DISCLAIMER:: do not own

A/N:: here's an update. i wasn't going to post until tomorrow afternoon, but i had a bad day and i'm sulking and reviews make me smile. this is not the final chapter, so don't worry. there will be more to come.

SWAN QUEEN SWAN QUEEN SWAN QUEEN

She didn't sleep, it was too risky. The second she could hear the even breathing that indicated Regina was asleep, she opened her eyes and looked at the brunette. Her hair was slightly longer, but not by much. Emma had dreamed about this moment many a time. She was serious when she'd told Regina she had thought about coming back everyday. If only the older woman had known how many times she'd walked right to the front door and almost knocked. But she couldn't lose Regina like she lost Graham. She wouldn't. She saw what this curse did to people who broke free of it. She couldn't risk them… her family. She watched Regina sleep for hours, only stopping when the first rays of sunlight streaked in through the window. It was time to go. She kissed Regina's forehead softly. "I love you." She slid silently out of bed and pulled on her clothes. She grabbed her purse, she'd seen Regina look at it curiously all night but had refused to comment. From it, she pulled the baby blanket. She snuck out of the room quietly and snuck downstairs to the parlor. She set the blanket on the couch where Regina had been sitting and put the tiara on top. She scrawled a quick note to Regina and set it with the items on the cushion. A sound behind her sent her back rigid. She turned around to find Henry standing in the doorway in his Pjs.

"What are you doing up at this hour?"

"I heard someone down here." He rubbed the sleep from his eyes. In that moment he saw the items and note on the couch. "You're leaving?"

A telltale creak sounded from upstairs. Regina was awake.

Emma grabbed Henry's hand and led him with her to the front door. She opened it quietly and led him out, closing it softly behind them. "I'm leaving Storybrooke. It's best for everyone."

Henry shook his head and pulled his hand away. "No, you can't."

"Kid, I'm never going to be the PB&J in the lunchbox, help you with your homework, read you a bedtime story mom. I knew I was never going to be that person for you. That's why I put you up for adoption. I wanted to give you the best chance to have what I never did. And that's what you got. She's… she's a great mother and she loves you very much. Forget her past, forget all their pasts and just be grateful you have that. Be grateful that you were a lucky one, that you never had to be alone."

He was crying, but she steeled herself against it, kissed the top of his head and then gave him a gentle shove towards the door. "Take care of her. Keep her honest."

She waited until he was inside before heading for her car. It had begun to snow.

Henry went straight to the stairs, tears streaming down his cheeks. The second Regina caught sight of him from the second floor landing, she went to his side. "Henry? What happened?"

"Was this you? Are you the reason she's leaving?"

There was no need to ask who, she knew without having to ask. Emma Swan.

"Stay here." She went to the door and opened it. Emma was looking longingly at the door from her place behind the steering wheel. The second her eyes caught Regina's, unspoken words flew between them. Take care of Henry for me is what Emma's eyes said.

Regina started down the walkway towards the street, but Emma pulled away from the curb.

"Shit!" Regina turned around to go back to the house only to find Henry behind her, holding out her keys.

She smiled. "I'll be back. Go inside and get warm okay?"

Henry looked at her with concern. "Make sure you catch her before the city limits."

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It took Emma until she was on main street before she realized she was being followed. The Mercedes had taken up pursuit, but she refused to stop. She had weighed all the options and the best way to halt the alleviation of the curse was to get rid of the key to break it, herself. She had to leave, because the thought of her mother and her father, of Regina and Henry, of any of the people she'd come to care about not existing anymore was more than she could bear. The second she hit the outskirts of town and the road stretched out, empty, with the woods crowding in on either side, she sped up. She just had to make it outside the city limits. She couldn't be followed then.

Regina flashed her lights and honked, but Emma ignored her and pushed her Volkswagen to its limit. She could see that stupid sign just a mile ahead. Looking back, she knew she'd seen the patch of ice before she hit it, but she had been too afraid to slow down. If Regina caught her and she had to look into the older woman's eyes, her resolve would surely crumble.

The car flipped three times, finally coming to a rest deep in the embankment of snow on the side of the road, laying on the driver's side. Her window had shattered somewhere between rolls two and three and she was laying on the remains of broken glass shards and the large amount of snow that had fallen in. She was vaguely aware of someone screaming out her name, but she couldn't answer, no matter how many countless times she attempted to.

The sound of sirens created a hazy, barely audible theme song to her pain and discomfort. She tried to move and pain shot up her leg to oppose her. She looked down slowly. Along with several shards of glass embedded all along her left side, a jagged piece of metal greeted her from its residence in the flesh of her thigh.

She heard a sound to her right and looked over and up to a silhouette of a man's face framed by the passenger window, which had also shattered during the car's tumble. For a moment her thoughts went to Graham, but that was impossible.

"She's alive. But we need to get her out now! She's losing blood!"

It was only then that she realized the snow underneath her left side was varying rosy shades, spanning from blush pink to deep crimson.

Even then, she didn't panic. This was better. She didn't want to die by any stretch of the imagination. But if it was her or any of the residents of Storybrooke… better that it be her. Regina and Henry would be okay.

She heard the sound of someone calling her name but she closed her eyes to the call. She was too tired to answer. Why wouldn't they just leave her be? She needed to sleep. She vaguely heard someone say they were cutting off her seatbelt, but she didn't acknowledge the voice either way. She felt the seatbelt give way and she fell into someone's arms. She felt movement and knew she was being lifted out of the car, but still she didn't dignify any comment from her rescuers with a response or even an opening of her eyes. The gurney they set her on seemed hard as a rock compared to the cushy worn leather of the seats in the Volkswagen and she almost asked them to put her back.

And then she was there. "Emma, darling, open your eyes. Oh God, please, be okay."

Emma wasted precious energy to crack open her eyes, but it was worth it to see the tear streaked face hovering above her light up. "Regina…"

"Hey. Shhh. Don't talk."

"No, I need to tell you…"

"What?" Regina was walking beside the gurney as it headed for the ambulance, waiting down the road from the crash site. Emma was running out of time.

She coughed and she could taste blood in her mouth. She coughed again. "I love you. You're not alone anymore."