A/N: A little later than I hoped to update, but as promised- here are the two last chapters to this emotional roller coaster of a journey. I want to thank all of my lovely readers who followed this wonderful fanfic adaptation of 50 Shades of Grey from the very beginning. I hope you all love what's left to read and how it ends. Happy reading! :)

Regina is hardly conscious when her gurney is being rushed into the hospital. All she can remember is seeing all of these people around her, hearing chatter, voices… Emma's voice… she can feel Emma's hand grabbing onto her own as they rush her in. She's here! Emma's here, and she looks so worried… She can hear the faint echo of her voice.

"Gina?" Emma looks at one of the nurses wheeling her wife in, "Please be careful. She's pregnant."

Regina can see her wife's worried face look down at her once more and then everything goes dark.

Emma rushes to be by her side once she watches the nurses and doctors enter two sliding doors. Her eyes fall on a short nurse, who stops her from going any further.

"You'll have to wait out here, Mrs. Swan. Let us take care of your wife." She instructs the blonde.

Emma's eyes looked on as her wife was wheeled farther and farther away. Baby, please wake up. You have to wake up. Please.

"Her ribs are bruised, Mrs. Swan, and she has a hairline fracture to her skull, but her vital signs are stable and strong."

Emma's jaw clenched, eyes filled with worry. "Why is she still unconscious?"

"Your wife has had a major contusion to her head. But her brain activity is normal, and she has no cerebral swelling. She'll wake when she's ready. Just give her some time."

"And the baby?" Emma's words are anguished, breathless.

"The baby's fine, Mrs. Swan."

"Oh, thank God." She breathes out a prayer. "Oh, thank God." She turns to look at Regina, looking beautiful even beyond her bruises. Emma did have a lot of time to think after their fight. Baby or not, she couldn't picture her life with anyone else that wasn't Regina- with their baby. Their baby. Because that little person growing inside of her, even if Emma had no say on the decision of it coming to the world- was as much hers as it was Regina's.

And as frightened as she was to be a mother… she wanted it. She really wanted it.

"Emma, dear, you need rest. You should go home and take a shower, Henry and I can stay with Regina." Said Cora, her hand on Emma's, who's hand kept holding onto Regina's.

Emma shook her head, rooted to the chair beside her wife's hospital bed. "No, I'm staying. I want to be the first person she sees when she wakes up."

Henry shook his head. "If you don't take her across your knee, I sure as hell will. What the hell was she thinking going there alone?"

"Trust me, Henry, I just might do that."

"Emma, what do you mean you went to see Mal? You told me you'd cut all ties." Mary Margaret's voice is quiet, her eyes looking into her daughter's.

"I know." Emma sounds resigned. "But seeing her finally put it all in perspective for me. You know… with the child. For the first time I felt… What we did… it was wrong."

"What she did, darling… Children will do that to you." Mary Margaret smiled, her hand cradling her daughter's cheek. "Make you look at the world in a different light."

Emma turned back to look at Regina for a while before turning back to her mother. "I really hurt her, mom," she whispers.

"We always hurt the ones we love, darling. You'll have to tell her you're sorry. And mean it and give her time."

"She said she was leaving me."

"Did you really believe that?"

Emma nodded, "At first, yes. But, I remembered all the other times we spoke about it and knew- something was wrong."

Mary Margaret gave her daughter a reassuring smile. "Regina would never leave you, Emma. She's tenacious. She fights for what she wants. Darling, you always believe the worst of everyone, including yourself. You always have. Regina loves you very much, and it's obvious you love her."

"She was mad at me."

"I'm sure she was. I'm pretty mad at you right now. I think you can only be truly mad at someone you really love."

"I thought about it, and she's shown me over and over how much she loves me… to the point of putting her own life in danger."

"Yes, she has, darling."

"Oh, mom, why won't she wake up?" Emma's voice cracks. "I nearly lost her."

Mary Margaret pulls her daughter into a motherly hug, embracing her in her arms. "She will, Emma. She will." She sighs happily, burying her nose against her daughter's shoulder. "It's taken twenty-four years for you to let me hold you like this…"

"I know, mom…" Emma tightens her arms around her mother's form. "I'm glad we talked."

