Chapter 13

As Emma waited for Regina to return to her classroom, her anxiety skyrocketed. She started panicking, unable to understand what was happening. She wondered if Regina was in trouble, if the other members on the school board were going to accuse her of misconduct, since it was possible that any of the students or perhaps other people might have seen them come to school together in Regina's car. Regina's mom owned the school, so Emma figured she couldn't get fired, right? Emma's thoughts became more and more panicked. It had been 30 minutes since Regina was practically dragged out of her own classroom by the other board, and she still didn't know what was going on. Emma didn't know what to do. She got her hearing aids from her charger case, which was still connected to Regina's portable charger. She took them out and put them in her ears. The hearing aids were now fully charged and this made her feel more confident. They don't take very long to charge fully. After Emma had put her hearing aids in her ears, she put the charger case and Regina's portable charger back in her backpack. Waiting for Regina to come back was like waiting for someone she's never met to come into her life.

Emma wanted to text Regina to ask what was going on, but then decided not to, knowing that she promised she'd be back soon. Besides she didn't know in what kind of situation or argument Regina was, and she didn't want to distract her. After about 10 more minutes had passed, Emma noticed Regina walking back into her classroom. Emma could see that Regina was more than sad really. Emma quickly ran over to Regina and immediately asked her what was going on. Regina just looked at Emma with almost teary eyes, not really knowing what to say and Emma could tell that this had to be something serious. Emma then noticed Regina holding something in her hand. It was some kind of paper. Emma looked at it with curiosity and then looked back at Regina.

"What is that you're holding? What the hell is going on Regina?" asked Emma verbally.

Regina then gave Emma the paper she was holding and that's when Emma realized that this was not a piece of paper. It was a picture. A large print of a picture of her and Regina kissing by her desk. Someone must have taken it the other day without them noticing it. It looked like the picture was taken from the classroom door. Emma then began to worry even more as she looked back up to Regina.

"What the hell? This is from the other day! You said you saw Robin lurking around that day and you were pretty freaked out. Did Robin take this picture of us?" asked Emma.

Regina nodded and grabbed her phone from her pocket and started tying away. After a few minutes, Emma's phone buzzed with a text and Emma quickly got her phone out from her pocket and read the text.

"Yes Robin took this picture of us the other day and left it in the board room for the other board members to see. I guess he knew I always worked in my classroom so he was pretty sure I wouldn't see this before others did. The other board members suspended me without pay. My mother doesn't know yet but when she finds out, she's probably going to try and make it go away somehow so I can come back to work. Although, I don't think I care too much to want to come back after this."

After Emma read that text, she looked up at Regina. Even now that Robin was dead, he still managed to mess with Regina's life. Emma didn't know what to do or how to react. All Emma could think about was how sorry she felt. She felt that this was all her fault for getting too close to Regina. She felt that if she had never gotten so close to Regina none of this would've happened and Robin would still be alive.

Emma then just pulled Regina in for a tight hug. She hugged her without letting her go for a few minutes and Regina hugged Emma back just as tightly. After a few minutes had passed, Emma finally broke the hug and looked into Regina's eyes while brushing her cheek gently with her hand. Regina could see that Emma was very sorry and didn't know what to do from this point forward.

"I am so sorry! I didn't mean for any of this to happen. Do you regret it? Do you regret ever getting close to me?" asked Emma.

Regina then looked at Emma with an "oh" face and sadness in her eyes. She then started tying away on her phone again and after a few minutes, Emma's phone buzzed with a text.

"Emma, no! I don't regret ever getting close to you. Do you understand me? I would rather have to relive everything that has happened between us all over again if it meant that I got to still have you in my life. You brought happiness to my life. Something that I was only ever able to find with my son, and now I have it with you. In the last 2 weeks almost, you made me feel like I finally was meant to be someone's everything. I love you Emma!"

After Emma read that text, she then put her phone back in her pocket and cupped Regina's face with both her hands. With teary eyes she kissed Regina passionately on the lips. Emma didn't want to ever lose Regina but she couldn't stop rationalizing all of this. After they broke the kiss for air, Emma looked into Regina's eyes.

"I feel this is my fault. This would've never happened if we had been just a little bit more careful when we were together. Robin might even still be alive and you'd still have your job. I feel so horrible, Regina. I don't want to continue this class without you!"

Emma noticed Regina's eyes getting more teary and tears finally started rolling down Regina's cheeks. Regina let go of Emma and started typing away on her phone again. This time, it took longer for Regina to type. Once she was finally done, Emma's phone buzzed and Emma quickly read the text.

