A/N: I think this is going to be the penultimate chapter …

The trill of the alarm broke through first. On autopilot, Emma reached out to switch it off. As she moved, she became aware of a weight across her waist, followed moments later by a grumble of discontent when cool air rushed beneath the duvet as she shifted. With the alarm silenced, she dutifully rolled back into place, allowing Regina to snuggle herself closer, nose burrowed into Emma's tangled blonde mane.

She closed her eyes, surrendering to the increasingly familiar feel of having her girlfriend dozing beside her. She had time to enjoy this. Her second alarm would blare soon enough. It was a new morning routine. The first alarm woke her. The second alarm told her to get up. In the minutes in between the two, they snuggled.

"Do you have to go to work?" Regina mumbled, hand splayed across Emma's flat stomach.

"Yes."

Regina wasn't expecting a different answer. She knew Emma wasn't one to pull a sicky. Could you even do that if you were the boss? But she asked anyway. It was Saturday and this was the first day since Leo had accepted the plea deal that she would be alone in the apartment with Henry. Well, she could go back to the shelter, she supposed. But she hadn't been there since the morning of the trial. An unspoken agreement seemed to have been made. Emma had not mentioned the prospect of Regina returning to the shelter. Henry hadn't even asked why they had suddenly moved into Emma's without warning. The race car bed was probably too exciting for him to question, just in case they moved back to the markedly more boring, standard bed in the shelter.

A conversation needed to be had, she knew that. But for now, Regina was happy to burrow impossibly closer to Emma's warm body, relishing in those final moments together before the blonde was forced to slide from the bed and start her working day. The previous two mornings, Regina had been getting up to go to work as well. The library had been an important distraction for her and the fact that none of her colleagues knew where she had been on Wednesday made everything easier. For those hours, she wasn't Regina Mills, victim. She was just Regina; book lover and willing, equal member of staff.

But this day would be different. With Emma gone, Regina and Henry would be alone in the blonde's apartment for the whole day. What would they do? Regina felt at a loss, as a mother just as much as she did as Emma's girlfriend. There was one obvious activity which needed to be addressed; Henry needed to know something about his father's fate. But that was another conversation that Regina was putting off. Emma had suggested talking to Belle about it first, getting some insights into how to speak with a young child about what it would mean for Leo to be in prison. Another day, Regina decided just as Emma's second alarm filled the room.

Reluctantly, she allowed her hand to slide from around Emma's waist as the blonde rolled away and climbed out of bed. Pulling the warm duvet closer around her, she watched as the naked woman walked over to the door and prepared to put up the bar for her initial workout.

"Um, much as I'm enjoying the view," Regina remarked just as Emma reached up, "perhaps a t-shirt and shorts would be a good idea, just in case Henry wakes up and comes to look for us."

Emma nodded solemnly, realising that the sight of a naked thirty-year-old woman, doing pull ups may be mildly inappropriate for a seven-year-old. She reached for a discarded tank top and pulled it on, followed quickly by the pyjama bottoms she had been wearing the night before. Well, she had been until Regina had pushed them hurriedly down her legs and pressed her fingers to Emma's aching core.

While Regina would have preferred to watch Emma do her workout completely naked, she still enjoyed the show, shoulders flexing beneath the tight tank top. Emma didn't know this but Regina had tried to do a pull up of her own one morning after Emma had gone for a shower. She had barely been able to lift herself off the floor. The failure had given her a newfound respect for her, frankly, ripped girlfriend and she gave a little round of applause when Emma finished.

The blonde grinned at her before disappearing down the corridor towards the bathroom. Seconds later, Henry appeared in the open doorway. "Mom, can I take Eddie to school today?"

"It's Saturday, my little prince," Regina reminded him. "You can take him on Monday if you make sure you don't leave him."

"Ok," Henry agreed, climbing onto the bed and wriggling his way beneath the duvet. His cold toes stabbed Regina several times as he settled himself down. "You forgot to put pyjamas on," he observed.

"I did forget," Regina agreed, knowing full well her nightclothes from the previous evening were in a pile on the floor. She had forgotten to put them back on again after they had finished making love. They were too happy, too contented, to drag themselves from the warm fuzzy post-orgasmic bliss to get redressed. And it wasn't the first time her son had seen her naked. There were no boundaries between mothers and small children.

"Can I not wear pyjamas? I don't like mine." He plucked at the Thomas the Tank Engine pattered top he was wearing.

