Regina leaned against the cold stone walls of her vault, head held up and face twisted in pain. She felt like she would either pass out or be sick at any moment. Maybe both. Her chest tightened around a steadily shrinking vital organ. It felt like someone was squeezing her heart. Slowly. Methodically. Enough to make her suffer terribly. Slowly, the life was being drawn out of her, and there was nothing she could do stop it.

"Mom, are you okay?" Henry asked her, eyes wide with both concern and fear. He knew it was a stupid question-obviously, no version of his mother was okay-but he didn't know what else to say. He looked as though he was afraid that if he touched her, he might break her. Never had he seen his mother so frail before, and it scared the hell out of him. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

Regina managed a small smile at him. "There is something you can do." Reaching out, she took her son's hand and squeezed it warmly. "That's much better."

He nodded his head. "I won't let go, Mom. Ever."

"Thank you," she said, throat scratchy with raw emotion. Looking out at the rest of the vault, she took in the scene before her with a shallow breath. The Evil Queen stood directly across from her, doubled over and gripping the wall for support. She kept her head down, too proud to let her pain be seen by anyone else, and her breaths were muffled and labored. Regina saw the younger version of herself cradled into a ball in the far corner, tears streaming down her face as she rocked back and forth. She'd been asking for Emma almost nonstop for the past fifteen minutes. Regina had tried to be angry with her, but she couldn't find the strength or will. After all, if she was honest, she wanted to see the Savior, too. More than anything, actually. And not just because she knew Emma would find a way to stop the pain she felt then. Just to see the blonde's smiling face, hear her voice, feel her touch-it would help her forget about the pain and the fear she felt then. Somehow, Emma had that effect on her.

"Henry," she said, and he looked back at her. She nodded to her younger self. "Go sit with her. She needs someone, and you're the only person here right now she trusts."

He frowned. "But, Mom, I want to help you."

"Then, please, get her to shut-up and stop crying," the mayor said with the best smile she could muster through her agony. "Please, Henry."

He hesitated, lips pressed tightly together, before nodding and walking over to the girl. He sat down beside of her and awkwardly put his arm around her. She leaned into him, squeezing her eyes closed as he told her it was all going to be okay. Regina felt a beaming pride rise in her chest at him that nearly overpowered her pain. Her son truly was a knight in shining armor, much like his birth mother. If anything happened to her, at least Regina had the assurance that he would be left in good, capable hands.

"Everyone alright in here?" David poked his head down into the vault from the stairs. His hand rested resolutely on the hilt of the sword that, as always, was latched onto his belt.

"Do we look alright?" The queen spat back through clenched teeth, and he frowned.

"We're fine," Regina waved her hand dismissively. "She's just grumpy. Any sign of Emma and Snow?"

"Not yet," he shook his head. "They'll be here, though. Soon." He looked around the room. "If you need anything, just yell."

"Go back to keeping watch, Shepherd," the queen snarled, and he rolled his eyes before returning to the front door of the mausoleum to keep a sharp eye out for either his daughter and wife or trouble. They didn't know what was going on yet, and they couldn't be too cautious at that point.

"I'll be the first to admit that Charming and his true love are irritating," Regina said to herself, "but you should try some manners, dear. That's why you don't have any friends."

"I'm a queen," the darker woman returned sharply. "I don't need people to like me-I need them to fear me. Which they do." She peeked a smile up at her Storybrooke mirror image. "Besides, Emma certainly seems to have taken a liking to me."

"That's because Emma Swan is like a puppy," Regina sighed, pinching her brow. "She likes everyone until they give her a reason not to."

"She didn't like you initially," the queen taunted.

"That's because I didn't want her to like me," Regina threw back at her with a glare. "If I had wanted Emma to be my friend then, trust me, she would've. I'm quite charming when the situation calls for it, as I'm sure you understand. But the only thing I wanted of the Savior then was her out of my town."

"Aren't you glad now she stayed?" Henry piped in with a lopsided smile that reminded Regina so much of Emma that it made her chest ache even more.

"Yes," she answered resignatedly. No point in denying it any longer, especially if she was going to die soon anyway. "I'm very grateful that Miss Swan didn't let me initimidate her and chase her away. I only ever kid myself into believing that the life I led during the curse was happy. I was alone and miserable and still very much angry. It took me a while to see it, but Emma did me a favor in breaking the curse." She shook her head. "Revenge never does fully satisfy."

