Regina schools Hook on his manners. She knows full well who he is and why he came there from Neverland, as well as all about the crocodile he wishes to skin. Regina is impressed (or feigns being impressed) with the fact that Hook is the first person to have made it all the way past her defenses and into the tower. While Belle can't help him kill Rumpy, Regina claims she can. Don't look at her hair. Stop that. Love is blind, I tell ya. Blind.

Down in her chambers, Regina pours Hook a drink and tells her about her plans to enact the Dark Curse. You don't need the exposition on that, by now. She explains that the new realm created by the curse will strip the Dark One of all his powers. It is there where Hook will be able to kill Rumpy, sans magical weapons.

Hook is intrigued and asks what he has to do. Regina just needs him to assassinate the one person she doesn't want following her to her new realm. Hook asks who it is. Regina: "My mother." A geyser springs up in the middle of the title card

Storybrooke. Present. Gold's Shop. Regina exposits about the still-sleeping Charming. "He won't wake up until Mary Margaret comes back." Rumpy thinks her "until" is optimistic, considering Snow and Emma are up against Cora -- the Mother of All Evil. Since Charming isn't awake, they have no way of knowing if he was able to tell Snow about the magical squid ink. You guys should really read the recaps. It'll simple up your lives. Ever the coward leaning on his crutch, Rumpy insists they must take precautions, because it could well be Cora who will reach the portal first and enter Storybrooke. Regina agrees that neither of them wants that. Even 28 years haven't dimmed the horror that is Cora.

Rumpy proposes locating the Storybrooke spot where the portal will open and using magic to destroy said portal. Regina protests -- if they do that, anyone who uses the portal will die. Rumpy says, "Exactly." He figures between the two of them, they can summon sufficient magic to complete the task. Regina worries they might be wrong. Snow and Emma could defeat Cora and get to the portal. What if they're killed? Rumpy declares that a "win-win" for Regina. Stopping Cora protects the Queen from her mother's wrath. Stopping Snow and Emma makes Regina Henry's only mother. Since magic is unpredictable in this world, Henry won't be able to blame Regina, should something bad happen. Regina: "No. I can't lie to him. I'm trying to a better mother." Rumpy points out that Regina won't be able to be a better anything if Cora crosses over, and because Regina loves Henry, the boy will be a prime target for Cora. If she wants to prove her love for Henry, destroying the portal is the way to do so. Ooh, he's so bad, and so very bad for Regina.