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Henry's back was killing him when he awoke from his uncomfortable position on the couch, but he could not have stood sharing the bed with Regina again, not after the way she'd broken his heart. It was funny, really, how Regina never meant to hurt him, yet she did time and time again on accident. She'd done it when he was a child and she lied about his birth mom, and then again when he was ten and she tried to prevent him from seeing Emma. Well intentioned she might be, she always managed to find a way to hurt him. Of course it was not any different now, especially now that he was more vulnerable to her than ever. He loved her, and she broke his heart.

True love was worth fighting for; it worked for his mom and Captain Hook, Snow White and Prince Charming, and even Rumplestiltskin and Belle. But it seemed all his relations had what he did not: true love.

Breakfast was a tense affair. Henry stayed out of the kitchen and Regina stayed out of the dining room. It was only briefly when Regina was forced to sit down at the breakfast table with the rest of the family that things got out of hand.

"And Mrs — says that I'm good at writing stories, and thats cuz I want to be a story writer like daddy when I'm all grown up," Charlie announced proudly.

Henry was about to respond when he was cut off, rather abruptly, by Sam. "Daddy, mommy, please don't get divorced."

Henry and Regina simultaneously froze. Isabel remained silent, her attention switching rapidly back and forth between her two parents. Yes, she had wanted her siblings to pry into Henry and Regina's newfound discomfort around each other in their innocent childlike way, and maybe she'd have set them up with some questions to ask, but she'd never once even hinted at divorce. Her mom and dad not together was unthinkable, even if they were the past version of themselves.

"We're not getting divorced," Henry tried to reassure the children.

Ally knew something was wrong, but she did not understand what was going on. "What's d'vorc'd?" she asked innocently.

"It means mommy and daddy want to get un-married," Sam said, proud that she could answer a question. As the second youngest, she normally did not know the answers that her older siblings did. Then, she turned more pensive. "But daddy, you slept on the couch last night, and mommies and daddies only sleep apart when they're getting divorced."

Ally, finally understanding what was going on, felt that such news was too much for her young mind to handle. She promptly burst into tears. "Nooooo!" she wailed, "Mommy! Daddy!"

Regina pulled the young child onto her lap and tried to soothe the girl but she was inconsolable. She could not fathom mommy and daddy no longer being mommy and daddy, but despite Regina's reassurances as she stroked the girl's hair, Ally could not be calmed.

Regina's movement revealed her ring hand, which Jessica, who was sitting right next to her, noticed something was wrong. "Your ring," Jessica said sadly, trying to keep herself from crying as well, "It's gone. You and daddy really are getting divorced."

Henry and Regina had no idea where the children had gotten the divorce idea from, but when they looked at Isabel as the most likely explanation, she looked afraid as well. Whatever she had been up to, this was certainly not her end goal.

Once Jessica noticed her mother's wedding ring was gone, Charlie grabbed at Henry's hand to check as well. "Daddy doesn't have his ring either," he said sadly.

Ally didn't exactly know what a divorce was, but she knew it must be distressing. The three middle children were now thoroughly convinced that their parents were, in fact, getting a divorce. Isabel did not know what to make of the proceedings. It spoke poorly for her parents' protests that they were no longer wearing their wedding rings, but she also knew they were not in love with each other yet. It was a strange thought, because she did not have a single memory where her parents were not in love.

"No, we're not getting a divorce," Regina told the children, and she was backed up by Henry. This seemed to quell Jessica's tears, and Ally took her cue from her older sister, though she still sniffled occasionally.

"Then how come you don't kiss mommy goodbye anymore, daddy?" Charlie asked innocently. He could not have know the pain his question would cause both Henry and Regina. Of course Henry the dad kissed his wife goodbye every morning, and of course the children noticed the change in behavior. It seemed they had made one wrong move after another without even realizing it.

The children did not believe him. The evidence they seemed irrefutable despite the protests of their parents.

"We're not getting divorced," Regina agreed with Henry. She looked at him helplessly, unsure what to do. Henry felt equally ill at ease. They couldn't tell the children what was really going on because that would only cause an outbreak of hysteria, but they were out of ways to reassure the children that no, they were not going to divorce.

