A/N:

Hey guys! I hope you're all having a great Sunday. This chapter is the fallout from the fight and a few other things. I kind of intended this to give some answers to things that have been happening but all I've really succeeded in doing is creating more questions. OOPS. All will be revealed soon (ish), I promise. As always reviews are appreciated and constructive criticism is welcomed! Thanks for the views, follows and favs. Happy reading!

Rosie xx

(I do not own Once or any of the characters, no copyright intended).

The world began to permeate Regina's sleep. Beyond her closed eyelids the room was light, sunshine breaking its way through the translucent curtains. She inhaled the peaceful air around her and turned her face back into her pillow momentarily. She wasn't usually this reluctant to rouse herself for the day. It was then she remembered, through the snug, dreamy, fog that had been taking residence in her brain that last night she had fought Zelena, and lost, badly. Her mind went on a rampage for all of three seconds before she realised that there was a warm, soft form pressed tantalisingly against her back and delicate breath tickling the back of her neck. She froze.

Who is that? Emma? What is Emma doing in my…Oh, God. The brunette remembered the state she had been in last night, the way Emma had taken care of her. Oh, Emma. She allowed herself to feel everything for just a second, the blonde pressed so deliciously against her, it was like nothing Regina had experienced before. There was a hand loosely draped over her stomach, a face buried in the tangle of brunette hair behind her. She felt the movement of the woman's chest against her back.

Suddenly the Mayor realised what she was doing and carefully but quickly extricated herself, peeling the arm gently from around her, albeit reluctantly, and moving away from the sleeping woman in her bed. Emma grumbled lightly and rolled around to face the other direction. This prompted Regina to see the pill bottle on the side of the table.

That explains her presence in my bed then I suppose, she thought. In my drugged up stupor I probably asked her to stay or something equally as ridiculous. But even if I did ask her…she actually stayed? Regina questioned, brushing it off by telling herself that she must have been very insistent. That it couldn't have possibly been because Emma wanted to be there, no, that wasn't a possibility at all.

The brunette watched the woman in her bed for a while; the way her back rose and fell softly with her breath, her long blonde tresses fanned out across the pillow. She pulled herself out of her daydream and headed to the guest bathroom, conscious not to wake Emma up.

As she walked silently across the room she realised, bizarrely, that she was not in pain. She raised a hand experimentally to her head and felt that the large lump from the night before had miraculously disappeared. Experimentally she wiggled and flexed her back muscles as she walked down the hallway. Nothing. Regina had never been able to heal herself from an ordeal such as that. When subjected to her mother's violence as a child she had been protected by a spell which prohibited the marking of her skin, and she supposed that may have lasted somewhat into her adulthood, but not this long. Last night she had been covered in bruises and scrapes; she hadn't even been able to cure herself of a hangover several days ago, let alone fix this. However she had awoken feeling light, rejuvenated, and still did. Even now she could feel a strange fullness within herself that made no sense after the draining battle last night. Like molten gold running through her veins…Like…

No, that's impossible. Her magic. It's not strong enough for that. It can't be.

The more she thought about it, felt it, the more the former Queen realised that the magic which had healed her had not been her own. Many skillful practitioners of magic could feel the power of others. Each Sorcerer or Sorceress had their own magical signature, in the way that Regina's magic was purple and Zelena's green. The air around her sister's magic felt rancid and suffocating, it smelt like a damp, toxic swamp. She had once been told her own magic felt crisp, stinging, and rich, and that it smelt like apples and permeating darkness. The magic inside her at this moment however was like liquid silk coursing through her body, shades of brilliant white and shimmering silver pulsating through her nerve endings and touching every part of her darkened soul. She imagined it would smell like vanilla and the woods on a beautiful sunny day. It was Emma's magic. Of that she was certain.

She can't have known if she did do it, Regina reasoned, her magic can't heal someone yet, especially someone with dark magic like me. Unless… No. No, that can't be it. That means…

The brunette did have one thought, but it was so absurd, so completely ridiculous that she couldn't even fathom it being true. She didn't even want to think it because she was starting to think that it was the one thing that she truly wanted, and nothing she ever wanted became a reality. Nothing ever worked out for her. Remember, she told herself, villains don't get happy endings.