"This is not all on you, Emma. It's on me too. I was the one who stole your phone number from your school records. I was the one who asked you out. I was the one who let you get close to me. You did nothing but follow your own heart and interest in me. Please don't blame yourself. What happened with Robin was his own fault. I feel very sad and sorry for his family and I feel like his life was taken from him too soon. Though, he got out of control. He wanted to kill me. Do you want to know what was said on the day he died? I know you didn't understand anything of what was being said, but what he said that day made him even more despicable in my eyes, to such an extent that I am not all that sad that he died. Am I making sense? I know this sounds awful, and might make me look like a cold hearted person, but that's how I feel about him at this point."

Emma then looked up at Regina with her jaw dropped out of curiosity. Emma then nodded and told Regina that she would really like to know what was said. She told Regina she felt very helpless that she couldn't understand anything that was said. Regina then started typing away on her phone again. It took Regina a while to type up this message as well. Emma started growing anxious to know what was said. After a few minutes had passed, Emma's phone buzzed with a text and Emma quickly read it.

"Robin told me how I was going to go to hell for being with another woman romantically. He told me that I am a disgrace in God's eyes and that the only way to fix what I had done with you was to get together with him and live out my life as a straight woman, so God can see me as redeemable. I felt disgusted that someone could ever tell someone that. I told him that it wasn't his place to judge me for my actions or my love life and that he had no right being on my property. I told him to lower the gun and to just walk away. He didn't listen. He kept rambling on about how I am a disgrace. That was when Zelena got there and called the police. Robin turned and looked at Zelena when he heard her giving my address to the police and telling them what was happening. He was about to shoot her when I yelled at him begging him to lower the gun, pleading with him not to shoot my sister, that it was me he wanted. After a few minutes of going back and fourth with him, asking him not to hurt any of you and telling him to just walk away, the police showed up just in time. Robin was about to pull the trigger, I could see it in his eyes. He was really going to shoot me, he had made up his mind. I have never been so scared for my life before as I was then. But it made me realize something."

Emma then looked up at Regina with disgust about what Robin had told her. She also felt curiosity because Regina didn't tell her what that ordeal had made her realize. Emma wondered what Regina meant.

"What did all that make you realize?" asked Emma verbally.

Regina then smiled a very soft teary eyed smile and then started typing away on her phone again. It took her just as long to type this message as it did with the previous two. Emma knew that it was just as long but she didn't care. She wanted to know what was Regina's realization. As Regina was typing away, Emma just kept starring at Regina's face. Her face even when she was sad and crying was the most beautiful thing she's ever seen in her life. After a few minutes had passed, Emma's phone buzzed and she quickly read the text.

"I realized how much my life meant. I needed to be here for Henry. He's still only just a kid and I also realized that I didn't want to die when I had just found love. I want my life to end when I am old and gray with a beautiful wife by my side. With grandkids strolling around the house and making me laugh with them as they joke about how old I am but love me anyway. I realized that now that I finally found a woman who seems to love me just as much as I love her, I don't want to let her go. Finding love is very difficult when you're a lesbian and you're not focusing on a love interest. You just kind of popped up in my life when I least expected it and now I don't think I can bear the thought of losing you. It's only been almost 2 weeks and yet I am already madly in love with you, Emma. This is what I felt when that gun was pointed at my face."

After Emma read that text, she then started to cry happy put her phone back in her pocket and again pulled Regina in for a deep passionate kiss on the lips and this time, the kiss lasted for almost 5 minutes. This was the longest kiss they have ever had together. They had to breathe through their noses in order to get air and it seemed like neither one of them cared. They just didn't want to part from the kiss but when they finally did, their lips were swollen. Emma then smiled at Regina as Regina smiled back at her. Both Emma and Regina felt genuinely happy and Emma was very thankful for this. Although, now it just occurred to Emma that Regina had just gotten suspended with no pay. Emma then slowly swept the smile off her face.

"I am going to have to continue this class every week without you. How am I going to do that? I can't do that! I need you here." Emma said.

Regina then started typing away on her phone again although it didn't take her long to type this time and after a few secondsEmma's phone buzzed with a text. Emma got her phone back out of her pocket and read the text.

"You will be fine. You will have a substitute teacher for the time being. I will finally have the time to finish the book I am writing so I can get it published. Even though I will no longer be your teacher, I will be your girlfriend. I will be with you every day as much as I can. You'll probably start getting tired of me."

