So, I guess this is an Author's Note: First of all, thanks for even clicking the link. I'm actually pretty nervous about posting this. This story is something I've been going to every now and then, hidden in my google docs, for some R&R and creative expression for things that I have no idea what else to do with because real life doesn't afford me the luxury of such things. I usually write non-fiction, so this is an little project to see if I'm capable of writing fiction at all. What better universe to choose than OUAT where, literally, anything is possible. No one else has read this, so I apologize for any errors you encounter. If you think the story is worthy, let me know about things like chapter length and format /technical stuff that I'm, admittedly, completely ignorant about.

About those warnings I mentioned in the summary... This story in an un-betaed first attempt. Though I have proofread, I promise, I can't guarantee it's error free. For that I apologize, sincerely. Assuming that I continue posting chapters (that really depends on whether or not readers think it worthwhile), there is sexually explicit content in later chapters. If that's not your cup o'tea, those parts can be skimmed/ skipped. Without further ado...

To Synchronize a Heart

Light Magic Does no Harm?

"You better hope to hell you didn't bring anything else back with you." Regina wasn't entirely sure she wasn't threatening Emma, but at that particular moment she didn't care if what she said sounded like a threat or not. Emma's face had visibly paled and her shocked expression remained intact. The blonde was opening and closing her mouth like a landed fish and Regina would have enjoyed it had the pain in her chest not prevented her from having a coherent thought. It didn't last long, but she knew the sharp, ripping pain would be back and she dreaded it. Rather than show weakness, Regina turned on her heel and made for the exit of the diner.

A strong hand descended on Regina's arm as she made her way, head down, through the throng of people intent on celebrating with Snow and David. Her head jerked up and she was brought face to face with her soul mate. His eyes told a story of utter confusion and though she would prefer to make him choose right then and there, her love for him won out. She suddenly felt a desire for nothing more than his peace of mind, even at the cost of her own happiness.

"Regina, please don't walk away from this," he pleaded with her. The pain in her chest returned and she winced, but nodded in acknowledgement of his obvious desire to speak with her.

"Not in here, Robin. Outside," she nodded in the direction of the door and looked back at his newly restored wife. Marian was still in a warm embrace with Roland. Though she would not begrudge either the son nor the mother a happy reunion, a small ache of jealousy flashed through her. He could have been mine too, she thought selfishly.

A veritable parade that consisted of Emma, Marian and Roland, and Snow and David followed the couple out into Granny's courtyard. Obviously they would have an audience whether Regina liked it or not. She turned to look at Robin and as she did so, he grasped her by the hand.

"Regina," her name escaped his lips in a whisper and the burning in her chest worsened, leaving Regina nearly breathless. "I don't know what this means." His eyes and tone pleaded for her understanding and Regina knew exactly what that meant. It was over. They were over. The woman he would have walked through hell to have back was just dropped in his lap. A once evil queen couldn't compare to his Marian. Pixie dust does lie came the unbidden thought. Regina couldn't speak she only nodded in a vague response.

"Robin?" A sweet voice somewhere close rang out in the growing cloud of Regina's emotions. "What are you doing with her?!" The voice was now almost shrill and both their heads snapped up at the sound.

"Please, Marian, this… this is Regina and I want us to talk about what's happening." The look on the other woman's face was pure horror as it became obvious to her that her husband had taken up with the Evil Queen in her absence.

"Do you know who she is?" Marian demanded. "Robin, she's the Evil Queen. She's a monster! How could you?!" It was overtly obvious that the thought of her dear Robin cozying up to Regina, the monster, disgusted her. The pain in Regina's chest intensified again and she couldn't help but press a hand to her chest in shock.

"Hey, hey, she's not like that anymore, Marian. She's changed," Emma broke into the conversation. Regina tried to be appreciative of having a defender, but couldn't quite muster that emotion with all the others flooding her mind and body. All she could do was stand there and watch and listen.

"No one can change after doing the things she did." Marian's voice was no dark and full of venom. "Please tell me you at least didn't allow this, this witch around our son!"

"Marian, please," Robin turned his full attention on his wife. "She's truly not like that. She has a son of her own and he's…" Marian yanked her hand out of Robin's grip.

"She has a son?! She has no business raising a child. How could any of you allow a poor innocent boy to be poisoned by her evil?" Marian took a tighter hold on her own son, who looked more scared than he ever had when facing a flying monkey.

"Yeah she has a son and he's my son too and she's one hell of a mother, so you need to back off," Emma interjected with a vehemence that surprised Regina even in her shocked state.

