"Have you ever thought about it?"

Turning her head around quickly to look at the blonde behind her, Regina raised a curious eyebrow. They were at the annual Storybrooke Spring Festival, one of the few traditions that the small, fictional town had maintained since the curse had broken five years prior. Everyone was in attendance, including the somewhat still instated mayor and her wife.

Looking back to Snow and David with the small two year old they were with, Regina paused, pursing her lips before turning her body to fully face Emma. "Thought about what, dear?"

Nodding towards her fairytale parents with their son – the blonde's younger brother, Emma took a step closer, taking Regina's hand loosely into hers. "Having another baby. You know, since life isn't complete and utter shit anymore."

"Language, Emma," Regina hissed, looking around them to make sure no one had heard. One would think that, after three years of marriage, the regal mayor would've gotten over, or at least gotten used to, the crude language Emma had chosen. "I'm not really sure. I don't know if having yet another child, with the genes of my once mortal enemies and a delinquent, would bode well for me. After all, we all saw how it turned out before."

"Yes, you're married, with a sixteen year old who currently believes the worst thing in the world is having Grace say 'no' to him for a school dance. I must say, Madame Mayor, things have not worked in your favor."

Allowing the faintest smirk to form on her lips, Regina squeezed the hand that gripped her own, taking a step further into the show of public affection. It wasn't like them, to show much affection outside of the walls of their home, but Regina found a certain solace in it for this moment. After all, the conversation of choice wasn't one she really wanted. Emma must've known as much, seeing the blonde's choice of location to bring it up.

"Careful dear, you might make me reevaluate my choices."

Smiling, Emma glanced over Regina's shoulder to Snow and David – it was still too weird to call them mom and dad, even after the incident at the mine so many years ago – watching as they threw their son into the air before David put him on his shoulders. It was bizarre, watching your same aged parents raise your baby brother and wondering what it could have been like. Still, how Emma hadn't felt jealousy over Graham was a shock to her, probably even more so to her parents.

Not only that, but getting used to the fact that her parents named their son after the fallen huntsman and former sheriff.

Biting her bottom lip and intertwining their fingers, Emma sighed, shifting her gaze back to Regina. "You're avoiding the question."

Rolling her eyes, Regina pulled her hand away from Emma's, wrapping her arms across her chest. "You didn't exactly bring it up in the greatest of times, dear."

"How did I not?" The blonde could recognize what Regina was doing, it's what the brunette always did when she felt cornered in a fight, what she did when she felt threatened; her walls were going up.

If Emma were honest with herself, she was cornering Regina in this moment. Perhaps it was a question better saved for when the pair was at home, in the comfort and privacy of the four walls of the mayoral mansion. But this question, it had been eating at the sheriff for months, and she only had the courage to ask because she was lost in a moment of thought.

"Look, I just… We've been together for a while now, haven't we? We're happy, we're stable, Henry's grown up… I'd just think it'd be a good opportunity to try the whole family thing."

Raising her eyebrow, Regina scoffed, backing away from her wife slightly. "Really? Henry doesn't count now, Miss Swan?"

"Jesus, Regina, you know that wasn't what I meant! And don't 'Miss Swan' me. I'm not sleeping on the goddamn couch because you're throwing a fit." Running her fingers through her hair, Emma tried to calm herself, attempting to keep a firm hold on her temper. It wouldn't be good for both of them to lose grip on their emotions, which both were teetering on the edge of doing so already.

"What I mean is that, I didn't get to raise Henry for a majority of his life, and you lost him for a bit," Emma was cautious still with mentioning that bit of their past. While an important part of it, Regina couldn't blame Emma for her caution on the subject. After all, it wasn't the happiest of times. "I just want to experience it all with you, beginning to end, not middle to end."

Lips pressing into a thin line, Regina's shoulders slumped in slight defeat. How she wished that Emma hadn't brought this up in public, let alone at a freaking festival where every living and breathing resident was in attendance. She knew Emma; it was the blonde's attempt to prevent a scene or huge fight. If Regina weren't the one stuck on the opposite side of this, she'd commend her wife on such a feat.

Shaking her head, Regina turned her back to Emma, arms dropping to her sides. "We'll discuss this when we get home."

