And what we've all been waiting for!

Or maybe not, I dunno, I'm excited about getting this chapter on the road, I think [and hope] that everyone will enjoy it! Longest chapter yet for this.

Also, cover for this fic! I finally got around to it so woot!

Now let's get things started!


Regina wasn't nervous. To admit that she was nervous would imply a whole slew of other feelings, and she wasn't ready to do that quite yet. It was sufficient to know that she would be telling Emma the truth in a few hours, and she refused to back down. So much was at stake.

Emma came bounding in to their bedroom, already talking. "So I somehow managed to get Mary Margaret and David to volunteer to take Henry for the night. You'd think that, being Valentine's Day, they would want to go out and do their thing, but apparently their honeymoon engagement phase has left them numb to the whole Valentine's Day thing. But don't worry, I didn't tell them...Hey, you okay?"

She saw Emma approach her, gently coming up to stand in front of her, hands on her upper arms, rubbing soothingly. "Regina?"

"Hmm?"

"Is everything okay? You seem a little bit off..."

"I-" How could Regina possibly begin to explain the turmoil going through her head right now?

"Is this because we're going on a date in Storybrooke? If you want, we can cancel or do something else and-"

"No! No it's alright, darling, I'll be fine." Regina wasn't sure if she was saying that to assure Emma, or herself.

Emma just gave her girlfriend a knowing look. "Something is wrong, what is it?"

She's not sure what made her want to be a little bit sincere in her response, but next thing she knew, she was saying, "I don't want to lose you."

"What?" Emma engulfed her, and Regina clung tightly, not wanting to respond to Emma's one-word inquiry. "Regina you're not going to lose me, what makes you say that?"

Regina just shook her head. "Nothing, I just...let's enjoy tonight's dinner."

Emma wanted nothing more than to try find out what exactly was bothering Regina so much. She couldn't think of a single plausible reason as to why Regina would fear losing her. So she did the next best thing, and gave her a soft kiss to her forehead. "I promise you Regina, you're not going to lose me."

She wished she could believe that Emma would keep that promise, but there was so much at stake here.

"Now come on, let's go have our date, okay?"


Dinner at Tony's was wonderful. It was a private room, and Tony assured them his discretion. Coupled with a few winks, and Regina was reminded how nice her old Chef at the castle was. She's glad that Tony could enjoy this, and hoped that once the curse broke, Tony would still be loyal to her, as he had been for so many years.

He had offered them his restaurant's specialty, a shared plate of spaghetti, but Regina quickly refused. She'd seen Lady and the Tramp after being roped into it by the Swans a number of times, and could just see what that plate would lead to. No, she just needed a little bit more time. They ate separate meals, and although they shared morsels of their food to the other, their lips didn't touch.

"So," Emma started, putting down her dessert fork. "Do you want to head back home after this, or...?"

Regina thought for a second. She could just postpone revealing the truth for a little while longer, keep enjoying this relationship as much as she could. After all it wasn't like Emma was expecting some sort of revelation today anyway. No. She had to do this. "Perhaps we could go out for a walk?"

"Sure!"

After they paid - Regina insisted on footing the bill - they walked out in the brisk February air. It was actually pretty nice for February, which made it even more perfect to walk. Of course, they had to drop off the car first, so that they didn't take up space in Tony's parking lot, and so that they wouldn't have to return there. Plus for Regina, it was assurance that despite what might happen soon, Emma would have to return...or so she hoped.

Her last chance to bail was coming up as soon as they parked in the house's parking pad. It was now or never. She could feign not feeling well, or sudden fatigue. She was sure Emma would understand. But she knew she had to do this now, she couldn't keep pushing this away.

They got out of the car and Emma held out her hand for Regina to take. She gladly laced her fingers with the blonde's, glad for some comfort as she sought out how to tackle this as they started their stroll.

"It's a gorgeous night tonight," was the first and only thing Regina had come up with thus far, and as she said it, she wanted to facepalm. She was clearly off her game.

Emma hummed in agreement. "It is, but you're more gorgeous."

She blushed and let out a small chuckle. How her girlfriend managed to be so flirty and smooth to make her feel this way was beyond her. She was a Queen! People used to cower at her feet and here she was, reacting as if she was a teenager on her first date at the slightest compliment.

"So, what's on your mind?"

Regina was startled from her thoughts after a few moments by Emma's question. "What?"

"You've had something on your mind this entire night Regina. You keep getting distracted and biting your lip, as if you're debating something."

