Once Upon a Time 1. Prologue: Wayward

TITLE: Ricochet  
**PROLOGUE: Wayward**

* * *

It was impossible. All the tossing, turning, huffing and throwing off the covers did nothing to soothe the restless mind in the loft; the restless mind that was currently attempting to sort through the events of the last two days.

She had thought they were turning a corner. She thought, since her return, that extending an olive branch could start to rebuild the bridge. It had been there once - granted, that had only been in the first ten minutes they knew each other. Any other olive branches extended were momentary, when they or their son had been in danger. The brief glimpse of a possible friendship after the curse had broken had been too brief, before she was ripped away into another world. But when she came back, she thought they could make a change for the better.

Yet here they were again.

"God dammit," Emma whispered, throwing the covers off for the last time and sitting up, swinging her legs almost violently over the side of the bed. She didn't even flinch when her heels hit the bed frame, sending a shockwave up her legs.

Here they were, back at the start. Dammit, Regina.

She had been so sure. So sure that Regina had changed. She had been so certain that she managed to put her own parents in doubt.

_"I know that look. ...I know her."_

She had been so certain they were stuck on that old image - the 'Evil Queen' persona from a lifetime ago. Hell, she knew Regina, and her schemes and back-biting ways, well enough to be certain that she wasn't trying to pull anything. The deep onyx of her eyes gave her away. She had known nothing of Archie's fate.

But using that dream catcher on Pongo... pulling up the image of Regina doing something so unspeakable... then she couldn't believe she had had faith in her in the first place. She couldn't believe she had been so stupid as to believe Regina could be something she had never been in the first place: a good person.

_"We know how you are, and how you will always be."_

And then, poof - in an instant she was gone. There had been no retaliation, no last, biting comment. Just a vacancy in her eyes, then a plume of purple smoke and she had vanished. And Emma was left terrified, knowing that she had to pick up the pieces. That she had to tell Henry what she'd seen his mother do.

He had been devastated, and rightfully so. He had barely touched his dinner, and went to bed in a somber mood. Emma had been unable to reach him, unable to offer any solace. A few hours as a single parent and she was already failing miserably.

The linen curtains lifted, dancing in midair as a breeze swept into the room, but it did nothing to calm Emma's already frazzled nerves. She felt lost. A little hopeless. And the strangest emotion of all... she felt guilty. Guilty for the words she spat at Regina out of anger. Out of hurt and betrayal. She wanted to have faith in her and Regina let her down, hard.

When the curtains separated again, Emma glanced out the window at the sleeping town. She half-wondered if a walk would clear her head; if it would help to stem the wayward thoughts.

Then a purple plume appeared at the foot of her bed and she found herself frozen in place.

* * *

**TBC**


	2. Chapter 1: Evanescent

TITLE: Ricochet  
**CHAPTER 1: Evanescent**

* * *

"Regina, what the hell?!" Emma tried to be as quiet as she possibly could, throwing a furtive glance toward the upper loft where her son slept soundly.

The smoke cleared and Regina stepped forward, her face illuminated by the thick sliver of moonlight breaking through the open curtains. Somehow, her expression was hard and soft all at once, and Emma tabled her instinctual apprehension to get a good look at her.

Her eyes were red, the skin beneath a little puffy. She had been crying. Rather atypical behavior for a homicidal sociopath, Emma couldn't help but note. And when she stood and met Regina face-to-face, she didn't miss the fact that there were still tears in her eyes.

This wasn't the same woman that had catapulted her across the lawn several hours earlier. Nor was this the woman snarking at her in the interrogation room. The woman in front of her now was broken, defeated, but with a spark of determination. The mixture in and of itself was fascinating.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, quietly.

Regina's lower lip quivered ever so briefly, but her tone was resolute. She held out her wrists, upturned in surrender. "I'm turning myself in."

"What?!" That time, she had been unable to control her volume, and a light came on in the other room.

"Emma?"

Regina shot her a look, her sharply-arched brow seeming to snipe, _"We couldn't have done this quietly?"_

David and Mary Margaret came bursting in, the latter of them belting a soft pink robe around herself. "What is going on in here?" When she got a good look, her own volume was uncontrollable. "Regina?!"

Another light came on, this one from the upper loft, and Emma sighed and threw her head back, muttering, "Great."

