Chapter Nineteen

Emma arrived at the diner at noon, as Regina had texted her to do. When she stepped inside, she found only Regina sitting alone at a booth, and no sign of her parents.

"Hey," Emma said, sliding in to the seat next to Regina.

"Hey, how'd it go?" Regina smiled, noting that Emma didn't look upset in any way, and she hoped that was a good thing.

"Fine," Emma shrugged. "It went, I guess. Either way, I'm a single lady now."

Regina raised an eyebrow. "Oh, is that what you think?"

Emma smirked, playfully, trying to hold back her laugh. "Well, I don't know. Has anyone else made a claim on me?"

"Why don't you tell me?" Regina asked. Before Emma could even get a word out, Regina pressed her lips against Emma's, in a long, hard kiss.

"So we're going for showing, not telling, I take it?" Emma asked, breathlessly, when she finally pulled away from the kiss. She glanced at the door, a little nervously, expecting her parents to walk in any moment and catch her in this compromising situation.

Regina smiled. "I may have told you a slightly earlier time than I told them," she shrugged. "I wanted to see you alone, first."

"Ah, you wanted to get a little more secret kissing in before we go public?"

"Something like that," Regina agreed, as she leaned in for another kiss. Something about kissing Emma felt so natural, so freeing, in a way she hadn't experienced in a long time. Something about this whole thing, even though it was so new, just felt so right to Regina, that it felt like she'd been with Emma forever. In way, she guessed it almost seemed true, since they both had memories of dating at sixteen now, and even though that had really been earlier that week, it felt like a teenage memory to Regina.

Regina smiled as she broke away from the kiss this time, and looked into Emma's eyes for a moment, before sighing and leaning back into her seat. She reached for Emma's hand under the table, and Emma smiled as they both looked at the door, waiting for the inevitable arrival of her parents.

"Maybe we'll get lucky and your father already told your mother," Regina suggested, a little hopefully.

"Regina Mills, don't tell me you are nervous about this?" Emma teased. "And I doubt he would have, he wanted to be the cool dad and all. Cool dads don't narc on their daughters, you know."

"David and Snow tell each other everything," Regina pointed out.

Emma and Regina both looked up at the sound of the chime on the door at the diner, and watched as Snow and David made their way over.

"Emma!" Snow cried, and Emma stood up to hug her parents. All the teenage animosity was gone, and she was as relieved as they were, she was sure.

"I'm glad you're back," David said, as he gave his daughter one last squeeze, before they joined Regina in the booth.

Emma retook her spot next to Regina, and grabbed her hand under the table again. "I'm glad to be back, trust me. Sixteen wasn't the greatest time in my life, as you may have gathered," Emma shrugged.

"You don't say?" David laughed.

"I must say, we were all a little surprised," Snow confessed. "We didn't expect you to be quite so… rebellious."

Emma laughed and shook her head. "I was sixteen… by seventeen I was stealing cars and by eighteen I was in prison… how was sneaking out and swearing that surprising to you?"

Snow and David exchanged glances, and Snow looked back at Emma, a little confused. "You never told us you stole cars," she pointed out. "And you went to prison for a crime you didn't commit."

"I was anything but innocent," Emma laughed. "I didn't steal the watches but it was my idea to sell them. And I stole the Bug, by the way. From Neal. Who stole it from someone else, actually… anyway, that's not the point. And it's not why we wanted to talk to you two."

"So then why?" David asked, raising and understanding eyebrow to Emma, and she was sure he was already well aware of why. She was also pretty sure he'd still be cool with it. It was her mother's reaction she was concerned about.

"I, well, we," Emma stammered, not sure how to start. "Regina and I… when we were teenagers… and um…."

"I would like to date your daughter," Regina cut in, shocking even Emma.

"You would… are you asking for permission?" David asked, narrowing his eyes at Regina. For her part, Snow just let her mouth drop open in shock. Clearly, David had played 'cool dad' and kept Emma's secret.

"Actually, I am… well, I'm not asking for permission… I am already dating your daughter," Regina corrected.

"Emma?" was all Snow could get out, and Emma laughed.

"Mom, be cool. It's the twenty-first century," Emma pointed out.

"No, it's not that, it's just… when did this happen?" Snow managed to ask.

