The new chapter as promised, sorry it's taken so long. I just want to thank everyone who was kind enough to send me a message or comment wishing me well, I know it will take some time but I'm sure I'll get there. So thank you everyone for sticking with me! Hope I've done it justice.

"I want to take you out," Emma said randomly when the small family were eating their dinner one evening in early April.

The idea had completely thrown Regina, and whilst she was getting used to Henry and Emma being called her own little family she hadn't stopped for one minute to think that she was actually dating Emma because being with the younger woman felt natural, like this is where she was meant to be. After Emma confessed her feelings for the brunette the day after their night on the sofa, they had just fell into a routine, neither of them had really stopped to think about what they were doing; until now.

"Y-you do?" Regina replied as she placed her cutlery on her near-empty plate.

Emma placed a piece of the smoky chicken in her mouth before replying. "Yeah. I mean-"

"Don't chew with your mouth full, dear," Regina interrupted.

Emma swallowed her food quickly and mentally recalled how many times she had managed to piss Regina off with her bad table manners. It wasn't like she was doing it on purpose, it was more to do with the fact Emma had been in places where you didn't stop eating to talk, because if you did someone else managed to swipe your food from you and you were left hungry; so as a child she had managed to do both tasks at the same time.

"Sorry," Emma mumbled as she followed suit with Regina earlier actions and placed her knife and fork on her plate. "As I was saying, we never really did the first date thing, so yeah, I wanna take you out."

"What about Henry?" Regina asked, sipping at her wine as she looked over to the growing child in the highchair.

"We get a sitter."

"A stranger?"

Emma laughed, "I'm not plucking a random kid off the streets and giving them 20 bucks, Regina, I'm not that stupid."

"Who then? It's not like we both have family members lining up to help us."

Even though Emma knew Regina was trying to be hurtful with her words, it hit her in the wrong way. The brunette was right, neither of them had anyone they could really call family. Regina had a mother whom she hadn't had anything to do with since she was 20, no matter how much the woman tried to make up for her mistakes in the past and, well, Emma was an orphan. She grew up in the foster system, she never had parents or a stable home; in fact this was the most stable home she could recall before being given back into the system at three years old.

"Laney," Emma stated.

"Your old boss from the coffee shop?"

Even though Regina had said that she should be staying home with Henry, Emma had been going against the older womans wishes and had been in contact with Laney from the coffee shop. She felt horrible that Regina was working 40 plus hours a week and bringing in the only wage, but even though the blonde could never make as much as Regina, she wanted to bring in something.

"Yeah."

"But you haven't seen her since you quit," Regina said.

Emma spooned some of the puree into Henry's mouth as she spoke, "She said I can work a few days a week. Me and Henry have been to see her at the shop, so she's not a stranger to him. She's good with him too."

"Emma, I'm not sure. I don't -"

"Regina, it's one night. She can come here, we'll be gone two hours, three hours max."

Regina stared at her reflection in the mirror, nervous about the night ahead of her. Yes, they had technically been together a while, but doing the whole 'date night' idea made the older woman feel queasy, she hadn't been out on a successful date since her early college years; but even then it was normally a date in a club where alcohol was around to make her feel more comfortable about the situation.

"You look fine," Emma said, making her presence in the room known.

Instead of replying, the brunette just stared harder at her reflection hoping in some way that something could change; but nothing did. She turned to face the blonde and the sight blew her away. Gone were the jeans and the over-sized sweaters, and here was the dark red, form-fitting dress and heels.

"You look beautiful, Emma," she managed to say.

"This old thing?" Emma scoffed, "It was at the back of the wardrobe, I haven't-"

"Be quiet, Swan."

Emma had seen the worry on Regina's face when she had come into the room, she had tried so hard to make the older woman feel at ease with tonight, but it seemed like nothing she did could change the womans feelings. She had thought about cancelling, but she wanted to spend time with Regina without her son needing every second of her attention.

The blonde walked the short distance to Regina, whose shoe-less feet were firmly stuck to the ground, and placed her hands on their rightful place at the slim waist. Without her own heels, Regina was a damn sight shorter than Emma, which the blonde loved. She looked down and caught the chocolate eyes with her own, Regina didn't need to say anything because her eyes said it all.

"It'll be okay. It's just dinner," Emma said.

"I know. I'm just being silly, I'm sorry."

Emma caught Regina's lips in a searing kiss. Nothing else needed saying, not even the three words I love you, because the kiss said it all. It was a promise, for now and for the future. It was Emma letting Regina know that everything would be okay, that nothing bad would happen, not now, not ever.

Dinner had been amazing. Everything had gone to plan like Emma had hoped. She just wished they hadn't left the restaurant when they did, because then she wouldn't have been sitting in a hospital room willing for Regina to make it through the night. Emma had gone over every detail of the past hours, trying to figure out if Regina knew something bad was going to happen, but each time she did she ended up in tears knowing that their first date might be their last.

"Emma, this place is beautiful," Regina said with a smile.

"I know, and so are you."

"Ever the charmer, Swan."

"That's me, charming."

