Emma woke after another shitty night of sleep. She was going to have to start taking sleeping pills if this kept up. When she had gone to bed she had known that sleeping was probably not going to happen – not after her talk with Hook.

It didn't go well, but what she expecting.

She simply asked Hook for some time – a break, as cliché as that sounded.

"Swan," Hook said. "You've just been a little torn up over this whole thing, but we have something good started here."

"We've barely started anything." Emma said.

"Now you know that isn't true," he smiled, leaning in and kissing her. As soon as he did, Emma felt ill and stepped back.

"Killian," she said. "I am not ready for this."

"I don't get it," he said. "You finally accepted that we can be something special and then all of a sudden you need time. Why the sudden change?"

"It's happening to fast is all. I need time to take a step back from this, from you. This isn't a goodbye forever or anything. It's something I need to do though."

It sounded lame even to her, but Hook stormed out of her place without a word.

She just couldn't try and continue a relationship with him while she was dealing with this stuff with Regina. How to deal with Regina was another matter all together. She decided she would go see her today, see what her lie detector could pick up on what Regina was hiding. This magical cure, everyone suddenly warming up to the idea of Regina – it was all too neat and tidy, which made her suspicious.

…

"What do you think it meant?" Tink asked her. They were sitting at the dining table. Tink had come to check on her as she did every morning and noticed Regina was being silent. She reminded Regina that she was all in for helping her as long as Regina remained truthful with her. While she was reluctant to say it, she ended up telling Tink about the dream.

"I don't know. Probably nothing. It was just a dream. With all that has happened lately I am surprised I am not having nightmares frankly.

"I think it's a sign. These things don't just happen."

"Dreams happen all the time," Regina said. "And regardless, Daniel was my one and only true love. I think fate has proven that. It's just it felt real, being there with him. It was like I was standing there with him and every fiber of my being called out to him and it felt like it had when he was still alive until we kissed that last night. I don't even know how to describe it."

"You don't have to, he told you what it was," Tink said.

"Oh, yes, my love which apparently belongs to someone else already. You know that was the problem with my relationship, as brief as it was with Robin. I don't want anyone telling me who to be with. Do you know what I've always wanted? My freedom. I wanted it growing up when my mother tried to rule my every move and even when I thought I had it, it turns out I was nothing more than some tool for Rumple to use and manipulate into doing his bidding so he could find his son. Why isn't it ok for me to be able to choose what I want?"

"What do you want?"

"I don't know. Right now I would settle for bones that weren't broken."

The doorbell rang and Tink got up to answer it. She came back in with Emma.

"Em … Sheriff Swan," Regina said. "Is there something wrong?"

"No. I didn't walk Henry to the door last night so I didn't get the chance to see you and ask how you were doing. I had a little time before work this morning so I thought I would stop over."

"Please sit," Regina said.

"I will leave you two alone," Tink said. "I will be here tomorrow to take you to your doctor's appointment with Dr. Frankenstein."

"You don't even know who Dr. Frankenstein is," Regina pointed out.

"Call him what you like, I still don't like him, but I will take you to the hospital regardlenss."

"Ok, thanks."

"Doctor's appointment, is everything ok?" Emma asked.

"Yes. Dr. Whale is merely insisting that I come in each week for a check up," Regina said. "Tink clearly isn't a fan of his."

"Nor am I," Emma said. "He was a bit of an ass when you were in the hospital."

"He had a lot to deal with," Regina said. "I am sure he will be fine tomorrow. I am glad you stopped by actually. I had a couple of questions."

"Questions?"

"Yes. I um … do you want to go into the living room, it's a little more comfortable."

"Sure."

Regina led the way and upon entering Emma noticed the notebooks.

"What's all this?"

Regina sat on the couch and Emma took the chair. "These are my mothers. Long story short, I think there is something off about this whole Skiver Fever thing."

"Off in what way?"

"There is no magical cure."

"I think the kids you healed would argue otherwise."

"I have no idea how I did it though. I still don't remember any of it, and … this is going to sound crazy, but when I was in the hospital undergoing some tests, I think I did remember something from the past – something concerning my parents."

She went on to tell Emma of what she believed to be a memory and why she was looking through her mom's things.

"If you had it as a child, are you thinking your mom healed you through magic?"

"That is the only thing that makes sense to me. Maybe she did and I was a kid so I didn't remember it, but when I got sick maybe it triggered something inside of me and I was able to do what she did to heal the kids."

"But you haven't found anything to support that idea?"

"No. None of this is why I am glad you came over though. I need to ask you something. Did you really find me on the sidewalk near here?"

Emma looked away, and then back. "No."

"Where did you find me?"

"Um … the stables."

