A/N: Just wanted to say thanks so much for the favs/reviews This was my first SQ fanfic and I didn't expect it to be as successful as it is, so thank you and if you're on tumblr feel free to follow me at

Chapter 17.

Snow waited for her friend in the cemetery anxiously, checking her watch until Ruby finally turned up, clad in her old red cloak.

"Sorry, Snow, got held up with Granny," she grinned, clearly excited to have a new adventure after so long, "So, what's the plan?"

Snow shrugged, "We find our way in, we find Emma's heart and return it to where it really belongs."

"That simple, huh?" Ruby had to smile at her friends, somewhat blind, determination as she followed her over to the door of the crypt that Snow had started fiddling with, "Pretty sure she's going to have that protected kind of heavily," she hated being the voice of the reason as she endured a glare from her friend.

"Well, there must be a way in," Snow growled, "Come on, can't you do something, you know with your…"

"Wolves can't pick locks, Snow," she quirked an eyebrow at her friend, "Or break through magical protection. Maybe we need help."

Snow frowned, "But the only people who have magic in this town are Regina…and Rumplestiltskin. He doesn't exactly hand over favours and somehow I don't really think he cares much about Regina stealing my daughter's heart and putting it in her stupid vault," she hit the door aggressively.

"She doesn't have my heart," a quiet voice sounded behind the two women and they spun around to face Emma and Regina standing a few meters away.

Emma looked more than annoyed and surged forward, closer to her mother, "She was coming here to look for something to help your people get back to your world and you still think she's the bad guy? I thought you were meant to believe the best about people. You even said you'd try, but you were lying," she was hurt; she'd wanted to give her parents another chance but Snow was making that really hard right now.

Regina put a hand on Emma's arm to calm her, "It's okay, dear," she said, "Trust will not just bloom from nowhere, it is going to take time."

Snow shook her head and stepped towards her daughter, "Emma, don't you see the illogic in all of this?" she gestured towards Regina, "She is called the Evil Queen for a reason - "

"That was a long time ago," Emma shot back, "Anyway, don't you know the curse wouldn't have broken unless it was true love? Why isn't that enough for you?" she pushed.

"Because I don't want you with her," Snow snapped honestly, "I can't trust her, I have given her a thousand chances and each time I do, she further hurts either me personally or my people. I am over giving her chances. She found another way to break the curse, Emma, I just know it," she paused as she rested a hand on her daughter's arm, "Just because you don't have your heart doesn't mean you would be aware it's not there. She controls people through it and they don't always know it," her eyes pleaded with her headstrong daughter to believe her but Emma stepped back, pulling her arm away from Snow.

"Fine, you really think she has my heart?" Emma asked, turning to Regina, "Show them. Take it out now, show them it's still in my chest."

Regina blinked stupidly at the request, "What?"

Snow's eyes narrowed, settling on Regina accusingly. Ruby kept an eye an on her friend, unsure whether to intervene or be a silent party in the situation she suddenly found herself a part of.

"Take it out, show her," she persisted, "Please, do it," she said a little more softly this time.

Regina swallowed hard and looked at Ruby and Snow watching her accusingly, already making up their minds that Regina wouldn't or couldn't show them this. Her head spun, she didn't want to see the pain on Emma's face again, she'd put her through enough.

She sighed in defeat, "Okay," she said, somewhat numbly, pulling Emma over to her, "You know this will hurt," she whispered and the blonde nodded as Regina put a comforting hand on her neck and closed her eyes, thrusting her hand into her lover's chest, quickly withdrawing a strong, beating heart.

Snow's eyes widened and subconsciously she stepped closer to the two woman,as Regina lay her hand flat so she could see it, "No," Snow whispered, staring at it for a few moments.

"Yes," Emma snapped, "Is that enough?" she whispered, "Can't you believe now?"

Snow lifted her eyes to meet her daughters, seeing the pain cross it fleetingly as Regina replaced the heart in her chest, "I suppose I have no choice," she whispered.

"Well, you could always abandon me again," Emma replied stonily, though they all saw through it; realising this was why Emma had been so desperate to show her mother she still had her heart.

Snow looked as though she'd been slapped, "I just wanted to give you your best chance, an escape from the curse," she whispered, placing a hand on her daughter's cheek gently, "I am so sorry."

Emma could see the truth, the pain in her mother's eyes, "I believe you," she replied, "But maybe I would have liked to have grown up with you, even under the curse."

Snow nodded, "I can see that now," she admitted, "Please, let us take you home."

"Home?" Emma repeated, "The Enchanted Forest... is your home, not mine."

"It is where you were born...but I suppose not where you grew up," she realised, "Where is your home, then?" Snow asked.

Emma shrugged, "I never had a home, I suppose," she declared, "But now?" she slipped her hand into Regina's, "My home is with Regina. She makes me feel loved and safe, two things I have never really felt before."

Snow still tensed at the admission but she offered a small smile, "Well, then, I hope you will let me, and your father, into your life also, so we can be what we should have been all along - a family."

"I suppose I can consider it, if you stop accusing Regina of things she didn't do, and leave the past in the past."

Snow took a deep breath, "I guess the breaking of this curse can be a new beginning...for everyone," she locked eyes with Regina and extended a hand, which the other woman took and shook, unable to hide a little skepticism.

"Do you want to go back to the Enchanted Forest?" Emma asked, looking up at Regina from resting her head in her lap.

Regina looked surprised and frowned, "I honestly don't know, dear. I was a different person there, as you know, a person I don't want to go back to being."

Emma nodded, "But just because you go back doesn't mean you have to be the Evil Queen."

"Do you want to go there?" Regina queried curiously.

Emma shrugged, "I'd like to see it...where I was born, where my parents lived, where you lived... But I don't know that I'd want to live there. But I suppose, that's not really possible."

Regina hummed, "I am the most powerful sorceress in the land, I may be able to figure something out."

Emma sat up, her eyes lit up, "Really? So we could ... visit?"

"I don't know, let me work on it, okay?" Regina smiled at the excitement in Emma's eyes and put a hand on her chin, pulling her closer as she pressed her lips against the blonde's, who responded enthusiastically, crawling into Regina's lap as she held a hand on her cheek whilst their tongues continued to dance.