It's still raining means new chapter. Emma and Regina's magical duel is absolutely stolen from wuxia films, which I adore.

I know Henry's been a little intense, but I keep thinking of the kid who wanted to blow up magic with dynamite. I think FTL for him would be all swords and very little sorcery.


That morning was a little like a sleepover, except with her parents and her girlfriend, and even though that was possibly the weirdest combination, considering all of their histories, it was still kind of wonderful. Snow mentioned over breakfast that Regina had braided her hair when she was a girl, and after a little convincing, Regina had set to work on Emma's. No one had spent any time on Emma's hair since a foster house way back and it was nice to just sit there and listen to Regina and Snow talk about the occasionally good times they'd had together. Regina had taught Snow most of what she knew about horses, and helped Snow with all of her gowns for the countless balls the princess had to attend. When Regina finished, Emma's hair was behind her head in a complicated plait.

Emma's mother spoke so worshipfully of how beautiful Regina had been and how much she looked up to her that even David had been surprised. Emma thought they'd always been enemies, but it sounded like it was more complicated. Sometimes it seemed as if they'd almost been friends, especially on Snow's side. They drank green tea, purchased from the town, marvelled at how well Regina had made pancakes in the one skillet they had, and even tried to play the tile game, though Regina and Emma only knew the rules in the language of Qin and it was hard to teach when they kept getting the words wrong.

When Regina finished, Emma's hair was gorgeous, intricate and complex. Regina had even made it hold still, which no one had ever done because it was so fine, but she knew how to work it. It was much easier to move about the ship with it up and Emma was going to have to learn how to make braids too because it was useful and kind of lovely.

Her parents had let Regina do it, been polite and supportive and then fussed about how pretty it was. They hadn't cringed when Regina had her hands in Emma's hair and they'd been sweet all morning. Things were changing, maybe they already had, but it was one of the best mornings Emma had ever had on the ship (the one where they'd stayed in bed together, naked until lunch was never going to be topped), possibly in her life.

Then they'd headed towards the deck to practice magic. In the heavy rain they could do more with fire without threatening the ship and Emma had been so excited to try something new. Of course, they walked right into trouble.

Gold's room was far in the bow of the ship, past the hold and the room where the hammocks hung from the crew. Whatever he was doing stank of burnt herbs, wet rot and something even more foul. Emma had been shocked by the stench of it but Regina had immediately gone pale. She'd swayed on her feet. Emma had worried she'd faint, but she'd steeled herself, then glanced at Emma and teleported. Emma was either dragged with her or teleported herself, she still wasn't actually sure and she hadn't spent that much thought on that.

Out on deck, Regina had thrown up pancakes until her stomach was empty, then thrown up the water Emma had coaxed her to drink. When Emma focused, really focused, on a sense of wellbeing and cast that on Regina, she felt better, but Regina wouldn't let her keep doing it.

Then Henry had terrible timing (how did kids know when the worst possible time was anyway?) and Regina had let Emma pour magic into her until she could stop vomiting long enough to speak. Emma was fairly certain the kid hadn't really bought it, but they hadn't really lied to him. Regina was going to be fine, she was the one who repeated that the most. She was sort of food poisoned, in that whatever she'd eaten probably would have had the same effect, but it wasn't a semantic the kid would appreciate.

Whatever was in Snow's tea (which smelt a little of Christmas cake) settled Regina's stomach a little, and she kept that down. Regina drank it slowly, even letting it get cold and the rain fell in it, but Snow continued bringing her more. Hook offered to get them out of the rain with a tarp but Regina liked the rain on her face, so they sat there and let it fall. It was warm summer rain anyway, not even cold, just wet. They sat by the side, Regina's head between her knees.

Emma wasn't sure how long they'd been up on the deck, but their clothes were soaked through and clung to them both like seaweed. It was still pouring, turning the sea grey like the sky. Regina said she liked the cold, so Emma hadn't pushed to go in. Her lips weren't blue, so there was nothing to really worry about. She could dry Regina off and tuck her in later, when she was done.

"Morning sickness is a terrible name." Regina swallowed hard against her stomach. Turning her chin up to the rain, she let it run down her face.

"All-the-time sickness would scare people off procreating," Emma replied, wishing she could do anything to help.

With Regina's eyes shut, the rain ran over her lids. "You don't have to sit here with me. I'm perfectly capable of waiting to vomit by myself."

"What if you want someone to hold your hair back?"

Regina smiled, and it was a weary motion of her lips, yet sincere. Her dark hair was so wet it was plastered to her head, so Emma did not need to offer.

"Feeling any better?"

"If I don't move my head, don't smell anything but the rain and the sea, and don't stand up, I'm fine."

Emma pursed her lips and nodded, though Regina's eyes were still shut. "So great then, huh?"

"My neck's stiff. The deck's less comfortable than I wish but-" Regina shrugged very carefully, moving her shoulders as if she were afraid they'd trigger something.

"Mary- Snow, I mean, really went to town on Gold. Could you hear her through the deck?"

