Chapter 20 Author's Note

Sorry it's been forever. My job is a mess I'm trying to get out of, I've just had a root canal with no option to get out of work for even a day to just rest, and as a black-cuban-Gallifreyan ;) melting pot, I should be out showing my support for my community but I'm stuck between two jobs and mouth pain...I'm just exhausted. But believe me I'm not giving up the story.

In fact, I miss Maddox and Emma's shenanigans more than anything and I am going to get back to them. I promise. It just might not be consistent but I promise all the family fluff you can handle-and even more than you can handle.

Here's a little something to get you through these trying times.

Maddox shifted on the counter, wobbling a bit. Emma reached out to keep her steady with her free hand. She'd somehow become bored of every toy in her possession and taken an interest in the noise Emma had been making all over the house.

"Careful, Noodle." Emma pulled her glasses down over her eyes to look at the can of hairspray that was not hers. Hopefully, Regina wouldn't notice. And she shouldn't if Emma remembered to clean up the bathroom before she got back.

Maddox looked over the bathroom counter around her with a small frown. She poked at the three combs teetering on the edge. "What are you going?" she asked.

"My hair," Emma answered. She pulled her glasses off and placed them on Mr. Waffles, who was propped up against the mirror.

"Why?"

"So, I don't look like I live in the forest."

"But you don't do your hair."

Emma made a disgruntled sound, trying to be offended. But she damn well knew that Maddox – or anyone else – had never seen her try this hard with her hair. It usually fell into place without much effort.

"I do my hair," Emma said.

"Not with this stuff." Maddox pointed over to the brush she knew was one of Emma's. Only one she'd ever seen with strands of blonde hair. Emma was the only one she knew with a lot of long blonde hair.

"Uh…" She flinched away from the heat of the curling wand. "Well, you and Henry are going to spend the night with Grandma and Grandpa so Gina and I can have a date night. Dinner and wine and boring grownup talk."

"Why do you need these?" Maddox asked, picking up one of the wide tooth combs.

"Well it's date to show my love. So, my hair's gotta look nice for Mommy, right?" Emma moved carefully. She'd already felt like she'd burned her finger on the first try.

If her past self could've seen her now she would've have went on a date with another soul until she met Regina. It was saying something that she'd never bother to spend as much time as it took with a curling wand and several combs for a date. She'd never tried this hard with anyone, not even Killian. But Regina? She'd do this without a thought just to impress that woman.

"Right," Maddox agreed. She liked Emma's hair. Surely, Gina liked it, too. She grabbed Mr. Waffles from his spot and left Emma's glasses on his furry nose. "Emma?"

"Mhm," Emma said, comb stuck between her teeth.

"Did you know you look like the…" She paused for a moment in thought. "The princess with the really, really long hair?"

"Rapunzel?" Emma mumbled. Maddox reached up and took the comb from her mouth as a successful curl fell down to Emma's shoulder. She placed it down behind her and nodded. "I did not know that."

"Maybe you are a princess."

"You think so?" Emma smiled. "I don't know if I'd make a good princess. I'm good at being a sheriff."

"You can do both."

"I could. Thank you, Bunny."

The doorbell sounded downstairs and the pair looked at each other. Maddox instantly started to pout as if Emma hadn't already bribed her – a lot. Emma shook her head as Maddox folded her arms.

Emma accidentally touched the wand again, burning her finger for the third time. "Son of a-" Maddox looked at her, almost waiting for her to finish it like she would tell Regina as soon as she heard. "Gumdrop," Emma finished.

"I don't wanna go now," Maddox said, hopping down from the counter before Emma could react. She landed fine but Emma nearly had a heart attack.

She put down the curling wand and pulled the hair pin out. More blonde hair fell back down her shoulders and Maddox's pout faded momentarily. From the storybook Henry had been reading to her, Emma definitely reminded her of a princess.

