A/N: Reposted because it was being stupid!

Hi! I know I suck at this updating thing and I'm really sorry but I honestly was struck by serious writers block! But anyhow I'm back and things with me are better (thank you to my lovely reviewers who asked) and hopefully there are still some people who want to see this update! Thank you for staying with me! Reviews/Follows/Favourites always appreciated! :)

'So, did you get it? Did you take his magic?' Tamara asks as Neal stalks into the room. He seems to bristle with an energy she'd yet to see, and she takes a step back as his head snaps towards her.

'Yes,' he barks, and she is confused as to why he seems so annoyed when he has gotten exactly what he wanted, 'but Rumplestiltskin has gone'. She internally winces as his face contorts into that of a simmering rage, and unintentionally moves a little further away from him.

'Gone?' Greg chimes in from behind her, rising from where he'd been sat for the past hour, 'what do you mean he's gone?'

Neal stalks over to him before flinging his hand up, sending Greg crashing into the opposite wall. 'I mean he's gone. Vanished. Disappeared'.

'H-how?' Greg manages to choke out as the invisible fingers around his throat press harder.

'It would seem that Emma has finally learnt how to use her powers to her will. But no matter, I still have perfect control of the situation,' Neal says, before letting his arm drop to his side, relinquishing Greg. He eyes the man, who gasps pathetically on the ground, with contempt before walking back towards the door he'd entered only moments ago.

'You- you have perfect control?' Greg manages to rasp in what he thinks sounds like a sneer, 'I think that you forget who exactly is in charge here'.

Neal turns almost comically slowly. His shoes squeak against the rubbery floor and the sound is almost unbearable in the silence, magnified by the smallness of the room. He stands perfectly still and just stares at Greg as the man seems to curl into himself.

Tamara speaks up before anything can happen, unwilling to see Greg's blood on the floor. 'So can you find what you were looking for now?'

'I already have it,' Neal says lowly, all the time staring at Greg as if he could wish him dead. 'I have everything in place. Be sure that The Saviour is in position'.

She nods her head but he isn't watching her. He stays a moment longer before turning and storming out of the room, the doors slam reverberating in the room. Instead of staring at the man on the floor like she wished too, she reached for the phone on the desk and sent a message to the only number on it.

'Be at the station before the hour is through'.

Emma fought to stand up by herself. Every muscle in her body felt like over cooked spaghetti and her head wouldn't stop pounding, but Gold's words forced her to her feet.

'He can only make portals with Emma,' Regina asks cautiously, still gripping tightly to the blondes shoulders, frightened that she would disappear at any second, 'why her?'

'They're the same breed of magic,' Gold explains slowly, and Regina bristles at the implication that Emma is some kind of magical dog that has a special connection with a psychopath's psychopathic son. 'It's like they're a battery; they need a positive and a negative end. Miss Swan is the positive end because of her light magic and my son, as sorry as I am to say it, is the negative end because he uses dark magic. It's simply how it works, I'm afraid'.

'Why can't he just read some magic beans from The Enchanted Forest and leave Emma out of it completely?' Regina asks into the frigid silence of the room, unsure why Emma isn't asking all these questions for herself. Surely she must be curious as to her fate, as to why this man wants her specifically. She looks across to the blonde for perhaps the hundredth time in the past five minutes and notices that the woman stares at her feet as if she could disappear straight through the floor. Her hand tightens against Emma's shoulder once more.

'Because they're in The Enchanted Forest. No natural life can pass between world's this way without decaying,' Gold laments tiredly, feeling for all the world as if he's teaching a class of infants, 'it's Magical Physics, if you will. You could read untold amounts of gold and other manmade objects from our home world, but any plant, animal or human cannot be asked for. It simply does not work like that,' Gold explains, looking solemnly at Regina rather than Emma, knowing the brunette would understand far more than the blonde, 'you of all people should know that magic has its limitations'.

'What can I do?' Emma demands as she takes Gold's attention away from Regina, sensing the woman's aggravation. She wishes she could grab him by the shoulders and shake him for answers, but her body seems adamant to stay put, so she simply stands propped up by the desk whilst her hands shake.

'As much as I loathe to say it, I don't know,' he says slowly, knowing that he is fully responsible for all of this, 'he is too powerful to stop. You have two options, to go with him or to let the ones you love die'.

