August 11, 2020
It was hard saying goodbye to Henry and watching him ride off into a portal to a different world. He was 18, though, turning 19 on the 15th, a proper man by this world's legal definition, and it was time to let go a little and trust he could take care of himself.
An impossible feat, had he left her alone. But he hadn't.
Henry had been 14 years old at Emma's wedding on May 7, 2016, and during the time of the Final Battle.
Henry had been 15 when his sister, Irena May, was born on February 3, 2017, after Emma's divorce, which had been, surprisingly, October 22, 2016, and when Regina legally adopted her.
Henry was 16 when his mothers got married on September 4, 2017, the best man. When his sister turned 1, he was there to make Emma feel less guilty about missing his own first birthday, hugging her until Regina decided to take over.
When Henry was 17, his mothers had managed to make a baby that was biologically both of theirs, probably with the help of magic. Regina was the carrier.
His baby brother was born after he turned 18 on August 15, 2019, and after his sister had turned 3 on February 3, 2020. He could still feel his hand being crushed at the birth, which was on February 11, 2020.
That was 6 months ago to the date. Henry's 19th birthday was just days away, and he decided it was time to be out of his mothers' hair, give the spotlight over to his siblings, instead.
Regina closed the door as she came back into the house.
"Mama! I drew a cat!"
Regina knelt down so she was level with the girl that had raven curls, holding up a piece of paper that she claimed had a drawing of a cat. If you used your imagination, it did. She smiled. "Very good, Irena!" She felt pride in the fact the 'cat' was black. "I think this needs to go on our fridge."
Irena hugged her happily, then dashed off into the kitchen.
Regina followed, shaking her head. Ah, kids. She pinned the drawing to the fridge with magnets, then watched as Irena played with the letter magnets, rearranging them into adorably misspelled words.
"Where is Mommy, Irena?" Regina asked.
The squawk from the baby monitor answered her question, as she heard soft singing.
Regina lightly ruffled Irena's hair affectionately. "Stay here, sweetie. Mama will be back." She left the kitchen then, and went up the stairs, ultimately finding Emma and their son in the rocker of the nursery.
"He just fell asleep," Emma murmured quietly.
Regina nodded. "Sweet little Adam Emmett."
Emma shook her head. "How did I let you talk me into that?"
Regina shrugged. "Because you love me?"
Emma stood up and carefully put Adam down in his crib. "I do," she agreed. She left the room, taking Regina's hand, pulling her into the hallway. "He's 6 months old now. When did the doc say you were good to be active, again?"
Regina rolled her eyes with a soft laugh. "6 months."
Emma kissed her softly. "Don't worry, I'm not going to jump you right now." She hugged her. "How are you doing?"
Regina swallowed, leaning into her arms. "Well, Henry's rode off into his portal. But then Irena drew us a cat. I put it on the fridge."
"Aww." Emma kissed Regina's cheek. "It's okay to miss him. Don't ever feel badly about that."
A quiet sob escaped. "It feels like I should be grateful for Irena and Adam instead."
"You can do both. Henry brought us all together." Emma kissed the top of her head. "What do you say I make something for us and Irena to eat?"
Regina laughed. "I'd like to see you try."
"Oh, now you've done it, Missy! I'll make the best meal ever, just because you doubt me."
Regina lifted her head with a smile and shook it. "I love you so much."
Emma kissed her again. "I love you, too." She lightly smacked her ass and then ran away, racing to the stairs to get to the kitchen before Regina could catch her and make her pay for that.
On February 14th, 2021, and Regina and Emma had tons to celebrate. Regina's birthday had been on the 1st, their daughter's 4th birthday had on the 3rd, and their son that was all theirs, Adam Emmett, had his 1st birthday on the 11th.
Henry had left home around half a year ago, just days before his 19th birthday. It would have been much harder on Regina without her wife of nearly 3 years, 3 year old, and exactly 6 month old. That had been August 11, 2020. They hadn't heard anything from him since he left, and they hadn't expected to.
It was a Sunday, so Regina and Emma were going out. Regina had the still single Zelena bring her niece over so the close in age cousins could play under the redhead's watch. Robin, Zelena's girl, had just turned 5 in November of 2020.
As soon as the girls saw each other, their mommies were forgotten, allowing Regina and Emma to slip out of the house without much delay.
