At her heart, Emma knew that it was wrong to come here. Especially now, when the hatred and anger was still floating like scalding liquid through her veins.

Her yellow bug came to a stop in front of the white, impressive mayoral mansion and the grit made a crunching, awkward sound beneath the wheels. The evening had been oppressively hot and Emma grabbed the steering wheel in a hard grip, peering outside through the windshield. Dark clouds were pregnant with rain by now, the sky smoky-gray and a stifling wind ripped through the small coastal town.

To confront the mayor again was certainly not a brilliant idea. But Emma needed to let off the steam, that had built unstoppable since the afternoon. Her latest heated debate with Regina was fresh on her mind-again and again replaying every word and each insult in her mind which had hit way close to home.

Emma had no genuine idea why she was here now or rather what she wanted to do. Only that Regina had been the cause for this anger and now, so Emma decided, responsible to make it go away. There was quite the possibility that she would end up even more upset when she left the home of the sturdy woman later. But maybe-and only maybe-there was a possibility to finally work things out between them.

Her hopes were crushed as soon as the mayor opened the heavy front-door, eyes flashing coldly.

"Miss Swan, what do you want now?" Regina was not even trying to hide the annoyance at Emma's sight, disdain bleeding into her voice. "I had hoped I would be spared your company tonight-even if it's just for a couple hours-but I assume I was wrong to believe in such hopeless endeavor."

Emma ground her teeth, clutching her hands into fists at her sides, trying to not raise to the bait.

"Madam Mayor, we need to talk about this. We can't go on and on biting each other's heads off. If not for your sake, then for Henry's."

Regina eyed her-her face void of emotion-holding the door in a hard grip. "If you just would've left like you had claimed and promised over and over again, you wouldn't need to worry about Henry's well being now. I can't be the one responsible for all your faults and inadequacies, nor am I willing to fill that role. Your unwanted appearance has damaged the relationship between my son and I enough already. See to it that you leave this town, then we won't have any further disagreements." Regina lips curled into a bloody sneer. "Good day, Miss Swan."

The mayor was about to slam the door right into her face, but Emma's hand came up quickly, forcing the door open again. "We are not done here, Regina. We are done, when I say we are done, but we are not." With that Emma pushed roughly past the brunette into the foyer.

"I could've you arrested for unlawful entry and coercion!" Regina spit, turning on her heels, closing the door with a loud thud. She was clearly not amused about Emma's refusal to play by her rules. But wasn't that the big crashing point between them after all? Emma refusing to do Regina's bidding?

Emma took lazily a look around in the modern hall with its crisp furnishings, her feet shifted in a nervous twitch over the black and white marble floor, until her gaze met brown eyes-being just as frosty as the interior-staring back at her.

A smirk settled on Emma's lips then. "That sounds like a very good plan to me, Madam Mayor. Let's call the one and only law enforcement this town has to offer."

Emma watched in amusement as Regina's features twitched in fury. Emma face-palmed herself in a mock gesture. "Oh, I forgot! That's me!" Her tone lost all its light quality then. "How very unfortunate for you, because I am going nowhere until we have figured out a civil way to deal with each other!"

Regina stepped closer-invading Emma's personal space like so often, without hesitation nor second thought-her voice low and dangerous. "You are leaving my house at once, Miss Swan, or you won't live to regret it."

Emma narrowed her eyes-not able to suppress the shudder running down her spine at the mayor's tone. "Is that a threat?"

"It certainly is, dear. So I suggest you leave-now. Before something tragic happens."

"I am not afraid of you or your empty threats, Regina!" Emma hissed back angrily. "Because that is just everything you are-empty!"

One moment Regina's eyes were smoldering with unrestrained rage, the next she exploded. Emma did not see it coming, as the mayor backhanded her hard-straight across the face. Emma's head whipped to the side, one hand flying up to cup her face where the stinging blow had landed, the other went for the gun strapped to her waist.

"Shit! What the hell, Regina? Are you fucking mad?!"

Emma had not even realized that she was pointing her gun at the woman in nothing but a reflex-motion, until she saw the surprised look flicker across Regina's face. Her jaw hurt like hell and Emma felt blood dripping down her chin from a cut on her lip.

