A/N: The last section of this chapter is a retelling of a few scenes from seasons 1 & 2, from the point of view of a Regina who has already met Emma. It should be pretty straightforward, but I thought I'd warn you lovely readers because it's different from the rest of this story.
Regina: Enchanted Forest
Greedy was the only word Regina could think of to describe the rest of that day. That night, too. She was determined to take everything she could before Emma left, and the blonde was perhaps even needier. The Queen cancelled everything, and they spent hours grasping at each other, trying to be as close as possible. Trying to take in as much of the fire between them as they could before they separated.
"I will see you again," Emma kept promising during the quiet moments.
Now was not one of those quiet moments. They'd dozed off for an hour or two long after midnight, and faint sunlight was beginning to wash over the bed as they woke again. And then, without wasting any of the little time they had left, Emma climbed over Regina and they began again.
Regina gripped at the blonde's back hard as they rocked against each other, fingers trying to find purchase on Emma's sweat-slicked skin. She was almost too over-stimulated to bear it. They'd had to give up on penetration hours ago, after Emma fucked Regina to the point of bleeding, but that had in no way slowed them down.
She was never going to have sex like this again, at least not until she met Emma again. She wasn't about to miss a single moment.
They came one after the other, Regina too hazy to tell which of them was first. All she knew was the nearly painful pleasure, followed by Emma collapsing on her. The Queen held on tight, trying and mostly failing to steady her breathing.
"Maybe it's a good thing I'm leaving," Emma said after a long period of silent recovery. "I'm pretty sure you'd be the death of me if I stayed."
"Mmm." Regina grinned wickedly. "They don't call me evil for nothing."
Emma rolled off of her with a groan, catching one of Regina's hands and pressing their palms together. "Don't let them convince you that you're evil," she said seriously. "It's not true. It's never been true."
Regina closed her eyes, not wanting to risk eye contact if it was going to end in her crying. "What's the future like?"
Emma paused for a moment. "You have much shorter hair," she said. "You have a son."
Regina couldn't help smiling at that. A child of her own. "What else?"
"Well, I'm there." She felt Emma hovering closer. "And I love you."
Emma kissed her, and Regina threaded her hands through the matted blonde hair and kept her close. There were so many questions, but she wouldn't ask them.
Mostly, why was Emma alone if she loved Regina so much?
"I will see you again," Emma whispered against her lips, and the Queen looked up to see tears in the other woman's eyes.
Emma: Enchanted Forest
Emma didn't feel sated. Not when she knew that their time together was nearly up. That she'd be back to sleeping alone every night, unless she gave in to Hook. Even if she did, Emma knew that it wouldn't be the same. She'd never enjoyed sex so much as she did with the Queen, and she doubted her ability to love anyone as fully as she did Regina.
This might be the last time she kissed someone she wanted, so she did. Over and over.
"I will see you again," Emma promised. She'd repeated those words so many times, but they didn't help. Not when she had an idea of the horrible things waiting in Regina's future. Not when she knew that she'd be returning to a woman who loved someone else.
Unless, of course, she'd altered the future drastically by spending a day with the Queen, but she didn't want to think about that. She just wanted to think of the woman in front of her, committing the feel of her lips and the map of her body to memory.
"I never thought I could love again," Regina said softly, tucking herself against Emma's shoulder to avoid looking at her. "But you've shown me that there's a chance."
Emma pressed a kiss to Regina's hair, cradling the brunette close. If only she could stay until chance became certainty, until Regina loved her. Instead, she was back to a Regina who tolerated her at best.
She waited, hoping Regina would say that there was more than a chance. But Emma knew all too well that love wasn't the sort of thing that happened overnight, at least not for people like them. That kind of thing worked for her parents, maybe, but she and Regina couldn't manage that easy trust. They needed time, and while Emma had had lots of it, this Regina still had to learn that it was safe to let go.
"You'll love again," she assured the Queen. "And if you need someone to love, come find me."
Regina didn't say she loved Emma. She didn't say anything. She silently helped Emma dress and dressed herself, and then they headed down to the dungeons, fingers linked but quiet.
Emma stayed silent, too, ignoring Hook's attempts to start conversation. She raised the wand and opened the portal with Regina's hand in hers, the Queen's power making the difficult spell seem effortless.
In the glow of the magic, Emma turned to Regina and finally spoke. "I will see you again, I promise. And I will love you always."
Regina gave her a watery smile in response. "Thank you," she whispered, although Emma couldn't imagine what for. She offered up a kiss and Emma savored it until Hook whistled at them.
"Really?" Emma asked, although she was hardly surprised. "You have to be a moron right now?"
As for Regina, she went into full-on Queen mode, although the haughty look she gave the pirate didn't reach all the way to her eyes. "You're lucky that you have an escape route, Charles," she said. "Or you'd be dead within the hour."
"Just go," Emma added impatiently, and Hook gave the Queen an exaggerated bow before stepping into the portal.
"You should just go, too," Regina told her stiffly. "Before the portal closes."
"Please." At the sound of an unfamiliar voice, Emma remembered Marian and squinted to see her. "Can't you take me with you?" Regina raised an eyebrow before the prisoner continued. "They know my husband, Your Majesty. They know my son."
