This is a little stream of consciousness that came to my head after watching the promo for "Manhattan," about the beautiful complexities of possibilities for a diverse range of family and parental structures, the nuances of love, some explanatory thoughts for Emma and Regina's seemingly rocky road lately. Swan Queen forever!

Set soon after Neal/Bae and Emma reunite.

He'd explained everything. August; the box with Rumpel-style magic; how he hadn't known she was the Savior when they'd met, but once he knew, he simply had to do what he did.

To give her her best chance.

Pfft. Heard that before.

But she believed him, because she'd learned to do that sort of thing after Henry bit into that damned turnover, and because maybe, just maybe, she'd always wanted the sperm contributor of such a great kid to be kind of great himself.

Not trusting her with control over her own life - abandoning her instead of trusting her with all the pertinent information - didn't quite square up with her idea of great. But despite herself, she understood why she did it.

He'd tried to convince her to let him into Henry's life.

"Ems, a year ago you were just the girl that gave birth to him. Now look at you, you'd do anything for him. Why won't you give me a chance?"

It didn't help that she couldn't stop remembering both of them popping out of the backseat of the car, scaring the shit out of her while she drove.

But that wasn't what was most prominent in her mind as she scoffed at how he called her a "girl" instead of a "woman."

You're Henry's birth mother?

Hi.

Regina.

Neal coming into Henry's life Emma could... maybe get used to. Maybe. The kid's philosophy seemed to be, "the more parents, the merrier." Emma could live with that, no matter how much looking into Neal's face pained her and awoke a deep compulsion to hit something, namely said face.

Nothing wrong with an alternative family structure. Hell, with Red having eaten her boyfriend, Snow calling her husband by the name of his murdered twin brother, her parents being her own age, and, oh yeah, being in love with a woman who had lived three decades more than her body suggested - whoa, wait, did she just - in love with - no, no, no.

Yes.

She forced her mind back to the present and informed Neal that since he was obviously accompanying them back to Storybrooke anyway - the whole Gold's son thing, which was also super weird (Henry was certainly getting a shitton of new grandparents lately, but seemed to be taking the whole thing in stride, which was more than she could say for herself) - they could figure things out as they went.

Which was really, of course, an excuse for her to shut him up so she could think.

Regina, Regina. If Neal expected to waltz into their lives and take Henry from Regina - the way, Emma realized with an unpleasant lurch in her stomach, she herself had threatened to do - well, then, he had quite another thing coming.

Which felt weird - the whole defending Regina's right to parent Henry thing - because hadn't Emma shouted in Regina's face merely days ago that Henry was her son and Regina would never be with him again? Something she still was desperate to apologize for.

To apologize, to get down on her knees and worship the woman she'd hurt, out of heartbreak, out of fear, whom she had run away from - out of town with Gold - out of shame, out of desperate terror that she wouldn't be forgiven. To explain that she only took Henry with her because she knew Cora was back in town, so out of town was the safest place for him, and anyway, she wanted Regina to worry about protecting herself, not having to worry about keeping their son safe, too.

To explain that even if Henry wanted Neal as part of his life - Emma had to concede it was only fair to allow him this, especially as she had been granted the opportunity to come to be her son's parent after ten years of absence - it would only be over her dead body that he did so at the expense of Regina's relationship with Henry.

'Over your dead body,' hm? Fighting words. And what makes you suddenly so strident about my right to parent Henry, Ms. Swan?

Because I'm in love with you, Regina, and you raised our son alone, and I'll be damned if anyone ever takes him away from you again.

Silence.

Would you care to repeat that first part, Ms. - Emma?

Oh, so she'd said it out loud. Henry would be proud. Neal would be terrified.

Good.

I'm in love with you, Regina Mills. Let's raise our kid together. If you'll forgive me. If you want me. Neal can work his way into it if Henry wants him to, but you and I - I - I'm not good at this, I just - I love y -

A kiss. Passionate; deep; slow; salacious; loving; adoring; fulfilling. Forgiving.

I love you, too, Emma Swan.

And that's how it would go. Or something like that.

"Come on, kid. We've gotta go home. I have a lot of things I need to tell your mom."