'Shut up,' Regina growls at him, gesturing with her hands that want to wrap around the man's throat, 'just shut up'. She turns back to look at Emma, who looks about two seconds away from collapsing again, and takes her hand. 'You don't have to go with him, Emma. We can find a way-'

'Before he hurts you, or Henry? Can you guarantee that? Because I won't do anything that will put either of you in danger. If I go with him I could-'

'You could do nothing, Emma!' Regina exclaims, frustration pouring from every inch of her, 'this man is a Wordsmith too, and not only that but he has the Dark One's magic. He's unbelievably powerful!' Emma goes to open her mouth to contradict her, but Regina cuts her off. 'I know that you're the product of True Love, and that you're the Saviour but you're out of your depth here; he's too much for you to take on'.

Emma looks at her with cloudy green eyes that have such sincerity in them that Regina aches at the sight, 'I could take on anything to protect you, Regina'.

'Emma,' Regina sighs, her heart clenching painfully. She could feel the Fates beginning to align Emma for her destiny, for her love to once again be ripped from her grip, no matter how tightly she was holding on. Before she can say anything else Emma's phone beeps, indicating a text message.

Regina hands her the device from where it had previously resided on the desk, buried beneath the small mound of scrunched paper that Emma had used. She watches Emma as she reads the message, follows the steep incline her eyebrows make as she finishes up.

Emma hands her the phone. The message is from an unknown number but they're both almost certain who it's from.

'Looks like I've been summoned,' Emma chuckles without humour.

'You don't have to go, Miss Swan,' Gold pipes up from his place by the fire, 'I'm sure that with Regina's magic and my knowledge we could provide you with some protection…'

'I need to find out exactly what he wants. What his terms are,' Emma says as she shakes her head, 'and I need to go alone'.

In the fire light Emma looks fierce, a force to be reckoned with. The flames highlight her golden hair until it looks like it's ablaze and her eyes are bright with determination, yet all Regina can see is the woman's vulnerability. She can't focus on how strong she looks when she can see the slight tremble of her long fingers, watches as Emma bites at her lip in apprehension.

'No,' Regina snaps, still watching Emma as the woman gears herself up for a confrontation, 'there is no way I'm letting you go off alone!'

'I'm not exposing you unnecessarily to a threat, Regina. I'm going alone, and there's nothing you can say to make me change my mind,' Emma says in a no nonsense tone, forcing herself to push away from the desk and hoping she doesn't fall. Regina's fingers fall away from her and for a moment she has the oddest sense that she is weightless. She craves the woman's touch almost immediately but refuses to go back; she doesn't want to look weak, to look small- especially in front of Gold.

'I could force you to stay,' Regina threatens weakly, her voice wavering ever so slightly as Emma turns to look her in the eye.

'No you won't,' Emma smiles sadly at her, stroking her fingertips down the brunette's cheek, 'you need to stay here to look after Henry just in case I,' she stops herself from saying it, but they both know what she means, 'just in case something happens'.

Trying to stop her tears, Regina closes her eyes just as Emma embraces her. She draws her closer, hides her face in the blonde's neck and just for a moment allows herself to be overwhelmed by the tide of emotions that threaten to drown her. As always Emma keeps her afloat, but she is afraid that when she lets go this time she will slip under the waves for good.

'I've gotta go,' Emma whispers into her ear before pressing a brief kiss to her neck. 'Any chance you could poof me over, ya know because you love me and my legs feel like jelly?' She knows that her humour will go ignored by Regina but she can't help but try to diffuse the situation, to make light of something that could very well be her darkest hour.

'If anything happens there's no way you can protect yourself,' Regina whispers fearfully in reply to Emma's words, 'you're almost completely drained of your magic. Let me come with you-'

'Regina,' Emma warns.

'Fine,' the Mayor sucks in a whistling breath between her clenched teeth. 'Make sure you come back to me,' she says forcefully.

'I promise,' Emma grins warmly, before nodding at the scared brunette.

Regina looks her lover over from head to toe once more before twisting her hand, already formed into a fist, and flicking it in Emma's direction. Her signature purple mist swirls around Emma's form like a hurricane, and with a delicate poof the woman disappears, the smoke dissipating into the chilly air.

She freezes for a moment as the fear threatens to knock her over, before a hand is placed on her shoulder.

'Don't worry, dearie, I'm sure our great Saviour will be just fine,' Gold rasps in what he hopes is a reassuring fashion.

Turning to him with a quirked eyebrow, Regina shrugs off his hand. 'Emma was the one who saved you, Imp, not me. I am not interested in your sentimentality and would appreciate greatly if you kept your hands to yourself'.

Rumple just chuckles as she walks away as airily as possible. He finds it amusing how Regina forgets just how well he knows her, after all he'd been with her for an ageless twenty eight years. He knew when the woman was scared, and right now she certainly had her feathers ruffled.

