"Ma. Relax. You're gonna be fine."

"In what world does this qualify as fine?" Emma muttered, dragging yet another shirt over her head to peer at it critically in the mirror. "Does that world exist and how soon can we get there?"

Henry rolled his eyes at her from his perch on her bed. "You're freaking out over nothing, and you know it. Actually I'm amazed you still have so many clothes over here. Does Mom know?"

Emma paused in her appraisal of herself and met Henry's eyes in the mirror. "Does she know I have clothes at my apartment?" Now she rolled her eyes. "No, shut up, don't answer. What about this one?"

"She'll love it," Henry told her. "Just like she would have loved the last one, and the one before that, and the one before that." Henry brought his legs up on the bedspread and crossed them. "When did you turn into such a girl?"

"Henry, this is serious!" Emma cried, whirling to face him. "This is literally the most important thing I have ever done, ever, in the sixteen years since I pushed your screaming, squishy body out of my uterus. Do you understand that? Literally the most. Important. Thing. So can you maybe stop being a jerk and, I don't know, help me?"

Henry blinked at her. "Wow, you're like, really freaking out over this, aren't you?"

"Yes, Henry. I am really freaking out over this."

"That's pretty sweet, actually." Henry grinned at her. He stood up, and went to Emma's closet. Once inside his voice was a little muffled, but he kept talking. "Okay, what you're going to do now is take that blouse off and do your hair. One of those weird ponytail hair wrappy things, what is that called even? One of the kind of messy ones, Mom really likes that."

"She does?"

Henry chuckled. "Oh yeah. Like, really a lot, Ma."

Flushing, Emma did as requested. She flung the blue blouse onto the bed, where it landed on the embarrassingly large stack of rejected clothing she'd already tossed there. Opting to finger comb her hair rather than brush it, she quickly tied it up into a ponytail and wrapped the elastic with one of the larger, more wayward curls in it, hoping that this was the style Henry meant when he said wrappy thing, because if it wasn't, she had no friggin' clue.

Luckily, he came out of the closet and nodded approvingly. "Yeah, that. Now put this on." He held out two hangers, and Emma blinked.

"Really?"

"Really. Trust me on this, Ma. She will actually lose the ability to speak." He transferred the hangers to one hand and held up the newly freed one, Scouts style. "My hand to god, Emma."

Emma swatted him playfully and took the shirt. "Alright, alright. I'm trusting you here, kid."

"Hey, I've got as much reason to want this to go well as you do, okay?"

At that, Emma smiled a little. "Yeah. I guess you do. Right then. Here goes nothing."

Henry rolled his eyes. "You act like there's a chance this'll go badly."

"Kid, I learned a long time ago not to take anything about your mother for granted."

Henry handed his mother the hanger with her pants on it, thinking. Finally he nodded. "I guess you're right. Still, though. I think this isn't one of those things."

Emma swallowed around the lump in her throat. "I hope you're right, Henry. I really hope you're right."

Henry just smirked his Regina smirk at her. "Oh, I am."

Her wide legged pants swished around her ankles pleasantly as she walked up the path to Regina's home. She hoped Henry was right about the clothes; the pants were amazingly comfortable, and she couldn't really remember buying them, which led her to think they might be Regina's but she also couldn't recall Regina ever wearing this bronzey color either, so it was an honest mystery that she was only thinking about so obsessively to try to forget how goddamn nervous she was about this.

Her hand reached out to press Regina's doorbell, and then she fidgeted with the lace hem of her shirt so that her arms didn't hang uselessly by her side. She tried to take deep breaths, and it worked a little, but her stomach was still flipping unpleasantly, and she couldn't remember being this nervous about seeing Regina since their first 'official' date years earlier.

The door swung open and Emma promptly forgot all about being nervous. Because Regina looked amazing, in a dark red dress with black vines stitched into it that was definitely a Storybrooke tribute to her days as Evil Queen, striding around the Enchanted Forest with her boobs pushed up to her chin. Emma had never appreciated corsets as much as she has learned to in the years since meeting Regina. The other woman had forgone jewelry in favor of dramatic smoky eyes and deep, matte red lips, and she had even done her hair with the kind of fluff and curl that just made Emma want to grab fistfuls of it. Her shoes were tall enough that they brought her to an eye level with Emma.

