AN: This is my first foray into the Swan Queen fandom. I hope that I've done these characters justice and kept them acceptably in character.

Spoilers: None. Set after the Season 4 finale; some references to those events.

Disclaimer: Not mine. No copyright infringement intended.

Regina wants to believe that she's the first to catch on, but she isn't. Henry has that honor.

Henry is the one looking into Regina's eyes as she explains Emma's sacrifice with a broken voice as they both try not to cry; he's the one standing next to her when the rest of the town finds out, and she gives Leroy the upbraiding of his life for caring more about what Emma can do for them than for her safety as a person when he loudly whines about who will save them from the next disaster. Regina starts by chastising Leroy, but by the end of it she's yelling at everyone she can see about how maybe if they'd made more of an effort to make Emma feel as though she were more than just a weapon she wouldn't feel the ridiculous need to save everyone.

That shocks everyone into gaping at her as if she's just pulled a page from Maleficent's book and turned into a dragon. Only Henry feels the tremble in his mother's fingers.

Still, it's not until a week later that Henry Mills realizes something has intrinsically changed for his mother (and another few minutes to realize what that something is).

They're in the Sorcerer's house because they've exhausted every lead in Regina's vault. The tables in the library are covered in open books, evidence of the entire Charming-Mills family's effort to find some way to reverse what Emma has done. Regina and Henry are the only ones still there and they're mostly quiet aside from his mother's occasional angry slamming of a book cover.

Emma herself has been widely absent in the two weeks since what Henry – and, he thinks, his mother – have begun referring to as D-Day. Regina had brought home the dagger and immediately given it to Henry whilst simultaneously convincing them all that maybe it was best to let Miss Swan have her distance for now.

So the two of them are alone with the tomes, until suddenly they aren't.

Robin has arrived with a scowl. Henry neither speaks nor leaves as the thief tries to convince Regina that sleep is the smarter alternative, and that their as of yet fruitless labors can be safely postponed for now. That goes down about as smooth as a cactus.

Regina tries to keep her voice to a whisper-hiss, but that stops the moment Henry hears Robin say, "And does that matter?"

"Of course it matters," Regina blusters. "It's Emma. She's not some faceless stranger, Robin, she's Henry's mother. And my friend."

Henry doesn't think he can be any prouder of his mom than he is in that moment.

"Emma Swan gave herself to the darkness for me, Robin, so that I wouldn't have to bear that burden again. How could I leave her to do the same?"

"It was her choice, Regina."

"And it was a stupid one," Regina bites out. Then, calmer, "I can never have a happy ending knowing what it cost, and who paid the price."

Henry feels as though his chest is going to explode with the love and pride he feels, and the moment Robin leaves he stands and goes to throw his arms around his mom.

"I love you," Henry tells her. "And I'm proud of you."

Regina squeezes him tightly and absorbs the support. Her voice is thick when she replies, "We'll get her back."

"I know. You'll find a way."

Henry makes sure they go home soon after that, and the next night he insists that his mom make him dinner so that he can make sure she eats as well. He persuades her to go to bed early.

Oddly enough, it's Mary Margaret who catches on next. She, David, Regina, and Henry are seated around the table in the Charming family apartment when Emma appears near the door. Henry is first to recover from the shock of her sudden appearance and he throws himself into her arms. Emma murmurs her familiar, "Hey, kid," and presses a kiss into his hair.

Mary Margaret stands with the idea of hugging Emma as well, but she hesitates. She can't help thinking that her daughter is still angry with her and isn't certain a hug would be welcome.

The moment of hesitation opens the door for Regina, who stands and sweeps into the space in front of Emma. The two women haven't spoken since that night in the street.

"What the hell were you thinking, Miss Swan?" Regina demands.

The brunette is glaring at her, but Emma just smiles and wraps a hand around Regina's bicep. She squeezes once in reassurance.

"You okay?" Emma queries.

"Fine, thanks to your ridiculously overdeveloped savior complex," Regina grouses.

