It has been months since that first dinner at Regina's house, but that did not mean dinner had not become a regular occurrence. Once a week they came together, preferably on Fridays, and enjoyed each other's company. Henry watched as he always had, but this time he watched something grow. He just hoped it was what he thought it was. He had to think long and hard if he wanted his moms together like that. Sure, he wasn't a little boy any more. He had gone through a lot. They all had gone through a lot. He can't forget the curses, and the pain. Abduction, and surviving, flying monkeys and a very weird Robin Hood, and crazy ass ice queens. Henry knew everything. It was as if he was a keeper of the book that told all the secrets of the Enchanted Forest. Sometimes he wanted to take up his authors quill and write them together, but what would that do to their destiny? He did not want to mess with fate. Besides, even though it was slow, it seemed his moms would get there, eventually.

"I think I am tired," he said as he stood from the table and smiled at his moms. They smiled back softly and then helped him take the dishes to the kitchen. He kissed each mother on the cheek and then left them in the kitchen.

It was a comfortable silence as they began to wash dishes and Henry, ever the spy, came back silently and looked in on his moms. He saw Regina wash, and Emma dry the dishes. He saw the way their hips bumped lightly into the other, and then as if drawn together like magnets they stayed toughed with their sides, and hips. He saw Emma smile softly at her hands, and then he saw his mom, with soap suds on her fingers push loose hair behind her ear not caring that he now had soap in her hair.

He watched as they finished the dishes and look at each other. He waited patiently, a sense of electricity in the air as they gazed into the others eyes. Emma closed her eyes and so did his mom as their faces slid closer to the other. Then his mom turned her head at the last moment and kissed Emma's cheek right at the side of her mouth. Henry sighed silently as he saw Emma's eyes clench closed tighter as her head tilted up toward the ceiling. He shook his head and left his parents in a loose embrace.

He didn't stay to see Regina slowly walk from Emma's side with tears in her eyes. He didn't stay to see Emma reach out for the former queen and pull her hard against her body and wrap her arms around the strong woman. He didn't see them standing wrapped up in each other arms in the middle of the kitchen. No words passing between them, as if a silent conversation happened with just their bodies.

OOOoooOOOooo

Regina pulled away at the last moment. She couldn't do it. She couldn't risk it. No, never would she risk what she had with Emma. When she found herself in Emma's strong embrace she let herself fall into those arms. This she could allow, this embrace, this affection she can let happen. It would not change anything. Friends hug, friends console each other, and are there to lean on. But a kiss… no it would change everything.

Regina clutched Emma tightly other own smaller frame burying her face in Emma's neck, and let tears slip from her eyes. She would never risk having this woman leave her just because she desired her, lusted after her…. Loved her. Oh, by the gods did she love her. She could place a small bet that Emma felt something for her as well. Hell, they danced about their affection for each other for months, almost a year now. But did Emma love her? It was a conversation she could not bring herself to have to courage to have. No, she would stay in the grey area of friendship teetering into the abyss of more, right on the border, toeing the line of completely and utterly falling in love with the blonde.

She let one mistake happen before she pulled from the blonde. She kissed her chest, below her shoulder and above her heart. Regina placed a promise there with no words that she would never hurt this woman, she loved her, and she would never risk her, never risk the lovely wonderous bond that they had.

BOOM!

Emma and Regina pulled apart, and then looked at each other. It came from near the center of the town. Emma held out her hand and then Regina took it. She transported them in front of Granny's in a cloud of smoke. They looked around, tried to see the threat. Snow, David, and Ruby ran out of the dinner into the street. Emma saw it embedded in the road. It happened faster than a flash. Tentacles of darkness grasped Regina and pulled her into a tornado of black.

"GOLD! He must be gone!" as Regina looked over to the pawn shop and saw Bella walk out in tears. Emma looked back to Regina and shook her head and reached for her. She pulled her hand back, stung. Regina stared at Emma and shouted at her, plead with her not to interfere. Not Emma never Emma. Regina felt the tendrils of darkness writhe over her, seeping into her.

