Disclaimer: Not my characters, not my town. I do claim ownership of my mistakes, however. :)

A/N: So, this is it - finally the end of this journey. Thank you all for the love you gave this story by following, favoriting, commenting or reviewing.

A/N 2: I apologize in advance for the angsty fluff in this epilogue. I thought they deserved this after all the trouble I put them through. ;-)

Emma wasn't in the mood for breakfast. In fact, even the thought made her stomach turn. Nonetheless, she made her way downstairs to the kitchen, knowing that she'd find her family there.

Her family. Regina and Henry. Even after several weeks of living together that thought still made her smile.

The mixed smells of freshly brewed coffee and bacon and eggs hit her nostrils — Regina made her favorite breakfast again — and her stomach promptly rebelled. She practically jumped down the final few steps and ran as fast as she could to the downstairs bathroom where she lost what little her stomach held.

"Emma?" Regina poked her head round the door with a worried expression. "Are you sure you don't want to see a doctor?"

Emma shook her head with a groan as Regina crouched down next to her and pulled the long blonde hair back with one hand while caressing her back with the other. "It's just a bug," Emma finally moaned pitifully.

"But this has been going on for a week now," Regina pointed out quietly, trying not to push Emma who didn't react too kindly to being prodded and coddled like that. "A stomach bug would have been over by now, I believe."

"I'll be fine," Emma growled. "I promise, okay?"

Now it was Regina's turn to sigh. "If you're sure, dear …" She pressed a kiss to Emma's head, then got up to give her the space she knew her girlfriend needed.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Emma replied, trying to sound reassuring. Except she wasn't sure at all, she just didn't want to worry Regina any more than knew she was already doing. Emma rinsed her mouth, then went upstairs to brush her teeth. Again. At least the nausea seemed to abate somewhat every time she emptied her stomach, so she could at least have a light breakfast afterwards.

She spit out the toothpaste, lost in thought. She was getting a little worried herself, a lot more than she let on to Regina. The last time she had felt this way she was pregnant with Henry but there was no way she was pregnant. She hadn't slept with a man in ages … besides, she'd had her period just the week before. Maybe she should go see a doctor, but the thought of talking to Whale of all people made her skin crawl. She shook herself even though she knew that she would have to go see him sooner or later, just to make sure it was nothing serious.

Downstairs, Regina was biting her lip in worry, after sending Henry off to school. If Emma insisted on being stubborn for much longer, she would simply transport her to the hospital and into Whale's office. She was not going to sit idly by if her girlfriend was sick and just too damn pigheaded to deal with it.

She looked up as Emma walked, a determined look on her face. "Listen, Emma—"

"Listen, Regina," Emma said simultaneously.

They both smiled and shrugged until Regina nodded for Emma to continue. "Listen," she started again. "I thought … maybe I should go and get checked out after all."

"Oh, thank God," Regina breathed. "I thought I'd have to drag you to the hospital by your ears."

"Yeah … So if this thing isn't gone in a couple of days, I'll—"

"No." Regina shook her head. "Today. Right now, in fact, and I'll go with you." She saw the look of outrage on Emma's face. "Not because I don't trust you to go, dear, but because I'm worried. I need to know what's going on."

o o o

"There's absolutely nothing wrong with you," Whale said a few hours later after several tests and a quick blood test. "At least we can't find anything. Your blood work's clear, as is your urine. The CT scan and the MRI Regina insisted on were clear as well. In short, you're as healthy as a horse, Sheriff."

Emma frowned, even as she felt relief coursing through her body. "Then why am I throwing up every morning like clockwork?" she asked. "It almost feels like …"

When she didn't continue, Regina leaned closer. "Feels like what, dear?"

"Like when I was pregnant with Henry," Emma admitted.

Regina looked stunned. The thought hadn't even entered her mind. Had Emma been with Neal the five days that she had been gone and Emma and Henry hadn't missed her? But Emma would have told her, wouldn't she?

Emma saw the questions enter Regina's eyes. She reached out to take Regina's hand but the other woman pulled it out of reach in a subtle move. Emma could imagine quite clearly what Regina was thinking, even if there was no freaking way that was possible. "But that's really no—"

"I can assure you, Sheriff," Whale interrupted. "You're not pregnant."

