Warning: This chapter contains discussion of Regina's marriage to Leopold and non-consensual sex within it. It's in the first scene between Emma and Regina if you want to skip over it. It's mostly emotional, with no detailed descriptions.

Regina sighed and set down her weak cup of tea. "I never thought I'd miss the diner's coffee."

"I know, right?" Emma licked honey from her knife and set it down on her empty plate. "I miss maple syrup. Even fake maple-flavoured, mostly junk syrup."

"I don't know where you were eating that, but the diner did not serve it." Pushing the tray down the bed, Regina sat back.

"In my old life, Henry never got any, I promise."

Stroking Emma's shoulder, Regina nodded. "I believe you, dear."

Emma stood, stretching, and removed the tray from the bed. The sun was already high in the sky, pouring in across the bed. The fire still burned in the hearth so their room was a bright, warmth hideaway from the world. Emma set their empty plates beside the door then checked the heap of melted wax of their unity candle.

"I don't see how this is romantic. It looks like a volcano gone wrong."

"It's less about us and more about the symbolism. It burns all night to show how love endures."

Emma made a face. "Love is messy and kind of stuck to the table."

"Sometimes it is."

Chuckling, Emma returned to the bed, crawling up Regina's legs. "I've never gotten you stuck to the table."

"You've never had me on a table."

Emma's hair fell over her shoulders, cascading down to tickle Regina's skin. She was so beautiful this morning, rumpled and glowing.

"Is that a challenge?"

"If you like." Holding Emma's face as she smiled, Regina watched and tried reinforce that this was really happening. Emma was hers. No one would take her. For the moment, however brief, she meant to enjoy her.

Emma kissed her, soft and sweet. "How are you?"

"This may be one of the most wonderful mornings of my life."

"Yeah?"

Regina eased her fingers through Emma's golden hair. "Yes."

"We could start getting up earlier and try to have sex every morning." Kissing her again, Emma lowered her head to Regina's belly and kissed her there. "You really don't take up much space, do you, kid?"

"I think she's taking up all of it on the inside."

"You only got up to pee three times last night, I don't know what you're complaining about."

Regina shook her head and started to roll away so Emma couldn't talk to the baby, but Emma held her still.

"You're beautiful."

"Okay."

Emma laughed and kissed her, leaving heat on Regina's lips. "You're just going to take that?"

"I need to save my energy to argue other things."

Emma's attention remained on the baby, her hand covering where she slept just below Regina's navel.

"Can you feel her?"

"I don't know. There's something in there, and if I sleep on my back, that something means I need to pee, but it doesn't feel like a baby."

"Once it feels like a baby, you'll be sick of it." Emma flopped down beside her and Regina rolled to face her.

"Did you get sick of Henry?"

Old sorrow darkened Emma's blue eyes. "I knew he was leaving when he came out, so the bigger he got, the harder it was for me."

"We don't have to give this baby to anyone." Regina wished she could take that grief away, but Henry leaving Emma had brought her to change the world, so she couldn't wish too hard.

"I wouldn't mind if she was going to you. You're a great mother."

Regina's little smirk began ironically, then melted. Emma's sincerity gleamed in her face. The old grudges weren't forgotten, rather forgiven. "So are you."

Kissing her in thanks, Emma changed the subject. "We have to thank Triton for letting us have Henry yesterday. It was very kind of him."

"We will." The memory of Henry's smile, bright through the crowd warmed her heart but still stung. "I wish we could-"

"I know. We'll work it out."

"Your sea goddess couldn't return him to us."

"She's not mine," Emma said. "I think her name is Mazu. I found a picture of her in one of Belle's books and she seemed to be the one. She's not the only sea goddess. Triton said there are sea gods of many cultures, all sharing the sea. Maybe we just need to find the right one."

"I don't think I'm up for another sea voyager just yet." Lying on her side made her stomach curve outward slightly more than it once had. She didn't have any of her old clothes, but she was certain many of her trousers would have been too tight. Regina laid her hand over the curve, trying to feel what wasn't her through her flesh. "I think I'd rather have her on land."

"We have time. Henry seems to love living with the merfolk."

Before Regina could even mention how much she missed him, Emma read it in her eyes.

"He misses us terribly, but this is good for him. It's an adventure with mermaids his own age. Kid really hasn't had many friends."

"I'm afraid he never fit in at his school. The other children never realised he was growing and he could never remember that they weren't." It had been a cruel part of the curse she hadn't considered at the time. Henry had needed only her, or so she thought. Watching him smile and laugh with Ariel and her sisters, she knew that mistake had cost him.

"He's okay and we'll get him back."

"We will." Regina's agreement had less faith than Emma's, but she tried. Perhaps it was best if Henry grew up away from them both where the history of the curse would be less painful for him.

Emma's thumb ran over her cheek, pulling her closer to kiss her. She tasted of honey and apple pancakes: sweet and faintly of cinnamon. She wouldn't have survived without her; couldn't have lost Henry and held herself together. Yet here they were, together, facing the future. It had promise. Perhaps she would get a happy ending after all.

"Tell me about Leopold."

Quick to look away, Regina had to stare at Emma's thighs, anywhere but her face. "Now?"

"Maybe it'll feel good to get it out."

