XxXx

"So she gave you the slippers?" Emma asked. They were lying in her bed in her tiny apartment, Regina's furs and finery was scattered across the floor along with Emma's cheap t-shirt and jeans. Her bra had given Regina pause before she tore it off impatiently. Emma dragged the sheet over them just encase Henry came in. She would really have to get a lock on her bedroom door.

"Hhhmm," Regina affirmed. Already the happy and relaxed expression she had worn all through sex-aw crap, Emma was going to have to start calling it 'love making' now wasn't she?- had faded. Emma could hardly believe Regina was here in Boston. With her. She reached down and tangled her fingers in the former Queens.

"I still hate her," Emma said as they both stared up at her ceiling. The only light in the room came through her blinds from a flickering street lamp casting a soft orange glow over their bodies.

"It does not make up for what she has done," Regina agreed but she sounded subdued.

"You are not seriously thinking about forgiving her are you?" Emma sat up incredulous. "She killed your father, kidnapped Henry and-"

"I am more than aware of her latest crimes," Regina glared. "And of her pasts ones as well. Maleficent and I share history which makes her betray more sharp...and easier to forgive."

"I don't get it," Emma flopped back onto her back angry. Regina rolled onto her side and pushed Emma's newly re-dyed blonde hair out of her face.

"Maleficent was also a princess, but she possessed none of your virtues," Emma snorted at the idea she had 'virtues' but let Regina continue. "She was born different. Her skin was a sickly green with jet black horns and no hair. The results of the King and Queens many fornications, mixed with questionable magic. They were as close to evil as you could be in my world and still be considered 'good.' You've already seen firsthand the arbitrary and indiscriminate my binary world is-anyway, they locked her away in a tower for most of her life. She spun and sowed and lived like a servant until Baba Yaga came for her."

"Why did Yaga come for her?" Emma asked drawn into the story against her wishes.

"Why does Yaga do anything? Power. Maleficent was harbouring magic and Baba knew the King and Queen's secrets so they gladly gave their child to Yaga," Regina paused to take a deep breath. Her eyes stared off to the side into another world and Emma watched her carefully. "My mother sent me to Yaga every summer. They had made a magical contract, I still do not know the full of extent of it even now but part of it was that Yaga train me in the areas that my mother lacked. I was the only person Maleficent had ever seen outside of Baba and she thought we were friends. The contract forbade Yaga from permanently damaging me but with Baba's twisted mind it was no trouble for her to be creative in her torture. Now that I can feel again," Regina gave Emma a brief tender smile before it faded and she looked away again, "I still feel the shame of what I did."

Regina swallowed and lay back on the bed. Emma followed her, her curiosity absolutely starving now. "I studied and practiced until I could perfect an illusion charm. I made Maleficent pretty, it was the first time she had ever felt normal and she was so grateful...but I didn't do it for her. I had seen the way Baba looked at me, felt her eyes all over my body. I offered Maleficent as an alternative. Now she was pretty and what's more, Baba was not bound by a contract and so could enjoy her unrestricted. What Maleficent thought was a gift turned out to be the worst curse to be cast on her yet. Baba was so amused, she knew my true reasons, I was hardly a master manipulator. She took Maleficent and claimed her as a pet. Like I said she was twisted with a dark sense of humour. Baba left her alone in the summer months when I was with them. It made Maleficent's fondness for me grow because I was a friend and a respite from the abuse. She never questioned it which was foolish. Why would Baba care if I saw them or not? But Maleficent came to associate my arrival with the positive things in her life and my departure...it would have made the reclaiming sweeter I imagine."

"So why didn't Yaga just transform Maleficent herself if she wanted a toy?" Emma asked with a frown.

"A frivolous glamour spell? Baba wouldn't have wasted her time on that. My mother was vain-those were the first spells she learned and passed on to me but Yaga only wanted power. It would not have been a great hardship for her to learn and use but why would she do that when it would have made Maleficent even slightly happy? And by the time Maleficent was becoming a woman I was already visiting them. She could just as easily taken me," Regina's voice was tight with a controlled rage. Years of repressed emotions fought it out in her tone. "I would have been just as helpless against her."

"I understand what its like to be that kind of helpless," Emma hurried on because she didn't want to think about those dark days. "But she gave my son to that monster."

