She was all alone, again. Henry had left to have dinner with Emma and his grandparents. Regina was walking home when she began to feel strange. Something wasn't right and she knew it. Her vision began to blur and she became unsteady. She tripped and fell on her porch. Regina couldn't get up and knew she had to call for help.

"Hey, Regina, what's up?" the caller answered.

"I'm sorry to bother you. I know you're having dinner, but I need help."

"What kind of help?"

"I fell on my porch and I'm unable to stand."

"Are you hurt anywhere?"

"I don't know."

"We'll be right there."

"Thank you, Emma."

Emma hung up and looked at her family. "What's wrong?" Snow asked.

"Regina fell on her porch and can't stand up."

"We'll catch up with you there," David said signaling his daughter to leave. Henry had gone to the bathroom and didn't know until after Emma left.

Emma ran from Granny's to Regina's and sure enough, the woman was lying on the porch, "Emma? Is that you?"

"Yeah, I'm here."

"I feel so weak."

"Do you think this has anything to do with earlier?"

"I don't know, probably."

David, Snow, and Henry came running up, "she alright?" David asked.

"She's not sure. Can you help me?" Emma responded.

David and Emma helped Regina to her feet, but the woman's knees buckled. David ended up having to carry Regina into her home and up to her room. He left after placing her on the bed so Snow and Emma could help her change. "Should we call someone to look at you?" Snow asked.

"I doubt you could find someone willing to do the job."

"Is there a cure in one of your books?" Emma asked.

"I'm not sure. I don't think you have enough time to find one."

"Don't be so sure," Emma gave a slight smile. "Get some rest and we'll take care of everything else."

Emma and Snow left the room to join David and Henry, "we have to start looking in every book Regina owns to find a cure," Snow said.

"We'll stay here with these books. You two go to her vault and look at those," Emma instructed.

"You can bring them back if you'd like."

"We're on it," David said. He and Henry left for the vault while Emma and Snow began looking at the books in the house.

David and Henry returned with the books from the vault. They sat on the floor going through them while Snow and Emma did the same with the books in the house. "Anything?" Emma asked an hour later.

"No, you?" David responded.

"No," she sighed. "This is ridiculous. There has to be something."

"What if there isn't?" Henry asked.

"I don't believe that," Emma said.

"We still have time," Snow said.

"Yeah, your mom's not too bad right now," David added.

"Okay, let's keep looking," Henry said.

The four looked in every book they had and found nothing. They decided to look at the books the others checked to see if someone may have missed something. They had decided to pick up the following day because it was late and everyone was tired. Emma decided to crash with Regina. She wanted to make sure the woman was safe in her weakened state. Emma looked at the sleeping mayor and realized that her feelings for the woman were much deeper than she thought.

The next day, Emma walked into the bedroom and saw Regina slowly returning from the bathroom. The mayor's left leg kept dragging and getting stuck. Eventually, she tripped and fell to the ground. "Regina," Emma rushed to her side, "are you alright?"

"I don't know. I've been having trouble walking today."

Emma helped Regina to her feet. "Take it easy today and don't get up without help." Regina reached for her water but couldn't grab it. "Here," Emma held the glass for Regina. "Do you need anything else?"

"My life back."

"We won't give up," Emma said confidently. She really believed that they could save Regina. They couldn't ask for help because there wasn't a soul willing to help the former Evil Queen. If only they knew her whole story.

Two days later, Regina was sitting up in bed while Emma sat next to her looking at a book.

"Emma...I'm...t...t...irsty."

"What's going on?"

Regina was visibly having trouble speaking, "can't...get my...words out...well."

"Just rest and only speak if you absolutely have to. We haven't given up yet on finding a cure."

"Why...would you...want to...save me?"

"You saved us." Emma heard a dry cough come from Regina, "shoot, I'll get you water." When Emma returned with a glass of water she held it out to Regina, "do you need help?"

"Yeah," she answered.

Emma helped Regina drink the entire glass before refilling it and placing it on the nightstand. There had to be a way to save Regina. There just had to be.

On day three, Regina woke up and tried to roll over. She wasn't able to and the more she tried the more she panicked. "Emma," she said, "Emma!"

"What?" Emma jerked awake.

"I can't...move."

"What?"

"My...lower body...won't move."

