A/N- So I know I said this was supposed to be a One Shot, but I managed to gather so many followers and favorites for it that I decided to make it into something to keep me occupied when I feel like writing SwanQueen. To clear any unsettled thoughts up, I know about the whole gender thing between Daniel and Emma, and that it could be weird seeing Emma as a reincarnate. However, there are many theories that follow this speculation, and I just so happen to be a believer of them. I am also a believer in past lives, and therefore I also know that there are moments in reincarnation where gender is not something that stays the same. Enjoy!
It was the first time he had ever seen her cry, and that's when he knew he would do anything to keep the tears from falling.
"I don't want her life!" She repeated for the second time that day, the young eighteen year old sobbed into her hands.
"I want a life of my own! I want a life with you...I'd give anything up for it. Power does not matter to me."
"Regina..."
His voice was calm, comforting as his arm snaked around her shoulder to pull the woman he loved closer. "Life...With a stable boy..With me..it's...it's far from life as queen."
"I don't care..." She quickly stood up, walking towards one of the horses, her back turned towards him.
After a moment of thought, a smile erupted upon her features as she faced her love once more.
His heart leaped in his chest as her worry and sadness quickly turned to joy.
"What is it?"
"Daniel...do you love me?" She grabbed his hands and gazed into his eyes with an intense stare he couldn't stray away from.
"Yes, I love you. More than the earth, the sun, the stars. Do you even have to ask that?"
"Then...Let's get married. Let's run away, leave this all behind. Leave this life and its rules in ruins. Marry me..."
Shock overcame his features, but was soon replaced by a gentle smile.
"I...I had planned...Had wanted to ask for so long...I held this with me, until I had the courage to ask you. But I would be delighted to marry you."
Reaching into his pocket to pull out a ring, he placed it on her finger, and they embraced, sharing True Love's kiss.
"W...What?!" Emma Swan had quickly sat up in bed, her heart pounding in her heaving chest, eyes glancing at the clock on the wall behind her.
The guest bed she had been sleeping on was drenched in sweat.
"Miss Swan?"
The voice rang through her ears, prompting her to switch from a nervous wreck to a somewhat more serene sense.
The door was slightly ajar, and peeking her head in was none other than Madame Mayor, who had been asleep a few doors down.
"Are you all right, dear?"
"I'm fine, Regina. And it's Emma, remember?" But her body betrayed her, her still form shaking from the memories flooding themselves through her dreams.
"What happened?" The brunette walked into the room, sitting at the edge of her guest's bed.
"I...I guess I just...I had a dream. It wasn't a nightmare, but..."
"You had a vision? Like the ones you told me Ruby used to have?"
"Yes...Only this time..."
"It was about Daniel?"
"And you..."
Regina's gaze quickly fell, staring at the floor in despondency; but a hand placed atop her own helped ease the somber mood.
"Oh? And...What was I doing there, in your dreams?"
"You...You begged him to leave...That your mother was...I guess she was trying to control you, wasn't she?"
"Yes. I remember it all too well. You see them because it's a part of you that has yet to fully come back...I see them...Well, they're nightmares more than anything else."
"I have some memories of what happened to my past self, but...things are still a little foggy."
Silence fell between them, until the blonde spoke up.
"Are you happy? I mean...You know, that I came back to you?"
"I am. But it's difficult. I've lived...It seems like forever without you. And here you are. You're Emma Swan. You're the woman that I thought cursed my life. But you're really..."
"No...I'm still me, I guess. I had always wondered how people like my parents, or Ruby, felt when they retained their memories. They were always them, you know, but they were someone else too. I have his memories, but...my soul is..Well, partially mine. My heart...or whatever is left of it, that's mine too."
Regina grasped the woman's hands, sensing an inner turmoil; for the blonde to find out who she really was for the second time in her life.
