She opens her eyes to a naked blonde splayed out beside her on the bed. Emma sleeps peacefully with an arm tucked under Regina's body as they lay close together under the covers, which are pushed down to their waists. There's an eyeful of bare breasts near Regina's face and she can't stop herself—doesn't want to even if she could—from reaching out to touch them.
She presses her fingers to Emma's sternum and trails them down over the swell of one of her breasts. When her fingertips skim over a nipple, Emma takes a deep breath and arches her back for a moment. She sees it as a way to feel a stronger touch and a way to stretch before waking up and it makes her smile. Seeing Emma in such a comfortable, relaxed state is a rare sight and it's breathtaking, not just because of its rarity, but because it's real. Emma's here, and the what-ifs she's imagined are possible.
Regina rolls closer to Emma and her front presses against the younger woman's side as she settles partially on top of her. She lowers her head and places a chaste kiss on one of Emma's breasts, waits for a response, and isn't disappointed when the blonde writhes for a moment before popping her eyes open. Regina smiles at her and then slides up her body just enough to kiss her lips.
"Good morning," she says with a raspy voice still rough from sleep.
"Mm, morning," Emma replies with a blissful smile. "You look…happy."
"I'm satisfied," she smiles. "Very satisfied. I should be happy."
"I don't know," Emma says with a small smile of her own. "I don't think that's the kind of happy you are."
"There are different kinds of happiness?"
"I think so. Maybe it's just my personal experience, but satisfied means I'm happy for the moment. The way you look right now, though? That's the happiness you've worked hard for."
"The same happiness you sacrificed yourself to ensure I didn't have to keep fighting for," Regina surmises.
"Exactly," Emma softly says as she leans in.
Emma kisses her, short and sweet. It feels like a lazy morning after and it's the kind of thing she wants to have with Emma for the rest of her life.
"Hey," Emma's voice pulls her out of a string of thoughts before they can fully take form in her mind. "What are you thinking?"
She stares at Emma for a moment and just basks in the simplicity of the moment, uncomplicated by various villains or any other life threatening issues. She looks deep into those gorgeous green eyes she could so easily lose herself in, and before she realizes it, she's saying, "Move in with me."
Emma's jaw drops a little and she watches the younger woman search her face for the catch as though she's waiting for Regina to correct herself and say she didn't mean it, that it just came out because she's feeling far too sentimental.
But she doesn't say anything else. Regina sees Emma's worries play out on the other woman's face and knows it's best to just say nothing and keep eye contact with her. Words from the previous night echo in her mind: "Can you look at me? I just…need you here."
"We'd have to go home to move in together, right," Emma asks.
"That would be ideal."
"So, you'll come back with me?"
"Yes." That one word sets off a chain reaction of events and they start with a bright-eyed Emma kissing her fiercely.
Kissing spirals into a prolonged amount of time spent in bed before they finally manage to drag their tired bodies out of it and get dressed, but not before they shared an extensive shower in which their hands further explored each other and they held each other close. A few laughs and some small talk while they washed up, and Regina feels like she's soaring through clouds, weightless. They may have been in Hell, but it wasn't at all like religious talk would have people believe. The gods might have their heavenly afterlife somewhere above the physical plane of existence, but in that room in Hell, Regina couldn't believe there was any better place to be, except for maybe at home with Emma and Henry.
It's a fairy tale, really and truly. It's like one of those romantic true love stories Emma probably heard growing up, never believing it could happen to her after every family she had sent her away or abused her. Regina only hopes Emma agrees that even the magic they have in Storybrooke isn't as magical as the way the feel when they're powerless but together in another realm.
"Are you happy, Emma," she asks just before they venture out of Emma's room.
"The happiest I've ever been," the blonde admits. "The only thing that could make this better is being with Henry."
