Double Trouble 65

A/N: Hi, I'm back! I'm so sorry for the long absence and disruption to this story. A lot of stuff happened, my health went crap for a while and I didn't want to write anymore. But I have several of the upcoming chapters nearly written now and I'm determined to finish, even if it won't be perfect it will be done. Thanks for the kind messages and reviews in the meantime, they really help. Happy reading :).

Recap: After Ri almost removed her heart using her fledgling dark magic, the bigoted school principal Mrs Gander has been left hospitalised with cardiac problems. On the way back to Mary Margaret's apartment Em and Ri argue about their future. Early the next morning Ri leaves to go see Mr Gold, who tells her he knows it was she who harmed Gander even though everyone else is going to think Em was behind it. Ri vows that she would never let Em take the blame for her crime. Gold makes her think he stole the wish her patron fairy Astrid gave her by causing her to use the words "I wish" out loud. Ri says she wants to go back home and forget the bad things she's learned here about herself and her family.

Astrid hears Ri's wish and takes her concerns to the Blue Fairy, but Blue tells her to fulfill it anyway and orders her not to warn any of the Royals about it.

Em wakes up alone feeling ill after having nightmares about Henry disappearing and Ri blaming her for giving up their child. While she's sleeping upstairs Mary Margaret and David discuss how to protect her from the legal consequences of Gander's assault and how to prevent the Blue Fairy from questioning her too hard over it.

Regina and Emma spend the night making up from their earlier fight. By morning Regina has finally succeeded in making their True Love potion (with no help from Mr Gold's instructions), however, when they try to activate it with a kiss it doesn't work. They fear this means Henry - being the product of their love - is in danger of being retconned out of existence, but when they get to his school they realise he is fine. Regina voices her frustration with their lack of progress in saving the town from the shrinking magical border, specifically Emma's procrastinating over it since she's supposed to be the Saviour. Emma suggests that they need to try the kiss again, hoping that they'll be able to perform True Love's Kiss after all...

Chapter 65 'Be careful what you wish for'

Regina shrugged lazily. "Perhaps it's because you're not a very good kisser, Miss Swan. Accept it."

"What?! You've never complained before." Emma's jaw dropped for a second then she retaliated. "Well, you didn't know what you were doing the first time you went down on me. I gave you feedback and taught you everything I know."

"Yes, but what you taught me is not everything that I know. I'm a quick study. Now I'm better at it than you are."

"How the hell do you figure that?" spluttered Emma, bewildered.

"You make more sounds than I do."

"Oh, ok. Let's go there. What about the first time I found one of your special spots huh? You were definitely screaming then, Pillow Queen."

"I practically had to draw you a map to find it, dear." Regina arched an eyebrow to go with her sass.

"I have a short finger span, it's hard to reach them at the same time. It isn't my fault that you're so complicated and you always want everything at once."

"Nor is it my fault that you basically have an on-off switch. Which is almost always in the 'on' position."

"Hey, asking me to not get turned on when you're around is like asking you to stop being sexy all the goddamn time. It's not gonna happen. I don't bother you when you're not into it. Sometimes I like time alone. I y'know, take care of myself."

"So I've heard."

Emma propped her hands on her hips and gave Regina an are-you-kidding-me glare. Was she for real? Or only playing it up for effect. Regina had obviously cottoned on to why some of her showers were a lot longer than others. She refused to be embarrassed though. But if Regina didn't like being excluded then why the hell hadn't she said anything before now? It wasn't like the Mayor didn't have any solo fun of her own, it was just that she was much better at not getting caught. Maybe ten years of parenthood teaches you that.

"You know what, Regina? Maybe it isn't me. Maybe you are the one that sucks at kissing."

"Let's see, shall we?" Regina gave her a wicked gleam and stepped right up close into Emma's space.

