Ok. Since I was so mean to leave you with that cliffhanger, and you all have been so good with all the reviews, favorites and followings, that I decided to give you a little more. Plus I made a promise that it would be up by the time a certain person was up. So here we go. Hope you all enjoy.
xxxxxxx
Regina held on to Emma for dear life during that kiss. When it was over, Emma barely pulled away from her. Emma looked into Regina's eyes to see...anything. "Regina?"
"Yes?" Was all Regina said.
"You ok?"
Regina pulled back from the woman. "I am fine." She then took a step backward and crossed her arms against her chest while looking toward her shoes. "So. You will be at Granny's?"
Emma's heart completely sank. It hadn't worked. Regina didn't remember which only meant-. "Yeah." Emma leaned down and picked up her duffle bag. She looked back at Regina once more. There was something that was visibly different with Regina. She seemed almost lost. "Ok." Emma opened the door slowly giving Regina plenty of time to stop her. She didn't, just standing there remaining silent. "Goodnight." Emma said as she closed the door.
Regina quietly said "Goodnight." just before the door closed. Regina turned to walk up the stairs and stopped at Henry's room. She knocked on the door.
"Leave me alone."
Regina opened the door and found Henry laying across the bed. "You don't get to talk to me that way either, Henry."
"Why does she have to leave?"
"It's time."
"Says who?" Henry sat up angry.
Regina just looked at him. She couldn't help but smile as she realized what had unfolded between her and Henry over the past few months. How upset he had been at her not remembering him. She walked toward him and sat on the bed beside him. "Do you have any idea just how much that I love you?"
"Yes, Mom." Henry said in true fashion of a boy his age.
"Well I do. Everything that I do Henry is protect you. I need for you to understand that."
"Who is protecting you?"
Regina smiled and leaned over to kiss Henry on the cheek. "I am fine, Dear." She stood. "Finish up your homework, I am not taking no for dinner. I will give you about half an hour and then I expect to see you down stairs."
Henry only nodded. Regina walked down the hall and into her room. Once the door closed, and she was finally alone, she broke. She tried to silently cry and what she couldn't contain she tried to muffle with her hands. She couldn't do this. She couldn't be in love with Emma Swan. This can't be real. Emma Swan? Snow White's daughter? The woman who had tried to keep Henry from her? The savior? The one that was brought here to be her undoing? Was this part of Emma's plan to make her have these feeling while she couldn't remember. This can't be love and it certainly can't be true love.
xxxx
The next morning, Mr. Peterson watched as a car made its way down the graveled path. He looked at his watch that read 8:00am and smiled as he watched the black Mercedes stop just ahead of the stables. He walked toward the car as Regina exited it. "What do I owe this pleasure, Madam Mayor?"
Regina stopped and looked at the man before her and almost burst again. She was just barely holding herself together like she had been for the past sixteen hours since Emma left. But she wasn't counting. Mr. Peterson saw that the woman in front of him was horribly upset. He threw his arms open and said "Come here, child."
Regina quickly walked toward him and threw her arms around his midsection. She couldn't control the tears back any longer. "I am so sorry."
"Aw, my sweet girl. You remember." She began to cry harder. "There. There. Just let it out."
"I am so sorry that I've never came by."
"It's ok."
"No. No it isn't."
The man pulled back from her. He looked into her eyes and saw the shame. "I know why you have never came out to the stable since you brought us here."
"You do?"
"I always did. You were ashamed. You were ashamed for me to know what you had done."
"I am sorry."
"Stop saying that, child." He said while wiping her tears.
"How could I let you know just how...evil I had become. I tried to make sure that you were taken care of. That you and Nathaniel were ok. I know that you like the horses and so I tried to do the best I could by you." Regina broke again. "You were the only ones I honestly tried to take care of during the curse."
"He loved you." Regina looked up at the older man. "My boy loved you with all he had."
Regina wiped her tears as they fell again. "I have disgraced him. I did all of this for him." She spoke as the man rubbed her shoulders. "He wouldn't have wanted this."
"No. No he wouldn't. The biggest reason is that he wouldn't have wanted you to be his miserable, Regina. That is what this is about. Making everyone as miserable as you."
"I can't seem to stop. When anyone tries to get close to me, I completely shut down. I don't know how to stop it. I want to stop it, but I can't."
"You can. You have to. You can't stay like this forever, Regina. He isn't coming back and you have to finally move on."
