Author's Note: This is Part 2 of 3 of my reinterpretation of the party at Granny's Diner from "The Cricket Game" I am an Evil Regal at heart and Regina sort of took this chapter by storm. There's one more piece to go and it's going to be a doozy. Leave it to me to turn five minutes of an episode into an epic.

You guys totally rock. Thanks for all the follows, reviews, and especially the well-wishes for my finals (which are now looming closer than ever and will require my undivided attention very soon) You guys have really made my muses stand up and sing!

Chapter VIII

On The Outside Looking In

The dancers, in their opulent ball gowns and tailored trim tailcoats glided across the marble floor of the Grand Ballroom with the grace and ease that came from years of lessons and practice. The music, upbeat and cheerful, stirred her soul. She did so love music. Queen Regina also loved dancing but it would be uncivilized and therefore silently forbidden, to ask the Queen to dance before the King did so, and Leopold only danced with his daughter. He was too old, too tired, and too busy with other matters to dance, unless Snow asked it of him. He denied his precious daughter nothing.

So she watched the others dance with an impassive face, a polite and socially acceptable mask for the masses. A Queen couldn't appear to be bored at a ball. The dancers swirled in perfect synchronization and she could hear laughter mixing with the music. High, childlike laughter-Snow's laughter. She clenched her gloved hands into fists, but the bite of bitter anger was momentary and faded quickly. She was so tired now. She couldn't even remember the last time she had laughed. No, she could, it had been three years, two months and twelve days since Daniel had died in her arms. Three years, two month and twelve days since she had last known any kind of happiness. She stared across the room at Snow dancing with Leopold. The little girl in a lacey and ruffled white dress with blue ribbons, she was the one who had caused this. She was the root of Regina's unhappiness and She. Would. Pay.

A servant passed by her with a tray of drinks and she held out her empty goblet without a word. The young man filled her cup with the dark red spiced wine that she preferred before slipping away with a small bow. The wine was delicious and the burn of alcohol in her throat grounded her once again. It calmed her darker impulses, for a moment at least. She could feel the vein her forehead recede and some of the tension in her body eased. She let her eyes close, so she didn't have to look at the happy party-goers that swirled around her, and took another long drink. The players finished their song and the room gave them and the dancers polite applause, but Regina didn't bother. She remained perfectly still and savored the taste of sweet wine and bitter hatred on her tongue.

The players started a new song, one of the fast jigs she had loved so much as a child, and she took another pull of the wine. Her goblet would be empty soon, but there was always another servant somewhere with a refill and no questions asked. It was one of the perks of being Queen.

"Aren't they precious?"

Regina's eyes snapped open. Queen Leah, one of their guests of honor, was a royal vision in rose-hued silk that had been embroidered with delicate gold. She smiled, a cold and humorless expression- a queen's polite political smile. Regina met the expression with her own royal smile and then followed Leah's eye line. Snow and Aurora, Leah's and Stephen's young princess, were twirling around on the floor together. Snow was leading the younger girl through the complicated steps with a grin on her fourteen year old face. They were two happy, giggling, little princesses without a care in the world. The anger that always bubbled in her stomach rose once more and it took the rest of the wine in her goblet to calm it so she could speak.

"Were we ever that young?"

Of course they had been. Mother had forced her to attend every cotillion, Yule Ball and every social event in the Kingdom. The better to catch a Prince's wandering eye, Mother had always said. She and Leah had danced at the same balls, dined at the same feasts and moved in the same circles, but they had never and would never be friends. Regina had no friends.

"I was but you've always been so serious, Regina."

It was hard to frolic, Regina reflected with only a hint of bitterness in her heart, when you had a mother who reacted to the smallest or even imagined social faux-paux with harsh punishment.

"She favors you, Little Aurora, I mean."

She didn't want to talk about the past anymore.

Leah smiled, and for a moment it even looked genuine, and pushed one of her dainty brown curls behind the shell of her gold and diamond tiara, "She is the light of my life."

The two queens fell silent for a moment and Regina fervently wished she had more wine.