Emma made a mental note to thank Henry for his fashion advice later, because there was a good minute or more where Regina just stared, lips parted as she raked her eyes up and down Emma's form. Finally, though, she smiled, and reached out to take Emma's fingers in hers.

"You look lovely, my dear," she greeted.

"Ah, I don't think there's a word for how you look," Emma stuttered. "Incredible is about as close as I can come."

Regina laughed in delight, stepping out onto the porch so she could lock her house behind her. "Thank you. I'm glad you approve."

"Approve, hell," Emma rolled her eyes. She wound her arm around Regina's waist and led her down the steps, to where she'd parked her borrowed car. Regina laughed again when she saw it.

"And here I thought I'd have to convince you to let me drive tonight," she said.

Emma shrugged, opening the door for her. "Hey, I do learn eventually. I've planned the perfect night for us, no way I was going to start it off by trying to get you into the Bug."

"Good girl," Regina purred, slipping into the passenger seat.

Emma got in behind the wheel. The drive wasn't long, and they spent it chatting easily about anything and everything. Henry's grades and Emma's little brother, and Ruby's latest adventures while she trekked the globe, and Belle's new addition to the library, and before they ran out of things to talk about, Emma was throwing the car into park and opening Regina's door again.

"The Rabbit Hole?" Regina wrinkled her nose. "You made me put on this dress so you could take me to the Rabbit Hole?"

"Actually I'm thinking about making it a law that you wear that dress always, to everywhere." Emma grinned and squeezed her girlfriend's fingers. "But no, I didn't make you wear that dress so I could take you to the Rabbit Hole. Or at least, not only the Rabbit Hole. This is just the opener."

Interest piqued Regina's gaze. "Is that so?"

Emma grinned. "Oh yeah. Come have a drink with me."

Regina laughed and let Emma drag her inside. They were both horribly overdressed and people stared but neither of them noticed. Emma leaned against the bar and watched Regina adjust her skirt as she perched on her stool. The bartender didn't have to ask what they wanted; he just appeared with a beer for Emma and a hard cider for Regina. The brunette couldn't help but laugh when she realized what they'd been served.

"I didn't know you remembered," she told the blonde shyly.

"Are you kidding?" Emma rolled her eyes. "Of course I remembered. That was the first time I saw you drunk."

"I most certainly am not drunk," Regina insisted, swaying on her three inch heels.

Emma giggled. "You so are."

"Am not," Regina argued, even as she landed a hand on Emma's shoulder so she could take her shoes off. With them dangling from her fingertips she insisted, "A little tipsy, perhaps."

"Tipsy," Emma agreed. She was in much the same state herself. She squeezed Regina's wrist and sighed, "This was fun. We should do it again."

Regina faltered a little. "Miss Swan..."

Emma smashed three fingers against Regina's lips, causing the other woman's eyes to widen comically. Emma shook her head. "Nope, don't say it. I had fun. You had fun. This was FUN. Don't deny it."

She raised her eyebrows in challenge, daring Regina to do just that. Regina waited, quietly, and after a moment Emma got confused. "Aren't you gonna try to deny it?"

With a roll of her eyes, Regina opened her mouth and used her tongue to poke Emma's fingers, which were still planted over her lips. Emma squawked and drew her hand back, wiping it on her jacket, laughing. "Real mature, Regina."

"Yes, well, coming from you, dear..." Regina let the sentence trail off dryly, a slight smirk tilting her lips. "In answer to your question and against my better judgment, no, I don't think I will deny it. I did indeed have fun."

Emma smiled brilliantly at that, feeling triumphant and barely managing to suppress a fist pump. "See? We should do it again!" When Regina still seemed reluctant, Emma pressed further. "Look, Regina. As much as I did not expect to ever be saying this, I kinda like you a little. You're like, the only person in this batshit crazy town I get. And I think maybe you kinda like me too a little. At least, you don't hate me as much as you hate everyone else." Regina's smirk deepened. "So, we're gonna do this again, okay? Just...have drinks with me on Friday and we'll mock the townspeople together."

Regina giggled a little. She sighed. "Alright, Miss—" Emma scowled at her and cleared her throat pointedly, and she scowled right back but corrected herself, "Emma."