Mere seconds later, Henry bounded down the stairs, stopping short just before his foot left the bottom step. He stared at his adoptive mother as if she were a venomous cobra, and he glared slightly. "What is she doing here?"

If possible, Regina's eyes looked even more watery. One hand reached for him and fell to her side a split-second later. "Henry..."

David stepped forward at that point, folding his arms. "I think Henry's question has some merit. What are you doing here, Regina?"

Emma watched the brunette as her eyes flickered around the room, Henry their final landing place. When she looked up, her tone was once again resolute... determined, as she replied, "I came to turn myself in."

"I knew it!" Henry spat, moving toward her. "I knew you killed Archie! You're always gonna be the Evil Queen."

"Henry," Emma warned. She wasn't exactly concerned about preserving Regina's feelings, but she knew better than any of them not to antagonize a flight risk.

"I didn't kill Archie. Henry, please believe me."

Mary Margaret tilted her head, voice soft but tone unforgiving. "We saw it with our own eyes, Regina. It was you."

Emma kept her eyes on Regina as she shook her head, the motion almost frantic. "It wasn't."

David cocked his chin and asked, "Then why turn yourself in?"

"To prove to you that I didn't do it." She looked to her son. "I didn't, Henry. You'll see."

Then, Emma found herself staring into the depths of Regina's eyes as they focused on her. "But whoever did? Maybe isn't going to stop at just Archie."

Regina took a step forward and Emma held her ground, just watching her. It wasn't as if invasion of personal space was a foreign concept between them. "If I'm locked up and another person gets hurt..."

She left the implication dangling in the air between them, but it was enough for Emma to nod and murmur almost defeatedly, "She's right."

Both her parents voiced a protest and Emma turned to face them. "Think about it. Either way, this is a win. With Regina locked up, everyone is safe."

She didn't miss the wounded expression from the brunette, or the snotty, "Thanks for the vote of confidence."

"She has magic," David pointed out, his arms folded across his chest. "How do you expect to keep her locked up if she can just make the bars disappear?"

Emma stopped to ponder that - she hadn't even considered the idea that it was a trick. Hell, Regina had tricked her before - what was to stop her from doing it now?

"I won't use it," Regina spoke up, taking another step toward them.

David raised his brows. "And you expect us to just trust you?"

"You disappeared into thin air right in front of our eyes," Mary Margaret said, mirroring her husband's position. "How do we know you're not gonna do it again?"

Regina swallowed and said once again, more strongly, "I did not kill Archie. I don't know who you saw, but it wasn't me. And I'm willing to let you lock me in a cell to prove it."

Emma stood there momentarily, watching the evanescent former queen. She thought about everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours, and the array of emotion was so polarized it made her sigh tiredly, "Good enough for me."

Her parents, not to mention her son, were less than pleased. "Emma..." her mother intoned, tilting her head.

"You can't do this! It's a trick!" Henry exclaimed, and Emma threw a fleeting glimpse at Regina in response, who appeared to be just barely holding it together at this point.

"I don't think this is a good idea," David was the last to chime in, and Emma cut him off on the last syllable.

"Well I'm still sheriff. I'm taking her in." Her tone ended the discussion, and she quickly changed into her jeans, throwing on her old leather jacket before grabbing her badge, her cuffs and - just for good measure - her gun.

Then she returned to where the four of them were still lingering, David and Henry staring at Regina while Mary Margaret kept her arms folded and stared at the floor. After slipping her badge through a belt loop and stashing her gun, Emma held out the hand cuffs.

Regina swallowed and held up her wrists. Emma glimpsed at her several times, trying to gauge her mood as she slid the first metal cuff over one wrist, snapping it in place.

"Regina Mills," she murmured, "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say-"

"You can spare me the 'Law & Order' re-enactment, Miss Swan," she snipped, holding up her other wrist almost impatiently. "I'm aware of my rights."

Emma shrugged, snapping the other cuff in place. "Fine. Then let's go."

* * *

Most of the short ride to the sheriff's station was silent. Emma quietly pondered the state of her sanity as Regina sat mutely in the passenger seat, cuffed hands in her lap. Her lip remained curled in derision the entire ride while she stared distastefully at the various pieces of her car's interior.

When they rolled up to the station, Emma rolled her eyes and cut the engine. "I know it's not a Mercedes, but-"

"You don't drive my son to school in this death trap, do you Miss Swan?"