"When we were sixteen," Emma grinned, earning her a small kick from Regina under the table as Regina blushed. "I kind of corrupted Regina. My bad."

"And you're both sure you still feel the same?" David asked, going into full-on protective father mode.

"Dad! Seriously, we're adults capable of making our own decisions," Emma pointed out. "And yes, we're sure. We're sure, aren't we?"

"Yes," Regina confirmed. "Quite sure."

"What about Henry?" Snow asked.

"What about him?" Emma asked.

"Have you told him?"

"Oh, he knows… well, he sort of knows. He kind of caught us kissing," Emma laughed, and it earned her another small kick under the table, which made her laugh even more. "I mean, we've obviously got to have another conversation with him. Speaking of which, Regina, we also have to have a conversation with him about you-know-who," Emma pointed out, suddenly remembering Henry's own secret date with Grace.

"Who?" Snow asked, forever curious.

"No one," Regina said.

"Yeah, we're sworn to secrecy," Emma laughed. "So anyway, Mom and Dad, I know this is all pretty sudden, but thanks for not, like, freaking out. I'm gonna stop by this afternoon and get some stuff to take to Regina's."

"Oh, you're moving in, are you?" Regina asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I was thinking more along the lines of staying over," Emma laughed, rolling her eyes. "And, if you value that back window of yours at all, I think you should seriously consider giving me a key."

Snow looked back and forth between her daughter and former step-mother as they laughed. She wasn't quite she what exactly had happened or what Emma was even referring to, but she couldn't remember a time when she had seen either of them this happy.

"You okay?" David asked softly, leaning in to his wife.

"Yeah, actually," Snow said, a small smile creeping over her lips. "I love them both, David. And they seem to make each other happy. If they're happy, I'm happy."

"Don't forget to return my keys to the city," Regina said, as she pulled the spare key to her house off her own key ring to give to Emma. They were in Emma's bedroom again, and Regina was sitting on the bed, watching Emma throw clothing into a dufflebag.

"Aw, I thought maybe you'd be up for sneaking out again tonight and breaking into the clock tower," Emma said in a mock pout, as she rounded the other side of the bed and pulled the keys out from their hiding spot under the mattress.

"Hmm, I bet I can think of something even more fun that we can do tonight instead," Regina smirked, " that doesn't even involve leaving the house."

"There you go again, always trying to corrupt me," Emma sighed, and she stretched out on the bed next to Regina.

"Why do I get the feeling you will be just as easy to convince as I was?" Regina ask, scooting forward so she could lie down beside her.

"Hey, I don't want to kill the mood or anything," Emma said, rolling onto her side to look at Regina, "but I'd rather bring this up now, than when we're in the throes of passion tonight."

Regina laughed. "Throes of passion?"

"What? I'm a romantic at heart. Bite me," Emma scoffed.

"Eloquent as always, dear," Regina smiled. "Please, do continue."

"Anyway, I just wanted to say… I'm sorry your mother was so shitty to you. You really deserved better, and if you ever want to talk about it, I'll listen."

Regina's smile changed from teasing to sad to grateful in a matter of seconds, as she reached out to take Emma' hand. "Thank you, Emma, but it was ancient history."

"Yeah, well, I know first-hand how ancient history can come back to bite you in the ass again. I think you do, too. I'm just saying, you don't have to go through it alone. You have me now."

Regina smiled wider as she leaned forward and pulled Emma into a tight embrace. "Same goes for you," she whispered into her ear. "Neither of us need to be alone again."

Emma laughed. "You couldn't get rid of me, even if you tried. And you have tried," Emma reminded her.

"Yes, well, I'm glad I failed."

"Yeah, me too."

It wasn't long before their lips found each other again. They had some time to kill before their dinner with Henry tonight to announce their relationship… and interrogate him about his own.

Relationship. Emma liked the sound of that word, when she applied it to Regina. Despite the rocky start when they first met, Emma had always known she had a draw to this woman, and now, feeling how perfectly their lips and bodies fit together, she realized it was because their souls were a perfect match as well.

They both had good and bad and neither expected the other to be perfect. Emma didn't have to live up to some ideal of being another person's happy ending, she could just be herself and Regina would accept her as is, flaws and all.

And that's all she'd ever wanted, anyway.

To Be Continued…