Reaching out to catch her wife's hand, Emma frowned when it was snatched away so quickly. "Regina, come on…"

"Later, Miss Swan."


Groaning and burying her face into her hands, Emma reached blindly for the glass of scotch in front of her, frowning when she realized it was empty.

Again.

"Ruby, another."

Raising her eyebrow to the sheriff, Ruby looked down to her glass, back to her, and repeat. Snorting softly, the wolf shook her head, leaning across the bar of the diner. "Em, I love you, but you've had enough alcohol to put even Leroy to shame."

Pursing her lips into a pout, Emma gripped her glass and pushed it towards her friend, a silent plea. However, it was instead met with Ruby snatching the glass away and putting it next to the small pile of glasses besides her.

Whimpering slightly, Emma looked up to her friend, looking ever childish as the alcohol in her system began to reduce her to such a state. "Ruby, come on! I need the liquid courage!"

Shaking her head and grabbing a wet rag, she began to wipe down the glasses. "No, you need to go home before Regina comes here looking for you. I don't feel like having the mayor giving me a lecture tonight."

Chuckling softly, Emma shook her head. "The big bad wolf, scared of the evil queen? There's something fucked up with that."

"Maybe. But you know what's even more fucked up?" Setting down the glass in her hand, Ruby tilted her head, examining her friend. "My best friend is sitting across from me, bordering the line between drunk and shit faced, because she's too scared to face her wife over something that should be exciting to talk about."

Raising her eyebrow pointedly, Ruby reached for the stack of trays, carrying them into towards the back. Before vanishing from sight behind the silver doors, she called out over her shoulder. "Leave the money on the counter, Em. I expect a huge tip."


Perhaps it was the shock value of Ruby's words, or maybe liquid courage had finally kicked in, but Emma finally made it home with enough strength to speak to Regina. She shouldn't have been as nervous as she was, but the fear of what this conversation will end with or begin caused the paranoia to seep deep into her bones and down to her core.

Emma never had much difficulty speaking to Regina about things. After all, her blunt words and disregard for the consequence of what she said had led her to this point in her life. Without half of the things that slipped passed her lips, there was no way Emma would've made it to Storybrooke, let alone stay as long as she had. So the fact that she was rendered speechless now was telltale to her paranoia. There wasn't much chance of Emma escaping this conversation unscathed, but that never deterred her before, so why was she letting it do so now?

Taking a few deep breaths, pacing quietly outside of the door, Emma gazed downward and saw no light from underneath the doorway. It was late but there was no way Regina was asleep.

Since they had been together, one thing the pair tended to agree on was their inability to sleep after a fight. It was probably the overwhelming knowledge of what an empty bed felt like and the new found comfort of a body on the other side every morning, but the fact remained the same. That's why the sentence to the couch was such a big deal, and also why Emma was fighting so hard against it.

Raising her hand with her knuckles facing the door, Emma was about to knock, then sighed. This was pathetic, every single bit of it. From Emma beginning to sober to the fact that she felt like she actually needed to knock on her own bedroom door.

She regretted that she had let that question slip from her lips while at such a public event with Regina, Emma knew better. Regina had been, and always would be, a private person. While the former queen opened up to Emma most of the time, some matters were still kept entirely private. The long lecture after Emma had discussed sleeping with Regina to Ruby was evident enough of that fact.

Taking a deep breath through her nostrils and releasing it through her lips, Emma closed her eyes and reached for the door handle. She may as well face whatever music she was doomed to now, prolonging the inevitable would make her punishment that much worse.

Pushing the door open softly and stepping into the darkness, Emma looked over to the bed. Moonlight filtered through the windows, illuminating the room enough to see Regina's figure on the bed. Her back was to Emma, but the small shift under the sheets was enough to let the blonde know that her wife was indeed awake.

Not wanting to cause more trouble than there already was, Emma slipped off her jeans and jacket, placing them into the hamper before tiptoeing over to the bed and slipping under the sheets.

"Miss Swan, you should be on the couch."

Indeed, Emma thought. When she had arrived she noticed the pillow and folded up blankets at the end of the couch, but there was no way she'd be sleeping down there, not tonight.

"Come on, my shift doesn't start until late tomorrow, let me get a good night's sleep in our bed."

