Regina was just exiting her en-suite bathroom after finishing her makeup. She turned around when she heard a knock at her bedroom door.
"Hey," Emma said. "Mind if I come in?"
Regina shook her head.
"I'm heading down to the station in a few minutes. I just thought I'd come and see how you were doing."
"Well now you've seen." Regina said, moving towards the closet.
Emma took a few more steps into the room. "How are you feeling?"
"Well I'm still alive, that's something." Regina commented, pretending to look through her clothes despite already knowing what she was looking for.
"How many times do I have to remind you, you're not dying Regina." Emma said gently. "Once you start the treatment you're going to be totally fine."
Regina shut her eyes briefly before selecting a blazer from the closet and putting it on over her blouse. She turned around to face the blonde.
"Why do you still bother to do your hair and make-up every day?" Emma asked curiously. "You barely ever leave the house anymore."
Regina gave a small shrug. "I suppose it allows me to pretend that my life still has some manner of normalcy."
"You know you could still come out once in a while. You're completely functional you just choose to stay cooped up in here all the time. Your life could be more normal if you would just let it."
Regina didn't respond, instead she took her pajamas from the foot of the bed and began folding them simply for something to do.
Emma watched her. It was true, Regina was still sleeping much of the day away and she did still get lightheaded or nauseous every once in a while. But Emma also knew from experience that pushing the subject would produce no results.
Emma slumped down on the bed, sighing as she laid down and stared up at the ceiling. "It's actually harder than I thought."
"What is?" Regina asked, moving towards the dresser to sort through her jewellery box.
"Getting Mary Margaret and David together. It seems that when they should have been keeping their distance, finding ways to see each other was their biggest priority. But now that we need them together it seems they've both seen the light and want to do the right thing and try to forget about each other. Well okay, not completely, but they are sure making my job harder. It's not like I can just come out and say 'hey, I'm your daughter and I need you guys to share true love's kiss so you can break the curse that we all thought was just a figment of Henry's imagination.'"
"Well, those two have always made it their priority to make my life as difficult as possible. Why should now be any different?"
Emma continued to stare at the ceiling. "How did this become my life." She said dully.
Regina took a seat beside the blonde, who sat up to face her.
"What if we just... I don't know, leave town?" Emma asked.
Regina gave her a look of disbelief. "And leave your parents?"
"They're not really my... Like I know they technically are but it doesn't feel that way." Emma sighed, "I'm just trying to come up with a solution here. If we leave town, you'll be outside of the curse then won't you? Won't you start aging again if you do that? Henry would never know."
Regina gave her a look of surprise.
"Look," Emma said. "I don't know how I'm supposed to break the curse. And the fact that we don't know what will happen to Henry once it does is kind of my biggest worry right now. I need to know that he'll be safe."
Regina sighed."As easy as leaving would be, it just doesn't work that way. This was always meant to happen. You were always meant to break the curse and in one way or another it's going to happen. Shouldn't we at least try to control the outcome when it does?"
Emma shook her head slowly. "I guess if we really did just leave, then Henry would eventually have to accept that he'd been wrong about the fairytales, that he simply had just been..."
"Don't say it." Regina said quietly.
"I know..." Emma agreed. "I couldn't do that to him."
Regina clasped her hands, staring downward into her lap.
Frustrated, Emma flopped back down on the bed again. "So what do we do?"
Once Emma had left for the Sheriff's Station, Regina herself headed into town.
At the moment she was standing outside of Mr. Gold's Pawn Shop, lingering just outside of view from anyone inside while she composed herself.
Finally she took a deep breath and opened the door, the bell above it jingling a mockingly cheery tune.
Gold emerged from the back room, pausing briefly as he saw who the visitor was.
"Your majesty. This is an unexpected surprise." He said as she stepped warily towards the counter. "I must say, after all you've been through these past weeks the last thing I expected was to see you here."
He gestured towards her. "You're not looking too well, are you sure you should be out and about in your delicate condition? It's my understanding that you've been too ill to even leave the house as of late."
