A/N: First, I'd like to thank you all for your reviews/comments. I really appreciate it very much. Second, thanks for the new follows and favourites! Third, let's find out who's at the bloody door ;)

ps. I have created a Twitter account named SQ_Delta_SQ if you have Twitter and you'd like to follow/tweet me, you know where to find me :)

Chapter 21

As Regina and Henry entered the foyer they saw Emma pacing in circles and throwing her hands up in the air, all the while she was still raising her voice to the person standing in the doorway.

"Really? You came all the way here to tell me that you couldn't keep your mouth shut for more than a few days? I can't believe this. Emma stopped her pacing for a moment and ran a hand through her hair and furrowed her brows. She hadn't noticed the presence of Regina and their son yet, so she continued, "And your excuse for blabbing is that you were drunk and it just slipped your mind that I wouldn't want everyone in this town to know about me and Regina. Well, Ruby, it didn't just slip your mind it spilled over your lips. Thank you very much for not respecting my privacy and wish on the matter."

Regina watched with interest as she saw Emma freak out over…over what exactly…. over being with her, over everyone in town knowing of the fact?

She felt a pang of hurt when she considered that Emma was so upset to learn that Ruby apparently had spilled the beans on the new development in their situation.

She cleared her throat to announce her presence in the foyer.

When Emma heard what could only be Regina letting her know that she was standing right behind her now, she took a breath. It wasn't fair for her to freak out so much about this new information. She could only imagine how this must make Regina feel, but she couldn't help herself. She had told Regina that she wasn't embarrassed or ashamed for being with her, for loving her. But she did mean it when she said that she would love it if they could just enjoy this in peace, without other people butting in or throwing their opinions at them, or gossiping about it.

Emma turned around to face Regina, but before she could say or explain anything Regina looked past her, not wanting Emma to see that she had to bite back the tears in her eyes, and addressed Ruby. "Good morning Ruby, would you care to tell me what you are doing here?"

"Good morning Regina", Ruby replied with a small questioning smile on her face since she really wasn't sure if this would turn out to be a good morning or not.

"I just told Emma that the blizzard had subsided not to late yesterday evening. Which allowed me and a few other people to go outside and have a drink together at The Rabbit Hole. Regina crossed her arms as she stood there, listening to Ruby telling her story.

"It was all fun and games, up until the moment that Grumpy challenged me to a drinking contest. The person who could hold his or her liquor the best, would win, you know standard rules and everything" …Seeing that Regina wasn't impressed with her attempt to explain what had happened she quickly continued. "So anyway, as we were downing the shots of tequila I might have gotten a little drunk and told Grumpy I had the biggest scoop of the town, but that it was a secret and I couldn't tell him what it was. A few drinks later however, I couldn't stop myself from telling him anyway" …Ruby let out a sigh as she was finally getting to the point.

"I came here to let you know that I told Grumpy that you two, Emma and Regina, the Queen and the Saviour are in love with each other and are a couple." After the confession she let her head fall down a little before adding, "I'm so sorry, I promised Mary-Margaret I wouldn't say anything when she asked me not to."

Before Regina could respond to the news that their secret was out and the way in which this had transpired, Henry said he would go upstairs and change out of his pyjamas, the cold, streaming in through the open door, from outside was making him shiver.

When Henry left and went up the stairs Regina turned back to Ruby.

"Miss Lucas…Regina thought about scolding the brunette for being such a blabber mouth and for her indiscretion, but the fact was that Regina wasn't feeling as upset with the woman as she probably should be. All Regina wanted was to be able to show she loves Emma, anyplace, anywhere, anytime. She really wasn't as keen on the idea of keeping their relationship a secret, in fact she wanted to be able to shout it from the freaking rooftops, so to speak. She sighed, "Is that all?"

Emma and Ruby snapped their head in the direction of Regina, who was now standing beside Emma. Both being shocked to hear the acquiescence in her voice and the neutral expression in her face.

"No…. not exactly", Ruby then averted her eyes and stopped talking.

Emma lost her patience, again. "Well, just come out with it. What could be worse than this?"

"Uhh, there was this bet going on." Ruby looked back up to the couple standing in front of her. Emma looked surprised, but Regina did not, maybe a little, but not really anyway.

"What kind of bet?, Emma said as she crossed her arms, matching Regina's pose.

"Well, we, meaning Grumpy and I, had set up this betting pool about a year and a half ago. Where people could be if you two, who had become the best of friends by then, would ever tell each other that you love each other. Both Grumpy and I betted that you would, there are a lot of people who didn't see what we saw or didn't believe either of you would ever have the courage to admit it and they betted against you."

Ruby cleared her throat before she continued, "The knowledge that you two have in fact now told each other how you feel and that you are in a relationship made Grumpy go out and kind of knock on all the doors of all the people who have entered the bet. And that are a lot of people…

"O my God, we have got to stop him", Emma screeched and looked panicked.