"Listen, Maddox…" Emma knelt in front of her. She touched her shoulders and then her cheeks. "We had an agreement. Remember? Pinkie promise?"

Maddox sighed but she grinned. "Okay. But you promised, too."

"I know I did." The doorbell sounded again. "Let's go open the door for Mal."

"You all packed?" Emma asked as Maddox appeared with her backpack and a separate bag of toys. Emma tapped the bag Maddox was holding. "Got your whole room in there?"

"Just some," Maddox said.

"Just some of your room? Okay." She and Mal chuckled. "You do plan on coming back, right?"

Maddox rolled her eyes and groaned – just like her mother. "Yes," she said.

"Well that's sounds promising," Emma said. She turned to Mal. "Thanks for doing this. Luckily, there's just one troublemaker you're transporting tonight. Henry had a project to finish up so he's waiting for his partner in crime now."

"It's no trouble at all," Mal said. She offered a hand to Maddox for her bag of toys and the girl in return offered a grateful smile as she handed it over. "Anything for my little dragon."

"Okay…" Emma tucked her hands into her pockets. "I probably should let you go before Regina appears in the driveway."

"She tends to do that," Mal said. "Maddox, you shouldn't leave without hugs and kisses, correct?"

Maddox beamed at Emma and the woman knelt to pull her into a hug. "You're gonna have a lot of fun," Emma said. She kissed her cheek and then her forehead. "And then when you get back you're going to have more fun."

"Because we're going to see fishes," Maddox said.

"Well, yeah. A few fishes. Maybe a shark or two." Emma's hands kept finding things to fix on Maddox's coat. She hadn't felt this much separation anxiety with Maddox in a while. But it was there even though she was going to see her again in the morning. "Okay, so you're going to have fun and then before bed you're gonna call us to say goodnight, yeah?"

Maddox nodded.

"Okay, Sweetness. I'll see you tomorrow."

Emma let her go reluctantly. Maddox, however, stepped away only for a moment before moving back to her. She placed a kiss on her cheek. Then she left a gentle one on her nose as she was still forcing Emma to wear bandaid on her face from the incident.

"Good luck with your date," Mal said.

"Thank you. For everything."

"Bye, Emma." Maddox waved and took Mal's hand.

Emma waved back with a sigh as they escaped out the door. She stood in the silence for a bit, long enough to watch the headlights of Mal's car flash through the windows. Half her hair was finished and dinner wasn't even started.

Hopefully, the art store venture Regina went on kept her just a little bit longer.

The very last thing Regina was expecting on her return home was quiet. Quiet – meaning Maddox wasn't charging towards her as soon as the door opened. The noise was scrabbling on the other side of the wall they separated the foyer from the kitchen. It was accompanied by the banging of pots and pans.

That was a typical sound she was used to with her three favorite people in the world being bottomless food vacuums.

But what had Regina dropping her art supplies in a panic was smoke detector and the smoke wafting in from the kitchen.

"Emma!"

She carefully stepped into the kitchen and was in time to see Emma dropping a lid on a pot on the stove. The flames were licking the bottom of the metal viciously and the blonde snatched the pot off with a fire extinguisher tucked under her arm. Although, she seemed too preoccupied with that to deal with whatever had ignited in the oven.

Regina moved passed her, pulling open the oven. Even more smoke poured from it. She couldn't even identify what it should've been.

"Shit."

Emma just barely missed getting Regina with the extinguisher.

"Are you kidding?" Emma muttered as they both stared at the incredibly charred meal sitting on the rack. She sat down the extinguisher and threw her hands up in defeat. Cooking had previously been going well all this time and now she was nearly going to burn the house down.

"What the hell is going on?" Regina questioned.

"I was making you dinner. Dinner for us…however, unless I'm trying to kill you, we can't eat this."

"Obviously." Regina chuckled but then frowned, again noticing the unusual quiet in the house. Especially, after all the excitement down there, she fully expected to see Henry and Maddox by now. "Where's…Maddox, Emma?"

