Festive Felicitations to you all. My gift to you; a three-part update!

Part One... Launching right into the action... Enjoy!

An Escape and a Breakthrough

Riding home from Abigail's on horseback, the couple chatted and tried to enjoy the opportunity to be out from the confides of their castle for a while. The air was frigid with the coming of winter, but their heavy cloaks kept most of the chill from their skin, so it was a surprise when goose bumps abruptly rose on Emma's arms and their company became aware of danger approaching.

After weeks of waiting for Snow's forces to attack, complacency had begun to set in. Emma had predicted that it might happen with their soldiers back home but somehow, she had expected her and Regina to be immune. A crackle of magic tore through the air and adrenaline flooded her system. She exchanged a look with her wife before pulling her bow from its sling. The horses stamped their hooves restlessly, the animals sensing the tension in the humans and the surrounding trees but, being well trained, they held their ground.

Regina's hand cradled a fireball, ready to launch. It wasn't immediately apparent what had tipped them off but within seconds, shouting erupted from both ends of the track and feral creatures poured into the road.

Emma pulled an arrow from her quiver and loosed it into the hoard. She winced at the otherworldly scream that tore from her target, but didn't pause before knocking a new arrow and embedding it into the leg of another charging beast.

Beast was the first word that came to all of their minds, though their attackers looked like they used to be men. Their snarling features and wild mannerisms harked strongly at something between a dog and a bear, and there was no hesitation in their approach; they were predators and were out for blood.

Though lacking deadly canines, the soldiers put their own weapon to good use and charged through the sea, trampling deliberately with the horses' powerful hooves and slashing swiftly through throats and limbs. Any concerns that the onslaught might prove too much for their meagre force began to fade as the number of strewed bodies rose and the battle slowed. Eventually, with one last burst of flame, the dark sorceress felled the few still attempting to advance and they breathed a collective sigh of relief.

"Your majesties…" Captain Briggs began immediately but was swiftly cut off by the brunette queen.

"We're fine, Captain," Regina told him tersely.

"What the hell was that!?" Emma blurted as she continued to hold her loaded bow. In the heat of battle, she had fallen into a zone where her training took over and muscle memory kicked in, but now that she could examine the destruction around them, she held the weapon in a death grip, afraid to let it go.

No one really had an answer for the blonde, but when her wife opened her mouth to offer a calculated guess, the sound of slow clapping clawed everyone's attention to the road and the sight of a figure approaching from not too far away.

"An impressive performance, I must say," a raven-haired woman praised them as she sauntered up to the now dead creatures and kicked one with the toe of her boot.

Mouths opened in shock all round but it was Emma's voice that penetrated the frigid air. "Mom?" she gasped in horror.

Queen Snow chuckled darkly and captured the blonde queen with malevolent eyes. "Hello, sweetheart. Did you miss mommy?"

Emma opened her mouth to say more but hesitated at the feel of a hand pinching tightly to her arm. She turned her devastated gaze on her wife and found a depth of hatred, longing and understanding that she didn't immediately comprehend. "Regina?" she all but whispered.

The dark queen shook her head minutely, her keen scrutiny fixed unerringly on the image of her former step-daughter. Before she could open her mouth, Snow twisted a hand in the air and the soldiers surrounding the two queens froze. "That's not your mother, Emma," she said with complete confidence. "It's mine."

A cackle escaped Snow's throat and the clapping resumed. "Well done, dear." The figure waved her arms dramatically over her body and transformed before their eyes into an ageing but still lively Cora Mills. "I taught you something worthwhile after all it seems."

"Hello, mother," Regina greeted the older woman, her tone seemingly devoid of any affection.

Emma understood her wife well enough to know that Regina had to be tied up in knots inside. Any time the dark queen had spoken of her mother, it was to say that Cora had been unapproachable and often cruel as a parent, but there was always a longing behind her words when she talked about the woman, and Emma knew that all of the neglect and abuse had not completely rid Regina of the need she had for her mother's love. She nudged her horse ever so slightly closer to her wife in the hope that her proximity could offer some comfort and kept her fingers wrapped loosely around the string of her bow.

"What have you done with Snow?" Regina asked after a beat.

