Since it's been like 15 years since I updated last, here's a quick summary of the first 27 chapters. Part of the summary, you've seen before the last time the wait was so ridiculously long, but there's obviously more now to recap the last few chapter.
New chapter to follow immediately :)
Beginning…
-Regina and the gang save Henry in Neverland
-Regina meets Luca, a lost boy - brings him home
-Henry doesn't want anything to do with Regina - still thinks she's evil.
-Henry stays with Emma - Luca stays with Regina
-Luca adapts to Storybrooke life - takes an interest in soccer
-Emma and Regina develop a closer relationship, starting with flirting and moving towards actual dating, but only in secret.
-As things start progressing between them, Neal shows up out of the well.
-Henry is happy and relieved and he and Neal assume they're now going to be the perfect family.
-Regina realizes that she needs to say something if she wants to save her relationship with Emma, so she confront her outside of Emma's apartment one evening.
-Regina pleads her case and her and Emma kiss. Henry sees this and flips out, screaming that Regina is evil and whatnot.
-Regina leaves and decides she has no place in Storybrooke anymore. Leaves notes for Henry and Emma and then she and Luca drive away
Two years later…..
-Time jumps two years later and Regina and Luca are living happily in California after traveling around the country and even parts of the world previously.
-Luca plays soccer, has a close group of friends and enjoys school.
-Regina herself has developed some friendships as well and finds a best friend and confidant in Susan, another soccer mom.
-Regina has been working on a project with orphaned and foster children, opening a center for them and providing a place for them to safely work on school work or just hangout and relax without stress of anything else to bother them.
-Regina has developed a special bond with a young girl, Lilly, and is actively attempting to foster her at home.
-In this time, Henry and Emma have been actively searching for Regina and Luca since their disappearance. Emma does searches ever so often in attempt at locating them and at one point, found Regina in Colorado. But when she went to find her, she barely missed her as Regina and Luca had already moved on. Emma went back home even more hopeless than ever.
-In Storybrooke, due to the pressure from her son, parents, Neal, and the entire town, Emma stays with Neal and agrees to his marriage proposal at one point.
-On the day of the wedding, Emma is at her office, doing a search for Regina, and Henry walks in. At that point, he'd still been adamant that Neal was her happy ending and everything was fine. But he admits that he knows she's not happy and that she shouldn't do it.
-Emma feels furious because in her mind, she did everything for him and now, he suddenly doesn't want it.
-She goes ahead with it, but Henry objects at the wedding and pulls out the letter Regina left for Emma. The one where Regina professed her love for Emma and desire that they could have been happy together. A letter Emma cried over time and time again over the time since Regina had left.
-Emma and Henry run out and their relationship starts to repair at that point forward.
A year later…..
-About a year later (at the two year point) Henry is in Emma's office and happens to see that a search Emma started actually pulled up something - Luca's name at a school in Cali.
-Henry sneaks away and makes his way there, even going as far as to enroll himself in school and there, he gets his first glimpse of Luca, and then Regina - feeling understandably emotional about the obvious changes in not just physical, but emotional being.
-Regina opens the center officially and on that day, Henry finds them and spends the time deciding on how to move forward.
-After a near accident threatens Luca's life, Henry jumps in to save him and exposes himself for the first time.
-Regina is shocked obviously, but brings him home and finds out Emma doesn't even know where he is. She makes him call her and Emma is on her way to California.
-Henry and Regina talk, but it's been years and there's too much to discuss.
-Regina gets a call that she can foster lilly and Henry stays the night.
-In the morning, Henry sees how much of a family they are. They include Henry when they go to pick up lilly and spend the day together. Henry gets the opportunity to say he's sorry to Regina and despite the fact that there's a lot of healing that will need to happen, she tells him she loves and forgives him.
-When they get home, Emma is there.
-Things are super awkward as Emma and Regina are face to face for the first time and it goes similar to how it did with Henry.
-Emma ends up leaving and things are left unresolved.
-Emma finds out about Regina's relationship with Susan and decides to crash a party Regina was throwing with her.
-Emma professes her own feelings and regrets in a very public way at the party and Regina surprises her by telling her they weren't in a fairytale anymore and Emma couldn't do things like that. It leaves her heartbroken, but determined and Emma and Henry end up finding an apartment
-Later, Regina is driving Luca and Lilly when they get into an accident. By coincidence, it's in the place Emma and Henry were just getting groceries at and Emma responds.
-Regina ends up with a broken foot and an inability to drive.
-Emma steps in and volunteers to help around with getting food and driving Regina around. She fixes the disposal and helps make dinner and does whatever she can to spend time with Regina.
-Emma spends the day acting as Regina's chauffeur.
-Things are awkward as hell when love songs keep coming on the radio.
-They make it to the center.
-Regina is on crutches from her broken foot and slips.
-Emma catches her and they have a "moment"
Here's the last few chapters….
-Then things get super awkward again as Regina pulls away and becomes standoffish again.
-Emma has a run in with Chelsea outside the center and ends up helping her and they bond a bit. A moment conveniently witnessed by Regina, who is slightly taken aback by the display.
-Emma ends up helping Regina again at the house and specifically on the plumbing problem. Emma is above Regina's bedroom when she hits a weak spot and falls through on top of Regina.
-The two are intimately close at this point and Regina, surprisingly, gives in for a moment and kisses Emma.
-Emma lets it happen happily until Regina breaks from the stupor and pulls away, before essentially kicking her out of the house, giving a confusing set of mixed signals to Emma.
-The next day, Regina has organized for Susan to drive her and Emma is there only to drive the kids.
-Emma accidentally divulges what happened to Henry, who's confused and excited.
-Regina tells Susan, who tried to reassure her that this isn't the worst case scenario.
-Henry overhears and he and Regina talk, ending up with him telling Regina how her leaving had hurt him and while he understood her reasons, it was still a heart ache he'd lived with.
-That night, the whole family is home again and Regina corners Emma to talk.
-Emma ends up bluntly asking Regina what she wants as her own intentions and feelings have been completely clear since finding Regina and Luca again.
-Regina tells Emma there's too much between them and she's realized the sheer amount of baggage they'd have to deal with is too much.
-The convo shifts to the day she left when she "knew" she was making the right choice and Emma jumps in to point out that Regina left them so it was impossible to know anything isn't for certain.
-She tells Regina that she can see she's not what she wants anymore and she's going to leave now, to spare Regina anymore pain.
-Thankfully, it dawns on Regina that they are repeating history, just reversed now and she reacts.
-Running outside (on a broken foot, no less) Regina stops Emma and Henry from driving off and tells them they still have a chance and she can't let them make the same mistakes again.
-Regina takes Emma's hand and asks her to stay.
And off to the next chapter, FINALLY.