"_My_ son," she corrected, more to get a rise out of Regina than anything else. "And no. He takes the bus."

"Well. Good." Wisely, Regina had no retort to the 'my son' comment, and instead allowed Emma to lead her into the station.

She turned on the light and practically flinched at the bright fluorescence. "You really couldn't have waited until a decent hour to turn yourself in, Regina?" she couldn't help but gripe. "You had to do this at three in the morning?"

"Take it or leave it."

Emma sighed, retrieving her keys from the desk. She flipped through them on the almost comically-large key ring, looking for the one that would open the cell. With her back to Regina, it somehow made it easier to confess, "You kinda left me in the lurch earlier."

She looked up to see the flippant hair toss from Regina, an innocent blink following thereafter. "What do you mean?"

"Vanishing like that?" She approached with the key ring, moving to unlock the cell. "I felt kind of... abandoned. Having to tell Henry what happened."

Predictably, Regina rolled her eyes. "Terribly sorry, Miss Swan. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings while you were accusing me of murder and threatening to take my son away from me."

The sarcasm in her tone was heavy, and Emma looked up to glare at her while she unlocked the cell and swung it open.

"Just get in."

Regina stepped into the cell and turned to face Emma as she closed the bars with a heavy clank. She gripped one of the bars as she slid the key into the lock and turned. She startled when a hand touched hers, and jumped her eyes up to meet Regina's.

Her wrists were still bound, and each of her hands gripped the bars, one of them clamped over Emma's. She searched Regina's eyes for malice but found none. Instead, the onyx irides were deep... almost sad, and slightly wistful. Like when she had realized Emma could use magic.

"You believed me earlier." She nodded toward the interrogation room. "In there. I know you did. Please believe me now. I _didn't do this_."

Emma swallowed hard, taken in by the look in Regina's eyes. Her heart pounded with adrenaline, possibly at the thought that with Regina gripping her hand, she could still try something crazy to escape. So she yanked her hand back and steeled her jaw, eyes hard as she ground out lowly, "I believe what I saw. And I saw you choke the life out of Archie."

With that, she stepped back and stuffed the huge key ring in her jacket pocket, telling Regina, "Now I am going home to get some sleep. And now that my son and the rest of this town will be safe, I should be able to sleep pretty well."

She strolled off without another word, leaving Regina to stare after her, gripping the bars of her cell.

And Emma kept the confidence in her every step until she got into the car and slumped against the wheel. She knew she wasn't going to sleep well.

Just as she knew by the sinking of her stomach that when she returned to the station later, Regina's cell would be empty.

* * *

**TBC**


	3. Chapter 2: Incongruity

TITLE: Ricochet  
**CHAPTER 2: Incongruity**

* * *

When Emma awoke, it was with a tumble of dread in her gut and half-open eyes. A mere three hours had passed since she'd left Regina at the sheriff's station and she knew she would return to find an empty cell. That in and of itself was enough to incite dour spirits, and the three hours of sleep was doing nothing to help. Worse than that, the middle-of-the-night disturbance didn't seem to affect anyone else in the house, if the happy chatter was any indication.

She oozed out of bed and kept her eyes half-closed, as if that would allow her to get any more rest, while she haphazardly threw on jeans and a sweater. Then she stumbled toward the source of the happy chatter and plunked herself unceremoniously on the bar stool beside her son.

"Morning!" he chirped.

"Yeah, morning," she groaned, sweeping her hands through tangles of blonde.

"Some coffee?" Mary Margaret offered with a raised brow.

"Yes," she sighed, and the desperation within the single syllable caused that brow to go even higher.

Henry just sat at the counter, feet kicking under him while he stirred his cereal. Emma watched the motion, faster and faster until she was looking at a whirlpool of milk and corn flakes.

Her mother's voice drew her attention. "How did everything go?"

Emma grunted tiredly, reaching for the mug Mary Margaret slid toward her. "Good as can be expected, I guess."

"Did she escape?" Henry wanted to know.

Emma shook her head, slowly. "Nope. She let me lock her up."

"Well that hardly means she'll still be there," David reasoned as he strolled into the room, heading for the front door and opening it to grab the paper.

"Yeah, I know. I know what to expect." She yawned down into her mug.

