AN: Next installment, I'm really trying to update these regularly but with grad school starting up next week, not sure how often I'll get a chance to write. Please review :)

Chapter 25

A week turned into a month, which turned into and eventually Lily had gone down with Emma to move the rest of her belongings to Storybrooke. As much as she hated to admit it, her mothers were right and this is where she belonged.

She had checked into a room at Granny's and with a little coercion from Regina, got Granny to hire her on as a waitress. She made it to dinner at Regina's nearly every night. For now anyway, she wanted to get to know the women that made her. And Maleficent continued their flying lessons. She was getting better at it every day.

Regina had stayed true to her word and helped Ursula get her voice back. They couldn't exactly give Cruella what she wanted - to kill again - but Ursula was able to get her to give that up. The two of them continued to live in the cabin, not causing too much chaos but they had their days along with Mal when they needed to burn something or drink a liquor store dry. Regina wasn't too keen on all this but she couldn't deny the thrill she got when she went out with the queens. A part of her was still a villain and she had learned to embrace the darkness. Things were looking up.

Regina was in her office when Henry and Lily showed up carrying a take out bag from Granny's.

"Hey mom," Henry said as he propped himself onto her couch.

Regina smiled up at her kids, "This is a nice surprise."

"I had a break," Lily started, "And the kid suggested…"

Regina walked around the desk and affectionately squeezed Lily's upper arm lightly, "I'm glad you're here, sweetheart." she smiled at her oldest, they hadn't known each other long but Regina loved her dearly as any mother would, Lily was slower at opening up though, something Regina was sure she got from her. "What's in the bag?"

They moved over to the couch to sit. Henry had already pulled out his grilled cheese, just like his mother Regina shook her head. "We figured the kale salad was more your style than grilled cheese."

Regina laughed nodding and reached for the container, "Good guess."

"Any chance you both are free Saturday?" Lily asked looking at Regina.

"Me and Henry?"

Lily shook her head, "You and my other mother."

Regina nodded, "We should be. You know it's okay if you don't want to call us mom. You can use our names. We understand this is a strange situation."

Lily nodded, "I just need more time." she muttered, "I actually found a place, it's close to yours. Thought maybe you would want to take a look?"

"I'd love that, sweetie. I'm sure Maleficent would too."

"Great," Lily smiled at her, "You can come too kid, even though you've already seen it."

"Wait you showed Henry first?" Regina gaped.

Henry grinned, "Yup!"

Lily shrugged, "Emma had him the day we went looking."

"I see…"

"Are you really mad?" Henry asked

Regina rolled her eyes, "No. Of course not."

They continued to eat lunch until Lily had to leave, she took Henry back with her to meet Emma at the diner.

.::.

Saturday morning came around, Regina stirred awake earlier than usual. She was anxious about seeing this place Lily found. She turned around to a mess of blonde hair sprawled out on the pillow next to her. Regina smiled watching Mal sleep for a moment before scooting closer and moving her hair a little giving her access to kiss her neck and shoulder. She continued giving her light butterfly kisses, coaxing the dragon out of her slumber.

"Good morning, beautiful," Regina whispered as Mal started to rub her eyes. "We're meeting Lily in an hour."

"Perfect," Mal slurred wrapping an arm around Regina and pulling her closer, "Just enough time…" she didn't bother finishing the sentence and instead closed the distance between them kissing her soundly.

Regina kissed her back snuggling in closer. She broke the kiss after a moment and caressed the blonde's cheek looking into her eyes, "I love you."

"I love you too," Mal responded, "You've been saying that a lot lately."

"Someone pointed out that I hadn't said it much before and I wanted to change that."

Mal chuckled, "I wasn't criticizing, my love."

"I know you weren't but I don't ever want you to doubt how I feel about you," Regina pecked Mal's lips as she caressed her side.

"I don't doubt it. Even when you were at your worst there was a still a part of you that cared."

"Don't remind me of that."

"I've already forgiven you, you need to forgive yourself, Regina. None of this is your fault."

Regina gives Mal a look, "You're biased."

"You didn't know about Lily. Neither of us know what you would have done in that case, but I know you. I know how much you do for the people you love. Stop beating yourself up, we have her back and she isn't going anywhere."

Regina nods and cuddles closer to the older blonde. "I'll make breakfast."

"Let me."

At that Regina starts laughing, "Your patience and my kitchen? As much as I love you, I don't think so."

"I am perfectly capable of making you breakfast." Mal retorted.

Regina raised a brow at her, "The last time you used the stove you wanted to burn it down because it wasn't going fast enough."

"Well it wasn't, honestly honey, this would go a lot faster if you just let me do the cooking."

"You are not blowing fire in my kitchen, or anywhere in this house for that matter."

"Fine, I'll go outside."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I said so. I'm going to make breakfast."

Mal narrowed her eyes, "Fine whatever you say, Your Majesty."

Regina smirks sitting up, "That's more like it," she leans over and kisses Mal's cheek before slipping out of bed and slipping on her robe. She pads down to the kitchen and starts on breakfast. Ever since Mal had moved in she had to alter how her fridge was stocked. The dragon needed meat, lots of meat. She pulled out the pack of bacon and sausage and started the coffee pot.