The Mayor tipped her chin up and captured her lips in a demanding kiss and damn if it wasn't what Emma had imagined happening thousands of times during their first year. Except that usually in her fantasies it was she who initiated it by going up to the Mayor's office and posturing in leather jacket and shiny gold badge. They'd have a heated discussion over something, either Henry or the running of the town, leaving them both riled up with tension. Regina wouldn't be able to hide how aroused their interactions made her, the intensity always showed in her darkened eyes. Emma would hold her gaze and put her hands up one of the uptight business skirts she always wore so that she could lift her by the thighs, eager to deposit her onto her desk so that she could have her way with her. In her fantasy Regina was indignant at first but soon overcome by desire, begging 'Sheriff Swan' to touch her...

Emma moaned softly, thinking of everything she wanted to do to her and wanting to take her over and over until she just couldn't come again. She pulled her closer and the deepened the kiss, hard and passionate, to which Regina responded with the same fervour. Clearly she wasn't the only one turned on by playing up one of their fights.

Reluctantly they broke the kiss for a break and to catch their breaths.

"That was amazing…" said Emma. "But was something supposed to happen. How will we know if it worked?"

"We'd know if we managed to do it." Regina absentmindedly licked her tongue across her tingling lower lip. "True Love's Kiss ought to be accompanied by something magical. If you have to ask, it didn't happen."

"This is getting ridiculous. Not that I don't love kissing you - but this was supposed to be the easy part of this plan compared to making the potion from scratch. We're running out of time and we're running out of ideas. We've had all day and still come up with nothing. I thought for sure the Middle-of-a-Fight kiss would work."

"That's what you said about all of the others," Regina pointed out wearily.

Emma sighed. "Alright, I hate to say it but-"

"No."

"But we have to. What else can we do?"

"I said NO."

Emma her arms slap her sides in frustration. They were both feeling increasingly stressed by every attempt that didn't work and the pressure they were under. The Saviour thought that if anyone had told her that one day she'd have to save a town by kissing someone she would've laughed in their face. It wasn't so funny right now though.

"Come on, Regina. We have to figure out how to make this True Love's Kiss thingy work. We have to ask them."

Regina glared. "We are NOT going to ask your parents about kissing, Emma. I'd rather let the curse kill me. I refuse to suffer the humiliation of asking Tweedledum and Tweedledumber for magic advice."

"Okay, fine." Emma walked over to the couch and flopped into it. She made a show of crossing her arms and putting her boots on the coffee table in front (an infringement she knew the ever-proper queen hated with a passion). "Let's sit here and do nothing. That'll definitely solve all our problems."

Mary Margaret's apartment, 5 minutes later

"Where are the kids?" Emma asked her parents as soon as she and Regina poofed into the room.

"Henry's still at school," said Mary Margaret. "Ri went out to the stables for some fresh air and isn't back yet. Em wasn't feeling well so she's been upstairs in the bedroom all morning."

"Is Em alright?" Regina asked, glancing upstairs.

Emma dismissed her concern. "You know what she's like. Probably spend the whole day moping until Ri gets back."

David gestured for them to sit down while Mary Margaret flitted around the kitchen preparing tea for the visitors.

Emma had texted her mother saying they needed to talk to both her and David and surprisingly the reply was to come straight over. Mary Margaret's excuse for not being at school in the middle of the day was that she had come home to have lunch. Funnily enough that was David's excuse for not being at the Sheriff's station. Emma knew they were both lying but didn't want to think too hard about why.

"Why exactly are you two here?" said David.

Mary Margaret rushed to say, "Not that it isn't lovely to see you! But we were hoping to have lunch together. Well, anyway, what did you want to talk about?"

"We need to know how you guys did it," Emma mumbled, avoiding her parents' bewildered and curious stares. She and Regina were sitting across from them on separate armchairs. Well, Regina was perched as stiffly as a pile of boards and Emma was slouched trying to make herself as invisible as possible. Her parents didn't seem to be embarrassed in the slightest. Nor did they seem to know why their daughter and her girlfriend were asking these questions.

David's face was blank. "Did what?"

"I'm not sure I understand either," said Mary Margaret.

"For heaven's sake, you idiots." Regina lost her patience, extra annoyed at their stupidity. "Do not make us spell it out. True Love's Kiss!"