"Great!" Emma enthused. Before she could stop herself, she leaned in and pressed a warm, dry kiss to Regina's cheek. Well, she'd meant for it to be to her cheek but her head was fuzzy enough that she miscalculated and instead it landed more in the vicinity of the corner of Regina's mouth. She felt Regina's lips part in a surprised gasp and Emma flushed herself, more than a little mortified.

Still. She passed it off as no big deal. When she pulled back she just smiled and said, "I'll see you Friday. Meet me at seven?"

Dazed, Regina simply nodded.

"Great," Emma said again, softer this time. "You okay to get home?"

"Yes, I..." Regina shook her head, coming back to herself a bit. "I'll walk. I could use the air."

Emma nodded in agreement. Stuffing her hands into her pockets, she bid the brunette goodnight and turned to walk off. At the end of the block, she turned to look back, and Regina was still right where Emma had left her, brows furrowed thoughtfully, two fingers pressed to the place Emma had kissed.Emma grinned around the fluttering in her stomach, and walked home feeling lighter than she had in a long while.

"You know that was our actual first date, right?"

Regina lifted her brows questioningly. "What, that night?"

"Nooooo," Emma laughed. "Though I got to say, the kiss I planted on your face that night? So fucking smooth. Right? No, I meant the next Friday."

"We spent the entire time making fun of Widow Lucas' reality television addiction!"

"Yeah, and Leroy's attempts to woo a nun," Emma nodded. "And it was totally our first date."

Regina sipped from her bottle, rolling her eyes. "If you say so, dear."

"I say so, dear." Emma reached over and lowered the neck of Regina's bottle so she could lean in and press a kiss against her lips. It was warm, and dry, and chaste, just like the one that first night. This time, though, Regina let the hand that wasn't holding onto her drink play with the end of Emma's ponytail and pushed her lips back into the kiss, returning it just as chastely.

"Ready for part two?" Emma murmured against her lips as they parted.

Regina smirked, then pushed forward a little, taking Emma's bottom lip between her teeth and letting them scrape its length as she drew back, leaning away into her own space again. She lifted her cider to her lips and drank the rest of it in one swallow. She slid her hand into Emma's.

"Ready."

They took a short drive over to the boardwalk, Emma bringing the car to park at a location familiar to both of them. It was the restaurant where they'd spent their anniversaries, sometimes birthdays, and assorted other special occasions over the years. Emma watched Regina flush with pleasure.

"I thought this was our first date," the brunette murmured teasingly.

Emma exited the car and went around to Regina's side, to once again open the door for her. "Our first official date, yes."

Regina took Emma's offered hand and allowed her to pull her out of the passenger seat. "And what is the occasion tonight?"

"You'll see."

Regina tucked her hand into the arm Emma offered for her, and pressed herself into her lover's side. Emma grinned as they made their way up the pathway to Lumiere's, which was situated over the water. They were met at the door by the owner himself, a tall and thin man with a warm glow to his skin.

"Ladies," Laurent greeted, bowing deeply. They both smiled at him, and let him lead them into the dining room. The lighting was low, warm and flickering candlelight mostly. There weren't many tables, each of them spaced out so the couples at them had a sense of privacy no matter where they were seated. Laurent led them to the back of the restaurant, to a table in the corner, by the window.

Their table.

Laurent seated them both, and as was their custom, he and Regina chatted for a few minutes in French. Emma was content to watch, a wide, fond smile on her face.

"Permettez-moi, jolie dame."

Emma didn't know what the hell this guy actually said, but it didn't seem crass or rude and he said it as he pulled out her chair, so she just smiled and murmured a thank you as she sat. The man moved to Regina's chair next, and she had the same polite smile on her face as she sat.

But when Regina thanked him, she definitely didn't do it in English. "Merci, Laurent. C'est une belle vue."

Emma's eyebrows shot up, and the man's—Laurent's—face lit up. "Je ne savais pas Sa Majesté parlait Français!"

Now it was Regina's turn to look surprised. "Et je n'ai pas realize qu'il y avait quelqu'un dans cette ville que se referent toujours à moi en tant que tel."

Laurent picked up Regina's hand and kissed her knuckles. In lightly accented English, he said, "Ah, some of us were not so well off as the White Queen when you unleashed your wrath. There are some few of us here to whom your Dark Curse was a blessing in disguise."