Regina smiles and then contently hums as she leans her head against Emma's shoulder while they walk hand in hand into the bar. She's so sure she has everything she could ever want and that she's ready to go back, to leave behind a world that finally gave them the time and space to come together, despite some hesitation and resistance.
Cruella starts a slow clap with a sly grin on her face as she stares at the two of them on their way to the counter. The nearly crazed woman is already seated at the bar with Ursula sitting a stool apart from her and a drink within arm's reach. She looks a little torn, internally conflicted, and Regina only recognizes the look from many days of unavoidably seeing it reflected back at her in the mirror.
"Good for you," Cruella says. "You finally shagged it out."
Emma brushes against her as the blonde moves partially in front of her like a human shield. It's a little ridiculous, because if she doesn't have magic there she assumes Emma doesn't either, and Cruella's never truly been a threat to them. The villainous woman just pretended to be one. She appreciates the thought behind Emma's actions, however. She doesn't need protection, but it's still nice to know there's someone who'd do anything to keep her safe. Which Emma's proven over and over again.
"Ooh, touchy subject," Cruella asks as her eyes dart to and focus on Emma, who Regina can only assume is glaring down at her. She also didn't put it past the blonde to bare her teeth in a silent growl, which is cute because of Cruella's thing about puppies. What Cruella actually does to those puppies is less cute, but Emma thinking that acting like a feral dog in front of Cruella is what amuses Regina enough to make her smile.
She ducks her head behind Emma's shoulder to hide her expression, but Cruella notices and makes a joke at Emma's expense. The blonde looks over her shoulder at Regina with a furrowed brow and looks almost hurt, like Regina's smile was an act of betrayal. But Regina responds with a well-placed hand to Emma's back and soothingly starts to rub it up and down until she lightly scratches the back of the younger woman's neck with a gentle use of her nails. Emma melts into her almost immediately.
"Good girl," Cruella teases, but Regina digs her nails in just a little bit harder and tangles her fingers in blonde hair.
Emma doesn't retaliate at all.
Cruella smirks at her like she couldn't be prouder to see a fellow villain tame a hero, and maybe Cruella is proud. Regina doesn't care. She just wants to avoid an altercation, especially after last night and such a peaceful morning. She wants to enjoy it a little longer even when she's no longer holed up somewhere alone with Emma.
"Ursula," she calls out and steps around Emma to be seen fully by the fourth woman at the bar. "You look like you could use a drinking buddy."
She hears Emma chuckle beside her, the sound soft but almost directly in her ear. She shoots Emma a look that tells her to keep her thoughts to herself because she already knows exactly what the other woman is thinking.
"You don't a speech, you need a drinking buddy. Shots?"
Regina takes the stool between Ursula and Cruella and looks at the busy bartender at the other end of the counter before she looks at Ursula's drink, and then Ursula herself. The woman isn't exactly frowning, but it's clear there's something on her mind. She wonders if Cruella's noticed, or even cares, and considers telling her to focus more on her own girlfriend than Emma. She doesn't share that thought though and instead directs all her attention on the person who seems most affected by whatever's happened...or hasn't happened, as might be the case.
"What's going on," she asks. She waits several seconds for a response, but Ursula only spins her drink around on the countertop slowly before she lifts it to her lips and downs almost half of what's left in her tumbler. "Do you want to talk about it?"
Ursula sets her glass back down and shakes her head. "Not here," she quietly answers.
She nods and puts a hand on Ursula's arm as a small comfort to let the woman know she's there. Ursula looks at her with slightly wide eyes that hold a hint of shock and disbelief in them. She smiles at Ursula and feels her eyes crinkle as she tries her best to convey, without words, that she understands; because even though she's not sure what Ursula's going through, she's almost certain she's been through something similar.
"I see you've taken care of my daughter," Cora says from somewhere behind her.
When she turns around on the stool to face her mother, she sees the older woman approach the bar with an amused smile directed at Emma.