The couple looked over the menu before the waiter came over and took their order. Emma ordered medium-rare steak and Regina ordered the chicken special. The waiter came back a few minutes later with a bottle of red wine and two glasses for the women, and they were soon drinking and all Regina's worries were slowly fading away.

"Why were you so worried about tonight?" Emma asked.

"The last date I went on ended badly and I haven't been on one since. I didn't want something bad to happen to you."

Emma smiled. She was so happy to be with Regina, because before her no one had really ever cared for her, no one had ever really loved her and she had never loved anyone back. Being with Regina felt natural, like this was what she was born to do; be a mom to Henry and a lover to Regina. "Nothing will happen to me, Regina. I'm tough as nails."

Their food arrived shortly after, as did their second bottle of wine. Emma tried not to eat too quickly like she would if she was at home, but some habits were hard to break. Regina watched as the blonde in front of her demolished her dinner, she ate like a child but it would be weird for Emma to eat in any other way.

"You eat like a child," Regina said as she stabbed her fork in the side salad.

Emma swallowed her mouthful before speaking, "But you love me."

With a smile, Regina replied. "That I do, Swan."

Emma wished that she had some kind of superpower to heal Regina, but no amount of staring at the still body on the hospital bed would change anything. Only the doctors, but it seemed like they had just forgotten about them both. Emma's eyes dropped for a brief second and she winced when she sat up straight, the pain from the whiplash spreading through her neck and shoulders. She couldn't sleep now, she needed to be awake when Regina woke up.

The blonde took Regina's hand in her own and kissed the grazed knuckles. "I'm sorry, Regina. I'm so sorry."

"Come on, let's go for a walk," Emma said as they were leaving the restaurant.

"We have to get back to Henry."

"Laney can survive for another hour, I'm sure he hasn't thrown a frat party."

The women soon found themselves walking across the Brooklyn Bridge, neither of them had really kept track of how far they had walked, they were just happy with each others company. The bridge was beautiful, fairy-lights were covering the sides and lit up the landmark like it was ready for a scene from a romantic film.

But life isn't a film, it's real. Emma knew that all too well, because if life was a film Regina would wake up when Emma kissed her; God knows Emma had tried everything.

"Thank you for tonight, Emma," Regina said as they looked over to New York, the lights illuminating the sky.

"I told you nothing bad would happen to me," the blonde said with a smile. "Come on, lets get a cab back home."

Being born and growing up in New York, Regina had mastered the art of hailing a cab before she was 15. They got into the first cab that pulled up and told the cab driver the address of Regina's apartment. Emma wrapped her arm around Regina's shoulders and pulled the older woman closer. Regina snuggled into Emma's side, the warmth from the younger woman warming her up.

'This is where I want to be,' Regina thought to herself.

No one saw it coming. How could they? A drunk driver trying to be clever and jumping a red light at top speed. The yellow cab had been flipped over multiple times, it was a miracle that any of them were even alive, even if one of them was laying unconscious on a hospital bed.

Regina and the cab driver had got the worst of it, the car hit the side they were on, whereas Emma had a few cuts and bruises along with whiplash and a headache. The doctors had told her that they needed her to stay in overnight to monitor her condition, but she discharged herself and went straight to Regina's side.

The blonde had been at the older womans side ever since she had gotten out of surgery an hour ago. She couldn't help but blame herself, if she hadn't taken her out this would never have happened. They could be at home with Henry.

Henry.

With everything that had happened she had completely forgotten about her own son. The blonde dug through her bag for her cell and dialed Lacey's number hoping that she hadn't fallen asleep on her sofa.

"Emma?" Laney said when she finally answered the phone, her voice laced with sleep.

"Yeah, it's me. Is Henry okay?"

"He's fine, but you were supposed to be back hours ago."

"I'm sorry, it's ju-" Emma couldn't finish her sentence, she was having a hard time believing that Regina was in the state she was in, so how could she explain it to someone over the phone?

Laney heard the worry in Emma's voice, she didn't need telling that something bad had happened. "Are you and Regina okay?"

"I- I can't lose her," Emma said, her voice breaking.

"Emma, what happened exactly?"

"There was a crash," Emma said. She cleared her throat before speaking again, "Her side was hit, it's bad - she hasn't woken up yet."

"I'll be there as-"

"No. Don't. Henry doesn't need to see her like this."

"I don't care what you say, I'm coming."

Before Emma could even answer the other woman, the phone call had ended. The blonde sat back in the chair, bringing her knees to her chest and rested her chin on them. Her thoughts drifted to the first time she had seen Regina, the first time they spoke and how their friendship had started. Everything used to be fine, now it had all gone to shit.

It felt like hours had passed until Laney showed up with a sleeping Henry in his car seat. Even though Emma didn't want Henry to see Regina in this state, she was glad to have her friend there, it was a shoulder to cry on.

"It's my fault," Emma said, holding back the tears that would undoubtedly flow later on.

"Emma, look at me," Laney said. When Emma's eyes didn't meet hers, she put her fingers under her chin and guided the blondes gaze to hers. "No matter what you say, none of this was your fault. Okay? Say it Emma."

"I- it's not my fault."