"I'm sorry, I-"

"Hey, no, don't apologize," Emma said, interrupting. Breaking away from their hand-holding, Emma took her now free hand and weaved it around Regina's shoulders, pulling the brunette closer to her. Regina leaned into the embrace as they continued to walk, heading into the Storybrooke Park. "I just was wondering if something was troubling you."

Well, it was now or never. "There is. Something I mean."

They stopped walking and faced one another. Emma's arm had migrated back down, and she was once more holding Regina's hand. "What is it? Is something wrong?"

Regina took a deep breath and shook her head. "No, nothing's wrong...in a sense." She quickly met Emma's gaze and saw how confused her girlfriend was. "I'm not too sure how to tell you this..."

"Just tell me Regina, and we'll figure it out, okay?" Truth be told, Emma didn't have the slightest idea as to what could be troubling Regina so much. She had always been composed in all the years she'd known her, so this had to be something pretty big. She'd seen how distracted Regina was throughout their date, and she hoped against hope that it wasn't something related to them, or their relationship. She thought that they were doing pretty good together, and she wouldn't know what to do if Regina decided she had enough and wanted to break up.

"Do you remember...Henry's storybook?"

Emma raised an eyebrow, impossibly more confused than before. "Yeah?" she drawled, her answer coming out a question wherein she simultaneously tried to say yes and ask what this had to do with anything.

"What...what if I told you that he was right? That it was all true." Regina couldn't even meet Emma's eyes, she knew what the expression would probably be.

This could not be happening. She let go of Regina's hand, taking the smallest of steps back. "Regina, what? Where did this come from? We got him to drop it a year ago, after we started dating, so why bring this up?"

She finally looked at Emma, and saw only confusion. "Because it's true, Emma."

Her girlfriend sighed. "Is this some kind of deflection? You're trying to make yourself insane so that I'll break up with you?"

Emma's lack of self-confidence was rearing its ugly head in. She thought Regina didn't want her. "No! That's the last thing I want, Emma."

"Then why bring this up Regina?"

"I've told you, because it's real. I'm the Evil Queen, Ruby is Red Riding Hood, Archie is Jiminy Cricket, and your parents are Snow White and Prince Charming, also known as Mary Margaret and David."

She was certain this had to be a joke. "Are you kidding me?" she exclaimed.

Bringing both her hands to rest on Emma's shoulders, she willed her to understand. "I swear to you Emma, this is all real."

A scoff was all she got in response before Emma gathered her thoughts. "Real? You're going to tell me that the crazy theory Henry pulled out of an old storybook of yours is real and you expect me to believe this all willy-nilly?"

"The storybook isn't mine Emma."

Emma shook her head incredulously and stepped back out of Regina's reach. "Not yours? So what, that whole story about your mother was all a lie?"

"Yes and no Emma. My mother was a monster who treated me badly, but she used magic to do it. I hadn't seen that book ever before until that day that you were reading to Henry. But the storybook did bring me bad memories, of my childhood and my past."

The other woman said nothing, avoiding her gaze as she seemed to process everything.

"And to answer your other question, yes, I do expect you to believe this, because I want you to know who you're dating."

Emma let out a mirthless laugh. "You want me to know who I'm dating? Who I've been rooming and boarding with for the past 10 years? A little late for this teensy tiny inconsequential fact Regina, don't you think?"

"I know, I'm sorry, I was selfish because I wanted to experience happiness, to let myself forget that I was...evil."

"Honestly, I don't know what's crazier, the fact that you want me to believe that you're this- this Evil Queen, or the fact that that being true means that you lied to me all this time?" Emma looked ready to go stir-crazy, not that Regina would blame her. It was a lot to take in.

"Emma, please try to understand. I didn't tell you for a reason. Look how you reacted when Henry told you, or how you're reacting now. I just wanted a second chance, a chance to have a normal life without the label of good or evil."

"Then why tell me at all? If you knew how I was going to react and you didn't want anyone to know, especially after Henry let the subject go, why bring it up again?"

It bothered Regina how emotionless Emma sounded. "Like I said, I wanted you to know. It wasn't fair to you to be deprived of your chance to reconnect with your parents. Besides, you are my happy ending Emma. You would've found out eventually when the curse broke, and I thought you'd prefer to have been told in advance, rather than finding out later."

