Disclaimer: I don't own these characters.

A/N: I apologize for the amount of time it took to post this update but my brain was and is busy with Let Stars Be My Asterisks and Trauma Team. Oh, and that pesky thing called real life ... Anyway, this story is now slowly heading towards the end (and I'll be sad to see it go).

A/N 2: Thank you for all the love you've shown this story. Your comments and reviews make me smile on a regular basis.

Chapter 25: Gone With The Wind

Emma woke up smiling. That used to be a very rare occurrence but whenever she woke up like this — wrapped around Regina from behind like a koala — she could feel the serene smile on her face. And what's not to smile about? she thought, as she tightened her arms and curled a little tighter. This morning especially she had more than enough reasons to smile.

Her mother was freed from her demon possession and by Regina's selfless kiss no less. Henry couldn't be happier that his mothers were in love, and he'd had a blast doing a little relaxing night walk the night before, with magic fireflies dancing around them and lighting their way. They had glowed brightly enough for them not to stumble, and it had still been dark enough for Regina and Emma to engage in ridiculously cuddly behavior in their son's presence without him noticing too much of it. The few times he had turned around and had caught them clinging to each other tightly while walking or kissing or rubbing noses he had made some disgusted sound while still sporting a huge grin.

Henry had also disappeared into his room pretty quickly after their return, turning down an offer of hot chocolate and sitting in front of the fire with his mothers for a talk, claiming tiredness while giving Emma a wink before closing his door.

Emma grinned. Okay, so maybe there was a little too much PDA in his presence, even if it was dark … but Henry's just gonna have to learn to live with it.

And it's not like she and Regina hadn't made good use of the earlier than normal bedtime.

Very good use.

"You're insatiable, you know that?" came a slightly groggy, deliciously raspy voice from the human bundle in her arms.

"Don't know what you're talking about," Emma mumbled back, genuinely confused until Regina moved around under the covers and touched Emma's hands in turn — one of which was cupping Regina's sex, while the other held onto one of Regina's breasts. "Oops," Emma commented but made no move to withdraw her hands.

Regina took a deep breath, now fully awake, and turned her head so Emma could lean closer and kiss her. The first kiss was light, the second lingered, the third, fourth and fifth turned hotter and wetter with each one. Regina turned fully in Emma's arms, so she could focus on Emma's beautiful lips without fearing for her neck. They kissed slowly, intensely, the kisses almost obscenely wet and arousing.

"Who's insatiable now?" Emma rasped breathlessly once she could bring herself to part from Regina for a second before diving right back in, rubbing her whole body against her lover's.

Regina chuckled, the sound more dirty than Emma had ever heard her. "Seems to me you are still, dear."

"I'd say you're right if your voice didn't sound like you wanted me to fuck you until you scream," Emma growled as she rolled Regina onto her back and rocked her hips in time with her last few words.

Regina wouldn't have denied it even if she wanted to, which she didn't. Instead she spread her legs and rested her feet on Emma's ass, pressing her closer. Her hands wrapped into Emma's hair while her mouth sought out its counterpart. "I … want … you," she breathed between kisses, gasping when she felt Emma's wetness against her own.

Emma rolled her hips into Regina with a blissful smile. "Is this what you want?" she asked. "Tell me what you want, Regina."

Regina stayed quiet, even as her hands grappled at Emma's shoulders to pull her closer.

"I want to hear you say it, Regina," Emma whispered in her ear, moving her hips in a small circle. Regina tightened her hold with her legs, pulling Emma closer still. "I want you so much … and I want to hear you s—"

"Fuck me," Regina demanded, finally breaking her silence. "Shut up and fuck me … please … I need to feel you."

Emma kissed her hungrily and redoubled the movement of her hips, rolling her wet heat over Regina's again and again and again, the feeling making her almost dizzy with arousal. She lifted her upper body and rested her weight on her forearms so she could put more force behind her rhythmic rocking, and never even noticed when she started to ramble. "Gods, I love you … love fucking you … never wanna stop …"

"Oh, Emma," Regina gasped, unsure if it was Emma's movement against her or her barely coherent words that had a bigger effect on her. Her hands scratched down Emma's back until she could grasp her ass cheeks with both hands, assisting with the movement. Her head swam and she fought to keep her eyes open because she didn't want to miss a second of Emma straining so gloriously over her, intent on their mutual pleasure, lost to the feeling of ecstasy.