"And look at Snow. She favors the Queen, Eva I mean."

The dig was anything but subtle, but Regina refused to let it affect her. It was not the first time she had heard about how much Snow looked like her dead mother. Didn't Leopold mention it every day? Didn't she know that she held no candle to the beloved Eva?

"Speaking of mothers," Eva smiled again, "when are you going to present Leopold with an heir?"

Regina was saved from answering by a small bundle of bright pink satin and lace.

"Mommy!" The girl with big blue eyes and a missing front tooth ran towards Leah. "Did you see me?! Snow and I were dancing!" Leah bent over and hugged her daughter, laughing as she answered the girl's excited questions

The eruption of corrosive anger in Regina's chest was almost physically painful. She caught sight of Snow working her way through the crowd of adults, towards her. Looking for the kind step-mother everyone expected her to be. She couldn't do it. She would hug the girl until her ribs cracked and her lungs were devoid of air. Then Snow turned and ran to her father and relief almost eclipsed the anger in her. No one was paying her any attention now, so it was easy to turn on her heel and left the ballroom. She spared one last glance across the room at her husband. He was deep in conversation with King Stephen and even deeper in his ale. So deep in his ale that he would not be able to stumble his way to her chambers tonight. Thank the spirits.

She abandoned her goblet, it was useless to her without wine in it. She dropped it to the floor negligently and smirked when she heard the crystal shatter on the flagstone floor.

The music faded behind her, and by the time she reached the courtyard, and her tree, the stink of perfume and heat of too many bodies shoved into a small space had dissipated. She hated these social farces. They were nothing but pompous shows of riches and so-called political power. If they only knew what real power looked like they would tremble at her feet.

Rage rose in her again and she crossed the courtyard to her tree. Her dress, deep blue with silver and sapphire embroidery, was too thin to be truly comfortable in the chilly breeze but she could not fathom going back inside. Not right now. She wrapped her arms around herself and stared at the silhouette of the moon through the branches of her Honey Crisp tree. The tree that Esmeralda and her father had planted for her when she was just a baby. The tree had been one of her few demands when she had been forced to move to the Royal Palace, her gilded cage. She would not be without this last precious piece of happier days. This was the tree that she and Esmeralda had danced under. It was where her father had read to her. It was beneath this tree that she had first kissed Daniel. She would go mad without it.

"They're positively nauseating, aren't they?

Regina turned sharply, gasp stuck in her chest. No one from the Ball should have wandered this far away. Then she saw who was speaking to her and knew that they had not been in the Grand Ballroom. Her elaborate dress and jacket was a deep purple, dark enough to look black in the dim courtyard. It was a pretty enough dress, but it was too wild and too wantonly cut to have been at the ball. The woman's blonde hair was a wild mane of curls and there was a twisted smirk on her face. She didn't know this woman, but the aura of power that all but crackled around her piqued Regina's interest.

She moved closer, staff in hand, "Stephen and Leah like to think they are powerful politicos." The blonde let out a bark of sarcastic laughter, "As if they know what true power is." She chuckled, "Let me guess what's going on in there." She leaned casually on her elaborate staff, "Stephen is schmoozing Leopold, and greasing him up like a country pig. Seeking favor and power like a suckling leach. They're drinking their weight in ale and comparing the size of the cocks and armies." She let out a bitter chuckle, "And Leah is floating around like a glittering fairy-queen. Buttering people up and then cutting them down with that bitchy tongue of hers. A picture perfect queen without a drop of empathy in her entire silk-clad being. Honestly the two of them could drive a woman to homicide. Oh wait-" She grinned a little manically, "they already did."

Regina pulled herself up to her full height and squared her shoulders. "Who the hell are you and what the hell do you think you're doing?" And why did she find herself drawn to the obviously unbalanced woman?

The blonde reached up and ran her fingers across one of the low-hanging almost ripe apples over their heads. "I'm someone like you, Your Majesty."

Regina blinked, "I have no idea what you're talking about." The lie flowed so smoothly across her tongue that she almost believed it herself.

