Author's note:

This is my first try of writing fanfiction and since I'm not a native speaker, I hope you'll be nice... However I really want to know what you think. I'll do a happy dance for every review or pm. Tell me if you like it, but also tell me if you don't and especially why. I love constructive critisism.
The story is about seven chapters long and already finished minus the proofreading, which should result in constant updating. Since I don't have a beta (yet) I hope there won't be too many errors.

Finally a note to the story itself:
I felt heartbroken for Regina after she let Henry go to be with David in 2x02 and since I'm having withdrawal syptoms regarding Swan Queen I decided to do something about it. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon a Time or any recognizable characters.

Regina's pov:

Henry didn't even bother to close the door. He left without looking back, trusting Charming and his ridiculous sword.

Regina had to acknowledge, albeit silently, that it wasn't that ridiculous. After all Emma had somehow managed to kill Maleficent with it. Maybe it had something to do with the swords' bearer. Charming annoyed her immensely, while Emma…

Well, she saved Henry, so she couldn't be completely useless.

Regina kept staring through the open entrance, although Henry was long gone, almost expecting him to come back.

Finally she accepted that he wouldn't change his mind in the next few minutes and turned around. A flick of her wrist closed the doors with a deep thudding sound. They were not to be opened without magic. Suddenly a dreadful sense of finality took hold of her and Regina allowed herself a small sigh.

Then it dawned on her.

Henry.

She let him leave. She allowed him to be with this imp of a grandfather of his. Why the hell had she done that?

In a matter of seconds she was at the door, ready to go out and get him back.

What was so wrong with keeping him looked up in his room until he realized that he wanted to stay? Was it really that bad?

"Yes, it is", Regina decided and rested her forehead against the cold white door. She felt tears rising from deep within, but years of training forbade them to make an appearance.

Henry had seen who she really was and rejected her. He hated her. She had never been good enough for him.

It was true that she didn't know how to love very well, but she knew with all her heart that this ache in her chest was longing for her son. She wanted to know that he was okay.

Rationally she knew how stupid that was. No matter how abhorrent the thought to her was, Charming was Henry's grandfather. So even in their eyes Henry was royalty, which guaranteed him every conceivable protection.

Regina grudgingly admitted that he was safe, at least for the time being.

Beyond that he had made it very clear that he didn't want her protection.

He hadn't even done her the favor to behave like every other child would have, making vague wishes. No, his request had to be very precise.

Bring Emma and Mary Margret back.

Of course he had to ask for the impossible.

She walked into the foyer dragging her feet.

For once in her Storybrooke existence Regina had no plan. She had no idea what the next days would bring. Her only reassurance was that she was alive and thanks to her magic she could make sure that it would stay that way.

Slowly she got to her cupboard looking for mother's book.

Portaling was easy enough.

If you just knew where to go.

Back in her land she had resented the common folk who had to travel for days to get anywhere when magic would allow her to get everywhere within seconds.

Crossing into a different realm though was an entire different story.

Her research had proven how difficult it was. But almost four decades ago she had never wanted to find a way. On the contrary she had sought a way to prevent people from entering her realm. If only to make sure that her mother stayed far far away.

A skilled movement of her fingers ordered the book to fall open on exactly the right pages.

There were drawings of mirrors, changing their surface in a swirl of energy. Markings on walls made portals seemingly out of nowhere.

With a wistful expression on her face Regina let her fingers glide over the pages.

Although she had not the slightest idea, how to get Emma back, if it was even possible, she knew how to do one thing.

A last look at the symbols assured that her memory served her right. Slowly she walked over to the new mirror in the foyer. Like all her mirrors it was high quality work, blow-molded by a talented art glazier instead of some cheap machine work. It ensured that what she was about to do would absolutely work.

After taking a deep breath to center herself, Regina put her hand up and began tracing the all too familiar lines around the mirror.

Sometimes even heartsick Sydney had been in a foul mood. When the genie had refused to follow her orders she had begun enchanting mirrors to spy on her enemies.

It had come in handy.

With a frown on her face Regina remembered the last time the genie had denied her wishes. He had just figured out what kind of curse she had been about to enact. Without her mirror a crucial part of her plan had been missing. She had suspected Snow of having some kind of backup-plan. Her sources had told her as much. Still time had been in her favor.

As long as she would act exactly after the birth of Snow's child, everything would work itself out. And she had been right.