The only joy she remembered of him was knowing he was dead; that the vipers had done their work. By the time he died, Regina hadn't been killing him to punish Snow or even to take the kingdom. That death had been purely between her and her husband.

"I doubt anything I could say about him will make me anything but wretched."

"Then be wretched with me. I'll hold you." Emma draped her leg over Regina's for emphasis. "It feels better once you've said it. Trust me. I have a lot of things I tried not to say for most of my life and once I said them, screamed some of them, it was better."

"Snow said he was kind, before we wed. I wanted to believe her. My father had been kind and other than Daniel, he was the only man I'd spent any real time with. My father was soft and gentle, and Daniel was much the same. I thought, well, I must have naively thought that all men had such hearts and it was women who were cruel. When Daniel died and I was trapped, I thought being away from my mother would be enough. I could wait to get my revenge on Snow and at least I was free of her."

Listening patiently, Emma kept her eyes steady. She could be a rock when she wanted to be and Regina loved her for that.

"I suppose he thought he was kind. He never held me down. He didn't have to. I knew how to be good." The word tasted of ash in her mouth, bitter and burnt. "He didn't mind how uninterested I was in our marital bed."

"You lay there and thought about the ceiling?"

"Most of the time. It got easier. Sometimes I pretended I wanted him, but when he was happier, he took more time and I-" Regina shuddered, her stomach rising to her throat. She'd fought so hard to control herself, to keep Leopold from knowing how much she hated him. Perhaps her body hadn't been able to lie as well as her words, but she'd done her duty. She'd been a good queen. Even when she had to mother the child she despised, that had been easier than pleasing him.

"I never wanted him."

Emma rubbed her tears off her face, her hands warm against Regina's skin. "Do you think he knew?"

"I doubt he cared. I was a good mother for his daughter. Beautiful, the envy of his courtiers, even though all he saw was Snow." Old jealousy flared hot, but quickly turned bitter. "It sounds foolish doesn't it? I hated him for wanting me at all and hated him for not wanting me as much as Snow. He didn't care what I did, as long as I was loyal and shared his bed."

"How did he know you were loyal?"

"I left a diary out where he could read it and he did. Sometimes he even forgot to put it back in the right place and it galled me so to pretend I didn't notice his inept attempts to spy on me. He had me followed to the woods and the servants always reported to him when I failed to give him another child." Anger boiled in her chest, crackling down to her fingertips. Tiny sparks of purple swirled around her skin and Emma's soft blue rose from her touch, calming her on a level beneath conscious thought. Emma supported her from deep within, gentle and patient.

"It wasn't your fault."

"But everyone knew. His beautiful little prize was a barren field."

Emma's laugh cut through the sting of Regina's anger. She'd tried to bury it, even cover it with her hand, yet she grinned. "Sorry."

"What is it?"

"I got you pregnant the third time I did magic with you. We didn't even have to have sex. That seems pretty damn fertile to me."

"Perhaps you have a knack for unplanned pregnancies." Smiling at Emma came easier than she imagined. It didn't even hurt. "I was very angry then. He came to me at night and each time he was inside of me it got worse. He'd lie above me, his sweat on my skin, and I'd wonder if he thought of his first wife, or-" Regina didn't finish the thought, but Emma got it anyway.

"You think he had a thing for Snow?"

"He wouldn't be the first. We looked much alike, her and I, but while she was full of life and hope, I knew only hatred. Sometimes I wished he would just go to her bed instead of mine, that he'd leave me alone for one night, but he didn't. I don't really want that; I would never want that to happen to her. Snow's your mother-"

Emma stopped her, her eyes bright and close. "You went from being a prisoner of your mother's to a prisoner of a king. When you're trapped you want some pretty fucked up shit. Maybe you saved Snow, maybe you didn't. You killed her father because he hurt you; she killed your mother because she would have hurt all of us. Most mother-in-law relationships are complex: yours is pretty unique."

Emma hadn't said anything about Graham. Regina looked away from her eyes, hiding in Emma's chest. Had she made Graham into her? She'd thought she was kind to him and she never hurt him, but would Leopold say the same of her? She hadn't held Graham down because she had his heart. He couldn't have said no even if he'd wanted to. There was no where for him to run. It wasn't the same. Emma would tell her if it was the same, but Emma was quiet. She hadn't pulled away. Magic still glowed in Emma's hands, pale blue in the sunlight. Was she angry? Did she see what Regina had done?

Emma lifted their hands, winding them together. The bright purple angry sparks had gone from Regina's, but the faint purple glow responded to Emma as if some part of her did know how to love without fear. "I don't love you any less. I'll never love you any less than I do right now because you've got me, all of me, and that's not going to change. Okay?"

"All right."

Emma rolled over, lying over Regina as if that would protect her from the world. Her challenge had no teeth and her trust burned in her eyes. "You could say it like you meant it."

"I love you."

Emma's kiss banished the memories of other lips even further back. "That wasn't so hard."

"It is without you." She tried to look away again, but Emma was all around her. Emma didn't need her to look away. She loved even her tears.

"I think that's marriage. Together we're that much better."

"It's a good thing I said yes then, isn't it?" Regina lifted her head, kissing her again. That was always easy.

"Yeah. I don't think I could have handled no."

