Tinkerbell finally had to admit to herself that she'd taken things too far.
This was supposed to be just a brief test, one last trial before she was officially certified as a fairy godmother. A visit to someone older than the usual charges, someone who wasn't as vulnerable in case things went wrong. And it was supposed to be easy. In hundreds of years only one had failed, and that was because the Dark One had intervened when she'd been trying to grant a young woman access to a ball.
But now Tinkerbell had failed, and failed spectacularly.
Regina, though an adult, was the most vulnerable human Tinkerbell had ever imagined. She had been married a month, and her despair was so palpable that the fairy thought she could reach out and touch it. There was no fixing the Queen's problems with a pair of glass slippers. She needed more than Tinkerbell knew how to give.
Tinkerbell had returned to the council for advice, and their only suggestion was to grant her a child. Something that would secure her future and perhaps give her hope. But the fairy knew that a child wasn't what Regina wanted, that it would only serve to trap her further in a life she was yearning to escape.
When the fairy asked the Queen what she wanted more than anything, Regina's answer was immediate. "Freedom," she'd said, glancing towards the moonlit window with a faraway look in her eyes. "If just for one night."
Tinkerbell had tried to undo the spell Regina's mother had cast to keep her there. She'd tried to magically persuade the King to let his wife go. At that point, the Blue Fairy had come for her, wanting to stop the young fairy before she caused major trouble and broke even more rules, but Tinkerbell had refused to leave.
She might have already failed her test, but she would not fail Regina. The Blue Fairy had stripped her of her wand and her wings, even her ability to change sizes, but Tinkerbell stayed anyway. Even now that she was merely human, there had to be something she could do.
She'd fallen in love with the young Queen, she finally realized. That was what it meant, wasn't it, when you were willing to sacrifice all you had for someone? So she'd given her love and given herself, and although it wasn't freedom Regina seemed to think it adequate. Maybe Regina loved her back. She'd had tears in her eyes, after all, when she'd seen all that Tinkerbell had given up for her. She'd taken the former fairy into her arms and kissed her, whispering that Tinkerbell didn't have to do that, that she shouldn't give so much.
Tinkerbell had silenced her with more kisses, and given her the best approximation of freedom she could within the palace walls, with no magic at her disposal. She gave Regina a night of escape, making love to her more gently and reverently than Regina had ever felt, and in return Regina showed Tinkerbell all of the beautiful things the human body could do. They fell asleep tangled up in each other and for the first time since Tinkerbell had first seen her, Regina slept through the night without nightmares. She was still peaceful when the former fairy woke at dawn and realized that she'd taken things too far.
If she stayed, Tinkerbell knew, there wouldn't be freedom. She'd be risking Regina's life with every touch and every kiss. And while Tinkerbell could imagine dying for this, she couldn't let Regina do the same.
She placed a kiss on Regina's shoulder and whispered an "I love you," and by the time Regina woke Tinkerbell was already down at the docks arranging for passage to the farthest destination she could find. A place called Neverland.