"Oh!" David eventually realised what they meant. "You want to hear our story? Let's see… Once upon a time Snow White ate a poisoned apple given to her by - ahem - an Evil Queen and she fell into an eternal sleep. I, Prince Charming, found her in the woods in a glass coffin built by the dwarves. We all thought she was gone forever. I wanted to give her one last kiss goodbye..."

"I felt Charming kiss me and then I woke up," finished Mary Margaret. "The end."

"That's it?" said Emma, unimpressed by the lack of detail. "How's that supposed to help us?"

"Maybe they're suggesting that I try to kill you, Emma," said Regina in a sickly sweet tone. "Mortal danger is a good premise for a love story I hear. I may not have any more poisoned fruit at hand but I'm sure I can arrange something to dispose of you."

"Thanks but no thanks," Emma deferred the offer. "I've had enough of you trying to kill me. Given the mood you're in at the moment you might accidentally succeed this time."

"Are you in a fight? It seems that way," said David, looking from one to the other. When their glares threatened to burn a hole through him he was quick to raise his hands in surrender. "Nevermind."

"I assume you have tried to kiss like you actually mean it?" asked Mary Margaret.

Emma muttered something explicit under her breath. They'd been kissing all morning!

She could hardly let on how they'd made-up with each other last night by having multiple rounds of passionate sex. Regina would've gladly elaborated on the sinful acts she regularly performed on the Charmings's daughter if it weren't for Emma's embarrassment. Ever since the curse originally 'broke', Emma had been reluctant to acknowledge her sexuality with Mary Margaret despite the frequent girl-talk stories they'd shared previously about one-night stands with lecherous doctors (Mary's) and teenage entanglements with a Catholic schoolgirl (Emma's).

"We are not in a fight," Regina enunciated slowly. "This is how we always are."

"Who cares even if we are fighting," said Emma impatiently. "If we're each other's True Love then it shouldn't matter if we're fighting today because we're in love for a lifetime. We argued all the time when we first met but we were still attracted to each other. That's why the last one we tried was the Middle-of-a-fight kiss. We kinda amped it up to recreate the early days but that didn't do it either. None of them worked."

Mary Margaret tilted her head. "What do you mean 'none of them' worked?"

Regina reached into her coat pocket and retrieved a folded up piece of notepad paper. She opened it and passed it to Emma who passed it on to Mary Margaret. The schoolteacher scanned the list, which was hand-written in two different styles:

1. Almost kiss

2. Underwater kiss

3. Kissing in a tree

4. Accidental kiss

5. Kissing upside down

…

74. Middle-of-a-fight kiss

"You tried all seventy-four of these ideas?" said Mary Margaret, barely able to hide her amusement.

"Indeed we did." Regina shot daggers at the woman to her side. "Even the stupid ones. Those were the ideas Emma came up with."

Emma responded with a look of disbelief and ticked off her fingers one at a time. "Regina nearly drowned me in the bathtub, then she tried to throw me out of her tree, and she actually set me on fire at least once. That probably covers Mortal Danger. Her Majesty over there is so lethal that I'm in danger every second of every day when we're together."

"You were in no danger. I was in complete control at all times."

"Are you sure?"

"Am I sure that I'm right and you're not? Yes."

Relishing in having the last word, Regina made a queenly show of ignoring Emma and turned back to the Charmings. "We need to know if there's anything about True Love's Kiss that we're missing."

Mary Margaret was quiet for a few moments, gathering her thoughts, until she said, "There is one thing I can think of. We had a false start once. True Love's Kiss didn't work."

"Really?" said Emma, surprised at the new information. "When was this."

"Not long after I first met your mother," said David. "Snow took an amnesia potion to forget me because I was already engaged to Princess Abigail. Without her full memories she was a changed person, she didn't know me, and the kiss didn't work the first time."

"What happened?"

"She hit me in the face. Again."

Mary Margaret ignored the jibe and turned to her husband. "Let's move on. Who else do we know who's done it? Ella and Thomas, Aurora and Philip, Eric and Ariel … There's a rumour that Maleficent had one with a girl in her youth but they didn't end up together. Something happened to her… I can't remember."

Regina rolled her eyes. "It was with a human. Mortals tend to die eventually."

