"It's Neal," Emma replied, panic laced in her voice and worry etched on her face. "Mom went to check on him on her way to bed and his bed was empty. Ginny, he's disappeared!"
The two jumped off the sofa and Emma started to pace. "This is my fault," she muttered as she ran her fingers through her hair. "I mean, everyone knows he has the biggest crush on you and then me, his sister, walks through his front door holding your hand, smiling at you. It was obvious what's going on between us. I should have been more careful. Now my brother hates me and has disappeared."
"Emma, this isn't your fault," Regina said. She walked up to where Emma was pacing and took hold of her wrist. She pulled gently and Emma stopped pacing. Regina cupped the side of Emma's face and looked her in the eye. "Not in the slightest. Where will he have gone?"
Emma looked at the ground as she thought. Snow had said that she was going to look in the forest and Charming was heading to the docks, but Emma thought of somewhere else he might be.
"I think I know but I need you to stay here," Emma began.
"What? No, I'm coming with you," Regina insisted.
Emma took Regina's hands in hers. "I need you to stay with Hope, I know where he'll be. I won't be long."
Sighing, Regina realised they couldn't leave the baby on her own. She looked down and realised she wasn't dressed properly to go searching for the young prince. "Okay," she said eventually. "Call me should anything happen."
"I promise." Emma leant in to kiss Regina one last time before she flicked her wrist and disappeared in a cloud of white smoke.
When the smoke cleared, Emma found herself in the garden of the Town Hall. It was dark, but she could faintly make out a small silhouette sat in front of Regina's tree. It was the first place she'd thought of when trying to figure out where her brother would have run off to. One thing Neal loved as much as Regina was her apple tree. She quickly took out her phone and set her parents a text saying she'd found him and they could go home. She'd bring him home soon. She also sent one to Regina too so she wouldn't worry.
Sliding her phone back into her pocket, she walked over to him slowly, not wanting to scare him. As she got closer, she saw the tell-tale signs that he'd been crying. His eyes were puffy and he was sniffling. There were around four smashed up apples in front of him and another in his hand. Emma watched as he launched it across the garden and it smashed against the wall.
"I know you're there, Emma," Neal said quietly. "You can stop sneaking up on me now."
Sighing, Emma stopped being cautious and walked straight up to her brother. She sat down next to him, not too close so that he felt cornered but not too far away to seem distant.
"How did you know I'd be here?" Neal asked looking up at his sister.
"Everyone has a place they feel comfortable when they're sad," Emma replied. "I used to go to the beach, now I go to the well in the forest. You love tending to Regina's tree, you find comfort here. It was the obvious place to go…" she trailed off when she saw him tear up at the mention of Regina's name. "Wanna tell me what's going on, Bud?" Neal shook his head and went to pick up another apple. Emma reached out and put her hand on top. "Please?"
Snatching his arm out of Emma's, Neal launched the apple across the garden again before sighing and turning towards his sister.
"You're with Regina," he whispered. "I thought she might wait for me when I was older. I had it all planned out. I was going to ride across Storybrooke after I'd fought a dragon or something and she'd be all impressed and then I'd ask her to marry me."
Emma couldn't help but smile. "Buddy, even if Regina and I weren't together, that wasn't going to happen," she said softly. "Regina is a lot older than you. I understand where you're coming from. She's beautiful, funny, intelligent, kind and so many other things. She's always going to be in your life though and you'll still get to look after her tree. Nothing is going to change, if anything, she's just becoming a bigger part of the family."
"As my sister-in-law?"
"Woooah, no one's mentioned marriage yet!" Emma exclaimed quickly. After her marriage, Emma was a little scared of the practice now, but she couldn't help but imagine Regina walking up an aisle in a wedding dress to meet her. The thought both terrified and excited her. "We need to get you home." Neal nodded and started to stand up. "What made you run off? Dad said he was coming to talk to you."
"He started talking about True Love and stuff," Neal muttered as she scuffed his shoes. "Like the love between him and Mom and it didn't really help. I thought Regina and I could be true loves but it's obvious now that it's not." He looked up at his sister. "She's yours. It's like Henry always said, the Saviour and the Evil Queen, you were destined to be together."