Regina ran her fingers down until her hand was above Emma's heart. That strange mixed glow of their skin warmed her fingers. Emma's heart beat beneath her hand, fearless, yet not and all the more brave for it. "You asked."

"I wanted yes more than I feared no."

"You wanted me that much?"

"I'll always-"

Regina hushed her, using Emma's tongue for better things than speech.

She'd spent almost an entire day partially dressed. Emma ran the sponge over her legs, standing in the marble bath. She hadn't bothered with a full bath. The castle's bathtub could nearly float a rowboat and it took an army of servants to fill it. One bucket of hot water and some soap was the shower one got here. She scrubbed behind her knees, then worked all the way down to her feet. The blonde hairs on her leg were longer than she'd ever really let them be before, soft and kind of wild, growing every which way. David shaved with something, probably a dagger, and she could if she wanted to, probably. It didn't mean anything. Regina didn't care, no one saw her legs and now that it had been weeks, Emma didn't really care either.

Maybe there were perks of fairy tale land. She missed showers, but this wasn't that bad. The soap smelt nice, like flowers, and it worked. She'd had worse.

The door to the bath creaked open and Regina entered, still wrapped in her towel. "I thought you might want help with your hair."

Emma set down the sponge and washed the soap from her hands. Her hair hung in tendrils round her face, full of sweat and sex. "You're not here to scrub my back?"

"Perhaps, someday, when Belle's decided how she wants to plumb the castle." Regina sat on the wide edge of the tub, tucking the towel in around her breasts. "Your hair's long, it'll be easier together."

Regina might have just wanted to play with her hair. Emma understood, she adored the way Regina's went half curly when it was wet. Emma's was so fine it hung like straw whenever it was damp, but Regina liked it anyway. Emma leaned over her knees, exposing the back of her neck so Regina could start.

"Are you ready to rejoin the community?"

Hot water cascaded down her neck, running through her hair. Regina's hands followed the water, rubbing soap through. It wasn't the salon brands Regina must have had in her shower, but it was better than some of the crap Emma had used on her hair. It worked anyway. Regina said there were ways to use magic, but that seemed pretty vain.

"If you're with me," Regina said. Massaging Emma's scalp, she hummed without much of a tune. Emma would have been quick and hurried; Regina took her time.

"I was thinking we could go see Henry tomorrow." Emma shut her eyes as water rinsed the soap from her hair. "We have a few days off, don't we?"

"Mulan's patrolling my route with Ruby for three more days."

"A four day honeymoon, you are a workaholic."

Regina flicked water at Emma's face. "When did you say you'd go back to council?"

"The day after tomorrow," Emma said. "I need to learn it. Mom's talking about visiting the neighbouring kingdoms, Ella's and Abigail's, and the kingdoms to the south. If she's going to be away, I have to be in charge and that's a lot more responsibility than keeping Pongo out of people's gardens."

"And two more days will make it easier?" Rinsing her hair a final time, Regina handed Emma a towel and wrapped her hair in another. "Don't worry."

"I'll only be responsible for everyone. What's there to worry about?" Rubbing herself dry, Emma stopped and sat next to Regina on the tub. "Didn't you worry?"

"Power was mine. I didn't care how I used it, just that I kept it."

"But your kingdom-"

"Was wealthy and miserable. You can do better."

"I don't know if just above destitute is better."

"We're hardly destitute."

"How did we get enough gold to trade for food?"

Regina took over, drying Emma's hair while she worried. "Rumpelstiltskin can make all the gold we need."

"Out of the goodness of his heart? My mother must have made a deal with him. You know what deals with him are like."

"Snow wouldn't-" Regina halted her protest. Snow obviously had, and it was the right choice, winter would have been brutal without supplies. "She must have."

"She didn't tell me what she traded. I don't even think my father knows what she traded. We're not going to starve, but Rumpelstiltskin's deals always have more in it for him than we think." Shaking her hair free of the towel, Emma held Regina's shoulders. "Would you come with me?"

"Where?"

"To council. We can spend tomorrow with Henry, then I could use you there."

"I'll be a distraction."

"Not to my mom or Rumpelstiltskin, if he decides to come. We're talking about plumbing again, but it's an expensive project. You're better at numbers than I am. Maybe you'll understand how my mom's paying for it all."

"You don't think they'll object?"

"I'm the princess, right?" She had to look far from regal, all pink from the bath, but her insistence made Regina smile. "If I want you there, I get you there."

"Spoken like royalty."

Emma stole her towel, neatly unwrapping it from Regina's body. She dropped it behind her and held her close. Standing up beside her, there was a slight rounding of Regina's belly that hadn't been there a few weeks ago. When they embraced, it was just enough to be firm against Emma's own. "I just wanted to see you," Emma explained. "You're so beautiful."

"Although you prefer me this way, I think the rest of the kingdom would rather I was dressed."

"Don't need a towel to get dressed." Emma kept it hostage as they headed back into the bedroom, staring at the smooth skin of Regina's nude body.

"Am I really getting dressed?" Regina perched neatly on the edge of the bed, poised as if she were the mayor again, behind her desk.

Emma dropped her own towel on the floor and lunged for her. Laughing, Regina lay back and welcomed Emma's hungry kissing.

"What happens if we're late for dinner?" Emma paused just over Regina's neck.

"Your parents make fun of us. Granny makes us eat more to keep up our strength."

