Even now, it never took long for Regina to sense Dyson's presence nearby. The weight of the air changed. She turned from the conversation she wasn't really having with Kitty anyway, and let her gaze rest on him, look him over, see that he was still here and reasonably well.

Since the day she'd stopped raging about him breaking things off, she'd spent much of her magical study time focused on a single problem--his. Not because she wanted him back, although she did. But because she couldn't bring Graham back and she couldn't keep Dyson here, but she could, just maybe, give Dyson something more important than the love he didn't want from her. Something that she could live with when he, also, disappeared.

All of that was in her eyes now, at least, for someone like Dyson who knew how to look. To see beyond the prideful stiffening of her shoulders and lift of her chin as she blinked slowly and turned her gaze away. She wanted him so badly, even just to talk for a few minutes, but she was too proud and too afraid (still, even after Robin) to ask.