"Since when?" Regina asked.

"Since always," Henry replied. "And it's really hot in my new room. I don't need them, Mom. Please."

"You don't have to wear pyjamas if you don't want to," Regina offered. "But we can get you some new ones for winter if you like? It gets cold in New York, just like it did in Maine."

"Ok but can we not buy them now? I want to wait until after my birthday because I might like different things when I'm seven. How many sleeps until I'm seven?"

"Um," Regina said slowly, quickly doing some maths in her head, "about fifty, I think."

Henry pouted. "That's ages away!"

"I know but I'm not wishing away a single second of your childhood."

This comment was ignored, predominantly because it made no sense but also because it didn't address what Henry was now interested in; his birthday present list. "Can I get a new iPad? Cos the police still haven't given me back my old one."

"Maybe," Regina replied. "We'll see."

To be honest, she hadn't thought about Henry's birthday in any great detail yet. The request for such a large present, however, reminded her about something she had been thinking about; money. Although she wasn't paying rent, her salary wasn't vast and she was concerned about how she was going to provide for herself and Henry. If she did move into Emma's, officially, she'd want to contribute to the cost of renting the apartment too. She needed to start budgeting. And that budget probably didn't include an iPad. Perhaps, she mused, now the trial was over, they could get the iPad back.

"Emma, it's my birthday in fifty sleeps," Henry announced as the blonde reappeared, hair dripping from the shower.

"Is it? That's exciting. What are you going to get for your birthday?"

"An iPad," Henry declared, the idea now firmly lodged in his mind.

"Wow, you're very lucky, aren't you?"

"Yes, but I need one. Cos the police took my last one."

"No one needs an iPad, Henry," Regina said gently.

"No one needs pyjamas either," Henry replied.

"I've already told you, you don't have to wear them in the summer if you don't want to."

Emma shot a quizzical look at Regina who shrugged. Henry, meanwhile, was squirming around under the covers again. Moments later, his little pyjama top appeared and was flung across the room. "No pjs!" he shouted, making both women laugh.

With the final dress folded, she laid it carefully on top of everything else and closed the case. In the doorway, Mulan watched her. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Yes," came the simple answer.

"But you haven't actually had a conversation about it," the other woman pointed out.

"She's been at mine for three days now. She's never once mentioned coming back here. She likes it at mine, and so does Henry. Why would they not want to live there?"

"I'm not saying they don't," Mulan clarified. "But usually when two people move in together, there's a conversation which happens before that day. You don't just turn up with their worldly possessions in a suitcase."

"Most people's worldly possessions wouldn't fit into one suitcase," Emma pointed out, stacking Regina's case by the door and moving onto pack Henry's clothes.

Mulan acknowledged that as true but pressed on. "I just think perhaps you two should talk beforehand. You don't want to make any assumptions."

"Do you think that they might not want to move in?" Emma asked, still continuing with the task of folding Henry's clothes.

"No, I'm sure they do. Maybe the conversation is just perfunctory but it still should be had."

"Even though it has no purpose?" Emma asked. "Even if I know what I'm going to say and I think I know ninety five percent what Regina is going to say?"

"Yes," Mulan nodded. "Because there's still a five percent chance you don't know, right? And it's just polite, I suppose. It shows both of you that you're a team, equal. This should be a decision you make together, not one you make for both of you."

"But it's my apartment."

"I know but you still have to have a conversation," Mulan insisted.

Emma huffed and zipped up Henry's now full case. "Fine, I'll have a conversation with Regina but I'm taking these cases home with me. Then, if they say yes, we don't have to come back here and pack up. It's already done."

Mulan nodded her approval at that plan, half amused and half bemused by her boss. She didn't have as much experience as Ruby did with Emma's straightforward, black and white view of the world. But during her time at the shelter, she felt she had become rather adept at helping Emma understand and navigate some of the nuances of day to day life as well as relationships.

"How is Regina? You know, after Wednesday?" Mulan asked as the two of them walked back to the reception area, Regina and Henry's cases both stacked by the door of their former, hopefully, bedroom.

"She's ok, I think. It's over, that's the most important thing. We can look forward now and not have to think about him. Regina said she had always known he would find her eventually. Maybe it was good to get it over and done with. At least now we know exactly where he is and he can't hurt them."

"True," Mulan nodded. "It must be such a relief for all three of you."

"Well, two. Henry doesn't know yet. Regina is going to talk to Belle about how she should explain everything to him."

