Regina's Rose

Questioning

"Glad to see the sheriff station is now a family business."

I snort from the other side of the one way glass at my mothers sarcastic remark and Snow looks at me unamused. I raise my eyebrow and put my hands up in surrender. Snow turns back around to face the glass.

"Why am I here?" Mother questions putting her sarcasm aside. She almost looks worried.

"You know why you're here. Because of Archie." Emma says getting right to the point.

"You guys think she killed Archie? Really?" I say with an scoff.

"How'd you know he was dead?" Snow questioned looking at me with fear in her eyes.

"Your daughter told me on the way here. She's not that good with secrets sometimes. I wonder who she gets that from?" I question sarcastically and Snow rolls her eyes before turns back to the scene in front of us.

"Oh now it's against the law to get in an argument with someone?" Mother says clearly annoyed that she was brought down here.

"It is if you go to their office later that night and kill them." Charming says fully believing that my mom was guilty. I glared at him through the glass.

"Archie's dead?" Mother says dropping her act as worry and sorrow replace her smug expression.

"She shouldn't have found out this way. I know it's crazy for you Charmings to think, but she does care about people." I say pushing off the wall I was leaning on and walking up to the glass.

"Stop it, Regina." Charming says thinking that my mother is bluffing. "Ruby saw you go into his office last night."

"That's a lie. She was home all night." I say now angry at this interrogation. Snow just sighs at my anger.

"Then she's lying. I was home all evening." My mom says as her anger grows about the accusations. "Ms. Swan you saw me at home last night."

"Yeah, Emma was there. Why is this happening?" I said while turning to look at Snow.

"Emma said you left home but we don't know how long. How long were you gone, Rose?" Snow says and I look at Snow as realization crosses my face.

"No I never should have left. I could have helped prove she was innocent. This is all my fault, why couldn't I just stay?" I say while starting to pace around the small room.

"Rose...how long were you gone?" Snow asks and I slowly look to meet her eyes that are filled with worry.

"A- an hour." I say and then I look down and chew on the inside of my cheek. "Dammit! I could have cleared her."

"She's incapable of change. No matter how many times we've given her a chance." I hear Charming say as Snow and I both turn back to the interrogation but I can tell we've missed most of it thanks to me. "Why should this time be any different?"

"What does he mean? You guys never gave her any past chances to be good." I say slightly worried that Charming remembers what happened after that battle in the enchanted forest.

"He thinks I always give her the benefit of the doubt. Which is true, but there are no serious examples of us giving her a real chance." Snow says without taking her eyes off of the glass.

I let out a breath of relief and Snow looks at me in a questioning manor. "What? They're done questioning her. Now I get to clear the air." I say quickly covering up my relief.
______________

I sit down in the interrogation room and a minute later Snow and Emma walk in.

"Interesting, I've heard of good cop, bad cop but I've never heard of good cop, and hot cop." I say while pointing at Snow then Emma.

"Now is not the time to deflect with flirty remarks Danielle. Where were you last night?" Emma says trying to seem calm but I can see right through her act.

"You know where I was Em-ma." I say making fun of the fact she said my full first name.

"We need you to say it on record." Snow says trying to ease the tension.

"Oh well in that case, I was out taking my goldfish for a late night walk." I say with a smirk.

"Danielle..." Emma says clearly already tired of this.

"Why yes Sheriff Swan?" I say in my best southern accent.

"Stop playing around and answer my question." She says with a sigh.

"I'm truly sorry for offendin you sheriff." I say still talking in a country accent. Emma storms back into the room behind the glass and Snow follows. But clearly someone accidentally hit the speaker for inside the room because I could hear everything they were saying.

"I don't think we need her on record. She's not going to cooperate anyways." Charming says clearly tired of me.

"No we have to do this by the book. Just let her sit in there for a while she'll talk after a little time passes. It's not like she's guilty." Emma says still annoyed by how I was acting.

"Let me talk to her on my own." Snow says shocking everyone including me.

"No offense Mary-Margret but she's not gonna listen to you." Emma says in a tired tone.

"Yeah Snow, Emma's right she won't budge." Charming follows up.

"Just give me a few minutes with her and cut the mic off so she knows you guys aren't listening in." Snow says.

"How would she know we're not listening in if she doesn't know we turned the mic off before you question her?" Emma questions.

"Well, Charming's been leaning on the speaker button this whole conversation so I'm pretty sure she knows." Snow says before I hear the speaker click off.

The door opens after a few minutes and Snow walks in.

"They decided to let you question me, congratulations. You know they're right, you're not gonna get anything out of me." I say calmly.

"Give me your hand." She says with a kind and slightly apologetic smile on her face.

"What? Is Charming making you put a cuff on me to ensure your safety." I say as I put my hand on the table. Before I can react Snow takes off my bracelet and I can see my Halo of Nerves glow in the one way glass.

"You may not tell me anything but these powers of yours will not let you lie." She says with a genuine smile now on her face.

"Damn it"