The blonde's laughter, high and eerie, echoed though the courtyard. "Dear, we are far too powerful to play games like this." She stepped closer, invading Regina's private space. She was a few inches taller than Regina and her elaborate hair only added to her height. One purple-tinted fingernail slid down Regina's arm, "Your mother was powerful, but you have the potential to be so much more than a scheming step mother and wicked queen. You could be truly great."

Adrenaline and magic pumped through Regina's blood. "Who are you?" Her voice was low, raspy and held a touch of danger. Fire leapt to her fingertips. This was her newest skill, something that brought a smirk to her face. Toying with the elements of life itself was an intoxicating power and fire had always called to her.

"So eager."

A slender hand wrapped around her wrist, "So much power. I could use a friend like you."

"A friend?" Regina raised a single brow, "I am a Queen. I do not have friends, only subjects."

The woman hadn't let go of her wrist, despite the fire burning in her palm.

"But there's so much I could teach you and that you could teach me." She waved her free hand almost lazily, the air around them rippled and the fire in Regina's hand extinguished. The blonde leaned closer and when she spoke Regina could feel her glossy pink lips brush against her cheek, "You hate Leopold and his little Snow Flake as much as I hate Leah and her brat. We can dance in their blood together-celebrate our victories together. It never hurts to have at least one friend in this world, Your Majesty. Especially one as powerful as me."

Regina tilted her head ever so slightly, she was intrigued.

"Well, I don't make friends stand out in the cold to talk. We should go to my chambers, have a glass of wine and talk about this further…"

She trailed off because she had no idea what the woman's name was. She knew that she smelled of Bella Donna and vanilla, and intoxicating and deadly combonation of scents, but not her name.

Blonde curls tickled the tasteful amount of cleavage she showed and hot breathe caressed her ear,

"I'm Maleficent."

She had heard of the woman, the sorceress who lived in a forbidden forest fortress. She was rumored to be very powerful and even more vindictive.

"I'm sure you are."

She turned, but did not move away yet, "Come, we have much to discuss." She let her voice drop an octave and it purred out of her throat like silk, "My friend."

Things never changed, Regina mused as she watched the party around her. Another celebration that she was expected to observe, but not partake in. She was, as she had always been, decoration. Once she had been Leopold's Queen, a pretty bauble like a ruby pendant: he could make his rounds with her on his arm glittering and bright and then cast her off without a second thought. No one paid attention to her when Leopold was otherwise occupied. She was inconsequential, a second rate queen whose existence was eclipsed by their beloved princes. Snow White held court in the diner just as she always had in her father's castle. Everyone flocked to her and her perfect family, even her own son. Regina was now The Evil Queen and she was there on the Savior's whim. An inconvenience to be suffered through to make their prophesized princess happy. Then when the Savior was bored with her, when Henry didn't care to see her anymore, she would be tossed away if she was lucky and executed for her many crimes if she was not.

Until then, though, she was in a strange limbo existence, tolerated but only barely. She had been here before, and had survived, she could do it again. Regina didn't need them or their party. She never had. So she left, just as she had walked out of countless feasts and balls. No one would miss her, they never did. Well, Esmeralda would, of course, but she didn't want to pull the other woman away from her conversation.

She wrapped her arms around herself and stared out at Storybrooke's empty streets. She was alone, always. So be it, Regina sighed and tilted her head back to stare at the stars. They were the exact same stars that she had learned to navigate by as a child. The stars, Esmeralda had told her, were the same in all realms. It was a small comfort, she supposed, that she had been able to teach Henry the stars and constellations the same way Esmeralda and Daddy had taught her. Under the endless blanket of stars she felt small and inconsequential. Not a Queen, not a Mayor, she was just one woman fighting for a little boy who didn't even love her.

"Archie made a cake."

She turned around and was annoyed to hear a gasp slip out of her throat.

"Miss Swan."