At that, the younger woman met her eyes with a curious look within them. It prompted Regina to continue, "I created this curse because I was tired of being the villain. All I had ever wanted was a happy ending of my own. Your mother was responsible for a lot of grief and unhappiness in my life, and in my blind rage, I was ready to do anything to take away her happy ending, where she had a true love and a child, while I was left to rot.

"So I had Rumpelstiltskin - Mr. Gold - create a curse. A curse that would bring me my happy ending, at the price of everyone else's happy ending. They would all be stuck with a humdrum existence, with a general dissatisfaction and unhappiness in their lives, as if they were incomplete. Of course, it would turn out that nothing can keep people from finding their happy endings. Lacey found Gold, David found Mary Margaret, Ashley and Sean are happy with their child. The curse has been weakening since you arrived."

"Why not tell me before? When I first came to Storybrooke?" was all that Emma asked.

Regina flashed a sad smile. "If you don't believe me now, imagine what it would've been like 10 years ago, Emma. Not to mention, the curse had a prophecy tied to it. Wherein the Saviour would come and save everyone from me."

Emma merely nodded. Henry had told her as much while he had his theory.

"She was to break the curse after the 28th year. I always imagined it'd be Snow White and Prince Charming's daughter coming in on a white horse to skewer me. Never could I imagine that she'd appear in a beat up old yellow Bug with a toddler in arms and needing a place to stay 10 years earlier." By now Regina was wringing her hands together, trying to keep her composure. "It turns out that the curse is meant to last as long as it took for me to find and accept my happy ending. This was why I was so adamant about us not kissing on the lips. True Love's kiss breaks any curse, so it only rests to conclude that my happy ending, and the curse breaking, would happen when I kissed my true love."

Regina kept looking at Emma, who had long broken eye contact with her. She waited, and knew it was a long string of things to process.

When she looked up, Emma swallowed before asking, albeit a bit timidly, "You truly love me?"

With a fervent and confident nod, Regina said, "More than I could've ever imagined loving another person."

Emma took a deep breath, eyes still boring into Regina's. "Say that this whole thing is true, do you have any proof?"

Regina faltered. The easiest proof would be magic, but that was impossible with how this world worked. She couldn't create magic if the air had none. But she could use magically charged objects..."Actually, I do, follow me."


They walked purposefully towards their destination. Regina hadn't told her where they were going, and Emma hadn't asked, using the silence to continue processing everything that Regina told her, and that she was supposed to believe.

Regina glanced back at her girlfriend, to check that she was still following. The pensive woman continued to follow her, walking a few paces behind her. She wished she could take Emma's hand again, but knew that right now, she shouldn't press.

When Emma looked up, she stopped in her tracks. "The Cemetery? Seriously? That's not creepy and ominous at all."

Turning around, Regina's brow wrinkled and she bit her lip, trying to figure out what to say. "I promise you, I'm not going to harm or hurt you. I just had to put everything some place no one could find. Please trust me."

"I do."

Regina's eyes widened at the simple answer. "You...you do?"

"Regina, despite this entire, thing," - Emma gestured with a large circular motion around them to emphasize her point- "I've known you for 10 years. Evil Queen or not, I've always trusted you. So lead the way."

It was a start, Regina thought. At least she still had Emma's trust. When they reached the Mills family mausoleum, Emma was wondering what the heck was going on. She knew the place was tiny and only held Regina's father's sarcophagus, having accompanied Regina a few times to pay respects when the older woman had been needing support.

Imagine her surprise when Regina began to push at the side of the sarcophagus, as if wanting to move it to the side. After raising an eyebrow in silent question, Emma wordlessly went to help and push. Then she saw the hole that was left underneath, and the stairs that went down into darkness.

"Wow, talk about your creepy average evil lair," Emma comments.

"Please Emma, I can assure you that you'll be safe." If there ever was a moment in which it could be argued that Regina was pleading, it'd be right then.

"Like I said," Emma reached out a hand to Regina's arm, giving a comforting squeeze. "I trust you."

Maybe this could work out and have a happy ending. She wouldn't be naive as to fully believe that. But for a moment, right now, it gave her the strength to go down those stairs.

They emerged in the well-lighted main room of the crypt, with Regina leading them.

Emma was awestruck at what she was seeing. When they came to a stop, she was warily eyeing the wall behind her guide. "Regina, what are those?"

They looked like hundreds of mailboxes. Except for the constant thumping. Regina put hands up in a placating gesture, trying to appear as non-threatening as possible.

"Those, are hearts."

Emma blinked, seeming like she hadn't heard it. Then it registered. "Hearts?! As in human hearts? What the hell?"