"Only because you're weak," the queen grunted. "You had all the people who ever hurt or wronged you frozen in a miserable time warp. Snow White was eternally separated from her beloved-that alone should've been retribution enough. But you went soft."

"What is the point in revenge if I'm always alone?" Regina said back. "That's what you don't understand. You've been alone for so long that you don't even remember what it's like to have people you care about. You don't realize that all the revenge in the world doesn't replace friendship and family." She paused. "Or at least you didn't before you met Emma." The queen frowned. "Once again, the Savior defeats the Evil Queen."

"She didn't defeat me," the queen whispered, eyes trained on the floor. "She accepted me for who I am, not who she thought I should be."

"Yes, she has quite a knack for that," Regina said with a low chuckle. She wasn't entirely sure, but she thought that maybe the Evil Queen smiled softly at that. Then, another pain ripped through her chest, and Regina's legs wobbled beneath her. She held onto the tomb in front of her to keep from pitching forward. The young woman in the corner let out a small sob, burrowing closer to Henry. The queen, however, lost her grip on the wall behind her and started to stagger forward, heading for the very hard floor. Before she collapsed completely, Regina darted below her, catching her and holding her up with a strength she hadn't thought herself capable of.

"I've got you," she breathed while the queen ground her teeth at the pain. Slowly, it passed, and all three Reginas seemed to sigh collectively in relief. Then, the queen realized she was still leaning against the mayor, and she quickly scrambled away from her.

"Are you alright?" Regina asked her uncertainly.

"I'm fine," she huffed. "Just lost my balance."

"Probably because of those heels," Henry mused. Both women couldn't help but smile over at him.

"You're very much like Emma, aren't you?" The queen asked with a small smirk.

"Yeah, we're a lot alike," he nodded, "but I'm also like my mom a lot, too. The other day, I even called Ma 'insufferable.'" He chuckled. "She didn't know what it meant."

"That's my boy," Regina laughed quietly.

"It's a pleasure to meet you at last, Henry," the queen said before shooting the mayor a cross look. "It's long overdue. I'm afraid your mother has been hiding you from me since my arrival in your little hamlet."

"Can you blame me?" Regina raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, I can, and I do," the queen maintained stubbornly.

Henry laughed, and they both looked at him. "Sorry. It's just funny. You two think you're so different, but you're actually just alike. I mean, my mom thankfully doesn't go around murdering people or casting curses anymore, but you still talk and act the same." He grinned. "And you're both too stubborn for your own good."

"You're one to talk," Regina smiled thinly at him, and he giggled. "Something I'm not sure if you inherited from me or your birth mother."

"I think I got a double-dose," he shrugged.

The queen looked at him warmly. "You're a fantastic young man, Henry." He blushed. "I'm proud of you. If nothing else good came from this awful town, you did, and that's more than enough."

"Thanks," he murmured, cheeks and ears burning a deep shade of red. Regina couldn't help but smile at him.

"You've done a wonderful job with him." It took a moment for the mayor to realize the queen was speaking to her. When Regina looked at her, she was surprised to find a smile on her red lips. "At least you didn't didn't screw him up."

She pursed her lips at the almost-compliment. "Thanks." There was something in the queen's eyes, and Regina realized that it wasn't an insult directed at her, but at the queen herself. She was thankful that Regina hadn't let her hate and destructive tendencies pour into Henry and corrupt him. "I'm pretty positive he was born that way, though. Son of the Savior and all. How could he not be a hero?"

"She's being modest." The voice made them all turn, and they saw Emma stepping inside the vault, Mary-Margaret and David following a few steps behind her. "He may be my kid biologically, but he's, like, seventy-five percent her." She winked over at her son. "He's always using words on me that I don't understand, but I'm pretty positive their insults. That's all Regina."

"Emma!" The youngest Regina bolted to the Savior, burying herself in her arms. "You're here! You can help us!"

"Can you?" Regina questioned the blonde with a frown. "Did you find out what this is?"

"Yeah," Emma nodded. "Gold decided to keep a little bit of information from us after all." She swallowed hard. "He said the three of you can't exist outside of each other forever. You've all got to come back together, or else... you'll fade away completely." All three Regina's gasped.

"Fade away?" Henry repeated, standing and furrowing his brow. His voice shook with fear. "Like... she'll die?"

"It's more like I will have never even been born," Regina whispered, eyes wide. "Which means the curse will have never been cast. Which means..." She looked up at Emma with wide, terrified eyes.

"Which means what?" Henry demanded frantically.

Emma placed a hand on his shoulder. "It means I never would've been sent here, and she never would've married the King."