Tangled herself with Regina, Emma thanked whoever was listening that this was her life. Even in the new world, Regina's arms were home.

"I could eat more." Emma nibbled Regina's breast for emphasis, then worked her way down.

"Here, I'll tighten that." Mulan tightened the loose lace in Regina's armour, her grip sure and practiced.

"Not too tight," Regina warned without thinking.

"It's soft leather, it will still give you room to move."

Regina held the tree in front of her and let Mulan finish. Her armour couldn't be tightened nearly as much as a corset and though it was tighter around her waist than it had been just weeks ago, it still fit.

"If you need it looser, you can add leather panels here, at the sides." Mulan explained, demonstrating with her hands on her own armour.

"Why would I need it looser?" Regina should have let the explanation go. It probably mattered not to Mulan that she was pregnant. Perhaps she only thought that the armour had been made too tight to begin with.

"You're not going to give up patrolling, are you?"

Was she? She couldn't imagine Emma forcing her to stay in the castle. Not for some time yet. Her physical abilities hadn't been noticeably slowed; her magic was arguably stronger, provided she cast from emotions the baby did not react unpleasantly to.

"No." Regina reattached her sword belt round her waist. "I was not planning on it."

"Then you should talk to the armorer. Ask for soft leather panels that you can work in to your armour. If she asks for a pattern, I can draw her one."

Mulan knew. Who'd told her? Ruby wouldn't. Had Emma been worried about her going back on patrol? Was it someone else?

"That's kind of you," Regina said aloud, trying to work out how Mulan must have known.

Catching up to her on the path, Mulan cleared a fallen branch, then paused. "Your balance is different than Emma's or Ruby's. You tread heavier on your heels."

"No one told you?"

Mulan crossed her arms over her chest. "I watch people, study how they move. You can tell much from the way a person takes a step. You're graceful but cautious; careful where you put your feet. You've been taught to fight, but something makes you wary. Emma didn't want you drinking wine, and I inquired after your health to the queen-"

Regina nodded so Mulan didn't have to finish. Snow was a terribly liar, and worse at concealing secrets. Anything she would have said must have confirmed Mulan's suspicions.

"To be honest, I wondered if you were not with child when the queen brought you to bed with Emma. It's obvious if one knows what she's looking for."

Continuing along their path, searching the woods for signs of ogres, Regina let Mulan lead. No one else had even thought she looked pregnant, though everyone she'd cursed had only seen Cinderella's pregnancy fail to progress, day after day. Nothing else had changed in Storybrooke. No children had been born. Mulan had been here, frozen instead of trapped in a world without time. Perhaps it was fresher in her mind. Mulan knew what she was looking for.

"No one else has guessed, besides Ruby, and she smelled it."

"Most do not see what I do." Mulan waved Regina still, pointing ahead where the clearing had been torn by something large. She mouthed "Ogres".

Regina kindled the spark of a fireball between her hands, hiding it within her fingers. Ogres wouldn't see it because they were nearly blind, but the sound of the spark might have carried to their excellent ears. No ogres rushed into the clearing, nor did the sounds of their feet crunching through the underbrush assault their ears.

Mulan motioned for them to move forward, examining the tracks more clearly. Something huge had walked here, but its feet were not the round, clumsy tracks of ogres. They were clawed and had sunk deep into the grassy earth.

Crouching down, Mulan studied the grass. "I don't know these tracks."

A sinking in Regina's stomach suggested she might be the only one who knew these tracks. Peering over Mulan's shoulder, she studied the heavy marks where claws had torn the earth. The trees above were broken, crushed by something large passing through. It had landed here, then walked to the edge of the clearning, tracks shrinking as she walked.

"These look human," Mulan said, pointing to the smallest tracks visible. "A shapeshifter of some kind?"

"You could say that, however, Regina knows my name." Followed by laughter, the lilting voice carried scorn far heavier than its light tone.

Regina froze, dropping her hands from her weapon. No sword could help her.

Sensing her fear, Mulan stepped in front of her, putting her body between Regina and the yet unseen danger. She couldn't know that there was nothing she could do to stop that voice, that Regina had only beaten her last time because Maleficent had something to lose and Regina did not. Now she had everything to lose and Maleficent had only anger. She'd had nearly three decades to stew in it and if she had been restored by the curse as well, her happy ending would have dire consequences for everyone Regina loved.

A stick snapped and Maleficent stepped out of the shadows into the light. She hadn't aged, hadn't changed since the last time Regina had seen her in human form. Her hair fell down her back in a tumble of golden curls, but her eyes burned. Hatred had new fire for her. Green crackled round her, almost like an aura. Her emotions ran wild and Regina's fear wasn't enough to stand up.

"You're here?"

"Your cruse broke," Maleficent said. Gathering green fire in front of her lazily, as if she was pulling the wings from a butterfly, she studied Regina and Mulan. "You're keeping different company and this is a new look for you."

"Getting home was complicated."

"It wasn't for me." Passing the bright green fire from one hand to the other, Maleficent tilted her head. "Funny how one moment, I'm trapped, in a dark, lonely mine, more dead than alive and then I'm back in the ruins of my castle, alone. My pet wasn't waiting for me."

Regina's curse hadn't reached to simpler creatures, like unicorns. Maleficent's pet must have fled when time began to move again.