"I love you," Regina whispered to Emma. She wished she never had. Emma launched herself into the fray of darkness. Their eyes never detached from the other. Regina held Emma's hand. Eyes only for the other. Emma kissed her. Lips sweeter than honey sipped briefly of her lips, and then she was shot from the tornado of darkness. Dropped on her ass from the cloud, Regina scrambled to where Emma was.

"No," she whispered looking at the spot. Belle, of all people, walked to the struck queen. She placed a hand on her shoulder, but Regina shook it off. She clutched her abdomen, pain, mass quantities of fucking pain. She doubled over, folded in on herself to block it out, to make it go away. She opened her eyes and threw her head back and screamed, guttural and crazed, full of loss and despair.

"My heart," she gasped as she felt it hammer in her chest. Then stop, it stopped pounding, it stopped beating. "My heart," she gasped once more, and she went forward on her hands and knees. Her world became dark and blurred around the edges. Once final gasp and a clutch at her chest she pitched forward onto the asphalt next to a curved dagger etched with…

Emma Swan.

OOOoooOOOooo

"How is she breathing when there is no heart beat?" she heard the voice far away. Henry. She tried with her might to open her eyes, move her arms, wiggle her fingers. She needed him, she needed her son after losing…

There it was the strained croak from her throat as she remembered Emma, her lips on her hers for a split second, and then gone. She remembered her heart stopped beating the moment Emma disappeared. Her eyes opened but she could not see through the blur of her tears. She felt a hand in hers, and then a mush cold one in her other. She blinked her tears away and looked to her right and saw her son. HE smiled relieved, and then she looked to her left. Snow fucking White. She tried to pull her hand from the pixie haired woman's, but she would not let go. She had no strength. She looked around. She was in the hospital, she looked down, she was in a bed, in a hospital gown. She ignored the woman and looked at her son.

"How long?" she let the question linger in the air. Henry swallowed and then sighed.

'Two Days," he said softly. She tried to raise her hand and made it half way when he caught it and then brought it the rest of the way to his cheek. "I'm sorry," he said and then let sorrow fill his eyes.

Regina watched her son break and stroked his cheek below his eye catching a loose tear. She made to sit up but could not. She closed her eyes as she moved her hand from Snow's hold and placed her hand on her chest.

"It is… not beating," she states hollowly. Henry and Snow looked at each other. "I need to see Belle please, that is if she will see me," Snow nodded, and Henry sped from the room happy to have something to do. Regina closed her eyes against the lights of the room, and the emptiness in her chest. When she heard a sniff, she turned her head slightly to her left and took in the woman at her bed side.

"I always thought but I didn't know," Snow whispered as she took in the woman's tears, her laying form. Regina said nothing. She had no voice to console the wretch known as her step daughter. Just because she loved her daughter did not mean she would love the woman next to her. No, never.

"Peace Regina, please," Snow begged as she clutched as Regina's hand and her eyes bore in to the queens, "Peace, because my daughter would have wanted it. My daughter," Snow swallowed and looked at Regina and Regina simply waited, "She loved you so much."

Regina's eyes closed as she heard those words. IF her heart still beat, it would have stopped at those words. She was saved from engaging further with Snow White as Bella walked into the room.

"That did not take long," Regina snarked as she looked at Henry. Only Henry caught the sarcastic wit and smiled.

"She has stayed here in the hospital or close by. She has an idea," Henry said as he let Bella sit in the chair vacated by Snow.

"Regina," Belle breathed with a teary relieved smile, "I am happy you are awake." She clutched at Regina's hand.

"Belle why am I alive, but I have no heart beat?" Regina asked. She was the only one to ask now that the Dark One… no Rumpelstiltskin, was dead. Belle pulled two books from her bag and opened then and turned them to the pages she saw.

"Emma is alive. That is one reason why you are not dead. She, you, well…" Belle stammered looking at Snow.

"Out with-it bookworm," Regina snapped but squeezed the woman's arm in assurance that it was not her wrath that coated her words, but loss.

"True love," Belle whispered. Regina blinked and let her hand fall.

