Well I don't know about you all but that last Once episode had me super irritated, so much for Regina's character development. Cora is such a pain in the ass. Regina goes from not believing a word her mother is saying in the tomb, to being annoyed that Cora was in her house, then bam! She's crying in her arms. Whatever, I hope it's all an act and the writers haven't ruined her completely.

Anyway, enough of that. Onto a new chapter…

Ch 3 – Keepsakes

She could do this. She could totally do this.

I can do this, she thought.

Emma paced the room one more time before grabbing her keys and shutting the door.

When she finally parked her car outside the mayor's house she felt like she had left her stomach back at Mary Margaret's.

Ugh. Where is all my confidence when I need it?

Taking a deep breath, Emma closed her eyes and rested her head against the steering wheel.

She hadn't wanted to do it, if she was being honest; she really wished she could have just forgotten all about seeing the dress. But her burning curiosity had always been a bit of a weakness.

The day after Henry's birthday she asked him to borrow his book. A part of her wished he would say no because he needed it, but he had gladly given it up, no questions asked.

She sat in her room that night, tangled up in blankets with only a side lamp for light, she felt like a little girl again reading a scary story. But she had to know.

Slowly she opened the book, the clenching in her chest growing stronger with each page she turned, getting closer to finally landing on the one she was looking for.

Please be wrong, please be wrong, it's completely impossible, please be-

And there it was. The dress.

Emma's eyes widened in disbelief.

Royal, grand, and terrifying in all its beauty.

But what was even more frightening was the woman wearing it; The Evil Queen as she handed a blood red apple to Snow White before she fell under the sleeping curse.

And now, in her state of incredulity, Regina looked more and more like the woman in the picture the longer she stared. Oh God, she thought, Henry was right.

Taking one more deep breath, she got out of the car and walked up to the mansion. This was the only time she could do this. Henry was at school and this could only happen when Regina was the only one home.

Emma knocked on the door and waited. Her heart was pounding in her chest, her palms were clammy, but she tried her hardest to keep calm. She needed her wits about her for the conversation she was about to have.

Just as she was thinking perhaps the mayor wasn't home (and partially praying that she wasn't), the door opened.

Somehow, Emma thought, Regina looked even more intimidating today in her all black suit and black stiletto heels.

The two women stared at each other for a moment, Regina's penetrating gaze looking Emma up and down before she finally broke the silence, "Miss Swan, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Her voice didn't have its usual bite but her face was a smooth mask as if she already knew what Emma had come for.

Steeling her breathing, Emma squared her shoulders and locked eyes with the brunette, "We need to talk."

XxXxX

Regina was slightly confused at the blonde's serious tone. As of late they had been getting along fairly well, due to a surprising mutual passion for horseback riding. Sure they still bickered, but Regina knew they always would no matter how close the pair got. Regina would never admit it, but she was actually growing rather fond of the sheriff.

When Emma had first come into her life it was quite unexpected and she thought of the blonde as nothing but trouble. The only plus side, as odd as it sounded, was Emma could get under her skin. When they would get into an argument Emma didn't cower and back down like everyone else, she would fight back with a temper to rival Regina's own. And when they would really get into it, something in Regina would click. She would get this sort of high off of their arguments; she would live for that heat of the moment when they were in each other's faces, personal space forgotten, neither one of them wanting to be the first to back down. It always felt the best when she would win the quarrel, but even when she lost (which wasn't very often), but if she did, she would still get that high and she started to have a feeling it had more to do with being near Emma herself than being in an argument.

So with an eyebrow raised and a slight tilt of her head, she opened the door wider for Emma to enter.

"Of course, do come in."

Regina watched as Emma shuffled back and forth on her feet trying to find the right words. After about a minute had passed Regina's confusion had grown and she was getting impatient.

"Well? What did you need to talk to me about?"

Emma opened her mouth to speak, but shut it again quickly rethinking her words.

"You wouldn't have come barging over here if it wasn't important Miss Swan, so out with it."

Finally Emma looked up straight into Regina's eyes.

"I know."

Emma mentally patted herself on the back for keeping her voice smooth, even if she had only said two words.

Regina just stared at her blankly like she was imagining all the other things she could be doing with her time.

"Know what, dear?"

"I know who you really are."

Regina crossed her arms and rolled her eyes, "Well I should certainly hope you know who I am considering you've been living here for nearly a year. Did you just recover from some sort of amnesia that I didn't know about?"

"Cut the crap Regina, I know who you are! The curse, it's all real."

That seemed to make Regina falter in her tracks for a moment, she knew her son believed in the curse, but she hadn't expected his birth mother to declare she believed as well. But her hesitation lasted only a brief moment before a smirk reappeared on her lips.

