AN: Let me know what you think. Your reviews are so much appreciated. thank you all who reviewed this story.

Emma and Regina were dating for a few months now, six to be more exact. By now the town was more than aware their sheriff was pregnant, with who they thought was Regina's baby in a gesture of solidarity from the blonde's part. Only three people knew of the exact origin of the baby outside the Swan Mills family: Ruby, Dorothy and Granny.

Snow and David were quick to dismiss the baby as being biologically Emma's. Emma herself didn't try to integrate her parents in her family. If they wanted to keep their prejudices then Emma will make sure they were as little involved as possible. Their attitude disturbed and upset her, still did, but there wasn't much she could do about it.

Regina started to become more and more attentive with Emma as their relationship progressed. It was almost the opposite of the norm where couples would do less for one another as they became more and more familiar with each other. In the beginning there were just small things: Emma's favorite food, Emma's favorite desert, small treats waiting for the blonde at the sheriff station and so on. Slowly Regina also started to bring Emma flowers, especially if Emma was home earlier than the brunette. Sometimes a single rose, sometimes a bouquet. Emma wasn't a flower type of person but she had to admit that the gesture was incredibly romantic and she started to enjoy these small gestures from Regina. Then there was the daily massage Regina was giving the blonde to help soothe and relax her aching back and feet. When asked why Regina simply shrugged and said it's because she loves Emma but then asked if the blonde minded any of the gestures. Emma reassured her she didn't mind in the slightest, she simply wondered why Regina was doing it.

"I'm trying to show you that I love you very much."

Regina's reply floored Emma. She knew Regina loved her, there was no doubt in Emma's mind, but to see Regina go to extra lengths to show she loved Emma was unexpected.

Regina for her part never expected to fall in love again and definitely not fall in love so hard, harder than ever before. So hard in fact that she was reconsidering the idea of marriage. She could finally have the life she dreamed of as a young girl and one bad experience did not mean she should forever say no to marriage, especially if it was with the woman she loved the most. But if she decided to go for marriage she had to make sure Emma was on board. She was also aware she was the one who had to ask if it came to that. Emma was well aware of Regina's past so the brunette knew that her lover will never bring up the subject.

Regina's own musings on marriage one particular night happened while she was in the shower, shower which got interrupted by Emma, who got in the shower with her, wrapping her arms around Regina as she started to kiss her neck then her shoulder, as one hand came up to massage a breast. Emma could be very distracting, but Regina never minded such a wonderful distraction.

"I thought the whole point of taking a shower is to get clean," Regina teased as she grabbed Emma's hand that was still on her abdomen and lead it down.

"And we will, but not now."

Regina only hums in agreement as she lets out a moan, Emma always knew how and where to touch her to reduce her to a moaning mess in no time.

Emma, Regina learned, was somewhat spontaneous when it came to their relationship. Regina was always a planer, when she wanted something she would think about it and plan in advance. Emma, however, was the opposite, more of a spur of a moment type of person. This meant that they often ended making love in a lot of places Regina didn't necessarily view as feasible. But Emma knew what buttons to push to get Regina to cave in, plus they always used magic, if they were in Storybrooke, to conceal their presence. Emma's libido as of late was through the roof and obviously Regina was on the receiving end of it all. Not that she minded, Emma was absolutely wonderful.

But Emma's spontaneity was not limited to only making love to Regina at all times, everywhere, but to small things as well. Things like Regina always having her car cleaned, serviced, always filled with gas if she was approaching empty. She would pull Regina's feet in her lap during movie nights and massage them because "those sexy fuck me heels can't be that comfortable."

One of Regina's favorite moments happened while she was preparing the lunch boxes for the next day, soft latino music playing in the background. Emma came down from putting the twins to sleep, only to hear Regina softly hum to the music as she put some food in the lunch box. She went and wrapped her arms around Regina, the brunette melting in her arms.

"Dance with me," she said turning to the brunette after she turned the music just a little bit up.

"Emma, I have to finish…" Emma's finger came to rest on her lips.

"I'll help you prepare lunch, but first, my Queen, would you do me the honour of dancing with me?"

"Yes, I would, Princess," and so they started to sway to the soft music, Regina's head coming to rest on Emma's shoulder. The song finished and another one started to play but neither woman broke up their dance, choosing to stay in each other's embrace for a while longer. They looked into each other's eyes and both let out a small laugh as Emma held her hand to spin Regina around on particular notes. When Regina made it back to Emma's embrace she kissed the blonde's lips.

