Author's Note: Making it to the home stretch everyone. Hope you've been enjoying it thus far. Things start to get really dicey and tense from here on out. :-) Enjoy it!


Chapter 14

-.-.-.-.-.-

Mary Margaret slipped quietly out of the room she was sharing with Charming. He tried to follow after her but she insisted that she go on this walk alone. She needed to stretch out her tired muscles. Parts of her body were beginning to ache in a way she feared meant the baby would be coming sooner than anyone would like. They were safe from the monkeys and the wicked witch here on the convent grounds. The fairies had erected a protection spell that left all those beneath it protected from the horrors of their fate.

Mary Margaret walked slowly through the gardens on the grounds. They looked so similar to the gardens in Regina's castle. She had taken to walking through the gardens at night back in the Enchanted Forest in the last year. Many of those nights she came across Regina sitting beneath her apple tree staring off into the darkness of the night sky. Mary Margaret would sometimes stay and watch Regina contemplate the inner musings of her mind. Other nights she would walk away and leave the older woman to her thoughts. And still some nights she would sit beside Regina and speak of the dreams they each had of returning to this very world so they could be reunited with their child.

They had become close in the year they spent in the Enchanted Forest. Regina had put her life on the line many times during the witch's attacks to protect those who could not protect themselves and Mary Margaret watched as the Evil Queen became a protector, a knight for those who needed it most.

Many times in the last year Mary Margaret had thought of how she could finally tell Henry that his mother was a hero. That there was no doubt in anyone's mind how very much Regina loved Henry and had come to love them all as well.

Finding a bench within the garden, Mary Margret took a seat and looked up at the stars.

She closed her eyes for a moment and allowed the peace of the green growth around her to calm her. The scent of flowers and herbs and spices growing around her.

Behind her the sound of a breaking twig sounded through the night. Her eyes snapped open as she turned towards the sound. The hairs on the back of her head standing on edge as she saw a shadowed figure coming out from the shadows.

It was the small cylinder gun barrel that kept Snow very, very still as green eyes familiar to her own came into view.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

It was just as dawn was breaking over the horizon that Regina opened her eyes. She was surprised to find herself pinned down onto her couch by Emma's weight. The tickle of Emma's hair ghosted across her bare shoulder and cheek.

Her body ached in a formally familiar way. It had been quite a while since she had found herself in this type of position. And if there weren't pressing matters that required their immediate attention, Regina might have found herself inclined to stay with Emma like this for hours to come. But they hadn't the time. Their son was in need of rescue, again, and they had Snow and her unborn child to worry about.

"Ms. Swan." Regina didn't wish to wake Emma at all. Not when she knew that it had been so very long since Emma had a good night's sleep. "Ms. Swan you need to wake up." Regina tried once again. This time Emma responded by wrapping herself more securely around her and nuzzling unconsciously into her shoulder. "Emma…now is not the time to snuggle. We have to save Henry."

"Heard you the first time." Emma mumbled against Regina's neck. The touch of her lips and the caress of her breath caused Regina to shiver.

"Then why…"

"Waited for you to say my name. I knew you couldn't have forgotten it already." After all, Regina had been moaning it quite a lot last night.

Regina glared and poked Emma in the ribs, hard, causing the blonde to spaz atop Regina, entangling them more intimately together. Emma's leg fell between Regina's more securely as she flayed about and instead of leaning most of her weight on the right side of Regina's body and the couch, she was now more completely atop the former Queen.

"This isn't the time for games, Ms." Regina sighed as she caught sight of Emma's frown. "Emma. We have to save Henry."

"Again." Emma added. They had to save Henry, again. "I think it's time that we put that kid in a bubble. Or lock him in a tower somewhere."

"Let me rephrase. Now isn't the time for games or jokes. Not while our son is in the hands of a psychopathic witch."

Emma sighed, she knew this wasn't the time for games or jokes, but she wasn't sure how to handle the position she found herself in—literally. Was she just meant to get up and get dressed as if she hadn't spent the last few hours of the night wrapped around Regina's naked body? Or maybe she was supposed to pretend that Regina hadn't confessed to loving her last night and a part of her wanted, no, needed to know if she'd truly meant it.