"Me too, darling. I'm always here." She smiles, releasing Emma from their hug. "I can't believe I'm going to be a grandmother."

And I, a mother. For the first time ever, Emma smiled at the thought.

Emma held onto her wife's hand, placing her knuckles along her own lips, placing a delicate kiss right on them. Her eyes never leaving her sleeping state. "Oh, baby, please come back to me. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for everything. Just wake up. I miss you. I love you…"

Regina catches the sound of Emma's pleading voice, and what a sweet sound it is. Her eyes slowly, sleepily part open to the very sight of her. She feels her head and chest ache, but all the more, she feels her bladder is about to explode. She tests her own movement as she spots Emma's eyes are closed, as if she's silently asking God himself to return her to her. Her hand stretches out, and despite feeling the slight tug from the IV, Regina caresses her wife's hair and fallen strands.

"Hi," Regina's voice is hoarse, her eyes spotting worried green ones staring back at her.

"Oh, Gina." Emma's voice is chocked and relieved. She grasps her wife's hand, squeezing it tightly and holding it up against her cheek. "How are you feeling?"

Regina blinks, looking up at the ceiling and her surroundings of the hospital room before looking back at Emma. "The baby? Is the baby-?" Her voice was filled with momentary panic.

"The baby's fine." Emma's hand gently caressed her wife's bruised face. "The baby's fine. Thank God."

"And Ivy?"

"She's fine. Thanks to you." Emma placed a gentle kiss to her wife's forehead, grasping onto her hand as tightly yet delicately as possible. "Gina, I want to have this baby with you. I was just scared. I wanted for your world to begin and end with me."

Regina's eyes sting with unshed tears that soon made their way down the corner's of her eyes. "It does. Emma, it does. You're my whole world."

Emma chuckled, placing another kiss against her wife's knuckles, a single tear making its way down her cheek, landing on Regina's knuckle.

"Are you crying?" That was new. The only other time she could remember Emma crying was when she kneeled before her, baring herself. "Come here." Her hand caressed her wife's cheek, pulling her into an embrace and making her join her in bed, feeling safer than ever in her wife's loving embrace.

After Dr. Bentley gave them the news that Regina had no fractured ribs, nor broken, and set her up with painkillers to take home with her. Breakfast was set out for her, gracefully brought by Jones. And while the brunette enjoyed the blessings of a good breakfast, Emma sat at the edge of the bed, watching her wife adoringly. She smirks.

"What?" Regina asks with her mouth full.

"I like to watch you eat," Emma says. "How are you feeling?"

"Better," she mutters between mouthfuls.

"I've never seen you eat like this."

Regina blinks at her wife, deciding that they have to address the tiny elephant in the room. "That's because I'm pregnant, Emma."

The blonde snorts, her mouth twists into an ironic smile that soon fades as her hand lands on top of her wife's.

"What happened with Robin?" Regina asked.

"He's in police custody. Along with Marian. It seems Locksley was blackmailing her. She had sex with him and he filmed it."

Regina's mouth parted open, "Oh, my God. I can't believe I actually shot him."

Emma snorts. "You should have aimed higher."

Regina smirked, watching her wife's worried expression. "Emma, I know you're scared. I know you think you're going to be a real shitty mother. I get it."

Emma gazes at her wife, impassive, her eyes wide and all her earlier girlish smile stripped away.

"I am, too. That's normal," Regina whispers.

"What kind of mother could I possibly be?" Her voice is hoarse, barely audible.

"Oh, Emma." Regina reaches for her wife's whole arm, providing it with a squeeze. "One that tries her best. That's all any of us can do."

"Gina- I don't know if I can…"

"Of course you can. You're loving, you're fun, you're strong, you'll set boundaries. Our child will want for nothing." She pauses. "This baby is going to love you. Unconditionally. Just like you loved your mother. You just need to forgive her."

Emma frowns, she's frozen, staring into brown adoring eyes, doubt etched on her face.

"Yes, it would have been ideal to have waited, and I'm sorry for keeping this from you. It was wrong- I know that. But we'll be three of us, and we'll all grow up together. We'll be a family. Our own family. And your child will love you just as much as I do." Tears stream down her cheeks.

