So it's gonna be forever,

Or it's gonna go down in flames

You can tell me when it's over

If the high was worth the pain.

Regina took a deep breath and then started making her way towards Emma, slowly, carefully not wanting to scare her in any away. Remembering a woman who had only stood there a few minutes ago, looking at her with so much love and swearing to love her always, hoping to God that that was still the case.

Hearing Regina's heals hit the floor, Emma looked up at her, startled from her shock. Her eyes widened. And then she heard something she'd always loved to hear for over four years...the sound of Regina's voice calling her name.

"Emma..."

Emma stood mute, just then realizing how quiet the house really was. Henry must be playing some game or reading comic books in his room, she thought, gratefully. She saw nothing but the sound of her heart beating which was beating at a more rapid speed. And she felt nothing but Regina. Just her.

"Are you real?" she whispered, touching her fingers which were now shaking, to Regina's cheek. That face, the one she knew by heart, was the same, but different. All of a sudden there were shallow lines. But her eyes were the same – so brown, so beautiful, but sad and scared now. So much fear than she remembered seeing her in, except for those times she thought she was going to lose Henry.

Regina touched her face, then cradled her cheek in her palm and the heat of her hand told her she was real. "But how?" she wondered. Then the brunette pulled her to her and kissed her and there was roaring in her ears and a long juddering crack, like ice breaking in a lake, from somewhere deep inside her. The smell of her skin, the taste of her mouth, the feeling of her body pressed so close, overwhelmed her. It was like she was experiencing this for the very first time. It felt as if four endless years , four years of longing for her, of secretly loving her, despite their fights and differences, a lifetime of aching loneliness, of barrenness in her heart and body, fell away in the space of mere seconds.

Powerful, conflicting emotions, dammed up for years, burst their confines, flooding forth in a dangerous torrent, pulling her under, threatening to drown her, to tear her apart. She tried to pull away from her but Regina grabbed her wrists.

"No please, Emma. You promised"

She was almost shouting at her. Emma struggled against her, desperate to break loose, furious that she couldn't and didn't really want to. And then she clutched at her, grabbing handfuls of Regina's t-shirt, the flesh underneath, not caring if she hurt her. She buried her face in her neck and sobbed her name over and over again.

Regina held her tightly, crushing Emma to her. "Don't go Emma, please, please don't go" she whispered.

Emma sought her lips, craving the other woman's kiss. She knew she shouldn't do this. That things were definitely more complicated now. That when the past and the present collided, it was a recipe for disaster. That it was insane and wrong. And that she couldn't do this to her parents. But she couldn't help herself. She wanted her so much, she needed her, she loved her.

Pulling Regina's t-shirt out of her jeans and moved her hand inside it. The feeling of Regina's heart beating under her palm brought tears to her eyes. This is all I want, all I wanted for so long, she thought, her heart in my keeping and mine in hers, but is it still possible?

Without a word, Regina lifted Emma up and carried her over to her desk. When she reached it, she lowered her on top of it and stood between Emma's parted things, fitting perfectly to her. Just as she had during their stay in New York. She realized that they were both shaking as she unbuttoned Emma's flannel top. She kissed her shoulder, her throat, her breasts. She was gentle with her and Emma didn't want her to be. She wanted the imprint of Regina's hands, her lips, her teeth upon her skin. To remember this night by. Tomorrow and Forever. Because however hard she tried to convince herself, love just wouldn't be enough in their case.

She pulled Regina's face towards hers', twining her arms around her neck. She kissed her hard, wanting to devour her. She felt Regina's hands fumbling with her pants, felt her pulling down her zipper. And then her fingers were pushing her already damp panties to one side and finally, finally she felt her fingers slide inside her. Filling her. Making her whole.

"I love you, Emma..."

She shook her head. She didn't want to hear those words, not right now.

Regina loved her and she loved her back but it was all hopeless. Just like it had been a year ago.

"Make love to me, Regina. Please, just make love to me" she whispered.

But Regina didn't. She stood perfectly still, her fingers still inside her, gazing at her. The passion in her eyes was fierce and frightening.

"Tell me you love me, Emma" she said.

