Robin raced for the mayor's office while Emma went to find Gold. She didn't know what she was going to do when she got him. Arrest him? At least if he was with her at the station he wouldn't be attacking Regina.

Belle jumped as Emma stormed in.

"Emma?" she asked, alarmed

"Where's Gold?" She asked

"He went out" Belle said, looking slightly offended.

"Hey ma, everything ok?" she only just noticed him there.

"Belle, can I take him?" She asked

"I guess so, I don't have anything else for you, Henry" she said

Sensing something was wrong, Henry grabbed his bag and followed Emma quickly. She explained in the car on the way to the station and then again when they got there for David's benefit.

Emma took the needle out of the safe.

"Emma I wanted to talk to you" David said quietly.

"Ok" Emma replied, taking a swig of his coffee and only half listening.

"It's about what you told Snow" he said

"Oh" she felt like her chest was in a vice. He had all her attention now.

"She asked me not to give you a 'dad talk'" he said. Emma smiled appreciatively

"So I'm going to give you a friend talk instead. What you told her is crap" he said

"W-what?" she stammered

"What you told her. You might want to believe it, some scared part of you might even think it's true, that it's not romantic."

"Dad, what are you-" Emma tried to ask

"You say you're not in love with Regina." He looked like the words were difficult for him and she understood why. "But that's crap"

"Dad it wasn't that kind of...love, I guess. It was y'know, platonic" she really hated that word

"That's not how it works, Emma!" He said "you can't pick and choose the kind of love you want. You know that, Regina definitely knows that. If that kiss worked it was the same kind of love. It can't be coerced, it has to be freely given and it has to be the same. I see the way you look at her" he said

"How is that?" Emma rolled her eyes at him

"Like you're jealous of the air she breathes" he replied candidly.

There was a pause while Emma tried to find something, anything she could argue against in what he had said.

"Dad, Robin is her destiny, remember?" She said to the desk she was scratching a coffee ring off.

"Yes. I'm sure he is part of her destiny. If she hadn't met Robin, she never would have fallen under the sleeping curse, you never would have kissed her" David said

Emma's phone rang. Her heart was banging in her chest. She turned away from him to look. Regina's unimpressed face looked back at her. She answered

"Regina?"

"Is Henry safe? Did you find Gold?" Her concerned voice rumbled across the line

"Yes he is, and no I didn't. Are you at your office? Is Robin ok?"

Emma heard David leave the office.

"No we went for a walk to talk...my phone battery is low, I have to go" Emma got the distinct sense she was with Robin so she left it.

"The park? Ok, when you're done we should talk" Emma said and hung up.

She sighed. Short of driving out to the woods to confront Gold in his cabin, Emma wasn't sure what to do next.

She pulled the pouch from her jacket packet and opened it. The needle slid out. Instinctively she went to catch it. It grazed her skin, she felt her legs go from under her.

She was unconscious before she hit the floor.

"Mom?" Henry called hearing the thud from her office. David got there before him.

"Emma!" He checked her pulse

"Don't move her, she could be hurt" Henry said.

David brushed the hair from her face

"It looks like she hit her head" he said

Henry stood for a moment starting at the woman he had only ever seen in strength now lying helpless on the floor.

"What's this?" David asked, sliding the pouch from Emma's hand.

"It's where Robin put the needle that held the sleeping curse" Henry said

David looked up. Fear and resolution mixed in his face.

"Henry, get your mom"

Regina and Robin walked slowly back to the mayor's office from the park when Regina noticed Henry in the distance running his fastest towards the office.

"Henry!" She called but he didn't hear.

Robin put two fingers in his mouth and whistled. Henry slowed to look around, corrected his course and belted over to them.

"Mom!" He gasped, bending double to catch his breath

"What is it?" Regina asked, bending to see him in concern.

"Emma got pricked by the needle" he said, his chest heaving.

"Where is she?" Regina asked

"The station" he replied

Regina stood straight again.

"Are you coming?" She held her hand out to Robin.

He shook his head. She searched his face.

"Will I see you again?" She asked

"Probably not, no" he practically whispered.

Regina stared at him for a moment before nodding slightly. She kissed him on his rough, stubbly cheek and hugged him. She felt him breathe her in and was sad. He needed her, she knew, but she didn't need him back. He let go.

"Goodbye Robin" she said

She took Henry's hand and was gone in a thick swathe of purple smoke.

They appeared in the station. David had moved Emma to the sofa and put an ice pack on her head where she had hit the floor.

Regina thought she looked like she was just taking a nap, but she knew the depth of the sleep she was in, drowning forever until someone would wake her up. She made her way over

"It's the sleeping curse" he said, somewhat stupidly, Regina thought.

She sat next to Emma on the sofa and tried to think. The clamour of thoughts and feelings about things that had just happened almost clouded her vision.

She didn't notice David leave her with Emma and Henry. She tried an extraction spell, a spell to end incantations, generic healing spells and then stopped. Nothing worked.

"Mom" Henry said from her side

She looked sideways at him. He had turned into such a perceptive, insightful young man right before her eyes.

"You know what you have to do" he said

She did. She had to save Emma with true love's kiss, and if she couldn't no one could.

"What are you waiting for?" He asked. It wasn't harsh or critical, he just don't understand, how could he?

She couldn't ignore the problem anymore, not her feelings, not everything she had known for a long time.

"What are you scared of?" He asked when she didn't reply

"Henry" Regina whispered, like what she had to say was so delicate that anything stronger would break it.

"I'm scared" her voice shook slightly, he put his hand on hers "that it won't work"

She was drowning in things she couldn't express. Everything she needed to say climbed up her throat, choking her, soon they would roll down her cheeks in tears.

"And" she continued. She took a breath and looked Henry full in the face. He may as well know the full truth "and I am scared that it will"

She squeezed his hand and he let her. He reached out and hugged her hard. The love of this boy would always soothe her, always calm her, but this time it was just not enough. He left her alone with sleeping Emma.

She sat watching her in silence for a long time.

"Miss Swan" she said quietly "not content with stealing my son from me, you want the only other thing that matters too."

She felt calmer than she had since she arrived at the station. Resigned to the truth of what was happening, she thought carefully about what she said as if Emma could actually hear her.

"You come in here and demand and take. You can't demand me. You can't take my life, my heart" she choked slightly on the last word.

"Because you already have them" she let tears spill from her eyes before wiping them away. She took Emma's hand in her own. It was warm still and soft.

She leant down slowly and gently touched her lips to Emma's. She didn't think about the curse, about the needle, about whether it would work, she only though about the softness of Emma's lips, the smell of her skin, the warmth created by their touch.