Emma is dutifully impressed with herself when she nails the landing, not even staggering on her feet. She almost lets out a hell yeah but stops herself when a woman stands staring at her, not five feet away. She blinks, utterly confused as she tries to add up what's happening. Hadn't Gold said that it was his son that was the bad guy? Either Gold had finally lost his marbles or this was not the person she was looking for.

'What a pleasure to finally meet you in the flesh, Emma Swan,' the woman says confidently, before she smooth's down her clothes. She's dressed like one of the women Emma often saw in Boston, all expensive jeans and pressed patterned blouses that reeked with her pompous attitude.

'I'd love to say the same but who the hell are you?'

The woman smiles but her eyes remain cold. 'Tamara, and that's all your getting. After all I invited you along, so I get to ask the questions'.

Emma laughs humourlessly, 'I don't think so. What do you want from me?'

'What do I want from you? Well, I personally would like to drain just about every drop of magical capability out of you until you're dead, but luckily for you I'm not working alone. There's someone here who is so excited to see you and wants you kept very much alive. So you're safe,' she smiles again, sickly sweet and Emma wants to punch her straight in the face, 'for now at least'.

'This someone is Gold's son, I presume?' When Tamara says nothing and only continues to smirk at her, she rolls her eyes and continues, 'and he's the one who wants to open up portals to new worlds and destroy them? Yeah, that's not going to happen. And before you tell me that you'll hurt my family if I don't co-operate, I already have them under protection. You can't get them,' she bluffs, although she hopes that Regina's had the sense to at least take Henry away from the mansion, maybe to her little room beneath the crypt.

'Oh I don't plan on just harming your family, Emma,' Tamara coos, as she digs around in her pocket, 'I plan on destroying your whole town if you don't cooperate'. With her last word she pulls out a black object from her pocket. For a moment Emma thinks it's a small bouncy ball, but then she gets a closer look and sees its angles, light glimmering from its many dark faces.

'And what the hell is that?'

'This is what you call a self-destruct button. Your lovely girlfriend, psychopathic as she is, was awfully kind and left us this. When this diamond is activated,' she switches the object to her left hand and balls the other up into a fist, 'this town and anything that belongs in the Enchanted Forest is destroyed'. Her hand opens with force, indicating an explosion as her fingers splay wide.

The blonde looks at the woman who clearly expects her to be paralysed by fear. 'You realise that I have my own set of specialized powers, don't you? I could read that little diamond out of your hands at any time I wish and you could do nothing about it'. She crosses her arms over her chest and sort of wants to hiss 'burn' at her like the kids do in the movies Henry likes. But Tamara instead steps closer, arm outstretched and laughs in her face.

'We know that you're a Wordsmith, Emma. That's exactly why we want you, why we searched this world for you. But you really don't think we'd be so stupid as to not take precautions?' Tamara grabs Emma by the wrist and hauls her closer, shoving the diamond right in front of her eyes, still held tightly between her fingers. Under closer inspection Emma can see that its sleek surface is carved with tiny ornate symbols. She reaches out to touch it, but as her fingertip lands on its polished face the entire thing lights up with an angry red glow and lets out a low crackle of electricity. Hissing, Emma wrenches her wrist from Tamara's grasp and steps back.

'Those tiny little symbols are a specific set of spells that prevent you from reading it into your hands. It's like it's immune to you; that you're this big powerful magnet that can attract everything but this,' she shakes the diamond in Emma's direction, smug as ever.

Emma swallows hard, suddenly very aware of how powerless she is. 'If you set that off, I'll be destroyed too and then your plan can go nowhere'.

'Oh don't worry, if we're forced to activate this, we'll be sure to have you out of the detonation range'. Tamara looks so self-satisfied it's actually sickening, and Emma really really wants to punch her in the face. Twice.

'This is ridiculous! I'm not going to help anyone destroy anything and you can't hold my entire fucking town as ransom until I do what you want! We're not in a fucking Liam Neeson movie for Christ's sake!' Emma shouts at the woman who doesn't even seem to be bothered by her words.

'You always were a one for action, weren't you Emma?' Another voice joins in, smooth and honeyed. Emma starts at the sound of it, turning to try and find the source as something deep within her mind resonates at the sound.

'Because you know everything about me, right…' Emma falters, her voice dying out as she finds herself speechless, faced with the mysterious speaker. Her knees, already wobbly from earlier give out beneath her in her shock. 'Neal?' she manages to rasp.

