"I'm so happy that this nightmare is all over, Papa," Alice looked up with wide eyes at the fireworks going off over the castle.
"That it is Starfish. If you had told me a few decades ago that I would be carrying the Dark One's heart in my chest because he saved my life and that of my family's, I'd of called you a liar," Hook chuckled, squeezing his daughter tighter. "But here we are."
"He ended up being a good man, eh?" Alice hugged her father's side with both arms.
"That he did. I truly hoped that he redeemed himself to the powers that be, but it's in their hands." Hook looked behind them, catching sight of the small group from Hyperion Heights gathering quietly with Robin ahead of them. He grinned with a nod, and turned back to his daughter. "So what now, love? We've conquered the big bad. The Kingdoms are united. What adventure shall we go on next?"
Alice pulled back, biting her lip nervously, "I don't know Papa. I think a part of me wants to sit still now. I have you and I have Robin. I don't really want to go anywhere."
"Are you happy then, Starfish? With Robin that is?"
Alice's Cheshire smile widened, "I am. You know she didn't care where I wanted to go next either. She told me where I go, she goes. I'm happy you and her are here with me. That's all that matters."
"Good. Then that should make this easy," Hook took his daughter by her shoulders and turned her around.
"Papa I wanted to watch the fireworks."
Her protests were cut off when she saw Robin, and their friends gathered behind her looking on. Hook left her side to walk over and stand with Zelena and Regina.
"Robin?" She smiled questioningly at her girlfriend.
"Hi baby," Robin looked extremely nervous, but it did not fade her loving smile.
Alice looked around, "What's going on? What's all this?"
"There's something I wanted to tell you. Well ask you." Robin shared a nervous smile with Hook, to which he nodded encouragingly. She took a deep breath and turned back to her girl, "Alice. Remember how you told me that we write our own stories. The choices we make, and the paths we take are our choosing no matter what gets thrown in our path. It's something that I've always carried with me over our years together. It's also one of the many reasons why I love you."
Alice's grin lifted to one side, "I love you too, Robin."
Robin released a nervous laugh, "We've had adventures, suspense-."
"Thrills and Chills," Alice added gleefully.
"That's right. Thrills and chills. The world tried to separate us, but you knew they never could. Not forever. It was like you said, even when we didn't know each other, we did. I knew the moment I saved you from getting hit by that truck-."
"What?!" Zelena and Hook snapped, instantly shushed by the others.
Robin continued, "I knew that you were going to be important to me. I wanted to know the soul behind those beautiful eyes. And when we first met in the forest, and I had an arrow pointed at your head, you showed absolutely no fear. I've never met anyone like you."
"Did you know about that?" Hook whispered loudly to Zelena.
"Don't look at me. My daughter has a nasty habit of pointing arrows at family," Zelena shared a laugh with Regina.
"Mom. Aunt Regina." Robin snapped at them, and they bit their lips with apologetic eyes. "Anyway, now that you defeated Gothel like the badass that you are, and our families have been reunited, I was wondering if you'd join me on another adventure."
Alice's hesitant eyes went to her father then back to Robin, "I was actually thinking we'd be done with adventures for a while. I was hoping we'd stay here."
Robin grinned, "Well, luckily, I don't think we'd have to go far for this one."
Alice's hand shot up to her mouth to cover a gasp as Robin dropped to one knee. Other than their parents and Regina, the others that had gathered had not known this was going to happen and tried to hold their excitement.
"Alice, I love you more than I could ever say. I've loved you since the days I would come to deliver your father's letters. I know that I want to spend the rest of my life with you, because nothing could possibly be an adventure without you." Robin quoted Alice's favorite saying before pulling out a ring from her jacket pocket and holding it up to her, "Alice, will you marry me?"
"YES!" Alice screamed out, tackling Robin to the ground with a fierce hug.
The crowd gathered cheered loudly. Zelena and Regina exchanged nods and with their magic made more fireworks erupt. The girls stood, still hanging onto each other. When they were on their feet, Robin placed the ring on her finger, and then cupped Alice's face, pulling her in for a hard kiss. A spark of rainbow light shot from their bodies and through the crowd.
Alice pulled back with a gasp, "What was that?"
"That my dear daughter was true love's kiss," Hook approached hugging them together. "And who better for you to share it with than my soon to be daughter-in-law. Congratulations you two."
Robin squeezed his shoulder after he released them, "Thank you."
He beamed at them, "Nothing to it, love. I couldn't have hand-picked a better mate for my Alice. And I know you'll take care of her."
"You know I will." Robin nodded in vow.
