A/N: I wanted to take a quick time-out and explain why Regina-centric chapters haven't been as prominent as others. I really enjoy the character, but I just felt the spotlight was on her SO much in Season 2 that it actually did her character damage. When she had about six episodes and Emma had one and Charming had zero, there is something off-balance. I loved her in Season 1 and she was such a complex character with only one or two centrics. I feel that Season 2's biggest problem was what was done with Regina. So...since this is a kind-of Season 3, I decided to scale her back a little and work with what had already been set up-that she was only beginning to realize what she had done to everyone and was willing to make sacrifices to make up for it...instead of just expecting everyone to go along with her without lifting a finger.

Anyway, that is my little rant. We will see her point of view a little more often in this second part of the story. OUAT belongs to Adam&Eddie, not me.

Regina twitched, the twelve Lost Boys gathering around her. She refused to ask now if this world was home for any of them. They probably didn't even remember and they probably were all from the Land Without Magic. Stepping off the ship onto the spongy beach, she couldn't tear her eyes from the castle, now in ruins. The curse did that. Her curse did that. It would all be so easy...find a way to send the others back and keep Henry and herself here. Magic no longer unpredictable, once more as reliable as the tide—even the air smelled better here, a little sweeter, like apples and pine.

"Okay, Henry, where did Aurora say they were?"

Ironic it should be Snow's voice bringing her back to reality. Snow...stuck on a boat with Snow and everyone...a wave of nausea swam its way from her stomach all the way to her throat.

"Mom?" Henry ran to her, both his hands on her arm.

"I need, I just need a little air, that's all. Being back here." With a forced smile, she marched to the other end of the beach, her back to the ruins.

Sure she was out of earshot, she opened her mouth and sucked in as much air as she could. Who was she? All those years, she'd told herself all those deeds, the deaths, the lies, the curse, were but means to an end, the end of a little girl who didn't know how to keep her mouth shut. Conscience stopped nagging her. Former opponents cowed down to her. Anyone's master plan could be thwarted with just some quick thinking and an exercise of her power. And then...she no longer felt like a person so much as a tree, and one by one, Rumpelstiltskin, Snow, Leopold, Frankenstein, Jefferson, Charming, Emma, Owen, and Mother, especially Mother, chipped and sawed away at her until she no longer recognized herself as a villain or a hero, just...remains. Regina wanted nothing more at that moment than to sink into the sand and burrow her palms in it and swear to never leave this land again. She'd once been a lady, ninth or so in line to the throne, living in a comfortable estate with horses...had Henry ever seen that person? Even before he knew Storybrooke was different?

I don't want to leave, her mind kept repeating. I can't leave again.

"Mom?" Henry rushed to her again, his hands on his knees. "Mom, are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm sorry, Henry. I...it's been so long since I've been here." Summoning up a smile, she brushed his hair out of his eyes. "It must be a great adventure to you."

"I get it. It's home to pretty much everybody," he said, shrugging, concern still in his eyes, but, for eleven, he could shield emotion as good as any scarred adult. He'd been around enough, that was for sure, she thought. For a moment, she wished it had been home for him, too. "The other kids are worried."

"They'll stay with me. I'll protect them." Your son's well-being. Your son's well-being. Your son's well-being. "Your grandmother asked you a question."

"They were going to the beanstalk," he said, tugging on her sleeve until they returned to the rest of the group. She saw Emma and Snow share a "what next" look. "She said they knew someone who might be able to help."

"Anton," Emma breathed.

"But he's not there anymore," Snow said.

Regina didn't know who this Aurora girl was, but she already detested her.

"Walking into a trap, unwittingly choosing your own doom," Rumpelstiltskin sang out, all eyes on him. "Well don't you see? If the fairies brought us here, they knew we would go poking around." He inhaled a few times, Regina able to see some sanity clawing its way through. "Bae is the bait, bait they didn't even have to set. It's all so they won't have to look for Henry. They will already know where he is. Sometimes the laziest plan is the best."

"We'll have to split up," she said. She wished for the spellbook still at the house. They all looked at her, faces of denial, refusal, fear. Well, she wouldn't be the Evil Queen if she wasn't used to all that. "One group will have to climb the beanstalk and help Baelfire and the other group will have to hide and defend Henry."

"But to climb the beanstalk you need..." Emma trailed off and looked over at Hook. "The climby-thingies." She entwined her fingers around her wrist.

"Sorry, lass, I'm unfamiliar with that term," Hook said, managing a silent laugh. Great. Great time for all this.

"You know what I'm talking about."

"I do, but I want to hear you say it again." A beat. "I no longer have them. I gave one to you and the other..." His eyes followed his entire head swaying in Regina's direction. "Not exactly something you'd regard as a keepsake, am I right?"

Rolling her eyes, she turned to Rumpelstiltskin. "You could magic a team up a beanstalk and back down again, couldn't you?" He grinned at her, a mouthful of knives in his imp form. She shuddered, disgusted she'd once been so used to his appearance. "Then." She breathed, closing her eyes and concentrating on her lungs, on her heartbeat. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but, Emma, take Henry with you."

