Chapter 3:
Dream a Little Dream With Me
Emma walked through the darkness. No matter which direction she walked, there was nothing but darkness. She had no idea if her eyes were open or closed. Either way, there was nothing but darkness. She ran haphazardly for what felt like forever, until the slightest dot of light showed up on the horizon, the only light in an eternity of darkness. She raced towards it, not knowing where it led, hoping to find answers at the end. It didn't move, only got bigger the more she ran towards it, until eventually the light began to engulf the darkness, turning the world around her grey. Eventually, the greyness turned white, and she was surrounded by light. Emma stopped for a moment to survey her new soundings, when she spotted a dark figure laying in a heap on the floor.
"Regina!" She yelled, rushing over to the woman on the ground. "Regina, get up. We need to go." Emma said, squatting down to help Regina up.
"I can't…" Regina whispered, not even lifting her head off the floor.
"What? Are you hurt? Do you need help?" Emma asked, panic in her voice.
"No. It's no use though. I can't move." Regina said again. "You should leave."
"What? No! I'm not leaving here without you, Regina." Emma whispered. "Regina, what's the matter? What's going on?" Emma asked, kneeling down in front of Regina, reaching to touch her shoulder.
"I can't go back." Regina whispered. "It hurts too much."
"What hurts? Regina?" Emma whispered. That's when she noticed the dark pieces next to Regina. "Regina? Is that…"
"My heart…" Regina whispered,
"It's broken…" Emma said, a tear falling from her eye. Regina took a deep breath and looked up at Emma for the first time.
"It broke the moment I sent you and Henry away." Regina said. She shifted slightly, subconsciously shifting slightly closer to Emma.
That's when Emma noticed one more thing. The large needle clutched in Regina's right hand.
"The sleeping curse. You did it to yourself, didn't you. You put yourself to sleep." Emma said. Regina just nodded in response. "Why did you put yourself under a sleeping curse?"
"Because it hurts too much to live in a world where the only people I have ever truly loved either died, went away or didn't love me back." Regina cried, her body shaking slightly.
"Daniel?" Emma asked, knowing full well Regina was talking about her first love.
"Daniel died in front of me, Emma. He died because he loved me." She said.
"No, Regina. Daniel died because your mother was a psycho, who was trying to project her dreams of grandeur on you. Loving you had nothing to do with how or why he died." Emma explained.
"Henry left because of me." Regina whispered.
"Henry left because you had to send him away. Because it wasn't safe for him anymore. He had to leave or he would be alone." Emma answered.
"No, Henry left because of my curse." Regina retorted.
"Henry is alive because of your curse." Emma answered, not missing a beat. "If you had never cast that curse, and if my parents had never sent me through that wardrobe when I was only minutes old, I would never have met Neal, and Henry would never have been born."
"You speak like you have a clue how I feel. You speak like you know what it feels like to watch your child walk away. To know they won't remember who you are." Regina said, anger raising in her voice.
"You think I don't know how you feel?" Emma asked, anger raising in her voice as well. "I am the only one who DOES know how you feel, Regina. Don't you think it crushed me to give Henry up when he was born? Don't you think my heart broke as they walked him out of the room, and away from me forever? Don't you think I knew he would never know who I was, never know my name? I never even held him, Regina. I gave birth to him and they took him away. I knew I was giving him up to give him his best chance, because I knew that wasn't with me. But that didn't make the whole process any easier. I do know how you feel, Regina. I know better than anyone how it feels to watch your child leave your life forever."
"I'm sorry, Emma. You're right, I'm sorry." Regina sighed.
"Henry loves you, Regina. Even if he doesn't remember you right now, he still loves you. He always has and always will. We will find a way to restore his memories of you. That is a promise I intend on keeping." Emma said, reaching for Regina's hand, gently prying the needle from her clutches. "Who is the last person you were referring to?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Regina asked, averting her eyes away from Emma.
"Say it…"
"You, Emma. The person I love is you, and you don't love me back." Regina said, a stray tear falling from her eye.
"Why do you think I don't love you?" Emma asked, sliding closer to Regina.
"I called for you. I called for you for a year and you never came."
"I couldn't. I tried every night. But Henry stopped me every time. We didn't understand why I was sleepwalking. But I'm here now." Emma said, reaching for Regina's hand again.
"No, you're not. There's no way. You're in a land without magic, and I'm in the Enchanted Forest. There's no way you are here." Regina said, sniffling. "You're a figment of my imagination."
"You're not in the Enchanted Forest anymore, Regina. You're in Storybrooke. I don't know how or why, but everyone is back in Storybrooke. And I'm there with you. I'm laying in bed next to you. Can't you feel it? I found you and kissed you, but instead of waking you up, it brought me here." Emma said, wrapping her arm around Regina's waist, as she shifted to sit closer to her. "Can you feel my arm around you? That's me, Regina. I'm with you."
"Just because you're there, doesn't mean you love me." Regina cried.
"Regina, I kissed you, and it brought me here." Emma said, trying not to chuckle.
"Once again, just because you are my True Love, doesn't mean you have to actually love me."
"I think that is exactly what that means." Emma said.
"You're just saying that to make me wake up." Regina said, her gaze focusing on the ground again.
"Do I need to kiss you again to prove it?" Emma said, chuckling.
"Anyone can kiss me, Emma. Doesn't mean they are in love with me. If you really loved me, you would have said something. You are never shy of telling people exactly how you're feeling"
"We didn't exactly get off on the right foot when we met, Regina." Emma chuckled again. "Plus, I don't recall you confessing your undying love to me either."
"Love is weakness. I couldn't give you ammunition to use against me." Regina said. "Besides, how could anyone possibly love me? I'm The Evil Queen. And villains don't get happy endings, remember."
