I don't own Once Upon A Time and never will. No copyright infringement intended.
Twenty-five years. That's how long August and Emma had been together and she couldn't believe it. It was a big milestone, one they had decided to celebrate without their family. Neither wanted a big party, which they knew would happen, so they had decided to go away for the weekend.
They had been through a lot over the years – Magical crises, unplanned pregnancies, car accidents, and much more. They were grateful they had managed to even make it this long, especially with their issues. But they were happy, and nothing was going to tear them apart now. They had also make it through twenty-five years of people asking when they were going to get married, which was never going to happen. They were committed to each other, and marrying wasn't going to prove anything they didn't already know.
"Now, are you sure you have everything you need and haven't forgotten to pack something?" Snow started expectantly at her daughter and waited for Emma's answer.
Emma rolled her eyes. "Yes, we have everything, Mom. You know you worry too much."
"Sorry, that's my job. And I worry because I know you – One of you will forget something and call us in a panic once you do finally remember." Snow grinned at her.
"Well, it's not going to happen this time. We made Henry and Andrea double and triple check us to make sure that it didn't." Emma was still a little mad that Andrea had discovered two items they had forgotten and had been sure they included. She still hadn't ruled out that her two oldest had done it on purpose.
Snow laughed. "Well, that was definitely a good idea. And hey, at least you're not going to be panicking about kids this time. They're all grown up."
Emma conceded her point. "That is true. No worries about what they're going to get into, especially since Julie's gone now too." Her and August's youngest child had just started college, which she found surreal. They were grandparents now, so they definitely knew how her parents felt.
"Well, have fun you two and don't do anything your father and I wouldn't do." She couldn't resist.
Emma wrinkled her nose up in disgust. "Please just tell me you didn't go there. It was traumatizing enough walking in you." Those images were still engrained in her mind, no matter how much she wanted to get rid of the memories.
"Sorry." Snow hugged her daughter, and within ten minutes, Emma and August were on their way out of Storybrooke. Emma clutched at his hand and squeezed it.
August radiated happiness from every pore. "Twenty-five relatively happy years with the woman I love. I'm glad we get to do this."
"So am I." They may be older now and dealing with some health issues – some still left over from the car accident they had been in years earlier – but that didn't matter to either of them as long as they were together.
Emma shifted as her hip started to ache a little. It was going to rain soon, but she wasn't sure when. She hated that her hip still caused some problems, but she was just happy she had survived and that she had a warning as to what was going to happen with the weather sometimes. "Fuck," she complained.
"You doing okay?" August didn't like that she was in pain and he really didn't want it to ruin their weekend either. They had been planning this for months now.
She nodded. "Yeah, I'll be fine soon. I'll just pop a pain pill when we get up there." Emma wasn't about to let their plans get screwed up because she was looking forward to this. The weather – and her hip – wasn't going to ruin anything. She wouldn't let it.
Emma and August arrived at their destination about four hours later and after checking in, made their way towards their room. Emma downed a pain pill, one that wouldn't make her drowsy, and sat down on the bed. He joined her a few minutes later.
"At least now we won't be bothered with Storybrooke's latest calamity."
Emma snorted with laughter. "Did you just say calamity?"
August flushed. "Shut up, you know what I mean."
She nodded and leaned against him. "Yes, I know what you meant."
He stroked her hair and yawned. They had left pretty early so they take advantage of the full weekend, but the early wakeup call was starting to get to him. "Can you believe I'm tired? I want to have sex with the love of my life right now, but I'm exhausted. Damn getting old."
She would have laughed, but she felt the same way. "Yup. The pain pill hasn't kicked in yet and my hip's gotten worse since we left. What a pair we are." Emma couldn't believe it. She didn't want to sleep – She wanted to make love to him. Fuck everything.
August laughed. "You know it. But hey, we've made it this far, we can make it through not having the energy to have sex because we're so old."
She playfully slapped his chest. "Stop it, August."
"Make me."
"Oh, you want to play that game, huh? Well I can play it." She shifted around and wanted to see him in a better position, but gave up after a few minutes.
"I guess you can't." He stroked her back to try and calm her down, and they both ended up falling asleep that way.
When they woke up, it was time for dinner. Emma and August made their way downstairs to eat what turned out to be an amazing dinner. Afterwards, they returned to their room and turned on the TV to see if there was anything on.
Emma rolled over and faced her partner. "My hip isn't hurting now. I love you, August. Let's celebrate our anniversary."
He eyed her appreciatively, but apprehensively at the same time. "Are you sure? I don't want to hurt you anymore, Baby."
She glared at him. "I'm sure. Now you want to do this or not?"
He snickered. "So romantic. I love you, too. Always will. You know I can't imagine my life without you. We have some amazing kids and some adorable grandkids, and I'm excited for the next step in our lives. It's going to be amazing. Tiring, but amazing." He leaned up and kissed Emma.
August and Emma celebrated their anniversary multiple times over the next two days before returning home (and making love some more). They looked forward to what the next twenty-five years – and hopefully more after that – would bring to them. Life had been stressful and full of pain, but all these happily unmarried years together had been good to Emma and August.