Emma didn't know how to respond to that. She just held out her hand that Neal took quickly and, with a flick of her wrist, poofed to her parents' house. The cloud of smoke had barely disappeared before Snow was running over to her children. She wrapped her arms tightly around her son and kissed his head.
"Neal David Nolan, if you ever run away again, you'll be grounded until you're fifty!" Snow chastised. "We were worried sick!"
"I'm sorry, Mom," he muttered quietly, returning her hug.
"It's okay, Mom, he just needed some fresh air," Emma said and watched as Snow walked into the house with Neal to put him to bed and David walked up to his eldest.
"What happened?" He asked. Emma gave him a quick summary of the recent event. "Okay, note to self, don't talk about True Love when you're trying to cheer up a twelve-year-old," Charming said making Emma smile. "I was just trying to get him to see that he had one out there as Regina had already found hers."
There it was again, the mention that Regina was Emma's true love. Did she love the brunette? Yes. But was it True Love? She didn't know.
"I have to get home. I left Regina with Hope, she'll be worried."
David nodded before hugging Emma and pressing a kiss to her forehead. "I'll tell your mother you said goodnight."
"Thanks, night Dad."
Emma then flicked her wrists one more time and appeared in her living room. Glancing around, she saw that Regina wasn't there. The two wine glasses on the table had also disappeared and the fire was out. She then made her way upstairs and halfway up she smiled. She could hear Regina's voice faintly. Following the sound, she entered her bedroom and saw Regina cuddling Hope to her as she rocked gently side to side.
"Then could you believe it, she stuck her arm into the darkness and saved me. She's my saviour as well as everyone else's," Regina was murmuring. Hope looked like she was trying to stay awake to hear Regina's story, but her eyes were fluttering as sleep started to take over.
"And I'd do it all over again," Emma said quietly as to not make Regina jump. She wasn't very successful as Regina's breath skipped a beat.
The brunette turned around quickly. "You have got to stop walking in so quietly," she whispered, trying to slow her breathing down. Fortunately, Hope didn't wake up.
"Sorry," Emma whispered back. She walked over to Regina and kissed her in greeting before leaning down and pressing a kiss to Hope's head.
Regina then crossed the room and placed Hope back in her crib. "She started crying about half an hour ago," she said as she walked back over to Emma. "I've not had to change a dirty diaper in years, I'd almost forgotten how to do it then, once that was sorted, I could tell she was a little restless, so I told her a story."
"She does love a good story," Emma murmured, smiling. She reached out and wrapped her arms around Regina's neck as the brunette's arms automatically snaked around her waist. "Thank you for that."
"It was my pleasure."
"Well talking about pleasure," Emma winked before leaning forward and kissing Regina soundly. Within a few moments, the two were lying on the bed, in a similar position to what they'd been in on the sofa. Emma was lying on her back and instead of being cradled between Emma's legs, Regina was straddling them, their cores indirectly pressed against each other.
It didn't take long before Regina broke off the kiss and started kissing down Emma's jaw to her ear. She grazed her teeth over her earlobe and Emma had to bite her lip to stop from moaning too loudly which would wake the baby.
"I want you so badly," Emma whispered huskily, almost whimpering as she felt Regina's tongue tracing the shell of her ear. "But we can't, not with Hope here."
Regina hummed her agreement but didn't stop her actions. She dipped her head and kissed below Emma's ear before grazing her teeth over her lobe one last time. She slipped off Emma's lap and laid next to her.
"I should probably get going," she said reluctantly, going to sit up.
"Please don't go," Emma said quickly. "I mean, we shared the bed the other night and didn't do anything."
"That was before I knew that we could," Regina reminded her.
"I just don't want you to go," Emma said softly. "But I understand if you do." She didn't but she didn't want to sound desperate.
Regina looked at Emma and saw the sadness in her eyes. She couldn't leave Emma when she looked like that. She quickly flicked her wrist and she was lying in the pyjamas that Emma had leant her a couple of days ago.