"Do you need me there this morning?"

Emma took a long sip of her coffee, ignoring the brief scalding her tongue suffered as she swallowed and shook her head. "Nah, I'll be fine."

"Are you sure? You didn't get much sleep."

Again, Emma waved him off. "I can just stock up on coffee at Granny's. I'll be fine." She finished the rest of her coffee in a gulp, hoping it wouldn't result in third-degree burns, before she clapped her son on the back and said, "C'mon kid, I'll walk you out. Bus'll be here soon."

* * *

After seeing Henry off, she stopped at Granny's to pick up two large lattes and, for good measure, two apple crisp muffins. For a made-up, curse-borne town, there was no shortage of paperwork - paperwork she had inevitably fallen behind on after falling, quite literally, down the rabbit hole. And if she was going to deal with staring at an empty cell for eight hours, cursing Regina the entire time, then hell - she deserved a second muffin.

By the time she had reached the station it was just barely nine. She fumbled for her keys, the bag of muffins dangling from her teeth. A balancing act kept the two to-go tumblers of coffee upright as she slid the key in the lock and strolled into the station.

And when she rounded the corner, she very nearly lost her grip on everything. The bag dropped from her open mouth and for a second she just stared.

There sat Regina on the cot in her cell, leaning against the wall with a thin blanket draped around her elegantly as if it were a silk wrap. With a flick of her deep brown locks, she looked up and they met eyes. Her tone was even... professional, if a little superior... as she greeted her, "Good morning."

Dumbfounded, Emma closed her mouth and managed to stammer out, "Uh, hey," before setting the coffee on the filing cabinet. Her eyes remained cemented to Regina as she bent down to scoop up her breakfast.

Before she could stop a dumb question from emerging, she asked, "What are you still doing here?"

Regina tilted her head and quirked a brow, an almost patronizing curiosity in her voice as she asked, "Where else would I be, exactly?" and held up her still-bound wrists.

Emma's mouth opened and closed on unformed sentences and thoughts. If possible, she was even more confused by this incongruity than by last night's. Regina turning herself in? Highly unexpected. Then actually staying in jail? Even moreso.

"Sorry, I just..." She gestured to her. "I-I wasn't expecting..." After a moment in which she continued to struggle throwing a sentence together and in which Regina stared expectantly, she just huffed and gave up. "Are you hungry?"

Both brows lifted in response, and Regina appeared taken aback for a moment. Within a blink, she had composed herself and replied coolly, "I suppose."

Emma made her way to the cell with the bag, holding it up. "I, uh... I got some muffins."

Another tilt of the head and Regina asked, "Is this your usual treatment of prisoners, Sheriff Swan? Because if so, I may just have to re-examine your budget."

Emma rolled her eyes, though she couldn't help the smirk. "Do you want something to eat, or not?"

That seemed to temporarily lower the walls the 'Evil Queen' had built so high. All traces of sarcasm left her voice and she said, "Yes please."

"Here." Reaching into the bag, Emma pulled out one of the muffins and held it out, then stopped. "Oh. Right." The cuffs.

And then she was struck with an inner conundrum. Was that why Regina hadn't escaped last night? She was in handcuffs? But that didn't make sense; she could've easily made them disappear, or... turned them into diamond tennis bracelets or something.

As if able to pick up on her thoughts, Regina rolled her eyes and sighed, "For god sakes. I'm still here. I'm not going to use magic, and I'm not going to try to escape." She lifted her bound wrists. "Now will you please uncuff me?"

"Sure." The response was knee-jerk though doubt still reigned. She recalled Regina's words from several hours ago.

_"You believed me earlier. In there. Please believe me now. I didn't do this."_

If she was lying, this seemed like an extreme measure to go to - even for her. And Emma still couldn't shake the feeling that something was amiss. She knew Regina's moods and looks. And with her polygraphic superpower, she knew that eyes didn't lie - least of all Regina's. If anything, Regina's eyes were the most honest part of her. So she watched those eyes again... searched them. And she pulled out her keys.

"C'mere," she said softly.

A mixed bag of emotions passed across Regina's features in response: surprise, confusion, gratitude and some faint sadness. She approached the bars and held up her wrists, passing them through for her to reach.