"Don't ask me that. Not now. Its not fair"

"Tell me. Say it, Emma. Say it" she knew it wasn't fair but she wanted to know that things were still okay between them and this was the only way she knew how.

Emma closed her eyes. "I love you, Regina," she said, her voice breaking. "I've loved you for so long I can't remember not ever loving you. And I always will. But..." she cried and Regina suddenly withdrew her fingers from inside her, she winced.

"But you can't be with an evil queen who caused you and your parents so much pain" Regina said, moving from her and staring at her feet. It was the only place she could look to prevent Emma from seeing the tears that were falling from her face.

"I have to go" Emma sobbed. She didn't want this to be over. She didn't want to see either of them walking away from each other again. She wanted to stay like this, the two of them together, always. With their son. The fear of losing Regina went through her like a cold breeze off a river and she shivered. Out of instinct or habit, Regina pulled her closer.

"Stay with me tonight" she whispered, pressing her lips against Emma's blonde hair, how she loved the smell of her hair, her shampoo.

"I can't. I have to go see my parents" Emma shrugged out of the embrace.

"Okay, but we really have to talk. Will you come back, later?"

"I don't know..." the blonde answered honestly. "Can Henry stay here with you tonight? I don't know how to explain things to him"

"Of course. This is his home. The portion was only enough for one person but we'll work on getting one for him too" Regina said as they both walked out the door just in time to see the said teenager walking down the stairs.

"Hey kid. Having fun?"

"Totally! You should see these comic books and video games Regina got me" the boy said, coming to a stop beside the brunette, smiling brightly at her, completely oblivious to the change in the women's demeanour from when they arrived.

"I'll check them out later and I'm glad you're having fun because I need you to stay with your...with Regina for a little while. I have to meet some friends. Is that okay?"

"Sure. But I didn't know you knew anyone from here except Regina"

"I didn't know I did either" she smiled but it didn't quiet reach her eyes. "I have to go. Be good, okay?" she said, hugging him.

"I'll get dinner ready in a little while; you can go freshen up if you want. I'll go get your suitcase from the car and bring it up" Regina said, addressing the boy.

"Okay" Henry said and disappeared up the stairs and the blonde went out the door without a single word. Regina stood there, and allowed herself to finally fall apart. She had expected this, matter of fact, she had counted on it, she was prepared for it. What she wasn't prepared for however, was the kind of pain she was feeling. It felt like her heart was breaking into little pieces over and over again. Her world had suddenly turned dark. The only bright spot was the fact that her son was with her. Spending the night here, in his room, even if he had no idea. Doing her best to compose herself, she walked to Emma's car, took out Henry's suitcase alone and headed back to the house. She'd make dinner for her and her son and try as hard as she could to act like everything was okay.

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She had no idea how far or for how long she had been walking. All she knew was, she couldn't possibly have any more tears left to shed. She had started crying the very moment she'd heard Regina's door shut behind her. It had taken all her will and strength to stop herself from walking back inside Regina's house and taking her in her arms, hold onto her till kingdom come and never let go. How had things changed so fast? Would she have preferred to never remember this life if she had a choice? She kept asking herself. That would have been like choosing Regina over her parents, something very similar to what was happening right now, She told herself. Regina had brought her so much happiness these past few months, she couldn't imagine her life without her anymore. Not to mention the year before she'd left for New York, when she'd known for certain she was madly in love with the brunette. During their stay in Neverland. But Regina had also caused her family so much pain and anguish in the past. If she decided to go on with their relationship, she would be disregarding and undermining what Regina had put her father and mother through. But if she chose to break things off, she knew she'd never be happy, no matter how much she loved her family and the people of Storybrooke. Regina was her lifeline, a missing piece to a puzzle she'd tried to find for so long, and finally had. She knew and understood her like no one else ever did. I could really use someone to talk to she thought. But the only person she'd tell anything to was the same one she'd do her best to stay away from. Until she could figure things out at least.

Looking up suddenly, she realized where she was. Outside her parents' place. She walked inside the building, trying her best not to run up the stairs. When she reached the door, she wiped her tears away one last time and took a deep breath before knocking softly on the door.

A few seconds later, the door opened and David was standing in front of her.