Emma sighed, wiping her hand across her face.

"I was trying to have a date night that wasn't a disaster. So, I bribed the kids to go stay with my parents tonight. And I burned my fingers doing my hair. And the kitchen was on fire…"

"Breathe," Regina said, laying a hand on her shoulder.

"I just wanted to do something nice for us. But I only know disaster dating, apparently."

"Well, it's very clear for the both of us good dates aren't the reason we're together."

"I guess we are the idiots who started dating only after we fell in love with each other."

Regina was reluctant to admit it to anyone, but it was true and only Emma could make her laugh about it. It was headache to think back a few months ago she was painfully pining and not noticing Emma was doing the same.

"I'm sorry, though," Emma said with a small shrug and a guilty smile. "My cooking skills aren't very reliable or consistent."

"We can still have dinner together."

"The idea was that you wouldn't have to cook. And I didn't plan on…" She gestured to her clothes. "Wearing sweatpants on this date. I thought you would take a little longer looking at paintbrushes or something."

"It's the thought that counts." Regina kissed her cheek before glancing at the state the kitchen was in. "How about you clean up and I order in?"

"I guess that's a good idea. The only idea."

"Emma."

"Yeah?"

"I still love you, you know that right?"

"Are you sure? Because Maleficent has it together."

"Have you considered maybe I like you because you don't have it together?" Regina asked just before leaving out of the room to reclaim her art supplies from the foyer.

"She is very slippery," David said. He was out of breath and clutching a single, little sock with pink and green dinosaurs on it. Snow sighed, nodding in agreement, as she held Neal's pajamas pants in her hand. "Where's Henry?"

"Likely helping them hide," Snow said.

"This was likely a trap." Snow raised an eyebrow. "Emma has us take the kids to show us all three of them together is a circus and we can't ask her and Regina to take Neal."

"David, there is no trap. They owe us after this." She held out Neal's pants and took Maddox's sock.

"We're switching?"

"Yes."

"Good luck," he said, taking the pants.

They walked off in different directions, David muttering about Regina's house being so big.

Emma could easily see the tired looks on her parents faces as Henry terribly held back his amusement. She probably owed them something after asking this favor. Neal was already in the middle of his terrible twos and then she added Maddox's unwavering energy along with that. They were likely going to go exploring through Regina's liquor cabinet once everyone was asleep.

"So…How's the night?" Emma asked.

"Hilarious," Henry said with Neal flailing around in his arms, desperate to remove some article clothing.

"Hey, buddy. Having fun?" She asked.

"Yeah." Neal nodded, reaching for the screen.

And then started his rambling. All words, not necessarily making much sense together. Snow grinned, tiredly, at every word. Emma concluded they played with race cars, went to the park, watched a movie, and had macaroni and cheese for dinner.

"That sounds awesome. You like swings or slides better?"

"Hmm…" Still unable to stay still in Henry's grip. "Swing. I want…I want a swing playground."

"I see. Is that what you want for your birthday?"

"Mhm. And, um…crayon."

"Ah. Well, maybe…" She looked away from the laptop camera. "Gina can get you a swing playground."

"She better not," Snow said.

"Then I'm definitely doing it," Regina said, sitting down next to Emma.

"Of course, you are, Mom." Henry laughed.

"Hi," Neal said, sounding excited and waving almost excessively.

"Hello, my darling boys."

"Neal say goodnight to Emma and Regina," Snow instructed. She was nearly vibrating, willing and wanting to get him to bed as soon as humanly possible.

"Night," Neal murmured, pressing his lips into his palm and offering the kiss to them with the most deceptive and cute expression possible. Regina returned the sentiment and Emma waved back at him as he exchanged hands between Henry and Snow.

"Love you, bud," Emma said as he waved back with a pout.

