A/N: and here is the last chapter my dear readers. Thanks for all the support and love. You can expect Missed SwanQueen Moments S3 some time in the New Year. And my new fic, Dangerous Desires, will be uploaded very shortly - rated T for now but will become M …
"Everyone looks at me as the Evil Queen, including my son. Let me die as Regina," the brunette said, tears sparkling in her eyes.
"No," Emma said, quietly, looking defiantly at the older woman.
Regina sighed. She didn't know how else to explain to the Sheriff that the only way for everyone else to live was for her to sacrifice her own life. She gazed at the glowing diamond hovering before her: the device she had created and which would now destroy her.
"Not everyone looks as you at the Evil Queen," Emma continued.
Regina's head snapped up. "What?"
"I don't see that, when I look at you," Emma stated. "I never have. I see a mother. The best mother I could have hoped for my son. I see the woman who has cared for and loved my child when I couldn't. I see someone driven by passion and love, determined to fulfil her dreams, even if she doesn't always go about it the right way. I see a born leader who has run this town for twenty eight years and would have made a wonderful queen back in the Enchanted Forest. I see a woman whose destiny was changed when she trusted the wrong person. I see someone who feels so deeply she never truly got over the loss of her first love and who has never been able to fully move on, to be happy. I see a beautiful, loving, passionate, and strong woman who has changed my life from the moment I laid eyes on her. You're not the Evil Queen any more Regina. You're our son's mother and I will not let you die."
Both women were crying by the time Emma finished her speech, Regina still standing a few feet away with the diamond in between them.
"There's no other way," Regina choked out. "If I don't slow down this device, our son will be an orphan."
"There's always another way," Emma insisted, stepping forwards and taking both of Regina's hands in her own.
The older woman jumped at the tingling sensation the contact gave her before staring up in Emma's emerald eyes.
"Your magic," she breathed, her fingers curling around Emma's hands. "If you help me, together, I think we can destroy the diamond."
"My magic?" Emma asked, an eyebrow raised. "I don't even know what to do, how to use it."
"It's about emotion," Regina said, gripping the slender hands tighter. "You have to will it, to tell it what to do with all your might. Focus on why you're doing this, on what you need to do."
"Save Henry," Emma murmured. "Save my family."
"Exactly," Regina said, releasing Emma's hands and placing her own in the air on either side of the still glowing gem. "Can you do it?"
"I think so," Emma nodded, mirroring Regina's position.
A few seconds passed before light exploded throughout the narrow mine, white hot and powerful as it gravitated towards the four hands facing it. The energy, the magic of the trigger, flowed into Emma's body and she began to shake. She could feel it filling her up, consuming every part of her as she forced herself to focus on drawing even more of the magic out of the diamond. She thought of Henry. She thought of her parents. And she thought of Regina.
As she did so, the blonde raised her head and the two women's eyes met. Regina's face was almost serene as she allowed the powerful magic to wash over her. When she saw the bright green orbs meet hers however, her breath hitched and a surge of magic was pulled from the diamond. Emma felt it too.
The women remained there, focused on the other and no one else as tendrils of magical light disappeared into their bodies. Suddenly, the light vanished and the diamond dropped to the floor.
They had done it. The two women stared at the dull rock for a moment before looking back up at each other.
"We did it!" Emma gasped before she rushed forwards and hugged Regina. The brunette was a little surprised but quickly wrapped her own arms around the other woman, holding her close as her heart raced.
"Yes we did," Regina said, her face full of blonde hair as she continued to hug Emma.
They stayed like that for a long time, wrapped in each others arms.
Finally, reluctantly, Emma pulled back. She tucked a few strands of hair behind her own ear and smiled shyly at Regina.
"We'd better go and tell the others," she said before turning and making her way back down the mine shaft.
"Emma, wait," Regina said, hurrying after the blonde and grasping her hand.
"What?" the blonde asked, trying to read the curious look on Regina's face.
"Did you mean it?" Regina asked. "What you said earlier?"
Emma smiled softly and squeezed the hand still held in hers. "Every word."
Regina hesitated for a moment before she stepped forwards and placed a chaste kiss to Emma's lips. Taken aback, Emma's mouth opened slightly in surprise and she quickly groaned as Regina's plump upper lip slid languidly between her own. Immediately, Emma's arms wrapped around Regina's body again, pulling the brunette closer as she returned the kiss. Regina's hands came up to run through Emma's hair as the blonde's hands ran up and down her coat-covered back. Even that made Regina shiver in delight. She wondered what it would feel like with no barriers as she slid her tongue into Emma's waiting mouth.
Too soon, Emma pulled back. Regina opened her eyes slowly and looked up apprehensively. Emma was smiling down at her, a twinkle in her eye as she kept her arms securely around Regina's back.
"I've been wanting to do that for a very long time," Emma admitted, placing another soft kiss to Regina's lips.
"I didn't know," Regina whispered. "I had no idea."
"That I liked you?" Emma asked.
"That I liked you," Regina said.
"Well then maybe it's a good thing Greg and Tamara tried to destroy the town. It made you open your eyes to what's been right in front of you for over a year now."
"You've liked me for over a year?" Regina asked.
"Well, there have been times when the thought of being in a relationship with you was pretty far from my mind," Emma teased. "But yes, Regina. From the moment I saw you, I just knew. I'd never felt like that before. I've never felt like this before. This, us, whatever we are. It's right, it's good, it's special. Can you feel it too?"
"Yes," Regina murmured, closing the gap between them and kissing Emma soundly again.
Emma broke the kiss after a full minute and Regina looked a little disgruntled.
"Much as I would love to keep kissing you down here all day," Emma said, unwrapping her arms from around Regina and taking her hand instead, "I think we need to tell everyone the threat is over and we're not going to die. At least not today."
Regina laughed and nodded. "Good idea," she said as the two of them set off down the tracks.
They walked in silence, each stroking the skin of the other's hand with their thumb, enjoying the simple but intimate contact. Just as they turned the final corner and saw the light that marked the entrance to the mine, two figures dropped down the ladder into the dark passage. Regina reluctantly let go of Emma's hand but both women knew telling people about their budding romance was something they would have to discuss first.
"Snow?" Emma frowned as she spotted the first person now hurrying towards them. "David? What's wrong?" she said as their faces drew nearer.
"It's Henry," Snow said. "They took him."
"Who?" Regina asked, panicked.
"Greg and Tamara. They used a magic bean to open a portal and jumped through. I'm so sorry, Emma, but we couldn't stop them."
"Where did they go?" Emma asked as she and Regina both pushed past her idiot parents and started running towards the exit.
"We don't know," David said, running along beside them. "And we don't have the other bean. Hook stole it."
"That bastard pirate," Emma seethed, speeding up as she spotted the ladder out.
As the group burst into the daylight once more, they frantically looked around, all unsure what to do next.
"Gold?" Emma asked.
"He doesn't have any more portals," Regina said through gritted teeth.
"Hook?"
"Gone, along with his boat," Snow informed.
"Where did Greg and Tamara disappear?" Emma asked.
"The harbour," David answered.
"Then that's where we start," Regina said. "We can at least try to work out where they took him."
A/N: and it goes as the show did from here. Thanks for reading and I hope to see you all for Dangerous Desires very soon!