"Honey, I want to go, you can't just take Dorothy," Emma all but whined.

"Emma, darling, it's a quick trip and I'll be back in no time. Besides Ruby and Henry are coming with me. There's no point in hurling the whole family for something that will take me a few hours."

"But...,"

"I'll be home in time for dinner. I promise," Regina grabbed Emma's face and kissed her. Emma just crossed her arms and didn't reciprocate the kiss. She was downright upset. Regina was going with Dorothy, Ruby and Henry to pick up Regina's car, while Emma and the twins will stay home. Ruby and Dorothy planned to stay out of Storybrooke for a few days, while Regina and Henry would be driving back in Regina's new car.

It turned out that Ruby and Dorothy could leave the town since they were in Oz with the whole Underbrooke curse and the Evil Queen incident which made them immune to the town line effects. Regina, Emma and Henry were never affected by the original curse so the new magic around the town line also left them unaffected. It was rather unfortunate, yet the people of Storybrooke were in no rush to get out of the town borders. They felt safer within them. This was taking the building a wall to a whole new level, but Regina didn't argue the point. She could come and go and so could her family so she wasn't about to argue with the people of Storybrooke.

Regina said goodbye to the twins making them promise they'll be good for their mama and she once again went to kiss Emma, who was having none of it, but despite her upset attitude caved in and replied with a small peck to Regina's lips. Regina left a disgruntled Emma on the porch as Henry and herself got in Ruby's car.

"Emma's very unhappy with you," Dorothy pointed out.

"I'll make it up to her."

Regina's nonchalance about all this unsettled the two women. Regina was nothing but supportive and attentive when it came to Emma, yet suddenly she was more than happy to leave Emma at home, even if it upset the blonde. They would perhaps be even more suspicious if she didn't take Henry with her. But perhaps that should make them more suspicious, why would Regina take Henry but not Emma to go car shopping.

"Ok, what are you playing at Mills?"

"We are buying a car."

"Aha, and if that's all I'm the Queen of England, and despite the curse I'm not over 90 years old."

Regina rolled her eyes. In all fairness she left Emma home because she planned to buy an engagement ring and didn't want Emma to see it. Regina finally had the courage and chance to bring the subject up. Emma wanted to get married, but she was aware of Regina's own past experience when it came to marriage, so she never brought the subject up. The brunette saw no point in delaying to pop the question. They have been dating for 6 months now and they had 3 children with one baby on the way. She was well aware that they'll probably still keep it a secret, but having it all be a secret didn't mean they could not enjoy relationship milestones. Or so Regina reasoned. She grabbed Henry with her for a second opinion. He was more than okay with his mothers getting engaged and then married.

Ruby and Dorothy dropped the two Mills at the Mercedes dealership before the couple went to check in at their hotel and start their holiday.

Regina did extensive research on the car she'll buy. Even though she loved black, Emma complained black was a pain to keep clean, and she herself thought the colour was too sober for a family car, so she opted to buy it in red instead. Emma teased her that since she was okay with driving a red car she must be okay with Emma wearing her red leather jacket. That prompted a massive eye roll from Regina and a playful slap to Emma's arm. She already ordered and paid for the car she wanted, an AMG GLE63 SUV she test drove with Emma just two weeks before. This was simply her going to pick it up since she had it custom made.

Car picked, they drove towards the jewellery store, Regina having researched in advance the types of rings she was going to look at. It will be a white gold band with a big yellow diamond stone and two smaller white diamond stones on the left and right of the yellow diamond. She was going all out on this ring and she specifically googled yellow diamonds, because she knew yellow was Emma's favourite colour. The ring looked amazing in the picture, however she had to see how it looked in real life. She would also need to make sure it fitted Emma's finger. Emma played a lot with Regina's hands, so much so that Regina herself memorized everything about Emma's own hands. Picking a right size for Emma's engagement ring would definitely not be a problem.

Regina felt that the trip was quite educational for Henry as well, for the future of course. Not that she liked thinking about the future like that.

"So then when are you going to get married?"

"I haven't even proposed yet."

"Right. What if she says no?"

"She won't."

"You seem really confident about that, mom."

"That's because I talked to your mother about it."

"You told her you'll propose?"

"No, we talked about marriage and how she feels about the idea of her being married to me."

"Ahh."