"Good idea. And are you enjoying having them at your apartment?"

"Of course. I wouldn't want them to stay for the rest of our lives if I wasn't. I've changed my morning schedule to give me some more time to make breakfast for all of us. I still have to leave before Regina because her shifts start after ours and Henry doesn't have to be at school until eight thirty. But it's nice. And it's nice to have someone to come home to. She's always there with Henry by the time I finish. I like that. I don't like returning to an empty apartment. It happened often enough when Ruby and I lived together. This is better."

"Ruby will be devastated," Mulan laughed.

Emma, who had been about to walk into her office, paused and looked at the woman who was still chuckling. "What do you mean?"

"That she's been replaced so quickly and by someone better," Mulan explained.

"Regina isn't better than Ruby," Emma frowned. "They're different. Ruby is my best friend. I loved living with her. But Regina is my girlfriend. It's different. And Henry is a kid; that's different too. I've never lived with a child before, except when I was one and that didn't count because I was a child too. Do you think Ruby will really be upset?"

"No, I'm sorry, I didn't mean that," Mulan hastily replied, seeing that Emma herself was getting upset but the prospect of hurting Ruby's feelings. "She'll be happy for you; we all are. We can see how happy Regina makes you. I was just joking about how quickly you and Regina are moving in after Ruby moved out and then the fact that you said it was better."

"It is better. Regina and I have sex. Ruby and I never had sex. And I like spending my evenings with Regina and Henry before the sex too. It's nice to talk to both of them about our days."

"I get it," Mulan reassured her, although she didn't need to hear any more about her boss' sex life. "Honestly, Emma, Ruby will be happy for her. Just maybe don't tell her it's better living with Regina and Henry than it was with Ruby, that's all."

"Because that might hurt Ruby's feelings?"

"Exactly," Mulan nodded.

"Ok, I won't tell her that." Emma didn't like not telling people things. Secrets were never good. They always came out in the end. But this wasn't a secret. She wasn't keeping anything from Ruby, exactly, she just wasn't going to tell her an opinion. That was ok, surely.

Mulan smiled and shook her head in mild disbelief as Emma turned and strolled into her office, ready to get on with the next task on her ever-expanding to-do list. She herself turned back to her own desk and fired up the computer once more, ready to write up some notes from her latest meeting.

Before she had even slid her key into the lock of the apartment, Emma could hear screaming. She paused, trying to identify what was wrong. While the sound was distressing, she could tell it was a child having a tantrum rather than anyone in pain. Henry's words were muffled through tears and the door itself however so she decided to let herself in and find out what was happening.

The living room was empty. Emma stacked the two suitcases she had packed beside the dresser near the door and placed her keys and handbag in their usual place. She then ventured further into the apartment, following the sound of crying.

"Henry, come on, you'll see Emma tomorrow," came the soothing words of Regina as the blonde rounded the corner of Henry's bedroom. Kneeling beside the race car bed, Regina was rubbing Henry's bare back, the boy lying face down on the bed and screaming into his pillow. Now, Emma could just about make out the words.

"I want Emma to read me a story," came the choked plea.

"Emma's at work, sweetheart," Regina was explaining. "But I can read to you."

"No! I want Emma."

Stepping into the room, Emma tapped Regina on the shoulder, alerting the brunette to her presence. Henry, face buried in a pillow, remained oblivious. Regina breathed out a sigh of relief, looking rather frazzled. Emma offered a reassuring smile and a nod.

"Well, it looks like you're in luck," Regina said, standing up and stepping back to allow Emma to take her position. "Look who's here."

"Hey Henry," Emma said, squeezing Regina's hand as she passed and knelt down in the spot Regina had just been occupying.

At her voice, Henry rolled his head to one side. Seeing who had appeared beside him, the tears stopped at once and a smile broke over his little red face. "Emma! You came back!"

"Of course I did. I always come back. I live here."

"Mom said you were at work," Henry said, shooting a glare at his mother.

"I was," Emma replied. "I finish my work at eight in the evening. Then I came back here. Shouldn't you be asleep? It's almost half past eight and that's late for a six-year-old."

"I'm nearly seven," Henry pointed out. "And I wanted you to read me a story."

"Well, I can read you a story now because I'm back from work, but this is only because it's a Saturday. On school nights, I think you'll have to be asleep before I come home. Otherwise you won't have enough energy to concentrate at school, will you? So your mom will read you stories on those nights, ok? Is that ok, 'Mom'?"