"Without Regina," Mary-Margaret stepped in, "David and I would've never met, and Emma would've never been born."

"Which means I wouldn't have been, either," the boy finished in horrified realization.

"So, we've got to fix this and fast," Emma said resolutely and looked to Regina. "We don't know what kind of time frame we're on here, but I'm going to take a leap and guess it's not a very long one. You've got to come to terms with this, Regina. These two women are part of you. They are you."

"I'm trying to accept that," Regina shook her head, "but you don't know how hard that is for me, Emma. I-I've spent so long trying to forget my past. To move on from it. I don't want to be these women anymore! I don't want to be the scared little child who got everything she ever loved taken away from her, and I don't want to be the cruel, evil queen who hurt so many people. They were both alone-always alone-and I can't go back to that!"

"No one's asking you to!" Emma pleaded with her to understand. "We all know that you've changed, Regina. We've seen how hard you've worked to be where you are now, and no one would ever belittle that. But you can't change everything, and that's not necessarily a bad thing."

"You think being like her isn't a bad thing?" The mayor gestured furiously to the Evil Queen, who frowned at the offense.

"No, I don't!" The Sheriff maintained, stepping towards Regina. Why couldn't she get over herself and see the truth? Why couldn't she wrap her thick head around it? "You are who you are, Regina, and that's not a bad thing. Being good doesn't mean you change yourself as a person-you just change your actions. You will never be alone again, Regina! You are surrounded with people who care about you-you're just too blinded by self-loathing to see it."

"Nobody could ever love the Evil Queen," Regina shook her head.

"Will you shut the fuck up about that and open your goddamn eyes already?" Emma snapped, and the mayor looked at her in shock. "You think no one loves the Evil Queen? Well, guess what, Regina? I do!" Regina's jaw fell open along with everyone else's-except Mary-Margaret's. "Yeah, that's right. I love her, and I love the clingy younger version of you, too. Want to know why? Because I love you, Regina! I love every part of you! I've seen you at your best and your worst, and I've loved you in both cases. I love the shit out of you, Regina." A snort of laughter came from Henry, but he swallowed it quickly. He didn't want to ruin this moment. The moment he'd, honestly, seen coming a mile away and had been waiting for his mothers to face up to. Maybe now they'd quit hiding their relationship from him. He couldn't believe they ever thought they were being sneaky. It was almost an insult to his intelligence. "You... You love me?" Regina breathed, eyes wide.

"Yes!" Emma shouted exasperatedly. "I love you, Regina. I've loved for, like, ever. I know you don't feel the same way about me, too, and I'm not saying it expecting anything back. You just need to know that people care about you for who you are, flaws and all." Tears rushed into her eyes, and her throat tightened. "You've got to deal with this, Regina, because you cannot just fucking go away. I don't give a fuck what happens to me, but you do not get to leave me like this. I need you. Please, Regina-"

Her words were silenced when a pair of plump, red lips pressed against hers firmly. Regina cradled the Savior's face in her hands, wiping her tears away with her thumbs. Emma fell into the kiss, wrapping her arms around Regina and pulling her closer to her. She needed to feel her. To know she was still there, and this was real.

The two women did not break apart until the pulse of iridescent light shot out from their lips, blowing their hair back and sending an almost electric shock through their bodies. They jumped back from each other, eyes wide and breathing forced.

"What the fuck was that?" Emma gasped.

"True Love's kiss," Henry grinned widely, and they both looked to him. "Ma, you just saved Mom." Sure enough, when Emma looked around the vault, she didn't see the Evil Queen or the young woman from before. Looking to Regina, she smiled when she saw her no longer gripping at her chest in pain as she had done before.

"You're alright," she whispered.

Regina nodded, still shocked. "I am. I'm... me. All of me." She looked up at the blonde, and rush of tears filled her eyes. "I love you, Emma." She ran back into her True Love's waiting arms, and they kissed again, holding each other tightly.

"What the hell's going on here?" David asked. "And why am I the only one seems shocked by it?"

"Our daughter's True Love is the woman who tried to kill us for years," Mary-Margaret sighed, taking his hand. "It's a lot to take in at first, but you get used to it."

His jaw dropped. "You knew about this?" She nodded, and he looked to Henry. "And you, too?"

"Pretty much," he shrugged.

"What?" Regina looked to her son, eyebrows raised. "You knew?"

"Of course," he answered.

"How did you figure it out?" Emma asked.