Except that Snow's child had been missing.

The genie didn't tell her when the birth took place, but her own hand mirror had shown it to her perfectly.

And now she had magically scribed the same symbols on the foyer mirror.

At once a bright light slid over its surface. It rippled like the water of an evenly disrupted lake and after a second Regina saw her own reflection staring at her again. She looked extremely smug.

With a satisfied smile she leaned forward and pressed a hand at the edge of the mirror.

"Show me the enchanted forest."

Better to start vague. She didn't know if she could ever face Henry again if the next thing she saw was blankness. Or even worse Emma's dead body.

Somehow that thought made her suck in a breath of air. But instead of focusing on her emotions Regina looked upon the vast area of trees.

The enchanted forest was still there.

She took a relaxing breath, before she whispered the next instruction.

"Show me the princess, Snow's daughter."

The mirror shivered. Shortly after the woods disappeared from view there was only darkness. Regina had to repeat her command a second time until she detected a human shape in the darkness. A flip between her forefinger and thumb forced the mirror to expose more of the scene in front of her.

Finally she caught sight of Emma's blond mane. She looked paler than usual. Her hair was less bouncy. It obviously lacked her unhealthy amount of hairspray.

Regina wondered shortly how she could notice these small changes, but didn't let the question linger. Instead she gave herself a second to enjoy the fact that Emma Swan was alive and seemingly not that much the worse for wear. However she didn't dare to note the little jump her heart made.

She rather focused on the surroundings. It was dark and dirty. The walls were made of bare earth instead of stone and there was barely any light. If she didn't know any better, she'd say that Miss Swan had landed herself in a pit.

In fact she didn't know better.

Who would dare to imprison the Queen's daughter?

On a second look she could distinctly make out Snow's shape on the ground which left her even more confused. Whoever ruled the enchanted forest, had to recognize their rank.

Emma's features were contorted with worry and something Regina had only once seen before. Fear.

"Who's there?"

She spoke in a strong unwavering voice. Though it certainly didn't show to anyone else, Regina saw just how much Emma Swan was out of her element.

"A friend", answered a honey-sweet voice and Regina's heart stopped.

She knew without any doubt that no matter how much fear Emma felt, it wasn't even in the vicinity of enough.

Emma's pov:

A woman removed herself from the darkness. She seemed older than Emma but by how much she couldn't tell. Her hair was woven in intricate lines around her head, which matched the pretentious way in which she held herself, though her inclined head suggested submission.

It was that exact pose combinated with the honey-sweet voice that raised every alarm Emma had.

She wanted to take a step back from the woman but before she could do anything a shiver went through her from the top of her head down to her feet. It was warm and comforting and so she found herself smiling at the stranger in front of her.

Luckily Mary Margaret awoke to prevent her from doing any real damage. She was barely standing and yet she managed to shove Emma away from the other prisoner.

Somehow Henry's name threw from her lips, before a rope was lifted down to them.

Apparently Emma and Snow were expected to meet the camp leader.

She still didn't understand why Mary Margaret had been so insistent about not trusting Cora. After all she was Regina's mother though she had to admit that something about that woman was strange. She had seemed at ease with her, had been so ready to trust her.

Her thought process was interrupted by meeting Lancelot. As if getting to know famous fairytale characters wasn't strange enough, she obviously had to start looking out for King Arthur. If Elphaba were to jump out from behind the nearest tree she was done with this her belief system.

They sure as hell weren't in Kansas anymore.

After a meal of very strange food Snow started leading her and Mulan into the forest. No comment about the Mulan-thing.

Seriously.

On the journey she had finally some time to catch up with all that was happening.

So she had met Regina's mother.

And Mary Margret was terrified of her.

She had never thought about Regina having parents. But then she had never really thought about Regina being the Evil Queen.

That had been enough of a terrible surprise.

Just when she had accepted a truce with Regina Henry had to eat that damn apple turnover. If he hadn't done that one stupid thing, she'd be living somewhere far away now, preferably somewhere where it was warm. Without ogers.

She had been ready to leave. It had been crazy to think that she could just take over and make her sons' life better. He was still miserable. And it kept getting worse, because Regina kept fighting with her. Or she kept fighting with her.

Whatever, they were fighting and Henry was in the middle.