"One dino baby, dressed and ready for bed," David announced in the background before appearing on screen with Maddox in his arms. Henry moved from the chair in front of the laptop and sat down on the edge of his bed as David took his spot with Maddox in his lap.

They were gifted the brightest smile in world – stark contrast from David's tired eyes.

"There's my baby girl." Regina made said smile impossibly bigger. "I see Emma had you kidnapped. Did you have fun?"

"Yes." Maddox leaned forward, closer to the computer.

"Okay we heard about race cars and macaroni and cheese from Neal. Is that all you did today?" Emma asked.

"We went on the monkey bars and there was singing."

"You were singing on the monkey bars? What?" Emma laughed.

"No, Emma." Maddox giggled. "We watched the movie with the princess and the frog and magic. I want to watch it again."

"We can definitely watch it again, mi cielo," Regina replied.

"And I want a alligator like Louis."

David shook his head with a serious look in his eye. Snow had mentioned Maddox and Neal being friends was cute but it was such an exhausting, mischievous friendship that they didn't have the energy for. By the third round of chasing them to get them in pajamas, they agreed Maddox and Neal had to separated if they had a remote chance of getting them to bed.

"Ah…" Emma glanced at Regina. "I don't know if we're allowed to have those kinds of pets, rugrat. But I'm sure we can maybe go to the zoo one day and see one."

"Okay…I guess," Maddox said, sounding suspicious of the statement. "But I want to see the fishes tomorrow."

Regina raised an eyebrow at Emma who refused to look in her direction.

"We will, if you get to bed, Nugget."

"Promise?"

"I pinkie promise with an ice cream sundae and a cherry on top."

"I don't like those." Maddox scrunched up her nose.

"Okay, no cherries. But it is bedtime." Maddox nodded. "Goodnight, Jellybean. See you in the morning."

Maddox yawned, much to David's relief. "Night," she mumbled.

"Sweet dreams. We love you," Regina said.

"Love you," she mumbled in return.

David patted her back and she turned around tucking herself in his arms as he stood up to get her to bed. He ducked down and reappeared in the camera. "Goodnight, ladies," he said. Maddox waved at them again with her head on his shoulder. David tried not to grimace at his only, wonderful daughter – but failed. "Emma."

"Sorry. Love you, Dad," She called out to his retreating form. He waved her sentiments away with narrowed eyes and Henry could only burst into laughs.

Henry sat back down in his chair. "You owe them big time, Ma."

Emma rolled her eyes.

"I take it…I…did a decent job."

Emma exhaled deeply with words sounding airy and breathless. Regina's only response to the partial question-statement, was a tantalizing kiss under her jaw as she busied herself with removing Emma's shirt.

"Are you mad about the aquarium thing?" Emma questioned, lifting her arms as the shirt was peeled from her body.

Regina tossed the shirt away and pushed Emma down on to the bed. "You talk too much, Miss Swan," she said. Emma clamped her mouth shut as Regina took off her own shirt. She nodded in agreement, eyes lingering on the red lace in front of her.

"Do you own any normal underwear?" Emma brought her hands up to Regina's bare waist. Regina's left eyebrow lift high enough to normally make her stop talking. Not now. "Just sexy all of the time. Don't you get exhausted?"

A hand came down over her mouth and Regina leaned down over her, lips brushing her ear.

"No," she whispered. Emma shivered as the single word moved through her like a breeze under a blazing sun. Her bra loosened against her chest and Regina removed her hand and tugged at the garment with her finger. Emma let it slip from her shoulders. It was forgotten at the edge of the bed when their eyes met.

Regina surged forward, Emma stopping her with a hand against her chest.

And, oh, how Emma enjoyed how put out by the action she looked. An intimate, secure warmth grabbed her for a moment upon the realization that in all the times they stopped each other, there's never been a time where either of them were uncertain or questioning of the other's desires.

They were just hopelessly useless and incredibly impatient.

"Are we in a hurry?" Emma questioned.

