I know it's been 84 years. I hope you enjoy, and please review :) The next couple of chapters are going to be intense (and longer than this one), so keep an eye out for them!

Regina had spent a few days feeling out Cora's motives, finding out what the pirate wanted in Storybrooke (Rumple's death, of course) and trying to make a plan to defeat the two of them. She knew if she could raise the odds in her favor, Hook would easily come onto her side, he was like that, always moving toward the favorable odds. But she didn't know exactly what they could do. So she helped her mother search for Rumplestiltskin's dagger, had watched as her mother killed Johanna on Snow's birthday because she couldn't do it herself, and had settled into the understanding that all the work she'd done for the past handful of days would now be pointless because she'd shown weakness in killing someone that meant something to David's wife. It wasn't that she wanted to avoid hurting Snow, but she knew that hurting the insufferable princess would also hurt David by proxy, and it would also show David that she hadn't changed, and she had.

She shouldn't care about his opinion of her, but of course she did. She'd realized her affection for the man long ago, though it seemed as though it had only been days since she'd come to the realization, And she still refused to admit the depth of those feelings, and what it meant to have David on her side, especially when it meant she was taking steps back with her mother and would have to somehow further prove to her that she wanted to work together; she needed her mother to believe her if only until she had a better plan.

But before any attempt to do that, Regina needed to talk to Archie. She needed to get something off her chest, she needed to make sure he knew she wasn't actually working with her mother. Why she cared about his opinion didn't fully matter, but he was the only person in town, aside from David and Henry, who was actually willing to give her a chance at proving she'd changed. She also needed someone to talk to about the revelation that her mother truly had orchestrated everything in her life that led to her marrying the king. So, after telling her mother that she was going out and putting a subtle spell on the house so she'd know if anyone left by magic or by physically exiting the house. She headed to Archie's office, looking up at the sky and hoping the rain would hold off until she was home. When she got there, she headed into the building, knocking tentatively on the door.

"Regina," Archie greeted, after opening the door. "It's good to see you. Please come in." The man stepped aside, allowing her in and shutting the door after her. He sat down in his chair, watching her as she settled uncomfortably on the couch. "What brings you here?"

"My mother. I… I can't escape her while she's here, not really, not for long. And I need her to think I'm on her side, but I'm not. I've changed. I don't want… I can't lose Henry by going back to who I was." Regina noticed as he brought his pen to his pad of paper. "Please don't write any of this down. She'll find a way to read your notes, and I don't want her to know any of this."

Archie nodded. "Okay. So you say you need her to think you're on her side. How are you doing that?"

"Well I helped her find Rumple's dagger, but now she has it, and once he comes back, she controls him. I don't know how to stop it. She could have him kill everyone, or anyone who won't agree to be on her side. She could hurt Emma, Snow…"

"David?" Archie finished, raising his eyebrows in understanding.

"Henry would never forgive me."

"Regina, do you think it might be prudent to tell Gold not to come back just yet? At least not until you come up with a plan to stop your mother?"

"I've thought of that, and while I want to, I don't know that he'll listen, and what if he doesn't?"

"Would your mother get impatient?"

Giving a scoff, she shook her head. "My mother is already impatient. It's bad enough that he left in the first place, but now that she has the dagger and he isn't here to control, I don't know how long it will be until she just starts killing more people on her own. Especially after Johanna."

Archie nodded solemnly. "I was saddened to hear about her death. I was glad to hear that you didn't do it, though. Regina, you've come very far just even since the curse broke."

Pursing her lips, she looked down at her hands. "I hope others see that as well."

"Me too." He adjusted his glasses, then reached over to squeeze her joined hands. "But as good as it will feel to have others see that, what is most important is that you believe in yourself and you see how far you come, and while you may have a long journey ahead of you, you must continue to trust yourself to continue making the right decisions so that you can be happy and have a good, solid place in Henry's life."

Suddenly there was pounding on the door and it swung open, revealing Dr. Whale. The blonde man pointed at Regina. "You! You're back now, now you bring my brother here! Or send me back to him!"

"I can't." She glared at him, then turned her gaze to Archie.

"Dr. Whale, you need to go. This is highly inappropriate," Archie told him in a firm voice.

"Not until she sends me back!"

"I can't!" Regina bit. "And even if I could, why would I help you?"

"Go," Archie said. Finally the other man left, slamming the door behind him and making Regina jump. Archie sat once more. "What is the resentment you hold against him for, if you don't mind me asking."

Looking at him, she shrugged.