"Listen to me. I would never treat you any differently just because who you used to be is...Well, someone that I would've died for. But know that I waited, every day wondering if you would come back. How you would come back...I was lost without you..."
Emma leaned over, placing a soft kiss to Regina's cheek.
"And I, you."
But in that instant, Regina turned her head so that their lips brushed together in a kiss neither one of them could forget.
It was filled with passion, and warmth, something that had been missing from the brunette's life since she had lost the one person in the world who truly loved her.
"Regina..." Emma pulled away from the kiss, a sullen look still in her eyes.
"Yes, dear? What is it?"
"Can you promise me something?" The whisper in her voice made the brunette shudder, placing a hand atop the blonde's own.
"Anything."
"Don't...Don't do this unless you...Unless you're sure you want to be with me...With the Sheriff, with Emma Swan. I don't know how to explain who I really am...But...Just like I didn't fall in love with the Evil Queen..."
"...you don't want me to fall in love with the side of you I lost long ago..." The sentence finished from the older woman's lips caused her younger lover to nod.
"Yeah..." She felt it, rejection in her veins, pouring through her very core.
"Do you remember what happened yesterday?"
"How could I forget...I mean...It's when I started to remember everything."
"Yes, but why?"
The blonde raised a questionable eyebrow, but Regina urged her to answer the question. "Because we kissed."
"Right, and I didn't know anything about your lost memories until after we kissed, now did I?"
"No, you're right, you didn't. So what's the point?"
"The point, Emma, is that I fell for you before I found out this other side existed within you. So...I won't treat you any differently."
When confirmation of her feelings was finally played out to the blonde, Emma felt a bit better, and it enabled her to relax.
"I um...I'm not really sure if I'm going to wake up like this from another dream.."
"So what do you propose we do, Miss Swan?"
Rolling her eyes, the woman raised a finger to correct the former Evil Queen.
"Emma, remember? And...Maybe...you could stay here? With me?"
"All right, Emma. But stop being such a bed hog and scoot over. You're as thin as a damn rail and yet you need to take up the whole bed? I think not."
"Whatever you say, Regina..." The blonde moved to the other side of the mattress, a smile grazing across her lips.
"Whatever you say..."
They had agreed that only a few people would know of Emma's new-found identity.
So when her wide-eyed best friend stared at her from across the bar, she knew the woman with the red streaks in her hair could be trusted, as long as a threat was involved.
"Really? You're going to use that against me? Tell Belle all my dirty little secrets? C'mon Lemur, you can't be serious."
"But I am, Ruby. This is really...It's...It's huge! I mean, if that many people knew what I'm about to tell you, I'd be dead. There are people out there who want me killed, I don't need to give them another excuse to come after me."
"Fine, fine!" The waitress nodded. "I promise, not a word. So what's up? I mean, besides what's going on between you and Madame Mayor. That's a given right there."
"Ruby!" the blonde's face reddened and she turned away for a second, not denying nor confirming the woman's statement.
"I...You do know how she became who she really is, right?"
"I've heard about it. The stable boy. Snow mentioned him once...Cora killed him."
"Well...maybe his heart, but...his soul is a different story."
A pause in the air between the two of them caused the waitress to raise an eyebrow.
"Wait a minute...You can't be?"
She nodded her head, a crooked smile adorning her features.
"In the flesh."
"So...is that why you and Regina are..?"
"No! We kissed, and then these flashbacks I didn't even know I had came flooding back. It's weird, because I always wondered how you, my parents, hell even the whole damn town felt when they managed to have their memories come back to them. It's strange, because I have memories of him...yet there are still things that are blank."
"It's going to happen, you know. Because I was Red, then some crazy girl named Ruby. It was all fake. I don't think this is fake for you. I think it was buried there all this time, and you just needed a reason for it to come out. The kiss might've been that. Why would Regina kiss you out of the blue?"
"Because I took care of her...Maybe she was trying to show her gratitude?" Emma shrugged, but Ruby shook her head.