"I'll just grab my stuff." Emma rolled off the couch as unobtrusively as she could and went in search of finding her clothes. Most had been tossed off in unseen directions last night without a care. Now as she was stuck bending over awkwardly to grab her pants and find her bra, Emma kind of wished she'd kept better track of where her clothes had been thrown. She slipped into her pants and zipped them up, trying not to blush under Regina's obvious scrutiny from where she sat upon the couch, the throw blanket they'd shared wrapped snuggly around her.

The sound of the door breaking down startled Emma.

It put both women on edge as they prepared to defend themselves against whomever came through that door.

What neither of them really expected was to suddenly see Charming, Hook, Robin, and Ruby racing into the room with their weapons drawn.

Emma clutched tightly to her shirt and held it against her chest to keep herself appearing somewhat decent as her father stood twelve feet away from her, staring slack jawed, much like the rest of the cavalry.

"Could you possibly be so kind as to give us a moment to get dressed before you barge in here like animals?" Regina rolled her eyes, wondering if they had even bothered to knock before they'd broken down her front door and come storming into her house as if they had every right to do so.

"Emma…" David croaked as he turned his back quickly to avert his gaze. Mentally reassuring himself that he hadn't seen anything he wasn't meant to see.

Hook was staring rather pointedly at Emma as the blonde took the time to slip the shirt she'd been clutching against her shirt on, sans her bra, thus giving those standing in front of her a bit of a show. Not that she truly cared. So long as David's back was turned she didn't mind the others catching sight of a bit of flesh.

"Roll up that tongue of yours pirate." Regina growled possessively as she saw Hook's visceral reaction to the sight of Emma's naked chest.

"Only if you promise not to show me what's under that blanket of yours."

"Killian!" Emma chided the pirate immediately.

"What can I say love? Not everyone wants to see what you obviously took your time enjoying." Emma snarled at the pirates abrasive comments. She knew him to be crude and cruel, but it had been quite some time since she'd seen him revert to his old ways.

"Enough. Enough. We don't have time for this!" Ruby stopped the fight before it could truly begin by putting herself between Emma and Hook.

"We're glad to see that you're alright." Robin's voice was thick and rough with unspoken emotions.

Emma tried not to look at Robin and the look of utter dismay and heartbreak upon his face. This dalliance with Regina wasn't supposed to become public knowledge. Emma didn't even know what it truly meant to Regina. She knew what it meant to her, but they hadn't the time to discuss anything yet and it seemed that it would have to wait until later.

Regina had taken the moment to magically redress herself so that when the blanket fell away from her body she was fully clothed. It was a little trick she knew Emma suddenly envied.

"Why wouldn't we be alright?" Regina asked, knowing that she would need to take a moment to speak with Robin privately, no matter what it was that the group had to inform them of. She knew now more than she ever had before that what she had with Robin was safe and beautiful. But what she could have with Emma was dangerous and passionate and joyous. Both could equally make her happy, but Regina knew herself well enough to know that it was the passion and dangerous nature of her relationship with Emma that would ensure the survival of their relationship. It would not die and wither like she suspected a continued relationship with Robin would.

She had never meant to hurt Robin. She truly did care for him. But being destined to love him had made it seem so easy to fall in love with him and maybe easy was what she deserved after a lifetime of difficulty.

Regina just…she just didn't want easy. She wanted difficult and stubborn and fervent. She wanted Emma and she hoped to God that Emma wanted her too, as more than just a one night stand.

Emma and Henry were Regina's family. Regina knew that even before she'd cast the spell on the two most important people in her life last year. It seemed that the depths of her feelings came out as she'd cast the spell on them and watched them leave her behind. Just as Zelena had said to Emma in her office yesterday afternoon, the spell wouldn't have worked on Emma if the blonde hadn't felt at least slightly the same way. Just like the spell wouldn't have changed as it did if Regina didn't love Emma the way she did.

"Snow White has been kidnapped." Robin couldn't bear to look at anyone; his gaze was permanently fixed to the floor. The grip he held on his bow was so great he feared he might snap it in half.

"What!? When!?" Emma asked, looking at Ruby for the answers she obviously wasn't going to get from Robin or her father, who couldn't seem to turn around to look at her just yet.