"Oh, she's minding the castle, the little dear," Cora breezed. "She finds being out and about awfully taxing these days, so I volunteered to see to the war in her absence. She's as naïve as ever, isn't she? I was disappointed to hear that you'd made a truce with her, but now I see that you were playing the long game. Brava, Regina." Her sharp eyes passed over the former White princess and she smirked. "Claiming Snow's brat was a stroke of genius."

Regina bristled. "I have not 'claimed' her, mother. We are partners." The word felt insignificant as it fell from her tongue, but she couldn't exactly say that they were lovers.

Cora's eyes narrowed and she studied the blonde again, looking for something else this time. She reached into the girl's mind and immediately found what she suspected – innocence, bright and untouched. She waved her hand and pulled the blonde queen from her mount, letting her fall into the dirt. When Emma started to scramble to her feet, Cora closed her fist and froze another victim in place. Regina winced, her muscles tense and ready to leap to Emma's rescue, but otherwise she didn't move. Her mother was testing her resolve and she knew it would be a mistake to leap after Emma so soon. She could tell by the movement in green eyes that Cora had left her wife's consciousness intact though. All the better for torture, she was sure.

"Tell me you bedded her, Regina," Cora spat as she turned back to her daughter. At the flush that rose to the dark queen's cheeks, she knew she had her answer. "Oh, you foolish girl," the old woman mocked. "Do you realise the power you might have yielded with Snow's brat cowed at your feet? You should have taken her while she still feared you. Used your magic to beget an heir of your own line. One which you could control."

"I would not do unto her that which was done to me," Regina spat back. "And any children we might have will be raised with love not control. I will not have them fear me as I feared you!"

Cora scoffed. "I see you have yet to learn your lesson. You are not honestly waiting for the girl to fall in love with you, are you?" She mocked. Again, she saw her answer in her daughter's heightened colour. "How many times do I have to tell you, Regina? Love. Is. Weakness."

The ex-Evil Queen took a moment to control her breathing and thought rapidly about how she could turn the situation around so that Emma was no longer in danger. "Mother, if there's to be any hope of unity between Snow's kingdom and mine, I need Emma alive," she tried to reason, though panic was evident in her voice as Cora moved closer to her wife. Assaulting her mind were flashbacks of a stable and the crushed heart of her loved one blowing in the wind.

The witch smirked knowingly. "Yes, dear. You need her body. We both know yours is broken…" she taunted. "You do not need her heart though."

Regina's voice cracked with desperation and she tensed atop her horse as she lost her resolve and continued to plead the way she had as a child. No matter how useless she knew it was, she couldn't help trying. "Mother, please, I'm queen now. Don't you have what you wanted?"

An exasperated expression fell over Cora Mills' face as she glared back at her daughter with mock pity. "Regina, you being queen was never about giving you power. If you won't control your enemies, I will do it for you. I will do what you cannot and you will obey me. You all will."

"No… Mother, no!" Regina hardly knew that she was moving as she threw herself from her horse and half leaped over the mound of bloodied bodies towards her wife. Her mind was in a state of terror as she realised that she was about to watch her worst nightmare replay in front of her eyes. It didn't matter if Cora's intention was to control Emma's heart rather than crush it – having her wife under her mother's thrall was just as much a nightmare. Though she had never had the courage to acknowledge it openly, her feelings for Emma had burrowed so much deeper into her soul, creating a tether between them that held with it her reason for living. With Emma's heart, Cora would control both of them and all would be lost.

Regina bid goodnight to her friend and host, appreciating the time Abigail chose to spend with her in companionable conversation, but at the same time, she really wished that the other queen had chosen to go straight to bed without following her to her suite. For too long she lay, staring at the gilded ceiling, wondering whether her wife was still awake or not.

Should she tiptoe down the corridor and let herself into Emma's room? Would it matter if anyone saw her? Would Emma welcome her company, or was she enjoying the chance to have a bed all to herself?

Considering the fact that it was Emma who had taken up the habit of falling asleep in Regina's room, she didn't think her wife would reject her presence, but just the act of removing herself from bed, crossing the space between their rooms, and crawling into someone else's bed was a feat in itself. The whole process was entirely alien to her and it took the best part of the next hour for her to sum up the courage to make it to Emma's door.

"Emma?" she whispered as she entered the room and crept closer to the bed.

A head of blonde hair shot up from the pillow, a smile hidden in the dark as she threw back the covers and whispered back with abject relief, "Get in."

