Regina took Emma and Henry home that evening and cooked dinner for them. After Henry had gone to sleep, the two women settled on the couch to talk;
"So Regina, what made you volunteer to help me all of a sudden? I mean, I know that we've been getting along better recently but you didn't have to invite me to move in with you" Emma asked her. Regina hesitated a bit, before explaining herself;
"Well dear, once upon a time, there was a queen. She was beautiful and she had a family, but her husband did not love her, for his heart belonged to his dead first wife, and her stepdaughter ruined any chance that the beautiful queen might've had at happiness. The queen was so full of rage, that without thinking of the consequences, she destroyed her stepdaughter's happiness. Because of the evil queen's selfishness, an innocent little girl grew up as an orphan. That's why I adopted Henry, because I was so guilty about what I had done to that little girl. To you Emma, you deserve better and I feel that it's my duty to ensure that your child grows up with two loving parents. If I had never cast the curse, Neal might still be alive'
"If you had never cast the curse, Neal and I would never have met and Henry wouldn't be alive, Regina. You may have destroyed lives back there, but you created lives here, you made all of this possible, and anyway, you didn't make my parents put me in a tree, therefore it isn't your fault I grew up without them" Emma cut her off.
The two women looked at each other in silence for a few minutes, before Regina spoke;
"I'm 37 Emma, and I have nobody in my life at the moment that I would want to have a child with. By the time I meet someone, if I ever do, it will be too late for me to have my own children" Regina said, before bursting into anguished sobs.
"Regina, you have a child, with me, a child that loves you and we are going to be raising another one together, who will love you just as much as I do…." Emma broke off hastily realizing what she had said.
"You love me?" the crying older woman asked, turning to face Emma with a bewildered look in her eyes. Emma took a deep breath, if they were going to be living together than she may as well be honest with Regina.
"Yes, I've loved you for a while now, ever since we stopped the trigger together. But I've been scared to say anything because I assumed that relationships like that were frowned upon back in the Enchanted Forest and because I thought Mom would flip her shit and that Henry might not like it and I was also worried about getting fireballs thrown at me by you, or Rumple cursing me for not loving Neal anymore…" Emma babbled on till Regina cut her off.
"Emma, homosexuality was frowned upon in the Enchanted Forest, but we are in America now and anyone can be with anyone. Henry wants us to be a real family more than anything in the world and would be thrilled with us being together. There is no way I would ever throw fireballs at a pregnant woman, let alone a woman I had feelings for and Rumple can be dealt with if need be" Regina assured her, pulling the taller woman in for a hug.
"What about your stepdaughter, my mother?" Emma asked.
"I try to forget that I was ever married to your Grandfather, Emma. He was not a pleasant man after Eva died, I was never truly his wife, if anything I was just a body for him to use when he felt like it" Regina confessed.
'Oh Regina, I'm so sorry, do you want to talk about it? I can relate to that feeling" Emma told the older woman.
"Emma I do want to talk about it with someone, but for tonight, you need your rest" Regina said, Emma nodded and followed Regina up to the guest bedroom for the night.