The decision showed clearly on Marian's face. She scooped up the small boy and headed back into the diner with a sweep of dark red cloak.

"You know no one feels that way, Gina," Emma tried to placate. Tears were flowing down Regina's face and Emma's guilt was ratcheted up several notches.

Robin turned back to Regina, but all he could say was, "I'm sorry." Regina knew that he truly meant it, but he also hadn't defended her and rather than comforting his soul mate, he turned and went to them, to his family. That was something Regina would never be and the knowledge caused her heart to give up the fight and break. She gasped as the pain sent shockwaves through her chest. Pinpoints of light burst into her vision and the once regal queen swayed with the searing pain of her heart breaking. Emma was at her side in an instant providing physical support. Once the initial shock of her heart separating passed, Regina was left with only a deep ache. She shook Emma's helping hands off of her arms and stood straight once again.

"I am so sorry, Gina." Emma's voice was choked and she too had tears falling down her cheeks.

"I'm a villain, Miss Swan. And you are a hero. It seems its your destiny to take away my happy ending. I obviously don't deserve one. Robin does. And now, thanks to you, he has a second chance with his true love. How does it feel to be a hero?" As Regina talked, her composure returned and her voice turned from shocked hurt to hard steel. Emma blinked several times before replying.

"Not so great at the moment," Emma admitted. "Henry told me that it was my job to bring back all the happy endings. But, why does one person's happy ending mean pain for another?"

Regina sighed, but thanks to her son's hard work in school, she had an answer. "Henry once told me of one of Newton's Laws," she began and received a look of bewilderment from Emma. Regina continued only rolling her eyes a bit, "for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." Regina paused to let Emma absorb her words. "You've just proven that to be true." Regina turned and exited the courtyard leaving a stunned Emma, open mouthed, watching her son's other mother stalk away, dejected, into the night.

…

Regina left from the street outside Granny's in a puff of purple smoke and arrived in the foyer of her mansion in similar fashion. It was then that she felt the burning, ripping sensation in her chest again. Her newly restored heart was breaking and she couldn't take the pain. With a hand braced on the polished wood of the entryway table, Regina reached the other hand into her own chest and pulled the two halves of her heart free. Breathless, she made her way to her study, found the small wooden box in her desk and laid the pieces of her heart gently inside, disregarding the tears that rolled down her cheeks and spilled onto the desktop.

It was no use. Even without the pieces of her heart in her body, she still felt pain. Regina remembered what Snow had said to her just days before.

"You feel things deeply… you feel with your whole soul."

…

Emma pounded on the mansion's immaculate white door.

"Regina! Come on! Don't shut me out. I know you and I know you're pissed and it's my fault but… just, just open the door," Emma yelled at the suspiciously silent house. Her gut told her something wasn't right and if anyone was used to listening to their gut, it was Emma, the bail bondswoman, the sheriff, the…. well some Savior I am… she thought to herself. She sighed and had another go at her best cop knock on the solid door. Nothing. Total silence.

"Regina! At least come out here and threaten me so I know you're okay!" She knocked again to no avail. Either the erstwhile Evil Queen was incredibly stalwart when it came stubbornness or… maybe she wasn't there? Only one way to find out.

"If you don't answer the door in thirty seconds, I'm breaking it down! One. Two." Emma heard footsteps on the path behind her and whirled, ready to defend herself against Regina's wrath, but dropped her defensive pose when she realized her company was Henry.

"Don't break down the door, Emma. You've done enough to make her mad. Just use my key." Henry stretched out his hand to his mother and dropped the key into her own outstretched hand. Before Emma could put the key in the lock, the door swung open in front of her. She peered into the darkened entryway, but saw no one.

"Come in, if you dare," called Regina from in interior room. Emma and Henry looked at each other. Emma had sincere apprehension on her face. Henry looked as though he was challenging his birth mother. The boy rolled his eyes and stepped passed Emma into the house.

"Mom," Henry called. Immediately Regina appeared in the doorway to the living room and Henry went to her. He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed. "I'm sorry, Mom. I'm so sorry." Henry's voice was thick with emotion and Regina returned her son's hug. If the love of a son was all she would have, it was plenty. She smiled down at the top of Henry's head despite the tears that threatened to spill over yet again.

Emma followed Henry more slowly. She observed the display of affection and emotion with hollow feeling under her breast bone. We're supposed to be the good guys. She thought. We're supposed to bring happiness, not destroy it.