"He tricked me. He—he put the final nail in the coffin to me becoming the Evil Queen. He gave me false hope, and then crushed my dream of bringing Daniel back to me without truly attempting it to see if he could."

"I see. Well, I'm sorry to hear that, and I'm sorry he barged in here like that."

Regina nodded and pursed her lips. "It's not your fault, but I do think I should be going now."

"Are you sure there was nothing else you wanted to talk about, Regina? You look like you have a lot on your mind."

She looked away, eyes welling with tears as she frowned. "My mother… I found out today that my mother set everything up for me to be the queen. She poisoned Snow's mother so the queen would die, she set up an extra riding lesson for me so that I would be in the pasture when Snow's horse went wild. And… I already knew that she was who made Snow's horse go off that way, but putting everything together today made me realize I've never had control of my own life. Even now. I'm trying to hard but she's still here and controlling me in so many ways."

Archie leaned forward. "I don't think that's true. Perhaps she thinks she has the control, and you're not fighting her on it at the moment, but you're in control of yourself. You didn't kill Johanna today, Cora did, despite her wanting you to. And you're letting her think you're on her side, while being on your own. Regina, I believe you're in more control of your life now than you think, and I believe that you will make it through and you'll figure out a way to make Cora leave, or somehow convince her to redeem herself. I believe you can do that."

With a slow nod, she thanked him, excusing herself shortly after. The conversation had already been too emotionally exhausting, she didn't want to talk about the ways she was probably going to fail at her goal.

Regina went home to her mother, sighing when the woman practically pounced on her once she entered her house.

"Where were you? What were you doing? And why did you trap me here like some common peasant who is not allowed to come and go as I please?"

With a roll of her eyes, Regina passed Cora and headed into the kitchen, pouring herself a glass of wine. "You could have left."

"Not without you being alerted. Why was such a spell necessary anyway? Am I not allowed to leave?"

"Mother, I'm sorry I'd rather know ahead of time if you plan to wreak any more havoc upon my town. Dagger or not, Mother, if I want to keep control of my town, I have to play nice with the Charmings. If I want my son to want me when he comes back, I have to play nice with them. There is literally no realm in which I can have the things that I want without playing nice with them, so it would do you well to accept that."

"Of course you can, Regina. We have the dagger, and I can make Rumplestiltskin kill them and no one will be the wiser that we were behind it."

"No, Mother, you don't understand! That's not how it will work, Henry will blame me, and I will lose him. For once in your life, act like you care about the things that I want!" Regina shouted, slamming her wineglass onto the counter.

Cora straightened her spine, narrowing her eyes at her daughter. "You would do well to remember who is in charge here, Regina. I'm your mother, and you will speak to me with respect."

"No, Cora, you will do well to remember that I am the one who became queen, and I am the one who runs this town. You are in my world now, and if you cannot accept that we will do things my way, then you might as well leave my town and go back to the Enchanted Forest." She snarled at her mother, and oh how good it felt, even if just for a moment, to talk back and not to be the scared little child she'd always been with her mother. It felt good for that small moment, at least until she felt her mother's palm smack hard against her cheek.

Recoiling, Regina let out a low growl, then lifted her wineglass and threw it to the ground, watching the glass crash against the floor. She stepped through it, walking around her mother and heading for the foyer.

"Where are you going, Regina?"

"Out!"

"You get back here and apologize!"

Regina whipped around, staring down her mother. "I'm not the little girl you used to beat around with magic anymore. I am a grown woman, and I will do as I please. And you will stay here, or I will find a way to trap you here, am I understood?"

Cora gave her a hard look, but eventually pursed her lips and nodded, despite the glare forming in her eyes. "Okay, Regina."

Leaving had felt so good, and she still put a spell on the house so she would know if Cora refused to comply with her demands. She got into her car, deciding she'd head over to the park where she used to watch Henry play. She didn't care that it was now raining; she simply wanted to be alone with her thoughts in a place Cora couldn't find her around every corner. The rain grew heavier as she drove, trying to make her way across town to where the park was. Turning on her wipers, she continued on, stopping at a stop sign and squinting a look around as the day grew darker from the sun hiding away behind the clouds. There was a flash of lightning, and Regina startled when she saw a sight she never expected across the street, on the corner, and she whispered to herself.

"Daniel?"

Just then her phone rang, pulling her eyes away to see David's name on the screen, she picked it up, looking back to the corner at another flash of lightning to see nothing, so she frowned and answered the call.

"Regina? I need you to meet me at the hospital. It's Whale."