Regina's stomach did a little flip when Emma turned to ask her question. It felt strange to have Emma refer to her as 'Mom', not just 'your mom'. Strange but good, she decided. "Yes, that sounds ok to me, Henry. If Emma's not working or on the weekends, she can read you a story and the other nights, I'll read them, deal?"

"Ok," Henry said, sitting up in bed, completely naked, as per their agreement that morning, and thrust the book at Emma.

The blonde took it dutifully and settled herself with her back against the edge of the bed so Henry could see the pictures and read the words over her shoulder.

"Beer?" Regina asked just before Emma began, to which the woman nodded gratefully.

Leaving her son and girlfriend, Regina ventured through to the kitchen to get a bottle of beer for Emma and one for herself. By the time she returned, Henry was starting to fall asleep. The combination of the late night and the tantrum which had been mercifully cut short by Emma's arrival, had caught up with him and his eyelids grew heavy. Before Emma had even sipped a quarter of her beer, the boy had flopped back onto the pillow. Closing the book, Emma got to her feet and tiptoed from the room. Regina pressed a kiss to her son's forehead, whispered 'I love you', and followed the blonde.

"Thank you," she said as she sat down beside Emma on the couch. "I hope you didn't mind."

"Not at all. I loved being read to as a child. It didn't happen much and I think it's a very important part of a child's routine."

"And … I mean, you're ok to be a part of that routine? For Henry?"

Emma took a swig of her beer and turned to face Regina. "Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that this evening anyway," she admitted. Now seemed as good a time as any.

"Ok," Regina said slowly. She willed herself to not allow her mind to slide into the negative. Talking didn't mean bad. Talking didn't mean Emma wanted out. And yet, inevitably, her gut clenched.

"I want you and Henry to move in here. Officially," Emma added.

Regina balked. Well, her mind had been heading in the wrong direction. "What?"

"I want to live with you and Henry," Emma said. "I don't want you to go back to the shelter. I want us to live here, together. As a family."

"You do?"

"Yes," Emma nodded. "We talked about it before, didn't we?"

"We did but you said you needed to think about it."

"I did say that and I have thought about it. And now I want to ask you. So, do you want to move in with me?"

Stunned slightly by the purity of Emma's question, Regina sat stunned. How could the blonde make something which was usually such a huge step in a relationship sound so simple? And yet, Regina mused, it was simple. Of course she wanted to live with Emma. She had barely thought about the shelter since Wednesday when she had last been there. Henry hadn't even asked when they were going back there. And he had just negotiated Emma's bedtime reading schedule. He loved his new bedroom. He loved Emma. Regina loved Emma. Why was there even a debate going on in her mind? Oh, she mused, there wasn't. This was a pro list. Nothing sat on the con side of the page.

"Yes," she breathed out. "Yes, we'll move in with you."

"Great, we can unpack after dinner," Emma said, getting up off the couch and making her way towards the kitchen. "I am going to make some sort of salad, is that ok?"

"Unpack?" Regina frowned, following her girlfriend.

"Yeah, your suitcases are by the door. I packed everything up from your room at the shelter today."

"You packed our stuff up?"

"Yes."

"Before asking me if we wanted to move in?" Regina clarified. This was such an Emma thing to do, she realised. Unorthodox but touching in the blonde's special way. It showed conviction, and confidence in their relationship. It was endearing. And saved Regina packing up herself.

"Yes," Emma said, head now buried in the fridge. "But Mulan said I should ask you about moving in before I showed you the suitcases. They're by the front door."

"And what would you have said if I had said no?"

Emma reappeared from the fridge, aghast, a lettuce in one hand and a bag of tomatoes in the other. "What?"

Regina tried to keep a straight face but corpsed almost immediately. Giggling, she crossed the room and wrapped her arms around Emma's neck. "You're adorable. Thank you for bringing our things over. We can unpack later. Do you want help making dinner?"

Still a little confused, Emma nodded mutely and accepted the kiss which Regina placed on her lips. She got the feeling there had been a joke at her expense but she decided not to ask what it was that had made Regina laugh. The brunette was smiling, and that was the most important thing. So they settled into casual conversation, asking one another about their respective days, working side by side to make their dinner. An evening tradition, Emma decided as she drizzled salad dressing onto her dish, that she could get used to.

A/N: Happy Sunday one and all! And happy first of December!