Title: Reset

Author: RebelByrdie

Rating: T-M

Fandom: Once Upon A Time

Pairing: Regina/Emma and some surprises!

Disclaimer: Storybrooke, its population and its drama belong to its creators. This is a work of not-for-profit fiction.

Summary: One of my random Tumblr posts lead to this and I'm not even sorry.

What if the diamond does detonate? What if the trigger isn't a self-destruct, what if it's a reset button? Poof Storybrooke resets, curse intact and memories wiped. Only since they were in direct contact with the diamond upon destruction, Emma and Regina are the only ones who remember everything. Season 3 opens with everyone waking up like in "Welcome to Storybrooke" only with Emma cast as the Sheriff and anyone who had arrived in town, like Greg and Tamara, under the spell. Magical shenanigans start to happen while Emma and Regina try to set things right. Also SwanQueen happens. Like, allot.

Author's Note: This is not beta-read so all mistakes, comma splices and general mistreatment of the English language belong to me. Furthermore, this was originally intended to be a one-shot but some awesome people left some really encouraging reviews and my muses went into overdrive. There is more to this idea then I originally thought.

Reset

Chapter I

The Trigger

The Evil Queen was not supposed to be a hero. She was supposed to be a scheming, wicked, maniacally cackling witch. Regina wasn't supposed to be in danger. She wasn't supposed to be the one laying her life on the line for everyone else. Emma was pretty sure that was Savior territory. The infuriating brunette had gone to the mines anyway. The woman could barely stand up straight on her own, but she had descended into the heart of the fucking apocalypse to try to buy them more time. For Henry, she had said. She didn't know what kind of twisted dreams of grandeur Regina had in her head, but they were coming to an end. Emma stalked through the diamond mines with one purpose. She was going to get her son's other mother and drag her kicking and screaming away from Storybrooke. They were getting the hell out of Dodge. There would be no heroic sacrifices today. She was not going to let Henry lose another parent.

She felt it before she saw it. Magic hummed and crackled in the air like electricity. It made her spine stiffen and her skin prickle uncomfortably. She heard Regina before she turned the corner and saw her. Low groans and grunts, there were no intelligible words, only shaky painful sounds that reminded Emma that Regina had spent her morning being tortured.

Then she saw her, and could barely process what it was she was seeing. The diamond was vibrating and arcs of destructive power were leaping between it and Regina's outstretched hands. The woman was trembling and her face was covered in a sheen of sweat. When she saw Regina's dark brown eyes, still bloodshot, she was almost knocked back a step by the emotions swirling in them: pain, fear, surprise, and a tiny spark of what might have been hope.

"I can't contain this much longer."

The woman's voice, usually so cool and confident, was husky with pain.

"Then don't." Emma held out her hand, "Let it go and come with me."

The shock that crossed Regina's face was almost painful to Emma. She had really expected to be left alone to die.

"I can't. If I let go now it will detonate. You have to go-fast. Henry can't lose us both."

Neal's words, some of his last before he plummeted into the swirling green portal of doom, came back to her again. Henry had never grown up like them, he had always had a Mother who loved him more than anything else, even when she'd had problems showing it. Then again, when you were raised by a literally heartless witch, maybe motherly love was something you had to figure out as you went. She was not going to let Henry's mother, the woman who had changed his diapers, taught him to walk, bandaged his scrapes and tucked him in every night, die. He had already lost too much.

She stepped closer and Regina's eyes widened, "Emma, no!"

Regina rarely called her Emma and that was a shame because despite the circumstances the word sounded almost musical when the former queen said it.

She took another step and the diamond sparked wildly. It was getting worse and Regina was struggling with everything she had. The vein in her forehead was throbbing wildly, so clearly defined against her skin that Emma feared it might burst. Sweat coursed down her face and there were tears in her brown eyes.

"Leave me!"

Regina's voice echoed through the chamber, a fragile sound that cut through Emma like a knife.

"No."

She closed the distance between them, and skirted the diamond. She stood behind Regina now, and without her ridiculous high heeled shoes they were the same height. She didn't know what to do until her hand brushed Regina's back. She could feel the tension, the trembling and tight muscles, through the thick coat she wore. The touch made Regina gasp, it was a quiet sound and if Emma hadn't been so close to her she would have never heard it. She wasn't sure why she did it, she blamed the little demons who made all of her rash decisions for her, but she wrapped her arms around Regina.

"Emma."