Mary Margaret tenses at the reminder of said complex and what was done to make sure Emma had it, prepared for the comment to stoke Emma's anger, but it doesn't.

Instead, Emma's hand slides up the back of Regina's arm a few inches. "I'm fine, Regina. Really."

Mary Margaret stares at the back of her daughter's hand and tries to recall all the times Regina and Emma have touched that didn't consist of one of them with a hand around the others throat; none come to mind.

Emma doesn't stay long. She asks after everyone, baby Neal and Hook and even Robin, and then excuses herself. "I just need a few more days," she says.

Mary Margaret hugs her fiercely and then makes way for David to do the same. When they're done, Emma surveys them all as they stand together in front of her. Four years ago she would have never thought such a thing possible.

"We love you, Emma," Mary Margaret tells her. It feels like she's speaking for all of them.

So Emma says, "I know," and "I love you, too." Her eyes linger on Henry and she offers him a tentative smile, and her eyes flick up to Regina so that they can have what looks like a private conversation, and then she disappears.

Regina doesn't begin to understand until what seems to be ages later, but is really only a matter of weeks. Emma has stopped trying to hide out and, aside from a rise in acerbic comments and a few dark jokes that sound as if they've been taken directly from the Evil Queen's playbook, appears mostly unchanged.

Nothing has come of Regina's exhaustive information searches, or of anyone else's for that matter. She's damn near driven herself into the ground despite Henry's attempt to even her out (and a number of protests from Mary Margaret about her health), and things between her and Robin haven't been this frosty since … their first meeting? Maybe not even then.

They're in the library again. Everyone's there: David and Mary Margaret, Henry, Regina, Hook, and even Robin. Only Henry seems to be keeping the discouragement at bay, but it's a losing fight. No one can find any account of someone doing what Emma has done. Every Dark One in the history of Dark Ones had been so by choice; Emma is the only person to hold the title by sacrifice. Noble, pure of heart and intent sacrifice.

She's the only one to have such immense power, and not want it.

The thought gets stuck in Regina's head. It spins there like a top, collecting the threads of her discarded ideas and tangling them into a mess.

That's how Emma finds them all: Regina's brow furrowed as she tries to follow the string of her thoughts and everyone else looking forlorn.

"We can't find anything, Emma," David tells her gently.

Emma stops in the middle of the room to look at them all and then moves to put a hand on Henry's shoulder. She doesn't seem surprised at her father's declaration.

"It would appear that there's no way to take the darkness out of you, love." Killian's voice is somehow calm and grating at the same time. "Not without repeating the act that did so in the first place."

Regina is too preoccupied to notice that there's tension between the pirate and the Sheriff. The jumble of thoughts in her head has begun to straighten itself out again, and she can feel her heartbeat speeding up as she follows them down the newly revealed road.

"Who says we have to?" Regina bursts then. All eyes turn to her as she rises out of her seat.

"What?" Mary Margaret asks.

"You want us to just leave Emma like this?" David adds.

Regina smiles in triumph. She can feel the spark, the "A-Ha!" moment as it slides up her spine and ignites her nerve endings.

"Yes," Regina answers decisively. "Because there's nothing wrong with her."

They're all gaping at her now, everyone save Emma, who wears that expression she always does when she's confused and trying to work something out.

"There isn't?" Robin challenges in disbelief. That disbelief changes to outrage as he stands and stalks toward Regina. "You've been working on this for weeks, running yourself into the ground to find a way to reverse this and now you just want us to believe that everything is fine?"

Regina knows better than perhaps anyone but Mary Margaret and David that Emma has a temper. She has seen it often, and been on the receiving end of it more than once. It's easy to forget because Emma doesn't jump to anger quickly – unlike Regina, whose anger is always simmering just beneath the surface – so it's even more startling in the moments that she does.

This is one of them.

Henry is seated to Regina's right, and Emma slides away from her son and in front of Regina before Robin has taken more than a handful of steps. Her face is fierce and her eyes dark; the lights crackle and dim overhead as she gathers power to herself.

"Don't take another step," Emma commands, and Robin halts. "Stay away from her."