'The one and only,' he grins coyly, stepping up to where she still kneels on the ground. 'I know you like to be on your knees for me, Em, but we have company. Maybe later?' He laughs as she growls and lunges at him, but he throws her aside easily. She lands awkwardly on her back, stunned from the fall and the reveal that her ex-boyfriend is in fact a complete lunatic and Rumplestiltskin's son. All those years he'd lied to her…

Suddenly he is stood over her, his feet straddling her hips as he crouches down so his knees dig into her ribs. The moment she is pinned down her breath grows short and if she wasn't so panicked she'd punch him in the throat for exploiting a weakness he knows she has. She remember telling him about her time in foster care. She remembers telling him what happened and now he's going to act it out again, to bring up one of the worst moments of her childhood? She feels nauseous and hurt but oddly empty, as if someone had scooped out her insides for this man's inspection.

He takes her face in his hands, thumbs trailing over her cheeks as his eyes roam over her, 'you haven't changed at all, Em. Still as beautiful as ever'.

She jerks her legs up, hoping to catch him in his privates and force him off of her, but he sees the move coming. He leans back with unnatural flexibility and grabs both of her knees, forcing them into the ground. She grunts in pain as his knees dig harder into her ribs as punishment, her breath even shorter as she realises how right Regina had been.

'Now now, Emma. Is that anyway to treat me?'

'You deserve a knife through your skull you disgusting pig,' Emma spits venomously, struggling to get out of his grip, 'now get the fuck off of me'.

Neal looks at her for a moment more before pushing off of her. She gasps in relief as her lungs are finally able to expand freely and she scrambles to keep her cool as she pushes back resurfaced memories. Rolling onto her knees, she grapples to push herself to her feet before squaring off with the man from her past.

'I always knew you were magic, Em,' he says as he reaches to twist a lock of her hair round his fingers. She swats his hands back, scratching her nails across his palm but it doesn't seem to bother him. It's now that she realises that she's a cornered cat desperately lashing out in hope of escaping, only to be toyed with cruelly.

'Got bored of New York and decided to become the bad guy, huh Neal?'

'The bad guy, you're really calling me the bad guy? Your girlfriend is the Evil Queen, and yet you still think I'm the one in the wrong? I just want a little bit of order in these world's, is that so much to ask for?'

'Order?' Emma laughs, 'you don't want order, you want people to worship you. Are you really that insecure, Neal? Have you become this pathetic?'

'Enough!' he roars, temper flaring as does his magic, which channels from his hands and slams into Emma. The blonde is lifted off her feet and hurled into the adjacent wall, slamming painfully into the brick before she lands heavily on her side. Forcing herself not to make a sound, she picks herself up. She refuses to be anything but resilient.

'That all you got, hot shot?' she taunts.

'Nowhere near,' he sneers at her, 'but this is just a warning, Emma. You have until tomorrow evening to come and give us your decision, and I hope for you and your town's sake that it's the right one'.

'I won't help you to destroy, Neal,' Emma manages to growl out, clutching at her left hand side which throbs in time with her heart beat. She's pretty sure that she hasn't broken a rib, but her side feels busted all the same.

'Like I said, give us your verdict tomorrow evening. Meet us at the beach, five o'clock,' he gestures for Tamara to leave, 'and don't be late'.

'Fuck you,' the blonde wheezes. Neal turns with fire in his eyes and without a second thought throws out a hand which in turn throws Emma back against the wall. She is suspended in mid-air, choking on nothing. He squeezes his fist tighter, watching the woman writhe painfully against the bricks as she barks out her pain.

'Emma?!'

His concentration slips at the intrusion of Regina's voice. He turns to glare at the woman who is still partially shrouded by the cloud of her magic before returning his attention to the blonde who is balled up on the floor. With a wave of his hand he flings as much magic at her as he thinks she can take. Her body is picked up off of the floor by invisible strings and then launched across the room, careening into the desks with jarring thuds before finally landing at Regina's feet. He stays for just a moment longer, watches the brunette drop to Emma's side, her face ashen and her voice hoarse.

Without another word, as Regina places her hands upon Emma's shoulders to transport her away, he disappears.

'I told you to stay with Henry,' Emma manages to say, no matter how weakly as Regina attends to the cut across her forehead.

'And I told you that you shouldn't have gone alone, which I was obviously right about, but you didn't listen to me! I thought I'd give you the same courtesy!' The brunette says tersely, her fingers working the last of their magic across the once bloody gash on Emma's head.

The blonde sits up with a tired sigh, 'I had to see what they wanted'.

'We could've seen what they wanted together, but you had to be your usual stubborn self and go and get yourself nearly killed for the second time in two days!' Regina stands up as she talks and paces irritably across the room, refusing to let Emma see the scared tears in her eyes as she replays the image of her lovers body hurtling through the air like a paper plane with a crumpled nose.

