*Flashback*
"Mom, how come you're not married?" A nine year old Henry asks. "I mean there had to have been a man at some point."
Regina's stomach turns. She knew this day would come eventually. She had never intended to wait so long to tell Henry about his heritage, but the timing had never seemed to be right. Now, she knew she had to come clean, even if it meant that Henry would be angry.
"Henry, honey come sit down." She says, giving him a half-hearted smile. They sit on the sofa together. "You know how much I love you, right?"
"You tell me all the time." Henry answers with an eye roll. "I know you love me, and I know it's awesome just the two of us. But you are lonely. You could use a husband, and I also know I could have a dad out there who could fix that. He could want to be a family."
"You might be right." Regina begins. "But...I don't know who he is."
"How do you not know?" Henry by now is very confused.
"Well...about ten years ago I was lonely and I knew that piece of me was missing. So, I went to Mr. Gold and asked him for his help. A few weeks later he had found a baby boy in Boston who was also alone and needed a family."
"Me." Henry whispers. "I was adopted."
"Yes." Regina confirms.
Regina watches her son, waiting for a reaction. His face looks utterly puzzled, kind of like when he's working on a math problem. She sees tears pool in his brown eyes and it breaks her heart. She wishes things could be different, but they weren't.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Henry asks, finally breaking the silence.
"The time never seemed right. I wanted you to be old enough to understand." Regina replies truthfully. "But, this doesn't make me love you any less. I couldn't love you more if you were biologically mine, you are my whole world."
"I wish you were my real mom." Henry sniffles.
Regina is at a loss for words. She wants to pull him to her. His words hurt, but she knows he doesn't mean them too. He's just trying to make sense of this. There is no way for her to help either, it's something he must come to terms with. But she is going to remind him of how much he means to her.
"This doesn't change anything, Henry." She tries to assure the young boy. "I am still your mother." She reaches to hug him.
"You're wrong." Henry says pulling back. "It changes everything."
It was the beginning of the end. Just a few weeks after discovering the truth, Henry receives a certain fairy tale book. He started to see his mother as the Evil Queen. There was no more talk of finding his father. Instead Henry began looking for his birth mother. Little did they both know, she would be the woman who put their family back together.
10:
Emma had improved greatly on controlling her magic. Regina proved to be an excellent teacher. She always pointed out Emma's strengths and tried not to sound too harsh when correcting her weaknesses. It was obvious why Emma was the savior- her abilities were amazing. Rumple had been right, Regina and Emma together were phonomenal. Regina had never felt this powerful.
"I love this feeling." Emma smiles. They'd just finished a lesson and were heading home. "I never knew I could feel like this."
"The magic does that." Regina comments. Emma chuckles..
"It's not the magic, Gina. It's you." Emma stops walking. "Nothing in my life made sense until you came along. With you I feel complete."
"I feel the same way." Regina smiles. "You are the piece of me I didn't even know I was missing."
"Fate brought us together, and I don't ever want to be apart again." Emma suddenly gets down on one knee. "Regina you have brought so much joy into my life. You're an amazing mother, you've changed into this amazing women. I'll never love anyone the way I love you...you're my soul mate. So….Regina Maria Mills, will you marry me?"
"I-I….of course I will." Regina stumbles tearfully. "Yes...I'll marry you, Emma Ruth Swan." Emma slips the diamond ring onto Regina's small finger. When the blonde returns to a standing position, Regina practically knocks her back down. The brunette launches herself into Emma's arms and kisses her happily.
"I love you." Emma whispers tearfully as she holds on tightly to Regina. "My Queen."
"And I love you, my Swan Princess."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * Even though amends had been made, Regina was nervous for how Emma's parents would react to the news. Snow had admittedly dropped hints about a future wedding, but was this too soon? Would making it official throw things off balance again? The last thing Regina wanted was to make this tough for Emma again. But the blonde seemed confident that things were going to go just fine.
"Mom! Dad! Henry, we're back!" Emma calls as she and Regina enter the loft.
"Moms!" Henry exclaims happily as he rushes into the room. He turns his attention to his brunette mother. "Did you say yes?"
"You knew?" Regina asks in shock. Snow and David come into the room and smile.
"We all did!" Henry confirms impatiently. "So….are there going to be wedding bells?"
"Of course she said yes, Henry." Emma smiles smugly. Regina chuckles at her girlf-fiancees-confidence.