Emma's rhythm began to falter as she got closer to her climax. Her eyes met Regina's and the look of love and desire she received added another spike to her already sky-high arousal. "Don't know … how long … I can …"

"Let go, darling," Regina breathed. "Please, I'm so close …"

"Together," Emma smiled. "Want to keep doing this forever … looking at you … while we make love … never want this to end …" She sped up her movement, finding more strength somewhere deep inside.

Regina moved one hand to reach between them. She managed to work her fingers into the space between their centers to press two fingers against Emma's clit, and Emma's rhythm faltered completely at the touch. The back of Regina's fingers worked against her own clit in the rhythm of their hips. "Please, don't stop moving, Emma … don't stop …"

"Jesus, Regina." Emma almost collapsed on top of Regina before she pulled herself together and moved again. "This … Jesus … so good …"

"Come for me, Emma," Regina coaxed. "Now!"

Emma screamed as Regina pushed two fingers as deeply into her as she could given the constraints of their position, making her come hard. Emma still had the wherewithal not to stop moving until she could hear Regina coming not more than two seconds after her. Only then did Emma's arms give out, and she collapsed heavily onto Regina.

"Jesus …" Emma breathed after several moments when her brain wasn't entirely occupied with minor issues like breathing. "That was …"

Regina chuckled deep in her throat, a sound Emma felt low in her abdomen despite the huge orgasm she had just experienced. "I've never heard you quite so religious, dear," she teased.

"Well, that just now was the closest I'm ever likely to get to a religious experience, so it's damn well justified, I'd say," she stated with a grin. She put some of her weight on her own arms again and looked down into Regina's face. The smile slowly slipped from her face as her eyes roamed her lover's features until they settled on her eyes. "I love you, you know that?"

Regina reached up to push a lock of hair behind Emma's ear. "I know that," she confirmed despite knowing that it was a rhetorical question. "I love you too."

"Can we stay like this forever?"

"I think we've discussed the impossibility of that before, darling," Regina replied softly. "Although it's a nice thought."

Emma sighed. "I might not let you out of my sight for a while after that whole thing with Snow."

"Whatever you need," Regina simply said before lifting her head to kiss Emma again.

Emma returned the kiss with all the feelings she held for Regina, trying to forget all the other confusing feelings concerning her mother.

Before the kiss could lead to more — again — there was a loud knock on their bedroom door. "Moms?" Henry yelled. "Are you going to get up any time soon? It's getting late and I would sort of like Mom's famous pancakes for breakfast."

Regina removed the soundproofing with a wave of her hand. "We're coming, Henry," she called out.

"Not anytime soon," Emma groused playfully.

"Shush," Regina said, swatting her backside. "Give us a minute, Henry."

"It's a good thing his stomach didn't demand food ten minutes ago," Emma sighed. "I'm not sure I could have stopped."

"That would have been … difficult," Regina agreed. "Come on, dear. Let's go take a shower, so I can feed that bottomless pit also known as our teenage son."

Emma perked up. "Want to shower together?"

Regina snorted inelegantly. "I'm sure Henry would like his breakfast sometime before dinner, dear."

"Is that a no?" Emma pouted.

"That is definitely a no," Regina confirmed as she got up and stretched her body. Then she leaned over the bed and Emma who was gaping at her with her mouth wide open at the display. "If it's any consolation, however … I'd much rather have my wicked way with you under the hot, pulsing stream of water."

Emma groaned when Regina practically breathed those final words across her breasts, much to her nipples' enjoyment. "Damn, you're really, really evil," she huffed. "Go, please … before I spontaneously combust."

Regina grinned and headed to the bathroom with a glorious swagger.

Emma groaned as she fell back against the pillow. This woman is going to be the death of me one day.

o-o-o

Knock, knock.

Knock, knock, knock.

"Regina! Emma!"

"Regina, open the door! I want to talk to my daughter!"

"Emma, honey!"

Snow banged her fist against the white door of the mansion again and again, until David was afraid that the golden numbers were about to fall off. "Snow, they clearly aren't ho— here," he said soothingly as Snow started to pace the porch. "Why don't we go to Granny's for some coffee, huh?"

"I need to talk to Emma," Snow insisted. "I need to talk ... explain everything."

David sighed. "Emma knows that, Snow," he said, trying to keep his voice gentle. "And she said she needs time to deal with ... everything. You should ... we should give her that. Wait until she comes to us to talk."