Regina opened her eyes and brought down her face to look at Emma, moving as if she were made of ancient glass that might shatter at any moment. "I think they heard that on land."

Emma grinned. It wasn't funny, except that it was, because Rumplestiltskin had all of his powers and her mother hadn't thought about that in the slightest before she'd gone to yell at him for not taking proper precautions before he cast anything that smelt so wretched in the cramped quarters of their ship.

"Tell me what you want in the bedroom, our room, I mean," Emma said, still smiling. "Dad's going into town again and he's pretty good at shopping. If he brings the stuff back, we can put it up when you're feeling better."

"Trying to distract me with the prospect of redecorating?"

"Yes. Will it work?"

"As long as I don't have to move."

Emma laughed and very gently kissed her cheek. "I'll do all the moving, I just need to get something to write on and find a way to keep it from getting wet."

Shutting her eyes again, Regina smirked. "You know what to do."

"Anti-sogginess spells are not in my limited knowledge bank," Emma replied. "Talk me through it."

"What are you trying to do?" Regina's teacher tone was lower and less pained than her 'Emma I'm fine' tone, which was an improvement.

"Keep the rain from ruining my parchment so I can write on it."

"Do you want to keep the rain off or make the parchment impermeable to water?"

"The second one sounds better."

"What do you need to picture?"

"Rain sliding off it, not removing the ink, not ruining the parchment."

"What do you need to remember?"

"To make sure the ink can still stick, so I can write on it. If I make the parchment impermeable to everything, it'll be useless."

Regina's very slow smile had a sweetness to it that warmed Emma's already molten heart. "That sounds wise."

Heading below deck with her feet, not her magic, Emma grabbed some parchment and a quill (her handwriting with them was awful, but her parents said she just needed practice). She'd have to spell the quill too or she'd never be able to write in the rain. She shut her eyes, holding the parchment in her fingers. She focused on making it sturdy, saw the rain sliding off of it like it were stone, but the ink sinking in. She pictured the tip of the quill continuing to write in the rain and just before she headed back up, Emma remembered the ink. She held the pot in her hands and made it waterproof, still dark on paper, able to come off skin, but impervious to rain.

At least, so she hoped.

Regina had dared to move. She'd shifted her legs from being against her chest to crossed beneath her, as if she were meditating. Emma set her hopefully waterproof things down and traced Regina's hand, running her finger slowly along Regina's wet skin.

"I won't break, I promise."

"I know," Emma said, finding her way up one finger after another. "I just, I want to make it better."

"Because it's your fault?"

"No, because you're sick and I want you not to be sick."

Regina twitched her finger in response to Emma's touch, then opened her palm to allow her to continue. "You hardly need me to save you from your hormones."

"My hormones?"

Emma sat directly in front of her, so that when Regina opened her eyes, she got to see her smile.

"This is your fault, remember? Obviously the hormones that make me sick are from your half of the baby."

"Right," Emma said, her smile growing. "Sorry about that."

"Emma, I told you, it's all right." Her fingers squeezed Emma's hand and didn't let go.

"Why aren't you cursing me and blaming me for ruining your ability to keep down food for the next few months?"

"Because this isn't an illness, it's a process," Regina had a kind of calm Emma had rarely heard from her. "It just feels much like an illness," she finished with only a hint of frustration.

"So what are you thinking about?"

"How I've never paid much attention to my body. It does what I want, looks how I wish most of the time, provides me with a fairly impressive reservoir of magic, yet it still found the time to create life with you, and I wasn't even listening to it. I didn't know it could support life at all. There's magic there too, yours and mine, but this is an intense physical experience. In my life, I have put so little thought into in the physical."

Emma kissed Regina's open palm. "You're kind of poetic when you're sick."

Reaching for Emma with her eyes still shut, Regina felt her way up until she cupped Emma's cheek. "What I really can't stop thinking is how much I love you. How I love that your baby is growing within me. I'm so happy that I don't even care that standing up will probably make me vomit again."

She opened one eye and smirked at Emma. "That last part's less than poetic, I do apologise."

"Regina-" Emma said and stopped, overwhelmed. She sucked at talking.

Regina always said such lovely things. Even when she was pissed she had great words for it. Emma just wanted to kiss her and tell her that way how much she loved her. She couldn't; she didn't want to risk it. She settled down across from Regina, mirroring her position. Laying her hands on her knees, Emma stretched her fingers towards Regina's.

She pictured their baby, with Regina's dark hair and eyes, just a few minutes old, how Henry had been when she held him. Emma settled the image in her mind, fed it with the gooey strength of her lovestruck heart, and then brought it out.

Then she was there, moving her tiny fists in that way newborns did when they had no idea what their limbs did. Emma hadn't given her a hat because she liked her dark hair, but she added a blanket, the kind of blanket she had because Snow would definitely make one. Granny and Ruby, half the town would probably make this baby little blankets, but one like Emma's was closest to her heart. She settled the image, letting it float in the rain between them. When she was sure she could hold it, she nudged Regina's fingers.

"I keep seeing the baby like this," she confessed.