"Nothing was, because nothing is all you chose to leave me with."

"You would have done the same."

Maleficent tossed a green fireball into the trees behind Regina and the explosion that followed blasted heat across her back.

"I would not. I never would have cast the dark curse because I knew what it does. That kind of magic leaves holes so deep they can't be filled. I was content to live in quiet. I had my dear pet and I would have spent the rest of my days as a hermit in my castle. You did let me live a solitary life, I suppose you think I ought to be grateful?" Pity mixed with loathing, both straining her voice.

"I needed you."

"You needed a beast, my dear." Maleficent clucked her tongue, disappointed. "And to think I once called you friend. If I had cast the curse, I would not have given you a life of pain." She called up more fire and this time it burned in her eyes, streaming from the corners like tears of flame. "No matter. Pain is easier to inflict in this realm, much more fitting, don't you think?"

Maleficent didn't have to move her hands to cast. This fire erupted from her chest, rushing outward like green lightning. Returning to this realm had given her strength, and perhaps the loneliness had been enough to push her into real madness. Regina knew revenge, but what hungered in Maleficent's eyes went past it.

Mulan tried to shove her back, ready to take the lightning for her, but Regina couldn't let her. She'd taken enough from everyone. Maleficent's hatred was her creation; her demon.

Moving herself through Mulan with magic, Regina braced herself, ready to be blown into the forest. If she was hurt badly enough, perhaps Maleficent would depart, leaving Mulan just enough time to get Emma. Regina might live, if she was lucky.

She wanted to live through this, somehow. The baby deserved a chance at life. Throwing up her arms, she thought of a shield.

Magic roared around her, licking her hair. Heat scorched the inside of her nose, making her choke. Her vision blurred through green to white and the exposed skin of her face held her ground. Green fire parted around her, sizzling into the trees.

She'd blocked it.

"Get down," Regina cried to Mulan.

Fire blasted towards them again, pouring from Maleficent's chest and shoulders. Once again, it washed over her. The heat stung, but Regina held her ground. She shouldn't have been able to defend against that kind of attack at all. Maleficent held nothing back, kept no reserves and she had offensive abilities bolstered by hatred that Regina should not have been able to fend off.

She'd never had much defence but now it was almost easy. The barrier began around her and she expanded it, forcing it outward to protect Mulan as well. The air stank, sickly sweet with magic and smoke as the trees began to burn.

"You're different," Maleficent said. Stirring the earth at Regina's feet, she drew it up in a cyclone around her. "You never did bother protecting yourself."

"There wasn't a point." Regina's response was a whisper, swallowed by the hissing around her. Each bit of earth struck her shield, wearing it down. It she'd just been protecting herself it might have been easier, but she couldn't let Maleficent hurt Mulan.

Still swirling the earth around Regina with one hand, Maleficent cast fire with the other, pounding on Regina's shield. Weakening, Regina put more of herself into the barrier. Her knees ached, then trembled.

Mulan slowly regained her feet, standing directly behind her, almost as if she was trying to help by making the shield need to protect a smaller space. Something wet ran down across her lips. Sweat broke over her skin, cold even within the flame.

Regina stumbled and Mulan caught her waist, holding her up. Defence was so much harder than angrily attacking. Maleficent knew that. She gathered burning trees, pulling them closer and closer so they threatened to collapsed on top of Regina's shield.

"Emma," Regina whispered. Repeating her name over and over, Regina reached for the wedding ring she wasn't yet accustomed to having on her finger. Turning it on her hand, she drew on her love for Emma, reinforcing her faltering shield just as the first tree fell.

Burning branches cracked overhead and it fell to the side. The second bounced off the shield, forcing Regina to expend even more energy to keep it up. Mulan took more of her weight, holding her tighter through her armour.

"Emma, please. Be careful."

Blue smoke tarnished the sky and then she was there. Emma wasn't dressed for battle, but she drew her sword from the scabbard at her waist and pointed it at Maleficent.

"Regina?"

"I'm all right. She's dangerous, Emma."

Maleficent hissed at the sword, recoiling back. "You. I remember you."

With her momentarily distracted, the cyclone of earth fell back. Dropping the shield, Regina called her own fire, sending it at Maleficent while she glared at Emma. Purple slammed into her leg, searing through her dress.

Maleficent's wail of pain became laughter. "You, and the queen?" She glanced from one to the other, and for a moment the beast reared in her eyes. If she shifted, Regina didn't know how they'd fight her off.

"Get away from her!" Emma's threat made Maleficent laugh all the harder.

Maleficent studied them both. "How sweet."

Turning her assault on Emma, Maleficent used the trees against her. Branches clawed at Emma like grasping hands. Emma threw up her own shield, using the sword to focus her power. Tree branches scratched and splintered.

Mulan darted from behind Regina, going for Maleficent with her sword. She didn't know how foolish that was. Maleficent turned her head and spat fire at her. Mulan turned it with her sword but the force of the flame knocked her back into the trees.

Emma threw fire at her and Regina sent her own but Maleficent had her own shield up. Blue and purple flame flicked around her and faded. Burning trees tore themselves from the earth, rising into the air to circle above Maleficent.