Regina had been so lost in thought she had walked to the guest bathroom without even thinking about it. She began to undress as she turned on the shower. She tried to forget about her previous train of though, yet she spent the entirety of her shower either thinking about Emma Swan or trying not to think about her. When she was finished she headed back up to her room to get dressed, Emma was still snoring soundly in her bed and Regina didn't have the heart to wake her. However, after dressing in the bathroom and putting on makeup Regina returned to her room to find the Saviour, her Saviour, rousing from her sleep. The blonde looked up at her with guilty eyes, still half closed from sleep but as soon as she realised where she was she flew into action; legs scrambling out of the covers as she pushed herself from the bed.

"Regina, oh my god, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean-"

The brunette stopped still and let out a laugh at Emma; hair ruffled, t-shirt pulled down over one shoulder in her hurry to extricate herself from the covers, she looked down slightly; if the blonde hadn't known any better she would have said that the woman was nervous. She thought she saw a hint of blush on tanned cheeks.

"It's fine Emma, really. I apologise for last night…" She trailed off.

"No I apologise, I shouldn't have stay-"

"No it was all me, I shouldn't have asked," Regina responded, uncharacteristically bashful, "I did ask…didn't I?" She looked anywhere but at Emma.

When they made eye contact the blonde's eyes were soft but with an air of self-consciousness in them, she fidgeted under the gaze.

"Yeah, yeah you did. I hope it was okay…You were kind of out of it. How are you feeling?"

"I'm good, thank you. Better than I expected…" For a second Regina contemplated coming clean, telling Emma that she had been healed by some never before heard of feat of magic on the blonde's part, but quickly she realised that there was no point in telling Emma something that she didn't know for sure. She didn't want to lie, but at this moment in time did she really have a choice? "My healing must have kicked in somehow, I feel rather like I wasn't thrown through a window last night which I suppose is definitely a positive."

She also decided that it was better not to let the woman know that they had awoken in each other's arms. Emma knew she had slept in there last night, she wouldn't anticipate that Regina had had to extricate herself from Emma's comforting embrace this morning. Ignore it, Regina thought, it never happened.

Emma smiled in response, "Well uh, that's great. I guess I should go and shower and stuff…"

"Yes, of course, I will put coffee on," Regina attempted to move around and grab her phone from the bedside table but the blonde also moved in the same direction and they began an awkward little dance until Emma cleared her throat and stepped around Regina entirely.

"I'll uh…see you in a bit," the Sheriff professed as she left the room, glancing back behind her with a delicate smile.

It wasn't much long afterwards that Emma entered the kitchen, freshly showered and dressed in black skinny jeans, boots and a grey vest with her red leather jacket slung over her arm. She watched Regina from the doorway for a millisecond before the woman looked up, baffled by the fact that less than 12 hours ago she had to carry her in her arms through this house and now she had returned to her usual majestic self. Emma noticed though that there was something even more radiant about her today. It was like magic. No, Emma thought, It was magic. The brunette was glowing, flawless. Not that she had any flaws anyway, but regardless something was different; it was amazing.

Warm chocolate eyes looked up at her, glittering with something that couldn't even be translated into words. Emma helped herself to coffee and sat down on the island across from Regina.

"I forgot to mention," Emma began, "last night when we were in the clocktower you said something about Zelena's amulet? About it being in your vault? I didn't know if you'd forgotten."

A look of realisation crossed the brunette's face. "That's right. I had forgotten." Regina became very serious all of a sudden and it worried the other woman deeply.

"Emma. That amulet was in my vault for a reason. It was originally Rumple's, passed down to me when I became his student. It grants the wearer immunity to absolutely any magical spell and binds to their magic, making it essentially impossible to remove. With it, we can't do anything. We can't hurt her at all. The only way we'll be able to defeat her is if we get it off her somehow."

Emma breathed out a long, strained sigh, "Shit Regina. So essentially we're screwed?"

"I would put it more eloquently than that but yes Emma. Essentially, we're screwed."

They were silent for a minute, contemplating the implications of their discovery when Emma had an idea.

"Wait, if we can't do anything to stop her, then why hasn't she just cursed us all and killed us already? It makes no sense."

Regina mused over the suggestion for a second. "Well, considering that she hasn't cast the curse already she must be missing some things she needs to cast it."

"So we need to find out what she needs, and once we've done that we can figure out how to stop her?" Emma asked, thinking that it sounded much easier than it was actually going to be.

"Yes."

"Well, today is going to be fun then isn't it."