Curious, Regina opened her eyes as the image of the baby kicked her foot free from the blanket and her tiny toes appeared.

Regina's gasp echoed in Emma's ears, even with the rain. Both of her hands grabbed Emma's again, tight, and she stared at the image.

"I think a lot about what the baby will look like. How she'll probably get your hair, and your eyes, and hopefully your ears."

"There's nothing wrong with your ears." Regina's voice was barely more than a choked whisper.

"Now, sure, but when I had a smaller head they were a nightmare. I looked like a troll doll, just when troll dolls were all the rage."

"Trolls have ears in proportion to their bodies," Regina said, perplexed.

"Not in my world. I suppose I mean my ex-world. Anyway, they were these little plastic dolls with huge ears and wild coloured hair. It was not good for my childhood."

Regina stopped looking at her and stared at the image of the baby, her eyes liquid. "You haven't even studied projection, Emma."

"I wanted you to see what I see, because I didn't really have the right thing to say. I think the baby's going to be wonderful and I'm so excited I feel like it's going to burst out of me."

"Like Alien?" Regina asked, smiling as tears mixed with the rain on her face.

"Totally like Alien. I love you. I love our baby, I love Henry, get me at the right moment and I probably love the ship and Hook too, because my heart's so full it'll probably overflow like that."

Reaching for her chest, Regina rested her hand there, feeling Emma's heart beat with her cool fingers. The image of the potential baby still hung between them, right at eye level.

"I never saw Henry when he was that small."

"I only saw him that small. We're going to see all of this one. I'll see her walk. You'll see her not know what her mouth is for or that she can move her little fists and everything's going to be wonderful." She had to be practical so she could live with her own sappiness. "After we sail around the magical world, get rid of the ogres, clean up the kingdom and uh, probably get married so no one complains about the future queen having a baby with the previous one."

"Emma Swan, I will not marry you if that's what you consider a proposal."

Which wasn't a no. It was more of a 'do better and I'll think about it', which made Emma's heart even more of a hot, aching lump. She adored every minute of it.


After a very late lunch, that Emma insisted she eat, and a nap, Regina felt half-human again. Her head warned her with the beginnings of a dull ache, and her throat was a little sore, but it was nothing like it had been. She hadn't known she could become ill so fast, and have it drag on for such a long time. Emma must have sat with her for hours. She dressed, pulling on a fresh tunic, a dark purple skirt and a matching dark purple robe with black trim. Emma had thoughtfully left out dry clothes and taken away her sodden ones. She was getting better at the little domestic things, like making sure her own clothing didn't all live under the bed.

Regina ran her hands through her mostly dry hair and wondered if they should get a looking glass. Even a small one would help make this room feel more like a place they lived, instead of a place they had been stuck for awhile. She would add it to Emma's list of things to decorate with, when she found Emma.

Since there was no other public space below deck, she found her in the galley. Emma sat at the table with the impressively dry, waterproof list to one side and a long scroll of parchment in front of her. Emma still had her hair braided and it had dried that way, though a few wisps hung free. It would be all kinky when Regina undid it that night and the thought of it in her fingers made her smile.

"Hey," Emma said, without looking. "Did you really have all this history memorised?"

"I might have." Walking behind her, Regina rested her hands on Emma's shoulders. "What is it?"

"Hi," Emma repeated, surprised and now caring enough to turn around and stand up. "Feeling better?"

"Much."

Snow and David might have returned any moment but Regina kissed her anyway. The Charmings would learn to live with it, as she tolerated their constant affection for each other.

"What are you trying to memorise?"

"The history of the Enchanted Forest. Mr. Gold magiced it onto a piece of parchment for me so I'd know something about our land and...it's really long." Emma lifted her end of the scroll and the rest of it rustled on the deck beneath the table.

"You don't have to learn the whole thing verbatim." Regina sat down next to her. "It's important to know where you come from but there's not going to be a history test before you take the throne."

"They'd have to get a new saviour if that was the case. I'm terrible at history, not very good at literature or english, or really school at all."

"So are most of your nobles, and a good portion of your not-so noble folk. Some of them only learned to read because of the curse. The nobles want the appearance of culture and decorum so they can look up to you and pretend to be interested in what you're interested in so to carry your favour. I often pretended to become fascinated with a new book that didn't exist each week, just to see how many people I could get to pretend to have read it."

"You truly were an evil queen," Emma muttered.

Regina fixed her with an imperious glare. "Don't worry too much about it. You have months to get it into your head, and even after we get back you'll have advisors and tutors and people you didn't know existed before just to help you do everything."

Emma rolled her eyes. "Sounds wonderful."

"Many people think so, rarely do they become royalty and find out."

Rolling up her incredibly long history of the Enchanted Forest, Emma sighed. "Trying to keep you from vomiting was more fun."

"I apologise for recovering."

Emma slid across the bench and held her, tight. "Thanks."

Surprised by the sudden embrace, Regina rested her head against Emma's. "You really don't have to worry. I'll throw up lunch a few times, start taking an afternoon and a morning nap and before you know it, it'll be over and you'll find something else to worry about."