Emma faces Cora and stiffens, but not out of fear. The younger woman is rigid like she's preparing for a fight, her eyes sharp and solid like steel and her fists clenched tight enough at her sides to turn her knuckles white. Emma's jaw is just as tense as the rest of her body and Regina worries she'll grind her teeth if she's not careful, which is the least of Regina's concerns in that moment.
She slides off the stool and nearly throws herself between the two of them.
"Cora," Emma growls out like she's trying desperately not to start something, and she probably is.
"Hello again, dear. You might as well relax. I'm not here to intervene," Cora says.
"Forgive me if our history makes it hard for me to believe that," Emma replies.
Regina wants to trust her mother, trust that she's been nothing but nice and unthreatening to her since the woman popped into her part of Hell, but she also has a history with Cora and can't help but be painfully reminded of it when she sees her mother and Emma standing almost toe-to-toe in front of her.
"It's okay," she tells Emma and grips the blonde's arm just above the elbow. "She means it."
Emma's focus shifts to her and looks sympathetic, but Regina also sees the uncertainty and distrust in her eyes. She understands that completely, and while she isn't quite convinced that Cora isn't ultimately up to something, she wants to give her mother the benefit of the doubt, because things are different there. They certainly were, and still are, for her and Emma. And Cora hasn't even so much as belittled her yet. So it seems unlikely she'll go ripping out hearts and trying to obtain more power for herself.
Emma pulls back after a moment and Regina breathes a little easier.
"Thank you," Cora says and looks between the two of them. "I can't say I'm entirely surprised in your choice, dear."
She furrows a brow and cocks her head as she regards her mother. "Why not?"
"Well, I have met her before. She's feisty. And you already share a son, don't you?"
"You didn't think we were capable of sharing him," Regina mentions.
Cora chuckles. "Neither did you. At least not back then, but things change."
"Like you," Emma asks a little accusingly.
"Regina's changed. Why is it so hard to believe I've changed too? I have my heart again. I died with it," Cora explains. "I might not have been given a second chance at life, but I'm certainly not going to waste this second chance I have at making amends with my daughter."
"One of your daughters," Regina corrects her. "What about Zelena?"
Cora sighs and guiltily looks down at the floor for a moment. "I realize you're not the only person I've hurt in the past. But Zelena isn't here. You are. If she were here, I would apologize for leaving her, but there's nothing more I can do than that. It isn't as if I can turn back time and take it all back."
"Even if you could, I doubt you'd do that," Emma says in a deep, slightly gravelly voice.
"You're right. I wouldn't."
Her eyes widen in shock and she takes a step back. Emma looks equally shocked despite thinking Cora wouldn't have changed anything about Regina's childhood.
"Not now that I see where it's led Regina," Cora adds. "I am sorry that I hurt you, but I'm not sorry you found something you've always wanted."
"A life free from your control," Emma asks.
"Emma," Regina quietly chides.
"Love," Cora answers and keeps her eyes focused solely on Emma. The woman doesn't even blink. It's partially a look of a protective mother, but mostly just a stare down to prove she's serious.
Regina feels rocked to her core. She's trusted Cora so far not to destroy everything she holds dear, but she hasn't completely been able to believe that her mother wants her to be happy and not just what the woman thinks is best for her.
"But…love is…weakness," she repeats her mother's words with confusion.
"A very cynical man once told me that and I believed him, but a very smart and brave woman also told me love is strength," Cora says to her and then looks at Emma.
Emma's cheeks turn pink like she's just been embarrassed in public by a parent, but Regina doesn't get it. Not until the blonde says, "Well, it is."
Cora smiles. "I see that," her mother says as she looks from Emma to Regina. "It's how you're here. It's how my daughter still has a fighting chance in your world."
Emma's speechless, and truthfully so is she.
Cora steps forward and eliminates most of the space between herself and Emma. It instantly makes Regina nervous, but all she does is rest a hand on the younger woman's shoulder before she speaks again. "Don't you dare hurt her or I'll find a way to haunt you."