Emma was confused. "I thought Gold said there'd never been a True Love pairing between two women before?"

"The identity of the human changes with each storyteller," Regina said, impatient to get off the subject. "You'll never get the truth out of Maleficent. She is as fond of propagating rumours as anyone. Regardless, this won't help us determine what the other stories had in common."

The group discussed every True Love coupling they'd ever heard of but there seemed to be no shared element that distinguished True Love's Kiss from an ordinary kiss between a couple who were deeply connected - except that it seemed to be a powerful plot device in all of the fairytales. It only seemed to happen at the right moment, exactly when it was necessary and there was no way to predict when that would be. True Love's Kiss never failed when it was truly needed.

"Great," said Emma sarcastically. "We still have no way of knowing how and when it'll work except that it will. But the only thing we shouldn't do is nothing because then it won't work at all."

"Maybe you need to think outside the box," suggested David.

Mary Margaret's face lit up. "That's exactly what I was thinking. Maybe True Love's Kiss isn't literally meant to be a kiss. It might be something symbolic or a selfless act of love. Or what about-"

David cleared his throat in warning. "Mary."

But his wife went on full-steam ahead. "Have you tried doing more than kissing?"

It wasn't easy to tell who among them was most uncomfortable with the turn this conversation had taken.

Emma felt her face go hot. "Are you talking about… oh, come on, you can't be serious! True Love's orgasm? Is that even a thing?"

"No, but it might help," said Mary Margaret, enthusiastically. "Making love can really strengthen the emotional bond between a couple. Maybe if you focus on how much you love each other it'll bring out your magic. Seeing stars and fireworks, that sort of thing. Have you two ever managed to find release simultaneously? It's very special if you're compatible enough. Sometimes a different position can help but you really have to communicate. You can borrow my copy of the Kama Sutra if you want? Get limber. Get your oxytocin flowing. I know when David and I are having s-"

"Oh god, Mom, STOP!" Emma interrupted, hastily throwing up her palms over her face and wishing the ground would open up and swallow her. "I swear to god I've never been so embarrassed in my entire life. Jesus fucking christ."

"Emma!" David growled. He pointed to the kitchen and she knew exactly what was coming. "A twenty in the Swear jar. Now."

The Sheriff of Storybrooke obeyed but grumbled about it the entire time. She stuffed a few notes inside a Mickey Mouse cookie jar which was already full of dollars (no doubt they'd all been Em's at some point). Without even seeing it she knew Regina had the same gloating look on her face that Ri had every time Em got chastised for bad language. How ironic that the Evil Queen had once been an insufferable goody-two-shoes and still was in some respects.

The Saviour trudged back to her seat. "I'm Emma, by the way, not Em. If the situation calls for it I'm old enough to swear, Dad."

David raised his eyebrows. "Not at your mother. She was only trying to help."

"It's okay, David." Mary Margaret patted his arm, trying to signal to him to be less strict on their adult daughter. "I've heard worse from trolls. Now, about sex..."

Emma was ready to give up. "Is this what I've been missing out on all these years by not having parents? Maybe I should let Regina kill me. Preferably before I have to hear the rest of this conversation."

Mary Margaret chuckled. "Emma, honey, we might be your parents but we're also normal adults with a healthy sex life. How do you think you came into this world?"

"First time's the charm, my love." David put his arm around his wife and gave her a dopey romantic smile that was only half intended as a show for their daughter's benefit. It seemed he wasn't finished with punishing her yet. Apparently they could still embarrass her with the idea of her parents having sex even though she hadn't grown up in the same house as them.

"Ugh." Emma rolled her head on the back of the couch and pouted at Regina in what she hoped was an adorable way. "Kill me," she pleaded. "Please? Put me out of my misery."

"And leave me here alone to listen to them?" Regina huffed, incredulity written all over her face. "No, you're going to suffer along with me. I've already heard enough to justify making a sleeping curse for myself. I don't love you that much."

"You're lying," Emma smiled, wide and sweet. "You totally would sacrifice yourself for me."

"Not if I were the one trying to kill you."