"I should be saying that," Emma said, snuggling closer. "And I like worrying about you. You're easier than history."

Regina released her in mock indignation. "I don't know how to take that."

"However you like," Emma replied. "Up for some magic training? It's stopped raining but everything's still wet if you want to do anything flammable."

"How far are we from port?" Regina asked. Thinking of a spell she'd been wanting to try, she hoped they were far enough away to prevent any chaos if they played with it too close to land.

"Hook brought us out a bit so the merfolk would be more secure coming and going. We're kind of around a bend from the docks, still close but less visible."

Opening one of the ancient books, Regina focused just enough to turn a few pages from their ornate characters to words more easily understood.

"This is a version of a levitation spell. It demands a high degree of control, so I think it will be a good next step for you."

Emma quickly read it over and her eyes went wide. "You think I can do that?"

Regina shook her head. Emma truly didn't understand what power she had. "You fought off Hook's dagger and sword with a ball of light and covered the deck in roast chestnuts, I think you can handle a little defiance of gravity. Now, read the spell again, slowly and then take it into yourself, like this."

She concentrated, blew the spell off the page so the ink hung in the air, then inhaled. The familiar tingle of new magic rushed through her, filling her with promise.

"You want me to inhale the spell?"

It had obediently reappeared in the book, again in the characters of Qin, but that didn't matter. Emma knew what it did.

"Blow on it, then pull it into you."

"Blow on it?"

"Just like I did."

Emma sighed more than blew, but the ink lifted from the page and hung in the air, waiting for her. She inhaled, almost as if she expected it to sting or make her sneeze. Instead Emma's eyes glowed bright blue, then she smiled.

"Headrush."

"I told you magic was a turn on."

Emma nodded. "I suppose the worst that happens is that I get wet. Again."

Emma had a point. They both only had one more set of dry clothes. She'd been meaning to obtain more, perhaps with a little more variety in the embroidery, but she hadn't made it to town.

"Just wear the undertunic. If we're far enough out that no one will see merfolk, I doubt anyone will be able to tell we're improperly clad."

"So this is magic practice and foreplay. I get it." Emma's smirk nearly lit up the galley. "Sounds fun."

"We'll take the rowboat. Meet you on deck in a few minutes?"

"I'll be there. Unless I decide to go off the rails and huff the rest of this book..."

"Magic has a price, Miss Swan."

"Is there some kind of hangover?"

Regina paused in the galley doorway. "When I throw you into the sea, you'll be wet."

When Regina left to change, Emma followed her, muttering about being wet not necessarily being a bad thing.

Luckily, the evening was warm. Mist hung heavily over the water, hiding all but the far trees who watched them over the sea. Emma rowed out until the Jolly Roger was nearly gone in the mist as well, but they were connected by a long rope so they could find their way back and wouldn't drift too far away. Regina sat in front of her, only wearing her thin tunic. It was pale purple, almost too pastel for her. Emma's was just as pale, a soft, almost translucent tan.

Regina stood, getting her feet under her on the wood before she tried anything more radical.

"I know you're going to say you're fine."

"I feel fine." She had the suspicion she'd be saying that until the words had no meaning. "I'm excited to try this. I've never really had anyone to practice with before. Magic has always been a very individual thing for me."

Emma took that in and nodded. "You don't mind me intruding?"

"If I did, I wouldn't have brought you." Regina folded her arms over her chest. Both of them had so much to get over. "Now, we need rules."

"Rules?"

"Yes, whichever of us falls in the sea first, loses."

"What do they lose?"

Regina let her wickedness sneak into her smile. "Whatever you want to wager."

"What are we attacking with?" Emma saw the wanting in her face, but she was cautious.

"Water. There's plenty of it and you can't hurt me with it, which is what you're really concerned about."

Calmed by that, Emma nodded to her. "So, we're out here, alone, walking on water and trying to hit each other with it."

"If you want to put it so crudely. It's a levitation spell, not like walking, more like pushing off from the water and hovering in the air as long as you can."

Emma smirked and pulled the oars in before she stood up across from her. "You are aware that you just challenged me to the equivalent of a magical wet t-shirt contest?"

Whatever that was sounded quite lewd, which was probably why Emma seemed so pleased with the idea. "I'm trying to motivate you in ways that will appeal to you."

Fidgeting with the beads on her wrist, Emma nodded. "Okay. So the boat's off limits?"

Regina's smile blossomed, this would be a challenge, even if Emma didn't have much confidence. "The boat's off limits."

"Can we have some kind of point system so you don't dunk me and finish it in less than a minute?"

"Immersion counts as a point?"

Emma nodded to that. "First to three."

"Your wager, Emma?

Standing there on the boat, Emma stared at Regina's hands, of all things. Finally she decided: "I get to throw my clothes where I want for a week and I don't have to pick them up."

Regina considered that and nodded. "If you win, I will allow you to do so, without comment. If I win-"

Emma braced herself, but Regina's request took her by surprise.

"You take me to dinner."

"Dinner? Like a date?"

