Regina walked through her front door, closed it then leaned back against it. She closed her eyes and sighed happily.
"How'd it go?"
Regina's eyes shot open hearing Henry's voice.
"Why are your jeans dirty?" Henry asked, "And is that a leaf in your hair?"
"Emma took me to dinner in the woods and on the way back I tripped and fell." Regina told him as she headed up the stairs.
He followed her, "Did you have a good time?"
"Of course." Regina said as she went into her room.
"Are you going to see her again?"
"I imagine I will." Regina told him as she took out her earrings and placed them on her dresser.
"You didn't make another date?" Henry asked disappointed.
She turned and looked at him, "Henry, sometimes you just have to let things happen in their own time."
He gave her a look.
"It's called patience." She told him and he gave her another look.
"I'm trying something new." She said.
Henry left and went over to Mary Margaret's and Regina went into her bathroom to change.
"Walsh?" She asked cautiously as she glared at her mirror.
She waited a full 3 minutes to see if he would pop up before she started to get undressed. She got into the shower and bathed before getting out, drying off and changing into some clean clothes.
Regina's phone rang and she went into her bedroom to answer it.
"Hello?"
"The item you have been waiting for has arrived." Rumple said over the phone, "Would you like to come and pick it up?"
"I'll be there as soon as I can." She said and hung up.
She arrived at Rumple's shop and went in. She went up to the counter where he was standing and held out her hand.
He held out the vial for her and she went to grab it but he pulled back.
"What do you want?" She asked regarding the favor he thought she owed him.
He smiled at her, "I haven't quite decided yet." He held the vial out to her and she took it.
"But when I do you will be the first to know." He told her.
She clutched the vial in her hand, turned and walked out of his shop.
When she got home she went into her office and sat down. She set the vial on her desk and stared at it.
If she gave this to Emma she would remember. She would remember Storybrooke, Henry, her parents, her friends and everyone in Storybrooke who loved her. Everyone except for her.
No one else but Mr. Gold knew about the potion. She could just keep it safe and not give it to Emma. They could wait and see if her memories would come back. It hadn't been that long since the accident. Her memories could come back tomorrow.
"Or not at all." Regina said thinking out loud.
She didn't want to be selfish; she didn't want to keep Emma from everyone she loved. Even if it meant Emma would never know just how much Regina loved her.
She sighed heavily.
A knock at Mary Margaret's door surprised her as she got up and answered it.
"Oh hello Regina." She said seeing her standing there.
"Can you call Emma and have her come over?" Regina asked Mary Margaret as she stepped into the house.
"What's going on?" Henry asked as he handed Neal back to David and went over to his mom.
Regina looked at Mary Margaret, "Please?"
"Yes, of course." She said and went to the phone.
"Mom?" Henry looked at her.
"Everything is going to be fine Henry." She told him with a smile.
She looked over at Mary Margaret and David, "I had Rumple come up with a potion that can bring Emma's memories back."
"What did you have to give him in return?" Mary Margaret asked.
"Does it really matter?" Regina asked her.
She looked at Henry, then to the two of them again, "You'll have Emma back. Isn't that what you want?"
"Yes of course." David said.
"You're not telling us something." Henry said looking at his mom, "What is it?"
Regina wondered how he got to be so perceptive.
"She takes the potion and she'll remember the last 3 years, her time in Storybrooke and everyone here." Regina told them, "Everyone but me."
"What?!" Henry asked, "No, you can't give it to her then."
"How is that possible?" Mary Margaret asked.
"Rumple made some changes to the potion." Regina told her.
"Then you can't do it." Henry told her, "Please don't give it to her."
Regina looked at Henry, "Don't you see? I have to do this."
"Why?" Henry asked on the verge of tears.
"You know why Henry." Regina said and he went to her and hugged her tight, "You know why." She said again quietly as she closed her eyes and held back her tears.
"Oh." Mary Margaret said quietly. She knew what Henry and Regina were talking about.
Regina looked over at her tears in her eyes, a sad smile on her face.
Moments later Emma showed up at the loft and David let her in.
"I see the gang's all here." Emma said as everyone stood in the living room, "What's going on?"
"Can I talk to you alone for a moment?" Regina said to Emma.
"Why don't you go upstairs?" Mary Margaret suggested.
Regina followed Emma up the stairs slowly and they were now standing in her bedroom.
"So what did you want to talk about?" Emma asked, "Our next adventure out?"
"What I'm about to say isn't going to make any sense to you at all but I need you to just listen to me." Regina told her.
Emma didn't like what was going on. Regina was being too serious.
"Do you trust me?" Regina asked her.
"Yes." She said with no hesitation.
"Give me your hand." Regina said holding hers out to Emma.
She gave Regina her hand and Regina placed the vial in it.
"This will help you remember." Regina told her, "It will help you remember everything and everyone from the last 3 years."
Emma scoffed, "Sure, okay."
"I'm telling you the truth Emma." Regina said and Emma saw how serious she was.
"So I drink this and I remember the last 3 years?" Emma asked looking at the vial, "I'll remember everyone here in Storybrooke?"
Regina hesitated.
"Tell me." Emma asked.
"Everyone but me." Regina told her.
Emma's eyebrows furrowed as she made a face, "What? Why?"
"That's just how this works." Regina told her.
"Then no." Emma said trying to hand the vial back.
"Emma, you have to do this." Regina told her, "You have to do this for your family."
Emma just looked at her with disbelief.
"Why don't you want me to remember you?" Emma asked, tears in her eyes.
"You don't know how badly I need you to remember me Emma." Regina said, her voice cracking, "But your family needs you, this town needs you."
Regina sighed, "Please just drink it."
Emma looked down at the vial then back up and Regina.
"Please." Regina said quietly.
Emma took the small cork out of the vial and raised it to her lips as Regina watched.
She lowered it and looked at Regina, "Before I take this, just tell me one more thing about yourself. Something few people know."
Regina looked at her, as she held the vial.
"Drink it now and I will." Regina told her.
Emma hesitated a bit before lifting the vial, tilting it back and drinking from it.
"I'm in love with you." Regina said to her.
Emma looked at her, shock in her eyes. The vial dropped to the floor.
Regina turned around and walked down the stairs.
"It's done." She said quietly as they heard a loud thud from upstairs.
David and Mary Margaret rushed upstairs.
"Mom?" Henry called after Regina but she ignored him as she walked out the front door, not bothering to look back.