disclaimer: do not own OUAT. The character Gwendolyn is mine, though. :)

Surprise! There's an epilogue. Enjoy!


Epilogue

4 years later

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Gwendolyn, happy birthday to you!" The tiny blonde who was almost the miniature version of Emma, looked into her birthday cake with four very special birthday candles on it. Her blonde mother was crouching down next to her while she listened to everyone sing. Her brunette mother was behind the cake taking a picture of the important moment.

"Okay, sweetie, make a wish and blow out your candles." Emma said to her daughter. Gwen was very intelligent for her age, just like Henry had been. Just as she was blowing out her candles, the brunette had snapped a picture. Regina looked at the photo on the digital camera and decided that she was satisfied so she put the camera down for now. She walked around the table to Emma and Gwen.

"Did you make a wish, baby girl?" Regina leaned down to plant a sweet, soft kiss on Gwen's forehead.

"Yes, mommy, I did! I wished for Henry to be home." Gwen looked at Regina while the blonde and the brunette shared a knowing gaze. They knew that Henry had tried to come home for Gwen's birthday but was unable to get away from school. It was his first year in college and they all had to make quite the adjustment when he moved out of the house and four hours away. It wasn't very often that he came home to visit except for holidays.

"Honey," Regina started, returning Gwen's gaze, "Henry is very busy and I don't think he was able to get away from school this time." The brunette began to feel a little uncomfortable having this conversation in front of most of their friends in Storybrooke. She glanced up to Snow, who was on the opposite side of the table. Without saying anything, she knew exactly what to do.

"Hey everyone, who's up for some cake and ice cream?" Snow saved the day again. All of the attention was now on Snow and Charming who were slicing the cake and serving it with the guest's choice of ice cream.

Regina and Emma took little Gwen by her hands and led her out into the entryway of the house. They really needed to talk to her before she lost control. By the look on Gwen's face, she was already getting upset. They couldn't count how many times they had to fix something with their own magic because of what Gwen had managed to do. Kneeling down to be at Gwendolyn's level, Emma thought she would start this discussion.

"Gwen, Henry is a grown-up now. He has a different life than we do and he won't always be able to be home for everything."

"But momma, he belongs here, with us. He is supposed to be here for me. He promised me he always would be."

"Sweetie, he's not coming home today, but we can call him if you want us too. We could talk to him on the phone and you can tell him about everything that happened today." Emma hoped that would work for the 4 year old. She was always quite stubborn, just like both of her parents, but there were times where Emma hoped that wouldn't be the case.

Just as Regina was kneeling down to try to comfort and calm Gwen, the front door swung open. Both women were absolutely stunned at who they saw in the doorway.

"HENRY! You're here!" Gwen ran to the man standing only feet from her. Henry picked her up and swung her around. Little fits of laughter filled the air and the two women watching the whole scene moved closer to each other. Emma lifted her arm up over Regina's shoulder allowing Regina to cross her left arm across her stomach and use her right hand to reach up and hold Emma's dangling hand. Smiles stretched across both of their faces.

"Hey, kid! You're being good for Mommy and Momma, right?" Henry put Gwen back down on her feet and kneeled to be eye level with her. Gwen nodded her head in response to Henry's question. "Well, then, I guess the birthday girl deserves her birthday gift!" Henry reached into the bag that he had carried in with him and pulled out a somewhat large package for Gwendolyn compared to the small girl that she is. Both Emma and Regina knew exactly what it was, which caused them to just stare at Henry, wondering why it was a good time now for such a gift.

"Okay, kid, why don't you take that to Grandma Snow and she'll help you open it."

"Okay, Henry. I knew you would come today!" Without saying anything more, the tiny blonde turned and ran toward Snow, who was standing in the doorway of kitchen, watching the whole scenario.

"Hey Mom! Hey Ma!" Henry gave each of them a hug. "I hope you have some good leftovers. I'm starving."

"Henry, what are you doing here? You told us that you couldn't make." Regina seemed confused but Emma was wondering if this was all part of his plan.

"Mom, I wasn't planning on coming. I don't know what happened. One moment, I was in my dorm working on homework and the next, I was sitting in my car behind the wheel with my bag all ready to go in the passenger seat." Now, both of the women were confused. Until Regina realized her daughter had been begging for Henry earlier in the day.

"I think I know what happened." Regina said, bringing Emma and Henry out of their stupor. "I think Gwen did it. She wanted to see you so bad that she actually took the first step for you. She used her magic."

"Did I hear someone say magic?" Regina spun around and saw the one person that she never wanted to see again. Rumplestiltskin.

"You are not welcome here, Rumple. Please leave."

"Oh, I will, dearie, don't you worry. But there is something that we must discuss first." Neither Emma, nor Regina really liked where this conversation was headed, but they knew that it was something to do with Gwen's magic abilities.

"Henry, please go into the kitchen with Gwen and your grandmother. We need to talk with Rumplestiltskin for a moment." Henry didn't need to be asked twice. He knew exactly what they were going to talk about and he really didn't want to be there to witness his sister's fate. He grabbed his bag off the floor and walked off into the kitchen.

"Alright, Rumple, the floor is yours."

"Well, dearie, it just so seems that your precious daughter has magic abilities beyond anything than I ever thought."

"Yeah, she does, but what's it to you? You don't get to teach her anything until she is old enough to decide her own fate." Regina hated thinking about her daughter possibly going through anything of what she had.

"I'm going to offer this once, dearie, and you're going to want to listen. Things will start happening to your family if you don't allow me to at least start teaching how to control her magic. These things will be small at first but they will grow until they are life threatening. They aren't necessarily all in my control either, so don't think that this resides solely within my power. If it were up to me, I would've waited until the next product of true love had graced us with its presence." Rumple glanced down to Regina's waist quickly and then back up to meet her gaze and also Emma's. Regina felt uncomfortable with the way the conversation was headed but without even thinking about it, she raised her hand to rest on her lower abdomen.

"I don't want you to hurt her, Rumple." Emma was still slightly confused about the weird glances that were happening between the two, but Regina's last words made he acknowledge that her daughter really needed help.

"It's not her that would be the one getting hurt. I'm more afraid for myself than I am for her. She bordering on having more power than myself, Regina, and you know what that means."

"Yes, I do. Rumple, you need to let me think about this and talk to Emma privately." Emma relaxed a little bit. Her wife was the strong one and to let her take the reins with these decisions was hard to handle but she trusted her.

"Fine. You have 48 hours to give me your answer. In the meanwhile, I suggest that you enjoy this time with your family." Without a trace, Rumplestiltskin had vanished. Regina turned to Emma and put her arms out where Emma met them with her own. They held each other like this for a little while before they began to talk.

"Emma, I have something to tell you."

"I know, Regina, Gwen has to go learn from Gold, doesn't she?"

"Well, yes, she does. If there is a higher power than Rumple dealing the cards here, then I'm afraid of what might happen if we don't comply. But that's not what I was going to tell you." Regina's eyes started to fill with betraying tears.

"Baby, what is it?" Emma hadn't seen the brunette cry in quite a while. In fact, not since Gwen was a baby and she had gotten sick. The blonde lifted her hands to rest on the brunette's face and wipe away the tears with her thumbs. Regina looked up into Emma's eyes.

"Emma, I'm pregnant."


Bam! Cliffhanger! Ugh! Is there going to be a sequel? I don't know. How many people want it? Please review.