"Oh, Gina," Emma whispers, her voice anguished and pained. "I thought I'd lost you. Then I thought I'd lost you again. Seeing you lying on the ground, pale and cold and unconscious- it was all my worst fears realized. And now here you are- brave and strong… giving me hope. Loving me after all that I've done."

"For better or worse, remember?" Regina chuckled, giving her wife's hand another squeeze. "I do love you, Emma, desperately. I always will."

Gently, taking her head between her hands, Emma wipes Regina's tears away with her thumbs. She gazes into her eyes, green to brown, and all Regina can see is her fear and wonder and love.

"I love you, too," Emma breathes. And she kisses her sweetly, tenderly, like a woman who adores her wife. "I'll try to be a good mother," she whispers against her lips.

"You'll try, and you'll succeed. And let's face it; you don't have much choice in the matter, because our little bean and I are not going anywhere."

"Little bean?" Emma's brow raises.

Regina nods. "Unless you had another name in mind?"

She raises her brows. "Well… I was actually thinking about… Henry."

"Henry? Like my father?" Regina's eyes grow wide in shock.

Emma nodded. "He's a good man, and he did a terrific job in raising you. The baby's name should be Henry."

"So, that's what you want? Do you want a boy?" Regina smiled. "What if it's a girl?"

Emma shrugged. "Boy- girl- as long as it's healthy."

"Well, if we are going to talk about names. Why not… Henry David?"

Emma's brow lifted in surprise. "Henry David, huh?"

"Named after two amazing men. The one who raised me and the one who raised you."

"Henry David," Emma whispered the name, allowing it to roll off her tongue as if testing the sound of it. "I like it." She pressed her lips against her wife's forehead once again in a loving, adoring kiss.

After one more day, Regina was released and happy to be home. She was still recuperating and feeling sore, but happy to be walking around their apartment. Emma has been nothing but careful with her and loving since her arrival. They haven't had sex or made love, which was torturous to both women but they were patient. Okay, maybe Regina was a little eager, especially since Emma was as calm as could be about it.

The brunette picked up the scent of something burning. And as she entered the kitchen, she smirked, surprised to find Emma- her wife- cooking. Actually cooking. And failing miserably.

"What's going on? Are you cooking?" She asked, leaning against the counter top, watching her.

"Yep." Emma scraped the spatula against the pan, turning on the water faucet on high, turning it off and giving her attention to the other pan on the stove. "Prepare to be amazed." She lifted the lid off of the pan, moving back to the sight of all the smoke. "Ah, shit." Her face fell to the burned tomato sauce.

Regina chuckled, her eyes falling on the yellow envelope placed against the counter top. "What's this?" She picked it up.

"That's more information on Locksley. Open it." Emma removed her oven mitts, giving up on cooking all together. Deciding to give her full attention on whatever was inside the envelope.

"Wow. Look at this foster family." Regina's brow furrowed at the sight of the picture.

"That's Locksley," Emma pointed at the picture. "That's me."

"You two were in the same foster family?"

"We must have been." Emma's brow furrows. "That's how he knew. This lady," she points to the woman in the photo. "I remember she used to cook. The house always smelled like food. She would call me her little bird. My favorite childhood book was Are You My Mother?, she used to read it to me."

Regina's heart constricts at the thought of little Emma being read to. "That must have been what Robin meant when he told me, 'It should have been me.' He must have meant that your family should have adopted him instead."

Emma's face freezes.

"What is it?"

Green eyes find brown. "Maybe that should have been me. Had I not gotten adopted… who knows how I would have turned out."

"Hey." Regina wrapped her arms around Emma's neck. "You are nothing like him. You are a wonderful woman, you care and you do all these amazing things for people. Sure, you might have grown up with some advantage but, look at everything you've accomplished. All you've done with it. That's more than what I can say about Robin, no matter who raised him."

Emma couldn't help but smile. "I love you." She placed a kiss against her wife's lips.

Regina's eyes fell on the burnt tomato sauce. "Now, if you could only cook. You'd be perfect."

"Oh, God." Emma groaned, rolling her eyes. "Fuck it, we'll get take out."

Regina smiled, matching her wife's smile.

