A/N: Based on a prompt from yoanagf on Tumblr.

Same as Missing Home, meant to be an OS. If you want more, just let me know.

This is ridiculous. Just knock on the damn door already. Regina had been standing in front of the Charmings' apartment for a good ten minutes and she had yet to find the courage to inform anyone of her presence. Her heart was beating so hard she was actually surprised she was still going unnoticed. Surely every living soul in the building could hear the erratic sounds emanating from her chest.

She could literally feel her stomach getting tied up in knots and she kept fidgeting with her hands. Which were now becoming uncomfortably cold from the mix of anxiety and fear threatening to overwhelm her.

Fear? She snorted at her own behavior. She was acting like a child coming home to announce a bad grade to their parents. You've spent years trying to kill the woman and now all of a sudden you can't even ask her a simple question? Get a grip!

She just had to get in there, ask and wait for an answer. Yes or no. Simple. She could also turn around and walk away, ignore Snow's opinion on the subject and just go for it. But Regina wasn't the kind of person to 'go for it'. She had been raised to know that some things had to be done by the book, and this was one of them. She needed Snow's approval, and that was saying something about how much it mattered to her. If she waited for too long and missed the boat, she would regret it for the rest of her life. If she says no, you'll just have to hide from her for the next century or so. No big deal. She looked at the door one last time, determined. You can do that. And if you can't, think of… her. She raised her hand and after a few more seconds of hesitation, knocked sharply on the wooden panel.

Snow looked up from her cup of tea and Charming from his newspaper.

"Are we expecting someone?"

"Not as far as I know," Snow frowned. "Stay, I'll get it," she added when she saw him starting to fold his paper to get up.

When she opened, she discovered a rather agitated Regina on the other side of the door. Snow looked around in the corridor but Regina had come alone.

"Regina? What's going on? Is there something wrong?" she asked, alarm showing in her voice.

"Everything's fine, I just, uh…"

"Are you sure?" Snow asked, cutting Regina off. "You don't seem to be fine. You look like you need some sleep." Snow was really starting to worry.

"Why, thank you for the compliment, Snow. How very thoughtful of you," Regina couldn't help but snap. It was her primary defense mechanism whenever she felt vulnerable, and she couldn't remember ever being so much out of her comfort zone.

Then she noticed that Snow's face had turned bright red. Now is not the time to upset her, she scolded herself.

"I'm sorry." She gave Snow a tentative smile. "Can I come in?" she added with an almost pleading look. It was so unusual to see that kind of expression on Regina's face that Snow let her in without further questioning.

Upon entering the apartment, Regina noticed Charming, still sitting at the dinner table, and briefly wondered if he had heard their exchange. Oh well. It's not going to change anything anyway.

She got jolted out of her thoughts by Snow asking her something.

"Do you want some tea?" Snow repeated. "I made plenty." Snow's question sounded a lot like a peace offering that she couldn't refuse. Why not? It can't hurt. It could even help me calm down.

"Yes, thank you," Regina accepted returning Snow's smile.

There was a weird atmosphere in the room and Charming felt like an intruder. Finally getting up, he mumbled something like "I'd-better-leave-you-two-alone" and quickly left the room.

Snow finished pouring tea in a mug, getting a refill for herself and invited Regina to take a seat across from her. Regina came to sit and cradled the mug between her palms to warm them up and keep herself from shivering.

"So… Do you want to talk about it?" Snow asked with an interrogative look.

"I-I didn't really come here to talk. Well, ahem, not really. Kind of?" Regina stammered. Way to go Regina, you could have won a eloquence contest with that line.

"Uh, okay… Why don't you start from the beginning?" Snow encouraged with a soft smile.

You mean from the day I met your daughter? Regina cringed. Let's not start off like that.

"It's about Emma," she blurted out.

Snow didn't need more to know everything there was to know: the way Regina's face lit up at the mere mention of Emma's name was revealing enough. Thinking that telling Regina it showed was probably not the best approach, Snow pretended to be oblivious to the obvious.

"What about Emma?" she asked, trying to hide a grin.