"And I gave her to that very same monster," Regina countered. "I found laid out like a present the first night of my twenty first summer. She was like a broken doll-Baba had refused to heal her and for the entire year she-I was so angry and ashamed. By that stage pity and guilt had bonded me as Maleficent's only friend and I killed Baba."

"What?" Emma was both shocked and confused. That old woman seemed very much alive when she was kicking Emma's ass.

"I killed her as much as something like her could be killed. I poisoned her food and when she was weak enough I used the forest to tear her apart. It was the first time I had ever used that spell and afterwards I looked just as bad as Maleficent. Yaga fought back but her arrogance allowed her to be surprised after all she expected nothing so grand as a spell designed to control nature itself from the pathetic girl that hid behind her weaker friend. I freed us both from Yaga but her memory still retained its hold over Maleficent and I wonder even now, if she has ever recovered."

"Things like that leave their mark," Emma said darkly.

"You where hurt like she was," Regina said and it wasn't a question. "I would kill the perpetrator if you only named them."

"Maybe someday I'll tell you," Emma promised kissing Regina's forehead.

Regina sighed and pulled Emma closer to her. "I cannot forgive Maleficent but I also know how powerless she is against Baba Yaga and how even then she tried to help me-I still can't hate her completely. Maybe now my guilt can at last be relieved."

Emma frowned into Regina's shoulder. Even now forgiving Maleficent seemed hard. Because of her Emma had almost died fighting werewolves, almost fallen to her death rescuing Henry from a Pied Piper, nearly been trampled by a carriage, had had her son kidnapped and given to monsters causing her to fight an army to get him back and worst of all, she was the reason Mr Mills was dead. But Maleficent was also the reason she had met Henry, Regina and her parents. She was the reason Regina was here with her now.

"I guess it doesn't matter now," Emma said at last still conflicted, "there's no way we'll ever see her again. You said the shoes stopped working and we don't have any of the books."

"Crossing the worlds is almost impossible. The books where the only thing with enough power to bring anyone across but the way they work are mysterious and I doubt that they would work for Maleficent. The shoes were the only other thing powerful enough to cross but without magic they are nothing more than ugly footwear. They stopped working because there is no magic in this world. There is no way for Maleficent to come here or for me to go home," Regina said softly "...but I have come to regard you and Henry as my home."

Emma felt a lump of pure emotion in her throat. She really wasn't used to people saying such wonderful things to her. She pushed passed it with a grin and sat up to straddle Regina's hips. "You know this world is totally without magic. In a second? I'm gonna make you see stars with your eyes closed."

"That would be a magical feat," Regina grinned at her before pulling Emma down into a kiss.

XxXx

The bright light swallowed up her daughter and grandson and before Snow could even cry out she was knocked off her feet by a blast. She hit something solid and flopped down on to her face barely managing to avoid breaking her nose. The pain in her eyes was intense as they tried to readjust. She eventually had to tightly shut her eyes as the world felt like it was spinning around her.

"-ow! Snow!" A heavy hand landed on her arm and rolled her over. A familiar calloused hand cupped her cheek and she opened her eyes to see her husband kneeling over her.

He was mercifully blocking most of the light and she smiled at him instinctively. He returned her smile still looking handsome despite the blood running down the side of his face. And then she remembered. She sat up quickly and lurched to her feet nearly falling on top of James. Regina was still trying to shake off the blast at the other end of the temple but Snow only had eyes for the empty alter. "She's gone..." Snow's voice broke.

"They both are," James stood up with great effort and reached out to her.

Snow stepped back, not because she didn't want her husbands comfort, but she knew if he touched her right now, if she gave in and collapsed against him like she wanted to-she would never get up again.

"We have to see to the others," Snow staggered away towards the door, "there's still a battle going on outside, we can't sit about and-"

"Snow," James voice was soft and broken and she could hear the plea in his voice that she longed to answer.

"James," she answered just as brittle. She had fallen in love with his expressive eyes and she couldn't look at them.

"Okay, let's go," James' voice was firmer as he drew himself up, "we'll see to the others."

She couldn't refuse him as he laced their fingers together and they left the temple holding hands. The dark army that had chased them up the steps to the temple was no were to be seen. Only corpse of twisted men and evil creatures where left broken and bloody on the steps and in the forest. They limped down the stairs and James steadied her as she slipped on trolls blood.

"How did that happen?" James asked wonderingly. Snow followed his gaze to see a huge Minotaur's body dangling across several trees. Its blood still dripped in a sluggish after thought to stain the soil below it.