Emma saw Regina's lips quiver as she opened them to reply. "I…I am…thank you, Laurent. For saying that."

"Non, ma Reine, je vous remercie."

He pressed another kiss to Regina's knuckles, and whisked away before she could reply. Emma reached across the table and took both of Regina's hands in hers. Regina drew in a shuddering breath, her eyes glistening in the candlelight.

"You okay?"

"Yes, Emma. I think…I think I am, indeed, okay."

"Good," Emma squeezed Regina's hands. Then she grinned. "I didn't know you spoke French!"

Regina's answering laugh was dry. "Twenty-eight years, Emma, repeating the same day. I had much free time on my hands. So I educated myself."

"You educated yourself." Emma untangled their fingers and sat back in her chair. "Tell me."

"Tell you what, dear?"

Emma smiled, and took Regina's breath away when she shrugged and said, "Let's start with everything."

After a pleasant, intimate dinner, Emma once again offered Regina her arm. They said goodbye to Laurent, and walked out into the parking lot. But instead of going to the car, Emma tugged Regina to the boardwalk instead.

"Let's go for a little walk, okay?"

Regina frowned. "In these shoes?"

"Like you don't spend all day in heels taller than that." Emma rolled her eyes. "I can carry you if you want."

Regina pinched her arm. "Don't be absurd."

"But I'm so good at it!" Emma joked, making Regina laugh and shake her head. She slid her hand down Emma's arm till their fingers intertwined, and for several minutes they were content to just walk in one another's company, listening to the sounds the water made as it lapped the shore.

Emma smiled into the comfortable silence. Sometimes it still took her by surprise, the level of comfort that existed between them now. She never would have imagined this for herself, considering that she'd spent the first months knowing Regina plotting against her. But the truth was, this life she had now, with her son and her partner, in this town that she loved, was more than she'd ever imagined for herself. Even in her wildest dreams, she'd never known how to imagine anything this wonderful. Probably because she also hadn't known how to dream any of the horrible parts that had lead up to this life either.

It took her a moment to realize that Regina had slowed, and was no longer right at her side. She stopped, unsurprised at the woman's reaction, considering where they were. She tugged Regina closer till she could grasp her arms gently at her elbows.

"Why would you bring me here?" Regina's voice shook on the last word.

Emma looked up and beyond Regina, at the Storybrooke Cannery, and felt herself shiver too.

"You know I still…" Regina trailed off, looking away.

"I know you still have nightmares," Emma finished quietly. She took one hand and cupped Regina's jaw gently. "I know. But it's important to be here. Do you know what this place is?"

"You mean besides the place where I was tortured and almost killed?"

Emma shuddered again. "Yeah. Besides that." She stroked her thumb across Regina's cheek. "This is also where I was standing when I realized I literally could not picture my future without you in it."

"Excuse me?"

Emma let out a short, barking sort of laugh. "I know, right? It's ridiculous. Obviously I wasn't thinking, you know…that I was gonna end up in a happily ever after with the Evil Queen or anything. We still sort of hated each other and there was Neal…"

"Yes, Neal," Regina muttered. "I'm so glad you brought me here, so I could relive both my near death experience as well as the memory of our son's father. What a wonderful end to an otherwise lovely evening."

Emma laughed a little. "Who said this was the end?"

"Oh, you had better have something wonderful planned next, to make up for this," Regina told her darkly. She paused, and sighed. "Did you really?"

"Yeah. I really did." Emma leaned against Regina as she turned back toward the cannery. "It was totally bizarre. You were mean and nasty and you drove me insane, but when I thought you might not make it out of there? I knew right then that life without you in it wasn't even an option, even if we did spend the rest of our lives trying to kill each other."

Regina let out a short laugh. When Emma looked at her curiously, she shrugged. "I suppose that it was a start, my dear."

"What, realizing I'd rather have a future with you driving me insane and possibly trying to poison me than one of peace and quiet without you in it?"

"You are Snow White's daughter, you were never going to have a peaceful future," Regina snapped back. "But yes. That is what I meant." She paused. Then, grudgingly affectionate, she added, "You idiot."

"Evil witch," Emma returned fondly, and kissed Regina's temple. "Come on. There's more to see."

"Granny's, Emma, really?"