Emma breathes out a laugh and relaxes under Cora's touch. Regina watches the two of them as relief washes over her.
"You laugh now," Cora says, though she continues to smile even as she adds to her threat to haunt Emma, "but I found a way to sneak into this part of Hell. You should trust that I'll be able to sneak my way into your thoughts and dreams."
"Right then," Cruella cuts in. "Enough of this sap. Cheers to you and yours." She raises her glass to three of them and then tips it back and downs the rest of its contents. When she sets the glass back down on the bar, she calls the bartender over and orders them all another round.
With air cleared between them all, she tugs Emma by the arm to join her at the bar. Ursula starts to slide over so Emma can sit next to her, but both she and Emma hold Ursula in place from either side of the woman.
"Now you've got two drinking buddies," Emma tells her with a smile. "If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have any idea how to get here, remember? I owe you one."
Ursula flashes a fleeting smile at her and then starts in on the newly ordered drink in front of her.
"To a glorious afterlife," Cruella toasts as they all start to settle in at the bar.
She and Emma look across the counter at each other and smile before they raise their glasses and say, "To Hell."
The four of them clink their glasses and celebrate all the good things they have to enjoy in that moment, and drink away the bad.
Several hours later, a more energetic style of music starts to play and people head out onto the dance floor. Cruella and Cora are tipsy and cackling at something only they know, and apparently think is hilarious, while Ursula remains quiet and watches everyone else move on the floor, like she had her first night there. She's about to ask Ursula what's on her mind when she sees her mother whisk Cruella off to the dance floor. The two women stumble a little along the way, but successfully find a spot for themselves among the small crowd.
She and Emma stay with Ursula. The three of them watch everyone on the floor enjoy themselves for a few more minutes before Regina finally decides to broach a subject Ursula probably wants to avoid, but needs to discuss. She turns away from the dancers and faces the other woman to give her undivided attention, which doesn't go unnoticed by either Ursula or Emma.
She catches Emma's gaze over the top of Ursula's slightly lowered head and the blonde nods at her as though the younger woman knows exactly what she's about to do and approves. It's probably true. Emma probably does know what she's up to and supports her decision and, not that she needs Emma to back her up for her to do it, she's grateful for that.
Careful not to startle or do something Ursula doesn't want, Regina rests a hand on the other woman's arm and gives her a little squeeze. When the two of them make eye contact, she flashes a smile that's meant to comfort Ursula. She's not sure it does, but she pushes forward anyway.
"Did something happen with you and Cruella," she asks.
Ursula snorts and starts to cry. The sight before her is like watching a dam break, and while she's surprised to see Ursula suffer this way, she's not surprised by the way it comes pouring out of her. Ursula's held on to her pain and doubts and fears for far too long and it's enough to make anyone snap. As the Sea Queen opens up to her and Emma about what she's been trying to figure out on her own, Regina feels her heart break for the woman.
"I'm so thankful that I've been able to spend as much time with my father as I have, but…I'm not sure I'm ready to leave all that to spend the rest of eternity here," Ursula explains with a shaky voice. Her cheeks are already stained with tears and she runs her fingers around the rim of her empty glass out of nervous habit. Simply put, she's a wreck. "When I told him what I wanted to do, he said he was sad, but that he understood. He doesn't even know her and he even mentioned that he probably doesn't understand what I even see in her, but he gets how I feel about her. And that's all he needs to know to be okay with my decision."
"What did you decide," Emma asks.
"Nothing yet. The whole point was to come here and find out what I wanted. Either way I lose something I care about. I can't be happy in one place or the other. Not unless I have them both."