Snow looked like she wanted to protest, stomping around the porch like a kid throwing a tantrum, but to David's surprise she relented — although not before giving Regina's door a solid kick that left a dark scuff mark. David shook his head and walked away, hoping Snow would follow. He loved his wife more than anything, but right now he was having trouble staying calm and patient with her.

David wasn't sure if he wanted Emma to give in and talk, so Snow could have the peace of mind she seemed to expect from that talk – although he had his doubts it would be that easy – or if he hoped Emma and Regina would just go on a month-long vacation to forget about the past few days.

The latter thought made him stumble over his own feet. Well, it seemed he really had accepted Regina as Emma's true love if he wanted them to have some peace and quiet together, away from here. Not that it should surprise him after the things he had witnessed between them — the kisses, their magic, Emma's happiness whenever Regina was present, and the calm and content that seemed to settle around Regina like a warm shawl whenever Emma was in touching distance.

No, there was no doubt in David's mind anymore that they truly loved each other. He only hoped that the non-possessed version of Snow would be more accepting of them than her evil version. Otherwise Storybrooke was about to become a very unpleasant place to be.

"What are you thinking about with such focus?" Snow asked, falling into step next to him and looping her arm around his. "Are you worried about Emma too?"

David frowned at Snow. "I was thinking about Emma and Regina actually," he said cautiously. "Which sort of answers your second question, I guess."

"It does? How?"

"It does because Emma is most probably with Regina and there's no safer place for her in this realm or any other." David tried to find the right mix of casualness and conviction in his tone. "Emma is with her true love and their son — we have no reason at all to be worried about her."

Snow grunted unhappily. "I just don't understand that," she started as David pulled open the door to the diner and let her enter before him. "Emma and Regina ... how is that even possible? How does that make sense? Deep down I'm still convinced that Neal is Emma's true love ..."

"Thing is … I'm really not," came Neal's voice from the table by the door. "And as much as I'd like that to be different, I never was."

"Hello, Neal," Snow greeted him. "But if that's true why did you tell me Regina was poisoning Emma's mind against you and that you were her true love?"

Neal looked down at his plate. "I'm not proud of that," he finally admitted in a small voice. "And I hope both Emma and Regina will allow me to apologize for that ... and for trying to take Henry away."

"You tried to take Henry away?" David hissed. "It's a wonder you're still alive!"

"I know," Neal agreed. "I'm still surprised Emma didn't rip me apart at the seams. TI think they forgave me for that ... sort of ... and I'm going to keep making it up to them by trying to be a good friend and a good father to Henry."

"Emma?" Snow asked in surprise. "Why would Emma ... Emma would never kill anybody over what I'm sure was just a misunderstanding. If anyone was going to kill people it would be Regina ..."

"Not if you're threatening Regina or Henry or, even worse, both of them," Neal explained. "I mean, have you ever seen Emma when someone she loves is threatened? I have now, and I'm definitely not going to try that again. Ever." He gave Snow a long look. Maybe he could start being Emma's friend right here, right now. "Have you figured out how you're going to try and make it up to Emma yet?"

"M-Make it up?" Snow stared at him, eyes wide. "But none of what happened was m-my fault," she stammered. "I was cursed … under the influence of that evil wand."

Neal didn't know whether to laugh or hit Snow over the head. "Don't take this the wrong way," he said as calmly as he could. "But if that's how you're going to want to deal with this, Emma's not going to talk to you."

Snow opened her mouth, then closed it again as she kept on staring at Neal. "I-I'm ... I don't ..."

"Snow," David said. "You tried to kill Emma's true love using their son as a means to achieve that end. And as much as Emma may know in her head that you were cursed, what she remembers is Regina's bleeding body in her arms and you being the cause of that."

"'It wasn't my fault' isn't going to make Emma forget about that," Neal added. "The best thing you can do is give her time to process and calm down, and wait until she comes to you. And when she talks to you, you can't just demand her forgiveness."

"That should also give you enough time to learn to accept that Emma loves Regina, and that their relationship isn't going to go away." Granny had snuck up behind Snow, shamelessly listening in on their conversation like most of the people in the diner. "In fact, I've already checked my tumblr dashboard for some wedding cake inspiration ..."

Snow gasped and whirled around. "Wedding?!"

"Relax, Snow," David soothed her. "Nobody's talking about that. Yet."