Regina nodded. "We've never been on one. I think it would be nice."

They had jumped from two people who uncomfortably co-parented to two people about to become parents. They hadn't courted and quite possibly hadn't even held hands until after Regina was already pregnant. She hadn't grown up in a world that allowed for dating, but she'd seen others go on them and the idea was a pleasant mystery. Besides, making it a wager took the concern out of asking. Even if Emma thought it was silly, she'd be honourable. Being alone with Emma, anywhere but the ship sounded nice, even though they were in the middle of mystical Qin and Emma more than likely had no idea where to take a date, she'd work it out. She was quite competent at that translation spell now.

Emma put out her hand. "Deal."

Slightly relieved Emma hadn't spit on her hand, Regina shook. Emma stepped over the bench she'd been sitting on, so she stood by the corner of the boat.

Beneath the mist, the water was still, like dark marble. Emma climbed carefully up so she stood balanced on the corner of the boat, her bare feet poised like a dancer's. Had she ever studied dance? It probably wasn't something that was available to abandoned children, which Regina found sad because the lines of Emma's arms were so elegant.

Emma fingered the beads at her wrist, summoning the spell she'd just inhaled. She nodded again.

Regina climbed up to stand in the bow, facing Emma with most of the rowboat between them. Perhaps they'd both fail miserably and end up pulling each other out of the sea.

"Begin," Regina said.

Emma didn't just leave the stern of the boat, she flew, landing lightly on the water before she skipped off it as if she weighed no more than an insect. Regina had just found her own balance, trying to reconcile the new lightness of her being when Emma lashed out. A long stream of water rose from the sea and reached for Regina as if drawn by an invisible thread.

She called her own and sent Emma's away. Emma took another step, hovering over the sea and twirling before she landed again. Joy burned naked on her face and it was difficult to remember that Regina had tasked them to fight.

Forming a ball of water with the same control Regina used for her fireballs, she dodged another one of Emma's tentacles. She tossed the ball towards where she thought Emma would be and pushed off the water again. Rising into the air had a joy akin to flying and falling back to the sea only held the promise of another rise.

Throwing two balls at Emma, she twisted her legs, found her centre of gravity and flipped, head over heels, to dodge another attack.

Emma went at her full on after that, convinced by Regina's gymnastics that she did not need to hold back. Emma realised first that her hands worked on the sea, as it her knees. She'd had some kind of martial training, and she moved through the air with purpose.

Regina had some training with a blade, and all the dancing training her mother could force her to undergo. It helped, but she lacked the force Emma had behind her movements. She had the edge in multitasking, but Emma probably could have flown circles around her, given the chance.

Emma nearly got her with two tentacles, one high and one low, but Regina turned parallel to the water and narrowly avoiding both. Dodging her responding waterball, Emma toyed with her beads. She pulled water up, filling her hands as if she was making a waterball, like Regina's, but instead it was a watery version of the orb from last night.

In Emma's hands, the orb reached out as if it were alive with her will, knocking back Regina's assault. She'd seen Emma take down Hook quickly with this skill, so she changed tactics. Calling a slow arm from the sea, Regina wound it behind Emma, out of her vision. She had to keep attacking with both hands to keep Emma distracted and the orb busy and she nearly sank up to her ankle before she remember to bounce back up.

The tendrils of the orb lashed out, reaching for Regina while she was distracted. Then she threw the heavy rear attack at Emma.

Down she went, and Emma came up sputtering.

"From behind. Classy."

Regina landed near Emma and pulled her from the sea as if she had no weight at all. "I'm trying to remind you to watch all avenues of attack."

Emma shook the water from her eyes and grinned. "One-zero."

Now that she'd reminded Emma to attack from behind, Regina had to be more vigilant and it was increasingly hard to get anywhere near Emma with her attacks. She sent four at once and one hit Emma in the leg, but it only made her tunic a bit more wet and transparent.

Bouncing off the surface twice, running towards her instead of away, Emma caught her off-guard and came from underneath, neatly taking advantage of Regina's lack of weight and tipping her down by grabbing her foot.

The sea enveloped her before she could think, wrapping her in warmth. Her lightness suddenly gone, Regina broke the surface and watched as Emma dropped for her with one hand on the water, and the other for Regina.

"One-one."

Coming out of the sea was like being reborn into the air. She was free of the water as if it had been tar, hindering all of her movements. Shaking off the seawater, she watched Emma with wary caution. Emma was faster, physically stronger, and manoeuvred better. She still had the advantage in firepower, but Emma had managed to get her orb to circle her, leaving her hands free.

She needed to learn the orb trick, which would be difficult because Emma seemed to have made it up. Pondering a kind of defence, Regina drew up three waterballs and set them circling around her.

Reaching for Emma's orb, she wondered if she could turn it against her. She felt Emma's energy all over it, ruling the water she controlled. If she pushed, Regina could probably take it, but it would take much of her strength and most of her control.

The tendrils of Emma's orb reached for her again, pulling the waterballs Regina was using for defence out their orbit. She released them, letting them fall back to the sea.

