So close! I've only got one more chapter and a short epilogue planned. Thanks again to everyone who has read, followed and favourited this!
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The sound of booted feet stomping up the metal staircase woke every inhabitant of the small apartment. Regina barely had the chance to open her eyes before Emma was on the bed, cradling her face in her hands.
"I love you," panted Emma.
"What?" frowned Regina, struggling to sit up, never mind grasp what was happening.
"I. Love. You," repeated Emma more slowly.
"Emma-" Regina was cut off by lips being soundly crushed against her own. She pulled back, taking in Emma's flushed face, her wild hair, her cold hands.
"No, no more waiting. No more skirting around it. I love you, and you need to know that," said Emma, still breathless.
Regina stared at Emma in wonder, trying to figure out why it was so important she knew this now. "Emma, I don't understand."
The blonde just smiled. "I don't understand why I love you either, but I do. So much. And you need to know that because I won't lose you."
The brunette frowned, still not understanding why it was so important this was said now. "I…I love you too," she finally breathed, her heart pounding in her chest, terrified this was all too much too soon, but knowing she couldn't let Emma walk this tightrope without her knowing she was right there holding her hand.
"You do?" asked Emma, waiting until Regina nodded before pulling her in for a deep kiss.
Regina gasped into the kiss as it suddenly felt like she was being electrified. Pulling back, she looked down at her own hands, green mist being expelled from them.
Emma looked on grinning, she watched as the curse left her love. Unable to contain herself, the blonde leant in for another kiss. This time, however, Regina returned the act with vigour, hands coming up to weave into her hair.
They both felt the shockwave this time. Pulling back, Breathless, they could only watch as the white light surrounding them pushed outwards, the green mist that had been hovering maliciously disappearing the moment it came into contact with it.
"Did that really just happen?" asked Regina.
"Yes," whispered Emma, leaning their foreheads together as she wrapped her arms around Regina tightly, as she had been wanting to do since the brunette had first awoken.
"What is going on in here?" came Snow's voice from the stairs. "What's with the light show?"
Still wrapped in each other's embrace, the pair now kneeling on the bed turned to the doorway, to find a sleep rumpled Snow and a very confused Charming.
"I told you I wouldn't let anything happen to her," grinned Emma, tears still flowing down her cheeks. "And I did it. I saved her."
Snow frowned, David still looking perfectly clueless.
"And all I had to do was love her."
Regina rolled her eyes at the two idiots still standing in the doorway. "What Emma is trying to say, is that I am no longer dying!" she said brightly.
"So the curse is gone?" asked Snow.
"Finally, she gets it," Regina murmured into Emma's shoulder, earning her a chuckle.
"Yes, the curse is gone," grinned Emma.
"I want to see Henry," said Regina, pulling back from Emma's embrace.
The blonde nodded. "Let's go." She helped the other woman from their awkward position on the bed before turning back to her parents. "She's okay. She's really okay."
"I don't understand," said Snow, wondering exactly how this dramatic turnaround had come about.
Emma laughed. "You don't need to." She took the few steps necessary to bring her in front of her parents. "All you need to know is that I saved her."