"So that's it?" he asked flatly, "you're giving up, just like that?"
Dark eyes rolled as she concentrated on the task at hand, the sound of the knife hitting the chopping board every time she exerted enough force to cut through the vegetables was enough for her, for now. "It's not called giving up when there's nothing to gain by fighting Henry," that sounded pathetic even to her, "it wouldn't be right and it wouldn't be fair."
"To who?!" He demanded, an apologetic smile forming on his face at his mother's glare in response to being startled. "To who?"
She looked back down to the carrot and continued chopping, "to Emma…" she spoke softly, "to you."
"What are you talking about?" he asked, his brow furrowed in confusion, "I want you guys to be together!"
"As glad I am to hear that and as proud as I am of you for being so open-minded-"
"Love is love," he shrugged, "doesn't matter who shares it as long as they're happy"
She smiled warmly at that and nodded in response, "very true dear, but be that as it may, not many others share your views especially not when it comes to me"
"Who cares about anyone else!?" he shouted again with no apologies coming this time, "this is about your happiness, not theirs, yours and Emma's"
She smiled again though it could be described as more of a grimace, "Emma wouldn't be happy with me dear, trust me."
He didn't like this, this defeated, pushover standing before him worrying about what other people thought was not the mother he knew.
"You always taught me to be brave."
She looked up at this, confusion etched upon her face.
"You always taught me to be brave but now you're the one being a coward," his expression was hard, his tone steady though his heart was pounding within his chest, he had never spoken to anyone like this before.
"Henry, I don't think you-"
"No," he interrupted, "no, you're scared and you're hiding"
"I am most certainly not hi-"
"When was the last time you left this house?" he challenged, he watched as her mouth opened and shut again in the realisation that he was right. "Oh, let me guess…was it that day in the diner?"
"Henry" her tone was warning but he'd had enough, he was fed up of her moping.
"The day that my dad came in and grabbed Emma…"
"Henry ple-"
"When he kissed her and you realised that you love her?"
"Stop."
He did, his confidence in pushing her into action stopped as he looked at her. Dark hair framing her face as she bore down on the arms holding her up on the counter. Her shoulders were slightly hunched as though she were trying to curl in on herself.
She didn't hear him move from his seat as he walked over to her, his hand came to rest on her shoulder. "She loves you too Mom," he whispered loud enough for her to hear, "you belong together."
—
She groaned in frustration as her mother started up once again, "and he really has changed, his new house truly is beautiful, the perfect amount of space for a family…"
"Argh, will you just give it a rest already?" she practically shouted across the open plan space.
Snow faltered for a moment before she continued on as if there had been no interruption, they'd been through this far too many times and she'd managed to build up her own emotional shield against Emma's barbed arguments. "And the way he is with Henry," she practically drooled as images of the two playing together, talking about the future, flitted through her mind, "well I've never seen him so happy"
This had Emma's guard shooting up, she could hear the underlying jab at his brunette mother, "Snow…"
"What?" she feigned innocence, "it's just nice to see him having fun…finally"
"If you make one more swipe at Regina, I swear to all that is good in this world-"
"Well she's not exactly the perfect parent Emma, I mean come on-"
"Did she give him up as a child?" the blonde interrupted, her mother's mouth opening to respond before she continued, "did she put him in an enchanted tree and send him to some unknown place to fend for himself?"
"Emma you know that we ha-"
"No, no you didn't Snow." They'd had this conversation far too many times now, "you could have kept me but that is not the point here," she sighed tiredly, "the point is that she is the only one in this town who has stuck by her child no matter what and, regardless of how much you hate it, Henry loves her and I lo-"
"Don't."
Emma's eyebrows rose then, "don't what?" she challenged, on her feet now almost laughing at the way Snow tried her hardest to avoid her eyes without looking obvious, "don't dash your hopes of me running off into the sunset with my precious prince" she practically spat the last word, "or is it the fact that it's a woman? That I'm not the normal little girl you wanted or expected me to be?"
"Now you know that is not true," Snow looked at her then, "your father and I love you no matter how you choose to live your life but Emma…you're talking about the Evil Queen here-"
"Former."
"You don't know her like we did."
"And you don't know her like I do," Emma retorted, "or at least not anymore," Snow's brow furrowed in confusion at this, "you've said it yourself, you know who she can be, you've seen it, you grew up knowing that side of her." Emma was practically pleading with her mother to understand now, "she was that woman before and she is that woman now just with a little life experience"
"Life experience!? Emma, she murdered people in our land"
"Your land, precisely. This is a whole new world." Snow threw her hands up in frustration, "look, I can't keep having this argument with you. You are just going to except it," she sighed, "I am in love with Regina Mills and I shall continue to be with or without your consent."
"You…you're what?"
Both sets of eyes snapped to the door they hadn't heard open, one Mills stood with a triumphant smile on his face whilst the other looked as though she were about to pass out.