Humming in acknowledgment, Regina rolled over, once again facing away from Emma. Leave it to the pair of them to act like complete children. Still, the fact that Regina hadn't gotten out of the bed was a good sign. It either meant Regina was willing to talk or that she was simply too tired to move.

Emma hoped for the former.

"I'm sorry," the blonde started, knowing that apologizing was always the first step when it came to them. Without it, they had a tendency to tune one another out. "I shouldn't have brought up something so serious at the festival. You're private, and you want to keep matters that are serious in the family private, I just… It sort of slipped out."

"Yes well, not the first time something like that slipped out."

Silence fell over them, but it was part of how their apologies went. It took time to think of the right words to say when in the past all they'd done was learn how to get under one another's skin without even trying. Now it had gotten to where they tried not to behave in such a manor. Reversing the process was more difficult than starting it, it seemed.

Finally though, Regina turned to face Emma, frowning as she scanned the sheriff's face. "In your words and Henry's, that was really low of you, Emma. You never have learned to hold your tongue."

"I usually leave that job to you," Emma joked, a small smile playing on her lips. Obviously, from Regina's raised eyebrow and curled upper lip, the joke was ill-placed, yet another thing Regina would have pointed out, if not for the seriousness of their conversation. "Okay, bad joke, sorry."

Sitting up slightly and resting her head in the palm of her hand, Emma gazed down to her wife, the frown slowly coming back onto her lips. "Look, I'm really sorry I brought the subject up somewhere really public, but come on… This is supposed to be something exciting to talk about. Instead you're just…"

Silence fell over them again, Emma obviously waiting for Regina to talk. There was something in how closed off Regina had been at the festival, it ate away at the sheriff's inner being. Regina adored Graham, always volunteering herself and Emma to watch him when Snow and David were in desperate need of a date night or a weekend away. Not only that, but she noted how the brunette's gaze would linger on the slowly swelling stomach of Kathryn Nolan in the last few months, a small smile always playing on her lips. It was as though Regina was excited for everyone else growing their family; everyone but them.

Reaching out tenderly, Emma brushed a stray hair out of Regina's face, trying to distract herself from the feeling of dread that crawled within her. "Regina, I just… I want to be able to experience that, you know? I love watching Graham, I do, but I'd really prefer experiencing that with my wife rather than through my parents."

Licking her lips, Regina unconsciously leaned into the fingers as they brushed the hair away. "I know, but things are more complicated when you yourself become a parent. You don't get to hand the baby off when it starts to cry, or does something gross, you have to care for it."

"I know that. I want to do that, Regina." Shaking her head and letting out a bitter laugh, Emma looked away from Regina for a moment. She didn't look anywhere in particular, just letting her gaze fall anywhere else than the woman before her. "God, I've wanted to do that since the first time I saw Henry. When he was six pounds, twelve ounces, screaming and crying and covered in blood and wrapped in probably the ugliest blanket I had ever seen- I just…"

As Emma trailed off, the brunette could see the sadness and regret that filled those green eyes, even in the dim lighting. Reaching out, she placed her hand over the blonde's, squeezing reassuringly. Regina was there, she always would be, and she wanted her wife to know that.

"I really want to be able to experience that. I want to see you give birth to a beautiful baby, a baby that we raise and feed and give an amazing life to." Tracing small patterns on the back of Regina's hand with her thumb, Emma finally looked up to meet the brown eyes that possessed her every moment she looked into them. "I want us to have a baby."

"That's the thing; you don't want us to have another baby. You want me to give us a baby." Pulling her hand away, Regina sat up, leaning against the headboard.

Frowning, Emma furrowed her brows in slight confusion. So that was the problem. It wasn't the baby idea; it was Regina giving birth that was the problem. Rather than making this a done deal and entirely solved, it made the blonde that much more confused.

Still, Regina continued her rant, "I don't want that, don't we already have a good life? Henry is about to start his third year of high school, your mother and I aren't trying to kill one another, your father isn't giving me death glares at family dinners-"

"That you notice-"

"But it's good, isn't it? Isn't our life right now happy?"

"It is, but I just think-"

"And therein lies the problem."