"You only propose and get married if you're both on the same page. And you should never marry someone because you're pressured. It only brings heartache."

Once they had the ring picked, they went to grab lunch and then headed back home. There was a small stop to a baby clothes store to buy some more things for Sofia, and then at another store to buy clothes for the twins and Henry. Regina was always in a shopping mood, much to Emma and Henry's despair.

"I always thought Ma will be the one to propose, you know?"

"She would never do that."

"Why? Not to stereotype but, she always looked like the one to do these types of things."

"What things?"

"Propose, wait at the altar, clean the gutters, mow the lawns. You know her doing guy stuff."

"Why would you think Emma would do all those things?"

"I don't know, I always thought she's more like the guy. I try not to think too hard about these things though."

Regina understood where the perception error came for Henry. He was stereotyping his mothers on a subconscious level.

"Emma's a woman just like I am. Besides tasks around the house should be divided equally regardless of gender. Just because you're a guy doesn't mean you can't do things that traditionally women were expected to do. I'm teaching you how to cook, I imagine if your partner would not know how to cook you'll step in and do it. Or that if you both know how to cook you would take turns. It might be that your partner prefers to spend time in the garden rather than clean the house. Then once you have children and they're old enough you give them some chores as well, to teach them to be responsible."

"I guess," he thinks about it "but then you paid me for my chores."

"Yes, and you learned to be responsible with your money when it came to sweets. It taught you the basics of financial responsibility."

"Oh," a pause "that's actually smart," he looks at his mom "Are you going to do this with Anna and Rafael?"

"I'm already doing it. Although it's a bit harder because of all the junk food your mother is inhaling with her cravings."

"She has weird cravings."

"That she does and at weird hours."

"I'm still grossed out by the peanut butter jelly gherkin sandwich."

"Don't even mention it. I still can't believe I put it together for her."

They laugh together and Henry realizes he's quite happy to have time alone with his mother. It's been a while since it was just the two of them and if he was honest he missed it. A lot.

"I like this, you know?"

"This?"

"Just the two of us. I mean don't get me wrong I'm more than happy with how our family turned out, but I kind of missed having just us. I really liked today."

"I did too Henry," she briefly glanced in his direction before she turned her attention back to the road reaching her right hand across to hold Henry's.

"We should do it more often. The other three are not near our level of nerdery, they wouldn't understand."

"You don't mind the others coming to Comic Con do you?"

"No, it's going to be fun. I missed the past 2 years. There are many things to do, so many things to see. There's going to be tons of Star Wars merchandise available. I wonder if I should have dressed as Spiderman or Batman instead."

"Henry, you're 14, so no. Your choice this year is really good."

"You think I could get the special eye lens?"

"Already ordered."

"Sweet."

Henry puts the music volume a bit lower and sighs.

"Did you think of how you'll propose?"

"Not yet."

"Are you still going to keep the relationship a secret? Because that ring was expensive and it would be a pity for Emma to not wear it. Maybe if you get a similar one you can say it's a promise ring or something."

"I haven't actually thought of that," Regina frowns at that, her attention still on the road. "I'll have to talk to Emma."

"Its so weird to see you run everything by Emma."

"What do you mean?"

"Just that now when you decide on stuff, you're always 'I'll ask Emma.' It's weird."

"She's my partner and we are together, plus these things concern her. I can't make decisions for her."

"But you're not making decisions."

"I am. But whatever I decide has to be something Emma can agree on as well, especially since it concerns her."

"Meaning?"

"Well, Emma likes certain things. For example, she loves yellow. It would be really inconsiderate of me to buy her things for personal use in black or any other color if they're available in yellow. Seeing things in her favourite color makes her happy, well happier than any other color. It shows I care and I pay attention to what she tells me."

"But clearly having a secret relationship is not what you want."

"It's not, and it's not what Emma wants either but we don't have a choice."

"But, Ruby and Dorothy are out, so is Mulan. Why can't you and Ma be out?"

"Ruby doesn't have Snow White and Prince Charming as parents, nor is she dating the Evil Queen."

"Umm," he sounded unconvinced. The brunette knew she had to be honest with her son and he had a right to know as to what was happening in his family, with his family.

"You mother told her parents about us. They both freaked out and wanted to call the Blue Fairy thinking I did something. Your mother erased their memory of ever telling them about us. A few days ago Snow also asked that Emma stop spending time with Ruby and Dorothy, for obvious reasons."