When was the last time anyone had hugged Regina? Emma had never been a hug and kiss kind of girl, but even Evil Queens needed a hug every once and a while. Regina shuddered in her grasp and over her shoulder Emma could see the diamond pause in the air. It looked almost calm.

The hat. Emma felt like slapping herself.

"The hat, Regina. It's just like the hat."

Regina hadn't been able to make Jefferson's hat spin until Emma had touched her. One of her last clear memories of that hellish night before she'd fallen into the insanity that had been the Enchanted Forest was the look that had crossed Regina's face. Hope and awe had, for a precious moment, repainted Regina's features. The way Regina had looked at her, it had made Emma's heart skip a beat.

"Your magic." The brunette's voice was quiet, but Emma could almost see the woman's smirk in the two words.

She moved each hand around either side of Regina's sides. She went slowly, dragging her hands up her stomach, and around the soft swell of her breasts. She let her fingers drag up her shoulders, she felt her fingertips brush the barest stretch of bare neck. She stretched her arms out, following the line of Regina's taut arms. She paused at her elbows and gave them a gentle squeeze.

"Our magic together."

She stretched her arms all the way out and pressed her palms to the backs of Regina's trembling hands. Her fingers found a very-natural feeling home as they slid into the gaps between the ex-mayor's fingers. She clasped her fingers tight, and allowed herself to hold Regina's hands in her own. She pressed herself flush against the brunette and she felt the woman go still.

"is unstoppable."

She rested her chin on Regina's shoulder and watched the diamond twist and turn in the air in front of them. It seemed calmer, like it was running out of steam. It was pulsing a pale purple and Emma wasn't sure if that was good or bad.

"Did we do it?"

Her words were spoken against Regina's wool-covered neck and shoulder and she felt Regina shiver against her. They were connected, not just physically, Emma could feel the primal and potent pull of magic. Last time it had only been a spark, this time it was like a river flowing between them. It was a sweet and heady sensation, being connected to Regina Mills.

"I don't kno-"

The diamond shuddered and sparks shot out of it. Its pulse of raw power knocked Regina back and Emma happily took the other woman's weight.

"I've got you."

Regina turned and tilted her head so they could look at each other, "We didn't stop it. We can't stop it now. It's gone too far."

A tear slipped out of Regina's eye and coursed down her cheek, "I'm sorry."

Emma could feel the diamond's energy building, the mine was almost unbearably hot now, and the air was thick and breathing was almost too much effort. They were going to lose this battle. She should have made Regina go. They should have at least tried to run. Now Henry really was going to be an orphan.

God damn it. This wasn't how it was all supposed to end.

All she wanted was a little more time. Time to be a good daughter and sheriff. Time to pull Regina closer and show her that she had someone on her side, someone who cared about her. Time to show her that there was more to life then scheming and tears.

"I just wanted another chance to show Henry that I loved him. That I could be a good mother."

The sob that wracked Regina's body made Emma's heart clench.

"He knows."

She looked into Regina's brown eyes. If this was their last moment on Earth, then there could be no more masks and no more lies. No reason to hide and no reason not to lay out all of their cards.

"And I know."

Chocolate brown eyes softened, "I should have never pushed you away. It only hurt Henry and-"

She closed her eyes, as if she were struggling with her words.

"me."

They were the two most obstinate, hard headed women in the world. It took imminent death to force out the feelings that they both had known about since the very first night they'd met.

"Regina."

The woman's eyes fluttered open again and Emma could see everything in them. Every emotion, every fear and every crushed hope.

The diamond shuddered violently and arcs of magic shot out of it in wicked lines and angles. The mine around them trembled and shook. This was the end.

If this was the end, Emma wasn't going to let her last chance go.

She tilted her head and she hoped Regina wouldn't use her last seconds alive slapping her.

She didn't. Regina met her lips with her own. Magic. Emma had played around with magic, but those times had been nothing compared to this. Every molecule in her body buzzed and her world narrowed down to the woman she was pressed against. If the world had to end, Emma figured that there was no where she'd rather be. The world was crashing down around them and she was kissing Regina Mills and in that moment she understood that this was supposed to be their Happy Ending.

The ground underneath their feet pitched and the air came to a standstill. She squeezed Regina's hands and felt the other woman's fingers curl around hers. Regina tugged her arms down and she found herself holding the woman she was kissing and everything was right.

Then the world exploded in a black burst of chaos and deafening silence.

"One time I was falling in love, now I'm falling apart."