"It's too late for that. Apparently he went on his mission to collect his money right after I lost the drinking contest and he went knocking on doors all through the night. You are the hottest topic at the diner this morning. I just really thought you two should know this."

Emma gulped, not being able to believe what is happening here. The whole bloody town must know by now. Her plan to enjoy being in love with Regina in private for a while had totally blown up in her face. She was frozen, totally unable to speak her mind.

Regina saw Emma's distress and carefully placed her hand on Emma's shoulder. "Why don't you go into the living room and I'll show Ruby out". She ignored the fact that technically Ruby was never actually 'in' and still standing on the threshold between the doorframe.

Emma nodded, still processing the information she was just given and walked over to the living room and sat herself down on the couch.

Regina and Ruby watched Emma walk away and when she was out of sight Ruby once again apologized to Regina.

Regina smiled a small smile, "She'll be okay, goodbye Ruby", then she closed the door, turned on her heel and made her way to the living room to have a talk with Emma.

Emma sat on the couch with her head in her hands thinking about this disaster. "What a way to turn a perfect morning in the perfect nightmare…Okay, perfect nightmare may be a slight over exaggeration. Everything was just so, nice. First remembering the most amazing perfect night I had with Regina, then hearing Regina sing and revealing her wish to marry me some day, to the playful back and fort during breakfast and the soft kiss on my lips…even the confession that I will love Regina for the rest of my life wasn't as bad as this whole ordeal of everyone finding out this way.

Then suddenly Emma felt the space on the couch next to her being filled and she could smell Regina's apple shampoo and shower gel. This alone let her feel a bit lighter, it was comforting. She lifted her head up out of her hands and saw Regina looking at her. She suddenly felt bad again about how this made her freak out. The last thing she would want is Regina thinking she was ashamed of their relationship, she had to prevent this from happening. Spurred by the desire to not let Regina feel bad, she found her voice again.

"I'm sorry, Regina. I didn't mean to freak out like I did." Emma felt a blush of embarrassment creeping up her neck reaching her cheeks in an instance, as she thought about her behaviour.

Regina reached out her hand and grabbed Emma's. She then slowly let her thumb caress the back of the hand she was holding and nodded, "I know, you're sorry, Emma. But I do feel like we should talk about this. You have told me you wanted to keep this a secret. You told me you wanted to avoid people comments and opinions for a while, but is that really all there is to it?

Meeting Emma's eyes Regina could see them tearing up.

Emma wanted to tell Regina the truth, she deserved it. As she tried to hold back her tears she started explaining, "You are right, it's not the only reason I don't want anyone to know. Or at least, there is a reason behind my wish to not tell people yet. When I was still in the foster system I had told the people who took care of me then that I had feelings for a girl. I was about 15 or 16 years old back then. My honesty and openness cost my a fairly good home, because they sent me away soon after I told them. In the last days I stayed there, they just shunned me. Not just the parents, but also the other children. No one would talk to me, no one would react to my attempts at conversation and no one even looked at me anymore." By now the tears had found it's way down Emma's cheeks, and Regina was hurting inside seeing and hearing this.

"This is the reason why, since then, I would never tell anyone about my attraction to women. That was until I told my mother last week off course, but she also didn't exactly welcome the revelation as you are well aware. I am just afraid that the townspeople will take it badly as well. That they might not respect me anymore and that I can no longer be their Sheriff. I know it sounds stupid and I know that you might face the same problems, but I just can't seem to help but care about what people think, even though I really don't want to and normally don't. And now my worries might even be in vain as I just learned that people were actually placing bets on us so they might not be that shocked after all."

A small smile appeared on Emma's face and Regina returned it and squeezed Emma's hand.

"I can not believe I totally missed that this was going on. I also can't believe that people saw something between us that I didn't 1,5 years ago. Or better said, that I didn't want to see or allow myself to feel at that time, because I just thought it would be impossible and thinking about it would just hurt too much. Emma wiped her tears away and continued, "You know, I am not really mad at Ruby at all. I'm mad at myself, for being such a…such a…chicken."

This made Regina chuckle, "You're not a chicken Emma, she said sincerely. I can understand how awful you must have felt when you were young and not afraid to trust people you thought would understand, people who cared for you, with this personal information. I'm sorry they disappointed you so much and sent you away."

"I'm just happy that it's not me you are worried about. I mean, that it is not the fact that I am your girlfriend that makes you not want to share with people that you have a relationship."

"Absolutely not, I am not nor will I ever be ashamed of you", Emma replied and looked deep into Regina's eyes. Feeling more confident now she finally told Regina why she had doubts about revealing personal details about herself she added, "I meant what I said just now in the kitchen, before I quickly walked away to answer the door. Even though it caught me a little of guard that I said it, and I hope it didn't scare you, I'm going to say it once more. Emma lifted up her hands and cupped Regina's cheeks, not breaking their eye contact and softly, but o so sincerely repeated the words that had sent Regina's heart a flutter, "I will love you until the day I die". And then they kissed.