No one is breathing save Regina, who is stunned into momentary immobility. There is no way to misread the protective stance Emma has adopted, but neither is there a way to easily process it.

"Miss Swan," Regina manages to soothe, "Robin would never hurt me." Emma's posture remains rigid and the pull of magic is like lightning against Regina's skin, so she tries again. She puts a hand on Emma's arm, her fingers splaying wide in the area just above the crook of her elbow, and squeezes. "Emma."

The blonde relaxes enough that the magic hanging in the air dissipates. Emma takes a step to the side and folds her arms over chest, and the whole room breathes a sigh of relief. Robin doesn't attempt to approach Regina again.

"As I was saying," Regina begins again. She clears her throat to get rid of the shakiness she hears in her tone. "We don't have to fix Miss Swan, because there's nothing wrong with her."

Hook laughs. The sound is sharp and ugly in the silence, and he cuts it off abruptly when five sets of eyes turn on him as though he's about to be eaten alive.

Bravely, Robin ventures, "Nothing wrong with the woman who nearly attacked me a moment ago?"

"She was protecting my mom!" Henry defends hotly.

"From me?" Robin scoffs. "I would never attack Regina."

"You did have a rather menacing look about you, mate," Hook observes.

Emma sighs and angles herself toward Regina. She looks tired and the tension has drained out of her, so her shoulders sag as though they weigh thousands of pounds.

"Robin's right, Regina," Emma huffs. "I got angry. I could have really hurt him, and all of you."

"But you didn't," Regina urges. "You easily could have just incinerated him where he stands, or blown him through a window, but you didn't. You just frightened him enough to make him stop."

"That's not who I am, 'Gina."

"Maybe it is," she pushes on. "Maybe it should be. Everyone has darkness inside of them, Emma. It's part of life. And something your idiot parents," and Regina ignores the indignant scoffs that issue from across the room, "Apparently can't seem to grasp is that you can be a good person and still have darkness inside you. Darkness doesn't have to be feared as long as you don't allow it to control you."

Emma wavers. She drops her arms out of their defensive position across her chest and she fixes wide blue eyes on Regina. Her mouth turns down but doesn't quite quiver, and Regina automatically reaches for her hand. Emma is frightened, and that fear is quietly drowning her.

"You really believe that?" Emma whispers.

Regina smiles. "I do. You may be the Dark One, but you're also the Savior, and who says you can't be both?"

"You are the only person to be the Dark One by sacrifice," Henry adds.

Mary Margaret and David have caught on now, and David picks up the vein of conversation. "And the only to have the power without actually wanting it. If anyone can be both, Emma, it's you."

Mary Margaret bypasses all of that though, and says earnestly, "You don't have to be who you think everyone wants you to be, Emma. We love you no matter what, just the way you are."

Emma is crying now. The hand of hers that Regina still holds – and she doesn't realize that until now – is trembling. Regina shakes their hands slightly, and the movement draws Emma's attention back to her.

"I'm afraid." Emma's voice is thick and a tear escapes her lashes as she blinks.

Regina knows that fear. She knows the weight of what Emma faces, remembers it from her days as a simple girl with a broken heart on the cusp of becoming the Evil Queen. Now she's no longer either of those people, but the darkness lingers.

She hated Emma Swan once. Regina had vowed to destroy the Savior, and the memory of that time is almost funny to her now. She doesn't want to hurt Emma anymore. She wants to reassure her, and build her up, and protect her – as Emma has done for her.

"I know," Regina replies warmly. "But light always shines brighter in the darkness, Emma, and you're the brightest light I know."

The air leaves Regina's lungs in an audible whoosh as Emma half drags her forward and half crashes into her. She finds herself with strong arms suddenly draped over her shoulders and around her neck, and a separate part of Regina's mind finds it odd that despite all that they have done and faced together, this is the first time they've hugged. Emma smells like fresh citrus and ocean air; her long hair tickles Regina's hands where she clasps them over Emma's back.

"Thank you, Regina." Emma's whisper is warm as it ghosts over Regina's ear.

Things change after that.