"I can say the same," Zelena stepped forward to hug Alice. Releasing her but keeping an arm around her shoulders to face her daughter, "Although you must know, Alice. Robin can't cook, she's a messy flat mate, she snores louder than a grizzly, and she sass's you as often as she can. Are you sure you want to marry that?"
Robin rolled her eyes, "Seriously, Mom?"
Alice giggled, moving to kiss Robin's pout away, "I'm positive."
Turning to her aunt, Robin asked, "Aunt Regina, will you do the honors of officiating?"
Regina beamed at her niece and her true love, "I would be honored to marry any true love couple in my kingdom. You two will bring great luck being the first. Welcome to the family, Alice."
Alice's smile was reflected on them all as she and Robin shared another kiss to everyone's applause. A commotion from the doors to the castle stole their attention as Emma came charging after Hook out onto the balcony a few yards away from them.
"Are you seriously already drunk?"
"It's a celebration, isn't it? The baby's with Granny, so what's the problem?" Hook slurred his words at Emma, "Lighten up, love."
"You have got to be kidding me," Emma had her hand squeezing the bridge of her nose. "I can't believe you're drunk at Regina's coronation."
"Why? Afraid I'm going to embarrass you in front of your girlfriend?" Drunken Hook sneered.
New Hook sighed, "Looks like my doppelganger has been hitting the bottle a bit too much."
Young Sheriff Henry asked, "Should I intervene?"
Older Henry waved him off, "Nah, Ma can handle him."
As soon as the words had came out of his mouth, they watched in horror as Emma tried to take Hook's arm only to have him push her forcefully away. Both Henry's stepped forward but froze as old Hook was suddenly suspended a few feet in the air, seemingly hanging from an invincible force around his throat.
"I got this, boys." Regina lifted the hem of her dress and stepped forward, her hand held high as she held Hook in the air, "Old habits don't die do they, pirate? Too bad your good sense is a horrible as your wardrobe. How dare you attack her."
"We were doing just fine without you, Highness." Old Hook was turning red from anger and lack of oxygen.
"You seemed happy not two hours ago when this crown was placed on my head," Regina felt a gentle hand touch her arm and turned to see Emma looking at her with pleading eyes. She immediately released her hold on the man and let him drop to the floor with a heavy thud.
Holding his throat and gasping for air, her deride, "That was to save face. The kingdom was just fine without the Evil Queen, now they've all gone mad and put you in charge."
"Killian," Emma tried to help him, but he pushed away her hand again, staggering to his feet.
"Storybrooke, this realm, Emma and I, we were all doing just fine without you," He coughed.
"We weren't-." Emma tried but he didn't let her speak.
"Now you're back with new recruits and even a new replacement for me. Although, this model seems a little lighter in the breeches if you ask me."
"Hey now," New Hook objected.
"And you even added another Henry that also hates me," He pointed to the two Henry's. "What exactly are you playing at, Regina? Are you trying to push me out, because it won't work."
Regina shot Emma sympathetic eyes before steeling them toward Hook's. "You should know by now that I don't play games, Pirate. What I do is protect the people that I love against those that don't deserve them."
"Aye, and I suppose I top that list don't I? But I won Emma fair and square, highness. She chose me, not you." Hook straightened himself.
Regina lowered her voice calmly, "You listen to me, you smug bastard. Emma has never been and never will be anyone's prize to win. She may have chosen you, but she has her own mind. And as much as I might have disagreed with her choice, especially at this very moment, I respected it. I didn't stand in the way."
"But you were in the way! You always were!" Drunk Hook spat.
"What are you guys talking about?" Emma's confusion was apparent as she looked between the Queen and Killian. "Regina?"
Old Hook stumbled laughing, "Oh, that's rich. You didn't even have the stones to tell her did you?"
"Regina, what is he talking about?" Emma asked her again, looking at her with the puppy eyes Regina could never resist.
"Mom?" Older Henry stepped forward, "Just tell her. It's okay now."
Regina lifted teary eyes to him, shaking her head, "No."
"Tell me what?" Emma half demanded.
"She's in love with you! For goodness sake, Swan, are you that daft?" Drunken Hook yelled. "She always has been. That's the kind of woman this bloody kingdom's chosen to rule. A bloody Sapphic bitch!"
His words were met by fists hitting him square in the face from the two Henry's. He stood still for half a second before collapsing to the ground.
Older Henry turned to Emma, "Sorry Ma, but I've always wanted to do that."
Emma squeezed his arm in silent thanks. Regina had turned her back toward them and was facing out over the balcony, so Emma motioned for both Henry's to clear everyone out and give them some privacy. They ushered everyone inside, and then turned to drag the unconscious pirate away to the drunk tank.
Once they were alone, Emma approached the stoic woman again. "Regina?"
