Surprise! Here's another update because I love you all! Please send feedback, stay safe, and I hope you enjoy!

The details in this fic are not accurate to canon, so if something is wrong, I don't need it pointed out. This is merely a fanfic that is almost a complete AU of the actual story. Thank you!

Enchanted Forest

Sixth month of the curse

After her thorough, extensive research, Regina finally had a lead in getting back to Storybrooke, but our next expedition was to find the Good Queen and learn how to stop Zelena. We were in the middle of packing our bags to leave tomorrow. It would be a three day trip, but I had wanted to pack extra, just in case.

"You know, today is our sixth month anniversary," I said conversationally.

"You kept track of that?"

"Of course I do. Why wouldn't I?"

"Because it's not that important?" She supplied.

"It's important to me."

"Not to me," she muttered. I frowned at my bag.

"Fine then. Forget I said anything." I continued packing my bag and felt the air shift.

"I'm sorry," she said from behind me. I grunted in response and folded my nightgowns.

"I need to grab extra socks," I muttered.

"Snow, wait. I didn't mean to-" I dropped my nightgown into my bag, lifted it over my shoulder, and strode out of the room, cutting her off by closing the door. I returned to my own chambers and finished packing by myself.

Had I known she didn't care about our anniversary, I wouldn't have ordered a bouquet of roses and hired a chocolatier to make her homemade dark chocolates. I bit my lip and collapsed onto my bed, where I found a light blanket to cover myself with. I nearly nodded off when urgent knocking at the door woke me up.

"What?" I demanded grumpily. My voice was slightly hoarse.

"Snow?"

"I'm busy, Regina. I'll talk to you later."

"Snow, I-"

"Are you finished bothering me? I said I'm busy." The knocking stopped. My own words shocked me as they left my mouth, but I didn't want to see Regina at the moment. I suddenly remembered that I needed to finish packing and getting ready, so I leapt off the bed and went through my mental list of things to pack.

Guilt ate at me. I never should've talked to Regina like that. She doesn't deserve it for just voicing her opinion, an opinion that I disagree with.

When I finished with my bag, I opened the door to leave it outside for the servants to load into the carriage. When I opened the door, a head of ebony hair fell against my calves.

"Snow." Regina looked at me with warm, brown eyes and smiled shyly at me. I bit my lip.

"Regina. What are you doing?"

"I'm waiting for you."

"Why would you do that? I was being a bitch to you."

"That's what you think? Because I'm pretty sure I'm the one who's in the wrong."

"No, you aren't." I looked down both sides of the hallway, then back down to Regina, who was still sitting on the floor. "Can you leave, please? I'm tired. If you want to talk, then we'll do it in the morning."

"I can't sleep without you with me," Regina blurted. "The bed feels to empty and cold without you. Please." I squinted my eyes, then opened the door for her. I'm too tired to reject her.

She smiled and climbed back up off the floor to engulf me in a hug.

"I'm sorry I upset you. What can I do to make it up to you?"

"Please, I'm too tired to talk about this, just forget it ever happened."

"I don't want to, because I did something wrong and I need to be either punished for it or I need to make it up to you. Which is it?"

"Regina, I'm tired. Please. Stop." Her face fell, but she nodded and walked across the room to crawl under my covers. She looked so tiny, engulfed by blankets and curling in on herself. I crawled back in with her. I couldn't see her face, but I heard a small sniffle.

"Baby, come here," I whispered. She curled up into a tighter ball. I went to her instead, wrapping an arm around her waist and kissing her shoulder.

"I don't know how to do this," she murmured.

"Do what?"

"Love. Being in a relationship. I don't know what to do."

"Hey, that's okay. I'm here." She turned in my arms and buried her face in the crook of my neck.

"I don't know how to love," she breathed into my skin.

"You don't have to worry about anything. It's okay if you don't. I can do enough loving for the both of us." Regina laughed wetly.

"That's not how it works."

"Yes it is. I love you."