Emma flicked her gaze up to Regina's, watching her watch her wrists, as she gently took one in her hand. She felt a brief surge, and a shudder through her bones. Like touching the prong of a cord as it's pulled from an outlet. Her skin hummed where it connected with Regina and she recognized the feeling - magic. Similar to when they opened the portal together, but somehow stronger now.

Regina vibrated with magic so intensely that Emma nearly dropped her hand. But instead she held tight, fascinated by the sensation as she slipped the handcuff key into the lock, waiting for the click. Her thumb slid to Regina's pulse as the cuff swung open, and she thought she could hear the blood rushing through her veins - thought she could hear Regina's heartbeat thumping through her head. The second cuff fell away.

Regina sighed with relief and massaged one of her wrists, glancing at Emma surreptitiously. Did she feel that weird electric pulse too?

"Thank you," she murmured.

Emma just nodded, too thunderstruck by whatever the hell just happened to give any sort of verbal response. Instead, she stowed the handcuffs in her back pocket and grabbed one of the muffins off the desk. "Uh, here ya go. It's apple crisp." Off Regina's almost-smirk, she replied, "Non-poisonous."

A full smirk came through at that, and Regina examined the muffin as if it were a piece of artwork. "Pity," she quipped. "I could use a good sleeping curse right about now."

"What, for me?" Emma chuckled, glancing up with her hands on her hips. "I'm not gonna fall for it this time."

"No," Regina's reply was soft and her smile was slightly sad. "For me."

She was slightly thrown off by that comment, uncertain how to respond. Apparently the comment was rhetorical; Regina carried on without her.

"I have tried... so hard. So hard to be a good person. To do right by my son." She tossed the muffin onto her cot and shook her head, staring at the floor as she started to pace. "I have all this-this..." She lifted her hands, palm-up, fingers flexed as she practically shook and finished, "imagic/i... within me. But he begged me not to use it. And I've tried not to."

Emma wasn't entirely sure where this was headed, but chose to take the placating route for now. "It's hard," she sighed, hoping it came across as empathy.

That earned her a sharp glare. She should have known empathy wouldn't work on Regina. "And suddenly you know the trials of attempting to do right by your child? You wanted nothing to do with him for the first ten years of his life!"

"I am not talking about parenthood, Regina, I'm talking about trying to change! To be a better person! It's hard. And sometimes it sucks."

"What does it matter, anyway?" Regina huffed, fists planted on her hips as she began to pace in the opposite direction, along the length of the cot. She threw a hand up in a quick gesture toward Emma. "You said it yourself. I am who I am and I'll always be that way. What's the point in even trying?"

Emma sighed heavily through her nose, closing her eyes. She knew, when she had spewed all that vitriol, that it would come at a price. She hadn't meant it... or at least, she didn't think that she did. She had been scared - alarmed at what she'd seen Regina do in that dream catcher. She'd been trying to get her out in the open. She'd been trying to bait her. And she knew, as soon as the words left her mouth, that she'd taken it way too far.

"Regina... I'm-"

"Oh just save it," she snipped.

"No." She took a confident step toward the cell. "I defended you to my parents. They wanted you locked up from the get-go and I got them to back off."

Regina glanced up at her, halting her pacing. "You did?"

She nodded. "I told them that I knew you weren't lying. I told them I know your expressions - that I know how to read them. I know _you_."

Emma watched as the last vestiges of anger and confrontation seemed to leak from Regina like air from a balloon. Her shoulders relaxed and her eyes softened. The taut, angry line of her mouth slipped into a frown of solemnity. Her hands slid slowly away from her hips, hanging limply at her sides. Her approach toward the bars was slow, but not her usual saunter.

This wasn't the catlike Regina, toying with her prey. This was the vacant, nearly-lifeless walk of a defeated, fallen queen. "You _do_ know me..." she murmured, every word gliding slowly off her tongue, a dim realization in her tone.

Emma nodded, then amended with a shrug. "At least, I _thought_ I did. But, after seeing you..." She averted her gaze, shaking her head back and forth, still unable to bring herself to say the words 'kill Archie'. "After seeing you do that, I don't know what to believe."

"But _it wasn't me!_" Regina gripped the bars on her cell, a desperate glint in her eyes.

"Even though I saw you do it, it wasn't you."

"No. It wasn't."