Her voice was flat, even to her own ears. She hadn't expected anyone to follow her. She couldn't allow anyone to see her being less then regal. She would not allow anyone, especially Emma Swan, to think her weak. Her strength, her façade was all she had left. Everything else had been stripped away from her, even her son.

"You don't want to stay for a piece?"

Walk back into the diner with her tail tucked between her legs, following yet another beloved princess like a puppy? Absolutely not. She had lost many things but not her pride, never that.

"I'm fine, thank you." Gone was the snap in her voice, the sarcasm, the self-assured tone that told people she was a queen and should be respected and feared. She didn't feel like a queen right now, not even Mayor. She was just happy that she'd got to see her son, if only for a few minutes. Whether she liked it or not, and she didn't, Emma Swan had been the one to invite her. Emma Swan, who was headed back to her party.

"Thank you." The words felt foreign on her tongue, like a dead language that she struggled to read.

Miss Swan turned around and stepped back towards her, "You just said that."

"For inviting me-us."

It was a mark of her monumental effort to change, to control her darkness that she was thanking the woman who had destroyed her life and taken her son.

"Henry liked it, and I know you would want Esmeralda to meet The Kid. I'm glad you guys got to spend some time together."

Some time, such a small amount of time with her little boy. A scant half hour with Henry, the baby she had sung to sleep, the toddler she had taught to walk, the sweet boy she tucked in every night. She missed Henry more than words could convey.

"Me too." She paused and for a moment she thought she could leave it there, but her love of Henry won out over her fierce pride.

"I'd like to see him more."

Begging the princess, like a lowly pauper, for more time with the son that Miss Swan had given up years before. Begging for time with the boy she'd raised for ten years like a dog begged for scraps. If the other woman allowed it, though, her bruised pride would be more then worth it. She'd do anything for Henry.

"Maybe you'd consider letting him stay over sometime."

Oh how she wanted her son back under her roof, back in the house that hadn't been a home until she'd brought her little seven pound, ten ounce miracle into it.

"I have his room just-just waiting for him."

Her voice faltered on that. His room, that she had lovingly painted as a nursery and then later a toddler's room. Henry had picked the design of his current room only two years ago. Her big boy had known exactly what he wanted his room to look like. It was exactly how he'd left it but for the wrinkles in his comforter and the dried tears on his pillow from the nights she had slept in his bed.

"Oh, I-"The blonde hesitated, "I'm not sure that's for the best."

First came pain, such sharp and jagged pain in her heart and soul. Then anger rose in her, hot and familiar. How dare this woman keep her from Henry? This woman who hadn't even wanted him. The woman who'd given birth to him in a jail cell then tossed him away. Then a numbness settled in her chest. This was her reality now, Miss Swan was Henry's mother, whether she deserved to be or not.

"Because you know so much about parenting in the five minutes you've been with him." More than five minutes, it had been months of stealing Henry slowly with treats and adventures while she had been trying to be a good mother to him. She had been the one who had checked his homework and made sure he brushed his teeth, who had to discipline him when he skipped school. "Talk to your charming father David. At least he took care of him while you were away." Oh how she hated that. Her heart had broken, shattered in her chest once again, when Henry had walked away with his newly discovered grandfather. She had stolen his other grandfather from him, David was the only grandfather he would ever know. Daddy would never get to meet Henry, and that was her fault. That had been her price to pay.

"Like I did" Her anger was getting the better of her, crackling in her soul and entering her voice making her accusations sharp and her tone as hard as granite, "during the ten years you were away the first time." The best ten years of her entire existence.

"Okay" Emma's voice was low and her green eyes sparked, "thanks for coming." She turned around and Regina knew, down to her bones, that blonde would never allow her to see Henry now.

Damn her temper. She was trying to change, trying to be a better person. Why did everything have to be so hard? Why did the other woman have to get to her so easily? Why did every word have to get under Regina's skin? Why did it have to hurt so damn much to see her son's birth mother every day?

"No, wait." It couldn't end like this. She wouldn't let her chance at being Henry's mother again slip through her fingers so easily.

"I'm sorry."