"I-"

"You don't have to say it back. Just know that I love you." She whimpered into the cloth of my nightgown and wrapped her arms around me tighter.

"I love you too. I really do. And I want to do this. I...don't know how." I grinned.

"Like I said, that's okay. I know you love me. You just relax." Regina sniffled and removed her head from my shoulder to face me. Her eyes were watery and her complexion was rosy, but her grin was bright.

"I don't deserve you or your love."

"Of course you do. You always do. You deserve everything good in this world, and I will try and give it all." She cupped my cheeks gently.

"I love you."

"I love you too. Now we should get some sleep if we're going to find Glenda tomorrow."

"Okay. I love you." I laughed and kissed the top of her head.

"I know, honey. Now sleep." She nodded against my chest and I watched as her breathing evened out. I didn't fall asleep for another thirty minutes, but I watched as Regina's breath evened out and the worry that constantly adorned her face disappeared. I couldn't possibly love this woman any more than I do now. I grinned to myself and wondered how I got so lucky with her.

Beginning of the ninth month of the curse

We were so close to casting the curse. So close to getting home to Emma and Henry, so close to indoor plumbing and modern music and cars. I was excited, but nervous.

We were in a council meeting, discussing how this was all going to work. The dwarves were talking amongst themselves, debating whether or not Regina should be trusted with another curse. We quickly used Henry to convince the dwarves that Regina had only good intentions with the curse, if they couldn't realize she was better than The Evil Queen. Now we needed to decide who should be the one to cast the curse.

We ruled out the people who couldn't cast it, for they don't have a true love, which left only the royals, excluding David, and Geppetto, but we knew we would never force him to sacrifice Pinocchio. I already knew, by the way everyone was looking around the room, that I would be the one to cast this curse. After the council meeting, where it was made official that I would cast the curse, Regina and I met in the parlour

"It's not fair," I cried. "I can't lose you and Henry can't lose you. There's has to be another way."

"Snow, we need to do this."

"It's not fair. We've barely been together and now this, I–" my voice trailed off and Regina regarded me sadly.

"I know it's not fair, but we need to do this. For the good of the kingdom."

"I don't care about the kingdom anymore, I care about you. There had to be some other way."

"Honey, if I knew about another way, I would suggest it, but there isn't." I looked to Regina desperately, but there was nothing but resignation and sadness. "You know we have to do this, no matter how much it hurts. You need to be with Emma."

"But I need to be with you too! and Henry needs you. He's an optimistic kid, Regina, but this will crush him."

"I know. I hate myself for having to do this and leave him, but we have–"

"–stop saying we have to do this. I can't lose you, Gina."

"You would've had to let me go at some point, Snow."

"It's too early to let you go."

"That may be so, but at least we had our shot. You have been the best thing that happened to me during this curse, but it seems like we've reached the end."

"I don't want it to end."

"I don't either." A silence fell over us before I realized we had a second option.

"Why don't you cast the curse? Be with Henry."

"What? No. Everyone decided it was to be you who cast it. I'd do many things for Henry, but...not this. Not if you can cast it instead. He would never forgive me for killing you and I couldn't forgive myself."

"And you think I can forgive myself if I killed you?"

"I didn't mean it like that, it's just–"

"–I know." I stared at my feet, but Regina tilted my chin up to see my face.

"I will spend every second with you until we cast the curse."

"Good. If not, I would force you to." Regina grinned.

"I don't doubt that." She consumed me in a warm, crushing hug as we began making the most of the time we have left.

"David said we would cast the curse in two days, to give me time to gather ingredients," Regina mumbled into my shoulder.

"I know."

"Can we just...stay here? Forever?"

"I'd like that, but I'm not sure you or I could freeze time." Regina chuckled and let me go, still keeping a hold on my hand. "What if we held a feast before we cast the curse?"

"Why would we do that?" She genuinely sounded like she didn't know why.

"To celebrate your life and all you've done for the kingdom, of course."

"I don't know about that..."

"Why not?"