Regina sat back. The stables. Her dream from the night before came back to her. Maybe that is why she had the dream – her mind's way of trying to remind her that she had been in the stables recently.

"Why did you lie?" Regina asked.

Emma shrugged, "I know the stables probably aren't a place that bring up a lot of good memories, so I figured I had done enough harm to you for a while that telling you that seemed pointless."

"How did you find me there?"

"Caller into the station; reported some one suspicious in the area."

The bell went off in Regina's head again. Emma was lying.

"And was I awake at all?"

"I heard you cry out in pain, I went in and found you. You were pretty out of it. I took you to my car and took you to the hospital. You never said anything."

Regina didn't sense that Emma was lying, but she got the feeling Emma was holding something back.

"You really don't know what is going on with this, do you?" Emma asked.

"No," Regina. "I wish I did."

Nothing. Emma wasn't getting any sense that Regina was lying to her.

"I should get into work," Emma said, standing. "Um … if you need any help with this, well, call me if you need anything."

"I will. Thank you sheriff."

"It's Emma."

"Emma."

…

Regina got up on the bed and laid down. She had arrived at the hospital for her check up, expecting a simple Q&A but found Dr. Whale had scheduled off time to run another series of tests. If she hadn't been so curious about how she was healed, she wouldn't have agreed to it. She didn't believe there was a scientific reason for it; she believed it was magic. Still she wasn't going to dismiss the idea that there was a logical explanation for it either, which is why she agreed.

She hadn't gotten anywhere in her own search so far. She thought about Emma's offer to help from the day before, but she honestly didn't know how she could help. It felt good though that she had offered. Maybe there was a chance there that they could stop their antagonistic relationship – at least for Henry.

She worried that her and Emma constantly being at odds was making Henry feel like he had to choose sides. She didn't want that for him. She had grown up with parents who rarely agreed on matters and she didn't want that for Henry.

Dr. Whale, Victor as he told her to call him, was also being unusually nice to her given their history so here she was getting ready to undergo another MRI. The nurse, Lila, came in to strap her to the table again. Regina didn't like being restrained like that, but she supposed after what happened last time it was necessary. She put the earplugs in, closed her eyes and felt them move the bed into place.

She sensed the machine turn on.

They had given her a mild sedative this time and she felt it working inside her as she began to drift off.

"How is she?" she heard her mother ask.

"She's has started to have the hallucinations," her father said. "Where have you been? Who is this person you have brought with you?"

She felt a hand on her forehead. She opened her eyes to see her mother looking down at her. "Leave us."

"I will not," Henry said.

Cora turned from her. "If you want her to live, then leave us. You can't be here for this."

There was hesitation and then her father leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. "I will be nearby," he said softly. "Everything is going to be ok."

She didn't know if he left or not. She moved around in bed, trying to get comfortable and ended up lying on her side. She saw a figure in a hooded cloak standing next to her mother, and as he walked over to her she became afraid.

She tried to move off the opposite side of the bed to escape, but her mother was quicker, getting on the bed and effectively holding her in her arms. The figure reached out and touched her forehead and she struggled in her mom's arms.

"Calm down Regina. He is here to help," Cora said.

She didn't want to calm down though. This person scared her. When he touched her, she felt like he was stripping her soul bare.

"Can you save her?" Cora asked him after a moment.

"There is no way for me or you to cure her with magic," he said. "That would take powerful light magic. But there may be another way."

"What way would that be?"

"A curse," he laughed, and the sound made Regina want to run and hide.

"How does a curse help?"

"It's simple actually. You allow me to curse your daughter – take away her destiny and replace it with another," he said. "It will give her a slight nudge onto another path."

She felt a slight shiver run through her mother's body into hers. She wanted to tell her mother to make this person go away. She wanted the pain to be over, but this person scared her – and she would rather face death.

"By taking away her destiny, you mean her destiny is to die here from this disease?"

"Destinies aren't that simple because once changes are made – even small changes – it can alter them. What I can tell you is that your daughter may very well die from this, but there is another possibility. She could be one of the lucky children who do not die. If that happens, she will grow up. She will meet her true love and when that happens she will leave you. She go with this love and she will build a life, a very simple life, but one where she is happy. She will never do anything remarkable. She will be the kind of nice, simple country girl that you dismiss every day going to the market. What I offer you is a chance to change that, to make her into what you could never achieve – royalty, power and the ability to shake the world from its very foundations. It is your decision."

Regina wanted to tell her mother no. Scream at her. She struggled again in her arms trying to free herself, to run to her father and maybe he would protect her. Please, she pleaded with her mother in her own mind.

"Let's do this," Cora said.

She saw the figure drop his hood and come closer.