With this realization she was ready to take the trouble, meaning herself, out of their lives. Actually she was hoping that Regina would stop being so… well crazy, and get back to being a mom.

She simply hadn't been able to battle against Regina anymore. It had been too exhausting.

And it was exhausting that to see Regina as a person, see that she had feelings, right after she was forced to realize who Regina really was. Losing Henry had devastated her.

Emma was so engrossed in her thoughts all day that she nearly missed how Mary Margaret and Mulan were treating her. But as the day went on she started feeling like a five-year-old who had no idea what she was doing.

Emma learned not to make any loud sound when crossing ogre territory. She found out that Mary Margaret didn't exist anymore. Instead she met Snow White, who certainly knew how to take care of herself. She herself realized that she wasn't meant to be living in the woods. She was almost as bad as Aurora, who was the very epitome of a spoiled princess, including the whining.

But in Mulan's presence Emma learned not to complain.

Her shoes weren't exactly made for hiking, but neither were Mary Margaret's, er, Snow's.

That was another thing. She was supposed to call her Snow White or mom.

She hadn't decided yet which weirded her out more.

Before she had solved any of her current problems they arrived at a castle. Her parents castle, to be specific, where under different circumstances she would have grown up.

Her mind was racing again trying to sort out her emotions, but there was too much she wasn't ready for. She still wasn't anywhere near getting a hold of her inner turmoil, when Snow guided her into her very own nursery.

And instead of finally being allowed a moment, Cora had shown up and made everything worse.

She didn't know anymore what had made her trust her but she started resenting herself for telling her of Henry's existence. At least she had destroyed Cora's way of getting to them. Somehow she doubted that Regina would be happy to see her mother again.

Right now Emma leaned on the wall next to the nursery. Her nursery. She tried not to let it get to her but after the conversation with Snow it was difficult.

Snow and Mulan were walking down the corridor discussing their sleeping arrangements. They weren't sure whether it was safe to spend the night in the castle. Aurora sat in front of her, back against the wall and kept blabbering on how she needed a bed for the night. You'd think after decades of sleeping she would have had enough of it.

Sometime between the camp and now Snow and Mulan had taken the rains in their hand and decided to treat Emma like the clueless child she felt like.

At least they didn't ignore her like they did with Aurora. Her suggests were merely frowned upon, Emma's always got a short explanation on how exactly they were impossibly stupid.

After a little start she realized that Aurora's eyes were on her. Obviously the princess had just asked her something. Emma had never heard of the Sleeping Beauty being that talkative. But she supposed that she had to have some catching up to do. Maybe if she didn't have such a crappy day she'd have more patience.

"I'm sorry, I was…"

"Elsewhere. I understand. It must be overwhelming."

You have no idea, Emma thought, but she just nodded.

"I asked whether you have family to get back to."

"Yes."

Aurora still stared at her. Somehow Emma got the impression that she was forced to talk.

"I have a son", she answered shortly. She really didn't want to get into it.

"Oh, children are wonderful. I wanted at least three of them myself."

She gave her a sad smile. Suddenly Emma realized that she wasn't the only one who was having a crappy day. Aurora had just lost the love of her life without even having any time together. Shit, she was incredibly self-centered.

"I never thought I was made to be a mother."

Maybe she could tolerate her better, if they actually got along.

"But then you had your son?"

Emma nodded.

"Then I had Henry. He's amazing, but that's what every parent says about their child."

She gave Aurora a crooked smile.

"And your husband? Does he live in your land with you?"

"Oh, no, I don't have a husband. It's a little different in our world."

"A wife? That's unusual around here, but we do accept it."

"Seriously? Fairytale characters accept it if their children are gay?"

Emma didn't even think about what she said. She just blurted out her first thought.

"I am not familiar with this word, but it's not highly uncommon. I have heard about a princess marrying another woman for love. You know about ten percent of the people find their true love within the same sex."

"All right… That's interesting. But to answer your question I don't have a wife either. You don't have to be married to get children where I come from."

"Well, neither do we, though normally it is required from royalty…"

When she noticed Emma's defensive look she blushed a deep red.

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to insult you, I was just thinking about myself."

"It's okay. I'm twenty-eight years old and I've only just found out about my so called royalty."

"Well, but you are a princess."

"It may seem so."

"Then who do you raise him with? Do you live in an unmarried relationship?"

"No. It's… It's complicated."

She shortly mulled over explaining Regina, but decided it was better not to start that conversation.