Emma made a small laugh at that remark. That made Emma feel better than how she was just feeling a few moment that Regina was going to be her official girlfriend even in public, made her happy beyond words. No more hiding or keeping their relationship secret. They were finally able to show their love and affection in town, instead of having to go out of town. Emma couldn't be happier about this. Emma then brushed Regina's hair softly and smiled again.

"I can never get tired of you, Regina!" said Emma.

Again Emma kissed Regina on the lips passionately and after they broke for air, they both smiled at each other for a few more moments before Regina started typing something on her phone again. Once she was done, Emma's phone buzzed and again Emma quickly got her phone back out of her pocket and read the text.

"Would you mind helping me pack up my things here in my classroom? It's not much. I want to take all the student's poems with me. I don't want the person who will be taking over my position to see any of the assignments I have done, mainly because they can make their own assignments up. I don't have much to pack. Just a few folders full of papers as well as some of my personal items on my desk that I cannot leave here."

After reading that text, Emma then told Regina that she'd be happy to help her pack and so she did. Once everything was all packed up and in Regina's car, they both drove off together back to Regina's place. As a few days had passed, Emma noticed that the substitute teacher that had taken Regina's position to teach the poetry class was actually very nice. Emma figured that she couldn't teach as well as Regina could but she wasn't a bad teacher. Although, Emma missed Regina teaching her, she was also happy that she and Regina were now a public pairing together.

After that Emma and Regina spent a lot of time together after Emma's school days. Emma had Regina and Henry over for dinner almost every other night, while she went over to Regina's place to have dinner on the nights that Regina and Henry were not over at her place. There relationship seemed to grow more and more stronger as well. They seemed like a happy family together even though they were not living together. They were always around each another to the extent where if felt like they lived together. If Emma wasn't spending the night at Regina's place, Regina would be spending the night at Emma's, while Zelena watched over Henry for the night.

As the days progressed into months, it was now time for Emma to graduate college. She had passed all her classes and once she finally got her Arts degree, she went on and applied for that children's poem book writer job that was waiting for her. Emma had written some great children's books already by now and some of them, Regina even helped her with. Once all Emma's books finally got published one by one, Emma started getting book deals and autograph lines sold out in no time. The children loved her.

Regina had also finally finished the book she was writing as well, and when it came to getting it published, Emma had helped her by hooking her up with some people she knew from her publisher. Once Regina's book finally got published and came out, she also became very famous just like Emma. Regina had sold out autograph lines and book deals just as Emma did. They seemed very happy together and they also made sure the whole world new they were taken by one another. They had a huge fan following in the LGBTQ+ community for how outspoken they where about their love life. Their life seemed very good from that point on.

Regina's mother had gotten things quieted down and had managed to make the incident go away, so Regina could go back to teaching at the school although, Regina declined her mother's offer. Regina felt happier being a writer and that is what she loved doing along with Emma. Emma felt like she could connect to Regina on a more powerful level because they had the love for writing in common. Emma and Regina felt very happy together and that was what made their life together so great. By now, Henry was a pro at signing and Regina wasn't that bad at it by now. She still needed some help understanding some things, though she wasn't bad.

Emma had an autograph line sold out one day and photographers where there to take Emma's picture for the front cover of a magazine after her autograph line was finished. Upon their request Emma let them take a few pictures of just her, but once they were done, she pulled Regina over to the camera's view and kissed her passionately. Days later Emma was walking past a newsstand when she noticed a magazine cover with her picture on it, as well as another little mini picture of her and Regina kissing. Underneath the photo, it said "love is in the air for this writer" and Emma's heart just melted. She felt so happy.

Later that day at Regina's place, after they had dinner, she had shown Regina the magazine and she saw how happy Regina looked when she saw it. Regina was smiling happily as she pulled Emma in for a kiss and Emma felt like the happiest and the luckiest woman alive. She knew that her life couldn't get even better than this. With Regina by her side, she was genuinely happy and so was Regina. Regina and Emma continued to kiss passionately as they were holding each other tightly.

*notes*
I wrote this all for the SwanQueen Supernova. I only just now put it on here. It is also on my A03 account. Please understand that all my poems in this story are mine and mine alone and are copyrighted. I want to thank my beta reader Denise as well as my friend Serena who helped me make this story possible on time for the SwanQueen Supernova. I also hope that everyone enjoyed reading this story fore this story came from my own personal life experiences as a hard of hearing person! Though, I certainly hope you liked the read!