Throwing her arms back, she pulled water up in missiles, sleek and accurate. She could throw several of those at a time, making Emma's defences into a blur. Seawater splashed around Emma, adding to the mist. Keeping up the assault, Regina pulled the missiles up in quick succession, burying Emma in them.

Except, Emma wasn't there. She'd left her orb behind, let it take all of Regina's assault and she was behind her, then above her, and a trio of missiles, a neat copy of her spell, slammed into her.

This time she knew to breathe out as she hit the water, keeping the stinging seawater out of her nose.

Emma pulled her up again. "I like the missile trick."

"One-two."

She kept Emma close, not letting her out of her sight and brought her down when Emma's concentration wavered as she attempted a wave beneath Regina's feet. It was a good move, and if Regina had been a second slower to realise she had no footing beneath her, she would have lost.

Dragging Emma up, Regina waited for her to shake the water from her eyes and both of them took a moment to catch their breath. Her heart was pounding, rushing in her ears. Magic was in all of her senses, filling her with the kind of awareness she never had without using it. Everything within her was more alive and all of her sense reported back in more detail. The brine of the sea richer, the grey fog softer and she could hear the slow trickling of water off both of their bodies as it rejoined the sea.

Emma's blood was up as well. There was colour in her cheeks and a glint in her eyes. "Two-two."

Now she was hungry and came at her like a tactician, circling, checking for weakness, waiting for her to slip up. Regina hadn't fought many people who could avoid her attacks at all, let alone predict them. She had to do better, find something Emma wouldn't expect. Spinning from one foot to the other, she kept herself a difficult target.

Turning up her assault, Emma pulled so many missiles from the sea that they came at Regina as if all part of the same stream of water.

Dodging, floating, twirling out of the way, Regina pushed off hard and rose above Emma.

Calling an arsenal from the sea, Emma lay in wait for her, between her and all of her ammunition. Except, she had what she needed. Regina pulled the mist from the air, the water from her clothing, skin and hair. Then she bound the mist together in a compacting ball. Emma was still staring at her, enthralled as it hit her, ruining her concentration and sending her down into the sea.

Dropping to the churning surface where Emma had disappeared, Regina pulled her up.

"That was amazing," Emma said. She twirled the water from herself as if she had a spin cycle, getting much of it on Regina, who was somewhat dry after her trick.

Shaking her head, Regina guided them both back to the boat, which was collaterally drenched. They landed and Regina reluctantly released the levitation spell. She nearly collapsed onto the bench seat, surprised by her own weight.

Emma laughed when she suffered a similar effect. "I liked flying. Normal gravity's a pain. Even my hair's heavy."

They sat, panting and staring at each other, both utterly sodden though Regina was still a little drier.

"How did you-?"

"I was covered in water."

"Right," Emma said. She nodded to Regina's superiority. "You deserve it. You'll get your dinner date."

"Thank you." Regina moved to sit next to Emma and took one of the oars. "You may leave your clothes on the floor tonight, but only the dry ones. We're too short on clothing for you to lose anything to damp. All the wet things have to be hung up."

Taking the other oar, Emma looked for the slack in the rope. "You realise with that kind of carte blanche I have to throw everything I own that's dry onto the floor."

"I expected something similar."

"I'll pick them up in the morning."

"You'll need them in the morning."

Emma chuckled and started to row. Regina followed her rhythm.

"But I won't tonight?"

Regina let her leg brush suggestively against Emma's. "That would be a safe assumption."


On the deck of the Jolly Roger, Henry passed the spyglass back to Hook and brought his gaze to his grandma.

"She looks okay."

"Regina's fine. She got sick this afternoon because Mr. Gold forgot to seal his room while he worked on some magic. It had a very strong scent and it made her sick. We thought it was better to let you think it was food poisoning because your mothers didn't want to tell you over a magic shell."

"Tell me what?" Henry asked, waiting for Snow to prove that she knew because everyone but him probably knew.

"I think you should hear it from them," David said, standing behind Snow. "Regina's fine now. She might be sick again, but it's really not something you need to worry about. She recovers very quickly."

"I don't understand," Henry said, looking from one face full of secrets to the other.

David waved to Emma in the rowboat and then his moms were both there on the deck, standing in front of him in a puff of purple and blue smoke. Regina brought the boat in with magic, neatly stowing it. Snow handed them both towels, fussing over each of them for being so wet.

"Henry," Regina said, reaching for him. He hugged her quickly, but he wanted answers more than affection.

"You're okay?"

"I'm fine," she promised. She sounded better. He thought she was still pale, like she had been in the market, but she seemed happy, even if her hair was kind of messed up.

"What were you doing?"

"Teaching me to fight," Emma said, holding out her arms for her hug.

He broke it off quickly. "With magic?"

"Yeah, kid, with magic."

"But why? Can't you use a sword or a bow?"

His moms looked at each other, both of them somehow sad.

"Henry, I don't use a sword or a bow because I'm much better at using magic to defend myself," Regina said.

