@faultyconscience ( gold ) asked: ❛ you look like you've got something to say. ❜
His words, coupled with that infuriating tone of his, would've made her mouth fall open in indignation... but Emma is not going to give him the satisfaction of seeing her riled up ( at least, not if that's how he chooses to go about it ) so she presses her lips together instead, so tight they turn bloodless. Her whole expression hardens, eyes narrowing, nostrils flaring, and though that phrase is awfully overused, if looks could kill, the murderous glare she is burrowing into him would have dropped him dead.
( It's a good thing they can't, though )
At times like this, Emma's hands are itching to punch him in the face. Just once, just to snap him out of that damn cocky omniscience... but then again, he would probably see it coming, the bastard.
So take a deep breath and focus, Swan.
Words are what he's good at. If she wants to take him down a peg, she needs to use them.
“ I know that you are not helping Regina... or me... out of the generosity of your heart, ” Emma says, tempering down her anger and trying ( and not exactly succeeding, the tone sliding a bit to the mix of anger that she can't quite fully get rid of and desperation that becomes too, uncomfortably familiar a feeling for her these days, but she hopes she makes up for it with how thick she lays the sarcasm on the word generosity, clearly indicating her doubt he has any ) for the same cocky omniscient tone he is so fond of, trying to establish she is in charge here, “ You have some hidden agenda, and I don't expect you to share it with me. But I do expect you to tell me if you're on my side or her side in this case. ”
Emma swallows, blinking rapidly to not let the tears she convinces herself are of frustration fall, for a moment seeing not Gold in front of herself but Mary Margaret, too out of place in her school teacher outfit behind the bars, a resigned, hopeless look on her face.
She cannot afford to place her trust in the wrong person, now more than ever, because it's not just her on the line, it's her friend, one of the closest and dearest friends she has... Hell, practically family.
She cannot possibly let her down.
Acutely, painfully aware of that fact, Emma swallows her pride and does the one thing that she promised herself she would never do and pleads.
“ Please, Gold. I cannot let my friend down. I need to know if you're on my side... or I have to look for help elsewhere. ”
There he has it. If he wants her to plead, she will, for her friend.
But she won't let him entertain the idea he's the only one who can help her, who she can rely on.
( Even though he is the most clever and influential out of the whole lot. )
