A/N This is kind of a filler chapter before the real angst begins, but I hope you enjoy it anyway! I can't promise quick updates as my spring semester of school is just about to start and I'll have a lot of writing to do with that as well.

Thank you for all the follows and favorites, but please review with criticism/comments and let me know what you think! :)

JANUARY 26

"We're back!" Regina called as she walked through the door with Henry in tow. The two had gone grocery shopping for dinner, leaving Emma to rest after a full day of classes. While classes had been in session for a week, Emma's attitude hadn't improved at all. Since her right side was still encased by casts, she couldn't produce anything for her art classes and all written work had to be typed, which still took longer than the usual amount of time since she could only type with one hand.

Regina offered more than once to help Emma out, but she was stubborn and refused to admit defeat. That was the one thing that made Regina feel better about the situation; while Emma might be stubborn as hell, and much more moody than usual—she still wasn't giving up on her situation and almost always had on a brave face in front of Henry.

"Hey buddy," Emma said as Henry ran over to her. She sat up slowly but surely, clearly just waking up from a nap. Regina mouthed an apology but Emma waved her off and had Henry come sit next to her on the couch. "What did you get for dinner?"

"Pizza!" Henry screamed with a giant grin on his face.

Emma raised her eyebrows and looked over to her girlfriend, "You actually allowed him to convince you on pizza?"

"You try saying no to that face!" Regina exclaimed with a huff. "However, we are making the pizza ourselves with whole wheat dough, low-fat cheese, and vegetables on top so that it will be healthy.

Emma snorted, "Keep telling yourself that, baby."

Regina blushed, and then smiled to herself; Emma was in a playful mood tonight, which had been rare lately. She also wanted to keep this mood going instead of thinking about more serious issues.

"Well when your metabolism decides to stop supporting you and you gain fifty pounds, don't come crying to me," Regina teased.

"Will you still love me when I'm three hundred pounds?" Emma asked with a cheeky grin.

"I'll love you always," Regina replied, leaning over the back of the couch to give Emma a brief kiss.

"And me?!" Henry exclaimed, interrupting the moment.

Regina laughed, "Of course I'll always love you too," she said as she gave him a kiss on the forehead.

She reached down and grabbed Henry as she stood up straight, bringing him into the kitchen.

"Henry is going to help me make dinner tonight, isn't that right buddy?" Regina asked.

"Uh huh! It's gonna be really good Mommy," he said with a serious face.

Emma rolled her eyes at her son's antics but let out a chuckle. "We'll see about that."

As Regina began pulling out ingredients and letting Henry help her, Emma laid back down on the couch and let the sounds of their conversation wash over her. Exhaustion was beginning to creep up again, and it seemed only minutes later there was a hand softly shaking her awake.

Opening her eyes slowly Emma saw Ruby sitting on the coffee table in front of her.

"Hey sleepyhead," she said with a smirk. "Did all that lying around tire you out?"

"Ass," Emma muttered, voice still thick with sleep. "What time is it?"

"Just past six," Ruby replied. "The master chefs are almost done with their creation and ordered me away from the kitchen as soon as I got home. It should be ready soon though, which is why I was ordered to wake you up, princess."

Emma shoved her friend's knee slightly, before moving to sit up. She seemed to be struggling more than usual, so Ruby aided to assist Emma standing up. When her friend leaned her weight against Ruby, the brunette knew there must be something else wrong.

"Everything okay?" she asked softly, not necessarily wanting to draw Regina's attention to them. Regina had told Ruby about the pills the week before, and since then both had tried to monitor Emma as closely as possible without smothering her. It seemed that Emma wasn't taking the pills anymore, but she did seem more tired and irritable lately which made Ruby wonder how many she had been taking before that.

"Yeah," Emma answered with a sigh. "Classes were just really hard today. I can't wait to get this arm cast off next week and then things should be a lot easier."

Ruby nodded in understanding, before kissing the side of Emma's head. "You'll be good as new in no time."

She then gave Emma a smirk before pinching her butt and shuffling them forward as Emma let out a shriek, finally causing Regina to look up sharply at them.

"I thought I told you to wake her up," Regina scolded. "What have you done now?"

"Chill out Mama Bear," Ruby replied easily. Her and Regina had fallen into a routine in the past month and were now much more comfortable with each other, even though their personalities tended to clash from time to time.

"I was just feeling a piece of your girlfriend's sweet butt," Ruby continued with a wink.

"Ugh," Emma groaned. "Please Ruby, just shut up." She was, however, smiling, which was what Ruby was aiming to accomplish the entire time.

Regina shook her head at the two of them; sometimes it felt like she was watching over three children instead of just one, but she wouldn't have it any other way.

Once Emma was situated at the table, Ruby moved to put Henry in his high chair as Regina took the pizza out of the oven.

"That smells amazing," Emma moaned out.

"See, healthy isn't so bad is it?" Regina asked pointedly, giving Emma the first slice.

Her girlfriend took a huge bite and smiled with her mouth full, both avoiding the question and trying to push Regina's buttons.

Regina gave Emma a glare, but felt her heart swell on the inside. Emma hadn't been this lighthearted in weeks, and she was glad that this mood seemed to be sticking tonight.

As the makeshift family ate their dinner, Henry kept all of the ladies entertained with stories of what they were doing in day care. After dinner Ruby went to give Henry a bath and left Regina and Emma alone.

The two moved to the couch and Regina sat down, pulling Emma to sit against her chest.

"So how was your day, really?" Regina asked, gently moving Emma's hair away from her face.

Emma sighed, "Hard."

"Well your teachers aren't pushing you right?"

"No, but I can tell they're not happy," Emma said. "But this damn arm cast is coming off next week and hopefully it won't be too fucked up."

Regina poked Emma for the language, then kissed her girlfriend on the cheek. "I think it will be okay. You just have to work hard at the physical therapy."

"I know," Emma groaned. "Can we just not talk about it now? How about you, how are your classes going?"

"Well I'll have to student teach at some point this semester so I need to find a school for that. And…" Regina paused, "My mother has been calling me. But I still don't really feel like talking to her."

Emma turned her head to look at Regina, "I know you're upset with her and you definitely have good reason to be," Emma said hesitantly. "But she's still your mom, so maybe, eventually you could try to sit down and have a talk with her? I mean I would give anything to talk to my parents even though they gave me up."

Regina squeezed her arms around Emma's waist. "I know, I'm sorry if that was insensitive," she whispered, nuzzling her nose against Emma's cheek. "Whenever I go back to my apartment maybe I'll call her back."

"About that," Emma shifted nervously. "Would you, um, possibly like to… not do that?" she asked, her green eyes looking anywhere but at Regina.

Regina felt her heart stutter, and then start beating over time. Was Emma asking what she thought she was asking?

"Emma," she breathed, trying to turn the blonde towards her more. "Emma look at me."

As Emma's eyes locked on Regina she felt her breath leave her in a whoosh.

"Emma are you…?"

"Well," Emma gulped, "You already spend most of your time here. And I know it's to help out with Henry and me, and I'm so grateful for that but I just… really love having you here. And I'd kind of, you know, like to make it permanent. That's not too soon is it? Oh God it's totally too soon, forget I even said anything," she started speaking rapidly.

"Emma!" Regina exclaimed, quickly locking her girlfriend's attention back to her. "I would love to."

"Yeah?" Emma squeaked out, eyes still wide with shifting emotions.

"Of course," Regina said. She surged forward; kissing Emma with all of the passion and love she was feeling. "I love you so much," she whispered reverently.

Emma let out a watery laugh; her eyes welled up with happy tears. "I love you too."