"Gina, I need your help."

Maleficent barely said anything before hanging up which was rather frustrating. Regina turned to her wife, "we're needed in town," she revealed before turning to her sister, "can you–"

"I'm coming with you," she said cutting off her sister. "Robin! Alice!" She called and the two entered the foyer.

"Oh, hey Aunt Gina," Robin greeted with a smile. "I hadn't realised you were here."

"Hello, honey," Regina greeted back, echoing her smile before frowning, "Unfortunately, we're needed in town, so could you look after Hope for us? You can call Henry or the Charmings if you need any help."

"We've got it," Robin assured her aunt. It was the first time she and Alice had been asked but they'd spent enough time with Zelena when she'd been on baby sitting duty to know what to do. Besides, Nook was due at the farmhouse any moment and he had plenty of experience raising a little girl.

"Thank you," Emma murmured. She picked Hope up out of her pram and kiss her forehead. "Be good for your cousin," she said before passing her over to Robin.

Zelena quickly nipped out of the room to tell her husband what was going on, and as usual, Chad insisted that he was going with them. The sisters nodded to each other and took their spouses' hands and transported them into town.

As soon as they reappeared in the middle of main street, they were surrounded by shouting. People were stood watching the event unfold.

In the centre was a beautiful woman with tanned skin and ebony hair. She was wearing a loose fitting dressed and sandals. There was also a man with bright blonde hair and a goatee.

"After everything we've been through, you're actually leaving me for her?" The man shouted and Regina and Emma soon realised what was going on. The main thing they didn't understand was why they needed to be there. Surely the Queens weren't necessary to break up a domestic argument.

"I didn't mean for it to happen," the woman replied. "We fell in love." The woman glanced to her left and Emma realised Maleficent was stood nervously beside the woman. The Queen vaguely remembered Regina mentioning in passing that the dragon was seeing someone, but she didn't know that it was a woman, or in particular a married woman. "I know it's hard for you to see that I'm with a woman."

The man scoffed. "You think it's because she's female? Do you think so little of me, Esmerelda?"

Emma glanced at her wife and tried to stem the laughter upon realising who was having a domestic in the centre of town. If the woman was Esmerelda, then the man had to be Phoebus. It seemed pretty much every Disney character was real. She glanced around, expecting Quasimodo to appear from somewhere but that didn't seem to be the case.

The woman, Esmerelda, tilted her head in confusion. "If that's not it then what is?" She asked quietly.

With the change of tone, the crowd started to disperse, leaving only the three involved in the argument, the Queens, Zelena and Chad behind.

"She's a witch!" Phoebus stated. "She's hoodwinked you into thinking you care about her!"

"I would never!" Maleficent cried, joining in the conversation for the first time. Her eyes shone green and Regina recognised it immediately, she was about thirty seconds from losing control of her anger and turning into a dragon.

"Enough!" The Good Queen called as she stepped between her friend and the newcomer. "That's enough." She turned to Maleficent. "Why do you need us here?"

"Phoebus," she scoffed, "is refusing Esmerelda and I to be together. I needed a witness in case something happened."

Emma looked at her dragon incredulously. "And you asked the Queens to come?"

Mal shook her head. "No, I asked my friends because Lily isn't answering her phone."

It occurred to Emma then that not everything was about being Queen. Just because of the situation with Elsa and Killian was, didn't meant that everything was. She'd forgotten that there was another part to her life. She looked at Mal and nodded.

"Where is Lily?" She asked.

"I don't know," Mal replied, looking a little worried. Emma realised that she'd not heard anything from her friend in the last couple of weeks either.

"I'm sure she'll be fine," Regina assured them. "But for now, let's return to the matter at hand." She turned to her sister who'd been silently watching. "There's clearly no crisis, so…" she trailed off hoping Zelena would understand.

"We're not needed," she agreed and nodded. "We'll go relieve Robin and Alice from their baby-sitting duty." With nothing else to say, Zelena reached for Chad's hand and poofed them back to their house.

With them gone, Regina turned to the others. "Now, let's take this away from the street and go somewhere more private."

She nodded to her wife and friend, silently communicating with them. Mal took hold of Esmerelda's hand and flicked her wrist to poof them back to the mansion. The other woman didn't look at all nervous, so Emma realised that she must be familiar with Maleficent's magic. The blonde then turned to Phoebus.

"Would you prefer to walk?" She asked him. Phoebus was just staring at the place where his former love had been standing. At the question he looked up at Emma.

"You can do that poofing thing?" He asked in return and Emma nodded.

"I don't believe we've been introduced. I'm Emma and this is my wife, Regina," she said, leaving out their official titles for the moment.

