Regina had been barred from going off on any missions — the group's or otherwise — after an altercation at the farmhouse. She and her sister had argued over Hades' underlying intentions, and Zelena had let her anger get the best of her. Regina was unharmed, but it had been too close a call for anyone's taste — especially Emma, who was still quite guilt-ridden that they were all still down there.

Where Regina might have fought that verdict even two weeks earlier, she was not in the position to argue — and she certainly didn't have the energy for it, either. Her singular task now was to pour over the spell books from her vault, and to keep Henry company as he allowed his Authorial Powers to manifest. Both options were at least somewhat helpful, Regina told herself, as it seemed their last remaining hope of getting out of the Underworld would have to be via magic.

Sitting at the small table in the Charming's apartment, Regina leaned in, hunched over a large, musty leather book, her eyes narrowed as she scanned the ancient words, hoping to find something — anything — that might be strong enough to open a portal and break down Hades' barriers. As if sheer will were enough to find it, Regina had been at this for days now. Across from her, Henry was seated in a slump, his chin resting in his palm, the pen tapping against his blank storybook, his gaze blank.

Regina breathed in suddenly and Henry's attention was immediately on her, his pen still, his posture erect. She was leaning back, arching strangely and letting her eyes close as she winced, her hand moving to press against the base of her belly.

"Mom?" Henry asked nervously, his stomach turning as he lifted slightly from his seat, realizing they had no plan for this — because this had been too unbearable a thought for anyone to come up with a plan. Regina giving birth down here was not an option. The color was draining from his face as he slowly rose, wondering how to get in touch with Emma — or Snow — or Robin. Anyone.

"It's okay," Regina breathed out, her eyes opening and her muscles slowly releasing their tension. "I'm — I'm okay," she added with a smile, swallowing and nodding her head as she looked into the face of her frightened son.

"She's just…running out of room in there," Regina explained with a soft laugh, her hand now rubbing back and forth over the swell.

Henry was still looking quite pale, still standing, his eyes locked on his mother.

"Henry, I'm fine," Regina cooed, her tone shifting to comfort her son. She reached forward to lay her hand over his, her smile growing.

"This time," he grumbled, pulling his hand back and letting out a sigh. He turned away quickly, but Regina had already seen the tears forming in his eyes, his lips pulling back into a tight frown — something he'd done since he was a baby.

"Henry," Regina hummed, watching him as he moved away from her, watching as he paced — just like his mother, Regina thought, seeing so much of Emma in him.

"We've been here almost two months. And we're no closer to getting home than the day we came down here. This was a mistake. This was all a big mistake…"

Regina was already pushing back from the table, and standing slowly, moving to wrap her arms around her son.

"Henry," she whispered, closing her eyes as she smiled over his shoulder, taking note of how tall he'd grown — because not that long ago, she had to bend her knees to hold him like this — and sooner than she'd like, she'd have to stand on her toes.

"It's not your job to worry about this. You're my son. I'm your mother — I'm supposed to be the one to worry, remember?" she asked, pulling back to look into his eyes with a smile. Her hands held his face tenderly, and she searched his eyes, waiting for him to show any sign of agreement.

"I came down here because I love these people. They're my friends. And my family. And no one else is to blame for my decision but me," she promised.

"When we first arrived here, I justified my choice by saying that I owed Emma. Because she did what I couldn't. She found a way to…give me — give Robin — this baby. But…the more time I spend down here, and the more time I spend with you, and Emma and Snow and….Charming," she said the last name with an eye roll, the smile not leaving her lips. "…The more I realize that I don't need an excuse of owing anyone. I would have come here, regardless. I think…I realized it when I explained it to Zelena. This is family. And when family needs help…"

"You step up," Henry agreed with a smile, finally beginning to relent in his sorrow and regret.

"You step up," Regina whispered, echoing the sentiment. She let her hands drop away from his face and rest on his shoulders. "And that is something that we'll want to teach your baby sister when she comes," she encouraged.

Henry's eyes flickered.

"When she comes. When we're home," Regina promised.

The realization that Cora had not passed on from the Underworld came after Hook and Emma bribed the Blind Witch with a few bottles of 'breath of the living'. Without hesitation, Hook had found her location, and helped her escape her fate of constantly milling flour in the depths of Hades' underworld. They'd hidden her away in Regina's vault, hoping to use her to get to Zelena. But when Emma confessed to Regina that they'd rescued her, it was no surprise to anyone that Regina demanded she see her — and join in on this one last mission.

"I'm so sorry we didn't come for you sooner," Regina hummed, shaking her head. "I didn't — if we had known," she lamented, walking at Cora's side through the passageways of her vault.

"Sweetheart, I can take care of myself," Cora promised, gently guiding her daughter towards the trunk, hoping she would sit and rest.

Regina eyed the iron chest and sighed — she wouldn't make that mistake again.

"I just…wish you weren't still here," Cora sighed, seeing that Regina's belly was quite full, and quite low.

"I told you. I couldn't leave," Regina reminded her. "Not without helping my friends."

Cora nodded with understanding in her eyes.

"But…even if I wanted to leave now, I can't," Regina admitted with regret.

