I have two problems: 1) In my mind Regina and Emma are already together; 2) It hurts to watch Regina cry, and all I want to do is write something to make it a tiny bit better. Consequently, here is a little post-The Miller's Daughter vignette. Let's say that in this story Emma and Regina were lovers, but things went down hill between them after the Archie incident. Hope you enjoy!

Emma can feel it. Standing on a dirt road in the middle of the forest, she is consumed with pain and despair. There's no thought to what happens next, really. She just knows that she needs to be with Regina. She concentrates on Regina, on wrapping her arms around her, on taking the pain away. And the next thing Emma sees is a whirl of purple smoke, and then Gold's shop.

Emma is disoriented for a second and just as she gets her bearings, Regina flicks her hand sending Emma flying across the room so that she is no longer standing between the former queen and Snow White. Emma looks at the two women in front of her. Regina's eyes are fixed on Snow with a glare more full of hatred than Emma has ever seen. The sheriff reaches out a hand and casts a barrier spell around herself and Regina, trapping them and Cora's body inside.

Regina attempts to break the barrier down, and she comes damn close on the first try.

"Go!" Emma growls at her parents.

"We're not leaving you with her," Snow says. This is her fault, and she will not let her decision hurt her daughter.

Emma turns to her mother, a look of anger in her eyes. "Get out of here."

Gold doesn't need to be told twice, and he is already out the door by the time David pulls Snow out of the shop, recognizing that their presence can only make this worse. Emma spares only a moment's thought about how foolish she was to trust Rumplestilskin before she focuses entirely on the woman in front of her.

Regina rages against the barrier, throwing her magic against it again and again. Emma stands and walks towards the brunette slowly, cautiously.

"I'm sorry," Emma whispers. "I'm so sorry."

"Did you help them do this?" Regina asks, sounding for the first time like the Evil Queen Emma has been told she was.

"No, I would never…" Emma says crouching down next to her former lover. "Regina." Emma wants to reach out and touch the tear stained cheeks, wants to feel that skin against hers again. "I'm sorry," Emma repeats, because she is. No matter what Regina has done, she didn't deserve this. She had been trying so hard, and Emma had left her all alone. She had left town with Rumplestilskin as Regina spiraled down further and further.

"Regina, the last thing your mother said to you," Emma says, unsure of how she knows this. She just does. The connection she feels to Regina is stronger than it has ever been.

"Don't," Regina whispers, looking down at Cora's body. The rage is fading away, the devastation taking hold of her once more.

"You would have been enough for her. If she had her heart, all she would have wanted was you."

The sob that echoes in the small room breaks Emma's heart. She can't take it anymore. She slides her body behind Regina and takes her chances.

Arms wrap around Regina, and she stiffens. "Don't," she says. Emma is going to manipulate her, the same way the rest of them did. The blonde will offer love and sympathy, all to protect Snow White, all to keep Regina from seeking the vengeance that she so deserves.

"I'm here Regina."

For a minute Regina lets herself sink into Emma's embrace. The former queen remembers those nights, those fleeting nights when they had been together. A tangled mess of bodies and breath and heat, and for those moments Regina had been at peace. Even if Emma is manipulating her, the touch feels oh so good.

But Emma keeps talking. She keeps talking, and Regina can no longer lose herself in the faint reminders of something that she had fooled herself into thinking felt like love. "You would have been better than power and hatred and vengeance. She wouldn't have needed any of it if she had been able to love you how she should have." Regina sobs and her head lolls forward. Emma reaches close to the brunette's ear, "The way I know you love Henry."

"Henry hates me."

"He doesn't. Please Regina, I need you to listen to me. I'm not saying this to protect Snow. I'm saying this because if you kill her it will destroy everything you've worked for. Being a mother would have been enough for Cora. Isn't it enough for you?"

"Don't do that!" Regina screams, pulling out of Emma's grasp. "You took him from me. You took my son from me, and now you're going to taunt me?!"

"I shouldn't have kept you from Henry. I shouldn't have taken him away."

"You're lying to me," Regina says in a small voice. "Don't do that." She sounds to Emma like a broken child, like a little girl in pain lashing out. Emma wants so badly to hold Regina. To hold on tight and forget about everything else, because the last time that Emma's mind hadn't been racing and panicked had been when she was in Regina's arms. Maybe if they could just get back there and be still for a moment, they could find a way to make it right.

"I don't know what to do here," Emma says crawling in front of Regina and trying to ignore the fact that there is a dead body between them. "I screwed up. I know that. I should have believed you about Archie, but I was an idiot. And then I just left town with Henry, and I shouldn't have left you alone like that. I should have done better, I know that."

Regina looks up at Emma like she wants to believe the blonde so badly. This is Emma's chance. "I screwed things up, and I kind of need you to give me another chance. What we had…" Emma trails off, because it's too hard to say the word love.

"I should have been what you needed me to be, but I'm barely holding on here Regina! Rumplestilskin is telling me that I have magic. His son is Henry's father. The whole town looks at me like I'm the goddamned savior." Emma stops and takes a breath, and for the first time today she sees caring in Regina's eyes. "I can't do this alone," Emma says, a desperate sob escaping her lips. "I can't do this without you. Please."

"So you can't leave me, ok?" Emma says, a small smile on her tear streaked face. "You can't become some stupid Evil Queen again."

"I don't know what else to do," Regina whispers. She feels so lost, and she wants to let Emma take care of her. For once she just wants to let go.

Emma takes advantage of the shift in Regina's demeanor and moves behind the brunette again. It's the only position in which Emma can hug Regina as she holds tight to her mother's lifeless body. Emma wraps her arms around Regina's chest, one hand slipping beneath Regina's jacket so that the brunette can feel the heat of Emma's palm against her skin. "I'm here, Regina."

Emma grasps the skin of Regina's shoulder tightly. "I'm right here." She presses her face against the brunette's cheek, letting their tears mingle.

"She loved me," Regina whimpers, before her cries begin again in earnest. Long, low moans that stab at Emma's chest.

"I'm here."