'What part of I didn't want to put you in harm's way, do you not understand?' Emma bites back, 'all I'm doing is trying to protect what I love!'

'Are you?!' Regina snaps finally, hauling Emma up from the sofa so that they're face to face, her tears forgotten, 'you're what I love Emma, and if you won't let me protect you, if you won't let me help you then you're not protecting me at all! What do you expect me to do without you?' She lets that question sink in for the both of them, lets it settle about them like thick, cloying snow. 'I refuse to lose you, Emma Swan,' she breathes out shakily, 'I refuse. But you're making it so hard when all you seem to do is bait the Fates and ask for death!'

Emma ducks her head at Regina's sudden outburst even as she takes the woman's trembling hands within her own, 'I don't know what else to do,' she admits sheepishly. She can feel Regina's gaze on her but she dares not look up, 'they're here for me. He's here for me and all of this is my entire fault. I'm the Saviour. It's supposed to be like this, I'm supposed to save you'.

Regina is about to slap away the nonsense that is Emma Swan's role as The Saviour when she catches on to exactly what she just said. 'What do you mean it's your fault? How is any of this your fault?'

Only then does Emma look up, and her eyes are filled with equal measures of shame and guilt.

'Rumplestiltskin's son is Neal,' she says slowly, and watches as Regina tries to place the name in her head. She can practically see her sifting through the little bits of conversation that they've had about her past. When Regina's eyes darken, when her breath hitches, Emma knows that she's finally realised what this means. 'Henry's father is a Wordsmith too. He's the one who either wants to use me to kill untold numbers of people or to let this entire town die'.

'So you're telling me that Rumplestiltskin, the most untrustworthy, devious imp in all the lands is now my family?!'

'Now is not the time to focus on him, Regina!' Emma says impatiently, 'when I was with the deranged duo, Tamara showed me this little diamond thingy. She said it would-'

'Destroy the town,' Regina says quietly, almost meekly and Emma's shoulders sag.

'Yeah,' she says slowly, 'please tell me she was kidding, right? You didn't make something like that, did you?' But she can see the guilt in Regina's face. She's always been able to read the woman, even when they were sworn and vengeful enemies.

'Emma, it was a failsafe. I had to have one, I- I needed my happy ending!' Regina pleas, her voice thick with the need for Emma to understand.

'And you never thought to maybe get rid of this big fucking explosion once you got your happily ever after, huh?' Emma wrings her hands in front of her, realising just how far behind the enemy they are. These people had back up plans and fail safes whilst they were struggling to put together an idea.

'No! It never even crossed my mind! You came into my life and I forgot everything; the entire course of my lonely life was turned upside down!' Regina reached for Emma's hands. She needed the woman's reassuring touch, she needed to feel her because right now, though they stood so close it felt like they were miles apart.

'You're blaming this on me now?!' Emma exclaims angrily and Regina's hands fall away.

'No of course not!'

'We have a huge problem here because you couldn't let go of your past!'

'What!? It is not my fault that these people are here! They're after you-'

'So it is my fault then?'

'If you weren't a Wordsmith then none of this would be happening!'

'So I should just leave then? Is that it?'

'For Christ's sake, Emma, you know that I don't want you to leave! I need you to stay! I love you!'

Breathing heavily, both women stop. They stop and they stare at one another as their words come back to them.

Cringing, Emma strides across to Regina and wraps her in her arms. 'I'm sorry,' she starts, but Regina leans in and kisses her quiet.

'We're both frightened of losing what we love. It's ok,' Regina says quietly as she leans her forehead against Emma's, surprised at herself for not wanting to yell further at Emma for bringing up her past. But then the blonde woman had an ability to surprise Regina even at the most inopportune of times.

'But it's not ok,' Emma disagrees with her, 'it's not ok at all. Because you're right, if I wasn't a Wordsmith none of this would have ever happened'.

It's obvious where this is going and Regina is sorely tempted to magic some handcuffs onto Emma and chain her down until the threat goes away, but there's no point considering the blonde's newly found powers. 'Emma, we just need to think of what we can do'.

'There's nothing we can do, Regina. It's obvious that the only plan of action, the only one where we can make sure everyone is safe, is that I go with Neal'.

'No'.

'Yes'.

'No!' Regina reiterates, 'we can do something else. We can trick Neal into thinking he's won and that you're going with him and then-'

'What? Shout 'surprise asshole I'm not really going with you' and run for the hills? It's not going to work. What we need is for him and his shitty little minions to disappear, and they'll only do that once I've opened and gone through a portal. Face it, we can't win'.