Emma tilted her head skeptically and smirked, folding her arms. "Right. Well if it wasn't you, then it was someone doing a pretty good impersonation of-"

She stopped, and the pit of her stomach dropped past her feet. Her smirk faded, arms unfolded and her stance became unsteady, eyes widening as she straightened her neck and finished on a breath, "...you."

She looked up at Regina with wide eyes, watching as Regina's eyes searched her.

"What?"

It was ridiculous... and yet it made perfect sense. "That's it. That's gotta be it."

Regina shook her head, confusion wrinkling the skin between her eyebrows. "What is?"

Emma flicked her gaze up to Regina's one more time, hands planted on her hips, before she turned on her heel and strode quickly out of the sheriff's office, grabbing one of the tumblers of coffee on her way out.

"Emma!" Regina called after her, trying to get her to stop. "What is it?"

As Emma strode out, on a mission, she cocked her head slightly and dropped the bomb:

"Your mother's in Storybrooke."

* * *

**TBC**


	4. Chapter 3: Circumstantial

TITLE: Ricochet  
**CHAPTER 3: Circumstantial**

* * *

Emma hated jumping to conclusions. Sometimes it was necessary, but in this case, she needed time to deliberate. Halfway to her car from the sheriff's station she realized she could be making a huge mistake jumping to such a conclusion, and climbed in the car to do some thinking.

The quest for uninterrupted deliberation brought her to Granny's diner around lunchtime, and soon landed her with a giant hamburger and mountain of fries. She wasted no time scarfing both items down, garnering a raised brow from the matron of the diner.

"You hungry, kid?" Granny asked.

Emma mumbled around the food in her mouth, hoping she wasn't making too big a mess. Granny held up a hand to stop her, clearly having seen enough.

"That's... fine. We'll catch up later." And she bustled off, leaving Emma to her greasy mess.

It wasn't long, however, before Ruby sauntered up to the table, sliding in on the other side of the booth and folding her arms on the Formica tabletop. "Rough night?" she asked, quirking a brow.

Emma rolled her eyes. "Rough couple of them, yeah." Then a thought struck her. "Hey, you got a sec?"

Ruby shrugged. "Sure, I guess."

"If you saw someone do something... or thought you saw them do something... if there was a possibility that it _wasn't_ them, would you believe them?"

She watched, then, as Ruby's brows wrinkled together before making a slow crawl up her forehead, mouth slowly going slack before she finally replied... "Huh?"

She huffed. "Alright, look. I know that this whole Archie business _should_ add up. You saw Regina arguing with him the day he died. You saw her go up to his office late at night... and then the next day he winds up dead. A plus B should equal C, but in this case... that's all circumstantial. In this case, it's more complicated than that."

Ruby pressed her lips together in a sympathetic frown, reaching out with one hand to cover Emma's. "Emma, listen..." When her gaze was met, she smiled encouragingly. "I know you and Regina have always had a..." she shrugged, settling on, "_complicated_ kind of relationship. You share a son, and because of that it might be easy to let feelings cloud your judgment, but-"

"Whoa whoa whoa." Sitting back against the booth, Emma wiped her grease-stained hands on the paper napkin beside her plate, signaling to Ruby like a baseball umpire indicating 'safe.' "Hang on. I don't have any sort of feelings about Regina that would complicate my judgment."

"Sure you do. I mean," Ruby shrugged again. "Henry loves her, so... I'm sure a part of you feels like you kinda have to do the same. Even if you don't want to."

Emma shook her head, making a face. "Nah, I don't think that's it."

"Well then what's complicated about this whole thing?"

Emma glimpsed around the diner for prying eyes and ears before leaning across the table partway, dropping her voice to a whisper. "What if the person you saw _wasn't_ Regina?"

Ruby mirrored her position, face contorted in confusion. "What?" she whispered. "How could it not have been her? It looked just like her. Unless she's got an identical twin out there-"

"What if I knew of someone that can impersonate other people?"

"You mean like their voice?"

"No." Emma shook her head. "I mean, like... _everything_ about them."

"I dunno," Ruby sighed, sitting back against the booth. "I mean, you know how that old saying goes. 'If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then-'"

"Then it might be a raccoon pretending to be a duck," Emma finished with a smirk.

Ruby's lips set in a thin line in response, the corners just barely quirking upward in an indulgent smirk. "Emma, I know what I saw. And I saw Regina. It's as simple as that."