Both women left the house and headed their separate ways; Emma out on patrol with Ruby, Regina to her office. Her Mayoral duties were essentially non-existent at the moment but it helped to go somewhere away from the mansion to think. She also wanted to speak to Gold. She had doubted going to him about how she had been miraculously healed, but she needed answers and figured that he was really the only person in a place to be giving them. Him, or Tinkerbell, but since their last encounter she determined that there was something not quite right about the fairy. Ulterior motives were in play; not that they weren't with Gold, but at least with him you couldn't expect anything different. She also thought it would be wise to speak with him about Zelena's necklace. It was his after all, and he would know how to remove it. She pulled on her black coat, soft yet tough on the outside and lined with black fur on the inside, perfect for the early spring day outside.

As she walked down Main Street she noticed the townspeople, continuing with their days as if their Mayor hadn't battled with a Witch in this very square less than 24 hours ago. The people of Storybrooke had always been very good at pretending that nothing had happened, when in reality and behind closed doors it was all they talked about.

One foot in front of the other, heels echoing melodically on the pavement, Regina walked past the florists. Soon she had arrived at her destination; Gold's Pawn Shop, the sign stared down at her. Ever confident the brunette pushed the door open with her left hand and stepped into the comforting gloom of Rumplestiltskin's cave of magical wonders.

The man in question was at the counter, back turned, donning his coat as the bell jingled. He immediately stopped his actions and turned around to face his incoming customer whilst pulling his jacket over his shoulders and smoothing the lapels with the palm of his hands. Belle also appeared from around the corner of glass cabinets, ever eager to help.

"Ah, Madame Mayor, good day. " he said politely before he glanced over at his girlfriend briefly.

"Rumple," she started, "ever the pleasure. And Belle, how lovely to see you dear." She continued, nodding in Belle's direction as she spoke. Swiftly she made her way up to the counter, her high heels the only sound in the otherwise silent shop.

"This very second I was leaving to seek you out, what a coincidence," he spoke, sickly sweet, his fingers moving in a wave as he tapped them on the glass softly. But what he said was not what he thought. Given the reason Rumple wanted to speak with the former Queen, the fact that she had come essentially answered any questions he might have had before he even heard a word out of her mouth. "Shall we move this into my office?" He asked, gesturing with his right hand.

"Yes, indeed," she stated cooly as she followed him through the archway and seated herself regally in the ornate chair that was placed in front of the desk. Gold sat behind the large piece of oak and leant back in his chair, resting his hands flat on the surface.

Regina spoke first. "Why did you have need of me?" she asked matter-of-factly, her eyes fixed on the man across from her.

Rumple clasped his hands in front of him as he spoke with feined courtesy, " No dearie, ladies first, you came to me after all."

Regina only just managed to hide a scowl from her face at the man's words. He was playing her, as he always did. She didn't expect anything otherwise. "You first Rumple. I insist." She said sweetly, but her face told a different story. Her eyes were slightly narrowed at the man in front of her, her full lips set like solid stone. "What is the nature of your enquiry?"

The dark wizard leaned closer to Regina, "It was intended to be a warning. But I am no longer certain," he said, making pointed eye contact with Regina as he spoke. "And yours?"

"A question. Or several, I suppose." she answered truthfully.

"Very well then," Rumple replied. He paused for several seconds and contemplated what he was going to say next. Regina was gazing upon a trinket to the side of Gold's head when he continued.

"I have reason to believe, dearie," he said smirking across at the Mayor, "that we seek to discuss something not altogether dissimilar. For this reason I am prepared to volunteer my information first, provided that you tell me the truth about what has occurred."

What has occurred? Regina thought. Surely he isn't talking about…No matter what, Regina needed to know. She had no choice but to accept Gold's proposition.

"I will speak the truth," she said begrudgingly, "Proceed." Regina crossed one leg over the other and linked her fingers loosely in her lap.

Gold nodded acceptingly and began to speak. Regina's body was on edge.

"Initially, I had intended to seek you out to warn you of something. Yesterday evening, rather late, I was sitting here in my office when something rather interesting happened. Many of the magical objects in the shop starting moving, operating of their own accord. The magic was strong, unknown to me. At first I thought it was Zelena's curse but after further inspection I realised that it was not."

Regina was confused, was he going where she thought he was going with this?

"I had intended to notify you that there may be another player in the game," he said, his lips stretching upwards in a knowing smile. "However, your arrival here prompted me to change that view. Would I be correct?"

"Yes. I think so." Regina answered, but didn't say anything else. If she was going to give him this information he was going have to work for it.

"You think so?" he asked quizzically.

"Yes. That was the nature of one of my questions," Regina said, continuing to be mysterious. Her chest rose and fell evenly underneath her coat.