"You did this," Maleficent hissed. "You trapped me and killed me. Do you know how much it hurts to die? To never be allowed to rest because your friend, your only friend, bound you to life when nothing was left?"

Regina knew madness; had flirted with it much of her life. Maleficent had embraced her darkness, her madness in a way she never had in life. Fear grabbed her heart, strangling it with cold fingers.

"Perhaps you need to find out."

Teleporting away, she dropped the smouldering trees she'd been holding aloft, slamming them all against Regina's shield. Emma dropped her sword, pouring her own strength in to reinforce Regina's and keep the barrier. With Emma's help she could almost do it. Regina turned away the first three, but the fourth crashed through, hitting her and shoving Mulan back. The impact sent her sprawling forward into the dirt. She'd slowed it enough to keep them both alive, but the numbness flared into pain all down her back.

Blackness took her, sucking her down.

Thick with smoke, the air stung her throat. She couldn't breathe. Dirt and blood filled her mouth and she coughed, then spat it out, struggling to lift her head.

"Regina!"

Emma grabbed her, turning her over so she stared up at the sky. Leaves blurred into the clouds, all of it messy and faded, as if the colours were running together. Coughing again, Regina turned to the side to spit up more blood and dirt. Emma's magic poured into her like a transfusion, easing the pain in her chest.

"I think you broke a few ribs and you definitely have a concussion."

"Emma-"

"The baby's fine," Emma said. Tears glimmered in her eyes. "I can feel her, she's fine. You're pretty beat up."

Dirt darkened Emma's face and the cut on her chin bled down her neck. Emma's magic healed the fuzziness of her vision, most likely softening the concussion that had been making everything double.

"She's all right?"

"Yeah," Emma promised. "I, I guess I didn't know I could feel you two separate from each other, but she's here, with you and she's fine. She's strong."

"Like you."

"Like her mother."

Her pain meant nothing. Emma's love washed over her, easing it all away. Trying to relax and let herself be healed, Regina reached for Emma's cheek. Her hand missed, but Emma caught it.

"You're okay."

"Why wouldn't I be? You're here."

Emma kissed her filthy hand. "You hit your head, hard."

"You're mending it."

"I don't think I can do it all. Broken bones are hard."

"You might need help." Regina struggled to swallow, dirt left a metallic taste in her mouth. "I'm tired."

"Mulan went to get horses. I don't want to teleport you and make a mistake."

"You'll have to-"

"Hey, hey." Emma kissed her, so soft even with blistering agony every time her chest moved. "Stay awake. I think I've stopped the bleeding, inside and outside, and your concussion, but I can't get your ribs to stay together. Maybe I'm out of juice or something."

"Bone takes time. Ribs keep moving. They're difficult. "

Better than any painkillers, Emma's magic coursed through her, dulling the pain with affection.

"Your lungs didn't collapse."

"You saved me."

"I teleported out of a council meeting, knocked over my chair and probably have a lot of explaining to do. I felt you. I knew you needed me." Emma's surprise had a hint of pride. "You called me."

"You are your parents' daughter, Emma. Saving is in your blood."

Even exhausted, numb and definitely intoxicated with magic, she was safe now. Fear, that gripping terror Maleficent raised within her didn't matter, because Emma was here. Emma had her. Such a strange feeling, safety. Regina almost couldn't remember when last she'd felt truly safe. Maybe she never had.

"Stay awake."

"Maleficent-"

"She's going to be a problem, isn't she?"

"She was the dragon you killed in the caves."

"Great." Emma sighed. "Do we have any other enemies I need to know about?"

"Many."

"Hey, Regina." Emma didn't dare shake her, but she slapped her face, keeping her awake. Perhaps her head injury was worse than a simple concussion. A concussion should have been easily healed with Emma's magic, but through the fog of Emma's magic within her, her head still pounded.

Skull fracture. She had been hit by a tree.

It would heal eventually, or the Blue Fairy would be able to...

Stay awake.

Something shifted.

Moved.

"Emma?"

"I'm here."

It moved again. So tiny, like a bubble breaking inside of her or the motion of a fingertip. The baby wasn't hurt. She was strong. She'd been in Regina's magic when they fought, bathed in Emma's now while Emma healed her. She-

She moved.

"Emma!"

"What? What?"

"What did it feel like when Henry moved for the first time?"

"You want that now?"

"Please."

Emma wiped blood from Regina's face, ignoring the trail on her own neck. "Like a butterfly trapped inside me hitting the sides, or a fish. I called him fish a lot."

"Nudging?"

"Yeah, I guess. Weird, like someone being able to touch you, inside."

Sighing, Regina ignored sensation of hot iron around her chest. It wasn't important. "Emma."

"What is it?"

"I feel her."

"You do?"

"Maybe I needed the rest of me to be numb, or to be still." Regina followed Emma's hand until their entwined fingers sat over the baby, on top Regina's muddy armour. "She's in there."

"And she's okay."

She couldn't possibly know what had happened and she must have shared the adrenaline rush Regina could still taste in her mouth. The baby was safe now too, wrapped in all the love her mothers' had for her. She'd made herself known, magically and physically. She wasn't just part Regina's imagination or occasionally difficult parasite, she was a person, real and unique.

"I feel her." Now that she knew, the bubbling nudged her again, and again. Was she frightened? Happy? Could she feel Emma? Did she have any idea how much she was loved?