Emma drew in a breath, huffing it out through her nose as she looked down at the mangled remains of her burger and fries and grabbed her wallet.

She knew her instincts were right on track with this whole thing, but she needed a second opinion. And she knew precisely where to get it.

She flashed a quick, closed-lipped smile at the brunette on the other side of the booth. "Thanks, Ruby."

With that, she tossed enough money on the table to cover her tab and a generous tip, before she took off for the elementary school.

* * *

Judging by the state of the playground and surrounding areas when she arrived, recess had just begun. On a regular day, she might have stopped by to chat with Henry for a few minutes, but today she was on a mission.

Laughter and joyous shrieks filled the air as she headed up the stairs to the main doors of Storybrooke Elementary. At the far end of the hall was her mother's class room, and she strolled in to find her eating a sandwich at her desk, poring over quizzes with a red marking pen.

She didn't even wait for her to notice her presence as she told her, "Regina didn't do it."

The sound of her voice, probably loud in the silence of the class room, startled Mary Margaret, and she looked up with wide eyes, a bite of sandwich in her cheek making her slightly resemble a hamster. "What?" she asked around the bite, then manners seemed to catch up with her and she daintily covered her mouth, finishing her food. "Sorry."

Emma stepped further into the class room, weaving her way through the rows of small desks. "Regina didn't kill Archie."

And much like Ruby had done just moments before in the diner, Mary Margaret tilted her head with a frown. "Emma..."

She held up her hands, not willing to sit through another "complicated relationship" rebuttal. "I know what you're going to say, but just hear me out. When I got to the station this morning, Regina was still there."

"She was?" The sandwich was set down on a small paper plate, forgotten. "That's... odd."

"Exactly what I thought."

Mary Margaret sighed. "But... you know as well as I do that that's not a clear sign of innocence. Especially where Regina's concerned."

"Maybe not, but... I still think my instincts were right. I don't think she did it."

She shook her head. "Emma, I'm sorry, but... your instincts were proven wrong. We saw her strangle Archie."

Emma took another definitive step forward, countering, "But what if it wasn't her?"

"Emma, you're being ridiculous!" Mary Margaret chuckled, rising from her chair and maneuvering around the desk to stand in front of her daughter, gripping her shoulders. "I realize you're running on very little sleep today, but honey... _we saw Regina kill Archie._"

"Think about it," Emma implored her.

"Well if it wasn't her," she chuckled, "then someone was doing a pretty good job of-"

Emma just raised her brows as her mother stopped mid-sentence, apparently heeding the warning to think it over. She watched Mary Margaret's eyes bounce back and forth, assessing the air in front of her. Then her voice emerged, barely louder than a whisper. "No..."

"Yes."

With a sigh, the idea was shrugged off, though concern still hugged the teacher's face. "Emma, that's impossible. We used the only portal to get back! And we both know that you and I were the only ones to climb out of that well."

Emma took a step forward. "What if that wasn't the only portal? What if they had another way?" Shaking her head, she implored her mother, "It's Cora and Hook - two psychos who'll stop at nothing to get to Storybrooke! I mean, Hook was hellbent on getting to Gold and Cora wanted to see her daughter. Is it really so impossible to think that they found a way here?"

She watched as her mother began to pace, that same worried expression never wavering. She stopped after a moment, looking thoughtful. "If you're right... if it _was_ Cora... then why would she kill Archie? What does she have against him?"

Emma shrugged, hands on her hips. "I think that's a question for her daughter."

* * *

**TBC**


	5. Chapter 4: Equanimity

TITLE: Ricochet  
**CHAPTER 4: Equanimity**

* * *

"There you are!"

Regina was already gripping the bars of her cell, looking cagey as Emma strolled in. Her eyes were wild and brows raised, and Emma knew that without the bars, there would be an invasion of space occurring right that very second.

"You drop a bomb like that in my lap and then leave?!"

She shrugged. "I wanted a second opinion."

Regina stared at her dubiously. "From whom?"

She knew she'd get an eye roll in return, but she couldn't help it. "Mary Margaret."

Predictably, Regina's eyes rolled skyward and then her head slid into a disbelieving tilt. "So it's come to this. The sheriff of Storybrooke needs to consult with Mommy before chasing a lead."

