Chapter seventeen

"Are you sure about this, ma?" Henry asked as Cora raised her hand to the saviour's chest.

After a short explanation, Emma had agreed to share her heart, but even to the Truest Believer, it seemed rather far-fetched.

He saw the same apprehension on his grandparent's faces, despite the fact that they had supposedly lived through the same experience. Then again, he imagined that the prospect of their daughter literally ripping her heart in half wasn't the most pleasant thing in the world, even if they knew it would work.

The blonde turned to looked at the boy who was standing next to Tamsin's crib, with Charming beside him and Snow in a wheelchair all looking worriedly at her. Strangely, their worry just made her want to do it even more. She wanted Tamsin to experience Regina's protective 'mother bear mode' as she liked to refer to it, she just knew that if Henry or his sister were ever in a situation like this, Regina would be beyond worried.

"I have to do it," she replied and her determination seemed to make her son relax marginally, though her parents still looked exceptionally tense at what they were about to see.

"I trust that I am not going to be thrown back this time," Cora said.

Emma smiled slightly and replied, "you have permission this time."

With that, the former Queen of Hearts sank her hand into the saviour's chest who bit her lip against the pain and nodded for Cora to continue.

As lightly as possible, the woman pulled the glowing organ out of the blonde's chest, but despite her best efforts, Emma still let out a slight squeak pain and began breathing deeply as she saw her own heart.

"I guess that wasn't the difficult part?" she sighed, not even bothering to look back at her parents faces, which undoubtedly now only held more concern than before.

"I'm afraid not," Cora half grinned, and looked over at her unmoving daughter. Charming had been given half of Snow's heart almost as soon as he had lost his. Regina had gone days, but she had magical charms and the modern medicine keeping her body alive, the major issue was potential brain damage, at this point all they could do was hope.

Bringing up her other hand to the heart, she was about to split it apart, but instead suggested, "perhaps you should sit down, this won't be pleasant."

Emma nodded and took the advice, falling into the plastic seat closet to the comatose woman. She continued to look at her face as a pain consumed her body, despite it though, she knew that the result would be worth it. She just imagined Regina defeating her sister, saving her little brother, being there for Tamsin and Henry, it would all most certainly be worth it.

The pain suddenly stopped and felt drowsy, she knew that she should probably be dead at this point, but she also knew that a lot of things had happened that went against common sense, besides it wasn't really herself that she was thinking about in this moment.

The saviour took heaving breaths as she tried to come to terms with the fact that her heart would forever be in half, but she didn't spend long doing this as Cora came to stand next to the chair, half of a glowing heart in each hand.

With the practiced ease of someone who had essentially done a heart transplant before, she thrust her hand into Emma's and Regina's chests at the same time and then took a step back to watch what happened.

Emma brought her hand to her own chest and felt her heart beat had returned, though it felt far less rapid than it probably should have been in this moment. She started to feel her eyes drift shut as a certain weakness began to spread throughout her body, and she was becoming more and more sure that it hadn't worked. Their plan had failed and now Tamsin and Henry would be orphans, her brother wouldn't live long enough to receive a name, and the Wicked Witch of the West would be free to wreak havoc on the timeline as she saw fit.

Cora looked in vain as nothing happened for several moments and she turned her attention to Dr Whale who had been silently leant against the wall.

He was looking intently at the heart monitor that had somehow been picking up a phantom heart beat for the past couple of days, she could tell by the furrow in his brow that there was something significant happening.

He walked over to it and began pressing buttons to reveal different settings and Cora growled in frustration as she saw the sheriff was seemingly about to pass out.

"What is it?!" she snapped.

The doctor looked up at her and replied, "her heartbeat is slightly spiking."

"Meaning?" Gold prompted from his position at the end of the bed.

He was about to answer until it became clear that he didn't need to as Regina's eyes began to flutter open.

The doctor checked a few other stats on the screens around the mayor and then reached forward and gently pulled the tube from her throat.

For a tense moment, everyone in the room waited to see if the respirator was still necessary, which was soon answered as Regina took a heaving breath and finally fully opened her eyes.

Blinking a few times, she sat up and looked around the room, even after all of this time it was still surprising to see that so many people cared about her, but ultimately, her gaze fell upon the blonde who was slightly slumped in her chair, but still looked very much awake.

Though she had not been seen by anyone in the room, she had seen how willing the saviour had been to sacrifice half of her heart. There was no one else that she would rather share such a bond with, but that didn't change the risk she had just taken.

"Idiot," she said in a hoarse voice.

A smile spread across Emma's face and she leaned forward to capture her girlfriend's lips in a chaste kiss that somehow managed to convey everything she hadn't been sure Regina had been able to hear her say in the last couple of days. Though it did help that they now shared a heart, it felt almost as if they could sense how the other was feeling.

The blonde pulled back slightly and whispered, "I love you too."

A/N Hope you guys enjoyed, I would love to hear what you thought XD