"You're all talk, puppy monster."

"I've told you not to call me that," she hissed. It was a pet name Emma had used once as a joke and pulled it out every now and again when she wanted to poke at her. A fireball burst into flames in Regina's open palm as she glared malevolently at her former enemy/ now lover.

None of the Charmings had time to be alarmed because Emma calmly reached over the armrests to douse the fire with her own bare hand. The fireball fizzed out of existence leaving nothing but a tiny thread of smoke that curled in the air. The skin of Emma's hand seemed no worse for wear despite having been used to quell a fire.

"How did you do that?" said Mary Margaret, awed. She and David were the only ones surprised, they'd rarely seen their daughter use her strange magical abilities. Emma played her cards close to her chest and still nobody but her knew the true extent of her power.

"I've done it before," said Emma dismissively.

"You can cancel out Regina's magic?" said Mary Margaret. "That's interesting. What else can you do?"

"It doesn't matter ok! My powers are useless without hers."

The others were stunned into silence with her sudden outburst.

She knew they were only asking out of curiosity and because it was relevant to the town's current problems. But Emma was annoyed. She didn't want to have to explain her powers. She didn't know herself where they'd come from or why her magic sometimes manifested in her surroundings from time to time. The last thing she wanted was for them to examine her, or worse, fear that she would go off the handle and accidentally turn them to stone or something. Besides, Regina had years of strict training and she was skilled at magic. Whatever strange powers Emma possessed Regina's eclipsed them totally.

"We didn't mean to upset you, honey," said Mary Margaret gently, which only made her feel worse.

"It's fine." Emma tried to ignore the fact that they were still staring at her by changing the subject. "The point is that Regina and I have used our magic together before. We opened a portal to the Enchanted Forest with the Mad Hatter's Hat. We're only powerful together. That has to be the key. Mom, Dad, you have to tell me what we have to do to make this work."

David leaned forward with his elbows resting on his knees and gave her a supportive smile. "You'll know what to do when the time comes. We believe in you."

Emma stood up to go. "This is a waste of time. We'll never figure it out at this rate."

Usually it wasn't hard for a Fairy Godmother to locate one of her charges but getting to them to stay and listen to you was a trick even magic couldn't accomplish. Especially if they happened to be stubborn and used to getting their own way, as many Royals were.

In this case, the Swan-Mills Family Patron had no difficulty in locating the young Regina Mills at Storybrooke's stables but getting her to talk was proving to be a challenge. The girl was heading down the gravel path to the corral and dressed like she was here to go riding. If she left on a horse it could be hours before she returned.

Astrid called out several times to get her attention.

"Young Regina!" called Astrid. She ran a few steps to catch up but stumbled on the uneven rocks. "Wait, please. I need to talk to you."

Ri ignored her and kept walking.

"It's about your wish!"

The teenager stopped in her tracks and turned around, waiting until they were face to face. "What do you mean?"

"I heard you say 'I wish-'"

"Of course you did," said Ri, brows furrowed. "And ignored it like all of the others I suppose."

"No!" said Astrid, pleading with her eyes. "The Blue Fairy approved your application. Your wish will be granted."

Ri laughed without humour. "The Blue Fairy? You mean the same person who stripped me and my entire family of patronage and privileges forever? Mr Gold told me everything. He bribed her to frame my mother for the murder of our Patron fairy. She knew the truth the whole time."

"I-I don't know anything about that."

"I don't trust her. Besides, I have no wish anymore. Mr Gold stole it."

Astrid was horrified. "What! How?"

"He took the words right out of my mouth."

"Is that possible?"

Ri wiped something from her eye and sighed. "I don't know. But I'm sick of people meddling in my life! I'm sick of being a pawn in some masterplan of Rumpelstiltskin's and I hate living under the thumb of my mother even when I'm in another realm. I'm tired of being manipulated under the guise of help and of being fed lies by your kind, Astrid."

"Believe me, I am trying to help you-"

"Why," Ri said sarcastically. "Aren't you afraid I'll murder you? In case you haven't heard, I'm just like my mother."

"In your wish you asked to be sent home, to remember nothing of the painful things you learned here?"

