Emma preoccupied herself with finding all of the items she would need to set the table. Regina's cupboards were organized and meticulous. Emma found them fascinating, just as she found everything about the other woman fascinating. For example, there were forks, knives and spoons in a small basket in the cupboard that housed the dinnerware to negate the need to dig around in a cutlery drawer.

"I put those there for Henry. When he was smaller, he needed a chair to reach the plates and bowls and would then have to jump down and move the chair to obtain the cutlery. He liked that it was all in one place, and I don't have the heart to change it back."

Emma nodded and began her search for water glasses.

"To your left, two cupboards over. Bottom shelf." Regina pulled something that smelled delicious out of the oven, peeled back the foil and sniffed at the mystery food with pleasure. "We use the tumblers, but feel free to choose whatever you'd like."

"Thanks." Emma grinned, liking the domestic feel of Regina's kitchen, or if she was being honest with herself, simply being with Regina. She chose three tumblers (avoiding an impressive collection of superhero glasses for the time being), stacked them on top of the plates and cutlery and headed toward what she thought might be the dining room.

"I'll be right in. Set our places places however you'd like. You're our...guest of honour." Regina turned and said with a wink that almost made Emma drop her precarious tower of fine china, pewter and crystal.

"Though here?"

"Yes. Light switch to your left."

Even with the light still out, Emma could tell that the table was made of a dark wood. Probably mahogany. It was huge and imposing, and Emma couldn't imagine how Henry and Regina didn't feel like they were shouting their dinner time conversations across a ballroom. She placed the dinnerware on the sideboard and just stood for a few moments in front of the table in the dim.

Then the light was flipped on and a warm hand at her back alerted her that she was no longer alone. She leaned into the touch a little, and sighed as fingers played along her side against her ribs before butterflying away.

"Would you prefer to eat at the kitchen island?" Regina said, her voice wonderfully close to Emma's ear. "I know it's a little much. I inherited it. To be honest, we never really eat in here, but I thought..."

"No-no. This is fine. I've never, um. I mean I haven't sat down at a real table with a family before. It will be nice. Just let me -" And with that, Emma began rearranging heavy chairs and crisp linen placemats, smiling when she had set three places so close together that the placemats were almost touching, one at the end of the table, and one on either side. "There. This ok?"

Regina stared at the table, then slowly turned toward Emma and just...looked. Emma looked back, sinking into the warmest, most liquid eyes she'd ever had the pleasure of swimming in. She stepped closer, ghosting knuckles against Regina's cheek and then cupping her jaw, craving contact she could deny herself so longer.

"Regina, I - I want to thank you." Regina scoffed and looked at her feet, but Emma tilted her face upward again, locking eyes once more. "No, please let me say this. Thank you for letting me be here even though I have no right to be after the way I treated you and Henry. For not asking any of the hard questions even though you are owed the answers. I can't express how grateful I am for your role in my life. For you. For -"

"Mom? What's for dinner? And why are you in the dining -"

A gangly, green-eyed young boy who looked a whole lot like Emma had at age 10 stood in the doorway, not yet comprehending the scene in front of him. Regina and Emma stepped apart, Emma shoving her hands in her pockets and Regina clearing her throat and looking anywhere but at the boy who stood blinking at them in amazement.

"Emma?" He whispered.

"Hi, kid." Emma said, voice wavering, and then her breath left her in a startled 'oof' as four and a half feet of boy barrelled into her. She wrapped her arms tight around him and dropped her face into his hair to breathe him in for the first time. She was not surprised to find out that he smelled a lot like what love-starved Emma thought home should smell like. Just like his mother. Chills raced up and down Emma's spine, but Regina stroked them away with a comforting hand, turning the chills into sparks, and Emma could have sworn she felt a blast of energy pulse out from between the three of them. "Whoa..."

Henry wiggled out of Emma's grasp and stared at her in that frank manner children had.

"Why are you crying?" He asked, and Emma knew that while Regina had been easy on her, Henry would not be.

"I'm just happy." Henry wasn't buying it. "And sorry."

"Sorry for what?"

"For not being here sooner."

Henry's face clouded over for a moment, but then he grinned so wide she could see all of his teeth.

"It's ok. You're here now."