"I don't believe that. I don't believe you're Evil, not even in the slightest. And for the record, you were never The Evil Queen to me. To me, you've always just been Regina. And it's Regina that I fell in love with the moment I met her." Emma said, reaching for Regina's hand, not missing the lack of belief still on Regina's face. "Regina, how can I prove to you that I love you?" Emma asked.
"You can't prove what doesn't exist." Regina said, more tears falling from her eyes.
"I have an idea." Emma said, glancing at the broken pieces of Regina's heart laying on the floor beside them. Slowly, she reached inside her own chest, grabbing her heart and pulling it out quickly, the feeling of having your heart ripped from your chest is never a comfortable feeling.
"Emma, what are you doing?" Regina asked, as she saw the bright red glowing organ in Emma's hand.
"Shut up." Emma said, swiftly pushing her heart deep into Regina's chest, before she could protest the action.
Regina's eyes shot open immediately, as she struggled to breathe. Tears streamed from her eyes, as she stared at Emma, their eyes locked together.
"Emma…" She whispered, reaching out to grab her.
"I told you." Emma whispered, pulling Regina into her arms. "You wouldn't listen."
"I can feel it... I can feel all of it…" Regina whispered.
"Now will you believe me when I say, I Love You?" Regina nodded. "I love you, Regina. I've always loved you. Why do you think the first thing I said to you was "hi"? I forgot how to speak when I met you. You literally took my breath away." Emma laughed.
"I love you too, Emma." was all Regina could manage to say.
"Before we go, we need to do something about that." Emma smiled, pointing at the pieces of Regina's broken heart.
"I'm afraid it might be too late." Regina cried.
"It's never too late." Emma said, gently picking up the pieces of Regina's heart.
She cradled the pieces in her hands and softly held them to her chest, her eyes softly closing as she concentrated all her energy onto the precious organ in her hands. Regina watched with awe as a bright light radiated from Emma's hand, surrounding her broken heart, slowly healing every wound. When the light finally faded, Regina's heart was whole again, although it remained dark, without so much as a flicker of light.
"See, I told you. It's too late for me." Regina whispered, her eyes filling with tears again.
"Will you give me a few more seconds? I'm not done yet." Emma smiled.
She slowly lowered her head and pressed her lips softly against Regina's still heart. A small flash of rainbow light shot out, igniting the once broken and darkened heart. Regina's heart flickered red, only a few small strands of darkness remaining, swirling around the bright red.
"See. Told you. It's never too late." Emma smiled, as they both stared at the pulsing heart still held gently in her hands.
"It's supposed to be black. Why isn't it black?" Regina asked, still in awe.
"True Love can do more than just wake someone up apparently." Emma said, raising Regina's heart to her chest, pressing it quickly into the pocket where her own heart belonged.
"Emma, what are you doing?" Regina asked, reaching out to stop her, as she watched Emma press her heart into her chest.
"I'm going to hold onto this for a while. Keep it safe." Emma chuckled.
"Emma…I…" Regina started to say, unable to find the words.
"It's ok. I know how you feel. I can feel it too." Emma smiled. "Now, I think it's about time we wake you up for good, what do you say?" Emma asked, pulling Regina to stand.
"That sounds like a wonderful idea."
"Promise me that you'll wake up when I kiss you this time." Emma said, wrapping her arms around Regina's neck, pulling her closer.
"I promise." Regina smiled.
"I'll see you soon." Emma smiled, gently cupping Regina's face. She pressed her lips against Regina's, causing the world around them to fade away suddenly.
As soon as my memories came back, I insisted on moving back home, not caring who would be around to look after me. Eventually my grandparents agreed to move in with me so I could be close to my mothers, and they can be close to their daughter. Their only condition was that I would return to school, knowing both of my mothers wouldn't want my education compromised because of this. Every day when I got home from school, I went straight into their room, where I would spend the remainder of the day. I never left their side for longer than a few minutes when I was home, hoping and praying that they would magically wake up. I even tried to kiss each of their foreheads numerous times to try to wake them up the same way Emma had woken me. But each time it was met with nothing.
One night, after I had settled in at the foot of the bed ready to go to sleep, a sudden bright flash of light startled me, knocking me clean off the bed and onto the floor with a loud thump. I looked over with just enough time to see Emma wake up suddenly, taking a large and deep breath.
"Mom?" I asked, unsure I was actually seeing one of my mothers awake, or if I had fallen asleep and was already dreaming. She ignored me as if she didn't hear me, instead she leaned over Regina, gently cupping her face.
"It's time to finally wake up, my Queen." She whispered, before softly pressing her lips against Regina's.
Tears filled my eyes as I watched the now familiar burst of rainbow magic explode from my mother's lips. True Love's Kiss really is an amazing sight.
Regina woke up suddenly, moving for the first time in over a year.
"Thank you for waking up this time." Emma whispered, gently stroking Regina's hair.
"I promised you that I would." Regina whispered, leaning in for one more kiss, before I interrupted their moment.
"MOM!" I screamed.
"Hey, Kid. Listen, I can explain all of this…" Emma started to say, once again interrupted by me.
"Not you." I said, pointing to Regina, who was slowly beginning to sit up. "MOM!" I screamed, rushing over to Regina, hugging my mom for the first time since we left Storybrooke over a year ago. "Mommy! I missed you so much!"
"Henry? You remember me?" Regina asked, hugging me tight, tears rushing down her face.
"Yeah. Emma's first True Love's Kiss broke whatever spell you cast on me. I remember everything." I said, clinging to her shirt. "What happened to you guys?" I asked, finally pulling away from Regina's arms.
"That, Kid, is an even longer story." Emma said, gazing deep into Regina's eyes.
A/N: Only one more chapter let. I really hope you guys have been enjoying this! Let me know what you guys think!