Regina caught sight of Emma and stiffened in Henry's embrace. "Come to see the Evil Queen?" She asked in a husky tone that had only a shadow of the Evil Queen's threatening demeanor. "Try not to point and stare as you observe the woman who murdered her soulmate's wife." The last bit had enough of an edge that it further bit into Emma's already frayed nerves.

"You didn't," was all Emma could say.

"No, I guess I didn't. Thanks to you." Now the bitterness was really back and Henry stepped away from his mother. "Thank you, Savior, from taking the stain of one person's blood off my hands."

Emma's anger quickly dissipated yet again into a pool of burning guilt in her gut. "Regina, I'm…" Emma whispered through the thickness in her throat.

"You're sorry, Swan, I heard the first time. Sometimes 'sorry' just doesn't cut it. I've learned that lesson well. Perhaps now its your turn." Regina words stung with venom and Emma felt there was nothing she could say or do to make the situation better. All she wanted to do in that moment was go back to the Enchanted Forest and let Marian die. But, no. That's not what a hero does. Henry says heroes do what is right and she had. How did this turn out so horribly?! Emma thought before being shaken from her shocked revery by Henry's voice.

"Emma, you should probably just go," he suggested.

"But, kid," Emma tried to come up with some reason why she should stay and see this through, but Regina was looking at her in a way she had never, ever wanted to see those brown eyes stare her down ever again. "Okay. Yeah. I'll go," and she turned at walked back through the door toward her car. She only made it halfway down the sidewalk before her eyes blurred and tears started brimming and falling from both eyes. But, she kept walking because she knew her own hurt at Regina's tone and anger toward her was nothing compared to the pain she had inflicted on Regina.

…

"Henry," Regina began, but hesitated. Her son looked at her with an expression that made it clear he would do anything to help her. She knew it would sound like a silly request, but pushed through her pride. "Is your book here?"

Henry blinked, clearly not sure exactly how to respond. His brow was slightly furrowed and Regina had to look away in order to keep from blushing. Henry finally managed a response. "Its, its in my room upstairs. But, Mom, Emma changed what happened, it might not be in the book anymore."

A small sigh escaped Regina's lips as she realized that her son had read her as easily as he read the book she had requested. "I just want to…" she began and sighed again. "I want to see for myself what everyone else sees. I want to know what that book says about me. I saw their faces, Henry. They were scared of me and I don't want people to look at me that way anymore."

Her son reached out to her and Regina opened her arms to him. "I wasn't scared, Mom," he whispered into her shoulder. A single tear trailed down the formerly Evil Queen's face.

"Thank you, Henry, thank you," she whispered back.

…

Regina sat cross legged on the couch with the book she had once loathed as the item which drove a wedge between her and her son resting on her knees. Henry had long since gone up to bed at her insistence that she would be just fine and he needed his rest. For several hours she poured over the pages and whether it was the late hour or the wine with which she had fortified herself for this foray into the past, her eyes blurred and began to close of their own volition. She slid the book onto the coffee table in front of her and pulling a blanket over herself, she reclined on the couch and drifted off into a fitful doze.

She dreamed of horses and tents and running through the forest. In one instant she was kissing Daniel and in the next he was replaced with Robin. She was burying her heart in the forest, then slipping two halves of her heart into her mother's vault. She was running down a long hallway of the White Castle only to be grabbed from behind by Leopold and shoved roughly against a wall. Then she was in her bed chamber making love to Graham.

It may have been the sick feeling that came over her when she realized she was making love to a dead man that woke her, but she couldn't say for sure. She felt as though she were about to fall and her hand shot out from the blanket knocking over the empty wine glass on the coffee table. The crash of glass breaking brought Regina back to full awareness and she jumped up from the couch. Once she was sure of where she was, she closed her eyes on the darkened living room and took a deep breath. When she raised her hands to rub the weariness out of her eyes, another jolt of adrenaline shot through her body. White light was glowing from both her hands, pulsating as it began moving up her arms.

"What the h…" Regina began to say, but was cut short by a sudden burst of what could have only been light magic that seemed to engulf her and come from her at the same time. She started for the entryway in a blind panic, not sure exactly where she was going or what she intended to do. In her alarmed state, she simply felt she had to move, to try to get away from the blinding light. But, she couldn't get away from it; it was coming from her. A shock wave suddenly burst from the white-gold light surrounding her. The last thing Regina remembered was all the glass around her shattering in a crash that could have woken the dead.