Henry stepped closer to Emma, his eyes alight with his joy, "yeah Mom, you're what?"
In any other circumstance the blonde would have given the kid a swift jab to his ribs or at least a venomous scowl but in that moment she found she couldn't look away from the brunette standing in the open doorway, her purse on the ground having been dropped in the shock of Emma's revelation.
She didn't feel as though she was moving her feet but the decreasing space between her and Regina indicated that she was in fact walking.
Both could only stare at one another for a long moment, the presence of both Henry and Snow White of no importance as the air thickened between them.
Emma's heart pounded violently in her chest as she inhaled a steadying breath to ready herself.
"Regina I…" she reached forward to take the woman's trembling hands in her own shaking grasp, "this wasn't the way you were supposed to find out" she laughed lightly, nervously, "it was supposed to be some big romantic set-up that me and the kid had thought up…or were in the process of thinking up…guess I ruined that"
"Yep, way to go Ma" Henry drawled sarcastically, not surprised when his comment went ignored and not at all offended either, not when he could see how Emma's words were affecting his adoptive mother.
Regina couldn't breathe, her heart had practically stuttered to a complete stop at this point in time. "B-but Neal-"
"The extent of my relationship with Neal never left Boston" she replied honestly, her green eyes never leaving the watery brown orbs of the woman before her, "it's you I love Regina…" she breathed moving closer to the woman, "I think I always have on some level"
The brunette's head shook fiercely then as she attempted to step back from Emma, attempted to find out where all the oxygen had gone.
The blonde matched every backwards step with a forward one of her own until Regina had backed herself into a wooden beam. "I love you Regina"
"You've said that already" came a voice from behind them, Henry swiftly shot his grandmother a pleading look to which she merely shrugged and busied herself with her cooking once more.
The young boy shook his head in bewilderment before turning back to the pair pressed against the wooden banister, he could tell his mother was fighting not to cry and hoping to get the chance to run.
"Mom, just tell her!"
Regina's eyes flashed at this as she looked over to Henry, panic filling dark eyes when Emma turned also, finally remembering his presence.
"Tell me what?" she asked slowly as she turned once more to look at the woman whose hands she refused to let go of. When she didn't speak Emma released one hand to brush back a lock of dark hair behind Regina's ear, a small whimper was given in response as the brunette couldn't help but lean in to the contact.
"This can't happen…" she breathed out, her head never lifting from Emma's palm as her eyes fluttered closed, the blonde moved even further forward to the point where they were practically sharing the same breath.
"Why not?"
A groan of disapproval was heard from the kitchen followed by a stern shushing from Henry when Snow noticed their proximity.
Regina have a bitter laugh then, "that is precisely why, people will never accept us."
"Fuck everyone else," at that Regina's eyes flashed open, the look reminding Emma of their son in the room.
"Sorry kid," she called sheepishly, smiling softly at Henry's giggle, "but I mean it, I don't care what anyone else thinks, present company included" she could just imagine the look of hurt darkening her mother's features but couldn't bring herself to care, "this is about us, our little trio, you me and Henry."
Regina's brow furrowed then, the sound of it so appealing, the feeling of Emma's touch so welcoming…could she really do this? Could they really do this?
"Let me in Regina…" Emma whispered, her nose brushing against the brunette's, "let me in and I promise I will do everything in my power to make you happy, to let you feel loved, to try and make you feel as much for me as I already do for you"
This made her stop then, her lips just brushing Emma's as she turned fully to the blonde, "do you really not know?"
Emma pulled back slightly to see all of Regina's face, the shock, the disbelief, the…guilt?
She barely heard Henry's joyful 'yesss' before she had been pulled in by the intensity of dark eyes.
"Emma, you drive me absolutely crazy, you infuriate me, you challenge me, you make me question every single thing I do…you make me laugh, you fill my every thought and you throw me off balance with a simple look…" the words were tumbling from her mouth without consideration but wasn't that always the way with Emma? "I am completely and utterly in love with you, I love you so much it hurts…the intensity of my feelings for you terrifies me to my very core because…I can barely function when you're not around because you fill every single one of my thoughts and I can hardly breathe when I'm around you because I can't stop thinking about what it would be like to…"
"To…" the word fell from Emma's lips automatically, her brain having melted in the midst of Regina's confession.
"To…to…" no one could say who made the first move, who closed the distance between the pair but as soon as their lips touched none could deny the rightness of it all, especially not Snow White who was currently, and inconspicuously, wiping away the tears that had formed at her former stepmother's declaration of love.
Henry was practically buzzing with excitement as he watched the pair finally act on their feelings…that was until he glimpsed his birth mother's tongue snaking into his adoptive mother's welcoming mouth…that was something he really did not need to see and perhaps material for his next session with Archie.
He gave one last glance behind him, a warm smile breaking on to his face when he saw how wrapped up in one another they were, mission accomplished.