"Maybe she's just saying hello."

"You called Henry 'fish'?"

"Yeah. He felt like a fish. He swam around a lot. He didn't like to be still." Emma brushed dirt from Regina's face, healing the little scrapes on her skin. "Maybe you just had to give her a chance to move when you weren't thinking so hard about her."

It probably helped that she was so tired parts of her were numb. What she could feel was that much more important.

"I don't want to call her fish."

"You don't have to. Maybe she's a frog."

"Emma-"

"She's all right, and that's what matters right now, okay? The baby's all right and you're all right." Emma kissed her and stood up, disappearing from the part of Regina's vision that was clear.

"We should leave her armour on to support her ribs," Mulan said. When had she come back? A man was with her, Philip, the prince she and Aurora had found. He looked concerned too, just like Emma when his face appeared over hers.

"Mulan and I are going to lift you up to Emma on the horse. It'll hurt."

Regina smiled at him. "I'll be fine. Emma's not the best with horses."

"If you can stay awake, you can steer."

"It's a horse, not a Volkswagen. You don't steer."

"I'll count to three," Phillip said, easing his hands beneath her arms. "One, two-"

Lost in her cry of pain, three went unheard. Once Regina was standing it wasn't quite the same white hot agony as when her broken ribs ground together. Emma reached down and Mulan and Phillip helped her up. Tears had broken her control by the time she was in the saddle with Emma.

"Remind me to stay away from vengeful friends for awhile."

Emma held her close, not too tight. "Will she leave us alone?"

Holding Emma's left arm against her, Regina tried to breathe as shallowly as she could. "I doubt it. I trapped her in a dragon's form, you killed her and I let her rise again as a wraith so Hook, Tamara and Greg could do whatever they did to her."

"Does she want to hurt us? Kill us?"

Even with the horse at a walk, each step brought a fresh jolt of pain. Emma's magic still vibrated through her, dulling her nerves so she could stay conscious.

"I don't know. She has history with Aurora and her mother, perhaps she can-" Regina gasped and bit her lip. Emma soothed the pain, but the combination of magic and adrenaline made her head even more foggy. "Why don't you think we can teleport?"

"I've only done it once by myself and I might screw it up now when you're already hurt."

"But you trust yourself on a horse?"

"You've been training this one. You said she was trustworthy."

"Dulcinea?" Had she not recognised her?

"Mulan said she was the most gentle. We'll be back soon."

"You could just-"

"I spent a lot of magic trying to get you away from the bitch in the woods-"

"Maleficent."

"And trying to keep you out of pain is taking a lot. If the Blue Fairy can't fix you right away, I want to have some left if I have to try."

Regina finally made her eyes focus on Dulcinea's black ears in front of her. It was easier than trying to figure out where they were or how far away the castle was. "Cracked ribs will hardly kill me."

"But they hurt, don't they?"

"Yes."

"Then let me take care of you, even if it's just for a little while."

Thinking about that, how strange an idea it was, Regina turned her head to rest it closer to Emma's. "You're good at it."

"You're just saying that because I've got you high on the magical equivalent of morphine."

Even the slightest tightening of her chest to laugh hurt, so she stopped herself when she smiled.

"You're sweet."

"I'm in love. It's ruined me." Emma rambled then, telling Regina old stories of carrying Henry in prison. How she used to talk to him when she was in her cell. She hadn't told him fairy tales then, because none had been right. No one told stories about girls having kids in prison, so Emma told him stories about fish, about birds and cats. Whatever she could think of, she told him, because that was all the time they were ever going to have together and she didn't want it to be empty.

The bustling castle brimmed with energy as they returned. Snow, David and the Blue Fairy met them at the gates, surrounded by armed guards, just in case they were followed.

Mulan slipped from the saddle and reported to the queen. "We were ambushed. Maleficent tried to kill us both, but Regina and then Emma drove her off. Regina took a bad blow from a falling tree. Emma tried to heal her, but there are broken bones."

"Which are a little out of my league," Emma said. She carefully guided Regina's leg over the horse, so David, Phillip and Snow could help Regina down from Dulcinea. "I stopped the bleeding."

"I'm sure you did well," the Blue Fairy said, circling Emma's head like a blue globe of light. "You are also bleeding."

"It's nothing, Regina first."

The Blue Fairy looked to Snow, waiting for her to nod. The heir to the throne was most important, after all. Regina tried not to cry out as Emma lowered her to David and Phillip's arms, but her ribs were like being stabbed in the chest.

Snow caught her hand. "It's all right now. You're safe." Emma's whole family were rescuers.

"Take her to the chapel," Snow ordered.

Emma walked alongside the makeshift stretcher, holding Regina's hand and sending more of her magic into her. The stone ceiling of the corridor gave way to the high ceiling of the chapel, where the fairies had set up their home. Several of them, all different shades of pink, yellow and green came down to see what the commotion was as Regina was laid on the floor.

Mulan and Phillip carefully removed her armour and Mulan spared the leather when she could. When the chest was lifted off, she must have grabbed Emma's hand, because Emma's eyes widened in sympathy.

The Blue Fairy flew over her body, surveying her injuries. "Several broken ribs and a skull fracture. This will be difficult to heal without fairy dust."

"Can I do it?" Emma begged over her.