Neither commented on their inability to sleep without the other's presence. Regina moulded herself against her wife's back – a reverse of their normal position – and breathed into the blonde's neck. In a world where so many people still looked upon her as an enemy and a monster, it just made sense that she would find solace in the one person who accepted her every failing.

"Mother, stop!" Regina screamed as she scrambled over the last body and came face to face with the witch. She saw staring back at her the wicked enjoyment that she remembered well from her youth as red-tipped claws hovered, ready to strike. Tears pricked her eyes and she searched desperately for her magic, her hands summoning spindly vines to entangle themselves around the witch.

Cora sneered and shrugged off the pathetic attempt. "Weak," she repeated and plunged her hand into Emma's chest.

"No!" Regina cried and felt the strength leaving her body.

She sank to the ground and watched in horror as her wife's expression tightened in pain. She watched her mother tug in that all too familiar motion of ripping a heart from someone's body. In that moment, she wondered if she deserved this; for the countless hearts she'd taken and the lives she'd ruined. But then Emma moved, breaking from the power of Cora's spell and her face shifted from pained to determined. Green eyes narrowed and she pushed back against the hand in her chest, propelling the witch several metres across the path and into a tree.

Regina knelt, stunned, her glassy gaze gaping stupidly at the blonde queen. Was this real? How could it be? How could anyone defeat her mother with such ease?

"She's out cold." Emma's voice came from where Cora's body lay beside the tree.

The blast had been powerful enough not only to dislodge her magic from the blonde but the soldiers too, who looked on with concern at their monarch who'd collapsed on the ground. Emma returned to her wife and pulled the brunette to her feet, her hands holding tightly to Regina's arms to ground her.

"How…?" the dark queen whispered.

She felt the strength returning to her body and with Emma's touch, magic flowed through her veins with renewed force. It was a heady feeling and reminded her of all the times she had touched her wife and felt the underlying current of some hitherto unknown power. For a short while now, she'd suspected that magic lingered beneath the blonde's skin, but she had never guessed that it could be so intense when unleashed.

Emma couldn't even begin to process what had just happened within her body, but the stupefied expression on her wife's face was enough to make her chuckle. A groan from the motionless witch caught her attention though and she shot a panicked look at the brunette. "Get us out of here… now, Regina!"

The dark queen held tight to Emma and focussed on the feel of their combined magic pulsing through her. From the corner of her eye, she saw as Cora fumbled around for purchase and Regina began to panic. Her magic faltered and a whimper fell from her lips.

Emma grabbed the sorceress' face and forced their eyes to meet. "Look at me, Regina," she implored. "You can do this. I believe in you." She wasn't sure what gave her the idea, but she pressed her lips against her wife's and let them linger there.

Regina forgot all about her mother. She forgot all about old torments and feeling weak in the face of her own personal monster. She forgot about lost love and the pain of having her heart broken. All that mattered in that moment was the kiss that connected her skin to Emma's. Like a supercharged cell, she burst with energy, her magic wrapping around their entire entourage, horses and all, and in the blink of an eye, they found themselves standing in the courtyard of their castle.

The gasps of surprise barely registered inside the sorceress' mind as Emma's lips released their hold and she felt her body sag. Strong arms prevented her from falling but the effort of transporting so many people such a distance had taken its toll and black spots filled her vision before she passed out completely.

Cora regained her senses just in time to see her daughter disappear with the White princess and their soldiers. It took her a moment to understand what had just happened. She could still feel the blonde's heart in her hand, could still see the anguish on Regina's face as she prepared to rip the organ from its cage. Somehow, the little brat had magic. Magic powerful enough to counter her own.

Emma must have been responsible for carrying them all to safety because her daughter's attempts to stop her had been useless. Enough so that she was embarrassed for Regina even if it did work in her favour.

With a wave of her hand, she crossed from Queen Regina and Queen Emma's land back to Snow's castle. She stalked the halls without challenge now, the servants only looking at her long enough to know which way to run from her presence. Her feet carried her from the main floor to the dark halls below the castle where the Charmings kept their prisoners. Well, where the Charmings would keep their prisoners, if they were not too soft to punish their criminals. At the very last cell, she stopped and for a few minutes, silently observed the pathetic individual within.