"That's what your mom said when I tried to apologize to her." Emma chuckled.

"Then you'd better listen to us. We know what we're talking about." He turned to Regina. "Can...uh, oops...shall we eat now?"

"Yes, my little prince." She said indulgently, trying to ruffle his hair as he dodged her hand. "Yes we shall."

"So, I fly into Bangor airport only to find out that the car rental agency had messed up my reservation. Not only that, but the only car they had left was a pink Mercedes. I didn't even know they MADE pink Mercedes." Emma laughed, caught up in her own story. "The guy at the counter must have read the dismay on my face, because he offered me his own car. That old yellow bug outside belongs to a man named Wilbur Williams. He doesn't know it yet, but he is getting a tip large enough to buy himself a new car. The poor thing stalled three times on the way here."

Emma was snuggled up on the couch with Henry and Regina under the guise of watching a bit of television before Henry had to go to bed. No one had even glanced at the television since it had been turned on, preferring to chat the evening away. They'd started out by each occupying a cushion, but territorial lines had relaxed and Emma now had Regina sitting almost in her armpit and Henry's feet in her lap.

"It's funny, actually. My first car was a yellow bug."

"Remember you're the one who can fill the world with sunshine." Came Regina's sarcastic voice, muffled by Emma's shoulder. Emma, surprised, barked with laughter.

"Hey! Don't make fun! Sunshine yellow is an awesome colour! I didn't really take you as a Snow White kind of girl."

"I'm not." Regina wrinkled her nose. "I always thought she was rather insipid."

"That probably means something important, don't you think?" Henry said, an epiphany written all over his raised eyebrows. "Like you're on the right path, or something? Miss. Blanchard always says that if people are supposed to be together, they will find a way. Maybe the yellow bug is a sign that you are exactly where you need to be."

"That old yellow bug and I had some times, for sure. It got me through some good and bad times."

Henry had been conceived in said bug, and Emma still couldn't figure out how there'd been enough space in the back seat. She sighed, caught up in memories for a moment.

"How did you find the house, Emma? I don't recall giving you the address." Regina's voice was soft, her eyes softer. Emma still kinda felt like a creeper though, and flashed Regina an embarrassed smile.

"I stopped at a place called Granny's and asked. People were more than willing to point me in the direction of things to see in town. Those things included the clock tower and the mayoral mansion, in that order. And, that was it. I could see the clock tower FROM Granny's. David and I had a good laugh about that."

"David?"

"Yeah. He insisted on coming with me. We had been stalking Storybrooke's website and he saw a picture of a woman who...I think she teaches at the elementary school. We've both taken rooms at the bed and breakfast and I think he plans to wander around town until he bumps into her." Emma rolled her eyes.

"The only school related picture we have on the website is of Mary Margaret Blanchard. She teaches Henry's 5th grade class. She's...dowdy, although I will admit she is sweet and would be quite attractive if she threw out her entire teacher sweater collection."

"Well, David thought she was hot! Didn't stop talking about her the whole way here." Emma looked over at Henry and couldn't help but smile at his expression. "You still make that face? You looked at me like that when I held you, right after you were born. You looked like an old..."

She'd blurted it before she could stop herself, and only realized what she had done when Henry's expression changed to one of confusion. She could feel Regina shifting beside her, felt a hand land on her shoulder.

"Wait. In the hospital? You met me in the hospital?" Henry's voice was harsh, almost angry.

"Yeah. I -" But, Emma didn't know what to say. She hadn't really thought ahead about how she was going to break the news to Henry. She wanted to get off the couch and away - run as far as her feet could carry her. Henry didn't need her in his life. Henry had everything he could ever need in Regina. What on earth was she even doing here? How could she have even thought...

Tears sprang to her eyes for what felt like the millionth time that day and she buried her face in her hands in an attempt to collect herself.

"You're my birth mother, aren't you?"

Emma nodded into her hands, not daring to look at him, terrified of the disappointment she would see written all over his face.

"I think I knew that. I think I have always known that." Henry said, pulling Emma's hands away from her eyes. "It's ok, Emma."

Emma's heart broke into a million pieces and then knit itself back together as Henry launched himself into her arms, burying his face against her neck. When arms wrapped around them both from behind, Emma felt safe and content for the first time in her life.