They were sitting on a bench across from the diner. The streets were mostly empty, and the few people passing them nodded pleasantly but didn't stop to talk. It had become a common sight, in recent years, to find Emma and Regina curled up together somewhere, such as on a bench in the park, or a booth in the diner, leaning against one another comfortably. That they were in formalwear tonight just reinforced that they were not looking for company outside of each other.

"Hey, there's a lot of history in that building," Emma murmured. "But specifically, this is where you were the first time I saw you as something other than a stone cold bitch."

Regina wrinkled her nose. "The things you say to me. I swoon." Emma goosed her gently with her shoulder, and Regina nudged her right back. "Well? Are you going to tell me?"

Emma grinned, her gaze drawn toward the door.

It was purely by chance that she happened to be concealed when Regina and Henry Mills came out of Granny's diner. Emma had been in Storybrooke just a scant few weeks. All her interaction with Mayor Mills up to this point had been vitriolic beyond belief. Which was why she'd frozen when she heard the Mayor's harried voice calling her son out of the diner.

She'd never heard Regina sound so human before.

"Henry Daniel Mills, come along this instant!" the Mayor growled through the open door of the diner. "It is bad enough that you convinced me that consuming that much sugar was acceptable for breakfast, you are not going to be late for school on top of it! Leave Miss Lucas be and come!"

A few moments later, Henry came stomping out. Emma was in just the right angle that she could see Regina's profile, but all she saw of Henry was the back of his head. Still, she didn't need to see his face to know that he was rolling his eyes and scowling.

"Miss Blanchard won't care," he muttered sullenly. The look Regina gave him was stern, and calculating. She was, Emma realized, trying to think of the perfect thing to say that would get her son to stop fighting her so they could get him to school on time.

She also recognized the moment she realized what that perfect thing to say was. Her face blanched and her head snapped back almost as if she'd been slapped. As her lips opened to speak, they also puckered a little, as though the words coming out of them tasted sour.

And when Emma heard them, she realized just what an accurate analogy that was.

"Well, by all means, if you'd rather be late to school so you can spend more time with me, Henry, who am I to argue?"

Henry's spine went rigid. Lightning quick, he shouldered his backpack and took off down the sidewalk at a speed walk, calling over his shoulder as he went, "Wow, you're right, if we don't leave now I'll be really late!"

Regina, too, straightened her back. She closed her eyes and took a deep, steadying breath. For a moment her expression was one of pure anguish, and it made Emma's stomach flip a little. She didn't know it at the time, but it was an expression she'd soon become immune to, because she would see it so often.

When Regina's eyes opened, though, there was no trace of that sorrow anywhere. She was 100% Mayor Mills again. Her heels clicked sharply on the concrete as she followed Henry to school.

"Oh, your stories tonight are just so heartwarming," Regina murmured when Emma was finished. "Truly, your grasp on romance is astounding."

Emma rolled her eyes. "God, you're still a bitch, you know that?"

"Be still my heart," Regina fanned her face dramatically, leaning further into Emma's shoulder while she fluttered her eyelashes.

Emma shoved her with her shoulder again. "Shut up. I'm just saying. Up until right at that moment, I sort of thought you were a robot or something."

Regina blinked. "Pardon?"

"Yeah, like, a really angry robot. I had literally never seen you have any other emotion. But right then with Henry? You were totally a mom. You knew him well enough to know exactly what you needed to say to get his butt in gear. I'm still trying to get that skill down, you know? And when what needed to be said was basically the most hurtful thing to yourself you could've said, you still did it." Emma curled her arm tighter around Regina's shoulders. "And then you were so, so sad. So, hey, two emotions in three minutes that I'd never seen you have before. Turns out you were a person, not a robot after all!"

Regina gaped at her. She was silent for so long, staring at Emma with wide, unbelieving eyes, that Emma began to fidget. Finally, she huffed out a breath and demanded, "What?"

"A really angry robot?"

Emma grinned. "Well…yeah."

"Really. Angry. Robot."

"That's seriously all you got out of that?"

"You are, without a doubt, the biggest idiot I have ever met. Product of True Love, hell, you're the product of Pure Idiocy. You are the Ultimate Idiot. I cannot believe—" Regina sputtered, while Emma blushed and squirmed. Finally Regina settled roughly back into her place tucked under Emma's arm. "You are so lucky I love you, you idiot."