While the bacon is sizzling, Regina reached over to one of the flour containers, opening it and pulling out the small jewelry box she had snuck in the empty container earlier. She opened the box and looked at the ring she had bought, this was the real reason she didn't want Mal poking around the kitchen, she didn't want her finding this before she had a chance to give it to her. Closing the box she re-hid it and went back to finishing up breakfast.

By the time Mal came down to join her breakfast was ready and plated. Regina handed Mal one of the plates, "Extra bacon, just the way you like it."

Mal smirked giving her a little peck as she took the plate, "Thank you, dear."

.::.

The two of them finished up breakfast and made their way out to the address Lily had sent them. The place she had gotten was very close to Regina's mansion that they had opted to walk over to meet Lily and Henry.

"Hey mom," Henry smiled as Regina walked over to him and kissed his cheek.

"Emma drop you off?" she asked.

Henry nodded, "Yeah, she said she'll drop my stuff at the house later."

Lily was standing a little awkwardly next to him, she still wasn't sure how to interact with her parents. They had been wonderful but she wasn't used to this.

"You look lovely, sweetheart," Mal offered, smiling at her daughter.

"Thank you," Lily murmured, "Did you guys find the place okay?"

"Yeah, it's walking distance, which is great." Regina responded, "So this is it?" she motioned to the house behind them. It wasn't huge but it was homey and there was something comfortable about it.

Lily nodded, "It's nicer on the inside."

"It's lovely, sweetheart." Mal commented leaning over to give her daughter a hug.

Lily still wasn't used to all the affection that Mal showed, she was trying but it was weird for her. She awkwardly returned the hug pulling back and digging into her bag for the key, "Thanks, come inside and look."

Regina had made her way back to Mal's side and slipped her hand into the dragon's giving it a squeeze as Henry ran off in front to go inside, "She's warming up."

"I know." Mal responded as the two walked into the house.

They stayed and looked around the house for a while. Mal insisting on checking everything to make sure it was safe for her little girl. Eventually all four them had made their way over to Regina's house for lunch. Emma had stopped by to drop off Henry's thing and stuck around for lunch as well. All five of them were currently in the living room exchanging stories.

"She really saved my ass that night and gave me a whole new outlook on the whole stealing thing," Emma stated, recalling how Lily and her had met eons ago.

"I mean, you were stuffing pop tarts in your jacket. You had to be desperate, I had to help you out." Lily replied.

Mal was watching her daughter in awe, she was perfect in her eyes. Henry turned to his mother after Emma and Lily were done, "Mom how'd you meet Maleficent? That story wasn't in the book."

"There's a lot that isn't in the book, sweetie," Regina responded turning to look at Mal, "I broke into the Forbidden Fortress."

"You did what?" Emma exclaimed.

"I wanted her to teach me magic," Regina explained, "And I was young and stupid and thought breaking into a dragon's castle was a good idea."

"Wasn't it?" Lily asked, clearly intrigued in how her parents met.

Mal laced her fingers with Regina's "Oh it was. I'm ever so grateful that she broke in that day."

"You weren't on that day."

"I wasn't in the best place at the time…" Mal explained looking at Lily, "My revenge had failed, I had let myself go…"

"She was exquisite but completely out of it." Regina added, "I was awe struck, and then I realized that the great and powerful dragon spent her free time getting high off sleeping curse."

Emma choked on her tea slightly, "Hold up, you were a stoner?"

"I have no idea what that is." Mal responded causing Lily to laugh.

"Like a drug addict, I mean I don't know what sleeping curse does but if you were high…"

"She was most definitely a stoner. Her hair was a mess, makeup clearly a couple days old, she looked like a mess. But there was just something there," Regina looked into Mal's eyes, "Something that drew me in, I was intimidated at first. But eventually the naive queen decided she could get the dragon to get her fire back."

"I thought she was beyond stupid for playing with fire," Mal commented, "But your mother was a sight for sore eyes. As much as I wanted to kick her out of my castle, I also wanted to pounce on her in my bedchambers."

"Maleficent!" Regina gaped, "That is not important."

Judging by the look of horror on Lily, Henry, and Emma's face, they all got a visual that they did not need.

"Apologies my dear," Mal responded with a smirk on her face, clearly saying she really wasn't all that sorry.

Emma cleared her throat getting up, "I'm going to make tea, anyone want any?"

"I can do that.." Regina started.

"No," Emma instantly cut her off, "I insist, really. I don't need any more visuals of the two of you."

Emma walked into the kitchen and started the kettle. She'd been around Regina's house enough to know where she kept her things, she pulled out one of the identical containers to see if that's the one that the tea was in but she didn't find tea. No she found the ring that Regina had stashed away for safe keeping. She wasn't sure whose it was or who it was meant for so she quickly put it back and went out to the living room while the kettle warmed up.

"You killed my mother," Lily exclaimed as Emma stepped back into the room.

"What?" Emma looked at her dumbfounded.

"Maleficent, you killed her. Apparently you've had it in with both of them…"

"It was just a matter of time before she found out, savior," Mal spit out.

Emma narrowed her eyes, "I was trying to save my kid, I didn't know what else to do...and you're clearly not dead."

"That's because Ursula and Cruella resurrected me, no thanks to you."

Emma was about to respond when the kettle started to whistle, "Saved by the bell," Emma murmured. "Gina, where's the tea bags?"

"I'll get them," Regina responded amused as she made her way into the kitchen.