"That, I am amazed to say, is what you get for calling into question the bedding habits of dwarfs," Snow looked to see Regina's weapon master slumped against a giant root clutching at the arrow in his stomach. He gave them both a deep nod. "You will forgive me if I do not stand on ceremony. The ability to stand has been beyond me for some time. Might I assume that since you are alive and the dastardly fellow that was about to run me through fled in a panic, that we have won?"

"Where's Grumpy?" Snow demanded ignoring him completely.

"Ah, I see where your daughter inherited her manners from. The dwarf, last I saw, was chasing down an Orc that had the audacity and not to mention the hypocrisy to call him short," the weapon master groaned.

"We'll send a healer to you as soon as the battle is over," James promised him. Snow shot him a sideways look but didn't argue when he squeezed her fingers. He was always more forgiving than she was. The weapons master might have helped them but he was still one of Regina's men and therefore her problem.

"Then the healer should be arriving momentarily. The creatures panicked and fled not long ago. The entire army broke and yours did not waste a moment chasing them off," the weapons master coughed into his gauntlet. He pulled his hand away to find it bloody, "that is not a good sign."

"You'll live, you fruit."

"Grumpy!" Snow called happy to see him.

The dwarf was limping up the rough road using a spear for a walking stick. Behind him a healer in a white dress was hurrying after him. A squad of knights followed leading horses as the ground was too perilous to risk riding.

"Your highness's!" Uldric, their knight-captain called throwing the reins to his Page as he hurried the rest of the way. He gave them a formal bow and raised his visor. "It is my great honour to bring you amazing tidings and salutations-"

"-The other army broke-we won," Grumpy growled. He never did have time for fancy words.

"-Ah, yes," Uldric glared at Grumpy but gathered his dignity. "We where marshalling a force to come and bolster you when the Dwarf came. We are here to escort you back to the camp and offer you healing. We have extra horses for your grandson and daughter."

Snows face crumbled at the words and she squeezed James hand. Grumpy saw her expression and his own grizzled face frowned. "Where's the blonde?"

"Back in their own world I imagine," James cleared his throat.

"This is their world," Snow said sharply breaking away from him. Anger was better than tears. She roughly grabbed the reins of her horse and led it away. The knights scrambled to follow her. After they left the forest Snow wasted no time in mounting and riding back to the camp. She rode straight past Prince Thomas who's eager expression grew annoyed at her rudeness. She had half a mind to turn back and kick the little runt in the face as she passed.

"Get out!" She snapped at the waiting attendants in her tent. She didn't need them to undress her. She didn't need anyone except her little girl who-Snow threw her gauntlets to the ground. She wished she was in her palace, there was so much more fragile things to break which would have been much more satisfying. Instead she had to make do with the ceramic washing bowl and jug. The crash as it hit the floor was pleasant but not enough to sate her rage.

"There's a hand mirror in your drawer," James offered as he lent against the tent pole watching her.

Snow ripped the drawer off its runners and emptied its contents to the floor. The hand mirror fell out and she stomped on it with her booted foot until it made a validating crunch. It still wasn't enough. She turned on James and threw the drawer at him. He batted it away lightly and marched towards her. Good. She drew back her fist to punch him but he grabbed her hand. He wasn't fast enough to catch the other one and she wailed away at his torso until she was just sobbing against his chest. She buried her face in his shirt as he held her.

"She's gone...she's gone again...we've lost her..."

XxXx

James waited until Snow was exhausted. He put her to bed and gently tucked her in before he left. Emma was gone, so too was their grandson. He never got the chance to meet the boy but he had always wanted another male around to bond with. Not that he wouldn't have loved and doted on his daughter but he imagined that with Snow and Emma he would get a little sick of girls. He would have taught his grandson to be a great prince.

He would have got him into all sorts of trouble. Henry was his name, right? Not quite a name for a prince but James could live with it. He would live with it because his daughter and grandson were both alive and James would find them. It's what he does.

James flung open the tent Emma and Regina had used while they stayed at the camp. It was bare, hardly fit for a princess but his little girl wasn't an ordinary princess. She could weld axes like a lumber jack, with all the finesse of one two, James grinned at the comparison. He looked under the bed but didn't find anything. He pulled off the blankets despite there being no lumps. He threw the pillow to the ground and still found nothing.