"What? You have got to be joking?" Regina croaked and then swallowed. Belle pointed to the book in front of her and then opened the other. Showed her the elven words, and then the glyphs that matched the other book.

"Emma, a product of true love sacrificed herself for her truelove, she is not immediately a dark one, and because of this trial, she is half dead, your heart is sustaining her," Belle said as she took the book back and read.

"Where is she?" Regina asked as her breathing began to become shallower.

"We do not know," Belle said as she closed her books.

"Emma has to go through a trial," Regina said running it through her mind, "She has to choose," Regina closed her eyes. She knew how hard it was to choose light over dark, love over hate, Emma over her pain. She waved everyone out except for Henry.

"Mom?" he asked as soon as the room was vacant. She opened her eyes and looked at her boy.

"I'm so sorry Henry," she began to cry.

"Why? Mom don't cry. Talk to me," he fretted as he saw his mother breakdown in front of him. He was not used to his mom, Regina, Evil Queen, Mayor of Storybrooke, crying in front of him.

"I never knew Henry," Regina softly spoke as she looked at Henry.

"I did," he smiled down at her. He watched as her eyes grew and he smirked when her mouth formed the perfect little 'O' as she had questions flying through her thought. He chuckled, "You guys had been spending a lot of time together. I also have eyes, and I'm not stupid, Mom."

"But… what … why… How?" Regina began to stutter and then Henry placed a steady warm hand on her arm.

"The almost kisses, the touches, the tight embraces when you think I have gone to bed," Henry supplied. Regina's wide eyes narrowed. She was caught by her snooping son.

"How do you feel about this…development?"

"I want you both happy, and you both seem to make each other happy. I love you both and would want nothing more than for your happiness," he said. Regina looked as her little boy and realized he was not little any more. He was a man, a wonderful, sensitive, young man. She let another stream of tears slip from her eyes.

"Why did you never follow her lead?" he asked his mother.

"I was afraid I would ruin the bond I had with Emma," she looked at her son, "I can't lose her Henry. I need her in my life be that as a lover or a friend, but I could not risk it."

"Now knowing you are trueloves, I guess you have to risk it don't you?" he chuckled mischievously. Regina angled her head and looked at her son. Thank the gods he was alright with this.

OOOoooOOOooo

She was sleeping, gaining strength with every second, but they kept her in that blasted bed for the past 2 days. A storm raged outside and the whole of Storybrooke suffered the deluge from the skies. A crack of lighting and a rumble of thunder jolted her from her slumber. She looked out her window and saw the rivulets of water pour down the window. She looked around and took in her room. Another flash of lighting blinding the room. Her eyes flew open as a figure sat in the chair in the corner. She blinked, then blinked again. Blonde lush tresses, green bright eyes, and that warm smile.

"Go Away, you are a dream," Regina commanded the figure. She heard the chuckle from the phantom in her mind and then turned back to the chair. The figure never moved. Her smile never slipped from her lips.

"I love you," said that voice that haunted Regina for the past few days.

"Easy for a dream to say that, for dreams are nothing more than the manifestations of desires or fears," Regina watched as the figure stood as sat on the bed. Regina felt the bed dip as the woman sat on the bed facing her. She felt the warmth in the dreams hand.

"So which one am I, a desire or a fear?" smiled the blonde. Regina glared at the Emma in her dreams. She looked away and back to the window. IF she would not wake up she would simply ignore the woman sitting on her bed, stroking her hand, making her chest feel warm. Then she swallowed when the woman moved from the bed. She was no longer there. Regina closed her eyes, not able to turn around and confirm the wraiths departure.

Then it came, the sound that touched her soul so many months ago. She opened her eyes and watched the woman. No, please stop. She wished could speak and tell this dream turned torturous nightmare to leave her be, then she opened her eyes and placed the violin on the bed and stepped closer to Regina. The dream leaned down, stroked her cheek and chin. Regina was powerless to stop the beauty of this dream. Lips connected.