"Miss Swan, you can't be serious. You and Henry have been spending too much time reading that book from Ms. Blanchard." She spat out the name like it actually tasted foul in her mouth. "I thought we were trying to get him away from believing in fairy tales, not have you join in his little fantasy."

"Now I finally know why you hate her so much. She's Snow White. She's my m-mother." Emma couldn't stop the stammer. She could hardly believe she was saying that Mary Margaret was her mom, but if she was Snow White that meant Emma was indeed her daughter.

"Oh for God's sake Miss Swan, here I was beginning to think you actually had some intelligence, but I guess I was wrong. This conversation is over. I trust you can at least find the way out."

Regina turned and started to head for the kitchen.

"I saw the dress, Regina."

At those words the brunette froze.

Emma couldn't see her face to judge her reaction, the brunette still had her back turned.

The room was completely silent and Regina still hadn't turned around, she didn't move a muscle until Emma noticed her hands had clenched into fists.

The blonde watched on, staying quiet, as Regina slowly turned her head and then her body to face Emma. When she spoke, her voice was so low and composed; it made a shiver run up Emma's spine.

"What did you say?"

Emma gulped but kept her gaze steady with the other woman.

"I said I saw the dress, your dress. The one you have at the very back of your closet. I found it when I was looking for Henry's gift."

Regina still hadn't made a move, but if looks could kill, Emma would be dead on the floor.

"I suppose it was foolish of me to put my trust in you to not go through my things. I'm sure you did that a lot didn't you, snooping around when you were sent from house to house."

"I wasn't snooping around Regina, I found it by accident."

Regina opened her mouth to say some snide remark but thought better of it and decided on something else.

"No matter dear, but I'm afraid you'll be disappointed to learn that dress means nothing." She smirked and continued, "It's not even mine, it was my mothers and I kept it after she passed away."

Regina had barely managed to get that last sentence out, mentioning her mother almost always made her cringe, almost.

But Emma wasn't having any of it, she may not have the best academic record, but she wasn't stupid. Not to mention her internal lie detector was going off.

"Nice try, but I know it's yours. When I saw it, I got this weird feeling like I had seen it before but I couldn't place where."

Regina rolled her eyes and started to speak, probably something about how she doesn't care about Emma's feelings. But Emma wasn't finished so she cut her off.

"And that's when I remembered, when I got back to Mary Margaret's, I was in my car and I remembered where I had seen your dress."

Regina's eyes were black with warning, Emma knew she was pushing it, but she couldn't stop now, she could see Regina's defense cracking as her smirk slowly slid off her face second by second.

Emma took one final challenging step forward and spoke, "Henry's book. I saw your exact dress in Henry's book."

Regina's jaw was so tight Emma thought her teeth would crack.

"And I bet if you were to put that dress on right now, it would look like you jumped right off the page."

Emma could tell the brunette was furious; she was surprised she hadn't hit her yet like the time at her father's grave.

"Why did you keep it Regina? Why keep that dress of all things to bring with you?"

The mayor was furious. How could she have been so stupid to forget that that dress was in her closet? Had she really been found out by an act as ludicrous as Emma Swan of all people just stumbling upon it in the depths of all her clothes? She should have locked the damn thing up in a trunk or something and not have it out in the open for unwanted prying eyes. But Regina had nearly forgotten all about the dress in the 28 years she had been here, she had no reason to hide it, she was the only one who ever went in her closet. She had just kept it because of the memory attached to the dress.

But now she had to play her cards right, she had to prevent this infuriating woman from opening her mouth to the rest of the town. And to think she had actually begun to like her…

"It was my victory dress." Regina said, keeping her voice as even as possible.

Emma almost dropped her jaw in shock; she hadn't thought the mayor would relent so easily.

"It was the dress I wore when I succeeded in cursing dear, Snow White."

Regina finally broke eye contact with Emma as she looked away lost in her memory.

"I can still remember that day as if it were yesterday. The wind was blowing and it was cold but nothing could stop the smile that spread on my face as your mother took a bite of that apple. I had your father captive and Snow White and her Prince Charming are so sickly in love with each other that I knew I didn't have to say much to get her to take the bait."

Emma was almost disgusted with how much pleasure Regina had gotten from that moment.

"But it didn't work, not forever at least."

Regina's eyes snapped back to stare at her, brown into green.

"Prince Charming found Snow White and woke her up."

Regina just glared at her, "Yes, quite unfortunately. Your parents seem to always find each other." She finished with a growl.

Emma didn't know what to do next; she hadn't put much thought into what she would do after she confronted Regina about the curse. Would she just hi-tail it out of there and tell Henry he was right all along, did she try to tell Mary Margaret and David that she was actually their daughter and they were once married in a far off land? Could she do that? Would Regina even let her leave?

Before she could think of something to say however, Regina beat her to it.

"So what now, Miss Swan? Are you going to try to arrest me? I don't think anyone will believe you if you say I am the Evil Queen from a children's story book."