Regina resisted wrapping her hands around the other woman's neck just to stop her from questioning irrelevant things.

"No," she muttered.

"Then slow down and…"

Regina blinked, and she was on her back after a strangely smooth tangle with Emma. She couldn't get a word out before Emma's hands slowly moved across her chest, freeing her from the confines of her own bra.

"Relax."

Emma leaned down, pressing her lips to the underside of Regina's jaw. Then down to her throat. And Regina was too busy feeling every beat of her pounding heart, to notice the purpling mark on her collar bone. She drew Emma closer by the waist, hands snaking up her sides until they settled on her breasts with no time to really feel them as she wished. Emma seized her wrists and pulled them aside as she moved her lips further down Regina's stomach. Her hands found the waistband of Regina's pants – and unintentionally, her matching lace panties – slowly guiding them down her legs as she kissed lower and lower.

She felt breath hitch from the twitch of Regina's lower stomach against her lips.

Emma was nearly there, leaving darkening marks in her wake. All of Regina's clothes were officially discarded wherever as Emma hooked her arm under Regina's left thigh. That first shockwave of pleasure and relief was brutally disrupted.

Something buzzed violently near Regina's head and Emma didn't seem to notice. But Regina startled, reaching under a displaced pillow and feeling a phone. Her fingers brushed the device, nearly retracting as a well provoked moan tore out of her throat at the intruding fingers entering her center. Her hand twitched in response to the strong inhale Emma took of her clit. The pillow slipped off the bed and the phone buzzed again, grabbing their attention.

"Don't," Emma murmured, causing Regina to tremble. She muttered something in Spanish and Emma really had no intentions of removing her mouth.

"I could be an emergency…" Regina arched up from the mattress. "Shit…"

"It can wait."

"We have…children." Her voice changed pitch on the final word and Emma reluctantly pulled away, but without serious teasing. Regina lazily grabbed for the phone, swatting at Emma's hand on her stomach as she answered.

There was a short pause before Emma heard, "Jaime?" Her brow creased severely. What could possibly be so important this late at night? And if it wasn't important? Well, Emma would have a few words with that woman for the interruption.

"Wait slow down. What do you mean?" Regina questioned with a frown of her own. "What is it?"

Emma watched Regina's expression closely as she drew circles into her calf. The frown stayed in place as Jaime's murmured continued through the phone. Regina sighed once and grabbed Emma's wrist. She asked one word questions and Jaime seemed to answer with a ten page essay. The woman apologized clearly several times. Emma grew apprehensive with every passing moment.

"I…I understand. It's not your fault," Regina said, and Emma looked alarmed. Jaime apologized again it seemed. "You don't have to apologize. It's okay. I appreciate your call."

There were another few words, and though muted and intelligible from Emma's position, still sounded solemn.

"Thank you…You, too…I will."

Regina put her phone down on the bed and Emma sat up, crossing her legs in front of her. "Hey, what's wrong? Is there something wrong with the adoption?" Emma asked, reaching out for Regina's hand.

"I…no. No."

"What happened? Who calls this late without some kind of news?"

Regina took a deep breath, suddenly feeling overwhelmingly exposed. She was grateful when Emma offered her a stray sweatshirt hanging from the bedframe. "Jaime recommended that she be removed from our case."

"Why?"

"Because she and I have…become friends. Her decisions and conclusions would be heavily biased, and she doesn't want to take the risk that our relationship will mess up the process."

"Okay." Emma nodded, even though she wasn't very familiar with the process. "So what does that mean?"

"She's turned over the case to an adoption worker. It's procedure anyway."

"Then we got nothing to worry about. We're just moving forward. One step closer to Maddox being legally part of the family."

"I suppose," Regina said, "But I'm not a people person. Maybe I only got lucky with Jaime the first time."

"Regina you're doing everything right. You don't have to worry about that. Especially, tonight. It's getting late…"

She glanced between them. Regina lacking any clothing below the waist and Emma naked above her sweatpants.