And that's when it all clicks for Regina. She's empathetic to Ursula's plight because she knows what it's like to think one world might have the happiness she needs that the other has failed to give her. While that eventually proved to be true for Regina, she spent so many years during the curse wondering if she'd made a mistake. She wasn't happy in the Enchanted Forest and she wasn't happy in Storybrooke. The only difference was that in Storybrooke, she'd sacrificed her father—the only family she had left—for a chance at the happiness she was told she could have in the new land. She finally adopted her son and for the first time in years felt that she had made the right decision, as painful as it was. Years later, she fought against and with Emma until she just fell. She fell so hard and so fast and she wasn't even sure when it happened. Her home is with Henry and Emma, wherever they are. But just as she knows she's deeply in love with Emma Swan, she also knows Storybrooke is where she found them.
"I don't know what to do," Ursula admits.
"Have you…talked to Cruella about it," Emma asks with a furrowed brow and treads lightly.
"I tried, but…she's a bit of sociopath. She doesn't feel things like we do. So every time I've tried to ask her if she'd ever be interested in trying to go back and…start over, she just brushes it off. She always makes it sound like being bad here is more fun than being alive ever was or could be."
"Obviously you don't feel that way," Regina surmises.
Ursula shakes her head. "I want to be with her, but I'm not sure what she wants is worth all I'd be giving up. Does that sound horrible? Shouldn't I be willing to do anything to be with her if I love her?"
Yes, Regina thinks as she meets Emma's eyes over Ursula's head again. But Ursula's situation is a little different, and Cruella really is sort of a sociopath, so she's not quite sure how to answer that question.
"You still took a chance on her," Emma cuts in. "You came back to Storybrooke to try to get her back, and as soon as you found out she was here, you found a way to get to her. Maybe you're not sure the two of you want the same thing, but you are sure that you'd do anything to at least find out if what you had and what you want for the future is redeemable. If I was her, I'd be willing to know where your head was at so we could talk about where to go from here."
"Yeah, well, that's not how Cruella is," Ursula says.
"She doesn't know what she has," Emma replies and then looks to the dance floor at Cruella as she moves with Cora to the beat of the song. Regina doesn't like how close the woman is to her mother, but that's not important at the moment. "But I wouldn't give up on her just yet."
Those words, as they fall from Emma's lips, pull her attention from the dance floor to the blonde herself and she's only mildly shocked to see green eyes already focused on her when she turns her head. She takes a moment to gather her thoughts while her eyes remain on Emma's, and when she finally has the ability to speak again, she says, "She doesn't know yet, but I'm sure given the right motivation she'll see it for herself."
The song switches over to something else just as upbeat as the previous selection and she almost wouldn't have noticed the difference in music if she also hadn't heard her mother cheer about it. She turns her attention back to the dance floor and stares in confusion and surprise as she watches her mother move in a very suggestive way while she laughs and occasionally belts out lyrics. She notices the way Cruella laughs with Cora and how her mother puts her hands on the fur-loving woman's shoulders every so often like she needs the other woman to keep her on her feet, which seems more than likely given how Cora teeters every third movement or so.
She's distracted just long enough to miss the way Emma and Ursula start to panic, but she still catches the way they look at each other with wide eyes and grave expressions. For a moment, Regina thinks one or both of them has made a frightening conclusion about Ursula's predicament. When she gives it more thought and looks a little harder at the way their expressions change ever so slightly when they start to talk to each other in hushed tones made inaudible to her by the loud music, she realizes something is wrong. Something is terrifyingly wrong.
As soon as Emma's eyes snap up and meet hers, Ursula spins in her stool and searches for Cruella in the crowd. Regina barely registers Ursula's movements because her eyes are focused on Emma. All she sees is Emma and lets her mind run wild as she imagines the worst. She's not sure what exactly could be the worst outcome when they're both in Hell, but she quickly finds out when Ursula rushes to Cruella and Emma doesn't hesitate to swoop into the vacated space between them to kiss her.
