Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-6905051-20130319075749/@comment-6905051-20130322093814

Somewhere down the land she is addicted to the power and the sense of security her magic gives her. Even when she was just mayor Mills in SB, she liked the sense of power, of everyone following her. But deep inside her is still the girl who does not like this cold hearted ascension and power struggle only. Hence she does not like the power she wields on others at times. She needs a reason for her actions and when she came to SB, it got lost. Truth to be spoken, Emma's arrival actually gave her an option to test her mettle again. She was bored of her absolute authority. its lonely there.

And although she loves Henry, it seems unless the threat of him being away became  real and then great, she truly never questioned her feelings for him or her actions towards him. As MM mentions in pilot, he was lonely, main reason why she gave him THE BOOK.

Inspite of their mutual dislike/ hatred, Regina and David were quite a team when they were working together to take care of Henry, or even facing Daniel. Regina was more human and vulnerable to him at that point than anytime else and yet he did not take advantage of the situation. That angle should be  explored IMO.