"I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay." Emma moved across the bed slipping her arm around Regina's waist. She rested her chin on her shoulder. Though, Regina didn't seem to react for a long time and Emma still held her close, despite her nakedness. She lifted her hands, warm against Emma's back. Her mouth pressed into Emma's jaw.

"Regina-"

The other woman pulled back, whispering against Emma's lips. "I want to," she said. "I need to stop thinking so much."

"You always think too much," Emma murmured, lured successfully into a kiss.

"So, stop me from worrying."

"I can do that."

Emma surged forward. The kiss absorbed all the oxygen between them as they fell backwards on to the wrinkled spread. Sweatshirt discarded once again. They made it certain along with hands clenched, fistfuls of sheets that any worries drifted away in pleased moans and kisses laced with pleasure.

Emma woke up first – well got up from bed first – and left Regina curled under the covers lost in early morning thoughts. They agreed over breakfast that Jaime's call was nothing to be worried about, but Regina worried anyway. And, quietly, so did Emma.

Maddox and Henry appearing at the door in front of David was enough to make them shake off most of the worry. But Maddox still got a longer than normal hug from them. She didn't complain as opposed to Henry, who ducked and dodged cheek kisses from both his mothers now.

They spent almost the whole day at the aquarium. It wasn't a true outing with Maddox until she sweetly asked to have every pretty fish they came across. It took a lot of willpower to say no. But Emma offered a vague promise about a pet fish when Regina was walking around the gift shop with Henry.

The weekend ended on a high note of Disney movie binging. Regina refused to do any singing. But that refusal didn't stop Emma and Henry from purposely being obnoxious as they belted out songs for Maddox throughout every musical. Regina appreciated the show just as much as Maddox did. Henry had memorized every song in all of Maddox's favorite movies.

The siblings almost too easily conspired to surprise Emma – and only Emma – in singing every song in Tangled. She acted as if she wasn't a princess herself; surprised to find that everyone was in agreement about her hair.

Mulan and Ruby quite liked that part of the retelling.

"You are a princess, Emma," David said, handing her a hot cocoa as he returned from a afternoon coffee run.

"Yeah, but…" She shrugged as she took a drink. "It's just not me. I like being sheriff."

"Doesn't mean you're not a princess, though," Ruby said. She shoved her thumb to her right. "Mulan is a princess…which you know. There's a movie. Two actually."

"I don't sing." Mulan grimaced.

"Maybe if you bribe Regina, you and Jones can go as Rapunzel and Flynn Ryder. He wouldn't even have to buy new clothes."

"She wouldn't go for that. Ever," Emma replied, "I'm good where I am. My domain is here in Storybrooke as sheriff and mom…and soulmate. I'm good with that."

"She doesn't believe in warrior princesses," Ruby whispered. Mulan rolled her eyes.

Emma took the file she was looking for and headed to her office, taking pity on Ruby's urge to restart her game of shooting paper into the farthest trash can in the office. She got a few more sips of her cocoa in as she looked through the paperwork Belle had requested. There was a groan on the other side of the door, and she signed her initials in the corner of the page as a ball of paper made a fluttering sound against the window of her door.

Her phone lit up next to her half-eaten granola bar. Something from Regina. She opened the message to find a picture of Regina's current work in progress. Regina had still been hesitant about her painting as if her mother was lurking around just waiting for her to get too comfortable. Sending a photo of something unfinished was a good step forward.

Before she could move a thumb to even reply her radio went off.

"Station A, 10-62 in progress," the dispatch announced, "43 Mulberry South Street. Frollo's Fudge & Fondue."

Emma hadn't been doing anything but paperwork for weeks. She tucked her phone into her jacket pocket before she put it on.

"Sheriff Swan, responding," Emma called. She'd reply to the photo when she got back.

To all my brothers and sisters, black and white and every color under the sun - we will be okay. I promise. :)