"I don't know how to be the person that someone can love."
"You do. You did once and to him- to him there was nothing like you. You gave a poor, stable boy the greatest gift of his short life."
"My gift got him killed."
"I know my son. I know that Daniel would have done nothing differently." He looked at Regina hard. "Can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"Is this about your memory? Did someone...make you remember?"
"Yes." Regina looked down.
"Don't look down, child." Regina's eyes returned to him. "My son would be proud. You are a woman who loves deeply and this person deserves to know that person. The good person that my son was able to see."
"What if I mess everything up? Loving me comes with a curse. Daniel is gone. My father is gone. My mother is gone. My son can barely stand to be around me. I destroy any love that comes my way."
"That was in the past. The past needs to stay in the past."
"My past is part of my present. I can't promise someone a life - love. I just...I don't know how."
"No one has a text book on love, child. No one knows all the answers. We all mess up, but it's how we fix what we have broken that counts." He waited just a moment. "So, does this person know that you care for them?"
"Maybe. Well until yesterday."
He chuckled. "Go fix what is broken, child."
Regina heard a noise behind her and turned to Nathaniel walking toward them. "I thought that was your car. You are here awful early."
Regina smiled and walked up to the young boy, who looked so much like Daniel that it hurt, and wrapped her arms around him. "You remembered." He smiled.
"I did." She pulled back and looked between father and son. "You two were the ones I wanted to hurt the least. That is why I tried to keep you together. I hope that you both know how sorry I am for all of this."
"We know." The young boy offered. "We knew that you would come around one day. We always had faith in you. He woulda wanted us to."
"I need a favor."
"Anything." Mr. Peterson said.
"I need for you not to tell anyone that I was here. That I remember anything."
"Regi-"
"I know. I know. Fix what is broken, but I just need a minute to wrap my head around all that has happened."
"We won't tell a soul." Nathaniel said.
"Thank you." She hugged the boy and then did the same with his father. "I have to go. I need to be at the office."
The men smiled and watched Regina get into the car. As she drove off, the younger spoke. "Someone made her remember didn't they."
"Yep."
"Who?"
"I have no idea."
xxxx
Emma walked into the diner and sat in her normal booth. It was after the breakfast rush, so Ruby went and sat in the booth next to her. She just looked at the woman across from her, who looked as if she didn't get any sleep the night before. "What?" Emma sounded purely annoyed.
"Wanna talk about it?"
"Nope?"
"What happened?"
"Sorry it seems that I didn't make myself clear. What I mean by nope was no Ruby, I don't want to talk about it."
"The Mayor still mad, huh?"
"Do you not speak English?"
"Yes I speak English just fine, thank you. Now tell me what happened."
"I kissed her."
Ruby smiled. "Niiice." Then her smile fell. "Wait. You stayed here las-"
"Yes, Ruby, it went that well."
"Did she remember?" Emma looked at Ruby surprised. "What? Snow told me."
Emma huffed. "No, she didn't remember. Which means-"
"I am sorry, Emma."
"It's okay. Hell I wonder what is even real at this point. Maybe I was just caught up in everything. In protecting her and Henry, that I got confused. I can't love the Queen, right?" She looked at Ruby who didn't answer. "I mean, I am the Savior. I can't be in love with her."
"Emma-"
"I can't. Look, I don't want to talk about this anymore. Can you just get me some breakfast?"
"Sure." Ruby smiled apologetically.
"Please don't look at me like that, please." Emma sighed. "Look, Ruby, I came in here late so I wouldn't see anyone and potentially ...her. Please don't make me regret coming in at all."
Ruby smiled. "So you want the Granny's breakfast special?"
"Please."
"You got it."
Emma sat and waited for her breakfast as every second of last night went through her head. She remembered Regina pulling her closer and knew that wasn't something that was in her head. What happened? She kissed her back. Not just kissed her, but kissed her passionately. She wanted that kiss just as much as Emma.
For the next 20 minutes, Emma did little except push scrambled eggs around a plate. Once she decided to just give up, she paid the check and started out the door. She wasn't paying attention when she almost opened the door into someone. She gave an "Oops. Sorry." to the next customer, then realized who it was.
Regina looked at her. "Hi."