"Then what is going on?" Regina asked, a little louder than strictly necessary, and Emma could read the vulnerability in the stiffness of her posture and the darkness of her eyes.

"Honestly?" Whale shrugged. "I don't know. At this point I'm assuming it's something magical."

"Magical?" Regina's eyebrow spiked. "What kind of magic?"

"I was hoping you might have an idea." Whale looked slightly uncomfortable. "Did anything happen recently that was … unusual?"

"Unusual?" Emma snorted. "In sleepy Storybrooke?"

Whale chuckled. "More unusual than our everyday unusual," he amended, then cleared his throat. "I've heard through the grapevine that … well, that you two share true love, and also a magical connection …"

"That's right," Regina said slowly.

"And that can sometimes have quite interesting effects," Whale continued.

"You think our magic might have something to do with this?" Emma added.

"Well, even for normal, non-magical couples it's not entirely uncommon to share symptoms," Whale explained his thought process. "So your connection is … well, maybe it's causing this …"

"You think we're sharing symptoms?" Regina interrupted. "But I'm the picture of health."

Emma gave Whale a long, calculating look. "Do you think I'm having symptoms that Regina should be having? Or that hers are you going to come later?"

"It's a possibility, but for that something would still have to be the cause. Of course I'd have to do some research." Whale turned to Regina, "And so should you. I'm sure your resources on magic are better than mine."

Regina's mind was racing. She had been doing research into their connection in the past few week, alone and with Belle who was becoming a really good friend. And what she'd read told her that what Whale thought might actually be possible.

The memory of a day a few weeks ago suddenly appeared in her mind. Emma and her, the day she got shot, Emma healing her, Emma making love to her — and using magic to do so. And if Whale was right, then … "Emma, I think we should go."

"Okay?" Emma sounded surprised even as she got to her feet. "You look like you had an idea."

Regina nodded distractedly, then turned to Whale. "I have some thoughts on this, but I'll have to do some more research. I'll see what I can find out."

"I guess I'll see you once you figure it out then," Whale said with a shrug. "Or sooner, if the symptoms aren't getting better, Sheriff."

Outside in the parking lot, Regina got into the passenger seat of her Benz, still looking a little freaked out. Emma got behind the wheel and started the car. "Let's go home," she said with a grin, trying to make Regina feel better. "I called in sick today, so how about we make use of all the free time?" When Regina didn't reply, Emma looked over. "Are you okay?"

Regina nodded absent-mindedly. "Yes, let's go home," she whispered. "But … Emma, can we stop by the pharmacy first?"

o o o

"Are you going to tell me now what the hell you got from the pharmacy?" Emma demanded as she followed Regina into the mansion. Her frustration was evident n her tone. Regina had insisted on going into the pharmacy alone, and hadn't said a word since then. "Whale said I'm not sick, so I don't get why—"

"It's not for you," Regina replied softly. "It's for me."

"Wha—? Why? Are you feeling sick too?"

"I'm absolutely fine, dear," Regina replied instantly, reassuringly. "I promise it's nothing bad … it's more of a scientific inquiry."

"Scientific inquiry?" Emma repeated slowly.

"Testing Whale's hypothesis, if you will … like I said I would." Regina would have smiled at the look on Emma's face if she hadn't been so goddamn nervous all of a sudden. The gamut of emotions she had run this morning was beginning to drive her up the wall a little. "You can come along, or you can fix us some coffee, whatever you prefer. I'll only be ten minutes or so." With that Regina leaned in for a sweet, short kiss, before she walked upstairs, clutching the nondescript white paper bag from the pharmacy in a white-knuckled grip.

Emma took one look at Regina's odd behavior and stumbled up the stairs after her as quickly as she could.

Fifteen minutes later she stared open-mouthed at the three pregnancy tests lined up on the bathroom sink, all positive. Her gaze went to Regina who looked just as stunned as she felt. "How?" she asked.

And then the Savior of Storybrooke fainted right into Regina's arms.

The End