Regina wasn't sure if it was her magic or some other power that made Emma disappear, but somehow she knew Emma was back in the real world.

She walked back into the stables where her younger self was apparently waiting on her.

"She is back with Henry," her younger self said.

"Thank you," she said.

"Oh please, you can't tell me you let her guilt you into this."

Regina turned at the sound of the voice – her own voice. Standing there at the entrance was the Evil Queen. She strode forward until she was standing there in front of Regina and her younger self.

"You let Emma go, you chose that?" the Evil Queen asked her.

"I had to," Regina said. "I had to let her go so she could return to Henry. She didn't belong here."

"And you believe you belong here?"

Regina looked over at her younger self, who seemed to be studying the Evil Queen.

"I don't know," Regina admitted. "I don't know what I deserve."

She spoke truthfully- not knowing how to answer that question. Standing there with her other selves she felt like she was losing who she was – that she was becoming fractured somehow.

She took a step back from them both and they both shifted in turn – now both standing in front of her.

Each had a look of expectation, but Regina didn't know what they wanted from her.

"You think I don't deserve happiness," Regina said looking at her younger self. "And you, what do you think?" She directed this at the Evil Queen.

The Queen smiled. "I think you don't need anyone's permission to be happy."

"Of course, you would think that," her younger self snapped. "When did you ever ask permission for anything? You did what you wanted when you wanted and others paid the price for it."

"Why shouldn't I have? You remember what it was like with mother. She controlled everything in our life. Everything. And where did that get us? Daniel died at her hands and you stood there and did nothing," the Queen shot back.

"That is easy for you to say. You have magic. What did I have back then besides my love for him?"

"Yes, and you covet that love so much you can't conceive of the idea that you could love again."

"What would you know of love?" the younger one snapped back. "You buried Daniel's love away and embraced anger instead. You destroyed others' happiness and it did nothing to stop the sadness you felt."

"Stop it!" Regina shouted.

Watching the two versions of her argue was making her head hurt – a physical hurt that felt odd even in this place. This was her mind so why couldn't she make it stop? She wanted it to stop.

Again, the other versions of her were looking at her with expectation.

"What do you want from me?" She asked, the pain getting worse.

"Pick a side," the Queen said to her. "Choose her and wallow in your own despair for the rest of your life. Choose me and I will get you out of this place. You can't do it on your own. You've always needed me when it comes to the tough stuff."

"Yes," her younger self said. "Choose."

Her skull felt like it was going to crack open.

She didn't want to stay here but what the Queen was suggesting bothered her just as much.

She vowed never to be the Queen ever again. She couldn't be. She couldn't be for Henry, but she realized she didn't want to be her ever again and hadn't wanted to for a long time. Emma coming into her life had shown her a different path.

But to stay here. To be here and live the rest of her life in regret – did she deserve that? Emma said she didn't deserve that. She said it didn't have to be like this. She said there was another life out there for her.

"I choose … I choose a different path," Regina managed to say before collapsing.

…

"I'm sure you did all you could," she heard someone say. That voice, she thought, I know that voice. It was Charming.

"I just don't understand."

Emma, her mind said. That is Emma talking.

Regina opened her eyes and saw Emma there with her parents and Henry. She smiled at the sight of them.

"I chose you," Regina said her voice a little raw, but it was loud enough that all eyes turned to her.

"Mom!" Henry reached her first, giving her a hug.

Emma was right behind him, a look of disbelief on her face.

"You came back," Emma said.

"I did," Regina smiled at her. "I came back for you."

…

"So why do you think you were able to finally break free?" Archie asked her.

Regina had continued to see him after she woke from her coma, realizing she had issues she needed to deal with and ignoring them would only cause her harm in the long run.

"I don't know," Regina said.

"Come on Regina, remember we don't hide behind 'I don't know.'"

She took a breath and shook her head slightly. "I don't know that it was anything that I did consciously," she said. "I don't know that I made the firm decision I was coming back is what I mean. I just knew that the choices they were giving me was not what I wanted."

"What about what you deserved?" he asked.

"I'm not sure I will ever be able to answer that question with 100 percent certainty," she said. "I do know that I want to be deserving of my son's love and of Emma's. I know that I can't ever let myself give into hurt and anger ever again. When I was in there with Emma, I told her I was scared of that happening and I was, I am in some ways still. Because I think about how easy it would be to fall back to if I ever experienced pain like I did when Daniel died."