After a take out dinner, and Regina going through one Chinese container after another, Emma joined her in bed, cuddling carefully with her and kissing her until her heart was content, or until she felt Regina wanting to take control of the situation.

"Gina, Gina, Gina… what am I going to do with you?" She smiled.

"I have some ideas." Regina squirms against her wife's body, hissing due to the pain her bruises cause her.

"Baby, you've been through enough. Besides, I have a bedtime story for you."

Oh?

"You wanted to know…" Her voice trails off, her eyes closing, and she swallows.

Suddenly, Regina understands what story Emma is talking about. She is going to come clean about what happened between her and Mal that night. Does she really want to know? Yes. Yes, she does. All the hair on her body stands to attention, chills run down her spine. She remains absolutely still, giving her wife all of her attention.

"Imagine, fifteen year old me, doing yard work for Mal and her husband," she chuckled. "I used to do plenty of yard work to get by, and earn a bit of pocket money. All to continue her secret drinking habit." She shifts onto her side, her eyes gazing into her wife's.

Regina's eyes lock onto Emma, because this was it. Emma was completely and utterly about to open up to her. Hiding nothing away now. And, yes- she wanted to know.

"So I was in the backyard at the Lincolns', cleaning some rubble and trash from the extension Mr. Lincoln had just added to their place…"

She's talking! She is actually talking- without any hesitation!

"It was a hot summer day. I was working hard." Emma snorts and shakes her head, suddenly amused. "It was backbreaking work shifting that rubble. I was on my own, and Ma- Mrs. Lincoln appeared out of nowhere and brought me some lemonade. We exchanged small talk, and I made some smart-ass remark… and she slapped me. She slapped me so hard." Unconsciously, her hand moves to her cheek, caressing it, her eyes clouded by the memory.

Regina can't breathe. She's stopped breathing entirely. She didn't want to miss a word spoken by her wife.

"But then she kissed me. And when she finished, she slapped me again." Emma blinked, seemingly still confounded even after all this time. "I'd never been kissed before or hit like that."

Oh, so she pounced.

"Do you want to hear this?" Emma asks, taking notice of the anger and discomfort on her wife's expression.

"Only if you want to tell me." Regina's voice is small as she lies facing her wife, her mind reeling.

It's then that Emma turns on her back and stares at the ceiling before continuing her story. "Well, naturally, I was confused and angry and horny as hell. I mean, a hot older woman comes onto you like that-" She shakes her head as if she still can't believe it.

Hot? I beg to differ. Regina resists the urge to roll her eyes.

"She went back into the house, leaving me in the backyard. She acted as if nothing had happened. I was at a total loss. So I went back to work, loading the rubble into the dumpster. When I left that evening, she asked me to come back the next day. She didn't mention what had happened. So the next day I went back. I couldn't wait to see her again," she whispered, as if it was a dark confession… because frankly, it was. "She didn't touch me when she kissed me," Emma murmured and turned her head to gaze at her wife. "You have to understand… my life was hell on earth. I was a walking confused, raging hormonal teenager, fifteen years old, tall for my age. The girls, even the boys at school-" She stops, and Regina doesn't will her to go on any further, because she can clearly imagine what Emma is trying to say.

She can picture it as clear as day. A lonely, but attractive adolescent. It makes Regina's heart twist.

"I was angry, so fucking angry at everyone, at myself, at my parents, I had no friends. My therapist at the time was a complete asshole, only after my parent's money. And Mary Margaret and David, they kept me on a tight leash; they didn't understand." She stares back up at the ceiling and runs a hand through her hair.

Regina wants so badly to caress it, to caress her but she lies still, listening.

"I just couldn't bear anyone to touch me. I couldn't. Couldn't bear anyone near me. I used to fight… fuck, did I fight. I got into some God-awful brawls. I was expelled from a couple of schools. But it was a way to let off steam. To tolerate some kind of physical contact." She stops again. "Well, you get the idea. And when she kissed me, she only grabbed my face. She didn't touch me." Her voice is barely audible.

That's when Regina can bring those pieces together herself. Mal must have known about Emma's past. Mary Margaret- as a good friend she thought her to be- must have told her. My poor broken Emma. Regina tucks her hands underneath her pillow, resisting the urge to hold her.