"I'm aware of who you are, your Majesties," he replied and bowed his head in respect. "I don't believe there is anyone in the United Realms who does not know who you are." Emma blushed at the comment. "I am Captain Phoebus. Well, Phoebus. I haven't been a captain in a while. I refused to follow the leader of my Realm's instruction and I was dismissed."

This peaked Emma and Regina's interest. "We can continue this later, we shouldn't keep Mal waiting because that'll just irritate her further," Regina stated. She flicked her wrist and disappeared in her signature purple.

Emma turned to Phoebus. "May I?" She reached out to grasp his elbow. He nodded but looked a little worried. Emma smiled reassuringly at him as she held his elbow. She flicked her wrist and the two were engulfed in white and moments later were reappearing outside the mansion. The Queen glanced at the former captain and noted that he looked a little green. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," he nodded. "Lead the way."

Emma then entered the house, with Phoebus following her, and led him to the study where she presumed her wife and the others would be. She was unsurprised to see them sitting on the two sofas. Mal and Esmerelda taking up one and Regina on the other. Emma sat beside her wife leaving Phoebus to stand awkwardly at the end beside the chair.

"You may sit if you prefer?" Regina said with a raised eyebrow. So, he did.

While everyone was watching Phoebus, Emma slipped her phone out her pocket and shot a quick text off to Lily, hoping that she would respond, saying to come to the mansion ASAP and to just come straight into the house. Quickly, she slipped her phone away and looked up.

"Now, can you please explain to us what is going on?" Regina requested, looking first at her friend and then to the others.

"Well, it all started while you were on your honeymoon," Maleficent began. "That's when Essie first came to town." The dragon then went on to tell how they met when Esmerelda was looking for somewhere to say, stating she wanted a fresh start away from the Enchanted Forest after a breakup. Maleficent had pointed her towards Granny's and hadn't really thought much more of it. Yes, she'd thought Esmerelda was ridiculously beautiful but nothing more.

Over the next couple of weeks, they kept casually bumping into each other in town before Esmerelda appeared in the mayor's office requesting permission to buy a property. She had no idea how this land worked and Mal told her how it worked and soon enough, Esmerelda was the owner of a two-bedroom cottage not far away from where Maleficent lived with Lily.

As time passed, the two women found themselves making any excuse to see each other until Mal asked her out for coffee which was very clearly a date. At the end, the dragon had plucked up the courage and kissed the dancer and the rest was history. They stopped coming up with excuses to see each other and started to date. It was all going swimmingly until that night.

The two had been strolling down main street, hand in hand, to have dinner at Granny's when Phoebus happened to be in the neighbourhood. He too had wanted a fresh start after their breakup, but he wasn't aware that Esmerelda had moved to Storybrooke too. He was quite content to let them be, he was happy that Esmerelda had found someone to make her smile. However, he then saw Maleficent conjure up a rose to give to her and he started to panic and called out to them. It was then that Mal had tried to contact her daughter, but it was to no avail.

"So that's when I call you, Gina," Mal said as she finished her story.

Regina took a deep breath to stop her from rolling her eyes at the entire thing. It was rather ridiculous.

"Right so let me get this straight," she began and turned to Mal and Esmerelda, "you two are perfectly happy together?" They nodded and she turned to Phoebus, "and the only thing you really have an issue with is the fact that Mal has magic?"

He nodded. "Yes," he confirmed before looking at his ex. "Look, Esmerelda, I've stood by your side through so many things and I'll never regret that. Zephyr is all grown up now and no longer needs his parents together, but you're still the mother of my son and he'd never forgive me if something happened to you."

"Mal loves me," Esmerelda said as she looked at the dragon with love in her eyes. "She'd never hurt me and I think her magic is beautiful. She isn't a witch."

Just as Phoebus went to reply, the front door slammed and seconds later, a panting Lily appeared in the room.

"Lily!" Maleficent cried. She dropped Esmerelda's hand and rushed over to her daughter. "Where have you been?" She automatically started checking her over for injuries making Lily roll her eyes at her mother.

Lily took a few moments to regain her breath. "I was in Oz," she replied, "but then I got your missed calls and Emma's message and I knew I had to be here. What's going on?"

The younger dragon took in the scene. She recognised her mother's girlfriend and naturally the Queens, to whom she smiled brightly and winked at Emma, but she had no idea who the man was but all she could think was daaaamn, he's cute.

"Your mother decided to get involved with a married woman," Regina sassed.

"We're divorced," Esmerelda said quickly. "But it seems my ex-husband had the same idea to move to Storybrooke as I did, and he wasn't happy about your mother and I being together."

