Okay guys as much as I love you I can't do several parts for every chapter. The point is to have individual days; I just sometimes have to make exceptions when the days get too long. I've gotten a lot of requests to make different parts for chapters and I can't.

Anyway, enjoy today's chapter!

Regina pulled off onto the side of the road, parking her car where no one was likely to see it. The goal was to be far enough away from the town that no one would be able to find her. Then again, no one was likely to come searching.

She hadn't been entirely honest with Zelena and Robin. She knew how to get rid of the barrier around the town. But it wasn't wise to let them leave. Someone needed to keep an eye on them.

Just by looking at them she knew that they were good together. They both had the darkness in them that she had chosen to get rid of. Robin had chosen to move out of her house and move in with Zelena, who was more than happy to take him in. Regina didn't find that hard to believe.

It wasn't that she had feelings for Robin anymore. She had been saddened by his death not because she loved him but because he had died not knowing how she had really felt. He had died for a woman who didn't love him back.

It was this realization that had led Regina to take in the current Robin. But he clearly didn't need her help. No one did.

Emma could continue raising Henry on her own. Emma was his biological mother anyway, and they had a better connection. No one would care if Regina left town. They would probably rejoice. Plus if she left the town, the Evil Queen could possibly be powerless. Without her other half having magic, the Evil Queen's supply would be gone.

Regina pulled the bottle out of her pocket containing the correct serum to create a hole in the barrier. As soon as she stepped through it would close behind her, sealing her fate. Popping the cork out of the top of the bottle, Regina poured a drip onto the town line. The barrier hissed and created a perfect hole for Regina to walk through.

"Regina!" Emma called. She ran to where Regina stood and grabbed her arm. "What are you doing?"

"Leaving," Regina said. "It's better this way."

"Says who?" Emma asked. She tried unsuccessfully to pull Regina away from the town line. "You don't need to do that. Henry needs you. I need you."

"You have a family of your own and Henry has you," Regina said, pulling out of Emma's grasp. "There is no reason to stay."

"Normally I'm the one running and you're the one catching me," Emma teased. "Guess we're switching roles."

"In which case, this is when I leave," Regina said.

"Please," Emma pleaded. "Don't go. You can't leave, not with your evil twin running around town."

"Once I leave, her powers should go away," Regina said. "It's a good thing that I'm leaving."

"But at what cost?" Emma asked. "Henry will lose his other mother. I don't know him as well as you do. He needs both of us, not just me. We both know that if you leave he will destroy himself trying to go after you."

Regina looked down at her feet. "I'm leaving to protect him."

"You can protect him and still stay here," Emma said. "You have magic."

"I'm not strong enough to face her," Regina said. "She knows everything about me, including my insecurities and weaknesses."

"Then you don't face her alone," Emma said. "We can do this. We've defeated her once before together and gotten out of that mirror realm. We're stronger together, Regina, and that means that I need you to stay. Please."

Regina turned and looked longingly out of the hole in the barrier. This was a chance for her to start over. To be looked at as someone who hadn't caused an evil being to bring chaos to the town. She knew they blamed her for it.

"I can't start over here," Regina said quietly. "I need to be someplace where no one knows who I am or what I've done."

"You can start over here," Emma said. "If we defeat the Evil Queen, you'll be seen as a hero. No one will look at you as that evil person, but rather someone who saved the town."

"I will always be the Evil Queen to them," Regina said sadly. "No matter what I do, chaos and destruction follow me. Perhaps by leaving, I'm saving the town from that."

"Chaos and destruction are a part of life," Emma said. "That isn't your fault."

Regina shrugged. "Maybe not. But that doesn't make it any easier."

"If life was easy, we wouldn't be where we are now," Emma said. "We've learned so much from everything that we've been through. Whether you like it or not, we're a team. And team members don't let their other members quit."

Before Regina could do anything, Emma secured one handcuff around her wrist and another around Regina's. "There. Now you're stuck with me."

Regina jiggled the handcuff. "You can't be serious."

"Dead serious," Emma said. "I know that only one person can go through that hole, and it looks like you're stuck to me. Guess you can't leave."

Regina glared at Emma. "That's cheating."

"Also a part of life," Emma said. "I'm doing it for your own good. I know you. My mom told me how you wanted to rip your heart out to get rid of the pain of missing Henry after the second curse. Believe me, I would have wanted to do the same."

Regina sighed. "You're right. And I know you're right. But-"

"But nothing," Emma interrupted. "You really have no choice now." She held up her arm that was cuffed to Regina's to emphasize her point.

Regina chuckled. "I suppose I don't. But I do have a question. Why do you care so much if I leave or stay?"

Emma shrugged. "I need you as much as Henry does. I couldn't just let you run off thinking that no one cares about you, because we do. I do."

"You do?" Regina asked.

"I wouldn't have handcuffed you to me if I didn't," Emma said.

"Speaking of that, are you going to take this off?" Regina asked.

Emma shook her head. "Not until that barrier closes."

"It won't close until something goes through it," Regina said.

Emma bent down and grabbed a rock off of the street and threw it through the hole. Within a few seconds, the barrier snapped closed.

After Emma had tested the barrier to make sure that it was still up, she unlocked the cuffs to set Regina free. Regina chuckled as Emma put the cuffs back on her belt. "Those finally came in handy."

"Not my fault that no one is trying to get arrested," Emma pouted.

Regina laughed. "No, you just have to save mayors from leaving the town."

Emma smiled. "I could think of worse jobs to do."