At that, Emma laughed loudly. "Yeah. You got that part right."

"Really angry robot, indeed."

When Emma had groveled enough to appease Regina's irritation, they continued their walk, hand in hand down Storybrooke's streets. Their pace seemed almost aimless, but Emma definitely had a destination in mind.

"And where to next on our stroll down memory lane?" Regina asked dryly. "Shall we walk to the mines, where we can relive either Henry's near death experience, or ours? The wishing well, where you can tell me how it made you feel to know I absorbed a death curse? Oh, or maybe—"

"How about here instead?"

Regina paused, no doubt a little irritated since she'd just been getting started in her playful rant. But then she realized where they were, and she smiled instead. "Oh. Well. Here is…good too."

They were at Storybrooke's local ice cream parlor, Any Given Sundae. It was closed, of course, but the tables outside were still set up, and the pair automatically went to the one they considered theirs.

"Here is better, actually," Regina admitted.

"I thought you might say that."

"I can't believe you got sprinkles," Emma crowed, staring at Regina gleefully.

Regina merely took a defiant lick of her ice cream cone, making sure to scoop up a good portion of the sprinkles on her tongue, which she then waggled at Emma before pulling it back into her mouth. Emma laughed, delighted at the playful sense of humor Regina was becoming more and more comfortable in showing her.

"But really. Who knew? The Evil Queen likes chocolate ice cream and rainbow sprinkles." Emma shook her head, amazed. "This is big. This is huge. This is like, the biggest, most amazing thing that's ever happened." Emma had all but forgotten her own ice cream, waving the cone around haphazardly as she spoke, dripping ice cream down her wrist. "We need to take out a billboard with this information. It'll just be your face and rainbow sprinkles and like, that's it. Because seriously. You. Rainbow sprinkles. Does Mary Margaret know about this? She's gonna feel like an idiot, she's scared of someone that likes rainbow sprinkles. She—"

Regina reached out and grabbed Emma's arm. Emma stopped talking and watched as Regina collected some of the melted ice cream from her wrist on her fingers and brought them to her lips. She sucked them clean and let them leave her lips with a pop, and smiled at her now completely silent, totally dumbfounded girlfriend. "Emma?"

"Ye—uh," Emma cleared her throat. "Yeah?"

"I'm out of sprinkles," Regina pouted, showing Emma her cone. Sure enough, she'd already licked the sprinkles off.

"Uh. Yeah?"

Regina stared guilelessly at her. "Could you get me more?"

Emma blinked. Surely the brunette wasn't serious? She couldn't seriously be asking Emma to get her more sprinkles. Especially after Emma had just spent the last five minutes teasing her about sprinkles. She blinked again.

Regina widened her eyes at her. Her lower lip jutted out, just a tiny bit, in an almost imperceptible pout. Emma's heart slammed against her ribcage all of a sudden, as all the air seemed to just disappear from her lungs.

"Um, yeah. Yeah, I can get you more sprinkles."

She was rewarded with the best gift of all, a full blown, megawatt, beaming smile from Regina Mills. There was pretty much nothing Emma wouldn't do just to see that smile. Her feet were carrying her back into the ice cream shop before she knew it.

The woman behind the counter—a different one than the one that had served them to begin with; that one had been all in red, this one was all in blue—smiled knowingly when Emma came in. "What can I do for you, Emma?"

Emma had long ago given up feeling weird when people she'd not met before knew her name. She shrugged and said sheepishly, "Can I get some more sprinkles, please?"

"Regina already ate all hers, did she?" The woman clucked her tongue disapprovingly. "I keep telling Flora, give the Queen extra when she comes."

The name pinged something in Emma's memory, but she ignored it in favor of what the woman had actually said. "Do you really say that?"

"Of course, dear." The plump old woman laughed at her expression. "Every time, single scoop of chocolate, extra sprinkles. She likes the rainbow ones the best."

Emma smiled brilliantly, warmed for some inexplicable reason. She just really, really liked the fact that Regina liked sprinkles. The woman—her nametag said Meri on it; Emma filed it away for later, just in case—slid a little paper cup full of sprinkles across the counter. When Emma started to reach for her pocket, she was waved off.

"Nonsense, dear, they're only sprinkles."

