Disclaimer: I don't own OUAT, etc.

Regina wasn't used to being included in the little meetings Snow and Charming held with their friends. She was pacing up and down, irritated with the way they would allow just anyone to voice an opinion and then get side-tracked discussing it. They had been there for nearly four hours and she was beginning to wear tracks in the floor.

"We don't have time for this!" She finally snapped, rounding on the table and scaring Archie enough that he leaned back away from her.

"Chill, Queenie."

That was from Grumpy. Regina hated it when he called her that. She wanted to stuff him back in a mine where he belonged; dwarves shouldn't be let out into the sunlight amongst civilised people, if they were anything like him. It had been better when he was under the curse and kept out of her way. Only having to interact with one or two of the other dwarves during that time hadn't been so bad. She should have given him a worse job.

Regina smiled as she pictured Grumpy in a variety of different jobs. "I'll 'chill' when we've stopped Zelena and Henry is safe."

"That's what we're trying to do." Snow tried to calm the situation.

"We all know there's only one solution."

Everyone turned at the sound of Rumplestiltskin's voice. Charming moved in front of his wife, while Regina simply folded her arms.

"He's my grandson too." Rumplestiltskin casually reminded them, standing in the doorway with one hand on his cane and the other arm around Belle.

"We're not fighting evil with more evil." Grumpy told him.

Belle stepped forward. "He's…"

"It's alright Belle. I wasn't talking to him, anyway."

"He's right." Charming looked him straight in the eyes. "No dark magic."

"Who said anything about dark magic?" Rumplestiltskin smiled.

Regina finally deigned to take a seat, curious to hear what he had to say. "Emma doesn't have enough control over her power, and my education in light magic is somewhat lacking. We know what Zelena is planning. How else can we stop her?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

"We've already discussed this, we can't ask Regina to try and kill Zelena." Emma piped up.

"If you're going to drag this out with teasing, I'll tell them." Belle warned him.

Regina swore he rolled his eyes as he smiled at her. It was not a sight she had seen before. Clearly he was finally ready to let love change him.

"As I was saying," Rumplestiltskin lent forward on his cane, looking directly at Regina. "You can use blood magic."

"How will that help us? Anything I try using that, she can turn back on me."

"Only if she isn't too distracted to notice. When she tries to go back in time, you're going to go with her. She won't expect that. She'll be looking for a direct attack. I'll teach you the spell to link yourself to her, then when she goes…" He waved his hand as if to demonstrate his point. "You'll go."

"Can't you find a way to stop her before she succeeds?" Snow asked him.

"This is your best chance."

"She can't go alone." Charming looked at his wife for confirmation.

"Don't trust me?" Regina gave a small smile in his direction.

"Zelena is powerful, you should take someone with you. I'll go, I remember the land from back then." Granny volunteered. "Plus, if the magic thing doesn't work, I'll have my crossbow."

"Or I could go."

"No." Regina turned down Rumplestiltskin's offer immediately, not trusting him.

He might try to meddle in the past and change all their lives. Then she might not have Henry. Or he might try to restart his romance with her mother – inwardly she cringed.

"What if someone recognised you? At least Granny has changed."

"Older and wiser." Granny pointed out. "But still with a good aim."

"That settles it then." Snow told them. "We'll call it Plan B. Plan A will be continuing to find a way to stop it coming to Plan B."

"Can we take a break now?" Emma asked. "It might be nice to spend some time with Henry, Ruby's got a life of her own to live, you know?"

"Sure." Snow smiled at her daughter. "Maybe we can all go and get dinner together."

"That's our cue to leave." Rumplestiltskin told Belle. "Before they start the hugging."

Before anyone could inform him that they'd rather hug a cactus than the Dark One, he and Belle had gone.

It took two days of digging through Cora's books before Regina found a small mention on time travel. Emma had asked Belle to look through Rumplestiltskin's collection for them, but so far she'd come up empty.

"Well, looks like Granny's out." Regina told her, sitting in a comfortable chair while Emma skim read the books from the floor.

"Huh?"

"It says here, that theoretically – because even the time travel spell itself is just a theory – one cannot travel back to a time or place where we have previously existed. Therefore, I will have to go on my own."

"The whole, meet yourself and the universe as we know it will go kablooey?"

Regina raised an eyebrow. "Where do you get these words?"

"Well, maybe that's not the word they used, but I've seen time travel films and tv shows."

"I think in Back to the Future they were more worried about changing the past and not existing anymore."

"You've seen that?" Emma grinned.

"Getting back on topic… Zelena should be safe because she's only going back to a time when she was in our mother's womb."

"We should probably go and tell them. Guess I'll have to volunteer."

"No, you will not. You are to remain with Henry and keep him safe."

"If you fail, Henry won't exist. Zelena will probably kill my grandmother and then I won't exist either."

"I won't let that happen."

"Who else are you going to take? You'd kill Grumpy the second you crossed over, the same with either of my parents. Rumplestiltskin would never let Belle go, Archie would just annoy you with reminders that hurting Zelena will only hurt you in return. Ruby…" Emma shrugged. "Maybe Ruby would be a good choice."

"Werewolves were not accepted. She would refuse to listen to my advice, she'd try to wear wholly inappropriate clothing…"

Emma stretched out her legs and stood up. "Your choices are getting smaller. We'll see what my parents suggest."

"I'll stay here with the books. I might find something that's actually useful."

Emma smiled. "I didn't hear that."

"I can repeat it, if you like?"

Shaking her head, Emma walked to the door. "Don't forget, you're cooking dinner for Henry tonight, I'll pick him up at 7."

"They'll be plenty if you'd like to come too." Regina offered as she walked out of sight.

She wondered whether Emma had heard her.