"Emma I can't-." She started, still not turning around. "Please, just go with them. Forget what he said and just go with your husband. He's just drunk, he doesn't know what he was saying."
Emma was going to turn around, but she heard a soft sob and went back to Regina's side.
"Please look at me."
Emma watched her take a deep breath before turning around. There were tears in her eyes that she failed to wipe away. With a flick of her wrist, Emma procured a handkerchief and handed to her.
Chuckling at Regina's surprise, she shrugged, "I've been practicing while you've been away."
Regina dabbed her eyes with the offered kerchief, trying to calm herself. "I expected more than parlor tricks from you by now, but I'm glad to hear you haven't been slacking off with your magic."
Emma grinned, pointing to her head, "Not with your voice in here telling me I'm a waist of talent, when I don't."
That made Regina laugh, "It's good to know I was able to give you a hard time even while I was away."
Emma guffawed, "Like that could ever stop you. You've always been my own personal, albeit sarcastic, Yoda. Always showing up in person or in my head to tell me I'm being an idiot."
Regina laughed again, "Careful, Miss Swan. People might think I actually care for you."
Emma paused, swallowing the lump in her throat, "But you do, Regina. You do care for me."
"Of course I do, Emma. You're the closest thing to a friend I've ever had," Regina finally met her eyes with sincerity.
"Best friends," Emma corrected, to which Regina nodded in agreement. "Then please tell me what's going on. You know I can tell you're lying to me. What did Killian mean?"
Regina turned toward the balcony railing again, trying desperately to hide her nerves, "Hook has always been jealous of our friendship, Emma. He was just making it into something it's not."
"And Henry?" Emma tried, clearly not buying the excuse.
"Emma, just… please drop it. It's not worth digging up the past, and a lot has happened. It may have been about a year for you guys, but it's been a few for me. Things have changed. I have changed." Regina tried to deflect.
"I get that. I can tell you've changed." Emma chortled, "I could tell from the moment you guys came back and I saw you wearing jeans!"
Regina laughed heartedly at that. She remembered getting more than a few confused looks at her attire when they had exited the portal back in Storybrooke.
"And was that a Def Leopard shirt I saw you in the other day that I came to pick up Lucy?" Emma was happy to see Regina laugh again. "Your sister mentioned there may have even been a tattoo?"
"Damn it, Zelena." Regina covered her face with her hand, "A story for another day, Miss Swan."
"And we're back to Miss Swan," Emma signed but kept her soft smile now that Regina was looking at her. "You know when you decided to stay in the Enchanted Forest with the kid, I knew there was no way could have stopped you. Truth is I was relieved that one of us would be able to look after him after years of not hearing from the little shit."
Regina was going to reprimand Emma, but ended up laughing with her.
Emma was happy to see Regina's mood lighten. "But a bigger part of me wanted to scream for you to stay."
"You never said," Regina's brows creased.
"How could I?" Emma shrugged. "I could tell things here were getting, well frankly, boring for you."
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know. It just felt like you had lost that spark. It was like you were just going through the motions of being Mayor and raising Henry." Emma leaned her back against the railing so she could look at Regina.
"You're right, I was bored," Regina admitted.
"Why? Because we stopped getting attacked?" Emma chuckled, making Regina relax further. She shook her head, "There was something else, though, wasn't there? Another reason you left."
Regina's smile faded, and she once again avoided Emma's eyes. She motioned toward the doors, "Let's go back inside, the party's just beginning and the Queen should be mingling with her guests after all."
Emma took her hand to stop her, both of them jumping back from the bolt of electric shock when their hands touched.
"Please don't go, Regina. Don't push me away again, I think I've had my fill of that tonight." Emma looked at her with pleading eyes, "Please just tell me the truth. I promise you, it won't be that bad."
Regina tried to laugh, but it came out almost like a cry. The guilt was evident in the tears in her eyes that had reappeared.
"Not that bad?" Regina shook her head, taking a moment to breathe through her hesitance. She finally looked up, "I've been in love with my best friend for years, and I let her marry someone else without telling her, then I ran away as far as I could when I couldn't bear to see them together anymore. How could that possibly be bad?"
"You…" Emma's jaw dropped and her brows lifted. "You're in love with-."
"Don't Emma." Regina looked anywhere but at her, "Please don't look at me like that. I know it's stupid. I know you're married and now you have baby Hope. That's why I didn't want to say anything. That's why they should have all just minded their own damn business."
Moments passed and neither spoke. Regina wanted to run like a scared rabbit. She wanted to disappear back into the celebration and pretend that none of this had happened.
"And you say I'm the idiot."
Regina heard the words from Emma's mouth, but was severely confused. "What?"
"Hook and I aren't… well, we're actually not together anymore." Emma confessed. "We haven't been since just before Hope was born."