"I don't deserve it. AMD if I did deserve it, I would just want to spend it with you. I don't want anyone else but you with me."

"I think we can arrange that," I smirked giddily.

"But you're forgetting the part where I don't deserve that."

"That's untrue." She simply raised an eyebrow. "I know you, Gina. You deserve everything in this entire world, and if we had the time, I would spend the rest of my life showing you." She smiled sadly.

"You can believe whatever you want, then. I still don't deserve it." I frowned.

"Stop talking like this. I will be the judge of whether you deserve something or not." Regina looked down timidly and nodded. "Let's go do something."

"How about find the ingredients for your curse?"

"As long as you're with me." She grinned and pulled me to her by our attached hands. "Then let's go."

"I can't do this."

"Snow, we're too far gone to turn back now."

"No. I can't do it. I refuse."

"This is the only way you'll be able to see Emma again."

"Henry will be inconsolable."

"At least I did it for the good of the kingdom." Tears lined my eyes and Regina was looking at me with beautiful, chestnut eyes that were soon to be cold and distant.

The mix of ingredients and potions in the, very traditional-looking, cauldron swirled around in a twister of greens and purples.

"Snow. My heart is the last ingredient." I bit my lip to stop the tears and nodded. I turned around as I heard her plunges hand into her own chest and retrieve her heart. I turned back around and saw her hand extended out to me, holding her heart in her palm. "You have to take it."

"I know. I don't want to though." She nodded and watched me take it. Seeing her beating heart, knowing I needed to crush it, broke my dam. Tears flowed down my cheeks and some landed directly on her heart. I looked back up to see her crying too.

"Tell Emma that I didn't really think she was an idiot. She is intelligent and capable of raising our son. Make sure she's feeding him properly, though."

"Gina, you don't have to—"

"—Tell Henry that I had to do this. Tell him I love him and that I wished I could've done more for him. He has been the light of my life and I have him to thank for making me want to be good." I cried harder and barely stopped a whimper at the back of my throat."

"Snow, I love you. I didn't expect to, but I have never loved a human being, romantically, like I have loved you. I want you to get over me when I'm gone. Find someone who will make you happy because I won't be able to. If I could, I would give everything I could offer." She placed a hand on my cheek and sniffed. "You will forever be my Snowflake." She smiled brightly as I looked down at my palm. "Let me go," she whispered.

I pulled her down to me and kissed her, hoping she could tell how much I loved her in that single kiss."

"I love you."

"I love you too. Never forget me."

"Never." I squeezed my hand and watched her face contort in pain. I pushed through the tears and squeezed until there was no longer a solid object in my hand. She collapsed to the floor and I ran to the cauldron, emptied her ashes into the cauldron, and ran back to her.

I sat down and pulled her into my lap, brushing her hair away from her eyes.

"Blue! I need you!" Pieces of glitter seemed to rain down before Blue appeared, frowning.

"What is it? The curse is cast."

"I need you to rip out my heart and tear it into two pieces."

"Snow, that'll kill you."

"Do it. I can share my heart with her. Please."

"It might not work."

"I want to try." She thought it over for a minute, then nodded. She reached into me and tugged my heart from its spot between my ribs and I gasped. She took a deep breath before tugging at the two ends and split it down the middle. I groaned and clenched my teeth at the painful sensation, but she conceded and handed me the two pieces. I shoved the first back into my chest and held the second over Regina."

"Please, let it work. Bring my Gina back." I exhaled sharply and pressed it into her. A beat passed and I gave up hope. I sobbed harder and cradled her head into my lap.

A sharp gasp pulled my attention from Gina and the smoke to Blue. She wasn't the source of the gasp and was flying midair, frozen.

I looked back at Gina and saw her warm eyes fill me with light.

"Hi, Snowflake." She grinned and I felt a bubble of happiness burst inside me.

"It worked! You're alive."

"I sure am. Now let's get this show on the road." She smirked at me and I gleefully kissed her several times on her plump lips.