"Turns out it was a big misunderstanding," Emma added. She then addressed everyone in turn. "So, Esmerelda, you and Mal are happy together, yes?" They nodded. "Great. And Phoebus, Mal won't hurt Esmerelda so are you fine with them being together?" He nodded. "Even better. So, could you all kindly leave our house? Regina and I have a baby to pick up from her aunt's."

Phoebus nodded and stood. He bid his farewell and quickly left the house. Mal and Esmerelda soon made their leave and Lily turned to go with them.

"Not so fast, Lily Page," Emma called which halted the dragon's movements. "Where the hell have you been the last few weeks and why haven't you been answering my messages?"

Lily turned and looked at her friend guiltily. "I was in Oz," she said. "I wanted to know more about my dad and he lived there once." She then took a seat opposite where the Queens were still sitting. "It turns out he was a dragon too but was able to give up his powers after moving to OZ."

"What was his name?" Emma asked.

"Walsh," Lily revealed hesitantly. "Or more commonly known as the Wizard of Oz."

"What!?" Emma cried, her hand clutching her chest. "Are you being serious? The guy I almost married is, well was, your father? I was almost, unknowingly, became your stepmother? That's just, oh lord, no way!"

Despite the severity of the situation, Regina found it entirely hilarious and started laughed, the other two soon joining in.

"Who'd have thought that both of you could have been my stepmother," Lily said in between her chuckles, "and now I'm stuck with Esmerelda." She sobered up a little. "I never expected my life to turn out like this."

"I know what you mean," Emma said.

Once again, she was reminded how similar she and Lily were. Both of them had grown up in the real world before being thrusted into the land of magic and found out that they had very famous parents. Lily had firstly believed that she just had a famous mother, but now she found out her father was the Wizard of Oz? Well, consider her mind to be blown.

A few moments later, Regina's phone started to ring for the third time that day. However, she started to panic when she saw it was her sister. "Zee, what's wrong?" Emma looked up and bit her lip nervously but relaxed when she saw Regina smile. "That's fine, we'll be there in a second." She hung up the phone and turned to her wife. "Hope wants to come home," she revealed and Emma sighed in relief that nothing was wrong. "Apparently she keeps babbling 'home' and 'mama'."

"I'll let you get off," Lily said as she stood. "See you later, almost-moms," she added and cackled at her joke. Emma threw a cushion at her as she left the room.

Once Lily had left, Regina turned to her wife. "Well, who would have thought," she murmured, "not only did you almost marry a flying monkey, but he was a former dragon and your friend's father!"

Emma laughed and pulled Regina closer to her. "I'd take a Queen over that any day," she said and closed the gap between them and kissed her. "Now, let's go get our daughter and get some food because I don't know about you, but I'm starving." Then as if to emphasise her point, Emma's stomach rumbled loudly.

After a final kiss, Regina clasped her wife's hand and poofed them to her sister's. They walked through the front door and into the kitchen. They smiled when they saw their family, which included Nook and Tink, sitting at the table, and their place settings still set. Glancing round, Regina saw that Hope was in Robin's old crib, but she was fast asleep. With her signature raised eyebrow, she turned to her sister.

Zelena simply shrugged. "Well I had to say something to get you to come over," she said. "The food was getting cold and this one," she nudged her husbandly jokingly, "was complaining he was going to starve to death. I said we were going to have a family dinner, so a family dinner we are having!"

"Thank you for waiting," Emma said as she sat down opposite her wife.

Once the two were seated, Zelena finally allowed everyone to dig in. She had created a Tex Mex feast with enchiladas, fajitas, and a bowl of chilli. There were also a bowl of rice and some corn chips. There were also pots of salsa, sour cream and guacamole. It looked fantastic.

"Don't mention it," Zelena said as she waved her spoon. "Now, tell us what happened after we left."

Emma and Regina then took it in turns telling the tale of what happened while they were eating. Hope woke up after about fifteen minutes and wanted her brunette mother's attention which Regina happily gave. She settled Hope on her knee and continued to eat, giving Hope a little bit of sour cream and guacamole to try.

"You'll never guess what though," Emma said as she finished her meal. "You know Walsh who you sent to spy on me in New York?" It still baffled Emma that Zelena had gone from her enemy to her sister in law and someone she considered a very close friend now.

Zelena laughed at the phrasing. "Yes, the so-called Wizard of Oz, what about him?"

"He's Lily's father," Emma revealed and watched as Zelena's jaw dropped.

"Wait, the Wizard of Oz had a child with Maleficent?" Chad asked. "Just as I thought I was getting used to this town and this life, something like that goes and blows my mind!"

The entire room erupted in laugher and Regina watched it happily. Despite all the crazy stuff she and Emma had going on as Queens at the moment, it was rather amazing to take a step back and enjoy time with her family.