"Well, the next day I went back to the house, not knowing what to expect. And I'll spare you the gory details, but there was more of the same. And that's how our relationship started."

This was too painful to hear, but Regina was grateful to Emma for allowing her in. She watches as Emma shifts to her side once again, facing her, locking eyes.

"And you want to know something, Gina?" Emma continues. "My world came into focus. Sharp and clear. Everything. It was exactly what I needed. She was a breath of fresh air. Making the decisions, taking all that shit away from me, letting me breathe." She paused for a moment. "And even when it was over, my world stayed in focus because of her. And it stayed that way until I met you."

Regina freezes, feeling the tips of her wife's fingers brush a lock of her hair behind her ear.

"You turned my world on its head." Emma's eyes become raw, right before Regina's. "My world was ordered, calm, and controlled, then you came into my life with your smart mouth, your innocence, your beauty, and your quiet ternerity… and everything before you was just dull, empty, mediocre… it was nothing."

She's telling the truth! She's stripping herself bare before her, telling the truth.

"I fell in love," Emma whispers.

Regina stops breathing as she feels Emma caress her cheek. "So did I," she murmurs with the very little breath she has left.

Green eyes soften. "I know."

"You do?"

"Yes."

Finally! She sees it! Regina can't help but smile this time. "Finally," she whispers.

Emma nods. "And it's put everything into perspective for me. When I was younger, Mal was the center of my world. There was nothing I wouldn't do for her. And she did a lot for me. She stopped my drinking. Made me work hard at school… You know, she gave me a coping mechanism I hadn't had before, allowed me to experience things that I never thought I could."

"Touch," Regina whispers.

Emma nods. "After a fashion."

Regina frowns.

Emma hesitates a little, but Regina is relieved when she hears her speak again. "If you grow up with a wholly negative self-image, thinking you're some kind of reject, an unlovable savage, you think you deserve to be beaten."

Oh, Emma… you are none of those things.

She pauses, running a hand through her hair. "Gina, it's much easier to wear your pain on the outside…" Again, it's a confession. "She channeled my anger." Her mouth presses in a grim line. "Mostly inward- I realize that now. Dr. Hopper's been on and on about this for some time. It was only recently that I saw our relationship for what it truly was. You know… on my birthday."

Regina shudders at that memory, the way Mal and Emma were staring at each other, having a verbal stand-off.

"For her that side of our relationship was about sex and control and a lonely woman finding some kind of comfort with her girl toy."

"But you also like control," Regina whispers.

"Yes. I do. I always will, Gina. It's who I am. I surrendered it for a brief while. Let someone make all the decisions for me. I couldn't do it myself- I wasn't in a fit state. But through my submission to her, I found myself and found the strength to take charge of my life… take control and make my own decisions."

"Become a Dominant?"

"Yes."

"That was your decision?"

"Yes."

"Dropping out of Harvard?"

"My decision, and it was the best decision I ever made. Until I met you."

"Me?"

"Yes." Emma's lips quirk up into a soft smile. "The best decision I ever made was marrying you."

Regina couldn't help but smile. "Not starting your company?"

Emma shakes her head.

"Not learning to fly?"

She shakes her head. "You," she mouths. Her hand raises up, caressing her wife's cheek with the back of her knuckles. "She knew," she whispers.

Regina gowns. "She knew what?"

"That I was head over heels in love with you. She encouraged me to go down to Florida to see you, and I'm glad she did. She thought you'd freak out and leave. Which you did."

Regina goes pale.

"She thought I needed all the trappings of the lifestyle I enjoyed."

"Being the dominant?"

Emma nods. "It enabled me to keep everyone at arm's length, gave me control, and kept me detached, or so I thought. I'm sure you've worked out why," she adds softly.

"Your birth mother?"

"I didn't want to be hurt again, Gina. And then you left me." Her words are barely audible. "And I was a mess." She pauses. "I've avoided intimacy for so long- I don't know how to do this."

"You're doing fine," Regina murmurs. Her index finger tracing along her wife's thin lips. "Do you miss it?"

"Miss it?"

"The lifestyle."

"Yes, I do."

Oh.

"But only insofar as I miss the control it brings. And frankly, your stupid stunt-" she stops- "that saved Ivy," she whispers, her words full of relief, awe, and disbelief. "That's how I know."

