"Don't look at me like that" she breathed as she looked at the blonde in front of her, "don't."
Her tears fell fast as she simply stood before the brunette, her bottom lip quivering as she fought to keep her emotions in check, "like what Regina?"
Her shoulders shook with the sobs trying to break out from within her, she couldn't do this, she didn't have the time to do this or the resolve should Emma voice the feelings shining so obviously from her watery green eyes, "you know what Emma…the same way you've always looked at me…the way I don't deserve from anyone, least of all from you."
The blonde shook her head as she broke their gaze and looked out toward the billowing green cloud slowly creeping towards them, a whimper escaped from her lips before she could tighten them. A gloved hand came to rest over her mouth as if to keep any other sounds from getting out, her eyes closed now as her head fell forward.
Regina's stomach clenched as she watched the woman, the woman she had hated upon her arrival, the woman she had fought tooth and nail for Henry, the woman she had begrudgingly admired for her stubbornness, for her bravery and love for their son…the woman she had come to care deeply for, the woman she had come to realize she loved with every ounce of her dark heart and the same woman she was now having to let go of.
"Why?" a choked sob came from thin lips as Emma's eyes opened once more and locked onto hers, "why didn't you tell me Regina? Why didn't you just say it?" her head was shaking once more as she watched Regina's walls beginning to crumble to the ground before her, "we could have had that time, all that time and nothing…it isn't fair!"
"I know," the brunette replied as she reached out to take Emma's hand, anything to keep her legs from collapsing and allowing her to fall into the ground, to melt into nothingness as she felt she would in this very moment, "but you didn't say it either…"
"What's going to happen to us?" the response was quick, the cloud growing even closer behind them…they had to go.
Regina shook her head as she motioned for Henry to join them, when he was by his birth mother's side she continued, "but what I do know is that you will be okay…both of you, you'll have the life you always should have had…together"
She squeezed Henry closer into her side, the salt from her tears burning lines down her cheeks, her other hand still in Regina's firm grasp, neither wanting to lose the contact they had wasted so much time in experiencing and now it was too late, "what about you?"
"Me?" the brunette's eyebrows raised up slightly as she tried a small smile, "I don't know the answer to that either Emma but…I know one thing…I'll survive because I'll always have both of you" she watched as Emma's brow furrowed before bringing the pointer finger of her free hand up to her temple, "in here" and then opened her palm to rest over her heart, "and in here."
Emma pulled the woman into a hug then, finally sensing the urgency of the situation, it was time.
Regina couldn't help the cries that escaped as she clung desperately to her son and the woman supposed to be her sworn enemy, the woman who had allowed her to live once more for the first time in decades…