"So you wish to know…what exactly?" he prompted her to continue. This was too much of a waiting game for Rumple. He preferred to procure his information quickly and preferably painfully.

Regina stopped for a minute. She had to be careful about how she phrased her question. "I would like your word that this will not leave this room," she started, staring at him seriously.

"Naturally," he replied, "we wouldn't want anyone getting any ideas would we?" spoken slyly as he winked. But she knew that requests like this, when with Gold, need to be written in blood.

He nodded for her to proceed and she steeled herself for a moment before speaking. Nothing of this nature had yet been voiced aloud, no one, not even herself knew how she felt about Emma. And the last person on earth she ever wanted to confess her feelings to was Gold.

"Hypothetically," she began. Wonderful, Regina, she thought, so clearly its not hypothetical. "Can a person with light magic use their powers subconsciously on someone with dark magic, even without training?"

Gold looked slightly confused, as if the cogs in his head were working to figure out what she was actually talking about. He leaned slowly back against the velvet cushion of his chair.

"No," he replied, "light magic cannot heal dark magic, only destroy it, under normal… circumstances," he eyed her.

"In what circumstances would light magic be able to, say, heal, dark magic?" she asked.

"Well, the only occurrences of such a thing I have ever encountered happens when the two individuals in question are related, or if they are each other's true love. There is no other way. Does that sufficiently answer your query, dearie?" he chuckled.

"Yes, it does. Thank you," she answered cordially. Before she could make a move to leave Gold continued to speak.

"So…" his trademark smirk apparent on his reptilian features, "The Evil Queen, healed by the Saviour, that is something quite remarkable, is it not?"

Regina was surprised, yet she shouldn't have been. She didn't think that he would know who she was talking about and she certainly didn't understand why he just assumed it was Emma, but then again there were no assumptions with Rumple. He knew everything already, he just determined the right time to reveal his knowledge.

"I suppose it is," she answered warily. She didn't to tell him any more than she had to. "How did you know it was Emma?"

"I didn't, not for certain, not until you told me right then. But I had a feeling, and she did whisk you off in a rather heroic manner last night. Has this relationship been happening since Miss Swan's return?"

"I don't know what you are referring to. There is no relationship, not of the kind you accuse, with Miss Swan and myself. That is why I was so confused by the occurrence," Regina tried to cover. It felt wrong lying about her interest in Emma. Something was happening but neither woman knew what yet, and Regina was inclined to keep it that way.

"You have…feelings for her?" he asked nosily.

"Our exchange has been fulfilled. I am no longer required to speak to you about this." She eyed him warily. He said he was unaligned, but information such as she had just divulged could be used against her by her enemy. The brunette rose from her seat and straightened her clothing quickly.

"Very well then, and the other matter?" He asked, having thankfully given up on probing Regina for the time being.

"The other matter concerns our resident witch," Regina confessed.

"I'm listening."

"I do not know how, but she appears, as you may have noticed, to have acquired the Amulet of Eoh. I believe this causes a problem for both of us. I, would rather like to get rid of this incessant woman, which is made impossible when she has this in her possession. And on your part, I do believe you are more than slightly against the thieving of your possessions, even if they were gifted to another."

"You would be right in that dear. This situation will have to be rectified forthwith. I do not appreciate being stolen from. Leave this problem to me, I will consult you when it is remedied."

Regina was suspicious to say the least and she didn't feel confident about not being involved in this process at all. But at that moment it was probably best for her to stay as far away from her sister as was physically possible in a town as small as this.

"Thank you Rumple, I very much appreciate your enthusiasm to help," Regina replied, "how very unlike you," she quipped. "It has been a pleasure."

"The pleasure is all mine," he bowed and extended his hand, which Regina shook before walking back onto the main shop floor.

"Good day, Regina," he called out from his place back behind the counter as she pulled the door open.

"Good day," she replied, not looking back.

Regina stepped outside and immediately the chilly air bit at her face as she headed towards her office again. She thought about what Rumple had said. The only way someone with light magic could heal someone with dark magic is if they were true loves. Regina was pretty sure she and Emma weren't related-related, but in this town who the hell knew. Everyone's family tree was a tangled web, spanning anywhere from several decades to several centuries. However she decided to overlook this because, dare she say it, it was the more improbable of the two.