So Emma smiled and thanked her, and took the cup back out to Regina. She set it on the table and slid into the chair next to the other woman. Watching as Regina tipped the cup carefully over her cone, she tilted her head toward the store and asked, "So who are the old ladies that run the shop?"

Regina looked up. "You haven't figured it out yet? Ask Henry." She tilted her head toward Emma's nearly forgotten cone. "You're making a mess, my dear."

Surprised, Emma looked at herself. Her own ice cream—cinnamon, of course—was in fact running down her wrist. Rolling her eyes at herself, she went about cleaning it up in the only way one really could clean up this kind of mess: by licking it off her skin.

By the time she was done, and working on her cone, she suddenly became aware of the fact that Regina was staring. She stopped, tongue halfway out to touch her ice cream, and blushed. "What?"

Because the look on Regina's face was indulgent, yes, but also thoughtful and calculating. It was like she was thinking very hard on something, but something pleasing. Emma lowered her hand and fought the urge to look away in embarrassment.

"Nothing," Regina murmured. "Thank you for the sprinkles."

And then she leaned across the arm of her chair and pressed her lips to Emma's.

It was hardly the first time Regina had kissed her. They'd been dating for over six months now; there had been plenty of kisses before this. But those had all been behind closed doors. They'd had more than a few public dates, but never had they engaged in even innocuous displays of affection on them, much less kissing. So this, coming completely out of the blue, took Emma by surprise.

She apparently did not respond quick enough, because Regina pulled away hastily, flushing deep red and looking anywhere but at Emma's face. She began to stammer an apology, half rising in her seat. Emma panicked; if she didn't get control of this situation quickly, smooth out the attack of insecurity Regina was having, who knew how long it would be before she was comfortable trying something like this again? So Emma simply grabbed her by the back of the neck and pulled her in again for another kiss.

Neither of them noticed when their ice cream began melting down their wrists.

Regina pulled away from Emma's lips reluctantly, smiling softly as she did. "This is a much better memory to relive."

"Oh yeah," Emma agreed, carefully unwinding her fingers from Regina's hair, but keeping her hand cupped on the back of her neck so she had to stay close. She rested her forehead against Regina's and brushed their noses together gently. "What made you do that anyway?"

Regina shrugged. "You brought me more sprinkles, and I wanted to. I wanted to kiss you more than I wanted to continue hiding our relationship." She brushed her hand down Emma's jaw. Her next words were soft, and pensive. "It was just time, I suppose."

The words echoed in Emma's ears, and settled somewhere in the vicinity of her heart. She breathed out, "Yeah. Just time. The right time."

Regina pulled away, studying Emma thoughtfully. "Are you alright? You sound peculiar."

"I'm fine," Emma assured. She stood, and pulled Regina with her. "Come on. We still have one more stop to make."

Regina fell into step with her easily, in sync without having to think about it. They didn't speak on this stretch of the walk, preferring instead to just soak up the warmth that existed between them. Regina slid and arm around Emma's waist and tucked herself into her favorite spot under Emma's arm, leaning into her as she did. Emma pulled her close and rubbed her thumb against Regina's arm as she did, absentmindedly leaning their heads together as they walked.

The nerves that she had felt at the beginning of the night were coming back, but thankfully not as violently. Her stomach wasn't flat out revolting anymore; instead it just fluttered some, and her heart seemed to speed up with every step towards their destination.

Regina finally seemed to take notice of where they were going as Town Hall blossomed in their view. She lifted her head. "Really, Emma? My tree?" She poked Emma in the ribs. "Are we reliving your days as a lumberjack?"

Emma laughed fully at that. "Well, I suppose I could whip up some sort of story about that. Like, oh, I don't know. How I only did that because I was already having stronger reactions to you than I'd ever had to anyone else in my life before? I could probably make something out of that, I bet." She thought about it for a moment, and then nodded her head firmly. "Yeah, there's definitely a monologue there. But no, that's not what this is about. It's the last stop on our walk, and it's something that hasn't happened yet."

That caught Regina's interest. She drew herself up to her full height, looking at Emma curiously. Emma waited until the apple tree was in view, just to make sure Henry had done his part. Seeing that he had, she nodded toward the tree. "Go look."