Of all the kisses they've shared, this one is the most disparaging one yet. Emma cups her face with both hands and holds her close as she lets each of her desperate kisses linger. Afraid of whatever comes next, she clings to Emma like she'll drown without her. Truthfully, that's exactly what she'll do if something happens to the blonde. It's what had started to happen when she first arrived in Hell and she's not sure she's strong enough to pull herself to the surface again if Emma suddenly disappears.
When Emma finally pulls away for good, Regina hears a choked sob. She's not sure which one of them is crying, but when she opens her bleary eyes she learns it's both of them.
"I love you," Emma says with a sad smile just before a tear rolls down her cheek.
"I love you, too," she replies with a creased brow. "What's going on, Emma? What aren't you telling me?"
Emma chuckles, but it's not the same kind of free and bubbly laugh she's heard from the younger woman recently. It's darker and more pained. "You don't even know what's wrong and you're already crying?"
"I can feel something," she says in a softer tone than before, her voice almost as small as she suddenly feels. "I can tell something's wrong and you just confirmed it. Please talk to me. Tell me what's happening."
She pleads with the blonde and it's like losing her to the darkness all over again. It isn't fair. They're only supposed to lose each other once in a single lifetime, but now it just feels like they've been losing each other since the day they met. Still completely lost, Regina feels her heart ache. It physically aches and she's even more confused now than ever.
"Emma?"
The younger woman sniffles as she takes a deep breath and steadies herself. "You have to fight," Emma firmly tells her as though there isn't any other option. "Fight for your life, Regina."
She grabs both of Emma's forearms and tries to anchor herself with the contact while the blonde strokes the pads of her thumbs over her cheeks. She slides her hands up Emma's arms toward the woman's wrists, and along the way one of her hands starts to feel slick with something warm and sticky. She looks down and pulls Emma's arm away from her just far enough to see the blood that covers fair skin and her own fingers.
Her eyes nearly pop out of her head before she quickly looks back up at Emma with wide, imploring eyes.
"What did you do," she asks.
"It had to be your choice," Emma explains. "If you knew what was happening, you wouldn't make the choice based on what you wanted. You would have been forced to do what you thought was right. And now…you have the freedom to do what your heart tells you."
"I don't… Emma, I don't understand."
The blonde smiles at her and more tears fall from her deep green eyes. "It's your choice," Emma slowly repeats herself and starts to have trouble breathing. "But don't give up on all you have left to live for."
Emma kisses her again and it feels like the last time. When the blonde goes limp in her arms, Regina feels the weight in every part of her body, not just in her arms. Her heart is heavy and she's filled with dread. She feels her heartbeat slow and her breathing becomes ragged, but the deep cut on Emma's arm is worrying enough to keep her eyes open and her mind alert. Whatever's happening to her isn't going to stop her from making sure Emma survives this. Even if it's the last thing she does.
"Help," she shouts. "Hades!"
He doesn't appear nearly as fast as her mother does. Cora hurries to her side and looks genuinely concerned as she falls to the floor with Emma cradled in her arms. As soon as he approaches her, she can tell he's known whatever Emma kept from her. He looks almost crushed to see Regina's worst nightmare relived.
"Do something," she demands with wild and desperate eyes.
"I wish I could, but there's…nothing I can do," Hades answers.
"What do you mean? This is your realm! You can do whatever you want. You can fix this," she yells.
Her mother presses a hand down on her shoulder from where the woman stands beside her. She isn't calmed by the action, but she refrains from snapping at Hades to close her eyes and slump forward a little.
"Is she dying," Cora carefully asks Hades for her instead of demanding something she can't seem to get from the ruler of the Underworld.
She gasps and quickly looks up at Hades as she waits to hear his answer.
"Yes."
Regina tightens her grip on Emma and stares down at the unconscious woman. A pained sound rips out of her before she can stifle it and she starts to sob again. She swallows the thick lump in her throat before she frantically insists, "She's not dying."
"It's the price she knew she would pay if she stayed here too long," Hades explains.