"Know?"

"Really know that you love me."

Regina frowns. "You do?"

"Yes. Because you risked so much… for me, for my family." Her frown deepens. "I behaved so badly… and yet you're still here."

"Why are you surprised I'm still here? I told you I wasn't going to leave you."

"Because of the way I behaved when you told me you were pregnant." She runs the back of her knuckles down her wife's cheek. "You were right. I am an adolescent."

"Emma, I said some awful things." She feels as Emma's index finger falls over her lips.

"I deserved to hear them. Besides, this is my bedtime story to you." She rolls on her back again. "I have considered children in our future. I just thought it would be a while before we decided on that. That it would just be you and me for a while." She chuckled. "You pulled that rug right from under me. Never in a million years when I asked what was wrong, did I imagine you were pregnant." She sighed. "I was so mad at you. Mad at myself. Mad at everyone. It took me back, the feeling of nothing being in my control. I had to get out, I went to see Hopper, but he wasn't there. So I walked and walked and walked, and I just… found myself at the salon."

Oh, no. Here it comes.

"Mal was leaving. She was surprised to see me. And, truth be told, I was surprised to find myself there. She could tell I was mad and asked me if I wanted a drink."

Cutting straight to the chase. Regina's heart rate doubles in speed. Does she really want to know this? Yes. Yes, I do.

"We went to a quiet bar I know and had a bottle of wine. She apologies for the way she behaved the last time she saw us. She's hurt that my mom will have nothing to do with her anymore- it's narrowed her social circle- but she understands. We talked about the business, which is doing fine, in spite of the recession… I mentioned that you wanted kids."

Regina frowns. "I knew you mentioned to her that I was pregnant."

Emma regards her wife, her face guileless. "No, I didn't."

"Why didn't you tell me that?"

"I never got a the chance."

"Yes, you did."

"I couldn't find you the next morning- about halfway through the second bottle- she leaned over to touch me. And I froze," she whispers, her eyes closing for a short moment.

Froze? By her touch? "What?" Regina breathed, sounding as surprised as she looked.

Emma blinked, swallowing hard. Giving Regina the indication that more did happen. But what? Damn it, tell me!

"She made a pass at me." Now Emma looked as shocked as she sounded.

All the breath has left from her body, like another one of Robin's kicks to the stomach, her body feels winded. She wanted to almost throw up and it wasn't their little bean causing this side effect. It was Mal. That fucking predator!

"It was a moment, suspended in time. She saw my expression, and she realized how far she'd crossed the line. I said… no. I haven't thought of her like that for years, and besides-" she swallows. "I love you. I told her, 'I love my wife.'"

Regina gazes at Emma in silence, furry building inside of her against Mrs. Dragon Predator Lincoln. She continues to listen because frankly, she didn't know what to say to this newfound information.

"She backed right off. Apologized again, made it seem like a joke. I mean, she said she's happy with Isaac and with the business and she doesn't bear either of us any ill will. She said she missed my friendship, but she could see that my life was with you now. And how awkward that was, given what happened the last time we were all in the same room. I couldn't have agreed with her more. We said our good-byes- our final good-byes. I said I wouldn't see her again, and she went on her way."

Regina's heart stops as she swallows the lump that now has formed in her throat. "Did you kiss?"

"No!" Emma snorts. "God, no. I couldn't bear to be that close to her." Her eyes and voice speak volumes of truths. "I was miserable. I wanted to come home to you. But… I knew I'd behaved badly. I stayed and finished the bottle, then started on the bourbon. While I was drinking, I remembered your saying to me some time ago, 'If that was my child…' And I got to thinking about Henry and about how Mal and I started. And it made me feel… uncomfortable. I'd never thought of it like that before."

She's been speaking to her mother! Like any normal teenager should have- like any normal woman- she's been speaking to Mary Margaret. Oh, thank God. Regina breathed, recalling a faint conversation shared between Emma and her mother inside the hospital room.

"That's it?" Asked Regina.

"Yes."

"So… It's over?"

"Yes. It's been over since I laid eyes on you. I finally realized it that night and so did she."

"I'm sorry." Regina mutters.

Emma frowns. "What for?"