With a confused frown, Regina looked at the tree too. There were two lanterns hanging from two of its branches, illuminating something resting on them and against the trunk. They stepped closer, until they could see the familiar form of Henry's book of fairy tales in the tree's branches.

Regina stiffened out of pure reflex. In the past that book had meant nothing but heartache and loss for her. It was something Emma was hoping to change tonight. She untangled her fingers from Regina's and pushed the other woman forward gently.

"It's okay," she reassured quietly. "I promise."

And since Emma had long since proven that she kept the promises she made, Regina stepped into the lantern's light, with Emma close behind. Emma knew the moment Regina recognized what was in the book, because she heard her take a soft, shuddering breath.

There was a new illustration in the book. Emma and Henry had added it themselves, working long and hard on the painting and writing and carefully stitching the pages in by hand. The result, Emma admitted with no small amount of pride, was something that definitely looked like it belonged in a book where every tale ended 'and they lived happily ever after.'

The illustration was of the Evil Queen, in full regalia, and a knight with long, golden blonde hair, and a sword at her hip. They were standing in front of the honeycrisp tree, just as now. Or, more accurately, the Queen was standing. Her Knight was kneeling on one knee. At the top of the page, in flowing script it had taken Emma ages to perfect, were the same words that were embossed on the book's cover: Once upon a time. And below the illustration, the beginning of a brand new story, "there was an Evil Queen and her White Knight…"

Regina reached out with trembling fingers to brush them against the illustration. When just their tips touched the page, confirming the reality of what she was seeing, she drew in another small gasp. That hand went to cover her mouth as she slowly turned to face Emma again.

Emma hoped Regina would overlook the fact that she had decided not to kneel. While Regina had been captivated by the book's new addition, Emma had slipped the ring box out of her pocket and quietly snapped it open. When Regina turned, what she saw was Emma, holding a glittering diamond set in a delicate gold band.

"I actually did have this big speech planned for this part," Emma admitted sheepishly. "But hell if I remember what I was going to say. I remember the important part though." She took a deep breath, let it out slowly. "Regina, will you marry me?"

Regina was silent for a very, very long time. And when she did finally react, it was not as Emma expected at all. Because Regina threw her head back and laughed.

Emma's stomach immediately dropped. Her heart stuttered painfully in her chest, and she had to blink very quickly to stop the tears that threatened to fall. "Well, Christ, Regina, you don't have to laugh."

But Regina was shaking her head, still laughing. She darted forward and grabbed Emma's wrist before she could put the ring away. "No, Emma, no. It isn't like that," she reassured gently. "It's only…"

She trailed off, still giggling, and waved her right hand. As she did, Emma saw something shimmer and appear on her ring finger, and now her heart was faltering for an entirely different reason. Because on Regina's finger was a ring similar to the one she was holding in her hands.

Regina slipped it off and held it close to the one Emma had. She dipped her head to catch Emma's eyes and smiled brilliantly at her. "I've been carrying this for far longer than I would care to admit. But I could never find the right time to give it to you. I decided at Granny's that I would give it to you tonight. And I decided I would do it here, even if I had to add this tree to our walk myself." She cupped Emma's cheek in her hand. "That's why I was laughing. Because I was going to ask you to marry me."

Emma gaped, staring at her ring in Regina's hand. Finally, she looked up, and said the only thing she could possibly say in this situation.

"Seriously?"

Regina burst into peals of laughter again, leaning her weight into Emma's body as she did. Emma latched one hand onto Regina's waist and laughed with her as Regina nodded. "Yes, seriously!"

They laughed until tears streamed down their cheeks and they had to wipe them away carefully. Emma brushed her hand against Regina's face, making sure to mind her mascara, while Regina returned the gesture for her. Then Emma plucked Regina's ring from its bed and tossed the box away from her, not caring where it landed. She'd pick it up later. For now, she held the ring against Regina's left ring finger.

"What'd'ya say? Marry me?"

Regina chuckled as she placed Emma's ring in a similar position. "Only if you'll marry me as well."

And then there were more tears, which Emma couldn't help and didn't even try, as she nodded. Regina pushed her ring onto her finger at the same time as Emma slid Regina's into place, and they both fit perfectly.

And if there was maybe a little magical fireworks display around them as their lips met to seal their promise, well, then, there was no one around to see but the apple tree.