"That's wonderful!" Snow smiles sincerely. "So...when's the big day going to be?"
"Mom we just got engaged half an hour ago." Emma laughs. "We haven't talked about the details yet."
"Snow, you could helps us plan it. Goodness knows we could use the help." Regina offers.
Emma elbows Regina subtly. She wasn't sure if her mother planning their wedding was such a good idea. Regina gives Emma a look and the blonde lets it go. She trusts Regina and knows probably has very good reasoning behind this.
"I'd love to!" Snow exclaims in excitement.
David sends his soon-to-be-daughter-in-law a grateful smile. He understood that Regina was changing. This was her way of getting Snow involved in Emma's life. He really appreciated her effort.
"We can save the wedding planning for later." Emma says. "I am starving."
Everyone laughs. David suggests a family dinner at Granny's and everyone agrees. It was their first time out together as one big family. To Regina's surprise, there were no dirty looks or snide comments. There were, however, many hopeful smiles when they entered the diner.
"Mom can we get ice cream after?" Henry asks hopefully. "You know to celebrate."
"Oh yeah! Can we?" Emma pouts. Regina sighs.
"Is this how it's going to be? Two against one for the rest of our lives?" She teases.
"You know you love it." Emma smiles. "But seriously….ice cream?"
"I suppose we could do that." Regina agrees. Henry and Emma share a pleased grin. They knew Regina could never say no to their combined forces.
"It's amazing how much junk the two of you can eat." Snow comments. She glances at her husband's burger, fries, onion rings, and chocolate milk shake. "I think I know where you get it from."
Regina makes a face as Henry pops another onion ring in his mouth. He was going to get a serious stomach ache if he kept this up. Maybe ice cream wasn't such a good idea.
"I'll be fine, mom." Henry says as if reading the Mayor's mind.
"Don't talk with your mouth full." Regina answers automatically.
"Sorry." Henry grins, his mouth now food-free. "But, I promise, I'll be okay. Besides, you already said yes, and you can't take it back now."
"Okay, but if you end up sick Emma is taking care of you." Regina decides.
Henry and Emma roll their eyes. It was an empty threat, they both knew it. If Henry did get sick, Regina would jump right in and baby her son. It was against her nature as a mother not to. But, of course, Emma and Henry don't tell her that. They just silently nod in agreement.
Snow and David decided to call it a night. They thought the Swan-Mills family probably wanted some time for just the three of them. So, Regina, Henry and Emma were walking through the streets of Storybrooke eating ice cream. Regina loved walks in the dark. They always soothed her.
"How are you feeling?" Regina asks her son worriedly.
"Great." Henry smirks. "I think all those junk food sessions with Emma gave me an iron stomach. I've outgrown those silly belly aches."
Reina highly doubts that, but she's glad he's not feeling ill. Even if she didn't like to be wrong, she disliked seeing Henry sick even more.
"So, who is going to give you away, mom?" Henry asks suddenly, causing Regina to choke on her dessert. They stop walking for a moment.
"Kid." Emma warns, knowing how hard the subject of her father is for Regina.
"What?" Henry asks, thoroughly confused. "I just asked because grandpa is obviously giving you away, Emma, so I was thinking….maybe I could give Mom away."
"Oh, Henry." Regina smiles tearfully. She pulls Henry to her. "I'd love nothing more, my little prince."
Her father would be so honored to have such an amazing young boy named after him. Regina missed her father every day, and nothing would ever fill that guilt or that void. Her son, however, was her world. Henry Sr. would have loved his grandson, Regina knew this. He would also be so proud of his namesake stepping and being their for Regina when her father couldn't be.
"I'm proud of you, Kid." Emma smiles joining their hug.
"I mean...it's not like she's going anywhere." Henry blushes. "I'm only giving her to you." Regina and Emma both laugh at their son.
"There is no one else I would rather be give to." Regina smiles as Emma take her hand and they continue to walk.
"Me either." Emma agree happily.
Things finally made sense. Fate hadn't screwed them over, it led them to each other. This was how things were supposed to be. Everything would be okay as long as they had each other, Emma knew this for certain. She couldn't help but remember what an old foster mom had said to her during her first heartbreak:
'Someday you are going to meet someone who makes you realize why it never worked out with anyone else'
Thinking about this mad Emma smile. Regina was most definitely her someone.
A/N Trying to decide if I should include Neal in this or not...-Kaila