She would have to tread carefully with this. Being true loves and actually being together where two completely different things and the latter wasn't something either of them were ready for right now. For all she knew Emma's love for her might be dormant, not yet realised by the woman herself. Taking care of Regina could have prompted a subconscious need to heal her because of their proximity to each other at that moment. Regina was grasping at straws, because there was no way she could ever envision the woman actually loving her back. That would be too much, more than she deserved, more than she could ever ask for from the blonde. However it seemed like the red string of fate had bound them together inexorably. All Regina wanted to do was melt into it, but it was going to be so much more difficult than that.

Part of her wanted to tell Emma, and part of her wanted to wait, to see how things would play out between them without being thrust together simply because it was their 'destiny'…not that she was sure she believed in destiny anyhow. The brunette, masochistically, wanted to draw it out. She had always loved the chase, but it was more than that this time. She didn't want to rush into anything with Emma because if she was really going to love again she wanted to cherish every moment. She wanted to live it all, appreciate it all, not ruin things before they even had a chance to get off the ground.

Regina was interrupted from her silent reverie when she turned a corner and was struck with the sight Robin Hood and Tinkerbell talking to each other. She hadn't been aware that they knew each other and for some reason it struck her with a deep feeling of deja vu. This had happened once before, when she met Robin the first time. She was certain that it was memories from the missing year, things that had already happened. She had been so preoccupied with asking Gold about Emma that she had forgotten something glaringly obvious. Tinkerbell's fairy dust had lead her to the man with the lion tattoo, yet just moments ago Rumple had told her Emma was her true love. Surely she couldn't have two true loves, so one of them must be incorrect, but the question was, which one?

It suddenly struck Regina as suspicious that Tink and Robin were talking as she watched from up the street, just out of their vision. Was it a coincidence that the fairy knew the man she had been lead to? Had they met here in Storybrooke this time around? Robin certainly wasn't in the town when she cast the curse so that was a plausible possibility. However something told her otherwise, and she most certainly needed to find the answer.

For now, Emma would be kept in the dark about their fate. Regina had more to contend with than she initially considered. She wanted to get to the bottom of whatever it was that she was currently watching before she addressed her feelings for Emma. They were the priority. The tall, rugged, surly-faced man with the lion head tattoo was nothing but a childhood wish for something happy in a life that at the time had been full of misery.

Sitting at her kitchen table, still revelling in her victory the previous night Zelena was more than surprised to hear a confident knock at her front door. She wondered who in this coward-pit of a town would have the audacity to just walk up to her front door and knock. It was then that she realised this may have been the visit she had been waiting for. She had purposely not sought the man out and had instead decided to wait for him to come to her. She had hoped, and now assumed she had been correct, that after displaying her prowess last night, as well as showing off something belonging to him, that he would make the decision to help her all of his own accord. The redhead didn't even bother moving from her seat and instead opened the door with a flick of her well-practised hand while continuing to sip on her steaming mug of tea. With her back facing the threshold it was only once she heard the front door shut quietly and the tell-tale tap of cane on the wooden floor that she knew he had entered. His calm and collected voice drifted through the air before she even had the chance to turn around.

"Good afternoon dearie," Rumplestiltskin said as he entered her vision. He walked round to the other side of the table and pulled out a chair, gently resting his walking stick against the table. "It is a pleasure to finally and formally make your acquaintance."

Zelena's chest filled with pride. She had expected so much of the first time she met her father, imagined over and over again what he would say to her and it was already beyond her wildest dreams.

"Rumplestiltskin," she dipped her head, eyes gleaming as she raised it again and looked back at him, "the pleasure is all mine, really. I have heard such stories about you, about your power."

"I'm sure you have," he replied nonchalantly, hands still on the table in front of him. "Yet I have heard very little of you. You have proved yourself a worthy adversary."

Zelena smiled. "I had hoped you would notice, I am thrilled that you think of me as such. Is there anything in particular I can do for you, any particular reason why you came?" grinning at him almost imposingly before having a realisation. "I do apologise, I am not used to hosting guests. May I offer you anything? Tea?" She asked as she pushed her chair backwards to get up.

"No, thank you. In fact, this visit is not so much about something that you can do for me, but rather about something I can do for you," he smirked. "I have some information that mat be of interest to you, something that may help further your…cause….so to speak."

Her father wanted to help her….help her. This was more than she had ever dared to imagine. Her face remained stoic and poised but inside she was elated.

"And what might that be…?" she asked cooly before being interrupted.

"Tut tut tut. Not so fast dearie." He ran a hand through his hair and laid it to rest on the surface of the table again. "Anyone who knows me knows that I do not give away anything for nothing, do not think that you are exempt from that rule," his eyes glinted as he continued, "but this is a deal that you absolutely do not want to decline."