It had been a month, since Emma and Henry had been reunited with everyone. Henry fully remembers everything that had happened, however Emma, only remembers fragments of her past life, such as saving Henry in the mines, random moments with her parents and a few other random things.
Emma walked into Granny's and she saw Hook, who she had started to become fond of in a way.
"Hey hook" she said, smiling at him. He looked happy to see her.
"Hey yourself" she sat down, opposite the pirate.
"What's the plan?" she replied and Hook looked at her and in his confident manner.
"Sweeping you off your feet, that's the plan and I will do that Emma"
The blonde rolled her eyes, at this point Regina and Henry walked in and sat down at the opposite end of the Diner, they hadn't noticed Emma was there.
The blonde couldn't help but watch them, she was intrigued by the brunettes ways and her beauty. She then looked back at Hook.
"Come out with me tonight" he whispered.
Emma wasn't sure, she moved her head slightly and noticed some guy clearly flirting with Regina, this brought up an emotion in her, that she didn't want to admit.
"Okay yeah, why not" she quickly replied and before anything else could be said, Henry had seen them and run over, hugging the blonde and asking what she was doing there, but before she could say anything Regina had walked over and interrupted.
"Having fun are we miss Swan?" The brunette seemed to be annoyed.
"Yes thanks"
"Come Henry, let's go"
"Oh mom, do we have too?"
"Yes Henry"
That night, the pirate was telling Emma of his pirate adventures to try and impress her, over their dinner and after a few hours he escorted her back home.
She let him ramble on about more adventures, but she found herself thinking of events earlier in the day, about that guy who was flirting with Regina! why was I so bothered, she thought to herself.
Regina however, had just dropped Henry back, at the 2 idiots house and was going back home, when she saw Emma from across the way.
It was dark but she knew it was her, she paused watching the blonde, she found herself sighing, she then got into her car, before looking up to see the pirate getting closer to the blonde.
Enough of this...why am I bothered anyway, she thought to herself before driving off and as she did Emma saw the car, that's Regina's car she thought.
"She must have dropped Henry back at the house, I better go" she blurted out.
"Were do this again soon" the pirate replied.
The blonde hesitated.
"Yeah I better go.. thanks for tonight"
she walked off and into the house, while hook watched her and then retreated back towards the lights of the town.
The following weekend Snow and Charming wanted to celebrate Emma's birthday with friends, so they had secretly arranged drinks and party food at Granny's for the Saturday evening.
Henry had asked them if he could invite Regina too, which they reluctantly agreed too.
That Saturday evening at the house. Snow, Charming and Henry had to convince Emma, to go for a low-key family meal at Granny's to celebrate her birthday.
"Really" she moaned.
"can't we just have a dinner here at home?"
"Come on?" Henry replied.
"I want to eat ice cream"
"Your be lucky" the blonde said, but she didn't have the heart to say no to him.
"It looks busy in there tonight guys" she said nervously.
Henry opened the door, with Emma behind him.
"SURPRISE..happy birthday"
The blonde smiled "I should have guessed" she looked at Snow and Charming.
"It wasn't all their fault" Henry replied.
The music then started to play and snow and charming went off, to talk to Ruby.
The blonde decided to go to the bar and got herself a drink. she heard Hooks voice.
"Well I knew we would meet again, sooner or later"
"How long did you know about this?"
"Yesterday" the pirate replied.
Once an hour had passed. The blonde found herself standing at the bar, with her parents.
"I still haven't forgiven you for doing this". the blonde smiled.
"Come on, we couldn't let your birthday pass without a celebration". Charming remarked.
The party was now in full swing people were dancing, Henry was joking around with Charming and Emma couldn't seem to lose the pirate, but wasn't to fussed at this point.
She had noticed the door open, it was Regina!
The blondes lips parted, as the brunette looked absolutely beautiful, she certainly had made an effort for the occasion.
Henry ran over to her. "mom you came!"
