Chapter thirty-six

"Regina, wake up," Cora tried to say gently, though by most people's standards it still came out rather rough.
Regina opened her eyes slowly. She was trying to make sense of the dream she had the night before. She couldn't exactly remember what it was about, but she had the distinct feeling that she was honestly happy in it. Despite her best efforts, the last time she remembered being truly happy was with Daniel. The curse had provided her with amusement for a few weeks, and then it had just been twenty eight years of the same routine over and over again. The only break she had gotten was when the saviour had come to town with her son, she furrowed her brow as she was sure that couldn't be right. According to her memory, the saviour had broken the curse as soon as she crossed the town line, and she was sure that wasn't what happened, but it was what her memories were telling her. She also remembered her mother coming to town as soon as the curse was broken and saving her from a mob that was trying to kill her, but she still felt unexplainably uncomfortable with the idea of her mother doing that.

The mayor simply shook her head, and turned towards her mother, offering her a small smile.

"How are you feeling this morning?" she asked.

Regina narrowed her eyes for a moment, but a part of her knew that she was being irrational, she had no idea why she should have to question her own memories.

"Better," she lied, as she threw the sheet back, and began to stand up.

"I made you breakfast."

Regina paused on her way to the bathroom and rounded on her mother, "what do you want from me?"

"I simply missed you, darling, is it really strange for a mother to be worried?" she asked, feigning hurt.

"It is for you," Regina replied boldly.

Cora raised her eyebrows at her daughter, before an idea occurred to her. Waving her hand behind her back, she created an illusion that she hoped her daughter would fall for.

Approaching her, she began her lie, "I have turned over a new leaf," grabbing her hand, she brought it to her chest, and Regina's eyes widened in shock as she felt the distinct feeling of a beating heart.

"H-how?" she stuttered out.

"Twenty-eight years being frozen in time showed me what I was missing, so I returned my heart before coming to find you."

She's lying, popped into Regina's head, but she couldn't help but think that she couldn't deny the proof.

Regina smiled hesitantly, and replied, "I'll be down for breakfast as soon as I'm dressed."

Cora returned the smile, and turned to leave her to it, this is going to be easier than I thought.

"What are you doing?" Henry sighed as Emma searched for her keys.

"Going to Town Hall," she replied without looking at him.

"Why?" he asked with a furrowed brow.

"To talk to your mom...where are they?" she ground out.

Henry rolled his eyes and jumped off the couch, reaching into the red jacket that she had worn to breakfast, he pulled them out of the pocket.

"You don't need to be nervous," the boy said encouragingly as he placed the keys into her hand.

Emma simply sighed and shook her head.

"What's wrong?" Henry asked, looking thoroughly confused.

Emma thought for a moment, she hadn't actually realised that she was nervous, but now she felt it crash down upon her in full force.

She guessed that it was because of how their relationship had been before. She was sure that Regina would be having strange déjà vu moments just like she had before, but she also knew that it took a lot for her to remember. All she wanted to do when she came back from the Enchanted Forest was take Regina on a date, but now she had to deal with memory loss, Cora and Neal.

Falling back against the door, she put her head in her hands, "I just wanted things to be normal for once."

Henry frowned as he thought back to the book, "what's normal?"

Despite herself, she let out a small laugh. She had been surprisingly unsurprised when Henry showed her his newest book, she was just happy that she wouldn't be constantly pestered for stories from the alternate timeline.

"You've got a point, kid," she replied with a weak smile.

"Just go and get her to drink the potion," Henry replied.

"You say that like she will just drink a potion off someone that she hardly knows."

Henry furrowed his brow, "but she does know you, maybe you just need to kiss her!"

"Not the answer to everything," the blonde chuckled.

Henry thought about it g for a moment, and sighed, "just do something, get her to know you again."

Emma put her hand on the boys shoulder and offered him a smile, "she'll be back to normal before you know it."

Regina sat at her desk.

Frankly, she was shocked that she was even allowed to go to work without some kind of resistance, but everyone seemed to just leave her alone. What she didn't know was that the Charming's had spent the morning convincing everyone to give her another chance. Snow had even set out points of why Storybrooke was better than the Enchanted Forest, they had even pointed out how much she had changed in the past few days, though they had omitted the part about time travel. The town had agreed tentatively to another chance, though the queen was on some very thin ice with the townspeople, they couldn't deny that she was the only one capable of carrying out the mayoral duties and preventing the town from descending into anarchy.

A knock at the door interrupted her concentration, and she looked up to see the sheriff, "how can I help you, Graham?" she sighed, before she frowned. Since when am I polite to him?

"I just need to give you this," he replied, though he seemed to be keeping his distance. He considered Regina a friend, but Regina without her memories meant that he was basically talking to the Evil Queen, a prospect that he wasn't very comfortable with.

Regina took the letter, and her eyebrows were raised, "a letter of resignation?"

Graham nodded, "Emma will be interim sheriff before you fill the position."

Regina closed her eyes in frustration as she thought; I don't need to find another sheriff then. Regina pinched the bridge of her nose, she felt as if she had two different versions of herself battling within her mind and she couldn't help the feeling that it had something to do with her mother.

"Is that all?" she asked.

Graham inspected her for a moment, there was actually something that he really wanted to talk to her about, but he knew now wasn't the time for dating advice.

Nodding, he made to walk away, only for a knock at the door to stop him.

Regina just nodded, and Graham opened it to be met with his replacement, Graham mouthed 'what are you doing?' to which she just shrugged and walked past him. The hunter just sighed, and continued on his way out.

"Miss Swan?" Regina asked cautiously. She remembered very little about the saviour, other than the fact that she had broken the curse, but she still felt drawn to her.

Emma smiled broadly at the other woman, which seemed to shock her, and her smile instantly fell into a frown.

"I just came to see how you are?"

"I'm fine, why wouldn't I be?" Regina asked with raised eyebrows.

Emma winced, and desperately hoped that her next words would line up with her new memories, "you know...the curse breaking..."

Regina just waved her hand dismissively, "it was bound to happen eventually," and then her eyes widened, why am I okay with it?

The mayor ran her hand across her face, and she stood up, deciding that she needed more sleep.

"Is that all sheriff?"

Emma smirked, she was secretly happy that she was sheriff again, she just wished that it had happened in this way in the other timeline.

"I came to give you these forms," she lied, she knew that the potion wouldn't work yet. She and Henry had discussed at length that they needed to get Regina to trust her, so she was determined to be as annoying as possible and hope that the woman would fall in love with her again.

Regina took them, and shook her head, "I can't read these, you'll have to do them again."

Emma smiled again, and Regina felt very unsettled by the familiarity the saviour seemed to feel.

"Of course your majesty," she laughed, "Your wish is my command."

The blonde walked out of her office, hoping that she had laid the ground work, and Regina just fell back into her chair feelings stunned at how much she had enjoyed that short conversation.

A/N Hope you guys enjoyed XD

Reviews would be much appreciated :)