Regina Mills rolled over and slapped the alarm clock. She hated Bonny Tyler. Her eyes widened and she jack-knifed up in bed. She was, Regina realized, in her own bed. She pushed the covers down and saw that she was in her favorite silk pajamas. She was alive. She reached up to find her temples were smooth and unmarred by the blisters that the electric shocks had left. She scrambled out of bed and stumbled to the window. She pushed the curtains aside and let out a sigh of relief when the familiar landscape of Storybrooke met her eyes. Everything was still there, as perfect and beautiful as it had been for the last twenty-eight years.

They had done it. She and Emma had saved Storybrooke.

Henry.

Where was thei-her son?

She ran, the one thing she had told Henry not to do over and over again, out of her bedroom and into the hall. Why was Henry's bedroom so far away? The logical answer, Regina knew, was that she had never wanted to wake him up with her screaming night terrors. Logic had very little to do with her thoughts at the moment. Henry's door, marked with a hand-written sign, was ajar and she pushed it open with a shaky hand.

A single bare foot poked out from under the quilt that she had pieced together when Henry had been a toddler. Henry's tousled brown hair peeked out from the top of the quilt and one arm, clad in Iron Man pajamas, was wrapped around his storybook.

Relief hit her like a tidal wave and her knees weakened to the point that she had to lean against the doorjamb to keep from falling to the floor.

Henry was safe. He was at home, snug in his bed. Her sweet little boy, her Henry. Tears welled up in her eyes. They had done it. They had-but where was Em-Miss Swan?

Terror clawed up her throat. There was no magic without a price. What had the price been? Had the Savior been the price? She went cold, frozen in place by her own horrifying thoughts. No. It couldn't be that. What kind of fickle fate would let the Evil Queen survive but sacrifice the Savior? She pulled herself up, and forced her knees to stiffen. She let Henry sleep undisturbed, and hoped he was having little boy dreams about puppies and superheroes and happiness. She walked back to her own room and dressed automatically. How many times had she gone through this routine on automatic? She could not focus on the designer clothes and shoes because all she could think of Emma.

Emma and the way the woman had held her, helped her, and kissed her. Regina pulled a silk dress over her head, or had she kissed Emma? Did it matter? They had kissed each other and in those last seconds before everything had exploded, she had pulled Emma's arms around her. She had been in her enemy's arms and had felt safe. She had felt safe and protected while the world literally crumbled around them. They had been standing in a hellishly hot mine staring down oblivion and all she had been able to think about was how she never wanted their kiss to end.

Her fingers went to her mouth, to the lips that had been pressed against Emma's and her heart gave a lurch. What did it mean?

She had her dress half-zipped when she heard the roar of an engine. She knew, down to her core, that it was the Sheriff's cruiser. She jerked the zipper into place and left her bedroom barefoot. Her thoughts were a swirling mess in her head as she descended the stairs. Her heart thudded in her chest and her hand shook as she reached for the door knob.

Sunlight flooded the foyer when she opened the door. She blinked against the glare and then saw a silhouette standing in the middle of the walkway. Golden hair that spilled down leather clad shoulders in a soft tangle of curls caught the sun. Emma Swan stood in her front yard with her thumbs hooked in the pockets of her tight blue jeans. A gold badge twinkled at her belt.

"Please tell me that you know who I am."

Regina blinked at her words and answered with the first thing that came to her mind, "You're Henry's birth mother."

Emma's mouth, her wonderful lips, twisted into a scowl.

"And the Savior."

Emma's face brightened, "We did it."

Regina didn't make the decision to do so, but found herself moving towards the other woman. She launched herself at Emma and wrapped her arms around the other woman's neck.

They had done it.

She felt Emma's arms curl around her and her heart warmed.

"Henry?"

The word was spoken softly, almost directly into her ear.

She tightened her grip around the Savior's neck. "I woke up and he was here, home, in his bed." She felt tears well in her eyes again, "Safe and sound."

She buried her head in Emma's shoulder and brushed her lips across her neck.

She felt more then heard Emma draw in a deep breath. Regina froze in place, panic replacing the feeling of safety she found in Emma's arms.

Then she felt lips on the crown of head, soft and warm.

She wasn't sure what had happened, what was happening or what would happen next, but she couldn't help but be awed by the fact that she, the Evil Queen, had found serenity with the Savior.

"Mom?"

Both of them jerked and turned to see Henry, still clad in his pajamas, standing in the doorway. His book of "fairytales" was tucked under his arm.

"Why are you hugging Sheriff Swan?"

She looked at her son, and then at his other mother. Emma's face was just as blank as her own. Neither of them knew what to say.

They had saved Storybrooke, but there had been a definite price.