A/N- Can I just take a moment to appreciate that I've managed to update this story everyday for two whole weeks? That being said, I have absolutely nothing written for the next chapter...

He continued with his hard glare for a moment longer before cracking a small smile, "We haven't gotten to that one yet. Can we go look at the dolphins?"

"Of course."

Without hesitation, Henry took hold of her hand and started out of the reptile house.

Unsurprisingly, he knew the zoo better than Regina hand had successfully navigated the way to the aquatics section.

Regina sent a quick text to Emma once they were there to let the blonde know their location. Unbeknownst to her, Emma knew exactly where they were and had snapped a couple of photos of them holding hands in front of the dolphin exhibit before joining them with the icecreams she had gotten.

Regina's smile was the largest that she'd ever seen. They spent the rest of the day wandering around the zoo with Henry leading the way. Emma held Regina's hand the entire time, all too excited to show off her girlfriend.

That evening as they were leaving the zoo, a kind woman with a son approximately the same age as Henry smiled at them.

"You found him?"

Emma looked at the woman questioningly, then at Regina who blushed deeply with her lower lip caught between her teeth, "Yes, thank you."

The woman nodded, "That's great. You three make such an adorable family."

"Oh no, we're not-" Regina stammered.
"Thank you." Emma interrupted, smoothly sliding her arm around Regina's waist.

Regina managed not to bring it up until that evening after Henry was in bed. The two women were snuggled on Emma's couch passively watching Parks and Rec on Netflix.

Emma had her arm wrapped around Regina's torso as she held her tight from behind, Regina was tracing idle patterns on Emma's arm. The domesticity of the situation wasn't lost on Emma, and it was almost scary for her how easily she could see herself doing this every evening for the rest of her life.

Regina though was in a totally different world, her gaze vacant, and her idle patterns were swirling quicker and quicker. She seemed to be struggling with saying something, by now Emma knew to give her time.

When Leslie Knope broke out of the hospital even though she was extremely sick with the flu, Emma can no longer stand it.

"I can practically hear the gears turning in your head."

Regina rolled over in the small space of the couch so she was nose to nose with Emma.

"When we were leaving the zoo, that woman-"

"Let slip that you lost Henry." Emma cut in with a smirk.

The brunette rolled her eyes, "Called us a family."

"Mhm." Emma just hummed, "And?"

"And you didn't correct her."

The deputy sighed, bringing a hand up to push some of Regina's hair behind an ear, "No, I didn't."

"Why?"

Emma left her hand gently cupping Regina's cheek, "The short answer is I didn't feel the need to explain myself to a stranger at the zoo."

"And the long answer?" Regina asked, tilting her head the smallest amount to nestle into the blonde's comforting palm.

"I agreed."

The administrator managed to control her breathing and crack a brief smile, "See, that answer seems to be shorter than the short answer."

Emma counted to three in her head, amazed that the brunette was holding it together so well. She pressed a quick kiss to her girlfriend's lips, unable to be so close to the inticing red pair for so long without feeling them against her own, "I don't mean now, and I don't want to pressure you, but Henry loves you. And I kinda like you too." She added with a wink, "And maybe, one day, I could see us as a family. And we would be so fucking adorable."

Regina smiled, and responded in the only way she knew, "I kinda like you too. Even though you use a lot of conjunctions when you're nervous."

"Is that your twisted Regina way of saying you can see us as a family too?"

"Yeah." The brunette smiled, "I can."

They existed like that, in the small bubble of their happiness for exactly one more month before Emma decided she wanted to move to the next level, and Regina decided she wasn't having it.

"No."

"But Gina-"

"No! What part of no don't you understand?"

"Mainly the part where you've said it to me." Emma trailed her girlfriend along the path through the park, keeping a deft eye on her son who's throwing some bread to ducks on the pond.

"Emma, I love you, but I'm not trick or treating with Mary Margaret."

Regina was in the lead, and when she heard nothing from the blonde, she just assumed her girlfriend was sulking.

"I would like nothing more than to spend Halloween with you and Henry, but if the munchkin will be there in costume- Emma?"

The administrator stopped when she realized that her girlfriend wasn't walking with her any longer. Instead, Emma had frozen a few feet back on the path, her hands hung limply by her sides and her mouth was barely refraining from dropping open.

"Emma, what are you doing?"

"Do you know what you just said?"

Regina sighed, running a tired hand through her hair, "Is this about me calling Mary Margaret names again because she definitely began this when she called me the wicked witch."

"No, you just said that you loved me."

Now it was Regina's turn to freeze with her jaw dropped, "I uh, I guess I did."

"Did you mean it?"

Regina's slack jawed face morphed into an indulgent smile, "Of course I did, baby." With that nickname, Emma can't help but mirror the megawatt smile her girlfriend was sporting, "I love you, Emma Swan."

"I love you too, so much."

Without any further delay, Emma stepped forwards to erase the space between them, wrapping her arms around her girlfriend's waist, she crashed their lips together. The couple only broke apart with a comment from Henry.

"Eww, Ma." He complained lightly, before delving into his bigger problem, "I ran out of bread."

"Don't worry about it kid, we're heading home anyway. Regina needs to pick a costume for halloween." Emma smirked, her arms still holding Regina tight to her.

"You're coming trick or treating?" Henry all but yelled.

"If you'll have me." The brunette smiled, pulling out of their embrace to regard the boy.

He was already going a hundred miles a minute, "-and we can all have matching costumes. I'll be a giraffe, no, I'll be Ron Weasley, no, I'll be Harry Potter, Ma can be Hedwig…"

He trailed off, rattling his ideas off to nobody in particular before suddenly being struck, "Come On, Gina!" He said, grabbing her hand excitedly and beginning off in the entirely wrong direction to get back to the apartment (not that he knew that), "We've got so much to do!"

A/N- So up next is Halloween! Thank you all for your kind reviews, for your follows, and favorites. Have a great Sunday!

Love, Ms. Informed