"Man, I can't believe my baby brother is turning 7 in May. It feels like just yesterday we were trying to protect him from your sister," Emma commented.
"Really? Feels like an entire lifetime ago, to me." Regina wrapped an arm around Emma's waist. "I'm surprised you don't have even more siblings yet."
Emma groaned. "Don't encourage them, they might listen."
Regina laughed. "I won't."
Emma leaned her head against Regina's as they walked. "So, where are we going?"
"Oh, just Granny's," Regina answered.
"But Granny's diner, or Granny's hotel?"
"You'll see."
Emma laughed. "I love you."
"I love you, too."
Regina pulled open the door to Granny's diner, smirking at Emma's expression. "Don't look so disappointed, dear. Food is an excellent source of energy." She winked at her.
Emma grinned and skipped through the door, then, and all the way to what had become known as their booth.
Regina chuckled as she followed at her usual pace, sitting across from her once she reached the booth. "Let me guess, hot cocoa with whipped cream and cinnamon for the drink, burger and fries for the meal?"
Emma scoffed. "Am I really that predictable?"
Regina just smiled and shrugged.
"Well, I think you'll have a strawberry smoothie, lobster salad, and fried mozzarella sticks."
"It's like we don't even need menus." Regina tapped the tip of Emma's nose with the tip of her finger. "We just know each other."
Emma caught Regina's wrist, pressing a kiss to her knuckles before lowering their hands to the table and lacing their fingers together.
Mere moments later, Granny was hand delivering their orders that hadn't even been placed.
"Apparently, so does Granny. I'm not sure if that's a sign we come here too much, or if we're too boring," Emma mused once the elder woman had left the table.
"She's just observant." Regina took a sip from her smoothie. "And when have we ever been boring, dear?"
Emma took the opportunity when Regina wasn't looking to swipe at the whipped cream with her finger and smear it on the tip of her wife's nose. "Maybe not boring, just domesticated?"
Regina playfully glared at her. "You are cleaning that up, Mrs. Swan-Mills."
Emma leaned across the table. "You asked for it." She very quickly licked the tip of Regina's nose with her tongue, effectively removing the whipped cream, then sank bank into her seat, giggling.
"Ugh! I thought I married a person, not a dog." Regina grabbed a napkin and wiped at her nose.
"Oh, come on, Regina. Don't pretend our children haven't gotten you worse." Emma raised her eyebrows knowingly.
Regina rolled her eyes, crumpling up the napkin. "That would be because they are children! Brat."
Emma grinned smugly. She loved when she got to banter with Regina, without distraction from the kids or work. She treasured the time they got to have together, just the two of them. She picked up her burger, poking her tongue out at Regina briefly before taking her first bite.
Regina bit into one of her mozzarella sticks. This was their 4th Valentine's Day as a married couple, and she looked forward to reaching the 10th, 15th, and beyond.
They continued their meal in relative silence, until, "I miss him. I can't help but realize this is our first Valentine's Day without him home. I remember our first one was so soon after Irena was born, and even though I couldn't do a whole lot, Henry insisted he could watch his sister for a few hours so we could just relax together."
Regina smiled bittersweetly. "Ah, yes, 15 and sacrificing time that could have been spent with Violet for his moms. That's our boy. I will always miss him. We'll blink, Irena and Adam will have grown up, and I'll miss them, too."
"Woah, slow down there. Adam just turned 1, literally three days ago. We've got so much more time with them." Emma leaned across the table to kiss her softly.
Regina broke the kiss after a few moments. "Let's finish up here, then we can have our dessert." She winked to further convey what she meant.
Emma nuzzled her nose against Regina's before hurrying to finish what was left of her food.
Regina smiled to herself as she finished her meal with a tad more eloquence than her wife. She rose from the table and made her way to the shortcut where the diner turned into the hotel.
Emma scrambled behind her wife once she'd successfully, albeit messily, finished eating. She caught up to Regina just in time to notice that their room was number 7. She smiled. Of course it was.
Regina unlocked the door, pushed it open, removed the key and stashed it away. She lounged on the bed and looked at Emma. "Don't forget to close the door behind you."
Emma made sure the door was not only closed, but locked, before playfully pouncing on Regina, causing the latter to squeal with laughter. She attacked her face with kisses before bringing her lips to her ear to whisper, "Happy Valentine's Day."