"Of course" she felt eyes on her and looked around, to see Snow and Charming giving her the evil eyes. Then her eyes meet with Emma's, who had found herself walking towards her.
She looked a bit awkward and was stumbling over what to say to the brunette, but she managed to say "Hi"
They both just stared at each other for a moment, before Hook had made his way over.
"Well if it isn't Regina and how are we today" he smirked.
"fine thanks, shouldn't you be sailing off somewhere" she snapped.
"Emma"... Snow called out and brought a specially made cake, from the table with candles on it. Everyone started singing happy birthday.
The blonde felt a bit embarrassed and looked around, holding her face with her hands.
"blow them out" everyone shouted.
"Don't forget to make a wish. Henry said.
In her head, she wished she could have all her memories back, she blew them out and looked around. Her eyes meet with Regina's once more, she quickly looked away.
"What did you wish for mom?"
"I can't tell you, otherwise it wont come true"
"Okay" Henry replied and stumped off.
Another hour or so had passed, when Regina decided to make her way over to the birthday girl.
"Em-ma?" The blonde turned round.
"Regina... is everything okay?"
"Yes il be leaving now, thought id say my goodbyes" the blondes heart sank.
"No stay, you got to have some of that cake and Henry wants you here" the blonde touched the brunettes arm, suddenly she had a flashback, of when she had touched Regina's arm and they transcended realms with the hat.
"What's wrong?" The brunette asked, looking concerned.
"I...remembered... something, that happened before"
"Oh, may I ask what?"
"When i touched your arm, the hat started to work" at this point Regina knew full well, what she was talking about
"Ah yes" she smirked, the two of them were now staring again at one another, which seemed longer than it actually was.
Neither had realized, until they heard Hook say
"Want to dance?" they both looked at him.
"Do you want to dance?" He said, again.
Emma looked at Regina, who tried to hide her emotions with a fake smile.
Emma felt it would be rude not to accept, but deep down, wanted to stay where she was.
"Go on, I'm going now anyway, I'll come pick Henry up tomorrow afternoon" the brunette then walked off to say goodnight to Henry, before leaving.
"Well, are you coming or not?" the pirate smirked.
He took her hand and lead her to dance. Emma however looked back, to see if she could see the brunette, but she couldn't.
"I am going to go now Henry, but il see you tomorrow" he hugged her and smiled.
"Bye mom"
She got to the door to leave and hesitated. she put her hand on the door to open it, she found herself looking back at everyone, searching for Emma.
Her facial expression dropped, when She saw them start dancing and she had realized in that moment, her emotions run deeper, than she thought.
She quickly turned and walked out. What she hadn't realized is that Emma, had pulled away a few moments later and make some excuse of needing the toilet.
With guests starting to leave and it getting late. Emma decided it was time to get off home, she had a few gifts on a table, which she started putting in a bag.
she started reading a few of the tags...
Emma another year older, another year wiser, "hmm no name on that one" she whispered.
To Emma, my gift to you, from Regina, with that Emma felt a wave come over her, she remembered, she remembered!, it was those words, it had unlocked all she was trying to find.
She had to open the present, it was a frame with a picture of her, Henry and Regina at a previous party.
The blonde pulled it to her chest. All these emotions she was feeling, it was overwhelming.
"I'v got to go do something" she shouted to Snow and Charming.
"il see you all at home" with that she ran outside and started to make her way to Regina's house, still holding the picture frame. She started to process these memories that had come back.
However one just kept going round in her mind, Regina giving her a happy ending with Henry, never giving Henry up.
When Emma reached the mansion front door, she felt anxious.
"What am I doing!" She turned to leave, then turned back to the door. She looked at the photo again, looked at Regina in the picture.
The door suddenly opened, both were surprised to see the other.
"miss Swan, I saw you out of my window coming up to the door, what are you doing here?"
"I opened your gift, its beautiful" she stared at the brunette, she saw Regina's face soften.
"Yes, well I thought you may like it, is that why your here?"