"Why not? What's Hades done?"

"He put my name on a tombstone. Trapping me here. So he can go to Storybrooke without me or anyone else following him up there," Regina explained, shaking her head.

"Impossible. I know the Lord of the Underworld can't leave this world for good," Cora challeneged.

"No…he can," Regina sighed, remembering all too well what they had learned from the torn out pages from Hades' story they had acquired. "If he restarts his heart with True Love's Kiss."

"Who could possibly love that man?" Cora asked, clearly disgusted.

"Zelena," Regina answered hesitantly — because until now, she realized, she and her mother had never spoken of her. Zelena had found her long after Cora's death.

Cora was clearly taken aback by Regina's knowledge — and candor. But she accepted it quickly, realizing that there was little hope for secrecy while she was not alive to keep it.

"Zelena… She's.. here?" Cora asked hesitantly.

"It seems she and Hades have a past…" Regina offered

"We need to change her mind," Cora insisted, stepping closer to Regina, urgency radiating from her every pore.

"We've tried. She thinks she can change him. Make him a better man."

"You were right to come to me. She's in more danger than you realize. Hades has been down here far too long to be changed by something as simple as….love," Cora sneered.

"How do we stop Hades….from taking the baby… from hurting Zelena," Regina asked, her eyes narrowed, hanging on her mother's every word.

Alone at the farmhouse, Zelena sat at the table in front of the fire, gently twirling the flower Hades had given her days earlier — only now it was black and stiff and crumbling. Content to remain there in bliss, imagining what it would be like to gain control over Storybrooke and have her child back and lose Regina in the process, she was startled when there was a knock at the door.

Standing with a sigh, half expecting to see her sister waddling through the door, Zelena was visibly shaken when it was not Regina on the other side — but her mother.

"Hello, Zelena," Cora hummed, offering a smile that showed her discomfort.

"Mother…"

"I wasn't sure you'd know who I was," Cora admitted, shrugging gently.

"I don't know what you're doing here…but I don't need anything from you," Zelena snapped, her wounds from being abandoned and named second best to Regina still open and festering.

But as Zelena moved to slam the door closed, hoping to put an end to this visit, Cora lifted her hand and stopped it in its place.

"We both know you've been waiting for this moment your entire life. Let's not pretend otherwise."

Zelena stiffened — because she was right. But after a moment, she relented, letting out a sigh and stepping to the side to let her enter.

"When I heard you were here, I knew I had to come," Cora said gently, lowering herself to sit at the table across from Zelena, though her daughter remained standing, stiff and unrelenting.

"Regina sent you, didn't she," Zelena asked, her anger evident in her eyes. "To try and talk me out of it — to talk me out of staying with Hades."

"You think Regina would ever forget what I did to her father?" Cora laughed — and this was not a lie. "No. And as for stopping you, I'm the last person to do that. Not when it was my doing that put you in this position in the first place."

And that was the most truth Cora had ever spoken. Had she not abandoned Zelena as a child, it might have been her firstborn who cast the dark curse — or perhaps it wouldn't have been cast at all. Perhaps Regina would have been successful in sneaking off into the night with Daniel. Perhaps.

"What is that supposed to mean," Zelena shrugged, uninterested in rehashing the 'what if's'.

"I'm sure your feelings for Hades are real," Cora sighed, letting the conversation turn in response to Zelena's obvious discomfort. "But isn't it obvious? You're still trying to fill the hole in your heart that I created. When I abandoned you."

"I'm not interested in talking about this," Zelena answered, turning to step away from her mother, hiding her face as she added, "I'm over it. I have been for years."

"No you're not. What I did left a wound that's been festering for decades. You want to know if I regret my decision. If, after all these years, I'm sorry I gave you away…"

Zelena stood still, and silent, her eyes filling with tears, forced now to face the question she had been asking herself since before she could remember. "Well. Are you?"

"Of course I'm sorry. I'm so sorry…"

"Then why," Zelena begged, her voice soft and sad.

"I thought it would be the best for you —" but she stopped herself. "—For me. I thought it would be the best for me. And I was wrong. Don't you understand why I can't leave the underworld yet?" Cora asked, stepping in towards her daughter once more.

"It's you. You're my unfinished business. This…this feud between you and Regina. It's my fault. And it has to stop," Cora cooed, reaching forward to bring Zelena into her arms — and Zelena let her.

Later that day, Zelena, Regina and Cora all three sat down to talk. Cora allowed their stolen memories — of their childhoods, when Cora had brought them together for a few precious days — to be returned. The memories of their time together, and their heartbreaking departure, were enough to begin to close the rift between the siblings.

"It was a time in my life when I thought that love was weakness," Cora explained solemnly, standing between her two daughters. "I was a fool."

Turning, she stepped towards Regina, her eyes soft and her smile growing. "Look at you, Regina," she whispered. "You stayed here to help your father, your family. You're stronger than I ever was. And that's a strength you got from the people you love. Not from me," she admitted gently.

