervert.

The brunette muses gleefully, before looking back down at the task at hand and feeling a little less giddy as she is poised once again to taint her own perfection.

Hopefully, this will be the last time...

She muses, closing her eyes and piercing her flesh with a quick dip of the knife.

"Here."

Emma holds out her hand to take the implement from her, and she passes it over gratefully before turning her attention to the wound. Squeezing the flesh on either side of the incision gently with a sniff of distaste, she allows bright blood to well to the surface before gathering it with a swipe of her fingertips.

"Ugh."

She opines, imagining she will never develop a taste for her own claret, no matter how in favour the blonde appears to be of such peverse matters, and smearing a scarlet perimeter around the enchanted mirror. With that done, the surface of the glass changes ever so slightly; no longer solid, but seeming to undulate.

"Well... I suppose that's that."

She muses, turning to Hyde with her arm held carefully away from her outfit.

"You-"

But she stills, her attention suddenly diverted to the Sheriff who crouches down facing away from her.

"What are you doing?"

Regina demands uneasily, taking a step towards the blonde with a sense of swift concern building in her gut.

"Send him through, Regina."

Emma replies without looking around.

"No, I-"

"-What are you doing?"

Hyde chimes in now, pushing himself up from the bed and taking a few steps forward.

Glancing over her shoulder, Emma spies that he stands directly in front of the mirror. Precisely where they need him. Giving one last flick of the blade, she's finally successful in forcing a droplet of the darker woman's blood to submit to gravity.

"There."

"Emma, what the hell are you doing!? What the hell have you-"