A/N: Thanks for all the love, everyone! I really appreciate you sticking with this when things get rough.

Emma and Henry waited for Archie outside, unable to calm Regina enough to have her allow the doctor inside the protection spell. "I don't see why I can't stay with Grandma and Grandpa again," Henry said as the car pulled up.

"They're busy." Emma was too tired to even begin to explain the truth. She was physically drained from her training session with Regina, magically drained from her attack on Sidney, and emotionally drained from just about everything. That was the main reason she'd called on Archie tonight – because he knew how to talk to Henry, how to help the kid sort out his feelings. Emma just didn't have the energy to try.

Archie got out of his car and approached them, attempting to hide his worry behind a smile at Henry. "Hi, Henry," he said, but the boy just brushed past him to climb into the back seat beside Pongo.

"I think he's mad at me for sticking him with someone else again." Emma ran a hand through her hair.

"I'll talk to him," Archie promised. "I can also talk with Regina, if she'd like."

Emma glanced back at the house. "She's hardly speaking complete words right now, so I doubt you'd get much of anywhere. We ran into Whale."

"And that triggered her," Archie finished. "Not surprising, given all she's been through. Just try to comfort her, and maybe she and I can have a chat when I bring Henry back." He studied Emma's weary face. "What about you, Emma? Do you need someone to talk to?"

"I'm fine." The last thing Emma wanted was a therapist. "Nothing a good night's sleep won't fix." With that, she waved to Henry and hurried back into the house.

At least Regina had calmed a bit while Emma had been outside. She was curled up on a living room chair, tears still coming but sobs under control. She lifted her head to see Emma come in, the tension knotting her stomach finally unclenching when the blonde was near.

"What can I do?" Emma asked a bit helplessly, coming close and stroking a hand over Regina's hair.

"You're here," Regina whispered. "That's enough."

Emma sat on the floor in front of Regina's chair and let out a heavy sigh. She wanted to cry herself, but how could she? How could her sadness even begin to compare to Regina's?

She just couldn't sit there in silence, her thoughts overwhelming her. She glanced up at Regina, glad to see that she seemed considerably calmer. Or maybe she was just as exhausted as Emma was. Maybe she had no more crying left in her.

"Can you…" Emma started, hoping it wouldn't be too much for Regina to talk about. "What did Mary Margaret do to you?"

"Nothing," Regina replied, and Emma was surprised that her lie detector didn't go off.

"You can tell me."

"Nothing," Regina repeated. "She talked, but she did nothing."

"If she'd just told me…" Emma leaned her head against the chair, closing her eyes to the feel of Regina toying with her curls. "I could have saved you."

"You did save me." But Regina knew what Emma meant. Maybe she could have been rescued before she was utterly broken. "Every minute you're here you keep saving me."

Henry unlocked the door, and he and Emma cautiously stepped inside. "Mom?" Henry called.

"Go get your stuff. I'll look for her." Emma wandered the first floor while Henry thumped his way upstairs. She didn't like the idea of coming here, but Henry was going to need clothing if he was going to continue to stay with her. Not that she was thrilled about that idea. She loved having Henry, but not the sleeping arrangements now that the kid and David had moved in. She needed her privacy, some space of her own.

There was no sign of Regina anywhere. Emma supposed it was possible that she ran, that she was hiding, but it didn't seem like her. She figured Regina would want to make her presence felt, now that magic was back. Now that everyone remembered she was the queen.

Henry came back downstairs with a backpack stuffed with clothes and books, and Emma stepped out of the study and into the hall to meet him. And then she stepped back in.

There was a glass on one of the tables, cider left in it.

Henry followed her in and watched as she lifted the glass and looked it over. "Mom never leaves stuff just lying around."

Exactly what Emma was thinking. "You are going back to the apartment," she said slowly, trying to imagine what might have happened. What would have pulled Regina away so quickly. "And I'm going to find her."

It wasn't until hours later, when she stopped by Granny's to ask if anyone had seen the mayor, that she knew something was really, really wrong. Granny and Ruby, having worked all day, looked surprised if not really concerned. Nobody looked concerned. But there were smirks, especially at the table the dwarves were gathered around. They'd gone strangely silent when she came in.

She stormed over to their table, glaring down at them. She didn't know most of them, not well, at least, so she focused on Leroy. "What do you know?"

"Don't worry about Regina," Leroy replied. "She's getting the treatment she deserves."

Emma leaned forward and grabbed him by the front of his shirt, hauling him up from his chair. "Where. Is. She?"

Leroy didn't crack, but one of the others piped up meekly. "The hospital."

"Shut up, Bashful," Leroy told him. But Emma had already let him go, was already running towards the door.

When no one on the hospital staff would tell her anything about Regina, Emma tore through each floor twice, checking and double-checking each room. She was on the verge of tears, more worried than she'd ever imagined she could be on Regina's behalf. She felt slightly nauseous, and while she wanted to blame the running around she knew that it was something more than that.

She was just about to start a third sweep of the main floor when she noticed a door she hadn't checked before. It led downstairs, to a basement level that wasn't on any of the maps of the hospital. Although if Storybrooke had managed to conceal a dragon underground, she supposed that concealing a basement was pretty innocuous. Until she got to the bottom of the stairs and saw a bleak hallway with metal doors along each wall. It looked more like a prison than a hospital, and more like a horror movie set than anything else. And it was empty, silent.

Emma knew that Regina was behind one of those doors, but she didn't know what she was about to find. And it was far worse than anything she could have imagined.

"When did you use magic?" Regina asked. Despite having healed herself, phantom pain was springing up where all her injuries had been. Emma had suggested a bath to soothe her, and now she was neck-deep in bubbles, the hot water easing both her muscles and her emotion.

Regina hadn't asked Emma to stay, but she also didn't ask her to leave. The sheriff was sitting with her back to the wall, arms wrapped around her knees. "I saw him," she said, hoping the emphasis would speak the name she didn't dare say to Regina, "when I picked Henry up. I was furious, and I went to punch him but this blast of… something came out instead. Knocked him back."

Emma was thankful that Regina didn't ask if it had happened any other times, didn't force her to lie. The question didn't even occur to Regina, who was too busy studying Emma's face as if it would somehow give her an answer.

"What?" Emma asked, blushing under the scrutiny.

Regina blushed as well. "There was just this book I was looking at earlier. I think you're using my magic."

"Sorry?"

"No, no." Regina glanced up at the ceiling, far easier to address than Emma herself. "It's nothing you or I did. My power transferred to you when I was too weak to use it. So you could protect me."

Emma nodded to herself as if any of that made sense. "So what does that mean, exactly?"

"You'll be prone to magical outbursts, and I won't be able to use much power without you near. I don't know how long it lasts."

"But…" Emma paused, and Regina turned to look at her again. "But why did it happen? And why me?"

"We're connected," Regina whispered, barely audible.

"Like…"

Regina forced herself to meet Emma's green eyes. "Like true love," she finished, holding a hand out towards the blonde. Emma scooted forward to take it.

"But that's… I mean…" Emma was blushing again. "That's a lot of pressure."

"It doesn't have to change anything." Regina moved to pull her hand back, but Emma held onto it firmly.

"Do you love me?" she asked, eyes serious and piercing.

Regina shivered under that gaze, knowing that Emma would be able to tell in an instant if she lied. She didn't know what to think of the idea that she might have another chance at true love, and she was reluctant to say anything, to change anything, when everything in her life was upside down. But there was only one possible answer. "Yes."

And then Emma was dangerously close to toppling into the tub as she moved to the edge, bent over, and kissed Regina.