Regina moves away from her and over to the fire that is down to its last few embers. She stares into it pensively, as if somehow she could see the future within its glowing coals. However all she can see is the distant memory of the Enchanted Forest and how she'd spent many a night staring into the dying fire, wishing she was anywhere else..

'What if they weren't the ones to leave,' Regina says as she's suddenly struck by an idea.

'Huh?'

'What if we left Neal here and evacuated ourselves over to the Enchanted Forest?' Regina says excitedly, as if she's just fixed everything in their lives with her words.

'Move everybody in town across to the Enchanted Forest without Neal noticing? I don't think that's going to happen,' Emma says shortly, although her mind begins to churn over the idea, picking through it to try and harvest a possibility that she could save the town and herself.

'All we need is a distraction, so we can keep them away from us for long enough to get everyone to safety,' Regina counters animatedly as she frowns into the darkness outside. She's sure that this plan will work. She needs this plan to work, to ensure her family's safety, to ensure her future happiness.

'Ok, even if we could distract them for long enough to get everyone out, how the hell are we going to open a portal to the Enchanted Forest?'

At this Regina smiles openly and looks slyly across at the blonde, who for all her worth can't figure out just why the brunette looks so happy. 'You have your uses, Miss Swan,' she drawls sweetly, looking Emma over from her place at the window, 'it's simple, we just get you to read us Jefferson's Hat'.

'Why am I staying with Granma and Gramps again?' Henry asks confusedly as Emma hurriedly encourages him to pack his most prized possessions, 'and why do you want me to take my favourite stuff?'

'I swear I will explain everything to you when I can Henry, but right now I really need you to pack,' Emma kisses the boy on the head as she leaves his bedroom, 'five minutes and I want you ready to leave!'

He packs his rucksack with things he would imagine taking on an adventure. There's a flashlight and batteries in one pocket and boxes of matches in the other whilst he fills the main part with his favourite comics and the few framed pictures of him and his moms together. Mixed in with his clothes he stuffs his only teddy bear, Kingsley, before drawing the strings of the bag together, mentally recalling anything he could have left behind. But he can think of nothing. His entire life is encased within the rucksack at his feet. Before he can think any more about it, Emma shouts at him from downstairs.

'Alright kid, time to go!'

He barrels out of his room and down the stairs, shoes already on which he knows annoys his mother, but he's sure she'll let him get away with it just this once. Emma pushes him in the direction of the front door and he's surprised when she doesn't follow.

'You're not coming?'

'Your grandparents are outside waiting for you,' Regina says before Emma can say anything, 'your Ma and I need to sort out a few things'.

'Are you- uh' Henry stutters, a little afraid to ask, 'are you guys breaking up?'

Emma and Regina both cry a resounding 'no!' at the same time, sharing a befuddled look with their son.

'It's nothing like that,' Emma says reassuringly as she hugs him close.

'We promise that we'll do all in our power to stay together,' Regina promises from behind him, and as a small family unit they huddle together. It isn't lost on either woman how this could be their last moment as a family and both hug the boy between them a little harder.

Knocking on the door breaks the moment, and Emma breathes out shakily before letting go of her little family and hurries across to the front door.

'Emma,' Snow smiles as brightly as she can, knowing that she can't ask questions whilst her grandson is only a few feet away, 'is Henry ready to go?'

'Sure thing Granma!' Henry bounces over, his coat under his arm as he stands by Snow's side, blissfully unaware of his parents melancholy.

'Henry, why don't you go and put your things in the truck?' Regina suggests, and with a wave and a nod Henry disappears.

Almost immediately Snow starts talking, her voice a frightened warble much like one of her birds. 'Emma, what's happening? I know you said that the town's in danger over the phone, but I know you're not telling me something!'

'Slow down,' Emma hushes, 'It's just that things are happening and I really, really need you to try and get everyone around town to get inside the Town Hall by nine o'clock tomorrow morning. Do you think you can do that?' she asks gently. Her mother holds her hands tightly in hers and for a moment it is as if she is a little girl once more, asking something of a mother she never had.

'Of course I can, Emma, I was their Queen after all. But before I do that I need you to answer me one thing, and you have to be honest with me. Ok?' Snow uses her sternest teacher voice, hoping that it will work on her daughter, though it's not as if Emma has a particularly good track record of doing what she's told.

Considering it could very well be one of the last things she does for her mother, Emma nods her head and complies. She doesn't need to guess what Snow's question will be, because it will be the exact same one Emma would ask if she were talking to Henry right now.