Regina gasped, and her eyes flew open, and her arms reached up. She bolted up right in her bed and there it was. The beep, beep, beep, of a heart monitor. She watched the machine, she saw the rhythm, and then placed her hand over her heart. It beat. Her heart it beat. Then the door flew open.

Her jaw dropped when she saw Emma, standing there with two cups of coffee in her hands. Regina watched as she walked into the room and then kick the door closed. She observed the way Emma's hips moved, the way she smiled, and her green eyes glimmered. She didn't expect it as the blonde leaned in and kissed her lips, held her lips with hers. No rush, not insistence of passion, just connection. Regina lifted her hand to Emma's cheek, and then pulled back and placed her forehead on Emma's.

"Please be real," Regina prayed as she opened her clamped eyes when she heard Emma's rich chuckle.

"I am real, and I am yours," Emma's smile slipped as she looked away, "If you will have me." Regina pulled those eyes back to her.

"Always," she kissed Emma with more passion than she had with any other lover in the past. When she broke away from Emma she asked only one question.

"So, you are the next Dark One?" Regina wanted to know needed to know how close that darkness would be near to her.

"No actually," Emma said as she sat in the chair, "I passed a trial and became something else," Emma smiled.

"How?" Regina asked watching her soon to be lover.

"We kissed in the middle of that storm of darkness, we connected. It was fated, I guess, or at least that's what these dudes in cloaks said as I passed a weird test," Emma explained as she sat back sipping her coffee.

"So you are staying?" Regina asked, but that was not her whole question and it seemed as if Emma read between her lines.

"For as long as you will have me," Emma reached out and stroked Regina's hand. Regina smiled content and leaned back in the pillows watching the woman she loved.

"Can you do me a favor?" Regina asked softly watching Emma. Emma nodded. "Play for me?"

Emma smiled and conjured her violin and watched Regina as she pulled the bow over strings. Never once pulled her eyes from Regina.

OOOoooOOOooo

"The tale of the Queen and her Savior could continue on for endless, countless more stories, but it was then that they found each other. They gave each other their hearts back, gave the other a reason to believe in love once more. It is with these wonderous women that true love is solidified, believed in, and able of crossing realms, and time for it is true in the truest sense of the word. It was their love, and they lived there on after."

"Shouldn't it be happily ever after?" questioned a bright eyed little girl looking up at her father. He looked down and smiled warmly.

"Not all things end up happily ever after little love. Look at Snow White and Prince Charming. They were not happily ever after. To live in that kind of love, that kind of peace of heart it takes work," the father told his daughter.

"But you wrote it, why couldn't you have said that they lived happily ever after?" she asked her father staring down at her bed time story book.

"I cannot because it did not end that way," the man smiled as he remembered, "they fought either each other or side by side, but the truest thing they had ever done was love each other, completely and unconditionally, from that moment on. They loved each other always," he explained. Then watched as the little girl next to him thought.

"So true love is work, and dedication, and being true to the one you found true love with?" she asked and then looked up. He smiled down at her and nodded.

"Henry, I need your help in the living room with the light bulb. I can't reach it," called a woman from down stairs.

"Your mother calls. Get to sleep," he smiled as he tucked her in and pulled the covers up over her form.

Henry walked down to the living room and stood stock still as he took in the sight before him. There before him stood his mothers. He walked to them, hugged them, and the three held each other in a warm lingering embrace.

"You don't look a day older than when I wrote that bed time story," he commented as he pulled from his mothers and motioned for them to sit down as Cin brought back coffee for everyone. Emma smiled and it as Regina that reached out and took Emma's hand. The adults continued to talk but it was Regina that let her eyes linger over to the stairs and saw magical green eyes. She smiled and nodded slightly to the little girl and it was then that Emma saw the movement as well. She smiled warmly. That was all it took.

"Grandma, Gran!" the little girl shot into their arms. Henry sat back and reached for his truelove's hand and pressed his lips to the back of her knuckles.

"Gran can you play for me?" asked the little girl and Emma only smiled as she reached for the case by her feet. His mothers came back to him like a melody on the wind.

It might be time to write another story.