Henry grimaced at that. He never expected his grandparents to act that way. For all their talk about true love you'd think they would be open to the idea of his moms being each other's true loves. "Oh, I had no idea. Why didn't you tell me? All this time I just thought Ma was doing it because she was selfish."

"Your mother is never selfish when it comes to us. Always remember that."

"She used to be, though."

"Yes, and so did I, but I would like to think we've both come too far now, don't you think?"

"It's certainly been better, I'm happier now, despite so many people living in the house. I mean, it really bothered me when you guys dated other people, but suddenly I'm not bothered you guys date each other. i mean I guess there's truth in the fact that every kid wants their parents together. It does make life a lot easier."

Regina thinks about it for a while. Henry's been nothing but supportive of them when they dated other people, she wondered why he never said anything.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"I did. I told Ma I didn't like who she dated, she never cared. As for who you dated, I don't know, you were rather desperate to date someone, so I didn't say much to not upset you. But yeah I didn't like any of them."

"I'm sorry, Henry."

"It's okay. I'll know for sure to never date someone my kids don't like. It really sucks you know? To have to put up with someone you don't like and not being able to say anything because it will upset the people you actually care about. It's like I'm learning from your mistakes. Hopefully."

"Oh, Henry, I really had no idea," she reached again for his hand and he grabbed it giving it a gentle squeeze.

"All in the past now. You're dating Ma and this actually suits me and makes me happy."

They talk some more on the ride home, both having missed having the other's undivided attention. Once they reached the town line Regina took in a sharp breath. Despite all the times they left town, it still made her pause when she entered Storybrooke, her magic coming back or leaving her was always a shock to the system.

No sooner did Regina park the car that the twins came running out of the house to greet Regina. They were quite taken with Regina even in the short few months they've had as part of a new family. Even at their age they knew and understood enough of what was happening and were aware that being adopted was a huge thing.

As she hugged the twins, Regina looked towards the house to see Emma appear in the doorway. She didn't leave on the best of terms with her blonde partner, Emma being way too upset she was left home. They grabbed the bags from the car and made their way towards the house. The kids were already in but Emma still stood in the doorway looking at her lover. Regina grabbed her hand and pulled her inside closing the door. She smiled at the blonde whose back was now towards the door and leaned in to kiss her. Emma was more than happy to wrap her arms around the brunette and return the kiss with more passion than the mayor expected.

Later that night they made love, not that they didn't make love almost every night, however, this time it was more emotionally charged than usual. Everything felt more intense and Regina was sure she was not the only one thinking that.

"I don't like it when we fight," Emma says as she rests her head on Regina's chest, waiting for her girlfriend to catch her breath after the orgasm Emma gave her.

"I didn't think we fought today. Were we?" Regina's brain still too fuzzy to think, but she nonetheless pulls the covers over Emma and herself.

"I don't know. I hate being so clingy. I hated it when others I dated would not give me breathing space and I always laughed at people that could not do stuff on their own. I still think it's ridiculous, but it still bothered me you left me at home, while you went out with Henry."

"We just left you for a few hours."

"I know. I hope it's just the pregnancy hormones that are making everything I feel more intense than I probably should."

Regina's hands started to stroke Emma's back in soothing circles.

"You know I don't mind you being clingy with me. I'm quite fond of my koala," this made Emma chuckle.

"Did you and Henry have fun though?"

"We did. I missed spending time with him and he missed spending time with just me. Not that we were in a good place the past few years, but it was a nice throw back to when he was 9. You should probably hang out with him one day, just the two of you."

"Yeah, I guess."

"In fact, I think we need to put aside some time for each of the kids, as a one on one," Regina's been thinking about this after the car ride and Henry's confessions.

"We are going to have our hands full with four children. You're going to have to cook in a cauldron or something."

"I have a big pot, I also have a decent sized slow cooker. But we are going to need a schedule."

"So long as we don't get to put love making time in the calendar, I'll be fine."

Regina chuckles at that.

"Can you imagine it? On Wednesdays we have sex," Emma starts to laugh at her own joke.

"Actually that would be out, your night shifts are usually Wednesdays and you're on call Tuesday, Thursday's and Fridays, so those would be out too, assuming you pick up the same schedule when you go back to work." Emma groans at that but then she perks up as a thought crosses her mind.

"Well then, seeing as today is Saturday, what do you say to another round?" Emma gets up to have full access to Regina's lips.

Tbc