A/N - Here you go. The promised chapter about the spell. This chapter is dedicated to all of the people out there with a hurting kid inside of them who dreamed of something different than what they were given in life.

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Previously...

"Thank you for my fish. I've never had a pet before."

"He is your responsibility. You'll need to feed him each day and change his water every few weeks." Though she knew she would be doing that last part until Emma was older.

"I will. He's my 'sponibilty." Little Emma agreed with a yawn. "G'night."

"Sweet dreams sweet one." Regina stood and after turning on the swan light she crossed the room. As fingers turned off the main light and she eased out of the room her mind wandered back to the night few years ago when the conversation of this journey they were on began.

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Flashback – 3 years ago

"Sooooooo, why are we here again?" Emma shivered, hating the creepiness of the cemetery where the Queen's crypt was, nearly tripping over a rock in her distraction.

"Patience Miss Swan." She keyed them into the main floor mausoleum and together they pushed the coffin of Henry Sr. aside. A flick of a delicate wrist lit the torches and candles, casting shadows on the stone steps.

The blonde followed heels into the basement. The usually tidy space was over flowing with books and parchments spread out on every available surface. "What's all this?"

"I have been doing a great deal of research the last year or so." Regina ran her hand along the leather cover of a thick ancient tome. "Do you recall last winter where you showed up in the middle of the night on my porch and I practically fire-balled you for scaring me to death?"

Emma popped her shoulders up to her ears. "There were a few nights like that, but yeah, I think so."

"The evening when you told me you would give just about anything for a second chance at your childhood?"

Emma's face turned red. She stuck her hands in her pockets and rolled her feet. "I do."

"I've found a way for you to explore that desire. A do over if you will, but with the caveat that once you experience what you need to you will return to this life right from the moment you left it."

"How is that… What do you mean experience what I need to?" Her brain was spinning and heart hammering, trying to even imagine how this could be possible.

Regina opened the tome and read directly from marked page. "Trice Life Enchantment is a way for a person to re-experience a portion of their life under a different set of circumstances designated by the caster. The spelled individual will leave their current life on pause and return the next moment after their needs have been met. Two must travel to the new reality, with the caster as the warder for the one in need of a second chance."

Green eyes blinked. "For real? We could actually do that?" She began pacing the crypt.

"We could, but I'm not sure—"

"What's a warder?"

Regina re-read the script before answering. "Like someone who watches over."

"Does it really pause a life, like a video game?"

"That seems to be the case… And when the need has been met for the person the spell is cast for the individuals can return and pick up where they left off, albeit changed internally from the experience."

Emma sank on to a carved wooden bench across from the Queen, letting her thoughts run. "If we did this, I can't know that it was my choice. There would be no point going through all of it."

Brown brows furrowed. "Why ever not?"

"Because I want it too much and everything I've ever wanted I've royally screwed up." Tears burned behind emeralds. "Every family I was with gave me back. I liked school for a little while, but I was always moved, I didn't really graduate. Then there was being homeless, Neal, stealing, jail, giving Henry up, my parents… I fucked up everything I touched. And I'll fuck this up too, if I want it as much as I do." She didn't realize she was crying until warm arms encircled her.

Regina simply held on. "I know it feels that way and I am willing to help you mend your past, if this is really what you want. I just don't think I'd be able to lie to you in that new life. We don't do that to each other."

"It wouldn't really be lying, just delaying information. It's the only way I'll even consider doing this Regina." Emma knew she was pushing hard, asking for too much, but with this desire an actual possibility she wanted it, price be damned.

The Queen swallowed. She did not expect Emma to add this condition to her idea and she tried again to dissuade the blonde. "You'd be a child again with your adult self awareness and you would know that a spell had been cast. Without the memories of sharing that desire with me or of this conversation, you would be incredibly irate towards me, actually that's an understatement."

"I know… But anger has always pushed me into action. Look at what it did when you pissed me off so much that I put down roots in StoryBrooke. It would be the fuel I needed to heal. After all the stuff we've been through, you're the only one with balls enough to go toe to toe with me. Please Regina. I need this." Emma completely relaxed in the Queen's arms, giving herself over completely to her convictions.

"Then we will make the journey, with your condition in place. Though, I have a condition of my own." Regina lifted Emma's chin so their eyes met. "The spell will take a great deal of time to craft and it needs to be done with Henry's happiness in mind in addition to your own. I will not have him left to the wayside and I want his life as untouched as possible, even if we are just gone a moment in this one and it is not really him in that new life. He and Paige are engaged and in school. I'd like to wait until they both graduate, are married and settled. That way, when we return we can deal with whatever you need to after the spell without impacting Henry."

Emma pulled her chin away and nodded, readily agreeing. "Of course. That makes sense, after the wedding." She tried to hide her disappointment at having to wait three years. A lot could happen in three years. Another thought surfaced. "What happens to everyone else while we are gone?"

"They won't know anything is different. Our journey will last but a moment here; the blink of an eye."

"And in the other life, how will they be?

Regina thought for a moment before responding. "It won't really be them, but a version that could have existed under different circumstances and that will depend on how I craft their memories."

"I don't want anyone miserable or hurt, even if they are not really themselves."

"They won't be unhappy, I'll make sure if it."

The blonde sighed. "Even Snow?"

"Even the 'flake. I promise not to split up your parents or take Neal from them. I'm not that person anymore. You'll all be together as a family."

"There's something else…" Emma swallowed and whispered, "I don't want them raising little me. I'd be trapped in a pink nightmare of tiaras, tutus, and Barbies. It's not what I want. Our relationship is too raw right now and I don't think little me would go for it." She looked up at the Queen, her voice gaining strength. "And sharing them with Neal wouldn't be the point of doing this and I don't want them not to have him. He's like their second chance."

"Are you asking me—"

"Yeah I am. If you think you could… care for me that way, there."

Regina didn't answer right away. She was not sure what her role would be when she proposed the idea other than to craft the spell and make sure Emma was safe. She figured the blonde would want her parents.

Emma shrank under the silence, fearing she had finally asked for too much. "I think both the little girl and the adult in me need to learn how to trust again. This is the perfect chance for both sides to do that together. I'd still know about the tree and original curse and with Neal thrown in… I just can't be with them that way."

An olive hand found and took a pale one. "I'm not saying no. I am just…what if I can't get you to where you need to be?"

"You are the most stubborn and determined person I know. You'll get us there." Emma placed her other hand on top of both of theirs. "When the time is right, you can give back my memories of this conversation and others I'm sure we'll have. It will have all been worth it. I can't fuck up what I don't know I really want and by the time both sides of me trust you it will be time to come home."

A delicate brow rose, "It is that simple then?"

Green eyes met brown. "With us, it never is Regina."

"If we are to do this the way you described, then there is much to discuss, but not here." Regina stood, keeping hold of the savior's hand to help the blonde stand up.

"Come."

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A/N - After writing this I went back and re-read the first few parts of my story. I had something different planned when I first started writing and now that we are here I am curious to explore this avenue with them.

Thoughts? :-)