"Yes, but I don't want that. Not if it means I'll forget Em and Henry and all of the good things as well. I was angry when I said it. Forget I ever asked for anything."

"I can't!" Astrid blurted out. "That's why I came to warn you. I'm bound in law to fulfil your wish now."

Ri smiled. "I'm the Queen, I am the law."

Alarmed by the flippant response Astrid shook her hands wildly. "No, no, no! You must understand. There are higher powers at work here, above and beyond mortal magic. Your wish cannot be stopped. It's already too late."

There was a flicker of fear noticeable in Ri's face before she could hide it.

Finally, Astrid thought, she was beginning to get through to the girl about the implications of what was going to happen. As soon as the Blue Fairy had given her approval the fate of the wish had been sealed. Young Regina would be sent home to a miserable life of parental oppression and forced marriage with no memory of how wonderful her future would one day be.

When Ri realised that she only had minutes left in this world there was no telling what she would do.

"Hello there!" A tall handsome youth with a nice smile walked towards them. He was leading a bay-coloured stallion with a white blaze marking on its forehead.

Ri greeted him with familiarity so they must have met before at some point, most likely during a previous visit to the stables. She was drawn to the horse immediately and began stroking its nose and letting it smell her hands.

"I had a feeling I'd see you today," said the young man. "This is Quixote, he's new here. But don't let his name fool you. He calms down quite well after a chance to get moving."

"Oh, he looks just like my Rocinante," crooned Ri. "They could be twins!"

He winked. "Maybe."

"I'd love to take him out for a ride. May I?"

"Of course."

Quixote started moving his feet so Ri gave him some pats of reassurance. Only when the horse relaxed and sighed did she take the reins to lead him away. Astrid watched Ri communicating with the horse to earn his trust, and it was clear that she had experience with horses of a similar personality. She seemed truly in her element.

Astrid heard Ri whispering something to the horse. "We're running out of time. If there's only one minute left I want to spend it with Em."

Before she could ask the teen what she meant the handsome youth held out his hand to Astrid to introduce himself. "Hello, I'm Daniel, the stablehand."

Astrid accepted his hand with a nod in reply. Before she could give her name, her eye was caught when Ri swung herself into Quixote's saddle. The girl had hardly found her seat before urging the horse forward as they took off across the field.

"Wait, Regina!" cried Astrid, but it was useless. The pair were already on the other side of the green, heading for town.

"Let her go," said Daniel. "She knows what she's doing and Quixote knows the way home. He will get her to where she needs to be."

Astrid watched the bay-coloured spot racing towards the horizon, fearing she would never see its rider again. They had been friends for a time until duty came between them. Would Regina ever forgive her for casting a wish that the fairy didn't know was unwanted?

There was a vibration in her jeans pocket and it wasn't from her phone. Astrid pulled out the magic wand from its special pocket. Originally it had been a powerful wand belonging to the murdered patron of the Mills Family. Its whereabouts had been unknown until recently when it was "liberated" from one of Mr Gold's glass cabinets by Em Swan. Now it was Astrid's and having spent some time training with the magical device it was taking on a pink tinge, signifying its allegiance to her.

Astrid saw the wand begin to twinkle and shoot pink sharks. She could feel wish magic starting to channel through her body towards her casting hand. It was more power than she'd ever thought herself capable of grounding. If she managed it, no Fairy would ever sneer at her again and call her incompetent.

"There are more powerful things at work here than fairy magic," Daniel said from behind her.

The Pink Fairy turned around seconds later but there was no sign of the boy. It was as though he'd never been there at all. She didn't have long to consider what it meant though. Magic was demanding and if she didn't obey with her full attention violating Fairy Law would be the least of her concerns.

Main Street, Storybrooke

"Emma?" Regina's heels clicked on the sidewalk as she caught up to her girlfriend outside Mary Margaret's apartment where a dented yellow Volkswagen Beetle was parked. "What was that?"

"What was what."

"You just told your parents they were a waste of time. Not that I'm objecting ... but that's not like you."