Emma took the woman into her arms and allowed her to cry. The blonde sent a message to her parents that Regina was going to need a wheelchair to get to the bathroom and back. They knew she wouldn't be comfortable with David helping her in there. "Once something starts to go then it's gone the very next day," Emma said. Regina eventually went back to sleep. Snow and David were sitting in the bedroom with Emma. "Her speech is the only exception. I'm sure that will be gone soon too."

"We're still looking for something to help," David said.

"One of the books we found is actually an old diary," Snow admitted.

"Wait, did you guys read it?"

"We wanted to understand her better and maybe find what made her go down the worst path," David answered. "She had a tough life."

"Her mother was just awful to her," Snow said, "she ripped Daniel's heart out and crushed it in front of Regina. She made Regina marry my father to be queen and give the family more status. Cora would call Regina an old maid when she was just seventeen. She put so much pressure on her that Regina felt her only choice was to run away. Thanks to me, Cora stopped her."

"She wrote that every time she tried to kill or hurt your mom that she just couldn't. It never worked and she thought it was because she might still care for her like before."

"Cora killed my mother so Regina could be queen. Regina wrote recently about how much that devastated her when she found out a few weeks ago. She also wrote about how she felt bad for helping to take my father away. There are a lot of regrets in her diary. Regina regrets ripping her father's heart out to cast the curse. Rumple used her to do his bidding. Right before she gave me that apple, she wrote about how much she wanted to change. That she wanted me back and to be a family. She felt that she had done so many evil things that her heart could no longer be good."

"I guess we know now why she did all of those evil things," Emma said, "too bad it's too late."

"It's not too late," Snow said.

"Yeah, I believe that somehow she's gonna pull through this," David added.

Emma just looked at the sleeping woman. She wished that she could believe that this would have a better outcome, but she was being realistic. Regina was dying and there wasn't a thing any of them could do to stop it.

Four days after Regina took ill, Emma walked into the bedroom to check on her, "hey, do you need anything?" The blonde noticed that the mayor had been crying. "What's wrong?"

Regina grunted and pointed at her mouth while shaking her head.

"You can't speak?" Emma grabbed a pad of paper and a pen. "Here, this is for when you need something. I'm sorry that we haven't found a way to help you."

Regina wrote on her pad and showed Emma. It read, "it's alright. You tried and that means a lot."

"There was a time when I would have relished in your inability to speak. Not so much anymore." Regina placed her hand on Emma's cheek and slightly smiled. "You are an incredible woman, Regina." Emma had decided to stay with Regina for the rest of the day. It broke her heart to see her struggling and she felt that Regina needed constant supervision now more than ever.

Regina woke up the next day with blurry vision. She could still write on her notepad, but it was difficult. The following day things got worse.

"Emma!" Snow yelled.

The blonde ran into the bedroom and noticed that Regina was panicking. "What happened?"

"I went to check her pulse and she freaked out," David said.

Emma had David and Snow back away. She walked closer to the bed, "Regina, it's Emma. I'm gonna sit on the edge of the bed on your left side." Emma sat and looked at the woman's face. "You can't see, can you?" The mayor just shook her head. "Okay, we'll be more careful when we approach you." Emma soothed Regina until she had calmed down.

"I'm sorry, Regina," David said. Regina held up her hand to say okay to David. It broke his heart to see her so broken and afraid. He didn't think anything could scare Regina. That is until he saw the fear she had about losing Henry. She had always wanted a family and to be loved. It's too bad that it took until the end of her life for her to get all of that.

Seven days, one week had gone by since Regina absorbed the dark magic from the portal. Seven days and she was at the end of her life. Every day she lost another function. Every day the family lost hope of finding a cure. Emma held Regina in her arms as the last bit of life drained from the former Evil Queen. Henry held his mother's hand while Snow and David stood by. Emma felt Regina begin to slip away, "I wish we could have done something," she said. "I didn't realize how much I needed you until now. I guess that's how it goes. I want you to know that you are loved and wanted. I wish you were better because I love you. Henry loves you too. I think my parents do too."

"We do," David and Snow said.

"I mean it, Regina. I love you," Emma placed a kiss on Regina's forehead and there was a rush.

"I love you too," Regina groaned in a raspy manner.

Emma jerked her head up and looked at Regina who was looking up at her, "oh my God!"

