Emma still couldn't sleep and she couldn't shake the feeling there was someplace else she was supposed to be. It was well past midnight when she got up and decided to go for a drive to clear her head. She left Henry a note and quietly left. She drove around for a while, thinking mostly of Regina. There was something wrong with that whole situation and she couldn't figure out why.

Earlier her hand was tingling like it had when Regina had done the magic in the hospital bed. Except this time it kept going. It would go on and off over the course of nearly an hour.

She stopped a stop sign. If she turned right she could swing by the hospital, maybe check on Regina without Whale being in attendance for once. But she continued to sit there in her car not moving. For some reason going to the hospital felt wrong. She couldn't explain it but it wasn't where she needed to be.

She made a left instead and headed out of the city proper.

Emma drove like she knew where she was going, but she didn't, not consciously at least.

…

Regina couldn't believe she had made it. Her body was wracked by pain, fever, chills and the constant nagging of her mother, but she had made it. She hadn't even recalled how she got there – magic maybe.

She entered Storybrooke Stables, breathing in the familiar scent of the horses. She had funded the entire construction of the stables and bought the initial horses for it, but she rarely came here. It hurt too much to come here.

"Why are you here?" Cora asked.

"I have to wait for him."

"By him I assume you mean that stable boy?"

"His name is Daniel," Regina said mustering up as much anger as she could toward her mother. "He'll be here. He promised."

"And do you think you will actually get your happy ending this time? You do realize you are dying, don't you?"

Regina considered the words. Dying. Was that true? Is that why she was in the hospital?

"It doesn't matter," she said. "Daniel is coming to get me and that is all that matters. You can't stop us this time."

"Of course I can't, I am dead, just like Daniel is, just like you will be soon."

Regina felt an enormous burst of pain that drove her to the ground. It was unlike anything she had felt previously.

"You are entering the last phase," Cora said. "It won't be long now."

Regina cried out as the pain got worse and worse. Tears were running down her face as the pain tore through her body. She heard the sound of something breaking and fell forward trying to muffle her screams with the ground. Her entire midsection felt like it was on fire.

There was another sound of breaking – the pain this time in her upper chest region and left arm. She rolled over on her back. "Daniel," she pleaded. Where was he? He was supposed to be here.

Cora bent down over her daughter. "I'm sorry my daughter, but this time I can't save you from this."

"What?" she choked. This time, what did she mean by that? But Cora was standing and walking away. "No! Don't leave me please."

Even her mother's company would be preferable to dying alone.

"Regina!"

She heard her name being called out and then there was someone there kneeling beside her. She smiled. Her Daniel had finally come.

He was holding her in his arms telling her it would be ok. She believed him. She was going to die, but it didn't matter, they were going to be together. She struggled to move in arms. Her left arm hung useless but she reached with her right and pulled him down – their lips met and she kissed him.

The wave of magic burst forth and she fell unconscious.

"What the hell," Emma said in surprise as she held onto Regina.

She finally lifted Regina up and carried her to her car placing her gently in the back seat. She needed to get Regina back to the hospital. Even as she pulled away she could feel the sensation of Regina's lips on hers.

She still didn't know why she had gone to the stables, but upon getting out of her car she heard Regina screaming in pain. She had run to her, gathering her up in her arms while trying to use one hand to dial for an ambulance, but then Regina had kissed her.

The magic that had been released in that kiss – she recognized it. It felt the same as when she kissed Henry in the hospital to break the sleeping curse.

Emma looked back at Regina's sleeping form.

"It's not possible," she said.