…

Henry woke from a sound sleep in an instant. With his heart hammering in his throat, he jumped out of bed and sped down the stairs two at a time. "Mom!" Henry flipped on the light at the bottom of the stairs and stopped short. He had just narrowly missed stepping on the glass that now glittered in the incandescent light from the wall sconces. Henry let out a gasp and ran back up the stairs and stuffed his feet into his sneakers. At the bottom of the stairs again, he immediately turn to his left and saw his mother sprawled on the floor of the living room.

"Mom!" He cried again as he lunged for her, not noticing the glass that pierced his knees as he knelt by her side. He reached out to her and called out to her again. There were small cuts on her arms. One piece of glass had made a thin red line that angled down her left cheek and oozed dark red blood. Henry picked up his mother's limp hand and begged for her to respond to him.

"Please, Mom. Mom, just open your eyes. Tell me you're okay!" He got no response from Regina. He gently laid her hand on her chest and ran for the phone in the kitchen. He dialed Emma's cell phone and paced back into the entryway, waiting for her to pick up.

"Regina?" Came Emma's sleepy voice on the other end of the phone.

"Emma! Its my mom, please, come help!" Henry pleaded.

…

Emma was sure that Henry wasn't hurt, but it didn't stop her heart from being lodged uncomfortably in her throat for the entirety of the short (made shorter by her extreme speed) drive to the mayor's house. The yellow Bug screeched to a halt in front 108 Mifflin Street and Emma sprinted up the walkway. She quickly took in the state of the broken windows on the right side of the house and swallowed hard several times, attempting to push her heart back down where it belonged. She was the sheriff. She wasn't allowed to panic in an emergency. But, this was her kid and her kid's mother and she'd challenge anyone in that situation not to panic at least a bit.

After what Henry had hurriedly described on the phone, Emma was surprised when the foyer looked exactly the same as it had when she left several hours ago. However, her notion of Henry's tale being exaggerated was dispelled when she turned to the right and saw the state of the normally immaculate living room. Somehow all the glass from the windows had blown inward. She hadn't noticed the chill so much when she was outside, but a shiver ran straight down her spine and settled in an uncomfortable tingling sensation in her tailbone. She rushed to where Henry was holding onto Regina's hand for dear life and thought the sensation in her tailbone must be some primitive part of her that wanted her to tuck her tail and run. She felt guilty. She felt as though this were somehow her fault. Regina's voice came back to her,

"Never thinking of consequences!"

"Hey, kid," Emma's voice sounded remarkably calm to her own ears. She didn't feel nearly as calm as she sounded, but she was glad her voice didn't shake or betray her, for Henry's sake. "Step back a bit Henry," she said equally as calmly. Her son looked at her with pleading eyes. She had to do something. She knew the answer to something magical was something equally as magical, but she hadn't been sure she could do anything until she walked into that room. With glass crunching under her boots, her son's terrified expression, and Regina laid out amongst the wreckage of windows and vases, she felt it for the first time since she used the Black Fairy's wand. The tingling in her fingers was at once familiar and foreign, necessary in this instance, but not entirely welcome in her life.

Emma knelt down next to her son and said softly to the stricken woman, "Gina, it's Emma. Wake up." Emma brushed hair off the mayor's forehead and laid her palm against the smooth, unusually pale skin. The shock of how cold that skin was sent another shiver down her spine, but it was immediately replaced with the strange, warm sensation of flowing magic. A gentle pulse went down her arm, to her hand where it rested on Regina's forehead. The warmth passed from Emma to the other woman and Regina gasped as her eyes flew open. She sat up with a start and hissed through her teeth as the several small cuts and gash on her face made their presence known. Regina put her hand to her right cheek and started at the resulting stinging sensation.

"Mom, are you okay?" Henry's voice reached Regina through the receding fog of her mind and and she reached out to him.

"I'm okay, Henry." Regina looked around the room, met Emma's eye and her expression turned from confusion to wariness.

"What…?" Regina began but her voice trailed off and she shook her head. "Thank you, Miss…. thank you, Emma," she finished and as she held up a hand to the woman who now appeared to be her savior as well and asked gently, "Please?" Emma grabbed Regina's hand and elbow and helped haul her to feet. She led Regina out of the wreckage of the living room to the kitchen.

"We should get those cuts cleaned up," suggested Emma and she sent Henry off for first aid supplies. Regina looked dazed and aside from the long cut on her face, she had glass in her hair and she was pale. Emma, not sure what to do with Regina in a so obviously vulnerable state, poured a glass of water and set it in front of the silent mayor.

"You want to tell me what happened?" Emma inquired after a period of uncomfortable silence.

