I do not own OUAT or any of the characters therein. All rights remain with the legal owners

Chapter 1

It's like a sledgehammer. The truth whirls and batters her again and again, stealing the breath from her lungs. They hadn't intended this, oh God, they had never intended this.

"Emma?"

Her mother's voice breaks through the fog and forces her to move. Lifting Regina and motioning with her head that Henry should follow, she cradles his mother's body to her chest and slowly moves down the beach towards the boat. The laboured breaths she can feel against her neck only provide scant reassurance that Regina is still with her.

Reaching the shore Emma stumbles; David and Snow see her coming and, with a care that still surprises her, David reaches for Regina. Accepting her from Emma's arms he lifts her into the boat and gently lays her on the bench just under the stern gunwale.

It was taking all she could not to scream, but a look at Henry gives her what she needs to hold it together. The vacancy in his eyes speaks of the state of shock he is in. If ever Henry had needed her it was now. He had witnessed Regina's willingness to sacrifice herself for him before, but this was the first time that he was witnessing the aftermath of her selfless determination to keep him safe.

David starts herding them towards the boat. His "Come on, we need to get back to the ship" has Emma guiding Henry to the boat where Snow helps them in. Henry heads straight to the stern to sit with Regina. Part of her wants to move him, take him away and shield him from this, but she can see his need, the desire to be close to his mother. So, instead, she moves to sit behind him hoping her presence can impart some solace to him because, God knows, she doesn't have the words to do so.

"Emma, why won't she wake up?"

Words were still deserting her, so Emma just shakes her head and pulls Henry into her arms hoping that this makes up for the fact she can't answer, stroking his back as she tries to calm his shivering. Throughout the previous two years Henry had shown a level of understanding and maturity that made it all too easy to forget that he was still a child; his question reminds her how incredibly young he still is.

Looking over to her parents she sees them each hauling on an oar, synchronising their pulls without having to speak. David smiles sympathetically at her as Snow speaks.

"Henry, we'll be back to the ship soon and get Gold to see what he can do. I promise, we won't leave anything to chance Henry, we will do everything to heal her."

Emma hears the emphasis Snow places on 'everything' while Henry just nods. She can see he's simply reacting to the sound but not understanding as his eyes are fixed on Regina's pale face. The voyage to Neverland had shown her that the relationship between Snow and Regina was far more complex than she had imagined. There was a shared understanding, a respect between the two women that had never been wholly subsumed in hate, vengeance and pain. It left Emma with a strange longing for what the relationship between these two women could have been had they been allowed the opportunity to love each other as their hearts initially led.

Looking back down at Regina, Emma stifles the sob that rises. She has been dubbed the Saviour, but all she sees before her is a woman who now deserves that title so much more. Again and again Regina has placed her life on the line to protect them, absorbing death curses, holding back triggers and now, Jesus, now delivering her life force to Pan. Emma knows that Regina's recent actions can't atone for the torment and pain she once unleashed upon the world, but she also knows that her willingness to sacrifice herself was not an attempt to gain forgiveness. No, Emma knows now that Regina's actions had been motivated only by love - an immutable and unconditional love for the boy that sits shivering in her arms.

So she reaches for Regina's hand, holding her wrist softly to feel the slow pulse that tells her that, despite the blood, her son's mother still lives.