Regina drank up her tea and took deep breath, but then her brain shut down and the quite simple plan she had established got thrown out of the window as she started talking. She barely realized that the thoughts flooding her mind were now escaping her mouth.

She talked about Emma, about Henry. About her time with Emma and Henry.

She mentioned how Emma made her feel like she was part of the family, like they belonged together. Regina told Snow how for the first time in ages, she felt a connection with someone who wasn't bound to her by magic or fear. Or both. Emma had never been afraid of her, and that's why it had been different from the very beginning. They were equals; they balanced each other. Regina also confessed that she secretly found really cute Emma's habit to act like a child most of the time and her love for junk food, mac & cheese and bear claws included. A smile hovered on her lips at the thought.

As Regina kept on talking, her voice softening by the minute, Snow gradually went from cracking a smile to frankly grinning, which Regina would have noticed, had she stopped staring at her mug as if she were speaking to the tea leaves at the bottom.

When she stopped to catch her breath, Regina suddenly realized that Snow had been silent the whole time. Daring to look up, she almost gaped at the other woman when she saw the utter look of acceptance and love in her eyes.

"You love her, don't you?" She didn't need to ask the question for she already knew the answer, but it seemed that Regina would explode any minute if she didn't actually say it.

Regina blushed and bit her lip. She lowered her gaze, unable to look Snow in the eyes, and remained silent for a long time. The word that came out was barely more than a murmur. "Yes," Regina let out, blushing even harder.

"Do you think she feels the same?"

"I don't know… I'm not sure. But I think she does. Yes." Regina looked up to meet Snow's gaze and continued, managing to steady her voice. "I'm afraid she might have a change of heart if I don't do anything about it soon, though."

"Then why are you here, Regina?" Snow asked, placing a gentle hand on the other woman's forearm.

Suddenly remembering that the whole point of her presence was asking for Snow's blessing to go to Emma and confess her feelings, Regina blushed even more.

"Hm, well, because I would understand if you were against it and I would respect your decision. Given what happened between us in the past and…" She started to stumble on her words again.

"The past is in the past, Regina. You're not the person you were then. You deserve to love and to be loved, and if Emma is the person who can make you happy, so be it. And looking at your face when you say her name, I'd say she can." Snow smiled brightly at Regina who smiled bashfully in return.

"I know that when you love, your love is absolute and genuine," Snow carried on. "You had your heart broken, but it can never be damaged beyond repair and a new love, a true and sincere love, is the perfect remedy to a broken heart. I also know that you would never hurt her because you don't hurt the people you love."

Regina was speechless. Only now did she realize they had come such a long way together, and she was stunned.

"You should go talk to her," Snow concluded.

"What, you mean now?" Regina's eyes widened. "I can't. You know, maybe I should just…"

"No way. No excuses. You're going, now," Snow insisted as she got up and all but pulled Regina out of her seat.

Regina was too bewildered to react when Snow handed her her coat and almost threw her out of the door. Snow made her promise she would keep her updated and closed the door behind her. Since when are we BFF's? Here she was, back on the doorstep. She would never have imagined that the conversation would go like that. Never. Unable to decide what to do just yet, she settled upon going for a walk. Hopefully it would help clear her head. But before she could make a step towards the staircase, a voice caused her head to snap up.

"Regina? What are you doing here?"

Pinch me, I'm dreaming.

"Emma!" she greeted with a smile. Trying to gain time, she returned the question.

"What are you doing here?"

"Uh, coming to see my parents..." Emma raised an eyebrow. "What about you?"

Of course, that makes sense. Brilliant, Regina. Gathering her courage, she decidedly looked at Emma.

"Actually, I was looking for you..."

A worried look appeared on Emma's face.

"Is it about Henry? Is he okay?"

"No, Henry's fine. It's about… Hm, you know, I think we need to talk about…"

Emma waited for Regina to finish her sentence but when she saw the hesitation in her eyes, understanding washed over her.

"About us."

Their eyes locked and they awkwardly smiled at each other.

"Yeah."

Don't forget how to breathe, Regina.