"Sometime last night after four am. She went for a walk in the gardens to clear her head. She was complaining of back pain and refused to let me go with her. I should have gone with her anyway.." David berated himself for his stupidity. "We thought the grounds were safe. The fairies promised no one with evil intent could get through."

"Yes, well the fairies promise a great many things that they never do come through on." Regina rolled her eyes, knowing they should have never trusted Blue Fairy.

"How did you escape her, Swan?" Hook asked, seemingly the only one to realize that only a few hours ago Emma was one of Zelena's captives.

"I didn't escape her. They let me go. They cast a spell on me to revert the memory spell Regina cast on me last year. They…" Emma blinked suddenly as she began to recall everything that Walsh had been telling her before he'd blown something onto her face to revert the spell. "They have Henry's heart." Emma felt like she was going to be sick knowing that once again a villain held her son's heart and his life in the very balance.

"That's impossible! I enchanted it so that…" Regina stopped speaking as her eyes widened.

"What? What is it?"

Regina turned her head to slowly meet Emma's eyes, her face ashen. "I used blood magic to protect Henry's heart."

"Why is that significant?" Robin asked, as he was one of the few unaware of Regina and Zelena's familial connection.

"Blood magic is the one protective spell that Zelena can break through where no one else can because she's my sister."

"Do you have any idea where they might be, Emma?" David asked as he turned back towards Emma, grateful to see that she was fully clothed now.

Emma tried to remember what she could vaguely hear as she was regaining consciousness yesterday. It was foggy but she was pretty sure that Walsh had mentioned the wishing well. Making wishes. It had to be the wishing well.

"The wishing well. I think…I think that's where everything's going to go down."

Everyone absorbed that bit of information forlornly. "We have until then before she does anything to hurt Henry or Mary Margaret. She needs them alive until the alignment this afternoon at 5:38."

"What are we going to do until then?" David's anxiousness getting the best of him.

"We're going to get reinforcements and see about arming you all with magical protection amulets from Gold's shop." But first, Regina really needed to speak with Robin.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Emma left Regina's house only after Regina promised to meet them at Gold's shop. A part of her didn't want to leave the other woman alone. Especially now that she knew that Zelena not only had Henry's heart and Mary Margaret, but that she had Regina's heart as well.

"So you going to tell me what happened last night?" Ruby asked as she sidled up alongside Emma on the walk back into town.

"I don't know if I'm ready to really talk about it yet, Ruby." Emma admitted honestly. She would much rather talk to Regina about things first before she started talking to anyone else about it.

"You know that our memories came back, don't you?" Ruby asked, noticing how David and Hook made it a point to walk several feet ahead of them. The town around them was like a ghost town. Everyone was sticking together inside where they felt like they'd be the safest. The townspeople weren't stupid. They had all lived through two dark curses and many wars back in the Enchanted Forest. They knew when it was best to make themselves scarce and allow the monarchs to fight the battles for everyone.

"They did?" Emma's surprise was clearly noted by the werewolf.

"You really didn't know?"

Emma shook her head, "How? When?"

"Last night around one or so in the morning. It kind of felt like true loves magic. It certainly spread around town as if it were." Ruby smiled as she watched recognition dawn on Emma's face. "What exactly were you doing at one in the morning?"

Emma felt her face flush. "True loves kiss?" Her steps faltered as she came to a complete stop.

Ruby nodded encouragingly. "Yes, true love."

"But…she…she doesn't, she couldn't." Emma fumbled for anything to grasp a hold of to convince her that Regina didn't in fact love her. That they weren't meant to be together and yet nothing happened. She could find nothing.

"She does. And you do. And it's about damn time, don't you think?" Ruby asked as she bumped Emma's shoulder to get her moving again. "Come on. Let's get to Gold's shop so we can find something to save your son."

"Yeah…" Emma nodded slowly, still shocked over the information she was trying to process. Regina loved her. Truly loved her. Their kiss broke the curse. True loves kiss broke the curse. Regina was Emma's true love.

A smile unlike any Emma had ever experienced before blossomed across her face as she walked with renewed purpose towards Gold's shop.

End Chapter Fourteen