"You saved me."

"We're glad you're back," she smiled.

"Things were really getting boring without you being you," David said.

Regina smiled at the couple. Snow turned back to her former stepmother, "we'll step out for a moment and give you two some privacy."

Henry hugged his mother gently and left with his grandparents. "Thank you," Emma said.

"For what, dear?"

"Saving my life and my mother's life. You put yourself on your deathbed to do so."

"You're welcome, but I should thank you. You've been so wonderful to me this past week. You were taking care of me, reassuring me, and loving towards me. No one has ever treated me that way before."

"Did you really mean it when you said you love me? Or were you still out of it?"

"I meant it."

Emma smiled, "I don't want you trying to do too much too soon. Just take it easy and let us all help you."

"I'm still too tired to argue."

"I'm actually disappointed there won't be an argument."

Later in the day, Regina was slightly propped up against some pillows when David walked in, "feeling any better?"

"A little bit. Thank you for staying and helping Emma with everything."

"That's what families do."

"Still, I appreciate it."

"Well, you're welcome." It was quiet for a moment, "I'm a jerk."

"And?"

David chuckled, "I never thought there was a deeper reason behind your anger. We were going through your books to find a cure and we found your diary. At first, we thought it was about spells. We should have stopped, but we thought it would help us understand you better."

"Did it?"

"Yeah," David said, "sorry about the whole invasion of privacy."

"You know, it's okay. I'm actually glad you read it because now I don't have to explain it. That just sounds too exhausting right now."

"I want you to know that you can count on me. I'm in your corner. Although, I'm pretty confident in your ability to take care of yourself."

Regina felt a tear slide down her cheek, "thank you."

"Just don't hurt Emma."

"I don't intend to."

"Don't call me dad."

"I really don't intend to."

David laughed and Regina chuckled, "I'll let you rest. I've been delaying Snow because I know that once she's up here there will be no getting rid of her. I can only hold her back for so long."

"Thank you, but she's fine."

Snow walked into the room, "told you so."

David rolled his eyes, smiled at Regina, and left. "He was so nice to me."

"Your diary and illness changed everything."

"Thank you for everything. It means a lot that you were all here for me."

"We're family."

"That was basically David's response too."

"Take care of Emma."

"I will," Regina said. "I want to tell you something." Snow sat on the edge of the bed and Regina took her hand. "I owe you a long-overdue apology. I am so sorry for everything. You were just a kid and I was so awful."

"You were just a kid too."

"Yeah, I was."

"Maybe tomorrow we can get you out of bed. I can have David carry you down the stairs and we can sit outside."

"That sounds lovely. I hope I'm able to do that tomorrow. I'm sick of this room. For the first time since I moved in here, I'm thinking of redoing my bedroom."

"You just need a change of scenery." Snow stayed with Regina so Emma could take a break. They switched at dinner time. Regina was still weak and needed help eating. She was more comfortable with Emma helping her. That night, Emma and Regina held onto one another as they fell asleep.

The next day, David carried Regina downstairs and outside. He placed her on a cushioned lounge chair in the backyard. The chair had been moved to sit under Regina's favorite apple tree. Emma sat with her the entire time. Snow and David joined them from time to time but were also trying to take a break. "You look so much better today," Emma said.

"I don't look like death anymore?"

"No," Emma answered.

"So, what's next for us?"

"I'm glad you asked."

"Really?"

"Yeah because I think we should discuss this. Regina, I love you so much and I want to be here with you always. I won't treat you the way others from your past have. I won't run away from you. We have something special and I guess what I'm trying to say is...will you marry me?"

"What?"

"It's too soon, isn't it?"

Regina leaned in and kissed Emma, "yes."

"I knew it was too soon."

"No," Regina said, "I was answering your first question. I will marry you."

Emma sighed with relief and kissed Regina. She placed the ring on her fiance's finger. Snow, David, and Henry were standing in the doorway, smiling. Emma and Regina were finally getting their happy endings.

A week after Regina's close call with death, she and Emma were back under the apple tree. This time they were exchanging vows. Their family and Emma's friends in town were there to witness the happy occasion. Regina felt stronger than ever. Not only had she recovered, but she now had Emma's strength as well. The two women had been searching for happiness and love for so long. Now, they had it and were determined to never lose it.