"Naw, she's not like that. Maybe...Maybe she really does care, eh, Lemur?"
When she didn't hear a response from Emma, her gaze ripped away from the counter top to glance at her friend.
But sitting there in shock, holding her shaking form, was Emma.
A whimpering sound escaped her lips as she fell to her knees, another flashback playing in her minds eye.
"Emma!" the wolf called, still unable to get through to the woman. She quickly picked up the phone and dialed Regina, telling the Mayor what was happening, instructing her to arrive at the Diner as quickly as possible.
When a cloud of purple smoke appeared around Emma's form, Regina held the woman tightly, staring at Ruby.
"What the hell did you do to her? And everyone accuses me of poisoning people..."
"Look, Madame Mayor, I didn't poison anyone! Emma was telling me about...Her new found discoveries regarding herself, and when I looked up she was like this! So spare me the bitchy attitude!"
Regina nodded, grumbling something that sounded like mock apology, her attention now fully on the blonde.
"She's having another vision. We have to calm her until it passes..."
"Emma, it's me...Regina...Can you hear me? It's..."
"Regina?"
The brunette turned around, her gaze curiously wandering to the recognized voice that called her name.
A figure stood next to the elder man, someone she had never seen before.
"Yes, father? I'm right here. I'm just grooming Rocinante. Don't want his coat to become dirty. You know how mother feels about that."
"I know, and that's why I've hired some help around the stables. This is Daniel, he's agreed to work around here for the time being. And for a hefty pay, wouldn't you agree boy?"
The young man chuckled, and with a shake of his head quickly dropped his gaze to the floor.
It was inappropriate for some dirty commoner to gaze upon such beauty as the young woman before him.
"Sir, I do not demand a price from you, and will be satisfied with what you give me. Though I do guarantee work like you've yet to feast your eyes on."
"Wonderful! Well, I must be going. I thought it would be wise for me to show you around your place of work. If there is anything else you need, be wise to call upon the garden hands. They will show you as to where everything is kept."
And with that, Prince Henry walked away, leaving the boy to his assignments. He had never mentioned this to his daughter, but the sight of the two of them together had given him hope for the girl's future.
"This is a beautiful steed. You must be an experienced rider?" Daniel's voice broke the lingering silence, but the young woman before him continued to stay quiet.
The more he glanced at her, the more he noticed how quiet she seemed to stay.
"Are you all right M'lady?"
"M...Mother always said to keep quiet around the common folk," Regina softly muttered, and the young man was taken aback for a moment.
"Well I'm not just common folk. I work here now. So maybe your mother will make an exception for me?"
"Mother makes an exception for no one."
He didn't know if she were kidding, or being serious, but the strictness of her tone made the stable boy back away for a moment.
Regina noticed how once again, someone in her life managed to nearly run from her; whether it were fear or unkindness she did not know.
"I'm sorry. I do not wish to be like Mother, but...Her ideas, the things she instills upon me. It's very frightening."
"That's all right. I am no threat to you. What's the harm in being friends?" He asked, and a tiny grin made its way to the young woman's lips.
"I suppose. My name is Regina."
"Very nice to meet you, M'lady. You may call me Daniel."
Emma started groaning softly, coming back to reality.
Everything seemed to be all right...
Until Ruby came back with an ice bucket filled with water.
"Back away, Regina, this is gonna get messy." She dumped the bucked atop her friend, only to hear the screams of a very shocked Emma and an extremely infuriated Granny.
"Ruby Lucas, what the hell were you thinking? Is there a damn brain up there in that thing you call a skull?! Look at my floors!"
"I'll mop it later, Granny! Emma was practically in a coma just now!"
The blonde spit and sputtered, her eyes opening as she realized how bad her drenched form really was.
"Why?!" She stared up at the waitress, then at Regina, pleading to be taken away.
Not a moment later, they vanished out of the Diner, back into the Mayor's home.