Emma rolled her eyes right back, hands on her hips. "I asked her opinion because she has experience with your mother. We both ran up against her in your old land, and it wasn't pretty."

"So you've said." Regina seemed to relax just slightly, less confrontation in her stance as her hands slid from the bars. "What makes you believe she's behind this?"

She sighed, making her way toward Regina's cell. "Let's just say it's not the first time she's fooled us into thinking she's someone else."

Regina's eyes searched hers. "Really."

"Mmhmm." She nodded, humming her affirmation. "That, and my gut instincts last night said that you were telling the truth. And this," she lightly jabbed at her gut, "is never wrong."

At that, the last bit of tension slipped from Regina's posture and she sat down on her cot, the muffin that was left there now nothing but a wrapper. She looked up with what Emma could only think to describe as a little hope in her expression. "So you're letting me go?"

"Not quite." Wanting to believe Regina was one thing - turning her loose when she could easily vanish into a puff of smoke was another entirely. "If I'm right and your mother _is_ here somewhere in Storybrooke, then we need to know what we're up against."

One eyebrow arched upward, and Regina folded her arms, rising to her feet once again. "I thought you've seen what she can do."

Emma nodded. "And I have. But that's only the 'what.'" Off Regina's expression, she elaborated. "We need the 'why.'"

"And that's what you need me for."

"Yes!" She advanced toward the bars, gripping them slightly. "Do you have any idea why she would want to kill Archie?"

Regina gave that some thought, her teeth worrying her bottom lip ever so slightly while her pensive gaze held Emma's. After a moment, she replied, "I honestly don't know."

"You can't think of anything at all? Maybe something from your old land?"

Regina threw her hands up. "To my knowledge, she never even knew the cricket. And here... well, how could she possibly know who he is, or was?"

"I don't know. All we know is that she wanted to get back here to see you."

A puff of mirthless laughter burst past Regina's lips, and her fists landed on her hips. "Right," she muttered, shaking her head at the ground. "Because the curse was broken, so I must be as well. That's why she wants to see me. That's her favorite M.O. - break me down and then swoop in to fix it in her own, special way."

"So she killed Archie, as you, just to break you?" Emma's entire face contorted in a confused grimace. She knew Cora was twisted, but this, well... this was a whole new level.

Regina's eyebrows raised in an almost rueful expression and she sighed, "Wouldn't be the first time she's... gone to extremes, so to speak."

Emma watched as an entirely knew kind of tension took over Regina's body. Her hands clenched into fists at her sides, the skin across her knuckles stretching and turning white. When she uncurled them, her palms boasted pink, crescent-shaped indentations where her nails had dug in.

She raised her eyes, imploring Emma through her lashes. "You have to let me out of here."

"What?" She couldn't help the balking chuckle that escaped. "No way."

"How else are we going to get her to come to me? You think she's just going to pop by the sheriff's station for a visit?"

"There's gotta be some way to get her out into the open."

"Yes," Regina nodded emphatically, "There is." Then she jabbed her chest. "_Me_."

"Regina..." She couldn't help the sigh. "You know that I can't-"

"Why not?" she broke in, the faintest trace of belligerence in her tone. "You believe me. I know that you do. And if you don't, I want the chance to prove it."

"You're the prime suspect in a murder case. If I let you out, the entire town is gonna go ballistic." She shook her head. "No. Give me something to go on, here. Something that can prove your innocence and justify my letting you go."

Exasperated, Regina huffed and pushed off from the bars, spinning on her heel with her hands on her hips. Emma's eyes followed her, brows crinkling as she wondered whether or not she was about to get a patented Mayor Mills response, or if there was actual thought going into her request.

Finally, after what seemed like ages, Regina spun back again with large eyes. "What about scent?"

Emma's brows tipped upward. "Huh?"

"My scent. If I was _seen_ going in to Archie's office, then my scent should still be there. Any scent dog worth its salt would be able to pick up at least a trace."

She tilted her head, expression sarcastic and skeptical. "Not sure if you've noticed, but we don't exactly have the budget for scent dogs around here."

"Perhaps not, but correct me if I'm wrong - is there not a wolf in our midst? Not to mention Pongo."

She threw up a hand in gesture as if to suggest 'go ahead,' her expression posing to Emma a challenge.

"He led you to me once. See if he can do it again."

**TBC**


End file.

Once Upon a Time, Drama, Romance