Regina ignored his question. "Save your false pleasantries, we both know you don't give a damn about my health."
"Very well, what can I do for you?"
"I need the curse broken."
Gold gave a curt laugh, "what?"
"You didn't let me finish." Regina said irritably. "I need the curse broken, but first I need to know what will happen when it does. Will we be sent back to the Enchanted Forest?"
"Why do you want to know?" Gold asked calmly.
"I don't think Henry would be brought with us and I can't leave him behind."
"You've created quite the conundrum haven't you your majesty? You already know of two ways to break the curse, surely you don't need my help to do it."
"Neither of those methods are an option. For either of us." She added warningly.
"Well I understand why you wouldn't want to use that pesky self-destruct you thought I didn't know about. But as for the second option, I would have thought if you truly did want to break the curse, killing the savior would be a bonus for you."
"She and I have made amends. I'll admit we've had our differences in the past but she's no longer the problem."
Gold studied her for a few moments, his unpleasant smirk returned. "Are you aware that you came tremendously close to breaking the curse a few weeks ago?"
Regina eyes widened slightly. "You mean when I–?"
"Indeed. If you had died that day, the curse would have been broken. I felt it come very close. You would have sensed it too, had you not been unconscious. Of course at the time I didn't know what was causing the curse to falter."
"Of course you didn't." Regina said bitterly, not believing him.
He only gave her a knowing smile, aware of what she was thinking but choosing not to correct her. "If you had succeeded and the curse had broken, your boy and his mother would have been safe in Boston, far from the curse's reach. Storybrooke would have been erased from existence, and they would have been none the wiser. We'd have all gone back to where we belong. However I'm afraid Miss Swan would have forgotten the past year and poor Henry's entire life would have been wiped away."
"What?" Regina asked, horrified.
"Can't remember something that never existed can you? It would seem they have much to thank your dear stepdaughter and her charming husband for."
Regina felt a chill run through her. "How do you know this?"
"Because I do."
He smiled as he watched the new information wash over the queen, always pleased whenever he succeeded to manipulate her emotions so easily.
After a few moments of pondering the 'what ifs', Regina seemed to gather her strength and train of thought back.
"Can you help me or not?" She asked short temperedly.
"As it so happens, you're in luck. I too would like to see the curse broken. I have business outside of Storybrooke that needs attending to so a trip back to our world is not something I desire. And don't bother asking because my reasons are mine."
"So you will help us to break it?"
Gold studied her for a few moments. "Are you sure this is what you truly want? You did after all, practically beg me for the privilege of casting my curse all those years ago."
Regina pursed her lips. "I need this done." She said simply, too tired to take the bait.
Gold was giving her one of those smirks that made her blood boil.
"You needn't worry your majesty. The curse will end, and not by any course of action you or I will take. I sense this will happen very soon."
Regina's interest piqued. She took a step forward. "When? And how will it be broken?"
"Eager are we?" Gold responded. "Alas, that is information I do not yet possess."
"Do you really expect me to believe that?"
"I don't know when the curse will break. But I do know that it is time for me to start preparing for when it does. We won't be going back, I'll make sure of that. But you your majesty, you especially have much to fear from the town regaining their memories. Perhaps you should consider leaving Storybrooke before it's too late."
Regina's eyes flashed. "What about you? You're the one who created the curse. I may have cast it but this whole thing is just as much your doing as it is mine. I'm sure no one will forget that."
"Oh but they will. All they'll worry about is who was responsible for sending them to this world. You didn't have to cast the curse did you? Therefore in the eyes of the people, it's your fault. It wasn't I who wiped their memories and separated them from their loved ones, that was all you."
Regina folded her arms, failing to hide the look in her eyes at the words she knew were most likely the truth.
Gold picked up a cloth and began cleaning an old sugar bowl. "You know dear, you're not looking too well at the moment. Perhaps you should go home and get some rest. You may not have much time left on this Earth, or in any world as a matter of fact. You're going to need your strength if want to have any chance once this curse breaks."
A/N: Thank you for reading, please review and let me know what you think