"Still pining for the shepherd?" she taunted before waving her hand and opening the door.

Red-rimmed, glassy eyes stared up at the witch with a mixture of fear and resentment. "You won't get away with this," Snow vowed with all the strength she could muster.

"How my Regina put up with you for so many years without strangling you in your sleep, I will never know," Cora told the captive queen.

"It's because she still had her heart," Snow answered confidently. "Because she hadn't given herself completely to the darkness."

Cora laughed. "Well, your father and Rumpelstiltskin did their best to see to that, didn't they?" At her prisoner's guilt-ridden expression, her amusement turned into a cackle that reminded Snow strongly of the Evil Queen. When the jarring noise died out, she thought back to what she'd just learned in the forest. "And yet, she seems quite taken with your daughter. Tell me, Snow – how is it that your spawn possesses magic?"

"What?" the queen responded with shock. "Emma has magic? My Emma?"

"Hmm, can it be that her powers are just now surfacing?" the witch muttered to herself. "No, she could not have transported so many with such little training."

While Cora paced and organised her scheming, Snow thought hard about what she'd just learned. Had Regina found love again? With her daughter? And did her daughter possess magic that could defeat this snake in her home?

So much of her life had turned out opposite to how she'd envisioned it. Her only constant was her husband – her true love – but even David had not conformed to the conventional thinking she'd been raised with. After living as a bandit for so long, she hadn't cared what his vocation was, but she sometimes wondered if the princely robes he'd been forced to wear by King George had been a sack-cloth instead, would he still have turned her head? If the Evil Queen hadn't chased her into exile, would she have settled for a real prince or member of aristocracy instead?

Sat here in the dark, in the dungeon of her own castle, held at the hands of the very woman who had duped her into betraying her saviour, Snow was close to giving into despair. Cora tormented her every day with the sad state of her kingdom, the fate of her husband and the plans she had to crush their daughters in battle. Every day, she lost a little more hope of ever reclaiming her life. She was powerless to save anyone and she only had her own complacency and naivety to blame.

But still, while Cora paced and organised her scheming, Snow thought hard and considered the ramifications of magic and love. She knew something that Cora Mills would never believe – love wasn't weakness, it was magic. Between Emma and Regina, maybe the future wasn't as bleak as she'd assumed.

Regina's thoughts were jumbled as she tried to regain consciousness. She saw visions of her mother holding Emma's heart and men with bloodshot eyes trying to devour her flesh. Her arms flailed against invisible enemies until they were captured by something solid – something warm and enticing. A voice sang to her through the dark and she climbed towards it.

"Regina?" Emma called as she held the dark queen's wrists gently between her thumbs and index fingers. "Regina, it's Emma. You're home. You're safe."

The sorceress' eyes blinked open and the moment she set eyes on her wife, her breathing relaxed and she sank back into the pillows beneath her. "Emma," she sighed with relief. Her bedroom came into focus and she frowned. "How did we get here?"

"You magicked us all back to the castle and I carried you up here," the blonde answered.

An eyebrow arched in admiration and brown eyes drank in the definition of the younger queen's arms. "Indeed," she muttered to herself. Remembering that she was being watched, she glanced back at her wife's face to find amusement and warmth starting back at her. She cleared her throat. "You have magic," she commented to break the intimate tension. "I knew I felt something, but this is… You are so much more powerful than I realised."

Emma accepted the change of topic graciously. There would be time to address more personal feelings later. "How do I have magic?"

Regina wriggled her arms out from beneath the covers and pushed her body into a seated position. It took every ounce of effort she had and it was only then that she realised how much energy her spell had drained her of. "True love, I guess," she replied thoughtfully. "Your parents have it and you are a product of it. It's powerful."

Emma held herself back from offering assistance, knowing that it wouldn't be appreciated. Her fingers tingled, longing to touch her wife again. She recalled those words from Snow's story of when she and Regina had first met and focussed on them to distract her. "You told my mother that, when she was a child."

"Yes. A conversation that haunted me for the longest time," the older queen replied. She was used to the words tasting bitter on her tongue. Surprisingly though, there was nothing left but sympathy for her younger self and the child she'd grown to hate.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be, dear," the brunette replied with a smile she reserved just for her companion. As hard as it had been to let go of her first love, she had finally accepted the fact that her heart had somehow mended itself and was attached unerringly to this beautiful creature beside her. "We have today, let's leave the past where it belongs."