"I don't think you would," Archie said. "The Queen offered you that choice. You could have relied on her in there and I believe if you had, you would have woken up here in the real world. I think she could have made that happen for you. But you didn't choose that path back."

"You know how I explained that my head hurt when the other versions of me were arguing?"

He nodded.

"I think that maybe they weren't other versions of me, more like pieces of me. I think I struggled with the idea of if I was either one of them, but it turns out I was them and they were me," Regina said. "The pain I felt, I think it happened because I was ready to be me fully. It wasn't a fracturing – it was a coming together, an acceptance that who I am now will always include who I was then, if that makes any sense."

Archie smiled at her, "I think that is very well thought out," he said. "We can explore it more in our next session."

After saying their goodbyes, Regina went back to the office – she normally saw Archie on an extended lunch break once a week.

Life had returned to normal in Storybrooke and Regina was once again running things as mayor. There was a comfortable feeling in this normalcy for her.

At the day's end she went home and started cooking dinner. Henry had an after-school activity and would be picked up by Emma.

Dinner was just getting done when she heard the front door open. There was a time when that sound scared her – when she initially woken up and she was still jittery. But now she found comfort in the sound.

"Hey, you," Emma said as she entered the dining room where Regina was setting the table.

"How was your day?"

"Good," Emma said coming closer and kissing her on the cheek. "Anything I can do to help here?"

"Nope," Regina responded. "Dinner should be served in about five minutes or so. Get washed up and get Henry."

Twenty minutes later, Regina couldn't help but smile as Henry related a story from school that had Emma laughing. In these moments, she felt so lucky to be here – to be with Henry and Emma. She knew how precious the time was and how she had almost lost out on it forever.

Later that evening, Regina and Emma were sitting on the back deck as the twilight sat in.

"You were kind of quiet tonight," Emma commented.

Regina glanced over at her. "I'm ok," she said, not offended that Emma would bring it up. She knew Emma only did it because she was concerned about her well-being. "In fact, I was thinking earlier just how lucky I am."

"Yeah?"

"I could have lost all of this," Regina continued. "I could still be trapped up there in my own mind or …"

"Or what?" Emma asked when Regina trailed off.

"Or I could still be hurting myself here in the real world," Regina said.

When she first woke up and had the first few sessions with Archie, she had spent a lot of time accepting that all that had happened because she and her magic had created it. The idea she had been unconsciously using her magic in ways that were harming herself had taken a lot to deal with.

Part of her still didn't understand how she had been able to pull it off because to her it had been real. And that part still scared her a bit because she didn't want to lose control like that again.

She wasn't scared for herself. She was scared for others. What if she used her magic like that against others because of subconscious feelings in her mind? That was why she continued her therapy with Archie. After years of abuse at her mother's hands, her own transformation into the Evil Queen and the casting of the curse, Regina realized she needed to deal with the trauma her life had produced.

After waking, she got the feeling some people were being extra considerate to her as it was no real secret what had happened. At first, she thought those friendly gestures were people wanting to stay on her good side because they again feared her and what she could do.

But Archie had told her she needed to start looking at things differently – and see that people didn't always act out of fear and that there was genuine empathy and concern among the populace for what had happened to her.

No, she would never be popular with the entire populace, but there were those who knew she wasn't the same person who had cursed them to live in this realm.

Chief among them was Emma and her family.

"I am sorry for all that I put you through," Regina said to her suddenly.

"We've been over this, you don't have to apologize," Emma said. "I'm just happy you are ok."

They hadn't talked much about what had happened at first, but slowly they had discussed what happened and Regina had felt the worst when Emma had talked about how Regina made her feel when pushing her away even though she understood now what was happening. She also felt like she had failed when Regina hadn't returned immediately with her from her mind.

Regina had tried to assure her that she hadn't failed and without Emma's assistance there, Regina wouldn't be here now.

Still, they had kept things going slow between them. Yes, there were kisses and dates, and nights like tonight, but neither woman seemed in a hurry. But both knew that this is what they wanted – both accepted it and what it meant for the future.

"I may not need to apologize, but I want to," Regina said. "I want you to know that it was never a rejection of you. It was me and my insecurities and fear and self-loathing. But you never gave up on me and that will always mean the world to me. You became my savior."

Emma smiled and Regina leaned over and kissed her.

"What's say we retire for the night."

"Yeah, I should probably get going. I have work in the morning," Emma said.

"I didn't say anything about you going home," Regina said, standing and offering Emma her hand.

"Are you sure?" Emma said even as she took her hand.

"I'm sure," Regina said. "I would like to feel your arms around me tonight."