Oh, yeah, I have a son, but for the last ten years I didn't exactly take care of him. It's called adoption. Oh and do you know Regina, the Evil Queen? That's who raised him instead.

Yep, that would work out perfectly.

"Complicated how?"

It seemed that a certain princess couldn't get enough information.

"He has been living with another woman for the last ten years. She took care of him, while I couldn't, but I'm there for him now and so is she."

"And neither of you is married?"

"Er, no."

"Yes, that's sounds unusually complicated."

"So you do accept same sex relationships but draw a line at single parenting?"

Aurora shrugged.

"I'm certainly not used to the idea."

Emma smiled. It was certainly a strange world.

"But you get along with that woman?"

With a shrug Emma nodded.

"We don't always see eye to eye. But no matter how much we may disagree on, well, everything, we agree that Henry comes first."

"That is a good common ground."

"I guess so."

She shrugged again and stared at the ground. Even if it was a common ground she was pretty sure, David and Snow wouldn't care much. It had been an incredible fight to keep Regina alive. They didn't seem to understand that it was the right thing to do.

Killing someone never changed anything. And no matter how much Henry said he hated his mother right now, he would start missing her the moment she wasn't a simple cry of help away.

She didn't even want to imagine what he felt like if his mother was dead.

Somehow that thought terrified her immensely.

She didn't even want to contemplate the possibility of Regina Mills dying. Her brain shut down figuring out any outcome of Regina's death.

The only reason she could think of why that would be happening was that she wasn't ready to be Henry's mother. That was Regina's job.

It was definitely better to ignore the tiny voice that told her that she already was a parent to Henry, whether she was ready for it or not.

"Emma!"

Aurora whispered and pointed towards the wall next to her. Emma turned and saw that a great chunk of the wall was missing. She could stare into her nursery without a barrier. Wondering how something like that just happened she tried to put a hand into the wall. Instead of emptiness her fingers met cold stone. Surprised she sucked in a breath and looked through the wall. The translucent stones showed a shape appearing at the burned remains of the magic wardrobe. Cora was holding a glass vial and collected some of the ashes.

"What…?"

Aurora started to ask, but Emma waved her hand at her to keep silent. She silently prayed to whatever god existed that Cora couldn't and wouldn't see them.

One meeting with that frightening witch was quite enough for at least a lifetime. Or even two.

Luckily Cora didn't even turn in their direction, before she disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Once she was gone, Emma strode into the nursery and kneeled next to the remnants of the tree. If Cora thought the ashes were valuable who was she to argue?

She looked around, but before she could find anything to put some of the ashes in, a tiny bright cloud barely larger than a fist formed itself in front of her and a silver locket emerged falling right into the opened palm of her left hand.

It had a circular form. On its surface were elaborately casted branches of ivy. Emma believed she smelled a hint of apples, but she put it down to her imagination. She never had a very bright imagination, yet it was the only explanation she had.

For what it was worth the locket was exquisitely beautiful. She opened it and scooped up a spoonful of the dust on the bottom and smiled.

When she turned back to Aurora she found the princess staring at her with wide eyes.

"Did you just do magic?"

Instead of answering she just raised an eyebrow. Of course she didn't do any magic. This world was full of magic. At this moment she was kneeling in her own nursery. Why shouldn't someone somewhere grant her the wish to have something to keep the ashes in?

It seemed perfectly reasonable to her.

But then there had been the smell of apples.

"Of course I didn't."

She told her in a low voice. Before Aurora could begin questioning her again, or even worse return to her blabbering, she stood up and walked out of the room.

"We'd better find Snow and Mulan and tell them about this."

Somehow she couldn't completely erase the evidence of a smile that kept tugging at the corners of her mouth, when a certain revelation crept up on her. Because somehow she knew exactly, how that locket had come to her. It definitely had been the smell of apples.

She had not the slightest idea how to explain it, but she knew without a doubt that Regina brought it to her.

When Aurora went in front of her with the rigid posture of an offended person, Emma found she didn't even mind. She knew she had just hurt the one person who was trying to be her friend in this world by being dishonest, but she was just too giddy to care.

Regina was watching and helping. Somehow she couldn't even find it in her to call it creepy.

Instead she let Aurora walk five paces in front of her and murmured seemingly to no one a quiet but nonetheless grateful "Thank you."