"And it turns out, I am too," Emma added, reaching for Regina's hand. "This world is not like ours. It's dangerous. I had a gun back home because I knew how to use it. Here, I have magic, and it's kind of like a gun. If I'm going to use it, I need to know how it works."

"And you liked it?"

They looked at each other again and both nodded.

"You like learning the bow with your grandma?" Emma said. "It's like that for us. We're learning new things."

"But it's magic." They had seen all he had seen, how could they still use it?

"This world is full of magic, Henry," Regina said. "Not using what we have would be dangerous, for all of us."

"You know I don't like it when you use magic."

Emma took a deep breath. "Henry, we're not controlling anyone, we're not hurting anyone, we were just, well, playing, really."

"Doesn't magic have a price? How can you just play with it, like it's nothing?"

Emma got down to her knees in front of him, bringing her face to his level. "Perhaps this will have a price, kid, but it's in me, and I need to know how to use it. It wasn't dangerous at all, it was pretty cool. I bounced off water and it was like I could fly."

"I thought you were going to learn healing magic, good magic," he accused.

"I don't think flying magic is inherently evil or good," Emma said. "I think some of it has to be neutral."

Regina crouched next to Emma, also down so she could meet his eyes. "We haven't done anything wrong, Henry."

"You were trying not to use magic. Magic almost destroyed our town and all of us. What changed here? Why is this magic okay?"

"Because it causes no pain, has no death in it, and is about keeping us safe."

"But you learned how to attack."

"For self defence," Emma reminded him. "And for your defence. If you get hit, sometimes you gotta hit back. Most of the time it's better to run away, but sometimes you have to."

"But you could learn the bow to keep ogres away. You don't need to use magic."

Regina tilted her head. "I'm a terrible shot with a bow."

"You could practice."

"And while I practice, something could come for you, Emma, or your grandparents and I wouldn't be able to defend them."

They weren't going to understand. Adults were always so stubborn. "I still don't like magic."

"I know," Emma said, hugging him again. "Look, we'll try not to do it in front of you."

"Some of it's cool. Like turning into merfolk, or translating books, but when magic's used as a weapon, it's too much like what Cora did, and she nearly killed everyone I love."

Regina looked sad. "The only weapon Emma just used was seawater, and aside from the salt in my hair, no damage was done, I promise. But Emma and I need to study magic, and we'll use it for defence because it's our best option, and this world is dangerous."

"It's just, the heroes don't use magic. Not if they don't have to."

Emma messed up his hair. She knew he hated it but did it anyway. "Maybe we need to get you a new book. Gandalf uses magic, and he's pretty heroic."

"And Galadriel," Snow said from behind them. She'd been there when Emma had made them watch Lord of the Rings and had really liked all the elves.

"See, some heroes do use magic."

"What about the price?" he asked, looking from one mother to the other. "What's the price of this magic?"

Neither of them had an answer.

"Sometimes prices are complicated," Emma said, but she knew it was a weak answer.

"Responsibility," Regina said. "The price of this magic is responsibility. Emma and I both have to be careful with what we do."

Emma grinned. "With great power comes great responsibility. Henry, it's like your moms are both Spiderman, except without the suit, and it's going to be okay."

"Superheroes?" Henry shook his head. "You think magic makes you superheroes?"

Regina had no idea where Emma had taken the conversation, but Emma nodded.

"Is that easier for you? Spiderman has a lot of power and he decides to use it for good, to keep people safe. Your mom and I are going to do that. We're going to keep people safe."

"But what if you like it?" Henry asked, staring at the deck. "You both looked so happy. What if you like using it a lot and no one needs to be safe? What are you going to do?"

"We'll practice with each other," Regina said, smiling. "I'm sure Emma wants a rematch."

"Oh you are so on."

He felt something had shifted. Emma, who'd always been more on his side about magic, now liked it. She really liked it and he didn't think that was going to change. Henry still had to ask about the other thing, and that made his face burn.

"Why were you sick before, mom? I know it wasn't food poisoning."

"It kind of was," Emma said. "She had food and it didn't work very well."

Regina elbowed her and both of them looked at each other again. The look that passed between them was a new one. Something he wasn't that used to seeing. Yeah, they were dating, and sometimes that was kind of strange, but it was nice that they rarely argued, and really liked spending so much time together.

"Why do you think I was sick?"

Did they know he'd heard them with the shell? He'd been so certain none of them understood how it worked.

"I don't know. I just know food poisoning was a lie."

"Henry-"

"I hate it when you lie to me, and you said you'd never do it again."

Emma nodded, guilt on her face. "I lied. I didn't want you to worry, not because I don't trust you, but because there are some things you don't want to say until someone's right in front of you."

Regina reached for her and Emma took her hand.

"Henry," Regina started, "I was sick because I'm pregnant."

Aquata was right. He stared at them both, trying to decide what to do. He felt weird, confused, and a little disgusted by the idea of a baby just magically appearing inside of his mom and making her sick.

"Being pregnant makes you sick?"

Emma, Regina, even his grandparents, all nodded at him. They all thought so.