The blonde then smiled brightly, leaning down to kiss Regina again. "Thank you," she whispered against her lips. She then jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom to brush her teeth.
When she returned to the bedroom, she saw Regina lying in bed on her phone, seemingly distracted. Emma knew she could just change in the bathroom, but she couldn't help wanting to tease the brunette. So she turned her back on her and started unbuttoning her blouse. Remembering she was wearing matching underwear, she paused taking off her top and unbuttoned her jeans, slipping them off, along with her socks. She heard Regina's breath catch behind her and wanted nothing more than to turn around and see her reaction, but she knew that she wouldn't be able to stop herself if Regina pounced and she wasn't sleeping with her, in that sense, for the first time with Hope in the room.
Once her jeans were off, she slipped her blouse off too, revealing the matching underwear. She swore she heard Regina whimper behind her and almost caved in turning around again. Finally, she unhooked her bra with one hand, letting it fall to the floor and she slid her oversize t-shirt over the top.
She counted to five before she finally turned around. When she did, her eyes met with Regina's. Her pupils were black and she looked hungry. She was gripping the bed harshly so that she didn't get up and grab Emma and take her against the wall.
Slowly, Emma crossed the room, she'd barely slipped into the bed before Regina finally pounced. Their kiss was all teeth and tongues and Regina slipped her leg between Emma's feeling just how much Emma enjoyed doing her little strip tease.
"Do you have any idea how much I want you?" Regina husked. With the position of their legs, Emma could feel just how much Regina did want her. Her leg was almost on fire from the heat she felt between Regina's legs.
Emma rolled them over, so she was on top. She straddled Regina's legs, sitting so that their cores didn't touch. "So, you enjoyed that?" she smirked. Regina nodded, her eyes still glazed over with lust. "Perhaps next time I'll do it facing the other way. I wanted nothing more than to see your reaction to everything."
Instead of replying, Regina leant up and kissed Emma again, but it was softer this time, as if to try and cool them down. As much as they'd both enjoyed Emma's teasing, they knew that they couldn't continue and had to calm it down.
They kissed softly before Emma slipped down so she was lying next to Regina instead of sitting on her. Regina rolled onto her side and Emma slipped in behind her, moulding to her shape, slipping an arm over her waist. She toyed with the hem of Regina's top but didn't move any further up.
"I love you," she whispered, she moved Regina's hair from the side of her neck and kissed her softly.
"I love you, too." Regina shifted back so that she was pressed gently against the blonde. She still wanted nothing more than to roll over and take her, but there would be time for that. As she shut her eyes, she smiled. The day had started with her thinking that Emma didn't return her feelings and ended with her accidentally breaking two hearts, but also mending hers in the very best of ways.
Just as sleep was about to take over, she heard a fuss from the bottom of the bed as Hope woke up. Leaning over, Emma turned on the bedside light and was out of bed within seconds and picked up Hope, before bringing her over to the bed.
Emma seemed to forget that Regina was there as she slipped her top up and rested the baby against her breast. Hope started suckling immediately. Regina knew she should probably look away, but the sight was too beautiful.
"I bet this is the turn off you were looking for," Emma whispered with a quiet laugh.
"Never," Regina replied and being careful of the baby, kissed Emma gently. "It's beautiful. You're beautiful."
Emma's face flushed. She never thought breastfeeding could be described as beautiful, but she did enjoy the bonding between her and Hope every time she fed her. She knew she couldn't do it forever, so she enjoyed the time while she could.
After a few minutes, Hope let go. Emma picked up a muslin cloth from the side and wiped at her nipple before letting her top down. Regina was mindful to look away at that moment. Then placing the cloth on her shoulder, Emma lifted Hope to burp her. Satisfied that it was all out, Emma adjusted the baby before returning her crib.
"Sorry about that," she muttered as she got back into bed.
"Don't be," Regina replied. "Seeing the two of you together is precious."
"Well I'm glad it didn't put you off." Emma pecked Regina's cheek then turned the bedside light off and the two of them laid back into their previous positions, finally allowing sleep to take them after such an exhausting day.