"You two aren't as slick as you think," he grimaced. "Seriously, guys. My bedroom is right down the hall from Mom's. You should look into a soundproofing spell or something."

"I thought we were quiet," Regina muttered while Emma nearly choked on her son's admission, eyes wide and mortified. If there was one thing she'd come to understand since breaking the curse, it was how awkward and scarring it was to find your parents in bed.

"Sorry about that, kid," she said as her face turned a bright shade of scarlet.

"How about we give your moms some privacy, hm?" Mary-Margaret suggested. "We could go to Granny's and get something to eat. I imagine Emma and Regina have a lot of things to discuss."

"Yeah, discuss," Henry mumbled with a snort. "That's what the kids are calling it these days."

David joined his daughter in strangled coughing. "Can we please not talk about that? I know this is apparently old news for everyone else, but I'm still trying to process this. That is my baby girl, after all." He shot Regina a hard look before joining Henry and Mary-Margaret outside the mausoleum. "Don't think you're off the hook. You and I will be having a very serious talk about your intentions with my daughter."

"Dad!" Emma groaned, hiding her embarrassed face in her hands. "Go!"

He left, but not before gripping his sword threateningly and mouthing to Regina, "Got my eyes on you."

Regina laughed at the completely humiliated woman in her arms.

"I'm sorry about that," Emma said. "He gets like that-he was super weird around Hook, too. I've told him to cut out the over-protective dad trope a million times. I mean, it's not like I'm a teenager anymore. It's so embarrassing."

"But you kind of love it, too, don't you?" Regina said knowingly.

Emma couldn't stop the smallest of smiles. "Yeah, kind of."

"So," Regina sighed. "You love the shit out of me, do you?"

The blonde chuckled. Sometimes, her ineloquence surprised even herself. "Yep, and it appears that you love the shit out of me, too."

"Well, it's rather difficult not to, dear," the mayor said back and combed her fingers through long, golden locks of hair. "Thank you, by the way."

"For what?" Emma frowned.

"For dealing with me at my worst," Regina answered, and the Sheriff's eyes softened. "You put up with a lot from me, I know. I'm not exactly the easiest person to love."

"I don't want easy," Emma whispered back. "I want you." She kissed her lips tenderly. "All of you." Wrapping her arms tighter around the brunette's waist, she pressed her lips to her throat, dragging a soft gasp out of the other woman's mouth. "I love you, Regina."

Regina smiled. "I'll never get tired of hearing that."

"Good," Emma grinned into her skin, "because I'll never get tired of saying it." She looked up into Regina's eyes. "Now, if I'm not mistaken, we started something a week ago, and we never got to finish it."

In the blink of an eye, the two women were transported into the mayor's bedroom. Grinning widely, Regina pushed her still slightly dazed True Love down onto her bed and crawled on top of her.

"Then, I suggest we pick up where we left off." Looking down at the smiling blonde, she felt a warmth swell into her chest that she hadn't felt with anyone before-not Robin, not even Daniel. Brushing a stray strand of hair from Emma's face, she smiled. "I love you, Emma Swan."

"I love you, too, Regina Mills," the Sheriff answered and slid her hands beneath her partner's shirt smoothly. Leaning up, she kissed along her jawline. "I'd rather love you naked right now, though."

Regina laughed and burrowed her face in Emma's neck while the blonde held her close on top of her. In that moment, they both realized that there was no safer place in the world for either of them but there. In each other's arms. Wrapped up in their love.

"Who would've thought it," Regina said with a small smile. "The Evil Queen who stole away everyone else's happiness would get hers from the very Savior who broke the curse."

"It's pretty poetic, actually," Emma said back, tucking a silky curl of dark hair behind the mayor's ear. "Honestly, I can't think of anything more beautiful. Talk about a story of hope and redemption." She smiled and nuzzled her nose into the brunette's cheek lovingly. "Welcome to our happy ending, your Majesty."

The Queen smiled widely. There was no one else she could imagine spending the rest of forever with than her Savior, Emma Swan.

So there it is, guys. The end. I hope you all like it-I think it's pretty fitting. I've enjoyed writing this more than you all can know, and I've loved reading your responses to it. This may be my first fan fic, but I've got a strong feeling that it won't be my last. Thank you guys for following along with me. And let me know if you think maybe there should be an epilogue to this. I've never been a huge fan of tying stories up in a neat package at the end- *cough Deathly Hallows cough*-but I feel like this story could go on maybe an extra chapter. If, for no other reason, than just to write some fluff since this story has been kind of angsty throughout. For now, though, I'm marking her as complete.