Emma unlocked the passenger side door of the car, avoiding a pair of dark worried eyes. "I know. Sorry. I'll call them later to apologise for being a brat."

"The pressure of being the Saviour is getting to you," said Regina. It wasn't a question.

"Yeah, I guess." Emma exhaled.

They both stood by the car for a minute until Regina broke the silence with a grudging admission. "As loathe as I am to credit your parents with being useful they did tell us something about True Love's Kiss that only they would know."

"Which part?"

"That it doesn't always work, even if the couple is fated to be together."

That was a really good point, Emma realised, and she chided herself for overlooking it.

Solving puzzles like this was not only her job as the Sheriff, but it had also been Emma's job as a bailbondsperson. It was what she was good at, putting the pieces together and finding connections between people that no-one else could see. It frustrated her now to be able to see the pieces without understanding what it would look like when they all fit together in the end. She had to get back to basics, start with the facts and work her way up from there.

"Okay," said the Sheriff. "Let's assume for a second that the problem isn't that we're not each others' True Loves, let's assume the kiss isn't working for us right now for some reason."

"Okay," Regina said in a tone that indicated she was wondering where she was going with this.

"Why. What are we missing," Emma mused aloud. "The one time it didn't work for my parents was when Snow took the amnesia potion, because she lost all her memories of Prince Charming. She didn't remember falling in love with him, she didn't remember meeting him at all … Hey, what if our kiss isn't working because there's something we don't remember?"

"Like what?"

"I dunno. Our first meeting? Falling in love?"

Regina huffed. "Just because you apparently have a bad memory doesn't mean that I do. I remember the day we met perfectly well. It's seared into my mind as one of the worst days of my life. It was the day you turned up on my porch to take back my son and ruin everything I'd worked so hard for. I offered you one drink and you ended up in the drunk tank after crashing your car."

"That's not how it happened."

"Excuse me. It most definitely was."

"You're forgetting one thing," said Emma with a growing smile. "That wasn't the first time we met, it was the second time. We met for the first time as realm-jumping, time-travelling teenagers. The first time we fell in love was when I was Em and you were Ri. We're childhood sweethearts."

Regina's head formed a slow nod. "I suppose you are right."

"Hey, it does happen sometimes."

"But we don't have those memories, only Em and Ri do, and we don't know why you and I are missing that piece of our past."

"We need to ask the girls exactly how it happened. There must be something they know that we don't and it's stopping us from activating the potion with True Love's kiss. Maybe they can help us figure this out."

With that realisation came hope for their situation and the two women smiled at each other with real smiles for the first time all day. They now had something to go on at least. All they had to do was get their younger selves together and get them to divulge their secrets.

Emma's phone beeped with a new message and she swiped the screen to check. "Oh god, what now," she complained. She made a face when she read the text.

"Who is it," asked Regina.

"Leroy," Emma rolled her eyes. "Probably drunk as usual. He says: 'The town is shrinking'. Well, duh. As if I need reminding about the stupid border and people losing their memories."

Regina leaned over to read it over her shoulder and frowned. "No, it says 'sinking', not shrinking."

"Probably just a typo."

BOOOOM!

Out of nowhere the sound thumped through the air. The percussive force of it rattled their ribcages and shook the windows of all shops in the vicinity. It set nearby car alarms off, all of which began stammering out their warnings as they competed with one another for attention.

Emma threw her arm around Regina out of protective instinct and ducked her head just in case. When she rose first she looked around for physical threats and then checked to see if Regina was ok. She appeared to be uninjured although she was clearly in shock from the strange occurrence.

"What the hell was that?" cried Emma.

Regina replied, "Magic," and blew a lock of hair that had fallen into her face.

"I know that much. But what caused it and why?"

Emma watched Regina's face carefully, noting the way she was looking around. She'd seen her do this before. The former queen was mentally searching the area for traces of curses or spells that might have done this. Magic always left traces and Regina was skilled enough to recognise them. When she visibly froze, Emma knew at once that she'd realised what'd happened.

"Hey, what is it? Regina?"

"Someone just left Storybrooke," said Regina, and looked at her like it was the first time she'd seen her face in decades.