"I wish I could, Miss Swan," Regina responded without looking up. She was running her index finger around the lip of the clear water glass, obviously avoiding the savior's penetrating stare.

"You don't know?" the blonde responded, with a touch of shock.

Regina sighed and finally flicked her brown eyes up to meet Emma's. "I do know it was some sort of… of light magic… explosion or something. I woke up and there was white light and…" Regina shrugged and took a sip of the cool water. "And then the world exploded."

…

Henry had figured out that the short errand for the first aid kit was a ruse when he returned to find his adoptive mother teaching his birth mother how to heal with magic. It bothered him a bit that they still felt the need to have him leave the room and be out of earshot to talk about certain things. He wasn't a ten-year-old anymore, after all. He couldn't stay irritated for long though. Seeing his mothers work together was an amazing treat especially considering how things had ended between them just hours ago.

Emma concentrated as hard as she could while listening to instruction from Regina.

"Don't think it, feel it," Regina whispered. Emma closed her eyes and moved her hand over Regina's arm. With a swirl of white warmth, the cuts on the mayor's arm disappeared. Emma opened her eyes to see her magical handiwork and looked up at Regina with a huge smile on her face.

"I did it," she breathed and Regina nodded in approval.

"Now," Regina said with an air of authority. "Take care of the one on my cheek before I have another scar."

Henry watched in fascination as Emma worked to heal Regina and a thought struck him. He waited until Emma was done, so as to not break her concentration, but was too excited to see what would happen to stay quiet any longer.

"Hey," he said to his mothers. "You could work together to clear up the mess in the other room." He raised both his eyebrows invitingly and both women smiled at him. Regina shrugged and looked to Emma.

"Why not?" the blonde said and they headed for the entrance to the living room.

The magical pair stood together and took in the wreck of broken glass and toppled ornamental decorations. They both took a deep breath and looked at each other.

"Feel it, right?" Asked Emma tentatively. Regina nodded and both women put their hands out in front of them. With closed eyes, they simultaneously bent slightly at the knees and waist. White light shot from two pairs of hands and engulfed the room before them. Henry's eyes darted from one mother to the other to the living room and back again. Glass clattered and shards from all over the room rose into the air. Tiny pieces of sparkling glass even lifted from Regina's hair and flew into the room. In a matter of seconds, every piece of glass and every knick knack was back in its place; the room was pristine again. Even the wine glass that had broken when Regina had wakened with a start was back in its place on the coffee table.

Both women dropped their hands and surveyed the room in front of them. Emma was entirely pleased and beamed at Henry who had come up next to her.

"We did it, kid!" She exclaimed and she and Henry shared a quick embrace. Emma looked to Regina to share in their moment of triumph, but was immediately alarmed when she looked at the other women. Regina was swaying on her feet with a hand pressed to her middle just under her breast bone. The mayor had a stunned look on her face and Emma took the two strides necessary to reach the woman. She put a hand under Regina's elbow and peered at her face just in time to see the large brown eyes roll back.

"Regina!" Emma cried. She meant to catch Regina's other arm and steady her, but she found herself supporting most of Regina's weight with her legs as the woman swayed into her. Emma shifted her feet to better support Regina and wrapped her other arm around the faltering queen. "Gina," she whispered in a pleading tone. Emma was quite alarmed as was Henry. The boy had been momentarily stunned, but seeing that both his mothers needed help urgently, he sprang to life.

Henry took one of Regina's arms and draped it over his shoulders while wrapping his arm around his mother's waist. Emma followed Henry's example and, together, the pair managed to sit Regina down on the couch in the newly restored living room.

By the time they reached the couch, Regina was nearly walking under her own power again.

"What?" Emma stumbled on her words, "that's not… Jesus, Regina!" Emma looked down at Regina and could clearly see that, while not entirely alright, she probably wasn't going to keel over on them again. "What the hell was that?"

Regina shook her head, which she quickly discovered was a mistake. The contents of her head hadn't entirely ceased buzzing and swirling. She put a hand to her forehead in an attempt to still the spinning.

"I'm alright now," she breathed. Regina dropped her hand and looked up to the worried faces of mother and son in front of her. "It's…" she breathed deeply through her nose and gave it another go. "I think it's the light magic."

"Light magic is supposed to bring good, not harm!" Emma exclaimed.

"Quite," Regina replied. "But, I am obviously not at all used to using light magic. Its, well, its... different."

...

EDIT: i should have included this earlier, but I don't own the show or the characters; I'm just playing in ABC's sandbox.