In which the Swan-Mills family takes each others' hearts and hands them over to Gold to be cursed.
"That's right, honey," Regina said, squatting before Henry and looking him in the face. "Henry, do you remember the reason that Emma was the only one who could break the curse on this town?"
He nodded slowly, calm fear in his eyes as Emma squatted beside Regina, one hand on the former mayor's knee and the other on Henry's arm. "She's the product of true love."
Regina nodded. "That's my boy," she breathed, more to herself than to Henry. "Mr. Gold is going to put our hearts in a suspension curse. We won't feel the effects exactly: we will be able to think and act and feel for ourselves, but only because Mr. Gold will elect not to control us. Normally, this curse is a way to control people - "
"Like Cora did! She sent all these zombies after us... We couldn't kill them..." Emma pieced together.
Regina nodded, grimacing, forcing herself not to imagine the horrors Emma must have been subjected to in her land. With any luck, there would be plenty of time to process it all later. As a family.
"Precisely. My mother won't be able to get at our hearts, and she also won't be able to physically kill us. But she won't be able to control us, either: only Mr. Gold will have that power, but he will only use it to keep our hearts safe - Cora won't be able to get at them while they're under his magic. And since - "
"Since we're going to take each others' hearts, out of True Love, not meanness, True Love's Kiss will be able to break the spell, like when Emma saved me!"
"Very good, sweetheart," Regina cooed, ignoring the way Emma was ogling her in shock. "But Emma and I are going to take each others' hearts, then yours. So it will be our kiss that breaks the spell."
Henry suppressed a giggle and Regina, an eye roll, as Emma overbalanced, landing on her ass in the leaves.
"Aren't we missing something here? My daughter is not evil - she doesn't know how to take a heart."
Regina stood to face the mother of her True Love, who used to be the girl she blamed for murdering her first True Love. "We're magically connected now: I'll guide her through it, dear. And now we really must get on with it - Gold needs to enact this curse, there are other preparations to make, and unless I'm mistaken, you have a True Love of your own to awaken."
Emma watched the confrontation with wide eyes, avoiding Ruby's twinkling eyes, glancing instead to her son for support. They exchanged conspiratorial glances, reveling in the mutual satisfaction of seeing their mothers in such a state. Emma swept him into her arms. "I love you, kid."
"I love you, too, Emma. I'm so glad you're home."
"I'm never leaving you again, Henry," she murmured into his hair.
A gentle touch and attendant sparks of magic graces Emma's shoulder. "Are you ready, darling?" Emma's heart leapt, knowing the affectionate address was aimed at her. She kissed Henry's head again before rising.
The women stood in front of each other, silent. "I'll keep you safe. I promise." The weight of Regina's words threatened to overwhelm her, knowing how she'd failed with Daniel. This time would be different.
Emma nodded. "I know you will. And I'll always protect you. But uh... how will I know - "
A light kiss on her cheek soothed and shushed her, magical energy spreading from her cheek throughout her entire being. "You will," Regina whispered. Emma gently wiped a tear from the older woman's eye.
"We can do this, baby," she murmured, trying out a new endearment in case she never got another chance to.
Regina gave a small smile as she slowly put her hand forward into the younger woman's chest. Emma looked down in awe as she watched the intensity of the tingling she felt match the degree of disappearance of her love's hand into her body. As the formerly evil queen pulled her heart out of her chest, Emma fought to keep from swooning. The feeling of so literally - and willingly - giving complete control of her life to a woman she had once - twice - thrice - several times - wanted to kill was exhilarating. She felt the pulsing of her heart pounding against the delicate and strong veins in Regina's hands, felt the heady rush of the morning's breeze against her bare organ, stripped of all protection and being held, almost reverently, in her love's hand.
"Are you alright, my love?" Regina's eyes searched her face as Henry gaped open-mouthed at his mother's heart in his other mother's hand. Emma nodded, dazed.
Realizing Henry's gaze, she smiled down at him and ruffled his hair. "It doesn't hurt at all, kid." She shifted her focus back to Regina.
"Are you ready?" Regina nodded as Emma slowly slid her hand into Regina's chest. Guided by their magical connection, Emma had the heady but unnerving sensation of knowing intimately what she had never learned, feeling no resistance from Regina's clothing, breast, muscles, or bones, just a slight squeezing, not unlike the pulsing, slick muscles of the woman's cunt. But this tingled more. Her eyes never left Regina's, her unoccupied hand not leaving Henry's head, as she felt her fingers, guided by Regina's knowledge, wrap around the powerful pulsation that kept her alive. She withdrew her love's heart and tenderly kissed it, then the seemingly untouched spot on Regina's chest. Tears streaked down Regina's face. "I love you," she whispered. Emma smiled broadly, sweetly, ecstatically. "I love you," she whispered, for the first time to anyone but Henry in over a decade.
Gold silently stepped forward to take both of their hearts into a box he had conjured. Both women turned softly to Henry, who looked a misplaced combination of thrilled and terrified.
"Your mother's right, darling - it really doesn't hurt. And we are not using them to control each other. Nor will Mr. Gold. And when Cora is gone, Emma and I will kiss, and all will be well. Alright, sweetheart?"
Henry nodded. "I trust you both." He paused, looking between them. "When all this is done, we'll be a real family?"
Emma teared. "We already are, kid."
Both women placed one hand on their son's shoulder. "Ready?" they asked him in unison.
"Ready!" he chimed, scared but trusting and eager to feel magic for himself.
Slowly, both of his mothers slipped one hand a piece into his chest, scooping his heart and lightly entwining their fingertips around it. Henry gasped as the magical sparks of their touch ignited inside his body, soaring through him and filling him with a tingling, calming sense of love he hadn't felt since before he found out he was adopted (he hadn't minded that so much as he felt anger that Regina had lied to him for so long. But that was over now.). As his mothers' hands emerged from his chest, sharing his heart between them, his eyes widened. "Cool," he whispered, a smile tugging at his mouth, his eyes sparkling.
"Indeed, Henry," Rumpelstiltskin said softly, as he gestured for the teary-eyed women to place their son's heart alongside theirs. Emma hesitated, turning to Regina.
"You trust him with Henry's life? After all he's done?"
"He helped Henry many times in your absence, Emma. And believe me, Cora is just as big a threat to him as she is to us. Snake he may be - " she threw a glare Gold's way - "but in this, we are allied."
"Rest assured, Ms. Swan: your boy shan't be harmed."
Emma glanced at Henry, who nodded confidently. Mr. Gold had given him that necklace, even before he knew that Cora was an imminent threat. Maybe it's because he misses his own son so much, Henry mused.
He watched his mothers place his heart delicately into the box Gold presented them with. He noticed that it was decorated primarily with a crown, being embraced by a beautiful pair of wings, stretched out in flight, like a swan's. He smiled to himself, and thought he saw Rumpelstiltskin's eyes twinkle in responding delight when their eyes met.
It was gone, however, when the next moment, he began murmuring words that Henry could not understand, swiping his hand over, under, and across the chest, blue-black mist sizzling above it.
Gold looked up grimly. "Your hearts belong to me now, dearies. Cora will be unable to control or kill you in this way."
"Right," a clearly distressed Mary Margaret said, stepping forward. "I have a husband to save."
The six nodded, with varying degrees of eagerness or annoyance and, Emma and Regina on either side of Henry, holding his hands in theirs, set back towards the town at a run.