"We have today thanks to you," Emma smiled and found Regina's fingers with her own, the temptation having grown too great. At the brunette's eye roll, she chuckled and changed the subject slightly. "You know, your mother uses that word too."

"What word?"

"Dear," Emma clarified. She watched a frown fall over Regina's expression and realised immediately how little her wife would like the comparison. "I much prefer the sound of it from your lips," she hastened to add. "When she says it, my skin crawls."

"I know the feeling."

They sat in quiet contemplation for several minutes, both reflecting on the events of the day. After the shared enthusiasm from yesterday's victory over George, they'd carried themselves tall, feeling as if nothing could stand in their way, but then Cora's attack had cut them deep and now they were left licking their wounds. Two things stood out like bright spots though; Cora's inability to take Emma's heart, and the fact that light magic had been enough to incapacitate her for a short while.

"It wouldn't be a bad idea to start training you to use your magic," Regina said eventually. "My magic was useless against her; you might be our only hope."

The blonde nodded slowly. "When you're up to full strength, we'll begin. Right now, I need to get back to the office. We're looking into plans to rescue my dad." The moment the words were out of her mouth, Regina started to edge out of bed. "What do you think you're doing?" she asked and put a hand on the brunette's shoulder to hold her back. "You need to rest."

A dark eyebrow rose in astonishment. "You are suggesting that I lie around in bed while you're hatching potentially life-threatening plans and waging war?" She scoffed and knocked Emma's hand aside. "I don't think so."

Emma rolled her eyes and huffed, but didn't move out of the way. Both hands reached out this time to gently discourage Regina from leaving the bed. "You have enough heroics to your name for one day. You need to get your strength back."

"Emma…"

"Regina, please," the blonde entreated. Their eyes met and locked. "I need you to take care of yourself." She offered an endearing half-smile and dropped her hands to her lap. "You scared me today."

"Emma, I'm… I'm fine," the dark queen attempted to convince her wife, though she stopped trying to get up. She looked at the genuine concern behind her wife's eyes and melted inside. "You scared me too," she added softly after a long pause. Somewhere inside, she cringed at the open vulnerability that seeped from her pores. "When she reached into your chest…"

"It was like my body was on fire," Emma finished with a shudder. "And then I heard your voice and I had to get to you."

Regina felt her world spin around those words. She felt green eyes scrutinising her every expression and felt panic begin to coil in her belly. "I'm getting up," she insisted and growled at the hands that held her back once again. "Are you planning to do that all night?" she grumbled.

"If I have to!" Emma grumbled right back. "You need to eat and you need to sleep."

"Fine!" Regina relented. "But you're not allowed to start talking about rescue attempts without me," she specified after a beat.

"But…"

"No," the dark queen's voice was adamant. "In fact, how about a compromise?" she added as an idea came to mind.

"What kind of compromise?" Emma asked with suspicion.

"You have had a long day too, haven't you?" Regina began. "You can't tell me that you're not tired after nearly having your heart ripped out and discovering that you have magic." She waited for a nod and continued in triumph. "Then you can lie down with me." At the blonde's surprised expression, she cleared her throat. "At this point, I don't think there is any point denying the fact that we each sleep better when the other is around. Our magic might have something to do with that," she added awkwardly, hoping that Emma didn't see the flushing of her cheeks.

The blonde nodded at the idea of taking a nap. There were still a few hours of daylight left, thanks in large part to the fact that they'd travelled half the length of their kingdom in the blink of an eye. She stood slowly and explained that she needed to order food and a wake-up call before crossing the room to the door. It had become her habit not to challenge her wife on the addictive energy that flowed between them; on the stupidity of them both actively ignoring a mutual attraction; on the fact that almost the entire kingdom was talking about what they were too afraid to admit to each other – that they were falling hopelessly in love.

Her heartbeat picked up speed as she reached for the door handle and gathered her courage. It was past time to get it all out in the open. Before disappearing from view, she paused and called over to the sorceress. "Regina?" she said and waited for the dark queen's attention before adding, "I think we both know that magic has very little to do with our sleeping habits," she confessed before winking and leaving the room.

I think Emma just threw down a gauntlet. About time, huh?