"You haven't had the training in bones. They need to be set very carefully or they'll heal crooked. We will accelerate your training, of course, but we shall need fairy dust for the princess consort."

Regina had nearly forgotten that was her. Fairies were always so formal.

"Get the dwarves," Snow ordered someone from the room.

"How much do you need? David asked.

"A few diamonds worth."

"Someone might have some."

"They'll never-"

Snow interrupted. "They will for their queen. Ask our refugees if anyone has any diamonds with they. They will be repaid threefold when our mines reopen."

"I should have gotten you a diamond engagement ring," Emma joked. "The family ring isn't useful."

"I told you, broken ribs won't kill me."

"And a skull fracture?"

"I thought it was a headache," Regina protested, pulling Emma's hand closer. All she wanted was her, the rest of them were just here.

"Princess-" The Blue Fairy started to say something, but Snow quieted her with a look, then waved her aside. They whispered, then the fairy returned, hovering with the others above Regina.

Someone, Regina recognised Aurora when she spoke, arrived with diamonds, two earrings and a necklace. "We found these. Will they be enough?"

The Blue Fairy looked them over and nodded. "Made into to dust they should be enough."

Snow brought Grumpy back and he ground them by hand, carefully crushing them in one of their enchanted grinders. It was the work of moments, but each breath hurt, effectively dragging out time. Everyone around her was doing something, so Emma held her hand and waited.

Fairy dust tingled, like fresh snowflakes, or tiny drops of rain. Her ribs itched, then ached as they knit back together. The pain in her head faded through a dull ache until it was only a fog that held her. Trusting that she didn't need the last of her magic for Regina's injuries, Emma changed her clothes, using magic to banish the sweat and blood-stained tunic she'd worn beneath her armour.

Regina took her first deep breath without pain and smiled up at Emma. "See? I'm fine."

"You need rest," the Blue Fairy said, firm and almost scolding. "You should be in bed."

"That's never been a problem for you, has it my dear?" Flirting with Emma in front of the fairies was not the wisest of choices, but Emma was her wife, it had to be allowed.

"I'll teleport her upstairs," Emma said as people moved for the stretcher again. "I'm sure I can handle that far."

Snow and the Blue Fairy were still whispering when Emma's magic surrounded her and swept them both away. The mirror behind Snow had a strange fog in it, almost as if something had been watching the whole thing. Regina forgot about it when Emma had her in bed, fussing and climbing in next to her to hold her while she slept.

Maleficent nearly dropped one of the last mirrors in her castle when it spoke to her. She'd never been fond of enchanted objects, trusting her own powers was much more sensible.

A face appeared in the mirror, blue and grey, yet male and nearly human.

"What do you want?"

"I have information."

"What makes you think that I want it?" She sat back in her chair, waiting for the mirror to prove itself useful before she destroyed it.

"I know how Regina was able to defend against your magic."

Pulling the mirror so close she could see her breath fog the glass, Maleficent hissed. "How?"

"True love."

"Impossible, she lost her true love. She turned her back to goodness because she couldn't bring him back." The mirror lied, just like everything else. Preparing to toss it across the room, Maleficent stopped as it yelled at her.

"She loves the saviour. Snow White and Prince Charming's daughter, the one who broke her curse."

"How can that be so?"

"They were wed last week. I observed it myself."

Regina, who'd once sworn off all love as weakness, was not only wed, but to her true love. How far things had changed.

"Marriage does not imply true love."

"Regina saved Emma from a nasty accident in the mines with true love's kiss. Their feelings for each other are as real as the rings on your hand." The mirror perhaps did have something useful after all.

"I could have found that out from any peasant in Snow White's kingdom. What would you try to bargain?"

"First I will name my price," the man in the mirror said. "I am trapped by Regina and only her death can free me."

"Her death?" Maleficent drummed her nails on the table in front of her. "I was planning on that anyway."

"She will die?"

"Painfully."

The man contemplated that, and nodded. "It is not just true love that made her strong enough to resist you."

"I'm listening."

"The former queen is pregnant, with the child of the saviour, her true love. The Blue Fairy told Queen Snow White that the child of true love twice over is very powerful indeed."

"Even if it grows inside Regina?" Maleficent lifted her hand and examined the long nails that became her talons. They needed sharpening.

"Regina's heart may be black, but her love for the saviour is pure. Their child is already considered to be of great importance to the fairies."

"The fairies want her baby?"

"The diamonds in the mine below the kingdom are dark, possibly corrupted."

Maleficent laughed to wards the high ceiling of her lonely castle. "Of course they are, I planted the darkness there myself."

"To what end?"

She waved his question away. "Tell me about Regina and this Emma the saviour. When will the child be born?"

"In the winter, I've heard."

"A winter baby," Maleficent repeated. "It would be terrible were something to happen to Regina, That poor child, losing her mother."

"I don't know what she'd do," the mirror man agreed. "She couldn't be raised in Snow White's castle. Snow White might let her be corrupted. She'll need somewhere strong, a mother who won't let her get hurt."

She hadn't considered having a child. Losing her dear little pet had broken what was left of her heart, but this was no ordinary child. The daughter of Regina and the saviour who'd broken her curse could be incredibly powerful if shaped in the right ways.

"Tell me more and we'll discuss how you can get what you want."