"Yes but I wanted you to know, there's nothing going on between me and Hook, im fond of him but im not in love with him" the blonde searched for a reaction in the brunettes face.
"why do you think id want to know that em-ma?"
the blonde's heart sank a little.
"it's just your gift it brought back memories and feelings. il just go il see you tomorrow, when you pick Henry up" she turned and started to walk away.
Regina was still stuck on the words memories and feelings, to notice Emma starting to walk away but managed to step slightly forward and muster a few words out
"wait, come, come inside..." the blonde turned around still holding the frame, close to her red jacket that she always wore. She stared a little and opened her mouth "okay"
Regina lead them to the kitchen no words were spoken.
Regina broke the silence.. "here, take this you must need a drink after walking here, it is a bit of a walk you know"
"yeah it is" both stared at each other for a moment
Emma cleared her throat and took a sip of the drink that Regina had gave her and then put it on the kitchen table. She was still holding the present Regina had given her, in her other hand.
"so, you remember some other things now?"
"Yes, it was strange really because remember when I blew the candles out on my cake. I made a wish, that I could remember everything from my past"
Regina nodded with an intrigued look on her face
The blonde turned her head to the kitchen table. "I was packing up some of my birthday presents and was reading the tags, when I came to yours and it was the my gift to you part, that had done it really"
The blonde looked at the brunette, a bit concerned at what Regina would say.
"What do you mean, you now remember everything?" Regina stepped forward a little gazing at the blonde.
"thanks to you, I remember who I am. that gift you gave me of a happy ending with Henry it was..".
"it was the best thing to do" Regina quickly replied
"This picture of us all its, beautiful" Emma turned it to Regina to show her but of course she knew every detail of it because she had looked at it everyday, before deciding to give it to Emma as a birthday gift.
Emma placed the picture on the kitchen table. looking at it she now knew full well of her feelings and didn't want to deny them any more, but she wasn't sure what the brunette would do.
Does she even feel that way about me, how can she the blonde thought
What she hadn't noticed was the Regina hadn't stopped looking at her, she had her glass in one hand and was just standing there, watching getting lost of how beautiful, how this woman broke down her defences and was saving her making her a better person.
Emma suddenly snapped out of her negative thoughts, however she couldn't look at Regina.
"I better go now, I just wanted you to know what had happened and to thank you for that, so il see you tomorrow when you pick Henry up"
she went to pick the picture frame up when suddenly she felt a hand on hers.
it was so soft the blonde froze, she couldn't believe Regina's hand was holding hers, it felt so soft and warm.
Emma looked up into Regina's eyes, she was getting lost in the deep brown
"why did you really come here?" Regina whispered softly looking into Emma's eyes
Emma noticed her heart beating harder, "I told you why" she quickly said.
Regina tilted her head narrowing her eyes a little.
"It was all the memories coming back like that, its overwhelmed me, maybe I need to go process them some more"
"Oh" Regina replied. She looked away to hide her emotions, she went to move away but felt a hand grab hers and held it tighter.
No words were said. She turned back round looked down at their hands entwining together, she looked back up her mouth parted, looking into the blondes eyes.
"What you did for me and Henry it goes beyond words..." Regina was speechless and that's not easy to do.
Emma knew this was it, either I tell her now what my heart desires or forever hold it in. she took a deep breath, still holding the brunettes hand.
"I want to be with you Regina...I...I love you"
Regina placed her free hand near her chest. Emma's eyes widened scared at what the response would be.
She took Emma's other hand. "you don't now how badly I have wanted to hear those words, of course, we may have got off on the wrong foot for some time, but you're not like everyone else here you see me as Regina not the evil queen. I tried to deny these feelings because I believed you didn't feel the same way but I love you too"
With that Emma pulled the brunette closer with both of them now wrapping their hands/arms around each other and leaned in , to kiss each other.
Their hearts were thumping. Their lips connecting in an explosion of passion, love and emotion, that was filled with eternity and they knew it was home.