His searching became more frenzied as he knocked over the simple table accidentally smashing the water jug. He searched the floor but there was nothing there. He began to dig a little in the packed dirt thinking that his girl was smart. His daughter would be clever enough not to leave them in plain view. Maybe she buried them to keep them safe.

But the bed was in the way. It was a small tent, if she was going to bury them then obviously it would have been under the bed. James grabbed the bed frame and threw it out the tent. It was a start and stop operation until he got so fed up he roughly kicked the bed, mattress and all, out the door. The tent nearly collapsed as he also took out one of the supports but it didn't matter because now he had excess to the dirt floor under the bed.

There! In the middle a mound of disturbed earth! He began to furiously dig not heed the pain in his hands as they cut against the sharp stone in the earth. His fingernails filled with dirt and he didn't let up even as they cracked and broke. The hole was getting deeper and deeper but there was still no sign of them.

"James..."

He shrugged off the soft touch to his shoulder.

"James."

He shoved the touch off more roughly this time. He was busy-he was going to find his little girl.

Arms came from underneath his armpits and wrapped around his chest pulling him away. He turned furious at being interrupted. Snow stared back at him unflinchingly, her eyes where soft with understanding and grief. He didn't want that, she shouldn't grieve because he was going to find her alls he needed was-

"-I can't find the shoes," his voice cracked. "If we find the shoes, we can go to her-we know where she is now-what she looks like-we can find her."

"James, Regina still has the ruby slippers-they're not here," Snow said. The understanding in her voice cut worse than a knife.

"She wasn't wearing them in the last battle- she must have left them here!" James argued "Emma must have got them off her and hid them-because-because..." he ran out of steam and allowed Snow to draw him into her embrace.

"She's gone..." James finally acknowledged.

"For now," Snow promised him. She kissed his head and they held each other tight.

XxXx

"Regina you cannot beat up children!" Emma snapped exasperated as she slammed the groceries on the counter. She couldn't believe she was having this conversation again.

"I hardly touched them," Regina scoffed reclining on Emma's threadbare sofa like she was back on her throne.

"You're not allowed to touch them at all! You're so goddamn lucky I have connections. What the hell would we do if you got arrested? You have no birth certificate and no green card- You don't exist in this world!" Emma

"And yet here I am!" Regina snapped "do you enjoy the role reversal? Me as your prisoner? At least when you were my captive I had the decency to try and seduce you."

"You cannot tell me we're not having enough sex," Emma rolled her eyes "my jaw is about to fall off."

"And yet you keep flapping it," Regina scowled at her "what am I to do all day? You at least had an entire castle and grounds to wonder freely."

"Until my guy comes through you can't leave, you have no I.D and know nothing about this world," Emma allowed herself a smug little smirk. "Sucks, doesn't it?" She sighed when Regina didn't look at all amused. "Besides the last time you went out you broke a man's nose, insulted my landlord and oh, yeah, hit children!"

"I was a Queen! Who is this wretch of a 'lord' to tell me that I owe him money for staying in your dwelling? And those children should not tease Henry. If I had my magic this world would be on bended knee right now! Honestly voting for your leaders? What a farce," Regina stood up agitated.

"Not the democracy argument again," Emma groaned. Regina could just not comprehend the voting system and Emma kind of cursed Henry for teaching her it. Not to mention how she wanted to move to the UK and usurp the Queen's throne once Henry told her that royalty did exist. Emma rubbed her forehead hoping to ease the tension before it turned into a full headache. "Look, we're on pretty shaky ground. Henry is only with me under probation, that social worker is a gossipy bitch, if she finds out your beating up kids that bully Henry she's going to take him away."

"Over my cold and withered corpse," Regina's eyes narrowed threateningly.

"As lovely as that image is," Emma sighed "that's not-"

"-The way this world works," Regina finished agitated "yes I know."

"Come on, we still have an hour before I have to go pick up Henry," Emma took Regina's hand. "We'll go to the park and you can tell me what skills being an unquestioned ruler has given you for the job market."

"I hate those stupid questions. Why do I need a job? I gave you everything you desired when you where my prisoner, surely you should do the same," Regina complained but put on Emma's coats anyway. "I have half a mind to leave you and seek my own fortune in this wasteland."

"You want me to say it don't you?" Emma rolled her eyes. Regina waited impatiently for her at the door and refused to move. "Fine. You can try to leave, but you will never escape me," Emma couldn't stop the smile on her face at Regina's satisfied expression. "Now come on, Henry will be waiting for us."

XxXx