"Emma!" her father said, unbelievably.

"Dad!" she crushed against her father's body, into his waiting and welcoming arms. She didn't know how possible it was to miss what she never had until this moment right here. Her father might have been absent during her first heartbreak but she was so glad that He was here now to hold her through this moment when her heart felt like it was being shattered into thousands of tiny little pieces. So she held onto him like her life depended on it, she wasn't sure. Maybe it did.

"David, who is at the door,?" her mother's voice came from inside the house. David reluctantly pulled away from her and stepped aside to allow for her mother to see for herself.

"Mom!" Emma literally ran to her like an eight year old. Mary Margaret embraced her like she had waited forever for this moment.

"Emma sweetheart! How? Where is Henry? And Regina?" she asked, looking over her daughter's shoulders to the door. Emma realized she had been terribly wrong when fresh tears started falling at the mention of Regina's name.

"You knew?" Emma asked in exasperation as she left her mother's loving embrace.

"Knew what?"

"That Regina was with me in New York? That..."

"That you two are dating?" David interrupted her. "Yeah we know"

"How?! And why are you saying it like you're okay with it? What the hell happened in that year, except the obvious of course" Emma said, pointing at her mother's belly, indicating how very pregnant she was. "Congratulations you two! I'm going to be a big sister!"

"A lot happened, you better take a seat, its going to take a while." Snow said, waving her to the stools at the kitchen counter.

"So you just encouraged her to lie to me!?" Emma asked, a couple hours later.

"We had no choice. You both deserve to be happy and that was the only way. Besides, would you have believed her if she came up to you and told you that you had this other life you knew nothing about?"

"Probably not, but that doesn't excuse the fact that she lied and so did you! But it doesn't matter anymore anyway. We will never work"

"And why is that?"

"You know why!"

"What?! Because she was evil, because she destroyed our lives? Emma, all that maybe true, but they don't matter, especially not to you! No one has believed in Regina's redemption and her ability to be good more than you. You showed us that a lot of times. You saved her more times than I can count and she did the same for you. We were all there when she said goodbye to you and Henry a year ago and whoever didn't see how much in love you were with each other then, would have had to be blind. And judging by your reaction now, you are still in love with each other if not more. You two are not exactly subtle, you know. Its all in your eyes, in your protectiveness over each other. You both love so hard that its just impossible to hide"

"Well, like I said, we won't work" she shrugged.

"Okay, if thats your choice" Mary Margaret said, "But just so you know, its a very selfish one and you're not selfish, sweetheart"

"What?! Why?!"

"Emma," snow started. "I have known Regina almost all my life. I have seen her at her best and her worst. Mostly her worst which is unfortunate but understandable. She never had anyone to stand up for her, fight for her. And growing up, the only time I can remember seeing her genuinely happy was when she was with Daniel and when He died, she was back to not having anyone, not even her own mother protected her and as a result, well, we were cursed. I never got to see her bests for so long. But after the curse broke, two people changed all that. They changed her. You and Henry. You believed in her, you fought for her like no one else did, no matter what she did in her past. You made her feel worthy of all that, Love, Understanding and Protection. Choosing to leave her because of her past mistakes, would be taking her back to that time where she had no one and had no Love. And that Emma, is plain selfish. The old Regina would have had no problem keeping you from us. She would have let you go on living with your false memories just as long as she kept you and Henry by her side. But she didn't. She brought you back knowing all too well that she would lose you when you found out the truth. Thats how much she loves you. So think about it"

"I have to go bed." Emma said standing up from the stool, as if she hadn't heard anything her mother said. But she had heard her very loud and clear. And she knew that everything her mother said was true. She just needed time. "Oh, and Henry is spending the night at Regina's" she said, briefly hugging her parents.

"Goodnight, you guys"

"Goodnight, honey" they both said in unison.

I'm overwhelmed by your support and kind words! Thank you all so much, for the follows, favourites and reviews (200+)! Let me know what you think of this chapter. Did you expect this or did you hope for a different reaction from Emma? Lots of love to you all. Mwah. Oh, and the song at the top is Taylor Swift's Blank Space. Its so Swan Queen, right? ;)