The mayor struggled to keep her eyes open. She was too tired to decipher the ancient elvish language used in most of the magic books she had. Her eyes were getting blurry. She rubbed them, forcing herself to stay awake.

Figuring that she was going to relive the same day over and over, there wasn’t much of a rush to end the curse. Leaving the books scattered all over the dark vault, Regina puts on her coat and headed home.

Just as she was about to climb the steps to exit the mausoleum, the sorceress stopped herself. She closed her eyes and willed magic to come out as she waved her hands over her body, thinking about her bedroom at home.

Feeling that nothing happened, she opened her eyes to check. She grumbled when she found herself exactly where she was a second ago. She stomped up the stairs and pushed her father’s coffin back in its place before exiting the mausoleum.

This would be a lot easier once she was able to practice magic again but until then, she had to move around town the ordinary way; driving a car.

It would only be a mere hour or two before Henry’s death. All Regina could think of doing was to catch up on sleep. She got into her 1986 Mercedes-Benz 560 SL, half considering just crashing in the backseat. She shook away the thought and started the engine before driving off. She will tackle the books again once she had a good rest.

                                                                *****

Regina awoke to the sound of banging on her front door. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and glanced at the alarm clock. 9:48 a.m.. She had slept in, catching up on much needed rest. The pounding on the door was starting to get on her nerves.

At the umpteenth bang, she finally got out of her bed and put on a robe. When she got home earlier, she managed a quick shower before putting on her silk pajamas. She took her time going down the spiral staircase of her large mansion, her body stiff from bending over books for long periods of time.

The rhythmic banging sounded persistent, not so much desperation but more of anger.

The mayor had finally reached the door that was threatening to break at its hinges. She ran her fingers through her shoulder length hair to smooth it out. Looking presentable was important to maintain her image as mayor of Storybrooke. She turned the knob and opened the door.

“Don’t you ever answer your phone?!” Emma Swan said as she entered the house uninvited, pushing past the shocked brunette.

The blonde looked a mess. Her hair was disheveled, her mascara smudged, she looked like she had been crying for hours. She probably had since Henry would have passed on not too long ago.

Regina had almost forgotten about the curse. She had turned off her cell phone last night and was focused on finding a way out of her predicament. She could see that the sheriff was visibly upset and would no doubt take the anger out on the brunette. She would have none of that in her expensive home.

“Emma, I know what this is about. We need to talk.” The older woman gestured for the blonde to enter the sitting room. Regina closed the door before trailing the sheriff.

                                                            *****

“So let me get this straight, you are the Evil Queen, you poisoned our son with a sleeping curse, which killed him, but I actually managed to wake him up before with a kiss, but Mr. Gold who is actually Rumplestiltskin, who is an evil sorcerer known as the Dark One, had put a “Groundhog Day” type curse on the whole town because you kidnapped his girlfriend who is Belle?”

“Yes!” Regina was relived the blonde had finally got it.

The sheriff got off her chair and started heading out the door. The brunette frowned and followed her.

“Where are you going?” the mayor inquired.

“I’m leaving. You are not making any sense.”

“Miss Swan, I assure you that everything I said was the truth.”

Emma turned to look at Regina’s face. She could always tell when the mayor was lying but it was clear that she wasn’t.

The blonde was having a hard time wrapping her head around this whole information. The brunette who was now standing in front of the sheriff moved closer to Emma and took the younger woman’s hand in hers.

“I promise you that this is the truth. Our son will keep dying over and over again until I find a way to break the curse.”

The sincerity in Regina Mills’ voice was new to Emma. There was a level of vulnerability she had never witnessed from the brunette before.

“Have you gotten far?” Emma inquired. Finally taking the mayor’s words seriously.

“Not really. All the books said that there was no way to break the curse.”

Saying those words out loud made her eyes well up with tears. She still looked tired despite getting some rest.

Emma was unsure of how to react. On one hand it was all Regina’s fault. On the other, the woman before her was the mother of her son. She helped raise Henry and clearly loved him. She needed time to process the whole bizarre situation.

“Have you tried magic?” the blonde suggested.

“I’ve been trying to get my magic to work but it does not seem to.” The mayor looked defeated which was a new look for the sheriff to see.

“How did you do magic the first time?”

“I had my mother’s book…” At that, the mayor started walking to her study.

Emma was caught off guard as she was about to lean back into the doorway. She bounced her back against the wall and pushed herself forward before tailing Regina.

This had only been the second time Emma Swan had set foot in Regina Mills’ study. The first time was when they first met.

The mayor frantically looked through her collection of books, pulling them out of the shelves.

“What does it look like?” The blonde asked as she approached a different bookshelf.

“What?” Regina broke away from her concentration and turned to the blonde. Almost forgetting she was not alone in the room.

“Your mother’s book. What does it look like?”

Regina was not used to anybody helping her. She had always had to do things herself or commanded her henchmen or manipulate someone into helping her. Having somebody offering assistance voluntarily seems a lot less of a hassle.

“It is small with gold corners and clasps, a ruby heart stone on the front cover.”

Seem unique enough. Emma nodded her head in comprehension and proceeded her search on her side of the room.

The blonde glanced at the titles, ‘Lady Chatterly’s Lover’, ‘Green Hat’, ‘Women in Love’… ‘The Great Gatsby’!

She flipped open the last one. The books had dog ear marks. Regina had a huge collection of old romance novels and had been reading them! Emma thought that rich people always had rows of fake books as decorations or that the books were real but they did not really read those books. Regina on the other hand had read her vintage leather bound romance novels.

The blonde pictured nights where the mayor would sip a glass of apple cider and read the pages of these books in bed.

Emma glanced at the brunette across the room and smiled to herself before carrying on with her search.