Backhand comments were second nature to them, but the couple now knew what took things too far. This bit, Regina commenting on Emma's thoughts, it had always been agreed upon that it was a definite no-no.

Shaking her head, Regina buried her face into her hands, letting out a soft, exhausted sigh. "Please, Emma. I'm tired, I want to sleep. It's been a long day."

It wasn't that Regina had essentially said no that hurt Emma; it was how she was saying no. Instead of just discussing this like two adults as they had been able to for the past few years with serious matters, Regina was reverting to old ways and old reactions. And in this moment, Emma was going to do the exact same thing.

Pursing her lips, Emma slipped out of the bed, reaching blindly for a pair of sweats she usually had beside the bed. "I'll be on the couch," she mumbled, pulling on the sweats before walking over to the door.

For a brief second, the blonde was certain she heard Regina plead from behind her hands. Emma wasn't certain on that though, because she was out the door and down the steps to the couch that would leave her with the worst back pain.


When Emma woke up the next morning, she wasn't shocked to hear a completely quiet house. Even if being banished to the couch for the night was her punishment, not even Regina would be so cruel as to allow Henry to be loud throughout the morning. There was only one day out of the entire month that Emma was allowed to sleep in, and those were the days that Emma counted down to. The fury that would've been unleashed if she had arisen early would've been monumental.

However, the slight bit of pain and sadness she felt due to waking up alone made the fury look microscopic.

Sighing softly and sitting up in the couch, Emma stretched her hands above her head. The sound of cracking bones seemed to echo in the expanse of the large room, causing Emma to moan in pain and relief as her bones seemed to fall back into their proper place.

Looking over to the coffee table, she expected to see a note from Regina, stating that they'd speak later or at least some sort of message. But no, it was clean and bare, just as it had been the night before.

Standing and walking into the kitchen, Emma attempted to not let this argument eat at her. All she did was suggest that they expand her family; it wasn't as though she asked Regina they pack up and move to the Enchanted Forest. Wasn't this something that most couples discussed after a certain period of time? Certainly television hadn't failed her on that aspect on what to expect when married.

Never had Emma been in a relationship that lasted long enough to where she questioned this, ever. Okay, maybe when she was with Neal, but that had long since passed. Time had changed them, and Regina really was the only person she saw herself doing this sort of thing with. It seemed only natural to want to have another baby, but maybe Emma had been wrong.

Perhaps the signs she had thought she'd seen were just the bits of Regina that had changed over time. Maybe Regina offering to babysit Emma's younger brother had just been some form of atonement to Snow and David, allowing them to have time together that had been taken. And Regina gazing upon Kathryn's swelling belly, maybe it was just Emma seeing things and Regina was just smiling to her friend in general.

Walking over to the coffee pot, she smiled faintly, seeing a note and the light still on the pot. At least her wife had been kind enough to leave the coffee warm for her, which was something she could be thankful for.

Grabbing her usual red mug and filling it, quickly adding cream and enough sugar to make a child's tooth fall out, Emma picked up the note, scanning it as she drank in silence.

Dear Emma,

Well, at least she wasn't being called 'Miss Swan' right now. That was always a good sign.

I'm sorry you felt it was necessary to sleep on the couch on your one night of full rest. I do hope it wasn't too uncomfortable.

The hint of sarcasm was noted, but Emma pressed on, snatching an orange before sitting on the kitchen counter.

I will be a bit late tonight; there are a few meetings I have today. Post Spring Festival stuff, the usual. There's leftover lasagna in the oven for you and Henry. Do try not to burn the house down.

Years after Emma had set a single pot ablaze and Regina wouldn't let her live it down, figures.

Perhaps we can speak later tonight. I'd suggest lunch but you're supposed to be having it with your mother, which I'm going to assume you forgot. Don't be late, Regina.

Glancing as the clock, Emma's eyes went wide at the time. 11:45 and if she was truly supposed to eat lunch with her mother, she had about fifteen minutes to run to Granny's. Leaving the letter down on the counter, Emma sprinted up the stairs and into the shower before running out to the diner.

Lunch with her mother, maybe it's what Emma needed, someone besides her half wolf friend to give her advice on discussing expansion of her family with her wife. A mother's touch was known to go a long way.