Chapter Thirty Eight

Leaving her house for the last time had been a little harder than Emma had expected. Though it wasn't really the last time she'd ever be there, when she'd stepped out the front door that evening, the realization hit her that it was no longer her home. It was Zelena's and Ryleigh's home now, possibly soon to be Mal's as well. As happy as she was for them and the little family they were forming, it was hard to say goodbye to the first home Hope had ever had.

Still, she put on a brave face as she secured Hope's car seat into its base in the backseat of her Bug. Regina and Henry had already left in the Mercedes, and since they'd spent that week moving all of Emma's things into Regina's house, all that was left to go was herself and Hope.

"This is a big step, baby girl," Emma said softly as she tucked Hope's blanket in around her. Hope stared up at her with big brown eyes full of wonder. She was three months old now, and so fascinated by everyone and everything she saw.

"It's a good thing, though," Emma continued, nodding her head decisively. "You're not going to remember living here, but that's alright because you're never going to remember the time when Mommy and I were fighting. You're never going to remember us as anything other than happy."

Emma smiled as Hope babbled back at her a bit. She was a chatty little one lately, and Emma loved that it made her feel all the more real, even if she should have still been in her womb at this point.

"Your new bedroom isn't quite as pretty as the one you've got here, but I promise Mommy and I have big plans on how we're going to decorate it," Emma promised, as she leaned in and gave Hope a kiss on the forehead, before finally standing up. "But we better get going before Mommy and Henry start to worry."

Emma shut the door and climbed into the driver's seat, breathing a heavy sigh as she looked back at her big blue house one last time. She hadn't realized that everyone was standing on the porch, watching her leave, and she smiled and waved. Ryleigh squealed and waved back - something she'd just learned earlier that week - from her place securely on Zelena's hip. Mal waved too, before putting her arm around Lily and giving her a small kiss on the temple.

For her part, Lily just watched, and Emma knew this new arrangement wasn't easy on her. She figured it was something they'd talk about eventually, now that they were friends again, but that wasn't a discussion for tonight.

Emma sighed and took one final glance in the rearview mirror at Hope's car seat before starting the Bug and shifting it into drive. There was still an inkling of sadness, but it was quickly being overtaken by excitement as she remembered this wasn't really a sad goodbye, but the start of a brand new adventure.

Regina and Henry were waiting for them on the front porch when Emma pulled into the driveway at the mansion. It was an exhilarating feeling to come home to her family waiting for her.

"Home," Emma whispered out loud and she threw the Bug into park and turned off the ignition. Moving into the first home she'd ever owned was exciting in its own way, but she was quickly realizing it didn't come close to comparing to how she was feeling right now.

Regina and Henry headed toward the Bug as Emma got out and opened the back door. Hope was still wide awake as Emma unstrapped her from her car seat and picked her up.

"Ready to be home, baby girl?" Emma asked as she stood up, cradling Hope close to her chest.

"We're ready to have you both home," Regina said, leaning forward to kiss Emma on the cheek before kissing Hope on the forehead. "Ready to go in?"

Emma smiled. "More than you know."

Henry grinned as he lead the way to the door, and Emma realized he was finally getting something he'd wanted to for so long as well: both his mothers and his sister under one roof with him, permanently. She was glad that he's listened to her and not pushed it, letting her and Regina find their way to each other on their own, but she knew how happy he was to have his whole family together, at last.

Emma took a steadying breath as she followed Henry through the front door, Regina close behind. It had been barely over seven months since that fateful night that she and Regina had stumbled through this doorway, a little bit drunk, on Thanksgiving, and it suddenly hit Emma truly how much things had changed since that night.

She wiped a tear from her eye as she made her way up the three steps just past the entryway, and it wasn't lost on Regina.

"You alright?" Regina asked, gently, stepping up to her and running a hand over her back.

Emma nodded. "Yeah, I am. I really am," she said, smiling though a couple more tears still escaped. "I just… I always wanted a home, you know? And I'd kind of given up on that and… it's just a little overwhelming. I never really knew how different it would feel to have a home and not just a house."

Regina smiled and nodded, wrapping her arms around Emma. "Welcome home, Emma."

They tried to keep Hope's routine as close to normal as they could that night, knowing she'd be thrown off sleeping in a different house. Emma was a little thrown off, too, since everything was a little different now.

"It feels weird with only one," Emma commented as they bathed Hope together in the master bathroom. For weeks they'd been bathing both girls together, and now two mothers seemed like a lot for one baby.

"I know," Regina agreed, "but it's also nice to just be able to focus on Hope again, isn't it? I loved having Ryleigh around, but she did split our focus a little."

Emma nodded. "Yeah. And I suppose once she's crawling around and getting into everything, we'll be glad there's only one."

"For now."

Emma laughed. "Yeah. Good point."

