Story Summary: Emma is sweeping the front stoop and takes a very brief trip down memory lane. Regina appears for Emma to share her musings.

A/N: This story had already been posted on Tumble a few years ago, and upon realizing that I had never posted it on a fanfiction site, thought it had a home here in this collection. I have put it through another good edit, so hopefully it will feel a bit like a new story, especially if you haven't read it in a while.

It's always a good time for a married Swan Queen "short". Enjoy!

The Front Stoop

It was a warm summer day that found Emma holding a broom limply in her hands while she absently swept the front stoop of 108 Mifflin Street. Memories, old and new, fluttered through her mind.

"Well…" A low rich chuckle broke her from her musings. "What's this? Are you actually getting anything with that broom, Emma?" Emma looked up and caught Regina carting a canvas bag of groceries in each hand, having just arrived home. "When you offered to help me with some of my chores today, I expected you'd be done with this one by now."

"It's coming along just fine," Emma assured her with a head nod and a lifted eyebrow. "I was just thinking..."

Regina sarcastically feigned alarm, "Uh oh. No. Anything but that..."

"And," Emma interjected, good naturedly ignoring the jibe. "I got to thinking about this very stoop… and us."

Regina's curious brow indicated that Emma may need to elaborate a bit more.

"For instance," Emma pointed in the middle of the walkway, "... right over there was where I met you for the first time. I saw you open this door," she pointed, "…and sprint right off this stoop to get to Henry in utter relief that he was returned to you safely after having gone missing."

Regina blinked at the spot of their first meeting, all those years ago, and her eyes returned to Emma's, studying the nostalgic expression on the blonde's face.

"I have knocked on this very door a million times..."

"... to arrest me, accuse me of murder..." Regina quipped, the tips of her mouth quirking up.

"...to ask for help... to see if you were alright..." Emma put a hand on her cocked hip, gesturing with a head nod, "You even magically hurled me all the way over there once."

"You threatened to take Henry from me." Dipping her chin downward, Regina cast a pointed expression Emma's way but was sure to dress it with a smile.

"I know. I know. Which was a little... dumb. Knowing what I know now..."

"... only a little dumb?"

"I thought you'd just killed someone." Emma threw her a fixed look of her own and held up a hand before they got into an age-old argument, "... but the truth is, you're one of the best mothers I know, and I constantly look to your example and the memories you gave me, before Henry and I went to New York, to take care of my own son."

Regina's expression softened at the thought of Henry and at Emma's acknowledgement of her mothering abilities. "Our son," the older woman replied tenderly.

"Yeah." The pure look of adoration worn by Emma called out to Regina. It burgeoned in her chest and then spread out warming her.

"There are pleasant memories here too." Regina gripped the grocery bags tighter. She should probably get them inside, but she felt compelled to add to Emma's ponderings. "Right here, Henry came to me and told me he would never give up on me." The brunette's eyes became misty. She shook herself. "And this…" She swept the front area meaningfully with a filled bag in her hand, "... is where you came into my life, broke my curse, and started me on my road to redemption."

"It's also the first spot where we admitted our true feelings for one another." Green eyes bored into brown ones intensely and the blonde's dimple winked at Regina as it hung on the end of a wide sentimental smile, which triggered Regina's deep red lips to curve again as well. "This is also where I kissed you for the very first time, babe."

Regina's smile faded under the weight of a heavy frown. "I think you have that backwards. I kissed you first, darling."

The blonde jerked her head back. "Uh… No." Shaking her head, Emma switched the broom to the other hand and clarified, "I kissed you."

"You weren't going to kiss me until I told you to!"

"No way. I started to lean in first!"

"That was a lean? It was a windy evening. I thought you were blown off balance." Regina punctuated her statement with a lift of both weighted hands, grocery bags swaying in agitation, and Emma had the urge to kiss that look off Regina's face like she always did.

"Well, maybe I feel a little blown in your direction right now." The blonde moved in, caressed a cheek with her knuckles. "So, prepare to be kissed." The tender touch lasted all of eight seconds but still jump-started Emma's heart and libido.

Regina cleared her throat, just as affected and rasped, "I'd better get these groceries in, so your Rocky Road ice cream doesn't melt."

The brunette turned, hesitated and then pivoted back, dropping the bag at her left on the stoop. She brought her hand up and drew the blonde in by the nape of her neck, enjoying the feel of smooth warm skin and strands of silky golden hair.

When they separated, Emma reached up, stealing that hand away and kissing it. The platinum gold of their matching wedding rings glinted in the Maine sun.

"I was also thinking about that day when we stood right here and you said to me, 'I will destroy you if it is the last thing I do', remember?"

Regina huffed, pulled her hand away and grabbed the handle of the bag. Leave it to her wife to ruin a perfectly good moment with threats she had once made out of bitterness and anger. "Yes, I do."

"Well, you did, Regina." Emma smiled as she started sweeping again, eyes downcast to make sure she was effectively succeeding. Her statement caused Regina to halt just inside the doorway and turn curiously toward her. "You destroyed me for anyone else."

Emma didn't have to lift her eyes from her task to know that her wife was smiling lovingly at her before disappearing into the house. She knew.