How many people had heard her say that? Henry, of course, she had told him that over and over. Esmeralda, Daddy, her Mother. Queens do not apologize, her mother had told her. She was not a queen anymore, just a desperate mother. She even took a step forwards. She pulled her hands out of her coat pocket because she needed to move them, to use her hands to help make her point. Her mother had always hated that she spoke with her hands, a nasty peasant's habit that her father had instilled in her she'd said, but when she was nervous she could not stop herself. She tried, though, she clenched her shaking fists at her sides.

"Em-I-I" She was stuttering like an idiot, "I'm sorry." She said it again. She'd apologized twice to her now. "I shouldn't have snapped at you." Compared to her days as The Evil Queen, or even as Storybrooke's mayor, this had been a mild outburst. Still, though, she was sorry and she needed the other woman to know that. She needed Emma Swan to see that she was changing, for the better. "Will you accept my apology?"

Emma stood, silent for a moment, hands tucked into the pockets of her jeans.

She didn't know this Regina. It was yet another side to the brunette. Regina Mills had to be the most complicated person in the damn world, in any world. She was one of those impossibly beautiful puzzles with five-thousand tiny pieces. She looked so sad. Emma had stepped outside to catch her before she left, but she hadn't expected to see Regina like that. She was staring up at the sky, arms wrapped around her, alone in front of a diner full of people, in a town full of people. Regina stood alone, and for some reason she couldn't understand, Emma couldn't tolerate it anymore.

"Archie made a cake."

Lame. Oh so lame.

She was offering the Evil Queen cake. She didn't know what to do with this woman anymore. This woman who sucked up evil curses and painted her toenails bright colors, who asked for her son to stay over in his room.

"I-"She didn't know what to do, but she couldn't let Henry just wander back into Regina's life with a smile and a half-hearted promise of good behavior. Regina was still dangerous and Emma didn't trust Esmeralda. Not because of the gypsy nonsense either, there were too many questions and not enough answers about the woman.

"I'm not sure that's for the best."

If she'd have blinked, she would have missed it. The absolute devastation in Regina's eyes.

Then the woman snapped to life, the familiar anger and snide tone, this Regina she knew. This was the Regina that had punched her in the cemetery and challenged her from across the marble desk in her office. Here was the Evil Queen, which was why she couldn't let Henry go back to 108 Mifflin.

She turned to leave the woman, she had family and friends to get back to.

"I'm sorry."

Damn it. Emma turned around again, frustrated and confused. Regina Mills didn't apologize, but here she was, begging for her to accept an apology.

Maybe she had drank a little too much, because she wasn't sure this was actually happening.

She hadn't expected this. Emma could hardly believe her ears. Regina Mills, Evil Queen, Mayor and major pain in her ass, was apologizing, to her. She sounded so damn sincere, she was sincere, Emma could feel that the woman was telling the truth.

"Okay." Her words were barely a whisper.

If Regina truly wanted to change, fighting with her at every turn wasn't going to help.

"You're right."

Regina blinked and slid her hands back into her coat pockets.

"I don't know much about being a good mom and you did take care of Henry by yourself for ten years. I mean, you know what, thank you. For that, for taking care of Henry."

She had, Emma knew, taken good care of Henry. Maybe she wasn't Mother of the Year, but she had given him a safe, stable home, support, care, love. No matter how awkward and suffocating it had been, Regina loved Henry.

"I-"Regina shrugged, "Henry is the best thing in my life. He's the only good thing I've ever done."

Finally, Emma nodded, something they could agree on. She had done some messed up things in her life but having Henry, even if she hadn't been able to keep him, was the best thing she'd ever done.

"So maybe it's not the best idea, but I think him spending more time with you would be good. Maybe not overnight, not yet, but you're his mother too."

Regina only nodded silently. Had she really just left the mouthy mayor speechless?

"And I mean with Cora in town having you close to Henry is a good idea-for his safety I mean."

It was an instant change. It started with her eyes-the dark chocolate brown eyes went wide. Then her face lost its healthy olive tone, it went very pale very fast.

"Wh-what?"

