Chapter eleven

Graham and August stared expectantly at Regina as she paced the sheriff's station.

She stopped and looked as if she was about to say something, but simply closed her mouth and continued pacing.

"Err...Regina, is there something wrong?" Graham asked.

August turned to him, "she freaked Emma out."

He nodded, "and who are you?"

"August," he smiled.

"Graham," he said extending his hand, "so what did you do?"

"I told her that the curse is real," she grumbled.

"Why?" Graham asked.

"She asked me to stop lying to her," she huffed and sat down.

"How did she know that you were lying?" the sheriff asked, clearly confused.

"She has this...superpower thing...it's not important, the point is that I ruined everything, she's probably going to leave town," she said while putting her head in her hands.

"She won't leave," August said.

"What makes you so sure?"

"She's the saviour, she can't leave until the curse is broken," he replied. Regina looked at him in shock, and he explained, "I've done my research. Apparently she can't cross the town line until the curse is broken."

Regina thought about it, "you're right, that's what happened last time," she answered.

"What?" the puppet laughed.

"She knows the future," Graham answered without looking away from the mayor.

"Oh," August replied meekly.

"So what do you suppose I do?" she asked.

"You're the one that knows the future," he laughed, still somewhat disbelieving.

"I don't know everything that happened," she sighed.

"Well how would I know?" he countered.

"What do I do in the future?" Graham asked curiously.

Regina felt the throat go dry and shook her head.

"You crushed my heart didn't you?" he laughed.

"You're okay with that?" she asked shell shocked.

"How can I be mad at you for something that an alternate you did, besides you made it up to me," he shrugged. "But why did you crush it?"

Regina blushed, "you kissed Emma."

He shook his head, "I wouldn't worry about that, your majesty, I actually asked Ruby out," he said proudly.

August looked between them, "are you two friends?"

"Why not?" Graham shrugged his shoulders again, "anyway, what do you want us to do about Emma?"

"I don't know," she sighed, "I should really go and pick Henry up."

Each man nodded and watched the mayor leave.

Emma walked back into the empty apartment and fell onto the couch.

Looking up at the ceiling, she considered what Regina had told her, and she just couldn't allow it to be true, even though she was beginning to believe it more and more with each passing moment.

But why would she believe it? She had after all, stopped believing in fairytales at a fairly young age, there was just no room for it in foster care.

But then she thought about the déjà vu that she had been having the past two days. Every person in this town was familiar, and she felt like she had been to all the places in this town a hundred times over. Logically she had tried to convince herself that she had only been here for two days, she had only just met these people and her son and his adoptive mother were both insane. Maybe this was Regina's way of making sure that she never wanted to return to try and take her son back. But she knew that this theory couldn't be right either, she just felt such a strong connection to the brunette. She had to admit that it actually felt good to hear her tell the truth, even if she only believed it to be true because she was completely and utterly insane. And the strangest thing out of all of this was that she just wished that Mary Margaret wasn't at work so that she could talk to her about all of this.

Regina and Henry walked into their home, and Regina noticed that her son was being uncharacteristically silent, "what is it, Henry?"

He bit his lip, but decided that he couldn't hide anything from her after moaning at her for so long, "Mr Gold visited me at school."

"WHAT!" Regina shouted.

"Mom, calm down, he actually made a good point."

She rose her eyebrow, and he brought a container out of his bag containing a apple turnover, "Henry," she warned.

"No listen, he said that if I go under the sleeping curse, then it will force Emma to admit that she loves me, and she can break the curse like she did in the future."

"She doesn't love you yet," Regina warned, trying to take the container away from him.

"But it was true love right, she just has to have the potential to love me," he reasons.

She shook her head, "that's not how it works, she has to remember loving you."

"Remember?"

Regina sighed, "I think that she has her memories like I do, but her disbelief is preventing her from fully remembering."

Henry nodded, "then it will force her to remember," he said while taking the lid off the container.

"Henry Daniel Mills, put that down right now," she scolded.

He shook his head, "we have to try."

He was about to pick it up and bring to his mouth, only to have the pastry snatched out his hand.

"Mom," he whined.

Regina looked at it, "I will not allow you to go under a sleeping curse."

Henry sighed, "Mr Gold said that you signed a contract that said I have to."

Regina shook her head, "I read it twice, it most certainly did not say that."

"He said that you would say that, so he gave me a copy," he held out the paper and gave her the UV light, "I know that he tricked you, so don't worry I'm not mad."

She shone the light, "it doesn't say that you have to, it says that a Mills has to go under the curse," she frowned.

Henry shrugged his shoulders, "he said that he couldn't risk something happening to me before he got the chance to give me the curse, something about covering all of his bases."

Regina looked from Henry to the pastry and then to the contract, "if she can't wake you up then I wouldn't be able to live with myself."

Henry offered her a small smile, and reached out to take the turnover, "you just have to believe."

Regina thought about having to live without Henry, she knew that there was no way she could allow Henry to be asleep for eternity. Looking at the contract it was quite clear that someone would have to take on this curse, but she knew that this person would not be her son if she had any say about it. She shook her head, "I can't take that chance," and without hesitation she bit into the apple turnover.

A/N Just so it's clear, Regina went under the curse for Henry, she wasn't really thinking about Emma breaking it for her, hope that clears up any confusion :)