Suddenly, Emma had a thought, "I bet Gold would believe me."

At that, Regina did look startled.

Emma had always thought there was something off about the shop keeper, but she couldn't put her finger on it, now she guessed that he knew something about the curse if not completely aware of it.

"Let's leave him out of this Miss Swan, trust me. You don't want to get involved with him."

"Who is he?"

Regina furrowed her brow, confused, "What?"

"Who is he, what fairytale character is he?"

"Oh…" Regina contemplated that for a moment, wondering if she should reveal his identity, but she was sure Emma would figure it out one way or the other.

"In the fairytale world, he's better known as Rumpelstiltskin."

Emma shook her head, "This is too weird."

"Tell me about it, I can't believe I'm having this conversation with you."

Emma let out a frustrated groan, "You think I wanted to find all this out Regina? I knew this town was weird since the first day I got here, but to learn the curse is real?! Forgive me if it's all a little hard to take in."

"Which brings us back to my question Sheriff," Regina spoke, squaring her shoulders, "what are you planning on doing because as far as I can tell, while you did figure it out, my curse is still intact. No one has regained their memories."

Honestly, Emma had no clue. No one would believe her, Regina was right, the curse hadn't been broken. Emma had only realized it was real, but obviously that hadn't been enough to actually break it.

It would do no good running around trying to convince people of the seemingly impossible. That's when she realized maybe it would be best to simply just leave, to try and forget all of it. She would tell Regina she would keep quiet about everything and not go to Gold if she could still visit Henry after she left, because right now that's all she cared about; Henry.

He would be heartbroken that she wouldn't stay in Storybrooke, but this was for the best, she couldn't keep living here knowing that her roommate was her mother, especially after some of their previous conversations that a mother and daughter just shouldn't have. She cringed and tried not to think about it. As much as she had wanted a mother and father all her life, it seemed they were still out of her reach.

"Alright Regina, look, we're both in a bit of a tight spot here, but I think when it all comes down to it, we both just want what's best for Henry. He believes whole-heartedly in this curse but maybe if- if I'm gone," Emma took a steadying breath, "then he'll start to forget about it." If she thought the prospect of leaving Henry was hard, actually saying goodbye was going to be really difficult.

"You've been trying to run me out of town ever since I got here and you're finally going to get your wish. I'll leave."

It appeared Regina had been rendered speechless, she hadn't expected the blonde to say she'd leave town. "I'm sensing a 'but' to this proposal…"

Nodding her head, Emma continued, "But, I still want to be able to see Henry. I will keep quiet and leave if I still get to see Henry."

"He'll try to get you to stay."

Emma looked to the ground and shuffled her boots, "I know. I don't want to leave him, but I think this is best. You want me gone and this whole fairytale thing is just too much for me to deal with."

"I –," Regina had almost confessed she didn't want the blonde to leave, but snapped her mouth shut and shot the feeling down. She was at huge risk with Emma knowing about the curse, any feelings of friendship they had started to develop before didn't matter now.

Emma looked at her curiously but didn't have time to question the matter before the brunette spoke again, "Fine Miss Swan, I will agree to it that you may visit Henry. We will work out details for the arrangements later." She walked to the door and opened it, indicating it was time for Emma to leave. "Henry will be off school soon and I need to pick him up. I suggest that now would be a good time for you to pack."

Emma tugged at the scarf she was wearing, already feeling the cold from the open door.

"Yeah, the sooner the better, right?" she said sarcastically.

Regina kept her hold firmly on the door as she swallowed back a lump that had suddenly formed in her throat.

Just before Emma passed through the door she stopped and looked into Regina's eyes. They were mere inches from each other, well into the others personal space, but when had they ever obeyed that boundary? "We'll talk again soon, I want to say goodbye to him before I leave."

Regina had a hard time finding her voice as she locked eyes with Emma, opting for a short nod of her head in acknowledgment.

Emma held her gaze a moment longer, as if searching for something in the brunettes chocolate orbs, but for what, Regina didn't know.

Emma turned then without another word and left, heading for her yellow bug. Regina watched her drive off, and then returned to the warmth of her house, closing the door behind her. She slowly made her way over to the living room, sitting down heavily on the sofa.

This is good, she told herself. This is what needs to be done. She should be thrilled that Emma is going to leave quietly. With Emma gone everything can go back to normal, Henry will probably be upset with her for a while, but hopefully, eventually Henry will grow out of his belief in the White Knight destined to save everyone and she can focus her attention on her mayoral duties without having to worry over what trouble the blonde will cause next. Everything will be fine, the curse is still intact, and no one will suspect a thing.

She sighed, leaning her head back and stared at the ceiling, willing the clenching in her heart to go away. If this is how it was supposed to be, then why did she feel like it was one giant mistake in letting Emma Swan go?

XxX

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