Regina was stony towards the woman until she mentioned her son. "Very well," she said, still keeping her voice aloof. "It will save me the expense of executing you."
"Regina," Emma said in warning, but the Queen had already opened the cell, and Marian disappeared into the portal. If only she could explain to Regina that she'd just sabotaged her own future. But the light of the portal was waning, and they both knew time was running out.
Regina kissed her quickly, forcing a brave smile. "Go," she said, nearly choking on the syllable.
Emma gave Regina's hand one last squeeze before letting go to avoid pulling the other woman into the portal with her. "I'll see you soon," she promised, taking a step backwards and feeling the relentless pull of the magic. Until everything was swallowed up by amber light, she watched the Queen's face and body slowly crumble, and hated herself for it.
Regina: Storybrooke 2011
Regina only had eyes for Henry as she raced down the walkway to embrace him. Her heart was still racing from the anxiety of losing him, and it continued when he told her that he'd found his real mom and headed inside.
But it wasn't anxiety that had Regina breathless. She stood up again and looked at the interloper. "You're Henry's birth mother?" she asked, staring at the woman in front of her.
She'd given up hope of ever seeing Emma again. It had been 30 years since Regina said goodbye to her. She'd been sad at first, then bitter, easily slipping back into the role of villain. She was angry, not just at Snow White but at the world. It was all too easy to cast the curse, to pull everyone down with her.
She'd hoped for the first few years of the curse, wishing that this realm might be Emma's. And then, at some point during the endlessly repeating days, she'd forgotten about the woman she'd lost.
Until now. Emma was standing just a foot or two away, and the red of her jacket brought back memories of the night they'd met. "Hi," the blonde said with a sheepish smile. Good. She should be sheepish. "I'm Emma. Emma Swan."
"Emma," Regina echoed, not knowing if she wanted to slap or hug her.
"What's your name?"
Regina blinked at Emma a few times, seeing the lack of recognition in those green eyes. "You don't know," she said softly.
Emma shrugged. "You know how kids are. They forget that grownups have names, too."
Regina forced a practiced smile, as if Henry's lapse in manners was the only problem. "Regina Mills."
This Emma wasn't her Emma. She was immature, distant, combative. Deploying Graham was the only way Regina could keep Emma from leaving Storybrooke, but it didn't matter. When she found Emma and a chainsaw beneath her beloved tree, that's when Regina knew. The Emma who loved her was gone.
Before Regina could react, Graham surged forward and kissed her hard.
He was drunk. Otherwise he wouldn't have been stupid enough to try. Especially not when he knew she was already mad at him about whatever was going on between him and his deputy. Regina refused to lose Emma and Graham to each other. She'd rather kill them both.
In the end, she just killed one. She didn't hate herself for the murder, but she did hate herself for the quiet depression Emma fell into for the few weeks until the elections for sheriff made them adversaries once more.
Tonight, Graham was still very much alive, and Regina had to resort to giving him an old-fashioned shove rather than the fireball she wished she could conjure in this realm. "What the hell are you doing? I told you never to kiss me."
He swayed backward, rubbing at the back of his neck. "Why do you always have to be in charge? Why can't we do what I want for once?"
"Because I'm the Que-" Regina caught herself just in time. "I'm the Mayor."
Graham lunged forward again, forcibly taking another kiss. "I just want to feel something, Regina."
"All you're going to feel is pain, Graham," Regina warned, even though she knew that she was no match for his strength. This was payback, she supposed, for all the things she'd done to him that he no longer remembered. "Get out," she ordered, her voice wavering.
She took in a surprised breath of relief as he did. She locked the door behind him and waited for a moment, listening to hear if Henry was stirring upstairs. Then she leaned heavily into the door and thought about the only two people she'd ever allowed to kiss her. One was dead, and the other was even worse. Emma hated her, and Regina was beginning to doubt that was ever going to change.
Everything had been a whirlwind since the curse broke. And while Regina had seen Emma kiss Henry awake, and had seen her again when the blonde broke through the mob to help her, it was a while before they had a chance to talk. The Charmings had decided to lock Regina up, allegedly for her own safety, and it was a while before they all dispersed, leaving Regina in her cell and Emma at her desk.
Regina had nothing better to do than watch Emma, and Emma looked exhausted. Rightly so, given that she'd battled a dragon and had her world turned upside down in the past few hours. Regina hated to add to the burden, but she had to know.
"Do you remember me?" she asked from where she sat on the uncomfortable cot.
Emma raised her eyes, confused. "What are you talking about?"
Regina slowly got up and made her way towards the bars. "We met before," she explained. "In the Enchanted Forest."
"Regina," Emma said, somewhere between stern and worried. "I'm not one of your fairytale characters. I'm just me."
Everyone else had their memories back, but Emma was still lost to Regina. As the blonde got up and headed towards the cell, though, Regina felt like she wasn't as lost as she had been. Her green eyes were surprisingly tender, and she covered Regina's hand with her own against the bars.
"Are you okay?" Emma asked.
Regina leaned her forehead against the bars and closed her eyes. "No, Emma." She hardly ever used the woman's first name, preferring to separate the Emma of her past with the Miss Swan of her present, but it slipped out easily, and Emma didn't let go of her hand.