"Emma please, don't panic, just trust me."

"Regina, my trust for you has nothing to do with the fact that it looks like you've got an industrial-sized collection of hearts hidden beneath Storybrooke for 28 years if not longer! What do you want me to do if not panic? Ask you about the varieties you have?"

"This is a lot to take in, I know."

"A lot would've been telling me I won the lottery. This is like you're telling me that the world is upside-down or something."

"Yes, well." Regina turned to seek out the box she was looking for. A minute later and she turned back around, holding a pulsing red organ in her hand.

"I hope you're not expecting me to touch that thing," Emma said, her face betraying her disgust with the pulsing organ and the potential of having to touch it.

"It won't hurt you. It's not like human hearts in this world."

"Yeah I think I had enough about anatomy from my high school bio classes thank you very much. So if you don't mind, I'll skip on that hands-on demo."

"Very well." Keeping a light grip on the heart - enough that it wouldn't fall from her hand, but not any pressure that would hurt its owner - she said, "This is Graham's heart."

"Graham? As in my predecessor Graham? Ex-Sheriff of Storybrooke Graham?" Emma asked, stupefied.

"Yes, the very one."

"And he's still alive?"

"You saw him yourself recently, he's healthy as a horse."

"So...taking a person's heart doesn't...kill them?" she asked, trepidation in her voice.

"No, taking a heart only allows the possessor to control the body of the person whose heart they took. In this case, any command I tell Graham, he will follow diligently."

Emma's eyebrows would soon be in danger of rising to her hairline at this rate. "So he's basically like your thrall. All of these people are? Is there anyone whose heart you haven't taken?"

Regina was determined to answer all of Emma's questions truthfully, no matter how bad they made her look. "Essentially yes, they're all puppets, and I pull the strings when I want to. But only when I'm holding their heart, otherwise they're as free-willed as you or I. Should I desire, I can make these people do anything. And there are plenty of people whose hearts I haven't taken. These are all only from my guards. Their oath to me when they joined my army was complete loyalty, which included their hearts. For I can not only command these people at any whim, but I can kill them if they betray me."

"Dare I ask how?" Emma ventured to say.

"I would just squeeze the heart, until it completely crumbles and becomes dust in my fingers."

Emma quickly went on to say, "Please don't do a live demonstration."

Regina shook her head. "I haven't killed in 28 years, and I have no desire to change it."

Flashing a small grateful smile, Emma then looked at the heart, as if expecting it to do something.

"Tell me something ridiculous, and I'll have Graham do it," Regina suddenly said.

She looked back up, confused. "What?"

"This is the proof I wanted you to see. Tell me something completely insane to do, and I'll tell Graham via this, and he'll do it."

Emma crossed her arms in front of her. "That's not exactly the most fool-proof plan you know. You could have a camera or a microphone."

"Emma." Stepping a little bit closer to the blonde, she asked, "Do you really see me as the type to want to prank or pull one on you?"

"No, but I also wasn't expecting my girlfriend of 1 year and my roommate of 10 to be this fairytale character, but here we are."

Regina smiled the smallest of smiles at the fact that Emma only referred to her as a character, not a villain. It was only a label, but it felt important. "Well you still trust me, right?"

After a beat, Emma nodded.

"Then just give me something for Graham to do."

"Fine. Get Graham to walk into Granny's diner, climb onto the counter, rip off his shirt, and start doing the macarena."

It was very specific, and it made Regina grin, despite their situation. She relayed the information into the heart, and then lowered her hand again. Even though she was the one answering questions, she had one of her own. "Why would you be so quick to trust me? I understand that we've been friends and roommates for many years, but..." she let the question hang, hoping Emma understood.

"I know about second chances. After I got out of jail, I was with a newborn and no one wanted to take in an ex-con. But you did. You had no idea who I was or anything, and you helped me. Despite the odds, you still gave me a chance. You helped to raise Henry like he was your own. I don't know of any Evil Queens that would willingly do all or any of that. Plus, considering your hatred for my...for Mary Margaret and David, you kept them surprisingly alive for all these years, even though you probably could've offed them all and gotten away with it. So yes, I trust you, despite how crazy all of this is."

Regina let out a small chuckle. "It is a bit far-fetched, isn't it?"

"You're telling me. Fairy tales being real! Now that is crazy. So, should we go to Granny's Diner to catch a live performance?"