"What?"
"I was going to tell you, but I was waiting for things to die down a little after the joining of the realms, and you getting crowned and all that." Emma smirked at her, taking a step closer and taking Regina's hand.
"But you called him Henry's stepfather?"
Emma bit her lip shyly, "I haven't exactly told the kid yet, either."
"Emma!" Regina guffawed.
"What? Again, there's a lot going on. I was going to tell you guys," Emma chuckled. "You were right about Hook, alright. His drinking had become bad, and it's only gotten worse since I kicked him out. I got tired of making excuses for him when I wasn't trying to hide the fact that I had to keep arresting my own husband for being drunk in public."
"Moron," Regina snickered.
"Yeah well. After I kicked him out of the house and went to file for divorce, I found out I didn't need to after all," Emma shook her head at Regina's blush with a knowing smile. "You know my Mom took your post as Mayor when you left. Imagine our surprise to find that my marriage license was never properly filed by the previous Mayor's office."
Regina's face pinked guiltily, "Oops?"
"Uh-hu," Emma chuckled, taking Regina's other hand and holding them both like she knew the woman was a flight risk. "So you see Queen Regina." Emma paused like she had a bad taste in her mouth, "Yeah that's going to take some getting used to."
"Regina works just fine, Emma." Regina sighed nervously.
Emma cupped her cheek, "But you are so much more than that."
Regina's face clearly showed the array of emotions going through her mind. Hope, fear, love, longing…
"You said it yourself, Regina. This isn't a happy ending or beginning. This is a second chance." Emma took another step closer to her. "And for the record, I've been so in love with you Regina Mills. Ever since the moment I met you."
"You -?"
Whatever smart words Regina was going to say were cut off by insistent lips on hers. For the second time that night, a blast of magic and color shot through the night air. This one rattled the windows of the castle and halted the music playing inside. People from the party came running out onto the balcony, freezing at the sight of their newly crowned Queen engaged in a deep kiss with the Sheriff.
"You owe me fifty dollars," Zelena smacked her daughter on the shoulder. "I told you they were mad for each other."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Robin rolled her eyes at her mother.
Emma and Regina pulled away from each other with a laugh, turning to see their family gather round. Snow and David stepped forward; glares stuck on their faces that made Regina tighten with nerves.
"Regina? Emma? What's the meaning of all this?" David asked curtly.
"Mom. Dad. Everyone. I'm proud to finally say," Emma looked around, before shouting loudly, "I'm in love with the Queen!"
The crowd cheered, and Snow and David instantly dropped their façade, moving to hug the two women between them.
"I'm so happy you two finally pulled your heads out of your rears," David squeezed his daughter's shoulders.
"Seriously," Snow turned to Regina with a sincere smile, squeezing her hands. "It's about time."
"Thank you, Snow." Regina pulled her into a hug, not catching David handing something to Emma.
"Well since we're all dressed up and everyone's here. There's something I wanted to ask you, Regina. And it's something I should have done a long time ago." Emma took her hand and dropped onto one knee, "Regina, Royal pain in my ass."
"So help me if this is your propos-."
"Shh." Emma stopped her with a smile. "Regina Mills, the Good Queen of the United Realms. Help us erase our time apart, and our stupid hesitance to be together, by doing me the honor of marrying me."
"NO!"
A scream came from the doors to the ball room and Old Hook came running out at them. When he reached the couple, they simply stepped aside and watched him flip over the railing of the balcony and fall to the cliffs below.
"Holy crap!" Both Henry's exclaimed, receiving glares from their mothers. "Sorry."
"The pirate's mermaid meat now," Zelena said looking over the edge.
New Hook stepped forward, "Hello Ladies and Gentlemen. The role of Hook will now be played by the newer, better smelling, sober version; me."
"Yeay, Nook!" Older Henry cheered, receiving a head-lock from Hook. Pushing him away, he motioned back to his mothers, "Ma, please continue."
His mothers shook their heads with amusement.
Emma dropped back onto her knee, "Regina, will you marry me, and become Mrs. Swan?"
"Yes!" Regina's smile widened as Emma put the ring on her finger and stood to kiss her again. "We're taking my name, though."
"We'll talk about it later," Emma shook her head.
"Congratulations Aunt Regina," Robin grinned at them. Squeezing Alice to her, she added, "It looks like we're not the only ones getting married now."
"The more the merrier," Alice kissed her lovers cheek. "I think we may be the first kingdom in all the realms with two Queens."
"Speak for yourselves." King Phillip and King Eric said from off to the side, making everyone laugh.
"Alright, everyone!" David called out, "The night is young and the band is just warming up, and we have more to celebrate. Let's get back inside and dance!"