Emma gave a very unfriendly "Hey" as she walked by the woman. Ruby watched from inside the Diner and could have sworn that Regina wiped a tear away as she watched the woman walk away.
xxxx
One week. Seven days. 168 hours. That's how long it had been since Regina Mills had laid eyes on Emma Swan. Seven horrible days. On day 2 Regina tried to get Henry to call his other Mother and ask to come over. A still very angry Henry, refused. He said that if Regina wanted him to go to Emma's, then she could talk to her about it. Regina watched her son come home during the afternoons and go straight to his room. He would come down for dinner when Regina forced that on him. She hadn't seen Henry this angry with her since he saw her as The Evil Queen. He was so angry at the woman. He couldn't believe they were throwing their happiness away.
Regina pulled up to the large brick house and made her way to the porch. She knocked firmly on the door and the blonde that answered looked very surprised. "Regina."
"Hello, Katherine. May I come in?"
Katherine smiled and stepped aside. "Of course." She followed her guest into the living room. It was a house that Regina knew well. "Wow. You are here and know your way around?" Katherine smiled. "You remember?"
Regina nodded and a tear came to her eyes. "I could really use my best friend right now."
"And you have her." Katherine engulfed her in a strong hug. "How about some tea and you can tell me all about it, ok?"
Katherine returned a few moments later with tea and a box of tissues. Regina looked surprised at the box. Katherine smiled. "Well, you looked like you could need one at any moment."
"Thank you. It's always best to be prepared I guess." Regina returned her smile and took a tissue.
Regina told Katherine the entire story. About the torture and why it caused the memory loss, about the time that she and Emma had spent together and then - about the kiss. Katherine sipped her tea and just looked at her friend as she told her about the past week.
"You have nothing to say?"
"Should I?"
"I just told you that I have developed feelings, of some sort, for Snow White's daughter."
"Feeling?" Katherine chuckled. "You broke a curse with the woman, Regina. I dare to think that you have more than just feelings for her."
"You think this is funny?"
"Absolutely not." Katherine tried to make the smile on her face go away.
"That I could have feelings for a woman? That woman? You think that is funny?"
"No, I get it. I mean Emma is...hot. Those jeans and that leather jacket. That rugged strut. Those arms, my God."
"Ok that will be enough admiration of Emma's physical appears from you."
"Jealous?"
"No-" Regina huffed. "Can you be serious for one minute please?"
"Ok. Sorry." Katherine straightened her posture and wiped her grin away. "I am ready."
"This has been the worse week of my life. And keep in mind that I cursed a entire land once because I thought that time was bad."
"Can I ask why you didn't tell Emma?"
"Kat, someone kidnapped me and Henry. They tortured me. Shortly after I came home, there were still people that thought I should be burned at the steak in the center of town. I have to make sure that no one is a threat to me or Henry...or Emma. I need them to believe that I don't remember. That I am no longer a threat to their well being. Just long enough for me to walk around town and get a feel for what's going on."
"And you can't tell Emma that?"
"Have you met the Savior? She wouldn't let me out of the house if she thought I was poking around to see what I can hear."
"She is very protective, that one."
"Yes she is. I have to protect my family."
"And that includes Emma?"
"She is Henry's mother."
"What about your true love?"
"I have to protect them."
"What if this costs you Emma?"
Regina looked at her friend very sad. "If I lose her by protecting her, then that's a choice I will have to live with. I can trust you with this I know. I just needed to tell someone."
"What you needed was advice." Katherine smiled. "And as your best friend I am going to give you some. You are scared to death that you love this woman. You are confused and scared, but you obviously belong together. You deserve to have someone love you, Regina, and that woman loves you."
"You can't know that."
"Umm, curse!" Regina chuckled. "Plus everyone in town sees what is happening over there. Hell, truth be told, half of us saw it before this ever happened. You two just have this wild and crazy attraction to each other. God I bet the sex would be-"
"KAT!"
"Ok we will both sit here and pretend that you haven't thought about how amazing that could be."
Regina smiled. "Maybe once."
"Once? Once, what? Once since you got here?"
Regina laughed and winkled her nose. "She is pretty hot isn't she?"
"Oh hell yes she is. If I were into woman-"
"I don't want to hear the rest of that sentence. Your best friend's true love, remember?"
"You take all the fun outta this." Katherine smiled. "Well you need to tell your true love. Emma must be devastated. "
Regina became serious again. "I can't tell her, Kat. Not yet."
"Regin-"
"I have to make sure and if that makes Emma angry, then I will deal with that later."
"Yeah, cuz make up sex is amaz-"
"KAT!"
"Just saying."