Her voice shook, Emma hadn't heard her voice like that since Henry had been in the hospital. With that off-hand comment Emma learned two very important things. One, Esmeralda had not told Regina how she had arrived in Storybrooke and two. Emma felt a cold splash of fear in her belly. Two, Regina Mills, bad ass Evil Queen, was terrified of her own mother.

"My mother" Regina reached out and rested her palm on the nearby table-as if she was having problems standing. "is here, in Storybrooke?"

Emma stepped closer, a little worried now. She had seen this reaction in people before, but not in a very long time. This instant and overwhelming fear was familiar, too familiar. This was the same fear she had seen on countless faces and no matter how old you got, the fear remained. This was the face of an abused child.

"Regina."

She had known that Cora was a piece of work, but this was something else entirely.

She rested a hand on Regina's shoulder, "It's going to be okay."

The flesh underneath her hand stiffened and Regina shrugged it away.

"You have no idea what she was capable of. If she knew about Henry." Regina's shudder conveyed more than words could.

Well shit. Emma sighed, she had better tell her now.

"About that, she might already kind of know about Henry."

"Oh God." Regina's voice was a raspy whisper and Emma knew that was from terror.

The Evil Queen was terrified. Oh double shit, what had she done?

"I didn't know, Regina!" She threw up her hands and started to pace, "I mean I didn't get a damn visitor's guide to Fairy Tale Forest Land. No one told me that your mother is a fucking sociopath who rips out hearts left right and sideways. I mean we were in a damn hole with no way out and she was this lady in there with us. She gave me this sob-story about her daughter being so freaking bad and I don't know we'd been kind of at each other's throats and it made sense at the time. Then Snow woke up and gave me the 411 on Mommy Dearest. She overheard me telling Snow to play it cool and Henry's name just popped out. I didn't know!"

Regina had to understand how bad she felt, how monumentally stupid she had been. She got it, she understood. Emma Swan had, once again, fucked up big time.

"Then poof she was Lancelot. Did you know that fucking Lancelot was real? He is. Apparently the whole damn King Arthur thing is true. It's like eleventh grade English is back to bite me in the damn ass." She was rambling now, but couldn't stop.

"Then we're running and she summons zombies. Fucking zombies to chase us. Then there's Hook, and by the way he's a bastard. I climbed up a beanstalk, like Jack from the story, and there was a literal giant. A giant, fee-fi-fo-fum giant in a castle in the clouds. All I wanted to do was get home. Your batshit insane mother tried to kill us multiple times and then we were in my childhood nursery and so close to being home then fire and fighting happened. She took Aurora's heart, or Hook did, I'm a little fuzzy on that. We were locked in some creepy prison and I used a scroll full of my name written in magic ink to free us. Then boom we're fighting Cora and she shoved her hand into my chest."

"She took your heart?"

Regina's voice cracked, and she closed the gap between them, putting herself way into Emma's personal space. "She has your heart and you allowed yourself to be near to Henry? Do you know what she could make you do? You have no idea what she is truly capable of!"

Regina's eyes were wide with fear, her voice shook and her hands fluttered in the air like she wanted to grab Emma and shake her.

Emma grabbed Regina's wrists and held them still. "She tried. It wouldn't come out. It was, like, stuck in my chest."

She hadn't thought it was such a big deal, but Regina's face, mouth open in amazement, told her that it probably was.

"She started rambling about love being weakness and I told her that love was strength and then she was blown backwards. I set myself to stun or something. Then we hopped in the portal and climbed out of the well. According to Aurora and Mulan, Hook and Cora sailed here through another portal. Aurora and Mulan stole away on the ship with your Esmeralda's help."

She ached to shove her fingers through her hair, but refused to let Regina's wrists free. God only knew what the woman would do if she could move her hands. She'd already been the target of one of Regina Mill's punches and didn't particularly want to go through that again. "And that's the gist of Emma and Snow's Bogus Adventure."

"She couldn't take your heart?" Regina's voice was steady but quiet. It was like she couldn't believe what Emma was telling her.