'Are you in danger?' Her voice is small, her eyes wide and glazed with tears and Emma feels sick with guilt for putting yet another loved one through such turmoil.

She wobbles a little with how she should answer such a motherly question, but Regina smooth's a hand down her back to calm her. 'Yes. But everybody's in danger, and we need to have an emergency town meeting to discuss going back to the Enchanted Forest,' Emma clears her throat nervously, 'by tomorrow'.

'Move back home by tomorrow?!' Snow exclaims in a panic, stepping closer to Emma so that she falls into the porches light. Her tears are now utterly evident, the darkness of the night that had once masked them fallen from her face, 'is this threat so bad-'

'Snow,' Regina barks, and immediately the smaller woman quiets. The Mayor tries not to look smugly satisfied that she still instils this reaction from the small brunette, knowing that now is neither the time nor place, 'your daughter needs you to pull together everyone in this town by nine o'clock in order for her to be safe. Surely even you can understand that?'

'Regina,' Emma chides, but Snow waves her hand to silence her.

'I'll do it,' she states before launching herself at Emma who physically stumbles back with the force of her embrace. 'Stay safe,' she instructs as she holds the blonde a little harder, 'and I'll see you tomorrow, ok?'

'Ok,' Emma agrees. For a moment she doesn't say anymore but with the looming threat of her disappearance hanging over her head should their plan not work, she can't help the words that come next, 'see you later, mom'.

Startled Snow sobs at the word, drawing Emma in tighter until the blonde can barely breathe. The former Queen is filled so entirely for a moment that she feels like a bubble on the verge of breaking. She knows how incredibly uncomfortable her daughter must be right now but she can't help but bask in the word and the woman's presence, feeling as if she has reached a great accomplishment.

'Your grandson is waiting for you, Snow,' interjects Regina awkwardly as she looks across at the woman who both ruined and saved her life.

'Right, right of course,' Snow sniffs as she pulls away from her bashful looking daughter, 'Town meeting, tomorrow. Right,' she nods to herself as she walks out of the door, drawing her keys from her pocket, 'right, goodnight Emma!'

As Emma closes the door behind her mother, she is pushed right up against it again. She can feel Regina's breath against her neck as hands slowly trail down her sides.

'I have to write,' Emma says weakly when lips press against her pulse point and hands grab at her hips, 'I need to get this hat'.

'And I need to feel you,' Regina answers, her voice husky but honey sweet, 'this could be the last time I do'. The brunettes voice breaks just a little, and Emma starts to turn but is met by the sharp clench of fingers at her hip. 'Don't. Just let me touch you,' Regina manages to rasp, 'please'.

Emma nods even as she leans her head to the side, exposing her throat to her lovers predatory gaze.

...

Moments after Emma cries out her pleasure, her hips arching high enough that she thinks they might snap, Regina falls down and sobs into the rumpled sheets. Having fully expected Regina to break, she is prepared for the tears that just won't stop as fingers clutch at her skin; she is prepared for the words that are repeated like a prayer through the uncontrolled sobs.

'Please don't leave me'.

...

Removing herself from the sheets only when she is certain that Regina is asleep, Emma moves slowly across the moonlit room. For a moment she watches the woman sleep as she stands against the doorway, and it hits her just how well the brunette suits the night. Bathed in the pale fragility of the moon light, the woman is ethereal; a nymph that is caught up in twisted bed sheets. Her dark hair is twisted and in the half made shadows it appears as if it twice its length, spilling down to her bared hips like twining vines.

Swallowing hard, Emma points herself in the direction of the stairs and heads for the study, knowing exactly what she has to do. For the past hour that she had waited for Regina to fully fall asleep, she'd been thinking of what to write and how to phrase exactly what she needed in as fewer words as possible.

Padding into the study the blonde recoiled at the sudden coldness, regretting wearing just her tank top downstairs. Glaring at the unlit fireplace and wishing it would light, she all but fell over in her surprise when flames burst forth like a phoenix from its ashes.

Fist pumping just a little bit at her obvious and inherent step forward in magic, Emma crosses to the desk and sits down to write.

'Regina! Wake up!' Emma exclaims as she shakes the brunettes shoulders. In hindsight she probably should've sounded less urgent because the woman wakes so suddenly that Emma has to step back so they don't head butt one another.

'Emma? What is it? What's happened?!' Regina asks in a panic as she struggles with the sheets that pool around her body and ensnare her feet. With a frustrated growl she kicks them off of herself and grabs Emma without a stitch of clothing on her.

