AN: The end of the story is almost here….

Regina cautiously knocked on Emma's door, early the next morning. She opened it still wearing the same clothes as the previous day and looking tired.

"I can undo the curse." Regina told her.

Emma smiled at the good news. "That's great. Do you need me to do anything?"

"No. I need to be back in my room at night, the same as when I cast the curse. I just wanted to warn you."

"How did you figure it out?"

"My mother helped. Well, a little present she left for me. But you know about the mirror already."

Emma nodded. "It said you still wanted to hurt everyone."

"It wanted you to turn against me so that I'd be alone again. My mother thought it would make me listen to her."

"We've survived on our own for ages now. You've been good all this time. Nothing has to change when everyone wakes up."

"I don't want to be evil anymore. No-one will let me be one of the good guys either so I don't have much of a choice. I just have to make a few changes. You've shown me that I can be on my own in this town and still find a reason to get up in the morning. Thank you."

"Give them a chance."

"You don't know them like I do. I'm only sorry it means we can't be friends. No-one would understand."

"Henry might."

Regina forced herself to ignore the words and continued. "This is going to be the last day of the curse. I understand if you want to spend it alone."

"What do you want to do?"

Regina took a deep breath. "I would like to do something I would never have dared to do with everyone awake."

As the sun began to set, Regina lined up the fireworks along the beach. Emma sat on the bench with a blanket over her lap to keep her warm and watched her. Regina had insisted on paying for them and refused to let Emma anywhere near them.

"Just in case." Regina explained to her sternly. "And I'll light them."

"You know what goes great with fireworks?" Emma asked her.

"What?"

"Bonfires and toasting marshmallows."

So they had a small fire, a bag of the soft and sickeningly sweet marshmallows and fireworks. Regina returned to the bench and lit the first firework with her magic.

As it shot off into the air she smiled. It was more beautiful than anything she could have created with her magic. It burst into brilliant bright colours and let out a noise she would normally complain was deafening, but it was worth it.

"Thank you for today." She told Emma.

"Not a problem. This whole thing has been… interesting. I don't think I'll forget it in a hurry."

"Neither will I."

They sat in silence, watching as Regina lit the next few fireworks. Then she nudged Emma and reached out a hand for one of the marshmallows. What did she have to loose? It might be her last chance to try one. Tomorrow everyone would wake up.

AN: Okay, so that was a little mean skipping their last day together, but I'm going to create a new story entitled "Out-takes" for various one-shot ideas I had for this story but didn't put in. The last day may become one of those stories. I had no idea how long this story would become. The ending is calling out for my attention and I want to share it so only a few chapters to go now. Hopefully you'll want to check out the "Out-takes" stories.