"No, Graham is currently living heaven knows where in the forest, so it'll take him a while to get there. But if you want to ask any other questions about our world..."

"Your world," Emma corrected.

"You were born there too, it's yours just as well as it's mine," Regina countered.

"How about we do one thing at a time? First let me process this whole fairy tale thing, and then we'll talk semantics about my heritage. So, you have magic?"

"Had magic. This world doesn't have magic, so I am powerless, and have about as much magic as you do."

Emma nodded thoughtfully. "Would you go back to it?"

"What?" Regina asked, unsure what Emma could be referring to.

"If you were given magic back, and you had all your powers back, would go back to..." Emma wasn't sure how to ask without being offensive, so the end of the sentence was dropped, and silence took over.

"Would I go back to being the Evil Queen?" Regina supplied. After shaking her head a couple of times, she said, "No. The Evil Queen was...a means to an end, I just wanted to be in control for once, to be in power, and magic helped me do that."

Emma nodded again. "Understandable. I mean, the wanting to be in power part. Life has a way of handing out these rotten cards and you're forced to deal with it and make the most of it. While I wouldn't have gone for the whole," - Emma gesticulates vaguely around them - "dramatic flair, I know what it's like to want to tell everyone 'this is who I am, and this is what I want' and it's nice having things work out for you."

Before Regina could say anything, Emma's phone started ringing.

"Clearly underground creepy crypts don't have bad cell reception." Pressing the answer button, Emma answered the phone with a casual, "Yeah?"

"Whoa Ruby, slow down. What's going on?...Graham is at the diner? What's so crazy about that?...Oh he's shirtless. And dancing the macarena on the counter? Yeah I guess I'll be there in a bit." Once Emma hung up she was gaping. "You were telling the truth."

"Indeed. Now if you wish, I can call him off and we can continue talking," she offered.

Emma nodded. "Yeah, then I don't have to go and arrest our previous Sheriff for drunken misdemeanour."

After Regina was finished - and Ruby had called Emma to cancel the arrest because Graham just kinda snapped out of it and was heading back home -she put the heart away and pulled out a trunk forward, to be used as makeshift a seat. "What else would you like to know?"

After sitting down beside her girlfriend, Emma thought for a moment before asking. "So what happens now?"

"Well, if you want, we can break the curse..." Regina said.

"Do you want to break the curse?" Emma asked.

"To be honest, no, I want to continue living in this bubble, but it wouldn't be fair for me to be selfish."

"You're not being selfish Regina, I get it. You don't want to have to go back to what you so desperately wanted to escape."

"Well yes, but you deserve to meet your parents, have them get to know you-"

Emma interrupted with, "Mary Margaret and David know me pretty well."

"Yes but they know you as Emma Swan, friend. They don't know you as their child." Regina really wanted some kind of physical contact with Emma, but she wasn't sure, this felt like a really tense conversation, and a caress might destroy everything.

Which was why she smiled when Emma took her hand, placing a soft kiss on top of it. "Well, you let me know when you're ready to break the curse."

They looked at each other for a few moments, smiling softly. When Regina leaned in, Emma's lightning reflexes managed to bring her free hand up in between their lips just in time, covering her mouth. When Regina backed a bit in confusion, Emma moved her hand a bit so it wasn't covering her mouth and said, "You don't have to do this if you don't want to Regina. If you're not ready-"

Regina shook her head, taking her own free hand to clasp Emma's hand, bringing it down. "I refuse to continue being selfish Emma. You're my happy ending, and I want to experience this with you, no matter what may come."

"You sure? I'm guessing there's no undo button on this..."

By now they were centimetres apart, breaths mingling. "No there isn't. And yes, I am."

Without another word, and after many years of hoping and wanting to kiss, their lips met. Unbeknownst to them, as they closed their eyes and lost themselves to the kiss, a bright flash of white light pulsed out from between them.

Throughout Storybrooke, people paused, memories coming at them in a rush, as they remembered who they really were, a smile spilling into their face.

For Mary Margaret and David, who were amicably talking as they put their dinner leftovers away, Henry watching TV in the living room, the return of their memories made them look at one another in surprise.

Then.

"Emma!"


And the truth is out!

I think Emma, at least in the situation with this fic, would be sympathetic to Regina, hence what happened.

So next chapter will be tying some things together, and I'm still trying to decide if there'll be an epilogue...it might just end up being part of next chapter.

Let me know what you thought about this!

Meanwhile I'll be updating with In Sickness and In Health, and then Date in the Name of the Law!