"What now, Miss Swan?" All surprise had vanished from the Regina's features-being replaced by taunting indifference. "Are you going to shoot me now?"

Emma's head was spinning. She had not at all indented to point her gun at Regina, but now she couldn't move her hand to lower it either. The startled expression on the mayor's face-even when it had only lasted for mere seconds-had felt so inappropriately good.

"You definitely would deserve it." Emma said lowly, eying Regina closely.

"Would I?" Regina taunted, surprising Emma as she stepped closer, the barrel of the gun now pressing hard against her chest. Emma watched in awe as the tanned skin peaking out from beneath the blouse whitened under the pressure.

"Regina..."

"You need to point it here, dear." Regina said lightly, as if talking about the weather. She pressed with her index finger against the barrel, moving it more to the left and directly over her heart. Their eyes locked and they just stared at one another in eerie silence for what seemed to be an eternity. Emma imagined to feel the dull throb of Regina's heartbeat vibrating through the gun right into her hand.

Regaining some control over the situation and herself, Emma moved to lower the gun, but Regina's hand clasped tightly over her own. A quiet gasp escaped her lips the moment their skin came in contact-a jolt running from her fingers through her arm like from an electric shock. The grip Regina's hand soft and painful in equal measure.

"Regina. Let go." Emma said beseechingly, cursing herself for pointing the gun at the other woman in the first place. The only thing Emma was glad about in this moment was that Henry was at a friend's house for a sleep-over tonight. She never would live through it, when he had seen her pointing a gun at his mother. No kid should ever have to witness such violate actions, especially carried out between between parents.

But Regina was not moving and the brown of her eyes had been swallowed by pure blackness. "You would like to pull the trigger now, Miss Swan, wouldn't you? Getting rid of me for once and for all. Have Henry all to yourself..."

Emma shook her head, unable to speak as her throat constricted painfully at the sudden sadness in the mayor's voice. There was suddenly a darkness to Regina's eyes that made her skin crawl. In that moment, Emma realized, that she had never been more afraid in her company as she was now.

"You could claim you acted in self-defense," Regina's voice was distant, as if she pictured the scene in her mind's eye. "They would believe you."

Regina's gaze followed the trail of blood, that had traveled down Emma's throat, staining the white tank-top crimson. "Henry would not judge you-he would probably welcome it." Her dangerous glinting eyes met Emma's again.

Emma tried to pull the gun away slowly, but Regina's grip was still unearthly strong and relentless. Her fingers hurt, it felt like the mayor was crushing them beneath her own. Emma wondered why the sudden change in Regina's demeanor had taken place-from anger and fury to painful despair. She realized too late that her ill-considered statement about Regina being empty inside must have struck something within her. And Emma had wanted to hurt her, just like Regina was hurting her all the time.

But now, she wished she hadn't.

Despite all their fights and violate encounters, Emma knew that Regina was-somewhere deep inside, hidden beneath all the anger, threats and her cold mask-a genuine loving woman. The thought alone made her cringe, but Emma knew it was true. Henry wouldn't be such a lovely and sweet kid-curious and compassionate-if she wasn't. He had been raised with the right ethical and moral values. And his mother had taken care of him, when Emma herself was unable too. And she had done an excellent job. But the look in Regina's eyes now, let dread rise in her stomach like a tidal wave. Gone was the emotionless shell, but her expression remained utterly blank.

"Henry would not want that, Regina." Emma promised, her gaze wandering between the mayor's eyes and where her gun was pointing at Regina's very heart. "Deep down, you know that he loves you."

"Do I, Miss Swan?" Regina's voice was just above a whisper now and Emma felt a cold shiver run down her back.

"He hates me." Unshed tears brimmed in her eyes and Emma's heart clenched painfully at the sight. "There is no redemption for the likes of me." Her gaze met the Sheriff's as her index-finger moved slowly over Emma's own-gentle like a caress. "And I only ever wanted what is best for him."

A single tear rolled down her cheek and Emma watched it fall.

"Tell Henry, I will never stop loving him." Regina said, as her finger pulled the trigger.