Emma still had Regina's wrists in her heads so she brought one of Regina's hands to her chest. "Nope still here, still beating and doing whatever else a heart is supposed to do." Beating a little faster than normal, actually. "No one is going to hurt Henry. I'm the Savior and you're the Evil Queen, who the hell has a chance against us?"

Regina pulled away, wrenching herself out of Emma's grasp, "My mother." She walked away from Emma, four steps, then stopped. Her back was to Emma but her words were clear, "She has magic and is ruthless. She will stop at nothing to get what she wants." Emma watched the woman before her transform yet again. Her spine stiffened and she could see Regina's shoulders square beneath her coat.

"And what does she want, Regina?"

The brunette turned to the side so Emma could see the shadows play on one side of her face, "Me. Miss Swan, she wants me and by extension Henry."

There was no way in Heaven, Hell, The Enchanted Forests, Storybrooke or anywhere in between, that Cora was going to lay a hand on Henry or his mother.

"Not happening."

Regina turned to face her again, dark hair flipping as she moved, "And what can you do to stop her? I absorbed our last and best defense against her yesterday. That magic, all that fairy dust, is gone now. What are you going to do, threaten her with a chainsaw? She's the Queen of Hearts, even Gold fears her power. Does that tell you anything?" The mayor was back, the spitfire woman who fought Emma at every turn about everything. This was the Regina they needed right now. The fighter, the woman who wouldn't quit even if everything was stacked against her.

"That this Gold is a fool."

Both Emma and Regina turned to see Esmeralda standing just outside the door of Granny's. Neither were sure how long the other woman had been there.

"Esmeralda, please tell Miss Swan-"

"Emma." She was damn tired of the formal bull crap that Regina hid behind. "My name is Emma."

"Fine," Regina blew out a frustrated breath, "Tell Emma how powerful Mother is. She won't listen to me."

The Romani woman walked towards them, empty lasagna dish in her hands, "She is powerful, this is known."

Regina looked smug, like she had won some sort of victory.

"But you are more powerful then she could ever imagine."

That left Regina speechless and Emma wanted to groan. That's exactly what she needed, Regina Mills on a power-trip.

"Why didn't you tell me she was here? I could have done something."

From the way Regina's voice wavered on something, she had no clue what the something could have been. Emma knew the feeling though. Doing something was always better than doing nothing.

"I was going to tell you when you had fully recovered."

Fully recovered? What was that supposed to mean? Emma did not like the sound of that.

"It is unimportant. Are you ready to leave?"

Regina nodded wordlessly and Esmeralda crossed the patio to stand at the brunette's side.

"Thank you for inviting us, Emma Swan. It was an enlightening evening."

Emma watched both women walk away, and had no idea what to think about either of them.

High above Granny's diner, perched on one of Storybrooke's rooftops, Hook watched the scene play out through his spy glass. He lowered it and shrugged, "Well, is she broken?"

Regina, the Evil Queen, didn't look broken to him, but looks could be deceiving. Cora stood beside him, her blue dress and cloak rippling in the wind. He had sneaked a glance at her more than once while they'd watched the dramatic little scene play out before them. She, unlike himself, apparently didn't need a spyglass. Her face had flickered between unimpressed boredom to mild amusement, but had made no comments. He wasn't sure what the conversation had been about, but he did have a guess at why Emma Swan hadn't responded to his advances.

"Not yet." Cora's mouth pulled into a smirk. "Esmeralda's presence has changed my plan a little bit."

"Oh really?" If the gypsy made things difficult why had they let her tag along in the first place? There was more to this than what Cora was telling him.

She nodded, "Regina has to lose everything and the farther she falls the easier it will be to bring her back into my arms."

He buffed his hook on his shirt, "So you want to string her along a bit, toy with her. Give the puppy a minute with the bone two before wrenching it away."

Cora didn't answer but her face, and her cold smile, told him all he needed to know.

AN2: What did Esmeralda find so enlightening? Find out in the next chapter. Also Maleficent was ridiculously fun to write.