THE END

Nah, just kidding, read on :p

After kissing passionately, with teeth grazing, lips nipping, tongues caressing and hands roaming around everywhere, Regina and Emma unlocked their lips with a pop and smiled the most beautiful of smiles to each other.

"I will love you for as long as I live too, my love."

Then their moment was interrupted by Henry who was running down the stairs.

In sync they both yelled, "Henry, no running in the house!", which off course made them laugh and Henry just roll his eyes.

"Sorry moms, I was just enthusiastic about the weather outside. The blizzard finally stopped, we can go outside again. I really want a snowball rematch with you guys. This time I don't have to lose on purpose. But remember, no magic allowed, he said with a smirk.

"O and it might be fun to ask grandma and grandpa to join us. The more the merrier, right?"

Regina considered this for a moment, "Spending time with Snow and Charming might still not be my idea of fun, but a chance to hit Snow White with snowballs could be most satisfying. And be a little revenge for her impatience and disturbance of the final battle between Emma and myself."

With a smirk on her face Regina answered her son, "I agree Henry, you should call your grandparents to meet us at the park at let's say, 2 pm. if they'd like to." That way we can have lunch at home first, because going to Granny's might not be the best idea now.

"Are you okay with this plan, Emma?"

"Totally".

"Awesome, I'll call them right away." Henry yelled as he was already exiting the living room to grab his phone in the kitchen and call his grandparents.

"Regina?"

"Yes, dear?"

"How come you didn't really act surprised at all about this whole bet thing Ruby and Grumpy had going on?"

Regina bit her bottom lip as she thought about how she was going to tell Emma this.

"Well, this wasn't the first time they made this bet."

"Huh, what are you talking about?"

"Before the curse broke, right after the time we were both at the mines praying that Henry would be all right, Sydney Glass gave me information. As you know he was sort of my spy at the time, and reported to me about the activities of the townspeople and you."

Emma nodded, she knew all about how Regina used Sydney back then to spy on her etcetera.

"Apparently, some people noticed the moment we stood close and right in front of each other just before you were lowered down into the mines to get Henry. Grumpy had seen it too, and so he started a bet with Ruby. They believed, despite my horrible attitude, that I was attracted to you. He would win if we ever kissed. Ruby also believed it to be true and made the bet public so that others could participate in it."

Emma's mouth dropped open. This was even more surprising. They didn't like each other at all back then, or did they?

"Anyway, the bet was off as soon as the curse broke and everyone realized who I was and who you are. I never knew they renewed the betting pool 1,5 years ago, though it was about more than just attraction now. But I knew they had done this sort of thing before, that's why it didn't surprise me."

"Were they right?"

"About what?"

"Were you attracted to me back then?"

"Honestly…yes, yes I was. At some points I didn't know whether to kill or to kiss you. One of those moments was at the mines and one of those moments was when you cut down a branch of my apple tree."

A huge smirk appeared on Emma's face as she took in this information. Madame Mayor had had the hots for her, ever since she came to town. But things were very different now, now there was more to their story than just physical attraction, there was love and understanding. They really knew each other now, and that was way more special than anything else.

"Well, just for the record. When I first saw you right outside this house, I thought you were a total babe", Emma said and added a wink.

"Thank you, dear". Regina then leaned in and gave Emma a peck on the lips.

"You are aware of the fact that even though we are not going to Granny's for lunch, because according to Ruby we are the talk of the day there. We might run into some people when we go to the park."

"Yes, I'm aware, but I don't care anymore.

"What?" Regina raised her eyebrows at the remark Emma just made.

"I can't believe it myself, but I don't care anymore. I really don't. Just talking to you and telling you about why I used to care made me realize that it's a thing that keeps me from being truly happy with myself and that's just not worth it. And besides, all I really need is you and Henry, and I know you'll be there for me."

"Good, and I always will. You really needn't worry about the townspeople. Back in the Enchanted Forest it was not such a big deal when people of the same sex were in a relationship. It might have been less common for royalty, but here we are just Emma and Regina. They would have found out soon enough anyway, especially since you live with me now. Everything will be fine, I promise."

"The fact that I'm okay with it now, doesn't mean I'm not going to have a little revenge. I'm going to throw Grumpy's ass in jail for illegal gambling when I see him…"

"If it makes you feel better, you do that."

"Hey moms, grandma and grandpa agreed to meet us at the park this afternoon. They will first bring Neal over to Ashley, so he can play with Alexandra and then we'll meet up."

"That's great kid."

"Will you both play Mario Kart with me", Henry then asked and tilted his head a bit so he appeared extra cute and couldn't possibly be denied in his request.

Emma and Regina looked from Henry to each other and shook their heads as they silently agreed they had the cutest kid in the world and they would oblige him.

A/N: Hope you liked the chapter. The cat's out of the bag ;)