And then Cora was turning to Zelena, smiling brightly, her eyes glittering with unshed tears. "My Zelena," she began. "I meant what I said earlier. I am so sorry. Sorry I never gave you the family you deserved. Or the love. I should have been there for you. Instead of wasting my life destroying people. Maybe now you won't have to make the same mistakes I did," she said hopefully, offering a smile.

"You hurt Regina because you thought that she was the cause of your pain. But you were wrong. It was me. What you did…to Robin…" she said softly, shaking her head. "Let Regina keep that baby safe. Let her carry to term. Let…let her raise your daughter — and as you grow stronger, and as you learn what family truly means…I know that you will be welcomed into that child's life. And you'll be able to teach her so much… So much more than if either of you tried to do it on your own," Cora promised, turning and reaching a hand out to each of her children. "You're stronger, together. And I made you weak by keeping you apart."

"What if it's too late for me," Zelena asked in a broken whisper, her tears flowing freely now.

"If being here has taught me anything, it's that it is never too late — especially for family. You never stop being connected. Right up to the end. And sometimes. Even after."

"How did this work with your father?" Cora asked, standing just slightly ahead of her daughters, facing out towards the precipice where the flames would decide her fate in moving on from the Underworld. The heat was enough to make her wince — even this far back — and Cora's stomach turned, thinking regretfully about how she'd made her husband go through this with fear in his heart.

"He just…crossed the bridge," Regina replied evenly, trying not to show her fear. Because while her father had undoubtedly deserved to find peace somewhere better than here, she knew all too well that her mother was more complex — had far more weight in her soul, far more to answer for.

"And it…took him. To where be belonged," Regina added softly. "Into the light."

"Will that work for her?" Zelena asked, turning to Regina with desperation in her eyes — because she understood the complexity of it, too.

"Whatever my fate is, I deserve it. I can face it. Knowing I brought the two of you together — that's all the peace I need," Cora said with a smile, turning to face her daughters once more. And in her eyes was something altogether unfamiliar in the older woman — truth.

"Mother," Regina plead softly, suddenly not ready to say goodbye — a second time.

"Just promise me you'll hold onto each other," Cora said with a nod.

Stepping in close to Regina, Cora took her hands into her own and offered a loving smile.

"In Storybrooke…when I died. We never got the chance to say goodbye," Cora whispered. And she smiled sadly, her tears falling to her cheeks, and she wrapped her arms around Regina and held her tightly, savoring the feel of their bodies pressed together — and when was the last time they hugged and meant it fully, no deception between them?

Pulling back to look into her eyes, Cora smiled, her hands moving from Regina's shoulders to the sides of her belly. "You take good care of each other."

Turning to Zelena then, Cora was already trembling, already dreading the words she was about to speak. Because nothing could undo the damage she had caused in her firstborn. Nothing could fully heal the wounds she'd created. She needed more time — but her time was quite spent.

"And we never even got to say 'hello'," Cora lamented, her voice pitching upwards, regret and sorrow spilling out.

She pulled Zelena into her embrace, and held her there a while, hoping that while this would never make up for a lifetime of lost love, it would carry her through this time, and remind her of who she truly was.

"I love you both," Cora whispered, turning back to face the precipice once more. She stepped forward, taking a deep breath — and waited. She braced herself for the chance that she would be pulled down deeper, to serve her eternity in a place worse than this. She recounted the mistakes she'd made in her life, her own voice echoing in her mind — "Love is weakness". She had never been further from the truth.

Behind her were the reminders of what could have been, had she not been so blinded by dark ambition. Her daughters. Her children. That's what she should have focused on. On love. On family. On making the world a better place for them than it had been for her — but by letting them find their own happiness, in finding for themselves what happiness was.

Ahead of her was her future, her fate. And she steadied herself with a deep exhale.

Regina reached over to take Zelena's hand in her own, holding it firmly, watching anxiously as the flames lifted towards their mother.

The heat rose, and Cora recoiled — but the flames pulled back, revealing a bright light ahead. And Cora let out a girlish laugh, turning over her shoulder to her daughter, beaming with pride — because this was a fate she could never have imagined for herself.

The sisters smiled, hands clasped tightly. And they were proud, too.

They watched with joy as Cora walked on — and passed on from the Underworld, leaving them behind in favor of a happier eternity.

"I've waited my whole life to have a mother, and now she's gone," Zelena sobbed quietly.

Regina turned to her, streaky paths where tears had fallen staining her cheeks. "It's okay," she whispered, stepping in, letting her opposite hand cover Zelena's. "It's okay… I think… I think you have another love to find," Regina hummed, her eyes lifting to meet her sisters. Perhaps she had been right about Hades. Perhaps he, too, simply needed love to redeem him.

"What are you saying," Zelena asked softly, shaking her head, her brow furrowed.

"Hades. Go to him," Regina nodded.

"You trust me?" Zelena asked — and she sounded more like the young girl from their memories than a woman, a powerful witch.

"I trust you," Regina assured her with a smile.

"Thank you, Regina…"

And the two leaned in, wrapping their arms tightly around each other, holding each other close. Zelena pulled back first, laughing breathily, her eyes lowering to Regina's form. "She kicked," Zelena said softly, her smile bright.

Regina beamed, nodding her head, her smile only growing. "She knows when family is close by."