"She's not dying," she says again, more firm than frantic that time. "She didn't let me die when the wrath was after me. She didn't let me die when I tried to stop the trigger by myself. She wasn't going to let that Chernabog kill me when we all thought I was its target."
She looks at Emma like she looked at her mother when she held her in her arms and watched her die. She won't lose her. She can't lose anyone else, just as she knows Emma couldn't lose her either.
"No," she says with unwavering determination. "She's not dying. I won't let her."
"Then you already know what you have to do," Hades says with wise, soulful eyes that stare down at her and almost put her in a trance.
"What—" she doesn't finish her question as she feels her heart slow even more. She feels tired and her eyes start to droop, but she can't die. Even if she only falls asleep for a few moments and wakes up in the same position she's in right now, she can't let Emma die and spend the rest of eternity alone somewhere. Because Emma won't stay in Hell if she dies, and dying means she'll never see Henry or her parents again. Not for a long time yet. Emma doesn't deserve that. She deserves life and happiness.
"She came here for you, dear," she faintly hears Cora say.
She looks at her mother and is slightly thrown off by how close the woman suddenly is as the elder Mills crouches down beside her.
"I think she's made it clear that she wants you to live," her mother adds.
"Not if her life is the price," she says as she absent-mindedly runs her fingers through Emma's hair.
"Regina."
She waits a few seconds before she looks at Cora again. When she does, she sees compassion in her brown eyes. Her eyes have never been soft or inviting. They'd been little black coals that struck fear in her whenever she misbehaved. But now, she sees the truth in them. She sees the selflessness before her mother even takes a breath to say what she says next.
"You don't belong here. Emma doesn't belong here."
"I don't know what to do," she confesses with a watery voice, and although she can't see herself pout, she feels the downturn of her lips as she silently begs Cora to give her all the answers. "Tell me what to do, Mother."
Cora brushes a hand through her hair and tucks a strand behind her ear. Her mother leans in a little closer and stares at her so intently she's almost sure Cora can see right into her very soul in that moment. "What you do next depends entirely on your answer."
She furrows her brow, but her mother speaks again before she has a chance to ask the woman what she means.
"Do you love her?"
She takes a shuddery breath, but doesn't at all hesitate when she says, "With all my heart."
And just like that, the solution clicks into place like the missing piece of a puzzle.
"Do you still have your magic," she asks.
"Yes," Cora replies with a questioning look on face.
"Take her heart."
"What?" Her mother rears back and shakes her head.
"It's the only way. Please."
"You want me to…crush it?"
"No. I just…I can't do this myself. I don't have my magic. Maybe that's because I'm still attached to Storybrooke. I don't know. But I do know that I need to see her heart. If there's still a chance… I just have to know if what I'm thinking will work."
Cora takes a moment then nods and carefully moves forward. The other woman places a hand on Emma's chest and slowly applies pressure. It's nothing like what happened with Daniel and Cora seems to take as much precaution as she can while she retrieves the startlingly half-black, half-red heart.
The black part of Emma's heart is as hard as stone and it flows into the other half of her heart, which still flashes a faint red color as the heart beats in Cora's hand.
"It's dying," Regina says to herself more than her mother.
"Because she's still alive," Cora says, a little mystified.
"Just barely, but it's enough." She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes for a moment as she tries to hope like a Charming. Somehow it always seems to work for them. She opens her eyes and watches her mother looking down at Emma's heart with something like amazement. "Now take mine," she gently commands.
Cora breaks out of her daze and looks up at her, aghast. "No. Regina, you could die."
"I'm already dying. At least this way I have a chance to save one of us. Henry shouldn't be alone and right now it's all or nothing. Will you help me?"
Her mother doesn't answer with words. Instead, she responds with a hand to her chest and removes her heart. She gasps as she feels it leave her body and stares down at the black speckled heart that Cora holds like it's the most precious thing in the world. Emma's heart delicately rests in her other hand and the two of them side by side really puts things into perspective, especially given what she's about to do.
