Emma waited for Regina to return her gun. When it was back in her hands she looked down at it.

"Thinking about shooting me with it?" Regina asked.

"No." Emma quickly put it away.

"Are you sure?" Regina raised her hands and trapped Emma in a cocoon of magic.

Keeping tight control on her powers she made Emma take the gun back out of her pocket.

"Stop it Regina. I don't want to shoot you."

"Then why is the gun in your hands pointing at me?"

"Archie!"

"He can't hear you."

"You don't have to die to be happy."

"Living hasn't made me happy."

"All that fairytale drama, it's not part of the real world."

"Your real world, as you call it, was the perfect setting to curse anyone who was ever happy."

Emma closed her eyes. There had to be someway to stop Regina.

"Don't worry, Henry won't blame you. He'll think you killed the evil Queen as part of your destiny."

"I don't want you dead Regina."

"That's what your mother said, but she was happy destroying my life."

"I can prove it."

"How?"

"I can break your spell."

"You can't control your magic."

"I'm a child of True Love. Love breaks any spell."

"Henry isn't here to save you."

"Not Henry, Regina. You."

"What?"

Emma lowered the gun as she broke the spell. "I can't kill you because I'm in love with you. That's why I broke into your house. Twice. Why I was so desperate to help you that I went to Mr Gold and Archie. It's why I'm here now and it's why I stayed in Storybrooke. I've been waiting for you to realise it and tell me if you felt the same way. My plans got a little sidetracked when the curse broke."

"Nice try, but I'm not falling for that."

Emma walked over to the bed and Regina shrank away from her.

"It's okay. I just want to prove it to you." Emma explained, leaning in to kiss her.

Regina allowed their lips to touch. As they did she felt a kind of magic fill her from the inside. It warmed her and chased back the dark shadows from her heart. Thoughts of death fled from the kiss and she closed her eyes, reaching out to draw Emma closer. Her mind filled with reasons to keep living.

When the kiss was complete, Emma found herself kneeling on the bed in front of Regina.

"Now do you believe me?" She asked.

Regina nodded. "I feel… different."

"Good or bad different?"

"Like I can't imagine why I would have wanted to die."

"Is that all?" Emma bit her bottom lip and smiled hopefully at her.

"No." Regina reached out to hold her hand. "But I want to make sure Archie really left before I continue."

"You could always use your magic to check." Emma reminded her.

Regina quickly sent out a light magical probe to scan the house. "He's gone."

"Good. Now what did you want to say?"

"It wasn't what I wanted to say. It was more what I wanted to do…" Regina trailed off, raising Emma's hand to her lips. "Did you have any plans for this afternoon?"

Emma shook her head, not trusting her voice.

"Then would you mind staying here with me. To make sure I have made a full recovery? Suddenly I want to engage in some living."

And perhaps, if it didn't work out with Emma, if Snow White tried to interfere again, she now had a way to cause Snow White just as much pain as she had suffered. Death would have to wait to claim her. She had just remembered who she really was.

Emma brushed her lips against Regina's ear to whisper to her. "I'd be happy to help."

Regina had finally found her reason to live.

~Fin~