AN: This story came from my continuing frustration/anger with one aspect of a show that I otherwise love. That frustration centres round the continued downgrading of an adoptive parent's love – as if this is somehow substandard to that of a blood relation. It's also SQ, simply because I can't help myself.

Disclaimer: No, I haven't suddenly acquired OUAT (oh would that I could), the respective rights remain the property of the legal owners.

The cries of "Gold" and "Rumplestiltskin" brought him onto the deck. At first he could only see Emma and Snow bracing themselves on the side as they attempted to bring something aboard. He could hear David below directing their efforts, but it wasn't until Henry's cry of "Help her, please!" that he was able to discern what, or rather who was being dragged aboard. Making his way to where they had gently laid her on the deck, he took a moment to silently assess her condition.

"What happened?" He had transferred back to the ship with Hook and Neal, ahead of the others, to release the protection cast over it and begin the spell that would allow them to return to Storybrooke. There had been no apparent danger when he'd left them on the beach.

"She," shaking her head, Emma found she was unable to say any more. David stepped up to his daughter squeezing her shoulder gently before taking over.

"Pan escaped somehow," he began.


It was agony. She knew she shouldn't be surprised at this; the constructs of the Netherworld were well known - the collective psyche of untold generations had shaped the magic of the cursed realm into a representation of punishment, abandonment and pain.

Yet, as the flames surrounded her, Regina was all too aware that knowing something and experiencing something can be two very different things. That she could almost feel the flames was tortuous. Experience teaches the mind that effect follows cause; so, in a world created by imagination, her mind's expectation of the heat, the burn and the pain was an effect just as excruciating as any reality.

And yet, she wouldn't change a thing.


"He arrived just as we were preparing the boat. Regina, she..." stopping to draw breath David looked at the women on the deck. Snow had Regina's head in her lap as Emma knelt by the feet of the woman who had once again proven them wrong. This strange pieta invigorated him somehow.

David had never been a man who looked too deeply into the motivations of others. In his world of fairy tales it had never been necessary; characters had been writ large and their intentions were open. Good versus evil didn't require a nuanced analysis. But the events of the last few months had robbed him of easy conclusions, and the sight of his wife and daughter, so obviously hurting for someone who had caused them irreparable harm, made him want to do his best. His best for them and his best for her.

"She bartered herself, her magic, in exchange for Henry." Looking at his grandson he could see the pain and guilt in the young eyes that held his.

"This was not your fault Henry" he stated. "Your mom did this because she chose to. Because she loves you."

The words came easily much to his surprise. The evident truth of the statement was Regina's actions. For months he, and everyone else, had doubted the motives of the Evil Queen. But this, well this had been the actions of a mother, and her unresponsive body on the deck was the consequence of that mother's love.

Emma looked at her father and then her son. Taking in the need she saw there, she got up and walked over to where Henry stood.

"Henry, I know what you're thinking, but you're wrong." Emma drew him into her arms as she spoke. "There was nothing that you did, nothing that you could have done or done differently that would have changed your mom's mind." Holding him tighter she continued. "She loves you and you know that. She would do anything to protect you, and you know that too. Pan is the only cause of this."

David looked to Gold again and asked "Can we help her?"

Moving over to where Regina lay, Rumple bent down and placed one hand on her head and the other on her chest as he tried to gauge the extent of the damage. "What happened when she let him have her magic?" he asked.

Snow replied this time. "He wanted to save the magic of Neverland using Henry's heart, but Regina offered her own instead. He stuck his hand in her chest but he didn't take her heart he just seemed to drain her."

Rumple nodded; Greg and Tamara had tried to forcibly take Regina's magic in Storybrooke and, given what they now knew about the designs of the 'Home Office', it made sense that Pan might accept that as a substitute. "He wouldn't need her heart, taking one is a means of control. Pan wanted her magic and he could drain that from her, so, once he took that, she was no longer of use to him" he explained.

"What can we do?" It was the first time Neal had spoken since everyone got on board. He had no love for this woman, but, having watched the look of devastation on his son's face, he knew that he would do whatever was in his power to get Regina back.

Considering his response, Rumple placed his hands on Regina's head and chest again. "Her physical injuries are minor and will heal, but, in draining her magic, Pan took her essence and she is in a form of coma." Looking around everyone he continued, "Regina's soul retreated as Pan drained her, a form of self-protection if you will. She has used some of her own magic to, in effect, curse herself, placing her body into stasis and sending her soul to the Netherworld."

"But that means we can get her back, right?" Henry turned to his grandparents as he spoke. "I mean, you both woke each other from sleeping curses, so we can wake her too?" Turning then to Emma he pleaded "and you woke me."

"I wish it were that easy Henry." Speaking with a gentleness that still felt foreign to him, Rumple took Henry by the shoulders to turn him towards him. "Regina isn't cursed, it has the same effect as a curse, but she used a spell on herself. No kiss will wake her she needs to be able and want to reverse the spell herself. But, with her magic drained..." His voice trailed off.

It was Emma who broke the silence turning to Snow, "When we were in the Enchanted Forest we could communicate with whoever was in the Netherworld under the sleeping curse using the necklace." Facing Rumple she asked, "can we do that with Regina?"

"Yes, I imagine we can." Pulling the necklace over his head he watched it glittering in the moonlight. They had never been kind to each other, Regina had been a tool he needed to fully exploit while she had employed him as her means to vengeance. Looking at her now though, a parent who would do anything for her child, he felt something different stirring, a compassion and understanding that he had never allowed himself to feel for her before. This added a certainty to his next words "Yes, we can."