"Mommy and daddy argued last night," Henry explained to the children, "but we still love each other —" Regina may not be in love with him as he was with her, but she still loved him as her son, so he was not lying "— and we are not getting divorced."

Isabel was satisfied with that answer, though it was apparent they were not doing so well on their own. What if coming to the future was the reason they fell in love? And if they failed to fall in love, then did that mean they would never get married and her family would cease to exist? To Isabel, it was perfectly clear that her role shifted from troublesome daughter set on embarrassing her parents to matchmaker, and if her new role as self-appointed matchmaker involved embarrassing her parents and bringing them closer together all at the same time, then all the better.

"Then kiss mom," Isabel demanded, looking straight at Henry. She had that look in her eyes, the same one Regina had when she was determined to have her way. It was a look of icy-coolness meant to intimidate, and it was disconcerting to see that look on a girl who looked like the child version of Emma.

Henry's eyes met Isabel, and he saw fierce determination there. He did not want to kiss Regina, especially not when she scorned his love, and he did not want to try to kiss her only to be rejected. There was only a set amount of rejection his heart could take, and Isabel was about to push him over the edge. He sent her a sad look, and Isabel was surprised to see such sorrow in her father's eyes, but her determination did not waver. They would kiss. If her mom and dad shared true love's kiss then everything would be better and she would have her own parents back.

Isabel did not lower her eyes. She kept challenging him until Henry moved from his chair and knelt at the table beside Regina. Ally was still sitting on Regina's lap, now sucking on her thumb and staring intently at Henry, as if his next actions would determine the course of her entire future.

"Don't be sad, sweetheart," Henry said softly to his daughter as he brushed her thumb from her mouth and gave her a light smile that did not reach his eyes.

Henry then turned to Regina, and she knew he was going to do it. He was going to kiss her. He had that stubborn look in face, the same one Emma got when she was determined. She did not want to kiss him; he was her son and it would be wrong. She especially did not want to kiss him in front of witnesses, even if they were supposed to be their children.

"Henry, don't," she pleaded and turned her face to the side as Henry neared her.

Henry was caught between Isabel's determination and Regina's reluctance. He needed to kiss her to relieve the childrens' fears about the divorce. He was at war with his desire to kiss her, but he could not. Not when it would be unwelcome. He could not claim to love her and then force a kiss upon her. That was not the way love worked.

Henry turned Regina's face to him, his firm grip on her chin not letting her turn away and Ally's presence on her lap kept Regina from physically removing herself from the table.

"Please?" Henry whispered. He wanted, needed, to kiss her, but he could not do it without her permission.

The children saw their mother's reluctance, and as Regina glanced around, she knew what she had to do. She would hate herself for it later, but damn it all if there wasn't a small part of her that wanted to kiss him too. It was that part of her, the part that was the Evil Queen, buried deep inside her, that allowed her to throw away her morales and act out of self-gratification.

She nodded her head yes, and that was all the answer Henry needed. He leaned up and lightly brushed his lips against hers. Regina closed her eyes as the fluttering in her stomach returned. She felt like a teen with her first crush fantasizing about her unattainable teacher. It was something she would never act on, but now she was.

Their lips did not part. There was no fire that lit her veins the way kisses should, because that would be straight from the storybook romance and she was destined to never have that kind of love. No. Their kiss was light and fleeting, shallow and chaste. It was not a kiss that would stir her feelings, nor his. To Regina, it was more than she ought to be giving him, but to Henry, it was not nearly enough: better to have never tasted her lips then to have such a tantalizing preview that was never to be repeated. It was like having his love for her thrown straight back into his face.

The moment was broken by five simultaneous screams of "EWWWW!" The children, not liking to see their parents kiss, covered their eyes and ran from the dining room totally grossed out.

It seemed one good thing came from the unwanted and unsatisfying kiss: none of the children were convinced their parents were getting a divorce anymore.

AN: And so they finally kissed! I've been wanting to write that for such a long time. Please let me know what you think!