"For being so angry the next day."

Emma chuckles. "Baby, I understand angry." She pauses, then sighs. "You see, Gina, I want you to myself. I don't want to share you. What we have, I've never had before. I want to be the center of your universe, for a while at least."

This time Regina can't help but reach out to caress her wife's cheek. "You are. That's not going to change." Tears stream down her eyes.

"Shit- don't cry, Gina. Please, don't cry." She caresses Regina's face.

"I'm sorry." She feels Emma's thumb brush over her lower lip, soothing it.

"No, Gina, no. Don't be sorry. You'll have someone else to love as well. And you're right. That's how it should be."

"Emma…" Regina breathes, her fingers brushing back strands of fallen hair. "Henry will love you, too. You'll be the center of his universe- just like you are mine," she whispers. "Children love their parents unconditionally, Emma. That's how they come into the world. Programmed to love. All babies… even you. Think about the children's book you liked when you were small. You still wanted your mother. You loved her."

"No," the blonde whispers.

"Yes. You did." More tears make their way down Regina's cheeks. "Of course you did. It wasn't an option. That's why you're so hurt."

She stares at Regina, her expression raw. She hates to think that she ever loved a woman who never showed her any kind of motherly love, but it was true.

"That's why you're able to love me," Regina murmurs. "Forgive her, Emma. She had her own world of pain to deal with. She was a shitty mother, and you loved her."

Emma gazes at her wife, saying nothing, eyes haunted by memories Regina couldn't possibly begin to fathom.

Eventually, Emma says, "I used to brush her hair. She was pretty."

"One look at you and no one would doubt that."

"She was a shitty mother." Emma's voice is barely audible.

Regina nods, watching Emma's eyes close for a short second.

"I'm scared I'll be a shitty mother."

Oh, Emma, Emma, Emma… Regina strokes her thumb across her wife's cheekbone. "Emma, do you really think for one minute I'd allow you to be a shitty mother?"

Emma's eyes open, they gaze at Regina for what feels like an eternity. Finally, she smiles, "Allow me?" She chuckles. "No, I don't think you would." The back of her knuckles graze her cheek with adoration, her eyes sparkle with wonder. "You are truly strong, Mrs. Swan. I love you so much." She kisses her forehead. "More than I never knew I could."

Regina smiled, looking at her wife with the equal amount of love and adoration.

"That's it for that bedtime story."

"That's a hell of a bedtime story." She grinned.

"I aim to please."

"Not yet," Regina smirked.

Emma chuckled. "As tempted as I am, you must sleep. How's your head?"

"Fine."

"Good. Now, sleep."

"I have one more question."

"Of course you do. What is it?"

"Why are you being so forthcoming with all this? Usually to get a piece of information out of you is like… picking at a block of ice with the smallest tool."

"I can't say. Seeing you practically dead on the cold concrete floor, maybe. The fact I'm going to be a mother. I don't know. You said you wanted to know, and I don't want Mal to come between us. She can't. She's the past, and I've said that to you so many times."

"Would you have realized that, even if she hadn't made a pass at you?" Okay, that was more than one question, but Regina had to know. Now that Emma was being so open and forthcoming with all this information.

Emma's gaze softens. "No, I don't think so, but she's felt like unfinished business since my birthday. She stepped over the line, and I'm done. Please, believe me. I'm not going to see her again. You said she's a hard limit for you. That's a term I understand," she says with quiet sincerity.

"So no more dragons flying around in this twisted fairy tale of ours?"

Emma smiles. "No. No more. It's just us…" Regina is taken by surprise as she feels Emma's hand land on her stomach. "And Henry."

Regina can't resist the urge. She presses her lips against Emma's in a kiss she quickly deepens, but is surprised once Emma pulls back.

"Don't," she whispers. "I am desperate to make love to you."

"Then make love to me."

"No, you need to rest, and it's late." Emma reaches over, turning off their side lamp, plunging both of them into darkness.

Regina snuggles into the familiarity of her wife's loving embrace. There really is no better place to be for her but here. In her home. With her wife. "I love you unconditionally, Emma."

"I know." Emma tightens her hold around her wife's frame, but is careful not to hurt her. "And I love you. Unconditionally."