After her bath, it was bedtime, and Emma carried Hope the short distance down the hallway to the room that she and Regina had picked to be her new bedroom. It was much bigger than her nursery at Emma's, and it was right next to Regina's room.

Their room.

Emma smiled to herself as she realized it really was going to be their room from now on. She'd never truly shared a room with someone before. She'd had people sleep in her bed but it had always been her room and her bed - never truly shared. But all of that was changing now.

Hope's new room was still undecorated. It was a project they planned to take on in the weeks to follow, but for now it was white walls and white curtains. Her furniture from Emma's was here, along with her clothes and toys, and framed pictures from her walls sat on the floor, leaning against the far wall. Emma thought about how they'd have to get more pictures and toys to fill this room that was so much bigger, but that wasn't going to be an issue for her since she loved the thought giving her daughter all the things she'd wished for as a child.

"We should get her a big bookshelf," Emma said, thinking out loud. "And fill it with all the books we can find. I want her to be smart."

"She will be," Regina said, with a smile. "We'll read to her every night, just like I did with Henry."

Emma stepped over to the crib and laid Hope down on the soft mattress. "Good night, baby girl," she said softly, leaning in to give her another kiss on the forehead before standing up and turning on the baby monitor.

Regina gave Hope a kiss, too, and then followed Emma from the room, turning off the light while the soft glow of the nightlight filled the room, and they headed back to the master bedroom for their first night at home together.

Of all the things Emma had imagined happening on her first night home with Regina, Hope incessantly screaming wasn't one of them.

They'd tried everything - changing her, feeding her, another bath with lavender, changing her clothes, rocking her, singing to her - but everytime they thought she was finally out, she woke up and started screaming again.

After two hours, they were sure she was finally down for the night after fifteen whole minutes of peace and quiet, but just as Emma closed her eyes, she heard her once again.

Emma groaned, rolling over to look at Regina, who was already getting up. "What are we going to do?" she asked, sitting up. "Do you think she hates her new room?"

Regina shook her head. "I think she's just out of her element. She's been sleeping in her bassinet for so long in a room with both of us. Maybe she doesn't like being alone. I'm going to go get her."

Emma laid back on her pillow and listened to Regina's soothing voice through the monitor as she picked their daughter up from her crib. As she'd expected, Hope stopped crying the moment she was in her mother's arms again, and moments later Regina was back in the room carrying the red-faced baby girl.

Regina gently placed Hope on the bed beside Emma, and then crawled back into bed herself.

"You just want to let her sleep here tonight?"

"We'll let her fall asleep between us and move her into the bassinet once she does," Regina explained and she lay back down on her own pillow. "I had to do the same with Henry from time to time when he was a baby."

"What was Henry like as a baby?" Emma asked as she ran her fingers through Hope's soft dark hair.

"He cried a lot," Regina said, with a small fond laugh. "Much more than Hope does. But he was also very happy, and inquisitive, and he loved to be cuddled. He was a mama's boy through and through."

"Shocking," Emma said in mock surprise.

"Well, there was that stretch where he hated me," Regina reminded her.

"He never hated you. He was just… struggling."

"Mmhmm," Regina hummed her quiet agreement. "But let's not talk about the past tonight."

"You want to talk about the future instead?"

Regina nodded. "Yes," she said, as she watched Hope's eyes start to close. "This was a big step. Where do we go from here?"

"I don't know," Emma admitted. "But… it's kind of nice not having a plan in mind, isn't it? I mean, look what happened when we just let things take their natural course."

"Fair point. So for now, we'll just live together, sleep together, be…"

"Girlfriends?" Emma suggested with a playful grin.

"I suppose that's what we are now, isn't it?"

Emma's smile widened. "You know, this is the first time we've really talked about this thing we're doing."

"It's about time, isn't?"

Emma raised an eyebrow. "Yeah? Why now?"

"Because Emma, I… I love you."

Emma's breath hitched in her throat for a moment. This wasn't the direction she expected this conversation to take, and for a moment she just stared at Regina.

"You… you do?"

Regina smiled. "Yes. I do."

"Regina, I love you too. I've wanted to tell you for weeks but I just didn't know how, or when or-"

Regina cut Emma off mid-sentence by leaning over to capture her mouth in a long, hard kiss. In that moment, all concern about what the future may or may not hold melted away, and Emma was lost in the moment, feeling completely at peace, at home, and truly loved.

A/N: Since people seem to be on board with the one-shot idea, feel free to send me prompts of one-shots you'd like to see in this verse ;) Decorating the nursery will definitely be one of them… something I'd like to write, but not as part of this actual story.

You can send me prompts on here (in comments or private message) or on my tumblr, rowark-sq

Also, shout out to RedDevilLola for catching the Blink 182 reference… their song Reckless Abandon is what I named this fic after, and that's why I'm calling the series of one-shots "On and on (Reckless Abandon)", which is how the song opens.