"What?" Emma ran up to her.

"You have the most powerful magic of anyone here. You'll be the best equipped to protect him."

"You're, you're serious."

"Yes, try not to sound so shocked. Go somewhere near the base of the beanstalk and hide out. The others and I will go up and save Baelfire and your...acquaintances."

"Friends," Emma corrected her. She patted Henry's back. "Ready to see some of the countryside, kid?"

There. She'd made the right choice. And if anything happened to her, he still had a mother. She gulped.

"You're going to help save my dad?" Henry asked her, his eyes brimming with tears. "I want to help."

"If it's a trap, sweetie, we can't run that risk." He rushed to her, throwing his arms around her waist. All at once, flashes—clapping and cheering after potty-training, first days of school, putting his face into a pool and blowing bubbles for the first time. Inhaling back the tears, she folded her arms once they released each other and peered right into Emma, when she usually tried to look through her. "You have him?"

"You have them?" She cocked her head back at the Lost Boys.

"I don't have much of a choice."

"I'm sorry."

"For what? Not being on the same page as Neal and Aurora and all of them?" Emma asked, squinting. "Not expecting world-crossing mind reading powers from anyone here...except maybe Henry."

"No, I've been doubting you. Tamara, the Blue Fairy. You were right and I should have supported you better. It was my fault I wavered, not yours." She held out the book to her. "It was all in here. "You two hang onto it. You're the ones who always find the answers in it."

"Thanks, but..." She stowed the book under her arm and looked down at Henry before bringing her eyes back up to her. "You don't have to apologize."

"I do. Emma, you don't know how I felt when Mulan was about to chop the beanstalk down. Now we're all going back to that same place, I want you to know how much I trust you, how much faith I have in you."

Profuse apologies led to never knowing when to stop, Snow thought, clamping her lips together before more words took the meaning from the ones already said. Some things can't be pushed, or even commented upon. They just have to unfold. She patted Emma's hand, hopeful she would take that as they would meet up to hug later, not that she didn't want to.

Filling up bottles from a nearby spring, re-stringing bows, taking a few bites of crackers before the journey, Snow hoisted the backpack up onto her shoulders once again, several pounds lighter now after dropping off the book. But now, she bit her lip. Oh, she was not looking forward to this conversation, but it was the last thing she could do to protect Henry before they split up.

"Hook." Such a surreal moment, hearing her own voice speak before she could change her mind.

He turned towards her, more swagger than she'd have liked.

"I want you to go with Emma and Henry to the base of the beanstalk." There, said. Like ripping off a bandage...stop giving me that confused look, she willed him. Of course, that did nothing. "You knew exactly how to get to it before and we followed you. I'm not sure I would know the way off the top of my head, let alone in these conditions." He glanced over at their direction and then back at her, face too unreadable for her liking. "I know her magic is strong, stronger than probably anything we've ever known and she should probably be here to control Rumpelstiltskin, but we need that magic to guard Henry. It's strong magic, but she's going to rely on what she knows first. She'll fight first. And I do not want her to be outnumbered."

Oh, why wasn't he saying anything? Innuendo poured out of his mouth like clockwork ordinarily. She could hear it, a slimy why-should-I that was not yet being voiced. So then, she knew. She'd known before, but she knew without a doubt now. Indeed, some things can't be pushed...but sometimes they need to be commented upon... Snow lowered her voice. "I know you care about her and I think you care about Henry and I'm right about this." She glanced over in her daughter's reaction where Charming had one arm around her and was kissing her cheek.

"As you wish," he said, casually, so if someone overheard they might find it ironic or resentful. Then, managing a grin and an altogether less serious demeanor, he held up his hand. "Swan! Do you remember the way or are you wishing we'd left a trail of crumbs the last time?"

"I've heard the story enough times I think I'd be able to find it," Henry said.

"Good lad! That's a lively attitude."

"Why are you coming?" Emma asked.

Don't sell me out, don't sell me out.

"Why, your thoughtful mum asked me to and I do not turn a lady down."

Thanks ever so much, Snow thought, blushing and giving nothing but a wave as she headed for the other direction at a brisk pace. To catch up with the others, she told herself.

Charming hustled over to her and, holding her hand, led her over to Rumpelstiltskin.

"Let's go get this over with."

"Yes indeed, dearie. Let's start the hike!"

"We're walking?"

"Of course! I'm finally free of my limp, after all! Have to break in the new and improved version of me," he giggled. "And," he hissed. "You will not be expecting me to be at your beck and call while we're here and oblige your every request because the more a Dark One uses magic..."

"The greater the price?" she tried.

"That, and the price just may be the non-Dark One part of me." Face sullen, his eyes seemed a fraction more human now. "I can't go mad here, not when we're so close to Bae." He threw on a smirk, added some flourish. "Still planning on taking part in this little debacle, dearie?"

"Our child escaped the curse because of you. We're just returning a favor," Charming said, sword at his side, crossing into the forest. Like old times, Snow thought, looking back at Greg, Regina and a single-file line of children behind her like ducklings. Well, kind of.