'Uhm nothing, nothing,' Emma manages to mumble as she takes in all the woman's naked glory, 'I just got the hat'. She flaps the thing at her side and winces as Regina glares at her with as much ice as she can muster.

'Well thank you so much for waking me up in a panic for that,' she grouses, reaching down to pick up the sheets and wrap them around her body, 'though you should've woken me earlier in case anything went wrong'.

Emma slides her hands under the gap in the sheets and warms her chilly hands on Regina's warm back. Surprisingly she isn't pushed away and so she smiles gratefully into the slope of the woman's shoulder, 'you don't need to babysit me, you know. I did it without a problem and,' she hangs onto the word, drawing it out playfully as her fingers scratch down Regina's spine, 'I managed to start a fire without really trying'.

Now she is pushed away, 'a fire?! What the hell did you set on fire?'

'Relax, relax I started the fire in the fireplace so don't panic. Your lovely décor is still intact'.

Regina shoves playfully at the blondes shoulder, 'idiot'.

'Yeah yeah,' Emma grumbles before throwing the hat in Regina's direction, 'now hurry up and get dressed or you'll miss this town meeting that my wonderful mother has organized'.

'Oh how I'd loathe to miss that,' she drawls sarcastically.

'You're honest to God so mean to her,' Emma points out as Regina crosses to the wardrobe and begins the long search for the perfect shirt.

'The woman destroyed much of my life. Excuse me if I don't want to sing her praises'.

'But she made me so technically she did something really really nice for you'. Emma has to jump back to avoid the hairbrush that is thrown in her direction.

'Did she really? Because as far as I see it, you're just a nuisance,' she gripes but glances playfully across the blonde who has her arms crossed in indignation.

'Excuse me but I don't hear you complaining when I make you come so hard that you blackout. Please correct me if I'm wrong,' Emma sings at her smugly.

'You're so crude!'

'Oh don't tell me you don't love it, because I know you do. You'd totally miss my humour if I wasn't around'. Emma winces at her mistake as her words fall flatly. She hears Regina breathe out slowly as she sits at her place in front of the vanity mirror. Their eyes meet in the reflection.

'Yes. I would,' she says heavily, sadness in every single syllable.

They arrive at the town hall with five minutes to spare, but are in fact the last people there. Neither has ever seen the vast room so packed full of people and for a moment Regina is thrown back to the past when the town had gathered and she'd interrupted them, only to be shot at with a crossbow. But, as Emma continually reminded her, the past was the past. She was different now and the people of Storybrooke knew that.

Unsurprisingly The Charming's were at the front of the room, with Charming holding steady onto Henry's shoulders whilst Snow obviously searched the room for her daughter. Locating her, a broad smile lights up her face.

'Emma!' she calls, although it's more of a shout to be heard across the room and suddenly, like someone had cut the sound from the room, there is silence and uniformly everyone turns to look at her.

Emma gulps and Regina, sensing her lovers discomfort at the situation, squeezes her hand and nudges her forwards. Realising that she hasn't planned what she's going to say and regretting it enormously, she decides to be as honest as she can to the group of people.

Clearing her throat she starts as strongly as she possibly can. 'Hey everyone! Thank you for turning up so early and I know this is all really sudden, but something has happened'.

A low murmur starts from the centre of the huddled people and ripples out, forcing Emma to wave her hands to hush them once more.

'There is a threat to Storybrooke and to all those who live here and, I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but there is no way to stop it'.

The once low murmur turns into a cacophony of sound that seems to burst from everywhere. Emma looks around with frantic eyes as people start yelling at her, trying to see her parents and will them into interjecting but nothing is happening except from the people growing more and more panicked.

'Listen!' she yells, 'just listen to me! I have a plan that will save everyone!'

Somehow she is heard and there is quiet once more. As she looks around she manages to pick out familiar faces: Ruby and Granny who stand near to her parents, Leroy with his gang and somehow this gives her the confidence to address the room with a plan to uproot them all.

'I have Jefferson's hat,' she announces, holding up the object in her right hand and brandishing about like some kind of flag, 'and I propose that we all go back to the Enchanted Forest. Today'.

There is silence for a moment as everyone stares at her, stares at the woman who they all know never wanted to go back to their home land. They stare at her as if she's turned into a dragon, which really isn't all that impossible as Emma had learnt early on in her stay in Storybrooke.

Then all at once the people of Storybrooke roar out and it is by far the most terrifying sound Emma has ever heard as she realises that whatever these people are saying, whatever they are screaming at her, will decide her fate.

Reviews/Follows/Favourites always appreciated! I promise the update will be quicker this time ;)