"But it's not a thought that's completely out of this world," Neal added, just for the fun of torturing Snow a little. "They already are a family ... just look at them, Snow, and you'll see it too."

Snow looked like she was about to keel over. "I think I need to go lie down," she muttered, feeling barraged and a little defensive. "I can't deal with this right now … I- I need to think about this." She turned to walk straight back out the door. "Are you coming, David?"

"One second," David replied. "I'm going to grab a cup of coffee first." Snow left without another word, and David turned to Neal. "Thank you for that," he said. "I think Snow needed to hear that."

"I feel partly responsible," Neal admitted. "I told her that Emma was just running away from her love for me and was being used by Regina. I swear I didn't know that Snow was under the influence of dark magic at the time. I just wanted her to stay on my side … she had always been my biggest supporter, after all. My only supporter, I guess." He grinned sheepishly. "Like I said, I have a lot to make up for with Emma and Regina, so if there's anything I can do to help with Snow, let me know."

Ruby came over and handed David a to go cup, having witnessed the whole conversation from her spot behind the counter. David nodded his thanks – first at Ruby, then at Neal – before quickly following his wife.

Ruby fixed Neal with a glare. "You did good just now," she said after a long moment. "But if I had known what you did to them, you wouldn't be sitting here in one piece right now. Remember that."

"Duly noted," Neal nodded. "Hey, Ruby … if you … erm … if you're seeing Emma and Regina later ... I mean, just in case ... would you ..."

Ruby rolled her eyes. "If I see them, I'll let them know that you did your best to talk some sense into Snow."

She turned to head back to the counter, but Neal stopped her. "No, it's not that," he said urgently. "I don't need you to put in a good word or anything ... just, let them know I've decided to stay and take over my father's shop for now. And that I want to try and be a good father to Henry ... one that they can count on ... if they let me."

o-o-o

Blue sat on the cot in her cell, staring blankly out through the bars that were shimmering lightly with magic. From the cell next to her she could hear Albert Spencer snoring but other than that there was no sound until a door opened and footsteps came closer, light and quick.

After a couple of seconds Nova entered the sheriff's office. "Tink?"

"In here," came the reply from the small office to the side.

"Ah, all right." Nova walked over to a desk and dropped a small leather pouch onto it. "I brought the remains of that wand," she explained her presence with a small shiver. "It's just ashes now – whatever I could collect – but maybe Regina or Emma will want to do something even more final to it."

"Hmm, maybe." Tink appeared by Nova's side. "Even the bag gives me shivers."

"Oh, you too? Then I'm not the only one." Nova rubbed her arms. "Want to take a break and have a cup of tea at the diner. I'd like to get rid of this feeling."

Tink hesitated, but then she nodded. "Well, these two aren't going anywhere … a coffee break won't hurt."

Blue watched with empty eyes as the two fairies left the room. She could feel the malice coming from the bag even from a few feet away but the only outward sign of that was her slightly quickened breathing.

She stiffened when the leather pouch on the desk began to move, barely noticeable at first, then ever more vigorously, as if something wanted out. The laces holding it closed slowly unfurled and the pouch fell open.

Blue watched with detached interest as a plume of black ash slowly rose from the pouch until it hovered in the air above it, seemingly turning right to left, perhaps looking for something. It rose a bit more and wafted over to Spencer's cell. There was an almost electric spark when the ash cloud hit the magical barrier Regina and Tink had put up around the cells, but then it simply moved through it.

Wrong place, wrong time, Blue thought when the ash cloud settled over the man not five feet away. She knew it was only the intro to the main event, and she couldn't bring herself to feel sorry for the man formerly known as King George. She could hear his breath getting labored, and more labored until it finally stopped with a rattle and a low moan. At least it didn't get an innocent …

You failed me. Blue could swear she heard a dark whisper close to her. She knew what was coming, knew her life was over. She was the real target. She had lost everything in a huge gamble for power, played by a much more powerful magic than her own. Lesson learned then, the whisper continued, getting closer. She had forgotten that it could read her mind …

Then the cloud surrounded her, caressing her almost like a friend until it moved ever tighter around her throat and chest. Blue didn't fight it, saw no point in fighting the inevitable. Death came more quickly and more gently than she had expected, and Blue accepted it as the mercy it was.

When its work was done, the ash cloud rose into the air and disappeared through the ventilation slits in the wall.