"Sometimes it does," Emma said. "It doesn't mean there's anything wrong with your mom, there's just a lot going on in her body and sometimes, with all that going on, her body gets confused and then she gets sick."

"Why are you pregnant?"

"Why?" Regina repeated. "Because of magic, I suppose. Emma and I accidentally-"

"Made a baby," Emma finished. "Kind of weird, huh?"

"How is that responsible?"

Emma looked like she was about to laugh and Regina nudged her to make her stop.

"It's not," Regina admitted. "We weren't."

"So you want me to trust you with magic because you say you're responsible, but you were not responsible enough know you could have a baby with magic?"

"Hey, it's not like we killed one," Emma said.

"Emma." Regina gave her a look.

"I'm serious. We made a mistake and we made a baby. It's kind of a surprise, but it's a baby, not the plague. We like kids. We love you and now you'll have a sister. That's not the worst surprise you could have had." Emma looked him straight in the eye. "If one of us was your dad instead of your mom, we could have gotten pregnant and made you a sibling, without ever meaning to and without any magic at all. Babies are sometimes a really big surprise, but that doesn't mean they're a bad surprise."

"I was a surprise," he said, looking back at Emma. "Are you keeping this one?" He said it to hurt her, but his other mom was the one who looked more sad.

"Yes," Regina said, so quickly that he worried she was angry with him. "We're keeping this one."

"What if something goes wrong?"

"What do you mean, goes wrong?" Regina repeated, her face still.

"You made the baby with magic, can you unmake it?"

Regina's voice went soft. "No."

"Oh no, Henry, no, we can't." Emma's was firm. "We're keeping the baby. We love you and we know this is pretty weird for you, but magic's not going to take the baby away."

"And you're happy."

"Yes," they said almost with the same voice.

"We're very happy."

Emma nodded. "Extremely happy."

"Weren't you happy before?"

"Yeah, but now we're a different happy."

He wanted to go. He'd gotten so used to running to Emma when Regina disappointed him and then to Neal when he was mad at Emma. Now there was nowhere to run and no one to run too.

Regina touched his shoulder the way she did when she was really serious. "The important thing is that we love you, we love each other and we're going to make a family together."

"It'll be weird, and your mom will get sick. We'll fight and babies can be really annoying, but we'll be fine because this is our happy ending. You, me, your mom, we're all going home." Emma never called the Enchanted Forest home. She liked her car and her jeans, and cable. She never called this land home, except now she believed it. The fairy tale was home now.

"Okay," he said, looking at their faces. "I love you both."

Both his moms stood up and then they hugged him together, holding him close. His head was on Regina's chest and he nearly jerked away when something cold stung him. That was pretty weird. It must have just been water or something, because she was still all wet.

They held him a long time, and when they finally released him, Emma was smiling, and so was Regina, but she was forcing hers.

Henry realised his amulet was on the outside of his shirt and tucked it away. It felt colder than it usually did against his skin.

"What?" Emma's hand caught Regina's, quick.

Regina sat down on the deck, nearly falling from her feet. "Cold, dizzy."

Emma brought up her hands and then there was blue light, all over Regina.

"What's going on?"

Snow and David came for him, holding him close.

"Your mom's just a little sick."

"Now?" He stared as Emma's light washed over his mom. "What happened?"

"Nothing," Snow said, rubbing his shoulder. "Being pregnant's kind of weird. One minute you're fine. The next, your head's spinning. She probably stood up too fast from the deck. Emma will take care of her, and she'll be fine. Why don't we go down to the galley see about dinner?"

"Are you sure she's okay?"

His mom's eyes were open again now, and Emma was talking to her. She looked better but it had taken magic to make her better.

"She's fine," David said. "Snow was just like that when she was pregnant with Emma."

"I really was," his grandma agreed. She wasn't lying now. "Sometimes, when I stood up from the throne I got so dizzy Charming had to catch me."

"Really?"

"All the time, kid, all the time."


"I was fine. I was fine then my knees weren't there." Regina had her hands in Emma's lap, their fingers entwined again.

Emma smiled at her, a warm sympathetic knot lodged in her stomach. "Stood up too fast."

"I suppose," Regina said, unconvinced. She pulled Emma's hands in towards her chest. "It was so cold."

"What was?"

"I don't know." Regina reached for her stomach, as if something had stung her. "When Henry hugged me, I went cold."

Emma pulled up her tunic. There, on the skin of Regina's stomach was a red mark, like a fresh burn. Emma's blue light came immediately to her fingers, ready to heal the damage, but she made it wait. They needed to know what it was.

"What is it?" Regina asked, staring down with her.

"I have no idea. It's almost a circle. Does it hurt?"

"It throbs like a burn."

"I can heal it."

"It probably is magic," Regina said, pulling down her top. "I'll get dressed and have Rumplestiltskin take a look at it."

"Maybe something was on Henry's shirt-" Emma began.

"His amulet," Regina finished. "It was outside his shirt when he hugged me. It's circular."

Emma remembered seeing something before Henry had tucked it away. "How could it burn you?"

Regina shook her head, frowning. "I have no idea."