"Mold them into one," she instructs her mother.
Cora doesn't pause or ask any questions. Fully committed to helping Regina at least try to have a happy ending, it seems, her mother slowly pushes the two hearts together until they're joined as one.
The dead, charcoal-like part of Emma's heart is replaced with a thriving part of Regina's heart that fits into place against the surviving red portion of Emma's, as if they were always meant to be connected. Both she and Cora are fascinated and she neglects to give her mother any further instruction as she stares in awe.
She feels a jolt in her empty chest when their joined heart blinks red like a beacon calling someone home. She pulls herself out of her reverie and places a hand on the heart so that it's nestled between her hand and Cora's. Only then does she look up from the heart and at her mother before she says, "Pull."
Carefully, they pull the heart in opposite directions until it splits in two.
"My better half," Regina says with a hint of amusement as she holds the half of the heart that once belonged to her and eliminated the decay from Emma's heart. "Put this half in her and at the same time, give me the other half."
Cora takes both halves of the heart and positions them where directed. Only a few seconds pass before her mother gently pushes each half into place.
A burst of light knocks her back. She gasps as she feels the half of the heart inside her start to beat at a regular pace.
"You did it," she hears from somewhere in front of her.
She looks to her mother and sees her smiling like she had just before she died, so happy and maybe even a little relieved. But her mother hasn't said anything. She's just beaming. Just as she starts to turn her attention to the woman in her lap, Emma's eyes become level with hers as the blonde sits up.
Emma's smile rivals Cora's, but hers looks more like a playful puppy. As cute as it is, Regina has more pressing matters to address.
She launches forward and crashes their lips together. She doesn't care how long it lasts, how indecent it gets, or who sees. They're alive. And just like the true love of Emma's parents, they now share a heart.
"I can't believe that worked," Regina exhales against Emma's lips when they pull apart the tiniest bit.
"Clearly you had to believe it was a valid option if you tried it," Emma says with a hint of laughter.
Regina chuckles and rests her forehead against Emma's. She lightly scrapes her nails against the back of Emma's neck and silky blonde hair that cascades down the younger woman's back. After a moment, she looks over and sees her mother still smiling at both of them.
"Thank you," she says through new tears. Happy tears.
Cora starts to tear up as well, even as she continues to smile. "Be happy, my dears. And take care of each other."
As happy as she is to know she'll see Henry again with Emma by her side every step of the way from now on, she feels the bittersweet pang of this moment. A new part of her life is just about to begin, but a good and far too short part of her life is ending. Once again, she has to say goodbye to her mother.
Emma lets her go as she moves to her mother in an instant and hugs her for the first time in a long time. It's been so long she doesn't even remember the last time it happened. She squeezes Cora like she doesn't want to let go, and there's a large part of her that doesn't, but she knows where she needs to be.
Cora wraps her arms around her and rubs her back a few times before they separate. "I love you," her mother says, and it's the first time she's ever heard those words from the woman.
"I love you, too," she replies as she hugs Cora one last time before she pulls back and stands up with Emma's help.
"I'm so sorry, dahling. If I could do anything to chance this, I would."
She looks past her mother as Cora slowly gets to her feet as well and sees Cruella looking at Ursula with devastated eyes.
"Is there a way we can help them," Emma asks Hades who Regina forgot was still there until that moment.
"Only a life for a life can save them now," Hades apologetically admits. "I was hoping they'd solve their problems sooner so that they would have an easier time leaving, like you both do now, but Ursula isn't even partially living now. And that complicates things."
So the goodbye is more bitter than it is sweet. It's not quite the happy ending Regina envisioned, but there isn't anything more she can do from Hell. She turns to Emma and takes the younger woman's hand while the blonde continues to look sadly at Ursula and Cruella. It takes a little time, but she regains Emma's attention. When she does, she squeezes Emma's hand and says, "Let's go home."